WEBVTT - THE SLEEP DOCTOR: MICHAEL BREUS PhD. 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:13.240 What is the one thing you can do to improve 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:17.480 just about every aspect of your life? Your energy, sharpness, performance, 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:21.760 your immunity and longevity, even your sanity. It's something that 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:24.320 every single one of us does every day of our lives, 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.840 but we too often do it poorly. Well, today I've 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:33.600 got the world renowned sleep doctor, Michael Bruce. He says 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:38.800 we can't achieve true wellness without conquering sleep problems. I 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:43.000 was sleep deprived for about years. I was fooling myself 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:46.000 that it wasn't damaging my mind and body. But I 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:49.440 have seen the light and I have used many of 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:53.200 the ideas and practical tools that doctor Bruce has pioneered 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.760 as a clinical psychologist and best selling author. His books 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:01.360 include The Power of When and the latest one Energize, 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.800 How to go from Dragging ass to Kicking It in 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:08.520 thirty Days. I do love the title. His website, The 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.360 Sleep Doctor dot com, is loaded with all kinds of 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:14.920 great info. So here we go a coveted appointment with 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:18.840 this sleep doctor. Well, Michael, I don't believe in regrets, 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:21.959 and I've long ago given up trying to improve my past. 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.160 But if I had known about the stuff that you 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:29.320 have been espousing for the last twenty years, I probably 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.080 would live longer because before you get into this, this 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:35.479 was a very ignored space, and you were a pioneer, 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:37.600 and so there wasn't as much info out there. And 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:39.679 so for about twenty five years when I hosted College 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:41.640 Game Day, I got buy in about four or five 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:45.120 hours of sleep a night, night after night, week after week, 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:47.520 for months at a time, for twenty five years, because 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.960 I just I felt he was required. I was getting 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.120 by an adrenaline and caffeine. But I feel like I 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.680 took years off my life by doing that. So the 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.440 good news is, I don't think you've taken two off 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:02.600 the back end of your life, and there's lots of 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:04.680 room for improvement. So I don't want you to worry. 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.640 Um And as I think we've talked about before, I'm 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:11.200 a huge college football fan, and this year my team 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:13.840 is doing quite well. I went to the University of Georgia, 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.480 so we're being the champions last year and looking pretty 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.000 good this year. I'm watching a lot of college football. 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.880 My friend, these are good days for the dogs. Yeah, 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.640 all my friends who are Georgia fans at a great 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:28.600 time in Indianapolis last year for the championship and they 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:31.600 might get a sequel this year. In working with college 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:35.560 football teams and athletes, sleep Michael has become such a 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:39.520 huge topic, and the players sleep is monitored and they 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:43.240 are expected to report that data, required to report that 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.120 data every day, and if they miss sleep, they're chewed 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.840 out like missing a tackle in a practice. That's awesome. 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:52.480 I love that stuff well. And here's the thing that 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:54.040 a lot of people don't think about is, you know, 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:57.079 when you're talking about you know, Division one, Division two, 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:59.959 Division three, you know, kids who are athletes like these 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.680 are elite kids right like the and and they're they're 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.600 top highly tested for things like steroids and things of 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.120 that nature. And so if you're looking for the edge, 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:11.520 it's in sleep. Um And a lot of people never 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:13.040 think about it that way. But if you are a 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:15.960 well slept athlete, I can show you reams of data 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:19.440 to show people getting their personal best on you know, 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:23.040 days when they're well slept, on world records. I mean, honestly, 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.640 some of the athletes I've worked with historically, the difference 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:27.679 between being on the podium or off the podium in 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:30.200 the Olympics is how you slept the night before. Almost 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.200 every time. It got me thinking because some of us 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.520 just try to get by, but athletes need to achieve, 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:38.680 you know, peak performance, and a lot of what you 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:42.720 write about is how to optimize your performance whatever you're doing, 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:45.920 based on getting enough sleep and getting enough quality sleep. Yeah, 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:48.080 And that's the big thing that is important for people, 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:49.880 you know who are listening to think about is we're 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.960 not just talking about quantity of sleep, but we're actually 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.760 talking about quality of sleep, right, And so while minutes 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:58.800 or hours are important, at the end of the day, 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.280 it's what are you getting in those minutes that I 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.920 would argue is probably much more important before you came along, 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.360 and web MD had nothing on on sleep at all, 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:11.560 before you became the kind of O G Sleep expert 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.520 and web m d. But I think in in we 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.680 talked about athletic culture and military culture, even a hard 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:21.520 charging business culture, so many areas of of I'll just 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:25.279 talk about men's culture, sayings like, you know, sleep is 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.240 for the week. My brother heard that as a marine 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.440 again and again, or I'll sleep when I'm dead. That's 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.200 kind of like the frat house bro culture. Come on out. 