I’m a 58-Year-Old Sleep Doctor – Here's What I Do for AMAZING Sleep

In my 26 years as a sleep doctor, I have learned a lot about sleep. While there are hundreds of things that can impact your sleep, at the end of the day, there are really just five simple daily habits, just five, that have kept me sleeping better in my late 50s than I did in my 20s. And the best part, these habits are not complicated. They're not expensive. And you definitely do not need a lab, a prescription, or a fancy device to make them work. Even if you pick just one of these habits, you're going to notice your sleep becoming deeper, more stable, and more refreshing. Stack two or three, that is when you start waking up in the morning thinking, "Wow, I have not felt this good in years. " But if you can commit to all five consistently, your sleep, your energy, your mood, your whole dayto-day rhythm can transform in a way that feels almost unfair. First up, habit one. One of the most important things to understand as you get older is that your circadian rhythm, your internal 24-hour clock, just is not as strong as it used to be. That's not your fault. It's simple biology and aging doing what they do. So, here's one of the simplest, most powerful habits I rely on every single day to help my body fall asleep easily at night. I wake up at the exact same time every day, weekends included, no exceptions. Now, you might be thinking, "What does waking up have to do with falling asleep? " Actually, that's a great question. Your body runs on a hormone cycle that behaves like a finely tuned timer. In the morning, cortisol rises to help make you feel alert. Then at night, melatonin rises to help you wind down and fall asleep. The moment you wake up, the entire system hits the start button. Your body says, "Okay, in about 14 hours, begin releasing melatonin again. " So a consistent wake up time becomes a consistent sleep time. And when your bedtime becomes predictable, something magical happens. You fall asleep faster. You stay asleep more reliably. And your body goes into deep sleep more easily. But when you wake up at different times throughout the week, say 7:00 one day, 9:30 the next, 6:15 another, your internal clock has no idea when to prepare for sleep. And because our circadian rhythm naturally weakens as we age, that inconsistency hits even harder. Now, let's be honest, waking up at the same time every day is not easy at first. Honestly, what I had to do was move my alarm clock to the other side of the room. So, I was forced to get up to turn it off. But guess what? That worked. And in reality, all you need are just a few days of consistent wakeups and the matching consistent bedtimes that follow, and your whole sleep rhythm starts clicking back into place. Try it for a week. Seriously, just one week. You will feel your sleep become more solid, more predictable, and more refreshing. By the way, one of the easiest ways to keep your wake time consistent is to sleep according to your chronotype. Your chronotype is your genetically predetermined sleep time and wake up time. It's kind of like how some people are early birds and some are night owls. Swing on over to my website where we've got a free quiz that can tell you about your chronoype in a matter of minutes. I'll leave a link in the description below. Okay, habit two, waking up at the same time every day is a fantastic start. But here is the thing. As we age, our circadian rhythm needs more than just a schedule. It needs a signal. And most people don't realize this. Your internal clock is set by a tiny cluster of neurons deep in your brain called the super kaismatic nucleus, your master clock. And what triggers it most effectively? Light. That means the moment you open your eyes in the morning and get bright light in your retina, you are basically flipping a switch in your brain that says, "Good morning. Time to wake up, be alert, and get your day started. " The light signal then jumpst starts the hormone cycle we talked about earlier. The one that helps you feel awake during the day and sleepy at night. But as we get older, our eyes change. The lenses become cloudier and a little yellower and let less light in. That means we need a stronger light signal than we did in our younger years because indoor lighting just doesn't cut it. So, here's my simple routine. After I wake up, I go outside. Nothing fancy. 15 minutes in my backyard or sitting on the porch with my dog. Why? Indoor lighting gives you around 100 to 500 lux of illuminescence. That's the scientific measure of brightness. Sunlight anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 lux. That's kind of a huge difference. And it sends a much stronger signal to your brain that it's time to wake up. And the earlier and brighter that morning light hits your eyes, the earlier your circadian rhythm naturally shifts. Now, in addition to that master clock in your brain, the super kaismatic nucleus, your body also has a number of peripheral clocks found in organs like the liver, your gut, pancreas, even your muscles. These peripheral clocks also have a sleepwake cycle to them. So the better aligned these peripheral clocks are with the master clock, the better you sleep. While your master clock is primarily set

