Hello, did you know that testosterone takes a bashing when you're chronically sleep deprived?
Oh, yes, it does and also do you know that your brain ages faster when you have poor quality sleep most nights?
That bit is true as well
Indeed sleep is your superpower
How do you make sleep your superpower when you are having poor quality sleep most nights
we going to fix that in this video
I'm gonna give tips on how you get better sleep every night
Step by step
So you stay tuned. I'll see you in a couple of seconds
Welcome back. I'm Dr Joe of TheDrJoe.com
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So, how do you make sleep your superpower when you're having poor quality sleep most nights?
How do you fix your sleep problems and get better sleep? That's what this video is about
the last time I did a video on this topic, some of you wrote to me. You wanted me to do a video in step by step way
And I have listened. That's why this video is here
Now, here's the thing: The principle surrounding getting better sleep is that
You have to reset your circadian rhythm
You need to fix that. Once you've done that, you're 90% there
what that means is; you need o synchronize
the clock outside here with the clock in our brain
because we have an internal clock
in the hypothalamus of our brain
And the two clocks have to synchronize
So daytime out here should be daytime in here
And night time out here should night time in here
Once you do that you already 90% there. Your sleep problems will be gone probably forever
So, how do you get to that? You simply do that by modifying
your behavior
What I have done here is give you the steps in a clockwise manner
because events occurring from the minute you wake up
what happens during the day, what happens in the early evenings
all influence the quality of sleep you get the following night
So, now that you are familiar with the principles
Let's get started with the details
So, Step 1
You need to establish a regular 'wake up' time as well as a regular 'going to bed' time
And you have to do this 7 days a week
It doesn't matter whether you're going to work or not
You have to do this everyday
The reason for this is that; you're trying
to establish regularity
A) Our bodies loves a routine. Our bodies really love a routine
Believe it or not
and (B) when you do this all the time
you are feeding data onto the "computer" in our Internal Body clock
telling it; this is the time I go to bed
and this is the time I wake up
and over time
This becomes established as a routine
and you are also synchronizing your internal body clock
with the diurnal clock out here
This step is so so important
Regularity...it's your 1st step towards fixing your sleep problem
Step 2 towards fixing your sleep problem is to wake up with a wake up light
Why do you need to do this?
The wake up light will actually help you stabilize your cortisol levels
When you have a wake up light, it'll give you better control
over your cortisol levels
and this will contribute to your alertness
You have all these devices that have been designed for this purpose
So, if you set your alarm for say, 6 o'clock in the morning
around about 5:30, 5:45
The brightness will begin to gradually increase
until around about 6 o'clock
the alarm time that you set for yourslef
once the goes, the light brightens up the entire room
This is actually very good
They are not very expensive. I'm going to leave some links in the video description
if you want it, you could go get them
Step 3
Once you wake up, get into gear straightaway
How do you do this? This is very simple. All you need to do
once you wake up. You sit up
Swivel your legs over. Place feet on the floor
and within a couple of seconds, get moving
The reason you want to do is that you want
to confirm to your internal body clock
that this is my active period
I have woken up and I am ready to get going
Because when you laze around in bed, you're snding conflicting signals to your internal boy clock
and you don't want that
so get moving as soon as you wake up
Step 4 towards fixing your sleep problem
is to get outside
Why do you need to get outside? Because you need that light exposure
Light exposure tells our body clock that this is daytime
The clock we have in our hypothalamus. You want to let it know that
this is daytime because there has to be that distinction between night and day
and the only way it will know that is
like I said before
you've got 2 biological tools
and the biological tools are your eyes and light
when light penetrates through your eyes
to the retina
and gets transmitted to your brain
this tells the internal body clok that
this is daytime
The net effect of that is that
this suppresses melatonin production
whilst at the same time boosting serotonin production
you need melatonin in the night
you don't need it during the day
you need serotonin during the day
The rue is that
you have to spend 2 hours outside
Step No 5
in making sleep your superpower
relates to coffee
If you're a coffee addict
you'r somebody who loves your coffee so much
and you're having problems sleeping at night
my advice will be you need to advice your coffee habit
Personally, I think you should avoid coffee altogether
but if you love your coffee so much that
you don't want to give it up
my advice will be you should have your coffee in the mornings
you may have coffee at midday
but certainly not beyond 2pm
2pm will be the last time you should drink coffee
during the day
Anything beyond that, you're going to be sabotaging your sleep later on in the night
So, have your coffee in the mornings
and that's it
Not beyond 2 pm if you want have coffee much later on
Step No 6 into fixing you sleep problem
is to actually get some exercise
Oh yes. That dreaded 'E' word again
Exercise. You might think exercise promotes sleep by the factor of muscular fatigue
your muscles are going to be tired and that will make you fall asleep
a lot more easily later at night
that may be true if the exercise activity was a vigorous one
but exercise goes beyond that
as far as sleep promotion is concerned
Exercise helps you to lift your mood
helps you to combat stress
exercise strengthens your circadian rhythm
and this is very important
and exercise promotes daytime alertness
all of these factors
all of these means that you feel a lot more sleepy at night
when you exercise earlier on during the day
exercise as far as sleep is concerned is a double-edge sword
you have to be careful
you should exercise in the mornings, afternoons or early evening
because if you exercise too late
into the night#
exercise will actually interfere with you falling asleep
You want to exercise earlier on in the evening
or earlier during the day
if you exercise too late into the night
the endorphins that the exercise will actually produce
will be circulating in your body and will keep too alert
this endorphins will interfere with you falling asleep
Step No 7 relating to getting better sleep at night relates to Blue light#
we have blue light coming from all sorts of devices
we've got blue light coming from our smart phones
from our tablet
from our laptops as well as our TV sets
Blue light is a sleep killer
why is blue light a sleep killer?
