Fix Your SLEEP NATURALLY: 10 Proven Tips Doctor Explains

as a doctor when I get a chance to sleep I need to make it count through my understanding of sleep physiology and the latest scientific research I've dramatically improved my sleep I use 10 key strategies starting from the moment that I wake up in the morning and today I'm going to share those with you so you can transform the way you sleep and the way you feel the first secret to sleeping well is consistently waking up at the same time every day most of us already do that 5 days a week but the issue arises when you sleep in on the weekends which shifts your body natural sleep schedule then suddenly on Monday morning you need to shift your sleep schedule back again which feels terrible this is called social jet leg so as hard as it may seem try setting your alarm for the same time every day for the next few weeks and notice if that makes a difference in your ability to fall asleep at night and your energy levels during the day now I know it can be so tempting to hit that snooze button but here's one natural trick to tell your brain it's time to get up expose yourself to direct sunlight obviously this can be tricky if you're an early riser or if you live in Canada like me where the sun rises late in the winter so the next best thing is light therapy these are powerful lights that can mimic the Sun and have a similar impact on your brain just remember that light intensity matters so find a light that provides at least 10,000 Lux at a comfortable distance personally I prefer a product that shines light from above rather than one that sits on your desk Shining Light up at your face which I find can be uncomfortable on the eyes so why does this work it all comes down to your body's circadian rhythm your body's internal clock which is controlled by a part of the brain called the supermatic nucleus this is a group of cells in the hypothalamus that responds to light and dark signals so in the morning when light hits the retina of your eye it sends a signal to your brain telling it to stop making the sleep hormone melatonin and to start releasing cortisol to help you wake up then in the evening when it's dark melatonin levels rise signaling to your body that it's time to unwind and prepare for sleep we live in a 24-hour world but it may surprise you to know that our natural circadian rhythm is closer to 25 hours meaning that without the appropriate cues like sunlight or meal times your bedtime would just keep shifting later and later every night and we know that because when researchers put people in bunkers or caves with no external time cues that's exactly what happened so to keep your body aligned with the rest of the world and operating on a 24-hour schedule you need to make sure you're giving your body the right cues and light exposure first thing in the morning is one of the most ancient and most powerful cues to regulate your internal clock so we've established that your circadian rhythm and melatonin production are important parts of our sleep cycle but if you've ever tried taking melatonin and still had difficulty falling asleep it might not surprise you that there's another really important system at play this is called Sleep pressure here's how it works while you're awake adenosine builds up in your brain and makes you feel tired then while you're asleep your adenosine levels decrease alleviating that sleep pressure and allowing you to wake up feeling refreshed you may be thinking can I just take adenosine as a supplement unfortunately adenine supplementation doesn't work as a sleep aid but interestingly we do use adenosine in the hospital for a completely different reason we use it to treat certain dangerous rapid heart rhythms when I inject a patient with adenosine it dramatically lows their heart rate within a matter of seconds and sometimes it stops it completely temporarily of course Sometimes the best way to fix something is turning it off and then turning it back on again and that's basically what adenosine does to your heart so needless to say we need to let adenosine naturally build up in the brain throughout the day and avoid doing things that can disrupt it and one of the most common ways that we ruin our sleep pressure is by having caffeine too late in the day that's because caffeine directly blocks adenosine's effect on the brain that's how it keeps you awake now I'm not saying that caffeine is bad I drink tea every day and drinking coffee has actually been linked to a lower risk of several diseases but we need to use it strategically to avoid a negative impact on our sleep depending on your age and genetics it takes around 3 to 7 hours for the caffeine levels in your blood to drop by 50% so it takes quite a while for you to completely get it out of your system people also vary in their sensitivity to caffeine so there's no one- siiz fits-all approach here but many Sleep Experts recommend avoiding caffeine for about 10 hours before bed and I think that's a good place to start personally I find that I sleep better if I avoid caffeine after about 1:00 p. m. whereas my husband Mark tries to avoid coffee after 4:00 p. m. and it's common in many cultures to enjoy a shot of espresso after dinner although I could never do that the point is everyone's different so you may have to experiment a little bit to figure out what works for you napping is another common way to ruin that sleep pressure because anytime you fall asleep your

