Dr. Martin estimates that 80% of the North American population has trouble sleeping because of high cortisol. If you have high cortisol, you’re not getting into the 5 stages of sleep where your glymphatic system cleans your brain.
In this continuation of yesterday’s podcast, Dr. Martin shares 9 things you can do to lower your cortisol and to prepare your body for restorative sleep!
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
Announcer: You're listening to The Doctor Is In Podcast, brought to you by MartinClinic.com. During the episode, the doctors share a lot of information. As awesome as the info may be, it is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. It's strictly for informational purposes.
Dr. Martin: Well, good morning everyone, and once again, welcome to another live this morning and we're always thrilled to have you on with us if you can join us live, which is always fun and again, we know that many, many have to take in a podcast later. Thanks for coming on guys. Okay, let's get going. Okay, so just a little recap of yesterday's program. So we'll lead into this mornings. I promise I'm not going to go over everything, okay? We had such good feedback on yesterday's program. Two new studies. Let me just tell 'em to you again. Journal of Nature, Edinburgh, Scotland. They followed 8,000 people for 25 years. Holy moly. How do you do that? Anyways, they did it. And here's their conclusion. Written up in their Journal of Nature, less than six hours of sleep, 8,000 that they follow. People that on average slept less than six hours a night, had a 30% increase in Alzheimer's, okay?
And yesterday we talked about that. We went into your brain has a self-cleaning oven. Well, your body has a self-cleaning oven, but your brain specifically is very specific. It's called your glymphatic system and your glial cells. G-L-I-A-L, glial. Okay? Another study and we looked at this, sleep and aging. So when you get a good night's sleep, it's anti-aging, okay because this study out of Harvard, 4,000 patients and they found when you don't sleep properly, your biological age increases by nine years. Okay? And what did they do? What did they measure? Well, they measured your telomeres. You know what telomeres are? Unbelievable that we have telomeres. Guys, when I was in school, there was no such thing that we knew about. But now we know your cells have a little wick. I think of a telomere, like a wick of a candle. And the longer your telomeres are, the longer you live.
Well, we didn't even know you had such a thing, but they can measure the length of your telomeres. So when they got people who didn't sleep properly, they found that one was that their cortisol was high. Interesting, isn't it? We'll talk about that this morning. And secondly, their telomeres were shorter, thus aging. And I would add probably free radical damage, oxidation at a higher rate. Inflammation when you don't sleep. If your cortisol is up, it pours gasoline on inflammation. Silent inflammation. You don't necessarily have to have pain with inflammation. So those are those two studies. I want to add one more this morning and it's a study on sleep and the immune system. Do you know, according to this study that just missing one good night of sleep will throw your immune system off?
I was doing a Nikki Ballou podcast last week and I mentioned this. Isn't it interesting that people, they save up and they get ready, they go on a trip in the wintertime or whatever and they want to get down to the Caribbean. And if you live in Canada, who can blame you? You want to get out of dodge and get some heat, but you got to get up early. You got to catch a flight or you're jumping on a cruise or whatever it is. Here's what they found with this study. Your immune system is affected. Your T cells, your navy seals, they don't work as well. They sort of take a siesta almost like you're consuming sugar. And what happens? You can get a nasty cold or a nasty bug just by missing one night of sleep. Okay?
Now guys, who hasn't missed one night of sleep, but I'm just telling you physiologically, what happens to your body if you understand that you'll do everything you can. And this is why I tell people, okay, just on the immune system thing, don't leave home without it. Not your American Express, but probiotics, and I even recommend in the wintertime doing the vitamin D hammer. You know what the hammer is? Three days of 50,000 IUs of vitamin D. Doing the vitamin D hammer. I've seen that work with such great effectiveness. Now let's get into part two of sleep. Okay? What should we do? And some of this guys is all repetition, rinse and repeat, but I got to go through it anyways. Okay, so I wrote down, eh, how many points do I got here? Nine. I'll probably end up with more than that. Okay? If you're taking notes, here's what to do. And many of you I'm sure are doing all these things. We talked about this and I talk about this all the time. What should you shoot for? Everybody's different.
But here's what we know. The sweet spot of sleep is between six and eight hours. Shoot for that. Six to eight hours of sleep. Try and shoot for that. Remember, 70, 75% of the population have trouble with sleeping. It's an epidemic today. We live in a different world than it used to be. And I talked to you yesterday about sleep apnea. Never heard of it in the seventies. I never heard of it in the eighties. I'm trying to think if I heard about it in the nineties. I think so. I wish I would've invested money in sleep apnea machines. I'd be a multi gazillionaire today. Okay, who knew? What were they talking about? I'm an old guy, I never heard of sleep apnea. What I tell you yesterday, it's fatty tongue. Anywho, okay, let's get back. Okay?