The blue light from these devices gets transmitted through our eyes to our internal body clock
when our internal body clock receives this blue light, it thinks it's still daytime
becuase of that it blocks the production of melatonin
and you need your melatonin for good quality sleep at night
So to prevent this problem, you need to block the blue light from getting through
how do you do that? One simple
way of doing this is using a simple tool
I've got one here. This one is a blue light blocking glasses
All you need to do is around about 8pm, you were this blue light blocking glasses
you can wear this blue light blocking glasses
and you can still use your smart phone, your tablet, your laptop
as well as watch TV
but the essential difference is that
you are no longer allowing the blue light to get through to our internal body clock
that's why it works
If ou wear prescription glasses you might think
this might be a problem
I wear prescription glasses
look at what I've got here
you need o buy one with a reasonable width
and I can wear this over my prescription glasses
and I am fine. I can still do whatever I want to do
on my smart phone, my laptop or watch TV with this
with my prescription glasses. So, it's not a problem
you just need to buy the right one
I'm going to leave links in the video description if you want to get one of these
Step No 8 into fixing your sleep problem is to eat foods that facilitate sleep
why would you want to do this?
It's because you want to make more melatonin hormone
melatonin hormone is our sleep hormone
kt's the hormone that is going to make us sleep better
So, you want to eat foods that ingredients for making melatonin hormone
You want to eat foods that are rich in Ca, K, Mg, Tryptophan, Vitamin B6, phyto-serotonin
I've done a video on this topic before
I'm going to leave a link to link video at the end of this presentation
You go watch that video when you finish this presentation
This is something that is well within your grasp
it's something that you can do
easily every evening and you'll be laying the ground for a good night sleep
Step 9 to getting good quality sleep at nighg
relates to alcohol
if you're one of those who uses alcohol as a sleep aid
I'll encourage you to stop doing that straightaway because
alcohol may help you fall asleep easily
but the quality of the sleep is never good
alcohol does not promote restorative sleep
and indeed if you're using alcohol as a sleep aid
you are actually sabotaging what you're trying to achieve
please stop using alcohol as a sleep aid
Step no 10 into fixing your sleep problem
is not drink fluids too close to your bedtime
the reason for this is simple
when you do this, this is going to disrupt your sleep pattern
because you're going to make one, two or three visits to the bathroom before the night runs out
that means your sleep cycle is going to be disrupted
you want to go through all the stages of sleep
uninterrupted. That's how you wake up n the morning feeling fresh
so, avoid drinkibg too close to your bedtime
It doesn't matter whether its just water or some other beverage
hopefully, not alcohol because we've talked about that a short while ago
whatever it is, do not drink it too close to your bedtime for that same reason
Step No 11 to getting a good night sleep
or fighting insomnia is to Free Your Mind
we all go through all sorts of stresses in our lives
what you mustn't do is allow these stresses to get in the way of your getting a good night sleep
So, what should you do?
Well, at the point of going to bed
write down whatever is bothering you
on a piece of pape
This simple action not only promotes good sleep
It's actually therapeutic as well
because you know that tomorrow you're going to tackle the problem head-on
Now, if you have watched this video this far
you'll notice that we have been working our way from the minute we woke up
now we are at the point where we are about to go to bed#
Step #12 in getting a good night sleep or fighting insomnia
is related to this little tool we have here
This is a sleep eye mask
This is not a bra
all you need to do is when you're going to bed
you simply slip it on
slip over your eyes
cover your eyes and off you go
I can tell you as simple as this is
this has made huge difference to the quality of my sleep
ever since I started using it
I'll encourage you to actually get one of these
Why does it work?
it works because it blocks all light from coming through
and that promotes the production of melatonin
if you have anything that facilitates the production of melatonin
you are on to a winner
So this is great
If you get nothing at all, you need to get one of these
in addition to wearing a sleep eye mask
you need to block out all light
through the window. So you need to close
blinds
Once you block out all light
you know good sleep is guaranteed all night
So, folks, those are the exact steps
to getting good quality sleep at night
If you impement those, I guarantee you, you'll turn your insomnia around
you'll beging to get good quality sleep and sleep will become your super power
Your mind and body will benefit from it#
Links to all the products I talked about are right down below
If you want to get any of them, just click on the link and it will take you to the resource
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please share this video with your friends and family
because insomnia is a very common problem
I'm sure you do know one or two people who have problems falling asleep
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That's about it. Until next time, this is Dr Joe signing out