In the last episode, Dr. Martin discussed 5 sleep studies highlighting the importance of getting proper sleep. Many listeners expressed their concern they aren't getting enough. In today’s episode, Dr. Martin shares 10 tips for getting better sleep.
Did you know that sleep is a performance enhancing drug? Dr. Martin wrote this in his new book, Sun, Steak & Steel, in the chapter on sleep. If sleep were a medication, it would be unreal, because it’s so good for you. It’s so important to get good sleep!
Join Dr. Martin to learn 10 ways to help improve your 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 afternoon everyone. Hope you've had a great day thus far. Good to be on with you in an afternoon session. Okay, now couple of things. Did you notice? Okay, we're having a little contest. If you haven't seen that, go to our private Facebook group and get in on the poll for our new, I think there's six covers for our new book, Sun, Steak & Steel. Get your voting to the cover of that book. Okay? So there's six up there, I think. You get to vote, and the one that gets the most votes is going to be the cover for our new book, okay? Coming out soon when we get to that final cover of the book. It's not going to be long. It'll be available. Okay? And lot of you voted already. Thank you very much. And Joanne said she voted for number three. <laugh> I'm going to look at it. I think I got the email here and I'm going to tell you which one I like, but I like them. I do. Let me see here if I have them here. And let me just see here. Okay, I think I like number five. And yeah, I'm going to look at 'em again. <laugh>. Okay, now, Rosa said she likes number two, Ilana number four. Well, you know what? They're pretty nice, right? And Deanna says, I love democracy. She voted for five. Ashley number two. Okay, now Jen says number two, <laugh>. Betty, what did you say? Number six. Yay.
Okay, yesterday we talked about sleep and we came up with five new studies on sleep. And I don't know if you noticed on the book, Sun, Steak & Steel, and we got in brackets sleep because sleep's important. And we went through that yesterday and there were about, were they all negative studies? Except the last one on vitderma, getting out in the sun was a positive study. It really helped with sleep quality. We're going to talk about that today. Today I'm going to give you, eh, about 10 tips to sleep better, okay? And let's talk a little bit about sleep again. Sleep is a performance enhancing drug that is in the first paragraph of my new book, chapter on sleep. Sleep is a performance enhancing drug. If it was a medication, it would be unreal. Sleep is so good for you, right? And the sweet spot, all the years of practice and all the years of looking at studies on sleep, pretty conclusive. There's a range there. Never under six. Never under six because that's what we talked about yesterday. All the negative things that happened under six and between six and eight. So what would we say? Let's get in the middle of it. Seven hours of sleep. Seven hours of sleep is the sweet spot for sleep according to all the research. Okay? All the research.
And by the way, let me just say this too. I think it's important to understand. Some people gave me some feedback yesterday. They said, man, I haven't slept in years and whatever, and am I in deep trouble? And well, look, I said, the statistics are not good, but you don't live by statistics. You're an individual. If you are not sleeping, do everything you can to get a better sleep. But if you're not sleeping well, you know yourself. Then on the other side of it, do everything you can to one, build up your immune system. Build up your metabolic health, because if you're not sleeping, you're already got a deficit. But remember, it's not the only thing. It's very important, but it's not the only thing. So if you're not sleeping, make sure you are eating well. Keep your insulin down. Keep your inflammation down. Keep your immune system firing on all cylinders, because when you're not sleeping, your immune system has a tendency to tank. So you might have to do extra for your immunity. So again, because a lot of people felt bad yesterday, they just said, oh, I'm doomed. I'm not sleeping well. But no, there's not only hope, there's lots of hope, but you have to be proactive. You have to be proactive in keeping yourself in tip top shape. Now of course, when you're not sleeping, that's not easy either. Usually you're dragging your butt, you don't feel so good. But again, guys, start in the kitchen.
So the biggest factor in sleep is cortisol. The biggest factor in sleep is cortisol. It's not meant to be high for a long period of time, okay? Cortisol should be higher in the morning, not at night. So you want to be winding down on the inside. I always say cortisol is just a vibration in the body. Some of you have actually know what I'm talking about. Maybe some people don't sense it, but it's almost like, have you ever been worried and you can't stop worrying or whatever. And you almost feel like, yeah, your brain is racing, but also almost like a little vibration inside the body. Heart rate is maybe up a little bit. Your pulse rate is up a bit and you're just like a little vibration. That's what cortisol does to you. And cortisol doesn't allow that deep sleep. Now, there are five stages of sleep. I think it's important to understand that.