One, here's point number one, fast before going to bed. Don't eat. The sweet spot for that is at least three hours, longer the better. Okay? And it makes sense. Think about it. You don't want your body in high mode of digestion. It takes about five hours depending on what you eat. It takes you about five hours to completely digest and assimilate all your nutrients. But if you get at least three hours where you haven't eaten and then you go to sleep, I mean the last part of your digestion you can do in bed. But anyway, it's not easy. Like I said, a lot of people, they eat late, they work late and whatever. And guys, do everything you can. Do the best you can, but the best advice is try to stop eating. Okay? And somebody asked me, why not talk about it just for a second about intermittent fasting yesterday, somebody asked me about it and said, well, I like intermittent fasting. Okay? It's not the be all and end all of everything, but I like when you give your body a chance to turn that self-cleaning oven on, especially your brain. Don't eat. It's easy to do intermittent fasting. It's easy because let's say for example, you stopped eating at six o'clock at night and you didn't eat till eight o'clock the next morning. Well now you're at 14 hours. If you can go to 10 o'clock, hey, look what you've done.
Now, I'm a big guy on fasting without fasting. What do I mean by that? It all has to do with fuel. It all has to do with fuel. When you eat eggs, meat and cheese, dairy, okay? Not the store-bought milk. I don't like that stuff, but I like dairy guys. Okay? I like butter. I like cream. I love that fat in dairy, okay? It's good for you. And it really is fasting without fasting, not at night. Okay guys, not at night. But when you're not using insulin or using very little, I call that fasting without fasting, okay? Anywho. What happens if you do eat? Well your blood sugar is up, your cortisol goes up, you're not into fat burning. A lot of people don't realize this. One of the best times to burn fat in your body is when you're sleeping. Your body will burn the fat. But not if you're not into deep sleep and not if you ate and you're still trying to digest and it elevates your cortisol. And one of the big effects of cortisol, especially in women, is belly fat. Okay? Stop eating.
Don't take sleeping pills. Now guys, you've heard this on this program, and I'm going to repeat it again. When you take a sleeping pill, you're not sleeping, you're sedated. Big difference, okay? You're sedated. And sedation, self-cleaning oven of your brain is not working. Okay? Listen, there's nobody more sympathetic than me to people that can't sleep. Doc, if I don't take a sleeping pill, I can't sleep. I said, well, just understand you're not sleeping. You're knocked out. I hate the thought that you're awake all night, okay? But just understand. Just understand that sedation is not sleeping okay? Sedation is not sleeping. And to some extent, okay, and I just say this because I'm going to fill in the blank a little bit more in a minute, but melatonin as a supplement, be very careful with that, okay? I love melatonin because your body makes it, but it don't necessarily like it so much as a supplement. It's not like taking a sleeping pill, but it can knock you out and sedate you to some extent. So I was not really big on melatonin other than I'll show you in a minute. Let's talk about it.
Okay, point number three, sunlight in the morning. Okay? Now I'm looking outside right now and I see the sun. Do you know that I'm getting melatonin just by doing that? Yeah, your body is topping up its melatonin through the eyeballs to the inner eye, the third eye, your pineal gland, okay? Your body produces melatonin. Okay? When you see melatonin on the shelf, your body makes that, and it's better if you do it. The sun's out. I'm not looking directly at the sun of course. That's why even in the wintertime, guys, okay? When it's 40 below and the sun's out, you get melatonin. You don't get vitamin D from the sun if it's 40 below, okay? You're not getting vitamin D, but you're getting melatonin. Okay? So sun in the morning, okay? And dark at night. Okay?
So guys, there's three types of masks, okay? And now I'm going to get a little stupid. There are three types of masks. There's the surgery mask, which is good for surgery, which is stupid for anything else. Okay? I told you I was going to get stupid. Wearing a mask here is good for the surgeon, okay? So he doesn't on open wounds, spit on the patient. But you know what that mass does for a virus? Nothing. Zero, nada. It doesn't protect you and it doesn't protect the other person. It's silliness. And guys, I'm sorry, but that's the truth. It really is craziness, okay? Because let's say it worked over your nose and your mouth. Let's say it worked. The second you touch your eyes, a virus can get in through your eyes. It doesn't make any sense. Anywho, guys, you know I've been consistent about that. The real mask is the invisible one that you should be wearing. It's called vitamin A.
