Speaker 1: Stay Calm as a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Stay Calm, your daily dose of calmness. I'm Bob Roth,
Speaker 1: and I've been teaching people to meditate for fifty years,
Speaker 1: helping them to stay calm under pressure, reboot and re
Speaker 1: energize their lives, and basically be a happier, healthier version
Speaker 1: of themselves. And now I want to help you do
Speaker 1: the same. Ready, sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths,
Speaker 1: and let's begin today's journey. Just before the coronavirus lockdown
Speaker 1: happened in March, I took a night flight from Los
Speaker 1: Angeles to New York City. The seat didn't recline and
Speaker 1: I couldn't really sleep. I meditated and that helped, but
Speaker 1: basically I pulled an all nighter. It took me a
Speaker 1: few days to recover. It reminded me of the old
Speaker 1: days when I was in college and I would pull
Speaker 1: an all night or studying for an exam. In both cases,
Speaker 1: I messed with my circadian rhythm, throwing off my biological clock. Now,
Speaker 1: during the coronavirus pandemic, millions of us are throwing off
Speaker 1: her circadian rhythms. But it's not because of all night
Speaker 1: travels or cramming for an exam. It's because of the
Speaker 1: irregularity of our lives. Because there's so little structure, the
Speaker 1: days all seem to blend together, and the line between
Speaker 1: work and leisure time is obscured when your living room
Speaker 1: doubles as your home office. Well, now I'd like to
Speaker 1: introduce you to my very good friend, doctor Norman Rosenthal, psychiatrist,
Speaker 1: medical researcher, and best selling author. He was also the
Speaker 1: first to describe something called seasonal effective disorder effect of
Speaker 1: light on moods. With so much frustration and so many
Speaker 1: concerns about sleeplessness and other problems coming during the quarantine,
Speaker 1: I asked him to explain circadian rhythms and why they're
Speaker 1: so out of whack these days. Doctor Rosenthal said Circadian
Speaker 1: rhythms are changes in your mind, your body, and your
Speaker 1: behavior that follow a daily cycle. These changes respond mainly
Speaker 1: to light and darkness in your environment when you sleep
Speaker 1: at night and are awake during the day. That's an
Speaker 1: example of a circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms also regulate your
Speaker 1: body temperature, the release of hormones, how you digest your food,
Speaker 1: how hungry you are, and whether or not you're sleepy
Speaker 1: during the day. These rhythms are controlled and synchronized by
Speaker 1: a master clock in the middle part of your brain.
Speaker 1: Light sends a signal to the master clock when you're asleep,
Speaker 1: and the light from the morning sun hits the retina
Speaker 1: of your eye and travels through the optic nerve to
Speaker 1: the master clock. This basically signals your brain it's time
Speaker 1: to wake up. The master clock then alerts other parts
Speaker 1: of your brain that control body temperature, hormones, and other functions.
Speaker 1: The response is just the opposite when the sun goes
Speaker 1: down and it it's dark in the evening. Then your
Speaker 1: brain releases the sleep hormone melatonin, and you feel sleepy
Speaker 1: and you want to go to bed. The big problem
Speaker 1: here is with the city lights that some of us
Speaker 1: live with and the blue lights from the TV screen
Speaker 1: and computer screen that we all live with. All this
Speaker 1: light suppresses the release of melatonin, and now you can't
Speaker 1: go to sleep, even though it's late and your body
Speaker 1: is exhausted over time. Disrupted circadian rhythms can lead to
Speaker 1: sleep disorders, obesity, diabetes, depression, bipolar disorder, seasonal effective disorder.
Speaker 1: The list goes on. What can we do to bring
Speaker 1: our circadian rhythms online so we feel healthy, resilient, clear, energetic, happy.
Speaker 1: Amazingly simple things, even if your schedule is crazy. As
Speaker 1: much as possible. Go to sleep on time, wake up
Speaker 1: one time, exercise if possible when the sun is up,
Speaker 1: rest when it's dark, Meditate, eat regular meals. Also, maintain
Speaker 1: a regular structure to your day. Make your bed in
Speaker 1: the morning. We're nice clothes around the house, not fancy ones,
Speaker 1: but not a robe either. Maintain a normal routine and
Speaker 1: a normal feeling about your life. And since getting enough
Speaker 1: sleep is one of the single most important things we
Speaker 1: can do to restore balance to our circadian rhythms, Dr
Speaker 1: Rosenthal recommends minimizing the impact of that dreaded blue light
Speaker 1: from your computer screen. Blue light will just suppress your melotonin,
Speaker 1: which means odds are you're not going to get a
Speaker 1: good night's sleep. And here's my tip of the day.
Speaker 1: If you're determined to watch TV or work on your
Speaker 1: computer late into the night, Dr Rosenthal recommends you get
Speaker 1: a pair of orange goggles. Orange goggles will block the
Speaker 1: blue light. They help Dr Rosenthal get a good night's sleep.
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll help you too, all right, let's end this
Speaker 1: time together doing something that I think should be a
Speaker 1: feature of our everyday life, and that's appreciation and gratitude.
Speaker 1: So let's take thirty seconds of quiet, thirty seconds to
Speaker 1: take a break, just take a moment. It turns out
Speaker 1: when we do that, it's good for our health as well.
Speaker 1: I'll be right back all right. Thank you for joining
Speaker 1: me today. I hope you heard something that in spires
Speaker 1: that uplifts you and that you can incorporate into your
Speaker 1: own life. This is Bob Roth. Stay calm, hey, all
Speaker 1: of you out there, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your stories, your questions, or anything
Speaker 1: else on your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook or Instagram at meditation Bob. You can also send
Speaker 1: me an email at meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: I look forward to hearing from you.