Okay, let me just go over them quickly. Stage one drowsy, okay, it's a good time to go to sleep. Cause the other night I shouldn't do it, but I made a mistake because they started watching a movie at around nine o'clock or whatever, and you got to know me. I'm up early in the morning, I'm an early guy, love to get up early. And I stupidly saw a movie I thought I would like and I said, just, I'll just start it. What a mistake. I think it was 1130, quarter to 12 or whatever before I even got to bed. And I was mad at myself. I said, what are you doing? Because I'm a guy, I like routine. I'm a very habit orientated person with good habit, mostly good. You know what I mean? I really try and be a very disciplined person, even getting to sleep at night. Now, sometimes it's out of your control, but the other night for me was certainly within my control. I was a bad boy and I should have never done it. And I was mad at myself. I said, Tony, stop that. What are you a child? So drowsiness about five to 10 minutes when you first start sleeping. And then you get into a light sleep, which lasts about 20 minutes. Stage is a moderate sleep. And then in stage four, you're going into a deep, deep sleep, which lasts about 30 minutes.
Now let me just tell you something about sleep. On the research on sleep. Stage four and five, five is REM. What is that? Rapid eye movement sleeping, okay? When your body goes between stage four deep sleep and stage five, rapid eye movement sleep, that's when your glymphatic system works. That is when your body goes back and forth between that, you don't know it, you're asleep. But when they test sleep, this is where the repair comes in. See in between stage four and stage five of sleeping deep sleep and then goes in and out with stage five, which is your REM sleep. Okay? When you get the proper amount of sleep, okay, here's a quote. When you get a proper amount of sleep, the body cycles in and out of deep sleep plus REM sleep. Okay? Now remember, high cortisol is the primary. Primary, not the only cause, but it's the primary cause of sleep disruption.
Now, cortisol works with your circadian rhythm. What does that mean? Well, your body works on a cycle, okay? So it's like clockwork. So many people are not disciplined in this area and it really makes a difference. Cortisol is highest in the morning, of course. Why? Because it's waking you up. Cortisol isn't only a stress hormone, it works with the circadian rhythm. It actually wakes you up. So highest in the morning, by the way, just a side note, that's what I don't like. When people take their blood sugar, the dawn effect of their blood sugar and they go, doc, my blood sugar in the morning, I can't get him down. I said, well, your body's waking up. Cortisol is waking you up. Cortisol's not a bad guy all the time. Cortisol's a good guy. Cortisol is on your side until it's not. And as the day progresses, cortisol is going downwards and then after supper and it's starting to sink like the Titanic, at least that's what should happen.
The problem is so often, and I mentioned this yesterday, we got 70% of the population that just doesn't get a good night sleep. They just don't. Okay? And a couple of negative things. Again, when you are not sleeping, it's almost impossible to lose weight. Cortisol elevates insulin. Remember in the morning, that's normal. In the morning your body's waking you up, your blood sugar's going to go up. That's why I don't like monitoring blood sugar in the morning. Who cares what your blood sugar is in the morning? I don't care about that. It's the least interesting or least effective time to take your blood sugar. Of course it's going to be up, your body's waking you up. But as the day progresses, of course you want that to be hammering down. And if cortisol is high, insulin is high even without eating. And then you know what? It's almost impossible to lose weight if insulin is present. If insulin resistance is present, almost impossible to lose weight without getting those hormones into control.
Okay, so let's go over, I'm going to give you 10 rapidly what to do. And then again, a lot of these are common sense. A lot of them you'll understand. But if you'd like to take notes. Get it in the sun, number one. I talked to you about this yesterday. Melatonin even in what is it in Calgary today, minus 25 degrees Celsius. That doesn't matter. Is the sun out, the sun's out and you don't put your sunglasses on and you get sunlight on the lens of your eyeballs? Okay, the retina. You know what happens? You make melatonin, you make melatonin. So sunlight, we talk about that yesterday and there was a new study out that just confirmed what we're saying about it. It really is effective. You sleep better when the sun is out generally, okay? And understand how your body works with the melatonin. Don't put your sunglasses on. That's number two.
Fifth, people ask me how long? About 15 to 20 minutes. And for some, you know, get used to it. Look, I know some people are very sun sensitive, their eyes, and especially when they have adrenal exhaustion, any light and especially sunlight bothers them. I get that. Okay, I get that. Number three, avoid blue light. Avoid blue light. And that light is your tv, smart tv, your smartphone and your iPad. Those apple eye watches, I want to shoot them. I don't like that one. I don't have one, but I don't like it. Okay? And that's important. That's important. That really disrupt sleep is that blue light. So guys, when you get into bed, this'll be one of them. Where did I have masks? Number eight, cover your eyes. We talked about this yesterday. When you cover your eyes with a mask, wear a mask at night. It's a good idea. Unless you can get your room completely light free and even that blue light, turn your alarm clock the other way or whatever. I don't know what you have to do. Put something over top of it. Cause you don't see any light, you don't think of, I'm sleeping, but that light's affecting you. You're not making as much melatonin.