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.680 I mean, people who are just fighting the idea that 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.400 the sleep was even necessary to get by, and we're 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:45.000 seeing that lesson less nowadays. Um. And I don't know 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:47.760 if that's because kids who are younger are smarter than 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:50.159 we were, um, and they're like, hold on a second, 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:52.880 I want my sleep, Like I feel much better, I 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.360 perform better when I sleep. Um. I think they're more 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:58.200 interested in balance in their overall lifestyle, and so I 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.840 think that's kind of coming through it. But to be fair, look, 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:03.680 I'm fifty four years old. I mean, you know, my 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:05.920 dad walked into the room at you know, six thirty 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.640 in the morning banging a punch of pots and pans 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:10.680 to wake my ass up in high school, right, Like 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:13.080 that's what happened back then. It was none of this, 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.560 oh honey, hit the snooze button three times, you know. 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:18.120 It was like, get your ass out of bed and 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:21.799 do your chores. So I think generationally we're talking about 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.960 very different kind of universes. But you're right, there used 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.800 to be a culture where you were you were a 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.040 whim if you got if you wanted to go take 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:31.960 a nap, or you said you were too tired to 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.400 do something. Yeah, nothing could be further from the truth. 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:36.359 By the way, I love the saying that you have 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.720 that that that sleep is a domino, maybe the lead 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.880 domino in a bigger conversation about wellness. If you can 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.440 get people to understand that that whether you're eating right, 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.760 not drinking too much, not smoking, working out, getting your 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.919 steps in, managing your stress, if that sleep piece of 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:57.040 it isn't right, can you be at a well person. 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:00.880 There's no universe. I would argue you can. You cannot 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.359 do wellness without sleep. I would argue there's three big 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:06.719 areas that you can't do wellness without You can't do 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:10.800 wellness and without breathing properly, you can't do wellness without hydration, 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.120 and you can't do wellness without sleep. I think all 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.320 three of those are dominoes. But I agree that is 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:17.520 kind of my new idea now is like I look 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.120 for those things that are so basic in health and 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:22.920 wellness that if you get that right, several other things 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:25.279 kind of click into place. Right, And I think that's 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:27.560 what you're referring to here is if you're interested in 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.240 weight loss, there's no universe you're gonna lose weight if 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.040 you're sleeping four and a half hours a night. It 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.600 just isn't gonna happen, like your body, your physical body 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.840 would not allow for it to happen because it's like 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:40.760 I need to use those resources, right, So you know 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.039 it wants to get make you hungry and forage for 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:44.760 more food and all of those types of things. And 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:48.080 so yeah, getting sleep right really it gets everything right. 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.440 I mean I tell people all the time, everything you do, 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.320 you do better with a good night sleep. Right. It 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.800 doesn't necessarily guarantee wellness if you neglect with the other 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:57.800 things we're talking about, but you can't have it without 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:03.080 at least addressing that. I think that's important. Um, your 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.839 original book is Beauty Sleep. There the first book. We 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.000 have a copy here. This is from about fifteen years ago. 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:10.520 I love the fact that you have that, so believe 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:12.600 it or not. That is my first book. But it 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.000 was titled something different when it came out in paper 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.080 in a hardcover, So in hardcover it was called good Night, 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:20.680 the Sleep Doctor's thirty day Program to better sleep and 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.760 better health. And to be honest with you, dude, it 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.600 didn't sell very well, and so the publisher came back 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:28.480 to them They're like, we want to go with your 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.720 original idea, which was Beauty Sleep, because what I wanted 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:33.240 to do was show people how you could, you know, 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:37.160 aesthetically look better based on getting better sleep. And so 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:39.520 they're like, absolutely, let's throw that in as the title, 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.040 and the book actually performed better with the new title, 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:45.320 same same content, like literally same pages and everything. But yeah, 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:47.679 that's my first We'll get to a lot of things, 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.440 the chronic types, which is something you pioneered, how you 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:53.840 stay asleep, how you wake up in the morning, all 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.480 those things, but just getting to sleep in this book, 0:07:56.480 --> 0:08:00.360 I remember reading the line I can't turn my mind off. 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:04.480 I just cannot shut it down. It's impossible for me. 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:06.960 And that resident at that time is before I sort 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.680 of embrace meditation as an idea and stretching before bedtime. 