WEBVTT - Lab 046: Do Not Disturb Part II 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:05.279 I'm TT and I'm Zachiah and from Spotify. 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:17.960 This is Dope Labs. 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:35.360 Welcome to Dope Labs, a weekly podcast that mixes hardcore science, 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:37.519 pop culture, and a healthy dose of friendship. 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.519 This week, we're continuing our new year series with the 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.800 second part of our sleep episode. In part one, we 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.680 talked about why sleep is so beneficial for our health. 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:49.120 We went through the multiple stages of sleep. 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.279 Today, our deep dive on sleep continues and we've got 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:53.720 a lot to cover, so let's just go ahead and 0:00:53.800 --> 0:01:07.399 jump into the recitation. Okay, so what do we know? Well, 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:10.240 we learned a lot in the last episode. I think 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:13.800 there's no denying sleep has major health benefits memory pruning 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:17.200 and consolidation. It's good for your immune system, your cells, 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.400 your muscles. I mean, everybody needs sleep, that's just the 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:21.000 gist of it. 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.319 Yes, And quality sleep basically means that you're getting about 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.640 seven to eight hours a night and going through all 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.200 the stages, especially delta, so that's deep sleep, and that's 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.040 where you have those slow brain waves and not getting 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:36.280 enough sleep push you at higher risk for all kinds 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.760 of things like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:42.800 But Strangely, the same thing goes for if you're getting 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.920 too much sleep, like over nine hours, that's also not good. 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.680 Another thing that we know from part one is that 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:53.400 society has a huge sleep debt. People aren't getting enough sleep, 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:57.280 and especially so in communities of color. More black and 0:01:57.360 --> 0:01:59.960 Latin X people than white people report getting less than 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:01.560 six hours of sleep regularly. 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:03.240 So what do we want to know? 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.720 So we know that people aren't really getting good quality sleep, 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:09.520 but I want to know the reasons why. So what 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:13.560 are common sleep disorders and other things that are keeping 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:17.080 people from having long sleep and deep sleep? 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:21.880 Yeah, and if we're seeing this disparity in sleep, what 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.880 are the psychosocial factors, so our beliefs or how we 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.040 behave that are associated with it? 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:28.800 And then I want to know what are some things 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:31.040 we can do to improve our sleep? 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.480 And you know, on that road to sleep improvement, is 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:36.600 it okay to take medication or over the counter of 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:37.160 sleep aids. 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:40.919 I'm afraid to know the answer. Let's jump into the dissection. 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:57.919 Our guest is renowned sleep expert doctor Jiardane Jean Louis, 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:01.320 who is currently the director of the brand new Translational 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:05.320 Sleep and Circadian Sciences Program at the University of Miami 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:06.720 Miller School of Medicine. 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:08.840 At the end of Part one, we started discussing these 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:11.680 sleep disparities within communities of color. Not only are these 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.680 communities not getting in enough sleep, they also take longer 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.320 to fall asleep and they wake up more routinely during 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:20.040 the night. And we also know that not getting enough 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:24.000 sleep can have some really serious health effects like cardiovascular 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.000 disease and dementia. So we really wanted to dig into 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:30.320 some of the environmental and psychosocial factors that might be 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.880 associated with poor sleep. Actually, doctor Jean Louis. 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:35.680 Is working on a study right now funded by the 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:37.680 NIH to examine just that. 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.520 So what we are looking at now is what are 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:44.720 some of those environmental factors that are causing what we 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:48.240 call sleep deficiency or poor sleep, or what are some 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.360 of those socco social factors that are associated with poor sleep. 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:53.960 I can't give you a falling so yet because that 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.560 study is ongoing, but I can tell you what we 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:59.080 figur're going to see. We're going to see that in 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:03.880 mignaritis communities, we have high level of noise, high level 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.880 of light pollution, high level of air pollution in the light. 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:09.600 Where you live can have a huge effect on your 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.800 quality of sleep for all of these reasons, noise, air, 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.360 and light pollution, and even lack of green space. 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.960 Folks while don't not normally go to the park, they 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.520 have no access to green space, the steep quality is 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.600 much lower and the stip diusion is also much lower. 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.080 So green space, as you may know, is good for 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.760 both physical healf as much as psychological helf. 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:32.520 High levels of light pollution also disturb sleep. 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.919 But how light can be a good thing, brightening our homes, 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:38.480 keeping streets well lit and safe for driving. But like 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:40.000 any good thing, there can be too. 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:44.240 Much of it. Light pollution is excessive use of artificial light, 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:46.719 and that can have adverse effects on your health. 