What we Drink

In this week’s episode I delve into the world of coffee, tea, alcohol, energy drinks and look at how our choices can have powerful effects on our health. That can be very health protective or very destructive for our health and sleep.

What’s right for me?
Do you have the "coffee gene"? Find out what your tolerances are. I help you develop the best strategy for you. As an avid coffee lover, I teach you how much and when is the best time for coffee, we also talk about the multiple benefits of Tea and Cacao and other drinks.

I wanted to use the space here to cite a vast body of research papers to back up all the claims either positive or negative. Please leave your comments or questions as always!

Energy Drink Studies

1. Higgins, J. P., Tuttle, T. D., & Higgins, C. L. (2010). Energy beverages: content and safety. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 85(11), 1033-1041.
2. Shah, S. A., Szeto, A. H., Farewell, R., Shek, A., Fan, D., Quach, K. N., ... & Bhattacharyya, M. (2016). Impact of high volume energy drink consumption on electrocardiographic and blood pressure parameters: A randomized trial. Journal of the American Heart Association, 5(9), e002051.
3. Fletcher, E. A., Lacey, C. S., Aaron, M., Kolasa, M., Occiano, A., & Shah, S. A. (2017). Randomized controlled trial of high-volume energy drink versus caffeine consumption on ECG and hemodynamic parameters. Journal of the American Heart Association, 6(5), e004448.
4. Howard, M. A., & Marczinski, C. A. (2010). Acute effects of a glucose energy drink on behavioral control. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 18(6), 553.
5. Cappelletti, S., Piacentino, D., Sani, G., & Aromatario, M. (2015). Caffeine: cognitive and physical performance enhancer or psychoactive drug? Current Neuropharmacology, 13(1), 71-88.
6. Watson, E. J., Coates, A. M., Banks, S., & Kohler, M. J. (2015). Total sleep time remains reduced more than 4 days after a single night of sleep restriction. Journal of Sleep Research, 24(5), 548-554.
7. Narain, A., Kwok, C. S., & Mamas, M. A. (2016). Soft drinks and sweetened beverages and the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 70(9), 791-805.
8. Malik, V. S., Pan, A., Willett, W. C., & Hu, F. B. (2013). Sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain in children and adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 98(4), 1084-1102.
9. Clauson, K. A., Shields, K. M., McQueen, C. E., & Persad, N. (2008). Safety issues associated with commercially available energy drinks. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 48(3), e55-e63.
10. Marczinski, C. A., & Fillmore, M. T. (2014). Energy drinks mixed with alcohol: what are the risks? Nutrition Reviews, 72(suppl_1), 98-107.
11. Curran, C. P., Marczinski, C. A., & Fagerstrom, E. (2021). Prevalence and characteristics of energy drink consumption in a college sample. Journal of American College Health, 69(3), 254-261.

Cacao Study -Cosmos Study
Sesso HD, et al; COSMOS Research Group. Effect of cocoa flavanol supplementation for the prevention of cardiovascular disease events: the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS) randomized clinical trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2022 Jun 7;115(6):1490-1500. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqac055. PMID: 35294962; PMCID: PMC9170467.

Green Tea
Musial C, Kuban-Jankowska A, Gorska-Ponikowska M. Beneficial Properties of Green Tea Catechins. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Mar 4;21(5):1744. doi: 10.3390/ijms21051744. PMID: 32143309; PMCID: PMC7084675.

Snoring!
Snoring can have a very powerful and negative effect on our sleep, our lives and our relationships! The most important part of the episodes is looking at prevention and treatment of snoring:

Snoring Prevention

1. Lifestyle changes

To treat your snoring, your doctor likely will first recommend lifestyle changes, such as:

· Losing weight -weight loss

· Avoiding alcohol close to bedtime

· Stop smoking

· Treating nasal congestion

· Avoiding sleep deprivation

· Avoiding sleeping on your back

· Elevate the head of your bed

· Nose breathing to give more integrity to nasal tissues

· Get checked for nasal polyps.

2. Oral Exercises

What are these? These are exercises for your tongue, mouth and neck muscles that will strengthen them and prevent them from falling back your throat at night while you sleep.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqhts06WECQ

3. Airway Openers - Oral appliances.

Oral appliances are form-fitting dental mouthpieces that help advance the position of your jaw, tongue and soft palate to keep your air passage open. There 2 types really, one is called a mandible advancement device and the other holds the tongue in place.

4. Mouth Taping

Some people use Buteyko breathing to manage asthma symptoms and other respiratory problems, but it also has its own risks and safety precautions that people should consider.

When Should You See a Doctor About Snoring?