Listen to a quote. This is in my new book. Blue light at night is terrible for your health. It significantly lowers melatonin. Okay, we just talked about that. Leading to a lower autophagy, auto fagy, auto whatever E. Okay? You know when your body is doing the self-cleaning, your body has a way of cleaning itself up called autophagy. But blue light disrupts it. Cool your room. Cool your room. Study after study has show the colder the better. Okay? My wife says, I can see my breath. I love opening up the windows in the middle of winter. Okay, cold. I said, I know, but you sleep better. Put on more blankets. That's all 50 years of marriage. Got to have a lot of patience. Not with her. She has to have a lot of patience with me. Okay? Cause I tell her, I practice what I preach. I tell people to keep their room cool so they can sleep. We're going to keep our room cool. And I know what's best for you, dear <laugh>. That doesn't go over well.
Okay, take a hot shower. Take a hot shower, a hot bath about an hour before going to bed with Epsom salts. You know what Epsom salts are, right? They're magnesium salts. Really good for you. Anytime you hear the word magnesium, think of the word relax because that's what magnesium does. It relaxes you, okay? Magnesium relaxes, relaxes your muscles. It relaxes the body. Magnesium's a very important salt, okay? It does about I don't know, magnesium does about 300 things, but it's not the only salt, but it really is effective. I love magnesium. Okay? I love magnesium. And avoid high intensity exercise. Avoid it. Don't do it before bed. If you got trouble sleeping, don't go exercising at night. Okay? Now you might go for a walk that's different, but nothing high intensity, okay? Nothing high intensity. If you're having trouble sleeping, I know some people, man, they can sleep. They can't get over it.
Now block your ears because I'm not, you're going to say, Dr. Martin's not really saying this. Stop drinking coffee. Now wait, let me give you a little caveat, a little asterisks on that. Stop drinking coffee except for decaffeinated. Decaffeinated, okay, you can drink decaffeinated coffee. Now is it as good as the real thing? Well, I'll tell you what I found out when I was about 50, you couldn't get me to drink a decaf if my life depended on it. I didn't like it. I wanted the real thing. I wanted full octane coffee and then I hit 50. And then I found out, you know what, I don't sleep at night. If I have a regular coffee, I can't do it anymore. So in the afternoon or whatever, if I have a coffee and I like having a coffee every once in a while in the afternoon I have four cups of coffee a day.
People ask me, doc, when do you I have three in the morning. That's me. I've been doing that for well over 50 years. Okay? Three coffee in the morning. Every once in a while I'll have five cups of coffee in a day. I might have one in the afternoon, but if I do, it's a decaf. I got to have decaf. So that's, that's one of the points. Switch to decaf. Don't be drinking coffee. And some people, I'm telling you, I've found this out over the years with different, they couldn't have a regular coffee at all after morning time. They couldn't. And I said, well, that's adrenal to some extent. And if that's the case, that's the case. Okay? So stop drinking coffee.
Now, do I have any more points that I wrote down here? Consistency. Okay, try and get to bed at the same time. Your body works on a circadian rhythm. You know what? I got four great-grandchildren. Okay? Four great-grandchildren. And talking to their moms. They're good sleepers. The kids are good sleepers. And you talk to Dr. Mom and they'll tell you it's consistency. They go to bed at the same time. They have their nap at the same time. And when we get older, pretend you're a baby <laugh>, get into a routine and go to bed at the same time every night with very few exceptions. That's not a bad idea, is it? Anyway, forming habits. And look, supplements. People have asked me about that over the years. You name it, you name it. In almost 50 years of practice, I tried it or I had people try. You name the supplement. My opinion, and I'm just going to say it, the best sleeping is a our Cortisol Formula.
Now let me say another point. Stop eating at night. Don't eat at night, okay? Don't eat at night unless you are hypoglycemic you low blood sugar. And I've had some patients look, have a little snack at night. Could they have very low blood sugar until they get that fixed? That's different. But on general, I talk to people, don't eat past six o'clock. Give your body time to digest and to break down and to keep that bowel up in the stomach and whatever. And the other thing is too, we talked about this yesterday a little wee bit, and I'll just say it. Be careful if you're on sleep medications of any kind, just remember you're not getting into stage four and stage five, you're not getting into a deep sleep. You think you are, but you're not. And you're not getting into the recuperate stage between stage four and stage five, which is your deep sleep and REM sleep. You don't get in there.
Look, if you know and I know it, you know there's millions and millions and millions of people on sleeping pills, but the long-term of those are disastrous. Disastrous. Okay? Guys off tomorrow, I'm going to take a day off tomorrow. I'm coming on Saturday morning with question and answer Saturday. How do you like that question and answer Saturday? Friday off. Saturday on. 8:30, Saturday morning question and answer. Okay guys, 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!