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:48.880 If you live near a big city and don't see 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.760 a lot of stars, that's due to light pollution. If 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:53.480 you go out of the city and you're further away 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.400 from artificial lights, you'll be able to notice the stars more. 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.360 All the lights in the city, all the lights from buildings, factories, 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:02.840 billboard and street lamps, they give this effect called skyglow. 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:05.039 It sounds pretty, but it's not good for you. 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:07.320 Light pollution is a very important factor. A lot of 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:11.080 people don't realize this. Life is very important because light 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:16.119 regulates all of our hormonal cycles. So as our eyes 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.280 are exposed to light on a daily basis, it regulates 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.000 what we call the square gas. Many nuclears wish in 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:25.920 terms regulate melotonin by the temperature corossoal and the light. 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.240 What we find in for instance, is that we should 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.320 have a high level of exposure during the day and 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.640 almost no exposure at night. For some Black forks is 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.599 the opposite. They get very low light during the day 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.680 and high level of lights doing the night. Coming from 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.280 the perspective of a corona biologist, I know what light 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:45.599 does to a biology and also what light does in 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.880 terms of depression anxiety. So when you see that that 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.320 level pollution is present in our black communities, it's really alarming. 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.599 And there are other environmental factors that affect sleep too, 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:58.360 including noise, traffic, and air pollution. 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.520 But environmental factors aren't the only things that affect sleep. 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:05.320 Doctor Jean Louis explained that psychosocial factors also play a 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:06.760 large role in sleep quality. 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.599 We're also thinking about some of the psycho social factors. 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.560 There's a paper that came out that showed that if 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:15.240 you happen to be asking black and white in terms 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:19.160 of insomnia symptoms, and we're looking at perceived racism, you'll 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.159 see for black folks those which do we port in 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:26.320 samia symptoms, many of those were associated with perceived racism. 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:29.400 So that tells you they are psychological factors of psycle, 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.640 social factors as well as environmental factors that are both 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.640 causing black and band folks to have poor sleep, which 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.000 in terms, we dispose them to have high ways of 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:42.520 cardiovascy disease and high rises of dementia because of what 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:45.119 we call poor deathtacity, a poor slow it sleep. 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:47.560 But for some people, the reason they aren't getting good 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:51.920 quality sleep isn't just environmental or psychosocial. Many people also 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:53.240 have sleep disorders. 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.840 There are eighty eight zero different types of sleep disorders. 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:59.039 We have all kinds of sleep disorders. 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:03.640 A that's a lot. Eighty I thought it was insomnia, 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:04.800 sleep apnea, that's it. 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:05.400 That was it. 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:09.880 I don't know. Eighty Then we all got it. 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:12.560 We have to Everyone has restless leg syndrome. I have 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:16.080 heard of that. Okay, so that's three yeah, yeah, I 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:18.000 mean I know that on the right scale. I'm just 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:19.000 telling you. That's all I know. 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:27.000 Okay, okay, let's start with the first one that I 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:28.920 think we all know. Insomnia. 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.680 Sleep quality really simply means if you go to bed 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:34.400 for seven hours, how much sleep do you actually get. 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:36.680 If you get close to seven hours, you'll have high 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:39.480 se quality. If you have five out of seven, that's 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:43.400 possely quality. In other words, anytime you're spending less than 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:47.040 eighty five percent of your bedtime sleeping, you have post quality. 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:49.080 And that's how we diagnose in somnia. By the way, 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.240 if it's less than eighty five percent, you are at 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:52.400 wish for having insomnia. 0:07:52.800 --> 0:08:00.480 Record scratch, Zakia, you are having insomnia. 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:03.720 I like to count when I got in the bed 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:05.800 and when I got up. You're telling me that. 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.240 All those hours rolling from one side of the bed 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.080 to the other. On Instagram and all the corners of 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.280 the internet. My friend is in every corner of the Internet. 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.160 I'm reading everybody's newsletter at two am. 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:18.320 That's insomnia. 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.160 Hmm, I just call it informed. 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:28.880 Actually, those are my educational hours, my office hours. 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:32.920 Getting my continuing medical credits at that hour. 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:36.920 Okay, my friend is trying to get another doctor a degree. 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.800 But the KIA it sounds like you're not alone because 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:42.480 doctor Jean Louis says a lot of folks experience this 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:43.760 on some scale. 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:46.560 Almost everybody had experiences at one point in their life. 