Many instances of snoring are benign, but it is important to talk with a doctor if there are signs of potential sleep apnoea:

· Snoring that occurs three or more times per week

· Very loud or bothersome snoring

· Snoring with gasping, choking, or snorting sounds

· Obesity or recent weight gain

· Daytime drowsiness

· Lack of focus or mental sharpness

· Morning headaches and congestion

· High blood pressure

· Nighttime teeth grinding

· Frequent nighttime urination

Sleeping pills may aggravate snoring associated with sleep apnoea by depressing the respiratory system and increasing light sleep at the expense of REM sleep.

So lets summarize our pathway forward

1. An amazing set of ear buds that eliminate noise -I’ve recommended -flare audio -titanium

2. Lifestyle -smoking, drinking, congestive issues, weight loss

3. Oral Exercises -this is about strengthening the integrity of the tissues in the neck.

4. Airway openers -physically opening the airway to allow more air through the airway. Mandible devices, tongue holders

5. Mouth Taping – definitely worth a go

6. Social elements -may have to move bedroom.

This one is simple -The Racing Mind -just lay back, relax and let go of the day.

This episdoe is a very practical one, it is a meditation for those of you with a racing mind. You are the only one capable of changing that, of retraining that racing mind.

No more description, only one instruction -listen to this every night for 6 weeks and your mind will be a much calmer, more peaceful and serene place to be.

Enjoy!

Episode 7 – Dreams

Welcome to episode 7 of the Sleep & Health Podcast.

The brain is in a very active state when we are dreaming -the dream state is known as paradoxical sleep. In today episode -

1. Why we Dream? What is the function?

1. Regulating our emotions.

2. Rehearsal of threats -VR simulator

Dreaming help process our everyday emotions and memories.

Dreaming happens in a part of the brain a part of the hippocampus, responsible for emotional processing. The brain combines events that have happened in real life with different emotions, feelings and outcomes and this is where the VR simulator comes into play. If you don’t get a good nights sleep, your ability to control emotions the next day is compromised.

Dreams create a safe space where the brain can work out real-life problems and issues without real life consequences.

When you dream, you go into a state of self-induced paralysis. This is known as Atonia -the only muscles that work etc..

The brain must suppress physical movement because they are very real and one of the chemicals it suppresses is nor-adrenaline -this is adrenaline for the brain. What does that do? Why is that important? It makes us chemically immune to stress while we dream

2. Replenish neurotransmitters.
Dreaming is like a chemical fertilizer for the activation of neurons.

3. Enhancing creativity & ability to think outside the box

The ability to zone out and daydream is how our brain makes non-linear pathways between 2 points -If finds solutions to problems - the standard solutions are not working, so we must think creatively.

4. Neuroplasticity & Learning.

When we study for an exam, we try to cram in a ton of information into the brain. We have a limited capacity -think about it like RAM for a computer. It gets to a point where we push too much in and we lose earlier information.

5. Atonia and sleep paralysis

This is important so we don’t act out our dreams. The nervous system incapacitates the muscular system. It does this as we enter the dream state or REM sleep. Then as we finish our dreams, there is a reactivation of the muscular system.

6. Nightmares vs Night Terrors

There are some key differences here between nightmares and night terrors.

Scheduled awakening is often the go-to treatment since night terrors occur around roughly the same time each night.

For older children and adults, behavioural therapy can often help reduce stress and improve sleep. Although research on therapy for night terrors remains limited, potential treatments include psychotherapy, relaxation therapy or hypnosis.

7. Interpreting Dreams

· Being Chased

Being chased is maybe about running away from something, Any stressful period in life can bring about chasing dreams, and they are especially common for those of us who avoid confrontation, and conflict.

· Being Naked in Public

· Falling

· Flying

· Losing Teeth

· Taking a Test

· Dying

This weeks episode focuses on the foundation of sleep -the Physical Components. These are all controllable and very powerful. Please do not underestimate the impact these can have on sleep.
This week we will

1. Look at the poerful physical levers (the foundations ) that influence sleep.

2. From that, creating a Road map and framework of the controllables.

When it comes to sleep there are so many things that can go wrong or can negatively influence sleep: Kids, stress, anxiety, scrolling WL balance, sleep environment, poor cognitive habits -its often a combination of these things. The nature of the problem will inform the solution.

1. Light

Controlling light inputs at the right time. We know about avoiding white/blue light at night -the reason being, it shuts down melatonin secretion in the brain. It is equally important to that is that we need that white blue light during the day.

2. Caffeine

Coffee, tea, energy drinks and other caffeine containing products.

The cut off for caffeine is about lunchtime -caffeine has a half-life of 8 hours.

Actionable- Sleepy herbal teas, no caffeine after 1pm

3. Food

When we eat, it tends to signal to the brain to push us into “rest & digest” and we often get a release of the feel-good hormone serotonin as well.