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:13.640 Your work and others have have shown me the way, 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.720 but so many people Michael's I just can't. So much 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:18.800 is going maybe now more than ever. I can't shut 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.440 my mind off with everything that's on my plate. Well, 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:23.200 and and here's what I would tell you is I 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.960 think you're correct. I think it is more now than 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.520 it has ever been before. I mean, if you think 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:32.960 about it, there's a lot more crisis is crises or 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:34.960 crisis is I'm not sure what the plural of crisis 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:39.240 is going on now than ever before. Right We've got 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:44.840 financial crisis, we've got pandemic crisis, we've got social media insanity, 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:49.440 we've got an election coming up. Like, there's so many 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:53.200 things to make people stressful right now that, to be 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:55.440 honest with you, I'm surprised that anybody's getting a good 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:58.640 night's sleep. Here's here's an interesting statistic for you. Since 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.800 the pandemic, there's been a I believe it's a twenty 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:07.960 three percent increase in sleeping pill prescriptions written. Shocking. I 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:09.880 mean the first I was gonna ask you being short 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:13.440 of medication, because many people's first instinct, I got a problem, 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:15.600 take a pill, I didn't matter what it is, and 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.000 something is basically getting to sleep. There's plenty of products 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:19.560 out there that that say they're gonna do it with 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:23.920 no side effects short of medication, which is not something 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.800 I embraced in general. What what are the best ways 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.320 to get us to shut our minds down and then 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:31.880 get off to a good good night's sleep. So there's 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:33.439 a lot of different things, but I want to start 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.160 out by saying one thing to for for listeners out there, 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.120 just to be super duper clear um that Chris and 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:41.840 I are not saying that if you're currently taking a 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.600 sleeping aid that that's a bad thing. That is not 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:46.720 what we are saying. But what we are saying is 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:49.439 is that there are alternatives out there. If you need 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:51.920 a pill to sleep, and that's a relationship that you 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.839 have with your doctor. We have tremendous respect for that, 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:56.719 and we're not saying to change that in any way, 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:58.839 shape or form. But what we are saying is is 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.960 there alternative that anologies that might be healthier in the 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:06.360 long run for some situations. If you're a bipolar, uh, 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.560 you know individual and you need ambient to help you sleep, 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.600 take your damn ambient. Okay, Like I want to be 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.720 very clear about that. There's no pill shaming going on here, 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.320 but it would be let's be fair. If I go 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:20.680 into the sleep lab and I look at a patient there, 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.480 I can actually tell by looking at their brain waves 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:27.360 if they're on a medication. Because pharmaceutically induced sleep and 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.679 natural sleep are two different animals. They just are. There's 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.040 no kind of getting around it. So when we start 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.080 to start to think about how do we give people 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.320 a better night's sleep, there's really three different areas that 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:41.120 I like to look at before we get into pills 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.920 and prescriptions and things like that. Right, So number one 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.640 is your environment. Could there be something going on in 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.000 your environment that could be making your sleep worse? Absolutely 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:54.320 believe it. So this is gonna sound crazy. There's actually 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.920 a study showing that if you have your laundry laying 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:01.040 around your room, that it's hard to turn your brain 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.160 off because you look at it and you're like, oh shit, 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:04.800 I need to do that, or you have, you know, 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.240 a laptops sitting there. So really making your room more 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:12.320 conducive for sleep absolutely positively helps, especially for people who 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:14.520 tell me they can't turn off their brain because they're 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.319 always looking for some other piece of stimuli something along 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.400 those lines. So step number one, look around your environment. 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.160 Could there be something in your environment that's causing an issue? 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.560 Is it too loud? Is it too light? Um? Is 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.040 your bed partner disrupting you? Is there an animal in 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:32.000 the bed whatnot? That's area number one. Area number two 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:36.199 that I like to look at our actual physical deficiencies, right, 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.600 and so I say, talk to your doctor, get some 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.040 blood work. You want to look for three different things 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:43.080 you want to look for do you have a deficiency 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:46.760 in vitamin D, in magnesium or in any form of iron. 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:52.160 Any one of those three will absolutely make your sleep worthless. Um. 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:54.400 And so if you're low in those, it doesn't make 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:57.839 sense they give you, you know, ashwaganda or ambien when 0:11:57.840 --> 0:11:59.720 all you need is a magnesium You know what I'm saying. 