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:49.440 Perhaps it's start quatic insomnia. It's short term. I mean 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.160 it sense that you're anxious about any event that happened 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:53.720 in your life. It lasts for a couple of weeks, 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.160 it goes away, but it doesn't become a chronic problem 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:58.400 because most of the time we resolve whatever the issues 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:00.520 may be and then we get back to schedule. 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:04.520 This short term insomnia is also called acute insomnia and 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.079 usually passes in a couple of weeks, But for those 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.080 with chronic insomnia, which can last for months or longer, 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:13.680 it can really adversely affect your health and quality of life. 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:17.760 It's hard to say exactly what causes chronic insomnia. Sometimes 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:21.240 it can be caused by other medical conditions like anxiety 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.000 or depression, and sometimes insomnia can be the result of 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:30.400 side effects from other medication like antidepressants or stimulants. Insomnia 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:32.559 is also more common with aging. 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.680 Insomnia can also be caused by other sleep disorders, like 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:37.160 sleep apnia. 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.360 Sleep openiz is a condition where people go to bed 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:45.000 and they just stop breezing. Why is that? Essentially the 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:50.360 excep suit on the upper airway puts pressure under thought, 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.320 which makes it more difficult for them to breathe. Sometimes 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:57.959 they stop gaving completely, sometimes they stop breathing partially. So 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:01.480 dependent upon how much occlusion you have in the upper 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:03.880 airway you hear the person snaw. 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.880 Doctor Jean Louis compared it to a garden hose. If 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.439 you're water in your garden and somebody steps on the hose, 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.920 you'll see that water is barely coming out of the 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.319 hose or it just stops completely. That's exactly what's happening 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:17.880 to the upper airways for someone with sleep avenue. 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.520 So that foot on the hose is the occlusion all 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:23.800 the way down, no air only down a little bit. 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:25.600 That water's just trickling out. 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:29.800 So essentially you snow because the brain realizes it's not 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:33.760 getting enough oxygen, therefore send a signal to you saying 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.160 that you have to wake up now and make the 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:40.200 effort to breathe. So when you hear somebody snaw, what 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.760 you're hearing is that the most of the upper areay 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:47.200 are vibrating. The vibration is what we hear as a 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:51.040 snowing episode. Snowing in fact, suggests that you're in deep sleep. 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:54.080 Nothing could be further from the truth. Snowing is in 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.240 fact an education that there's something is wrong. 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.240 This blew my mind because so he's saying that snoring 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:02.839 is your body waking you up because you need oxygen. 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:07.280 Your body's like, hey, it's like the rumble strip when 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.720 you on the highway, wake up, you veering off the road? 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.400 Yes, the rumble strip oxygen. Yes, Well, they need to 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.120 stop making those cartoons that are teaching us that the 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.640 deepest sleep is when you snore and you see disease. 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:21.880 That's exactly how I felt. I was like, but in 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:24.920 the cartoons, all the cartoon dogs and cats that were 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:27.280 in deep sleep or snoring, I feel wid too. I 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:27.920 feel tricked. 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:30.679 Yes, a little bit of snoring all right, But if 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:33.880 you're snoring NonStop every night, that might be a problem. 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:35.240 You might need to get that checked out. 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.760 And doctor John Luis said that for some people with 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.240 really severe sleep apnea, they might wake up up to 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:44.680 three hundred to four hundred times a night. 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:47.200 I'm not sleep long enough for three hundred to four 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.439 hundred times a night. That is wild something wake me 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:50.760 up three hundred times in the night. 0:11:50.840 --> 0:12:01.600 That thing gotta die during eight hours of sleep. That's 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:05.600 like every one to two minutes. Oh and based on 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.160 what we know about the sleep cycle and sleep duration, 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:11.280 that is not going to feel good when you wake 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:12.040 up in the morning. 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:14.520 And it's not just about getting a poor night's sleep. 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:18.120 Doctor Jean Luis says if sleep apnea isn't diagnosed or treated, 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:20.000 it can lead to a greater risk of heart attack 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:20.480 or stroke. 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:23.559 The next disorder we're going to talk about is narcolepsy. 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.680 The third one we talk about would be nocolepsy. You 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:30.160 may have heard about this so often. It happens when 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.920 somebody happens to be in their elite teens early adulthood. 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.679 Not Colepsy essentially is a very huge problem. 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:40.440 Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder where the brain is 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:44.240 unable to regulate sleep wake cycles. People with narcolepsy will 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:46.719 often feel really drowsy throughout the day, even if they 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.600 wake up feeling well rested, and they can experience sleep 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.520 attacks where they just fall asleep instantly. Can you imagine 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:53.520 how scary that would be. 