And nobody likes to talk about vitamin A too much because a hundred years ago, they scared the living life out of people on vitamin A because it was a fat soluble vitamin. They did the same thing with vitamin D. Ooh, I get so upset about that. Vitamin A, and by the way, you don't even have to take it as a supplement. No, no you don't, just eat steak. Well, as a matter of fact, if you eat eggs, meat, and cheese, you are going to get vitamin A and you'll be wearing your invisible mask. And by the way, that mask doesn't only cover your mouth and cover your nose, it'll cover your eyes and you don't even know you have it on. How do you like a mask like that? Ooh, I get a migraine when I hear stupidity. I can't stand it. Okay? I can't stand it.
And then the third mask is one that everyone should wear, the mask to go to sleep. Cover your eyes. Why Dr. Martin? Why should I do that? Because that's when you produce melatonin in complete darkness. Sunlight in the morning, darkness at night. Turn your stinking phones off. The best thing is to wear a mask, cover your eyes, okay? Cover your eyes and your body produces more melatonin. More melatonin. Not in a supplement. Sleepy. Sleepy. Anyway, I could do a whole thing on masks. It drives me mental. I can't stand it. Okay, why did I get into that? Okay, just because I wanted to. Okay? I see people today wearing a mask. I was in the grocery store yesterday. I saw someone with a mask and I wanted to go over to them and say, whatcha wearing that for? Why do you have that on? It's not helping you, nor is it helping me. Okay? I promise I won't bring it up again.
Okay, dark at night. Cool room. Guys, this is science by the way. There's so much research being done on sleep compared to what it used to be. What did we know about sleep 50 years ago? Not much compared to today cause they can study everything. And you know what they say? Get a cooler room. I like to see my breath at night. It's so cold, but you sleep better. Hey, don't shoot the messenger. Okay? Cool room. Try and be consistent. Study after study as shown. If you can get to bed at a consistent time. I laugh because my grandchildren think grandpa's funny. Okay, can they go, grandpa, it's eight o'clock at night and you're getting ready for bed already. They can't understand that. They're getting wound up and I'm getting ready to go to bed. I said, well, I get up early in the morning, okay? My big part of the day is in the morning, you guys sleep your morning away. Not me. I'm up. I got to go to bed at night, okay?
Check for deficiencies. Okay? Check for deficiencies. This is just what I saw, okay, people that had trouble, number one, they had low level, not always, but a lot of times, okay? It wasn't always this way, but it was often this way. They were low in vitamin D. Oh, here we go with vitamin D again. Is there anything that vitamin D doesn't do for you? The sun. Vitamin D. Oh, I get people, avoid the sun. Why do you avoid the sun? Well, my doctor said. You need the sun, vitamin D, and if you don't see the sun, and by the way, if the sun is out and it's winter in your area, okay, you're not getting vitamin D, but you're getting melatonin. So now take vitamin D. I'm big on that. It's a supplement you need even for sleep. Low in B12, consistently low in B12, B12.
Someone on the private Facebook group yesterday was asking a good question. What does Dr. Martin think about B1? Well, I don't think about it at all. I like it. It's good for you, but I don't think you need to take it as a supplement. You need to eat it, eat your B vitamins, have steak, you have your B vitamins. Hamburger, you got all your B vitamins. How do you like that? Okay, look, I mean, I sometimes would give a B complex because I have it in my multi nutrient, formerly called Blood Boost. And by way, if anyone can find a multi nutrient vitamin, like our multi nutrient liquid, well good luck with that. It's such a popular product, but it's got everything in it on steroids, meaning that lots of it. But I gave it to people that were just, they were lethargic. Their blood wasn't built up. I used to analyze their blood when I looked at their blood. The red blood cells were few and far between and oftentimes dormant. They weren't doing much. And these people are exhausted and they gave me B vitamins are all right, but just to take a B vitamin other than B12, because B12 is very specific guys.
And unfortunately the way B12 is made, the chemistry behind B12, it's a finicky vitamin. It's hard to get on the best of days. And the only place it's really found is in red meat. So if anyone, if any doctor, any nutritionist, any guru of any kind tells you not to eat red meat, run, Forrest, run because they don't know what they're talking about. When they tell you that red meat is carcinogenic, I tell 'em, I'm sorry, but you do not know what you're talking about. You need B12. And I had a lot of people supplementing with B12 because they didn't have a good digestive tract to start off with and they were very deficient in it. You know what? If your majority of your diet consists of chicken and salad, I'm sorry, you're going to be low in B12. Oh, my doctor said my B12's fine. Well, I'm sorry that B12 test is a hundred years old, should be put to bed.