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.440 So I like to really only give people the things 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.120 that their body needs and requires. So number one, if 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.400 you got any deficiencies, let's fix those deficiencies. Wait a 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:10.480 couple of weeks and see how your body reacts and 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:13.199 se if it sleeps better. Right again, it just might 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:15.280 be that you're not getting enough vitamin D. Believe it 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:18.559 or not, there's that that can definitely happen. The third area, 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:22.120 which which really focuses in on that I can't turn 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:26.560 off my brain, is cognitive behavioral therapy, so cognity. And 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:30.760 I'm trained in cognitive behavioral therapy and many psychologists are um. 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:33.199 And So what cognitive behavioral therapy is is is where 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:36.200 we change your behaviors in terms of we tell you 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:38.040 what time to go to bed, what time to wake up. 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.600 We might even make it a shorter period of time, 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.640 which would seem very counterintuitive for many of my insomniacs 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:45.800 where I tell them to go to bit later, not earlier. 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.679 But there's a technique within cognitive behavioral therapy that's very 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.160 that works quite well. The other thing that we do 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:55.120 not just looking at the behaviors. We look at your thoughts, right, 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.679 and that's where the I can't turn off my brain 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.920 really comes into play. So what are you thinking about 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.040 when this is happening? Are you thinking about work stuff? 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:04.920 Are you thinking about sleep? Are you? And so what 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:08.240 we do is we address those individual thoughts and we 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.800 make sure that they're real. Right. So, as an example, 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:13.640 one very common thought that I hear from people is 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:16.240 if I don't get X number of hours of sleep, 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.480 my entire day is going to be ruined the next day. 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.640 The truth of the matter is you've never I mean, 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:25.560 let's be fair, you've gotten bad sleep before many, many, 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.800 many times, and your entire day wasn't toast because of it. Right, 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:32.160 But we catastrophize, We make these things seem like they're 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:35.160 bigger than they really are. Um And so a lot 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:38.520 of times this cognitive behavioral therapy works very well. Now 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.240 there's a problem with cognitive behavioral therapy which is there's 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.240 not enough therapists. Um, there's a lot of people out 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:45.880 there who do have a need, but not off theirs, 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:49.840 believe it or not. They now have digital cognitive behavioral 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:53.000 therapy which has been shown to be effective and an 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:56.680 effective methodology of administering it, which I gotta be honest 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:58.320 with you that I didn't think there was any universe 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:02.199 where somebody could learn CBT from you know, uh an animation, 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:04.800 But um, it is. Actually they have done the studies 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:06.400 and it looks like it's working quite well, and I've 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:08.760 had several patients use it and believe it or not, 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:12.040 that is actually by prescription, so your doctor can write 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.840 you a prescription for digital cognitive behavioral therapy that would 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.719 actually be covered by your insurance. Crazy enough, so kind 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.680 of cool it is. You talk a lot a lot 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:26.160 about behaviors. When to get up, when you go to bed, consistency. 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.440 You say it's important when to stop drinking caffeine? Is 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:33.160 it eight hours before bedtime? Alcohol a few hours before. 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.120 I mean, those are some things that are very structured, 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:38.480 and I believe I have great power for a lots 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:40.440 of people who are struggling. M for those of us 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:45.400 that don't embrace a regimented routine quite as enthusiastically. Um, 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:47.760 those things are tough, but I do understand that that 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.400 that all of them are important when when combined, Yeah, 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:53.600 they are. And you know what I did, um, Chris 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:55.680 was I created what I call a five step plan, 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:58.720 which I think is super easy. If it's okay, I'll 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:01.160 walk through it for your audience to learn a little 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.120 bit more about it and to be honest with you. 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.240 Number one, my five step plan will not cost you 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.440 a dime. Um, you don't have to give me your 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:09.720 email for it. Um, you don't have to do anything 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.600 for it. Just listen and you will see that it 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.840 makes a lot of sense. Now we can get really detailed, 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:16.600 but we're going to go through just the top part 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.400 of the surface of five different things. So step number 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.800 one is to choose one wake up time and stick 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:24.760 to it. Now you notice I said wake up time 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.360 and not bedtime. Okay, and I said stick to it 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:33.640 meaning seven days a week. Okay. Now, if people get 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:38.160 one thing from this entire conversation, do this because this 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:40.280 will have the biggest effect on your overall sleep cycle 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:43.200 because it will keep your circadian rhythms in line. I 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.760 wake up every single day somewhere between six o eight 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.520 and six thirteen. I don't know why, but that's the 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:53.040 time that my brain clicks and wakes up. But the 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.800 consistency of that allows me to actually be able to 0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:59.160 fall asleep a lot easier. Let me explain the signs 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:01.240 behind why. When you wake up in the morning and 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.880 light hits your eyeball, it sends a signal to your 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:07.720 brain to turn off the melotonin faucet in your head. Now, 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:09.920 the good news here is that's great because then you 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:11.840 kind of get rid of brain fog and start your day. 