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:55.640 This is a really serious condition. I know we talked 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:58.480 about me loving sleep and being able to fall asleep 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.680 really easily, but this is another level. This is not 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:02.360 the same thing. 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.720 Now, you do fall asleep really quickly, I do. It's 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:06.600 like you press up button. 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:08.720 I feel like I could close my eyes just like this. 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.160 I'm like, m sleep is right around the corner. 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.480 Yeah, you just are treading very closely to the alpha 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.960 beta line whatever that was, from awake to sleep. I 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:19.880 feel like you're always I'm alright. 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:20.319 S aright there. 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:24.520 Essentially, some of those people experienced what we call ncollectic attack. 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:26.480 If you happen to be at a club, you having 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:29.280 a good time, you're cracking jokes, if they become emotional 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:30.000 to your wows. 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:34.560 This triggers that Typically a person enters ram sleep about 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.600 sixty to ninety minutes into their sleep cycle, but people 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.640 with narcolepsy enter ram sleep much faster, more like fifteen 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:42.920 minutes after falling asleep. 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:45.360 And Narcolepsic can be caused by a lot of different things, 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.679 but one of them is the absence of hypocretan, which 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:51.720 is a chemical that promotes wakefulness and regulates rims sleep. 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.560 There's one more sleep disorder that doctor Jean Luis talked 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:56.320 about restless leg syndrome. 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:58.520 The fourth one I would talk about is west less 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.480 leg syndrome. We just a problem that happens most of 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:03.559 the time when somebody gets to be older. 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:06.400 Restless leg syndrome is exactly what it sounds like, a 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.680 sleep disorder that causes an irresistible urge to move the legs. 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:14.000 Is especially prevalent at night. So that's just for sleep disorders. 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:17.080 And doctor Jean Luis said that there's over eighty that's 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:20.800 a lot of issues that can prevent a good night's sleep. Insomnia, 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:23.760 sleep apnea, and narcolepsy are some of the most common 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:25.840 sleep disorders. And when we come back, we're going to 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:48.840 talk about circadian rhythm, our body's biological clock. We're back 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.200 and we're in week two of our New Year series. 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.280 Next week the series continues with a lab on the 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:59.600 immune system. We're talking to doctor Piel Gupta, an allergist 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:03.040 immunelogists based in New York City who also had some 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:04.120 things to say about sleep. 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:06.480 So we've talked a lot about things that can cause 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.600 poor sleep, whether it's environmental or cycle, social factors, or 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:11.920 sleep disorders. And later in the show, we're going to 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.080 talk about actual treatments and tips for getting better sleep, 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.040 but first we want to zoom out a little bit 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:19.920 and talk about the importance of sleep in the context 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:23.400 of our body's biological clock. Last week, doctor Jean Louis 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.600 walked us through the different stages of sleep. During each stage, 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:31.080 our brains are producing ways with different frequencies alpha, beta, theta, 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:31.800 and delta. 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.320 Doctor Jean Louis is really talking about our brain activity 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.040 in the context of a twenty four hour cycle called 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.680 our circadian rhythm. When we're awake, our brains have certain 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.440 functions and activities just like when we're asleep. 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:47.600 And circadian rhythm is really nature's clock. Plants have it 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:50.440 and animals have it. This twenty four hour cycle dictates 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:54.920 everything from sleep to wake cycles, to hormone levels, body temperature, 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:55.920 and much more so. 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.960 How does that work exactly? When our eyes are exposed 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:01.760 to light, it gives our bodies certain cues. 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:05.400 The particular cells in our eyes in the retina that 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:09.320 pick up that signal, they call them the retinal ganglion cells. 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:11.960 So if you're thinking about what the eyes are actually doing, 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.640 they do two things really. One is that they form 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.640 an image of the environment, and that goes to the 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.480 back of the head, the cortical cortext where we begin 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:23.440 to appreciate that we are looking at a car, we 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.280 are looking at a house, and the light. Light does 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:29.160 something else. It regulates what we call the super chaves 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:33.560 body nuclears. There is signally sent to the pioneer gland 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.600 that secretes melotona. Melotoni is the best marker of the 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.920 health of our circadian clock or the twenty four cycle. 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:44.600 So really our circadian rhythm controls our lives. That light 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:46.760 that doctor Jean Louis is talking about that causes the 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.640 pineal gland to secrete melatonin also regulates our hormone levels. 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.440 So without light dictating our circadian rhythm will be all 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:55.160 over the place. 