And secondly, you need to optimize your B12. You need optimal levels. And I found with people that don't sleep properly, they weren't optimized, they were low in B12. B12 is a brain vitamin. B12 helps the repair in your brain, the glial, the glymphatic system, the self-cleaning oven of your brain need B12, need vitamin D, need magnesium, often deficient in magnesium. A good way to get magnesium, by the way. Okay, a good way to get it, an epsom salt bath, that's magnesium salts. I've only been telling patients that for 50 years. You got trouble sleeping about an hour before bed, go take a hot bath with epsom salts, put a cup in there or two, okay, in your bath. Epsom salts are magnesium salts, okay? Often deficient in Omega-3 too.
Here we go back to these are basics guys, basics things that people are very deficient in. They just don't get enough omega-3, especially in this day and age because of those seed oils, because of all the processed foods. Those are so high in omega-6 and oh, omega must be good. Nah, if you're omega-6 is too high compared to your omega-3, nah, that ain't good. It creates inflammation in the body. And a low grade inflammation will keep you from getting a good night's sleep. All of the things that I talked to you are anti-inflammatory. Vitamin D, B12, anti-inflammatory. Magnesium, anti-inflammatory. Omega-3, big time. High DHA is the best of the omega threes, okay? That's what we're so deficient in today. Okay?Drink coffee, but it's got to be decaf at night. You guys know me in vitamin C, the real one and decaf has vitamin C, okay? The real vitamin C, but it's got to be decaf, guys. Don't drink a coffee. When I was under 50. I can have a coffee just before bed that don't affect me. I'll tell you, I think the day that I hit 50 years old, I couldn't drink coffee at night anymore. And I had to flip it to decaf. Make sure it's Swiss water decaffeinated, okay?
Anywho, and here's an important one. Point number nine, I think. Get your cortisol down. Cortisol is remember. Get your cortisol down. That's really important. And guys, you know me, so you might as well just hear it out. Okay? I talked about cortisol before. I gave you a history yesterday of my interest in sleep and studying sleep, which started in the eighties with the yuppie flu, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia. And I was, as far as I know, the very first guy to write a book about chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. It was an adrenal gland exhaustion. Your little chest nut shaped glands on top of your kidneys add renal, and they secrete cortisol and cortisol's on your side guys till it isn't. Cortisol, you need it. It helps to wake you up, it helps to get you going. It helps you in the fight or flight. But if cortisol is high when you're going to bed, I'm sorry, you're just not going to get into a good sleep because cortisol is meant to wake you up. It takes you out of the rest and digest phase.
And today, I venture to say this, and I think I'm right. 80% of the population or more have high levels of cortisol at night when it should be the opposite. They're wound up. Your body's not supposed to be wound up, get your cortisol down. If you can't do it on your own, I can help you. That's why I created the cortisol formula. And it's not just one thing. I think I have eight ingredients in there and they're all meant to lower cortisol. Now, exercise during the day lowers cortisol. Sunlight, lowers cortisol. But if you need help, lower your cortisol because if your cortisol is high, you ain't getting into the five stages of sleep. I'm sorry, you're just not going to be able to do it. Okay, I think that's all I wanted to say.
You know what tomorrow is it's question and answer Friday. So what do you do about that? Well, you send in your questions and send them in guys, I know sometimes you put questions in the scroll and I don't see them. If you want that question answered, could I get you to send the question by email to info@martinclinic.com, info@martinclinic.com. Believe you me, I will see that question, then I can answer it. Okay? And we love it. We love questions. All of our shows are based on, I know we have question and answer Friday and Mondays and sometimes Tuesdays and whatever, but everything I do just about comes from people's questions. Okay? All our podcasts are pretty well based on that, even though I bring out studies and things like that and articles. Okay, guys, I forgot to breathe for 30 minutes, okay? Now I'm breathing. Guys, we love you dearly, sincerely, you're the best. By the way, what makes The Doctor Is In Podcast? See that sign behind me? What makes that podcast so successful? You. Not me, you. Where would we be without you? We love you. Talk to you soon.
Announcer: You've reached the end of another Doctor Is In Podcast, with your hosts, Doctor Martin Junior and Senior. Be sure to catch our next episode and thanks for listening!