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:13.920 But what people don't know is it also sets a 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:19.920 timer for fourteen hours later to start melatonin again. Ah, 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.280 so this is interesting. And here's the big aha moment. 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.320 Your brain can't tell time. Now, that's gonna sound strange 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:28.280 that I say that, but follow what happens. If you're 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:30.800 waking up at six am six am during the week, 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.800 fourteen hours later is eight pm. That's when melatonin kicks off. 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:38.000 You're in bed by ten thirty. Everything's awesome, right, able 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:41.040 to fall asleep pretty easily. But if you instead of 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.080 waking up at six, you wake up at eight, two 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:46.680 hours later, your brain can't tell time, so it doesn't 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:50.680 start your melotonin until fourteen hours later, So that two 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.240 hour difference in the morning is actually happens in the evening, 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:57.080 so your your brain is not even creating melotonin at 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.640 that point until ten thirty at night, which means you're 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:03.040 not going to call asleep until almost midnight. So keeping 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:07.000 the consistent wake up time does so much for you biologically, 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.720 it's insane. Now just pick one and follow it. Now. 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:13.240 I will have in the latter part of our conversation, 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.800 we're gonna talk about these things called chronotypes, which is 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.600 a genetic predisposition, and we'll tell you when those times 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.800 should be. But for the moment, just understand that wake 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:23.720 up at the same time every single day, seven days 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.040 a week is what you want to do. Step number 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.600 two is caffeine. You want to stop caffeine by two pm. 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.040 Why because, as you mentioned earlier, caffeine has a half 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:33.120 life between six and eight hours, So if you stop 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:35.920 it two by ten, most people will have at least 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.080 half of it out of their system. Awesome. Step number 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:40.920 I'm drinking green tea, but I'm not gonna go to 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:43.560 bed till midnight, so I don't don't scull you're shape. 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:45.840 Now you're doing okay, I love it. I love it. 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.040 Step number three has to do with alcohol. Um, and 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.200 this is a great rule for if you want to 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:53.600 drink and still get a decent night sleep. So I'm not, 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:56.119 as you've already noticed, I'm not the sleep doctor to 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.320 say never have a drinking caffeine, never have any alcohol. Right, 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:01.120 I'm gonna show you how to do it and still 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.280 get good sleep. So you want to limit it to 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:07.320 two drinks, and you want to stop drinking three hours 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:11.240 before bed. So step number three is to stop alcohol 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:14.040 three hours before bed. Let me explain why. When you 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.840 get past the second drink, your body starts to feel 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.080 a buzz. There's nothing wrong with feeling a buzz. But 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:22.240 when you do that, your brain spikes this stuff called 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:25.560 cortisol because it doesn't know what's going on. Now you're 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:28.760 an energetic drunk. This is not ready for you to 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.560 go to bed right, Because let's be fair, there's a 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:36.480 really big difference between going to bed and passing out right, 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:38.840 and that's what happens to a lot of people. And 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:40.920 let's also be fair. Did you know alcohol is the 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:43.960 number one sleep aid in the world. More people drink 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:46.800 themselves to sleep than any single other thing. And it's 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:48.800 why I don't like to think that I'm not passing out. 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:51.639 But listen, all of us feel like you know, I 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:53.359 just I just want to have a nightcap. I just 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:55.960 gonna help me wind down. It's gonna sel my brain down, 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.879 and all that one is great. I don't have a 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:00.679 problem with one nightcap. If you want to have a 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:04.359 bourbon um, you know, an hour before bed, I don't care. 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.199 I think it's fine. It will cause some level of 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:11.520 physical relaxation, but it can't be your fourth bourbon. You 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:13.960 know what I'm saying, because when you have so much. 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.320 Here's and here's the science is the when you stop 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:20.120 drinking and when lights out are that period of time 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:22.919 will determine how much alcohol affects your sleep. So if 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:26.439 you stop drinking three hours before lights out, so you 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:28.760 go to a dinner at six thirty, seven o'clock, you 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:31.280 have a glass of wine. At seven twenty, you have 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.960 your second glass of wine to finish your meal. Um, 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:36.720 and then it's eight o'clock. You're done. You're not getting 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.440 in bed till eleven. You're good to go. Like it's 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:42.000 not going to have an effect. But if you kept 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:45.280 drinking and got made that time frame shorter, it's gonna 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:48.000 have a huge effect on your sleep, specifically stage three 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.760