brain starts clearing that adenosine but just like caffeine napping is associated with some health benefits so you just need to use it strategically for most of us that means limiting our naps to less than 30 minutes and trying to take them early in the afternoon so you can still build up sleep pressure later in the day my grandfather used to work crazy hours as a general surgeon and he's always been a prolific Napper today he's happy and healthy well into his '90s and he's still a strong proponent of the power naap The Only Exception is if you're suffering from chronic insomnia in this case napping is not recommended because you really want to focus on building up that sleep pressure so that you can fall asleep at night exercise is another powerful way that we can promote sleep but a word of caution try to avoid strenuous exercise for the 2 hours before bedtime because it can be really activating the optimal time for your sleep is probably about 4 to 6 hours before your bedtime but honestly I think the best time to exercise is when you can consistently fit it into your schedule personally I like to combine socializing with exercise so I like to meet up with my friends to go for Pilates or to play Squash it makes it way more fun and it holds me accountable too now let's talk about alcohol we all know that it can make you feel tired but did you know that it's actually terrible for your sleep it may help you fall asleep faster but as alcohol is metabolized in your body it can cause a rebound effect and people often wake up in the second half of the night or they have vivid dreams or nightmares as a result even worse it can reduce or worsen sleep apnea a condition where you stop breathing in your sleep starving your brain of oxygen and then leading to unrestored sleep personally the effect that alcohol has on my sleep is so predictable if I go out for drinks with my friends I can guarantee you that the Sleep score that I get on my watch is going to be 30% lower than usual so if you want the best sleep possible avoid alcohol altogether and if you are going to have a drink make sure your last drink is earlier in the night so it has less impact on your sleep okay so you woke up you exposed yourself to Bright Light you stopped having caffeine in the afternoon you worked out at about 4:00 you avoided alcohol you have set yourself up for success but the most important part has yet to come the windown routine and this is probably the most consistent part of my day you know how parents often have a set bedtime routine for young kids to help them get to sleep well adults need that too our brains aren't like a light switch you can't just switch it off and expect to go from studying or working or watching a tense episode of squid games to falling asleep sleep experts talk about it as a gradual process like a plane slowly descending and landing on the ground it takes time and preparation I start my wind down 1 to 2 hours before I actually want to be asleep and one trick I find super helpful is setting a reminder alarm if you have an iPhone they have this feature built in I think the default windown time is just 15 minutes which I think is ridiculous so switch that to 1 or 2 hours then set your wakeup time that's 6:00 a. m. for me and now I'll get a reminder at 8:30 p. m. when it's time to start winding down this is my reminder to stop writing patient notes stop researching for my next video stop reading the news basically anything that's going to be stressful or activating stop it and then I usually transition by doing boring tasks like loading the dishwasher and resetting our space for the next day and I'll often turn on music or listen to an Audi book this is also the time I start preparing my environment for sleep starting with dimming the lights at our place that means turning on small lamps and turning off the bright overhead lights this ties back to the Circadian rhythm and melatonin production we want to keep lights dim to promote the release of melatonin and I also find it a nice cue to start relaxing the next step is turning down the temperature of your room aim for cooler than 68° F or 20° C this is important because our core temperature naturally decreases in the evening to prepare for sleep this drop is Dr driven by our circadian rhythm and it's crucial for initiating sleep another way you can support this process is by taking a hot shower or a bath it can be nice and relaxing and when you towel off your body temperature begins to drop and this cooling effect signals the brain that the sun has set and it's time to get ready for bed and here's one last tip about temperature keep your hands and feet warm I know that might sound counterintuitive but it actually helps lower your core temperature and here's why your body is designed to prioritize keeping your internal organs warm so when you get cold the blood vessels in your hands and feet constrict limiting blood flow to those areas and redirecting blood flow to your core but when you keep your hands and feet warm it promotes those blood vessels to dilate and get wider and this allows more heat to escape from your core so keep your room cool and keep your hands and feet warm to fall asleep faster and get a better quality sleep if you're someone who uses your phone or computer late at night then you've probably noticed some of the built-in features to reduce blue light Apple has night shift

and Microsoft has NightLight but are these actually helpful it's complicated Blue Light which is naturally present in sunlight and artificial light is known to suppress melatonin production years ago when I was in medical residency my roommate bought blue light filter goggles to help with sleep I like the idea so I bought some too and I would wear them late at night working on the computer and I convinced myself that they were helping so where's the controversy clearly it's not about making a fashion statement Recent research suggests that while blue light does suppress melatonin production the impact is small compared to the mentally stimulating content on our devices in other words it's not just the bright light that's keeping you awake it's the Endless Gaming and scrolling that makes it so difficult to fall asleep so while blue light filters may have a modest effect the key is really setting boundaries with your devices now I always hear people recommending don't bring devices into the bedroom and I agree with that in principle if you can do that amazing but it's just not realistic for me my phone is my pager so that's how the hospital reaches me when I'm on call at night and it's also my alarm clock so here's what works for me I set my alarm plug the phone in and then put it face down so that I can't see the light and I put it somewhere Out Of Reach and out of sight and that way I'm not tempted to just grab it while I'm sitting in bed and as for my blue light filtering goggles I actually still wear them every night while I'm not convinced that the evidence is strong enough to recommend that everyone goes out and buys the pair they have become a really important physical cue for me when I put them on it's a signal to my brain that it's time to wind down and get ready for sleep and for me that's reason enough to continue using them the last step to my routine is ensuring complete darkness in the room at home we have blackout blinds and we cover up any electronics that produce light and when we're traveling or staying in hotels I always unplug the digital alarm clock or flip it over so I can't see the light I actually really don't like digital alarm clocks because not only do they produce a bunch of light but they're constantly reminding you what time it is which is really unhelpful when you're trying to fall asleep and even if the room is really dark I still put on my sleep mask I started wearing a sleep mask when I would have to sleep during the day after an overnight call shift and then I began bringing it anywhere we traveled because we always seem to get the hotel that had like a bright street light right in front of the window and just like the goggles this mask has become a really powerful physical sleep cue the minute I take off my goggles and put on my sleep mask I'm already falling asleep and honestly it's the best feeling at this point I've got this routine down to a science and I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere but every once in a while even if I've done everything right sometimes I still find it difficult to fall asleep in those moments you need a backup plan I rely on very specific techniques to induce a deep state of relaxation and I've made a separate video that walks you through exactly how to do this so if you take your sleep seriously I highly recommend that you check out this video next I want to give a huge thank you to Dr Perry Menses for peer-reviewing this content not only is he a good friend but he's a psychiatrist and a sleep expert and his insights have been invaluable let me know in the comments if you've got any other tips or tricks that work for you bye for now