4. Rituals & Routines - cueing control

Your ritual for sleep should start hours before bed -don’t worry, its not about creating a huge complex set of actions, it starts by reminding yourself that when the evening comes, that’s the time we need to start to wind down -physically, emotionally and cognitively.

Actionable Steps:

· Have a cut off point for work related messages and emails.

· Have a cut off point for other friend groups and social media.

· Maybe change into your chill out clothes and set the bedroom up

· Have a warm shower.

· Get a cup of sleepy tea.

· Get your eye mask ready.

· Head to bed when you feel tired & do your mental wind down exercise.

5. Technology

The scrolling is what’s detrimental. Listening to a podcast -this one! Music, relaxing sounds is fine. As long as there is visual stimuli feeding the brain our brain wave pattern simply cannot transition in stage 1 sleep!

How long before bedtime? Up to you, how fast can you unwind from the stimuli -it’s the alerting, stimulating effect it has on the brain -reverse snooze button.

Actionable

· set a reverse snooze button.

· Listen don’t look for mental wind down

6. Temperature

From 5pm the core temperature must lower by 1-2 degrees in order to achieve sleep. That drop in temperature is a prompt to our brain t produce more melatonin and sleep.

Actionable:

· Have a hot shower 1-2 hours before sleep & keep the room cool.

7. Environment

We want a bedroom which is conducive to sleep, a sensory haven, a sacred space for sleep, rest & relaxation. Make sure you have a good pillow, clean sheets, nice smells in the room.

8. Exercise
Get lots of movement through the day. High intensity exercise earlier in the day and lower intensity exercise later in the day. Both lower nocternal cortisol secretion.

Next week -Dreams!

In this episode, the key focus is around cycles of sleeping and living!
We talk about:
o How you can work with body/your physiology to get better quality sleep.

o We’ll look at the Your body clock – or CR & how we align that and work with the natural cycles of our brain and body.

o For eg. - What actually works when it comes to increasing deep sleep?

In the second part of the episode we look at some of the root causes of why there is so much sleep disruption & ill health in our society and how we are living.

Sleep Requirement
The first step for anyone looking to improve their sleep is to establish how much sleep they require. You can look at this per nigh and over the course of a week. Zoom out when it comes to sleep and see how many 90-minute sleep cycles you need over 7-10 days.

How do I know if I'm getting enough?
Don't use how you feel when you wake up as a barometer and this can vary greatly and many people feel tired and groggy upon waking. See how you feel after 30-60 minutes and see how the energy levels are through the day. Are you experiencing daytime sleepiness? Do you feel like you could easily fall asleep and have low energy? Then you probably need more sleep!

How can I get more deep sleep?
Youi are all fascinated with deep sleep but light sleep is equally important and critical for brain health. What does the scientific literature say? A few simple key activities will improve your deep sleep:

1. Regular exercise -60 minutes at 60% intensity at least 3 times per week.
2. Lots of light exposure during the day- this will hold you deeper sleep for longer
3. Deep breathing exercises in the evening help deactivate and appears to improve deep sleep
4. Supplements which have been shown to have an impact are amino acids like L-Theanine, Vitamin D.

Here are the studies relating to this:

• Chan V, Lo K. Efficacy of dietary supplements on improving sleep quality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Postgrad Med J. 2022 Apr;98(1158):285-293. doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-139319. Epub 2021 Jan 13. PMID: 33441476.
• Park I, Díaz J, Matsumoto S, Iwayama K, Nabekura Y, Ogata H, Kayaba M, Aoyagi A, Yajima K, Satoh M, Tokuyama K, Vogt KE. Exercise improves the quality of slow-wave sleep by increasing slow-wave stability. Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 24;11(1):4410. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-83817-6. PMID: 33627708; PMCID: PMC7904822.
• Wams EJ, Woelders T, Marring I, van Rosmalen L, Beersma DGM, Gordijn MCM, Hut RA. Linking Light Exposure and Subsequent Sleep: A Field Polysomnography Study in Humans. Sleep. 2017 Dec 1;40(12):zsx165. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsx165. PMID: 29040758; PMCID: PMC5806586.

Why have we become so dysregulated?

The Body - We are not using our body for its intended purpose! We should be moving more, pushing, pulling using our muscles every day. Get into action! Sleep pressure is the chemical adenosine and this is a by-product of energy expenditure. So if we exercise we have more sleep pressure.

The Signalling Systems
We have completely overstimulated our nervous system. We need to find activities that calm us. Stop mistaking scrolling and comfort for relaxation.

The Mind
In western culture we have the untrained mind. You are the only one who can retrain the mind. Set boundaries, commit to a 6 week course of relaxation every night, you can retrain your mind.

Set clear boundaries and stick to htem, get the body into action and the mind will follow. Have a great day and a lovely night.

