Three Ways To Get Better Sleep
Do you think your sleep can be improved? Have you recently woken up and not felt rested? In this video, Dr. Hayden and Dr. Horsley discuss several tips, tricks, and habits that can be implemented to help to improve your sleep naturally.
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Transcript from Video on Sleep:
Dr. Hayden: The most common symptom we get in our office has to do with energy and fatigue – hands down, no questions asked. Everyone wants to know how to get more energy (they also want to know how to lose weight), but they definitely want to know how to get more energy in their life. One of the most efficient ways someone can most get more energy in their life is by sleeping more efficiently. So therefore, if we can improve our sleep, we should therefore get – more energy. So Dr. Horsley, what is the number one thing you would recommend to somebody that wants to improve sleep in their life.
Dr. Horsley: One of the first things that I would recommend to someone is helping to optimize that sleep environment – one of the biggest thing is avoiding that technology before bed. This is because different variations of technology: cell phones, laptops, and tv’s send out different frequencies and signals that can actually disrupt our natural brain waves and neural frequencies. This can really disrupt sleep and impact the quality that we can have. So I highly recommend avoiding the use of technology for at least 5-10 minutes before bed, 2 hours is optimal. If you can start at that 5-10 minutes before bed and then start working up towards that two hour mark would be awesome. Trade that time on technology for- reading a good book, learning, talking to your spouse about your day, talking to your kiddos. Therefore, taking that technology out and replacing it with more building things that you can do for your family.
Dr. Hayden: If we’re going to build on the concept of getting a better sleep environment, Dr. Horsley mentioned avoiding technology before bed, there are some other things that we can do as well. So for example, research indicates that if we sleep in a colder room our sleep quality will improve, if we remove all lights from the room, that will help. Sometimes even as much as the TV power indicator light can be too much. I’ve had some patients and heard from some researchers that have found the quality of sleep being dramatically affected by light, temperature, and circulation in the room. Therefore, having a fan on, something that circulates air in the room seems to help a lot. Also, if we’re building up a good sleep routine – a sleep wake cycle that is consistent would also help. Therefore, going to bed at the same time every night, and waking up at the same time every morning, those processes, as they compound on top of each other, will dramatically increase the potential recovery that comes from sleep.
Dr. Hayden: Definitely a great idea to look at the sleep habits that we have – avoiding technology and increasing sleep efficiency before going to bed. What’s the number two thing that you would recommend to someone? So, if we’re going to sleep differently, you’ve already talked about creating a better environment through timing, and temperature, and avoiding distractions through technology. What’s the second most important thing that someone can do to improve their sleep?
Dr. Horsley: So a second this is still along with routines, but starts way- hours and hours- before you go to bed, that would be going outside, trying to get as much sunlight as you can before you go to bed. There is this little gland in your brain, called your pineal gland, that is in control of your sleep- wake cycle. When you are going to bed, that is the gland that releases melatonin. A lot of people that are popping melatonin before they go to bed like candy. Whereas you can really help to stimulate that from a much more natural perspective during the day. So you’re soaking up those rays, you are helping to raise those vitamin D levels, helping that mood, while also helping you to prepare for sleep. So going outside and spending some time in the sun, as well as getting some movement and blood flow will help to prepare your body for sleep that evening.
Dr. Hayden: You mentioned a hormone called melatonin, numerous seminars that we’ve been a part of talk about this feedback loop that our body creates with melatonin. Normally our body will make melatonin on its own, and if we need more, it will just make more. However, unfortunately, when we take oral supplements for longer periods of time, usually over 90 days, our body shuts off that pathway that makes its own and we become dependent upon this pill. So a lot of patients are coming into the office trying to get off of their medications- off of their things.
Dr Hayden: Unfortunately, if we were just to put them on something like melatonin, we would just be taking them off one medication and give them another one, and they’d become dependent on it. So rarely in our office do we even put someone on melatonin. Our goal is to get your body to create its own melatonin. If we can fix the cause of the imbalance, that is going to be much better than making you dependent on a medication like melatonin. This is true either from supplement or pharmaceutical forms. Melatonin is a big deal – with helping with sleep quality and sleep recovery. However, we want your body to make its own, so that you don’t become dependent on having it sourced from a pill.
Dr. Horsley: Another big one with melatonin that people don’t always realize is that melatonin comes from serotonin. So a lot of people that have more of mood issues are familiar with the term serotonin. Serotonin is a chemical used in the body for mood stability. 75% of serotonin is made in your gut. So therefore, if you have a lot of gut issues – leaky gut, bloating, belching, SIBO, and such, that may be a key player in you not being able to get a restful sleep. If you’re not creating enough good quality serotonin, that’s going to limit the ability to convert to melatonin and therefore going to impact your sleep as well.
Dr. Hayden: So it sounds like if we create a better sleep habits/environment, and we try to get more active during the day we’ll have a better natural production of sleep quality. What else could someone do? Maybe they’re trying to create the best sleep environment they can, they’re trying to go outside, but their sleep still isn’t quite where it needs to be. Where would someone, like yourself, maybe come into play.
Dr. Horsley: Myself, I would look somewhere more in the acupuncture world of things. This is because there have been several research studies that have really associated sleep improvement and quality improvement with acupuncture. There is a study as recent as March 2020, just a couple weeks ago, that showed that people that used acupuncture tended to have less anxiety, tended to have less perception of stress, and tended to be able to sleep longer through the night. So they used that as opposed to other different natural medicine techniques, melatonin, and things like that, they found that acupuncture had better, longer lasting results than some of the other things when it came to sleep quality and sleep duration.
Dr. Hayden: Therefore, if I was someone that struggled with sleep, I should look at removing devices, creating a better sleep environment, I should try to get out and be more active, and if push comes to shove, I can look into something like acupuncture to try to improve my circadian rhythms, my sleep-wake cycle, so that I can get better, longer lasting sleep quality.