by light exposure, these peripheral clocks are governed by insulin, glucose, and digestive hormones, which means they are strongly influenced by when you eat. Just like light and darkness, when you eat essentially signals your brain what time of day it is. If this signal arrives at unpredictable times, your body gets conflicting information about whether it's day or night. So in the evening, your brain may be ready for sleep, but your metabolism is not. So what I do every single day is eat my meals at roughly the same time. Think of meals as setting the metabolic clock, if you will. Breakfast anchors the start of your biological day. Dinner anchors the beginning of biological night. You are probably starting to notice a pattern here, but your body loves consistency. Remember, as you age, it has a harder time maintaining consistent rhythms on its own. So, what we need to do is help it be more consistent. Consistent meal times also help regulate hunger and satiety hormones like gorellin and leptin. When these hormones stay on a steady rhythm, you are less likely to get hungry at night, which is a major sleep disruptor. Also, inconsistent meals can cause spikes and crashes in your blood sugar, which can trigger nighttime awakenings and stress your system. By eating at the same times every day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you can keep your system calm and predictable. Before I move on, please do me a favor and give this video a like and go subscribe to the channel. Your support allows me to create more content like this for you in the future. In addition to your circadian rhythm, your sleep is also controlled by something called sleep pressure. Basically, the longer you're awake, the stronger you have the urge to sleep. Sleeping releases that pressure. Think of sleep pressure like a battery filling up while you're awake. When it's full enough, you fall asleep and sleep drains the battery. Now, your sleep pressure is regulated by a chemical called adenosin. As we age, adenisonin receptors in our brain become less responsive, meaning we do not feel as much sleep pressure as the day goes on. This is one reason many older adults find it harder to feel naturally tired at night. So, what we want to do is find ways to increase our levels of adenosine so we fall asleep more easily. My solution, physical activity. When you are physically active, your brain and muscles use more energy. So more adenosine builds up which leads to falling asleep faster and getting deeper, more restorative sleep. Now when I say physical activity, I'm not just talking about hours at the gym or running a 5K. Just a walk outside for 20 to 30 minutes can go a long way to helping you sleep at night. Whatever it is, I always do some kind of physical activity during the day. Whether it's a gym day or just walking my dogs, just keep in mind you should avoid workouts approximately four hours before bed so you don't unnecessarily raise your core body temperature too high before you sleep. Finally, my last daily habit I do every single day to support my sleep is also one of my favorites, and that's my windown routine. Having a consistent nighttime routine is a fantastic way to tell your body, hey, get ready for sleep. A consistent windown routine also gives your nervous system time to shift from alert mode to sleep mode, lowering cortisol and adrenaline, reducing the mental and physical tension that keeps you wired at bedtime. For us older adults, a windown routine replaces those fading biological sleep cues, creating consistency when our circadian rhythm weakens. Not only that, but I actually look forward to my windown routine all day. Here's what I like to do. First, I like to check the scores on Sports Center to see how some of my favorite teams are doing. Next, I take my dogs out and then I sit on the ground and I spend a little bit of time with them. Never hurts to get a little unconditional love before bed. And oftentimes while I'm on the ground, I'm doing some stretching and my dogs are climbing all over me. And then I take that last hour before bed and I chop it up into three 20inut chunks. The first 20 minutes I spend taking care of whatever needs to be taken care of. sending an email, tidying up, things of that nature. The next 20 minutes I spend on hygiene, brushing my teeth, washing my face, maybe a warm shower or foot bath before bed. And then the last 20 minutes I spend doing something relaxing. For me, that's reading in bed. For you, it could be meditating, prayer, whatever helps calm your mind and get you ready for sleep. And honestly, if I woke up at the same time every day, got some sun exposure and exercised during the day, ate my meals at the same time, and did my windown routine, when those 20 minutes are up, I'm ready for bed. I'm out in a couple of minutes, and I sleep the whole night through. One parting thought, what I love about my daily habits is that they create what I call an upward spiral. Better sleep leads to more energy, which supports better habits, which supports better sleep. Start with one or more of these habits today and you will see improvements to your sleep right away. Stack a couple together and you'll be surprised at how great your sleep gets.

Follow these five habits consistently. You're not going to just sleep better. You're going to wake up more energized, happier, and ready to take on the day. If you want to get even better sleep, I've got seven simple sleep tips you've probably never heard of that you can check out right here. This is Dr. From Michael Bruce, the sleep doctor, wishing you sweet dreams.