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.800 This also means that when we're not absorbing enough light 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:03.040 at the right time, our circadian rhythm and as a result, 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:05.240 our health can be compromised. 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:07.320 So we can imagine what's going to happen is that 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.800 as we get older, some of these cells in our 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:13.560 eyes begin to degenerate, begin to die. For instance, if 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:15.520 you ask me about why do we have to get 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.560 a dysfunction among blacks mostly than white, it may be 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:22.359 because the weight of glaucoma is much higher in among blacks. 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:25.160 Glacoma occurs when there is increased pressure in the eye 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:27.160 that keeps you from being able to see properly. So 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:29.560 if you have high blood pressure, you're more likely to 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:30.359 have glaucoma. 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.600 And that makes me think about nocturnal hypertension, which we 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:36.920 talked about earlier. Our blood pressure is supposed to drop 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:40.040 during sleep if you're not getting enough sleep or getting 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.680 good quality sleep, So getting into that delta area, your 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:47.600 blood pressure is going to stay high, and that's nocturnal hypertension. 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.639 So if you have glackoma, the cells that are supposed 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:54.399 to picking up the signal from the light begin to degenerate. 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:57.600 Therefore you're not able to synchronize your SCN as well 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.920 as your would which when you can't synchronize, believe of melaltnin. 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.080 So that's one of the reasons why you see all 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.119 of those sleep problems among black box simply because we 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:08.720 tend to develop black coma and a much higher with 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:12.040 COMPA in all the groups. So that's the mechanism really 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.920 by which light has an influence on the biology. 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.880 And sometimes a deficiency in light comes from external factors. 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.240 Like there's just not enough of it. During the winter months, 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:24.920 as the days become shorter and the sun sets earlier 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:28.200 and earlier, it can affect our circadian rhythm. The sun 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:29.520 is retiring at three pm. 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:34.800 Okay, therefore we're not suppressing melaton as we should. If 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:38.240 we have excess amount of metal tonin in the system, 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.119 especially if you happen to be a female, then you 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:44.520 might experience some level of side. 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:47.919 SAD is seasonal effective disorder, and it's a type of 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:51.199 depression that happens during a specific time of year, usually 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:51.639 the winter. 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:54.960 It's a spectrum. Some people feel a little bit down, 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:57.679 a little bit moody, a little bit aggravated. All the 0:18:57.720 --> 0:18:59.280 people are just completely aggravated. 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.280 It can't function and at that point, you know, And 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.000 we talked about this a little bit in Lab seventeen 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:06.840 fall back when we talked about daylight savings time. 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:08.120 Oh yeah, that's right. 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.440 Is it saving time or saving time? I got to 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:11.320 go back to that lab. 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:15.760 It's saving no, no ass. And so I've actually heard 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:18.679 of people buying lamps that are supposed to mimic on 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:23.720 light to help combat ZAD. So I'm curious about how 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:24.320 that works. 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:27.800 Light therapy does in fact help and to some degree 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:33.040 exagernous melotony. Melotony you're taking to have regulate your cirkainin profile. 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:35.320 You can buy a light box and put it on 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:38.040 the top of your desk and get about thirty minutes 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.800 every morning. It would have regulate your circainity rhythm much better. 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:46.080 But if you're thinking about light therapy, remember not all 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:49.200 light is created equal, not all light exposure is good. 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:53.639 There's some indication that there's a particular gene in our 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:58.120 eyes what you call pur jeans and cryptochom crypto cooms 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:02.240 a preferentially respond to blue light. And what do we 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:05.080 know about the tablets and the cell points what kind 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:06.000 of light do they emit? 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:06.840 Blue? 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.720 So if you are instead of dulling the minds, so 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:14.479 to speak, instead of soothing the brain, so to speak, 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:18.480 you're exciting the mind. You're exciting the brain. You realize 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:20.960 instead of taking you about fifteen to two minutes fall sleep, 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:24.040 it's taking you about an hour. So similarly we used 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:26.800 to tell people before tablets, do not have a TV 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.440 in your bedroom because it's going to excite the brain. 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:31.639 You don't want to arouse yourself, you want to soothe 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:32.080 the brain. 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:33.800 I feel like there are so many things that can 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:37.080 keep us from getting a good night sleep, So let's 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:40.159 talk about what can actually help. What options do people 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.080 have to improve their sleep. 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:45.359 I've heard things like taking melatonin, but are there other 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:49.240 options when it comes to medication and are they effective 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:50.400 and safe? 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:54.520