In this episode we look at the impact of scrolling on our sleep, our mental health and how we can implement effective strategies to get off the phones!

• Introduction of the concept of dopamine and addiction and its role in keeping individuals glued to their devices.
• Focus on the impact of technology, specifically smartphones, on sleep, and other impacts as well -adults & children!
• Effective strategies to manage your phones.

Addiction
There has been an explosion in addictive behaviours in recent years, an epidemic of behavioural addictions and this is having a broad and damaging effect on our health and relationships.
Scientists use dopamine to measure “the addictive potential of any experience,” The higher the dopamine release, the more addictive the thing.

Healthy sources – cold water dips, exercise, healthy food, sleep, meditation, hitting personal goals, personal development, sex.

Unhealthy Sources – online shopping, drugs, gambling, sugar & processed foods, sex

What type of damage is it doing apart from time? What about the research?

· That means we’re constantly living in our limbic brain, which processes emotions, rather than in our pre-frontal cortex, which deals with future planning and problem-solving and is important for personality development.

· https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/02/attention-span-focus-screens-apps-smartphones-social-media

What that means is that we are losing our capacity to delay gratification, solve problems and we are losing our ability to deal with frustration and pain in its many different forms.”

Child/ Teenage Research

1. Association between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children & adolescents.2018 -San Diego State University
2. The relationship between internet gaming disorder & psychotic experiences: cyberbullying & insomnia. 2022- 850 students.
3. Media & Technology use predicts ill-health among children. 2014 Computers in Human Behaviour. California State University
4. Association between screen time trajectory and early Childhood development in Children. 2022. JAMA Paediatrics.

5-step Digital Management Strategy

1. Defining Boundaries -that means having a cut-off point – you have to set an alarm, decide on a time to get off social media. How long before bed? That depends on you, it could be 2 hours, or it could be 1 hour -it depends on how quickly you can wind yourself down. Set the alarm. I call this the reverse snooze button.

2. Mindful use -make sure you are being intentional about how you spend your time online. Maybe -limit mindless scrolling on social media or binge-watching videos, and instead focus on activities that add value to your life.

3. Digital Sabbaticals: Consider taking periodic breaks from digital devices, such as a weekend retreat or a longer vacation where you disconnect completely. Use this time to recharge, reflect, and engage in activities that nourish your mind and body.

4. Bedroom Activity – You can listen to anything you want in the bedroom but no scrolling. That means a podcast, music, relaxing sounds that will help you fall asleep.

5. Practice Patience -lead by example in the family. It will take time, so you can gradually shorten the time and make any necessary adjustments -this will take time to retrain your brain.

This episode is dedicated to looking at the essential functions and processes that happen while you are sleeping. We look at the vital restorations, resetting and repairs that are happening in the brain and the body to keep you healthy and balanced and ready for the world!

The 11 Systems

All these systems repair, restore, balance and need regular sleep. Each system has a timer co-ordinated by your circadian rhythm.

Cardiovascular, Digestive, Endocrine, Immune, Muscular, Nervous, Urinary, Reproductive, Respiratory, Skeletal & Integumentary (skin, hair, nails, sweat & oil glands).

4 Essential Physical Functions

1. Growth Hormone Secretion

Crucial for repairs, known as an elixir of life and youth. It repairs muscles and rejuvenates skin. About 70% of growth hormone is secreted during slow wave deep sleep. After we hit 40, growth hormone secretion drops dramatically.

Avoid stimulants and sedatives -caffeine and alcohol as they disrupt sleep

2. Fertility & Sex Hormones

The drivers of sexual function and desire are all dependent upon good sleep to work well. Less than 5 hours reduces testosterone to that of a man 10 years older.

3. Metabolic Hormone

The hormones that tell us when to eat and when we are full are profoundly impacted by a lack of sleep. The way our body deals with energy is also negatively impacted.

4. Immunity

What we want is an immune system with an appropriate immune response. People often talk about “boosting” immunity and that’s not always a good thing.

Besedovsky L, Lange T, Haack M. The Sleep-Immune Crosstalk in Health and Disease. Physiol Rev. 2019 Jul 1;99(3):1325-1380. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00010.2018. PMID: 30920354; PMCID: PMC6689741.

4 Essential Mental & Psychological Repairs

1. Glymphatic Drainage

The brain cleans itself and flushes out toxins and plaque. Essential for your long terms brain health.

2. Emotional Health & Wellbeing

We decide what is useful and what we need to forget! We embed the positive emotions and gets rid of the negative emotional turmoil.

3. Neuroplasticity

Cognitive function, learning and how we embed memory happens during sleep. All learning is happening while we sleep!

4. Dreaming

This is how we simulate real life dangers and stressful events. Hugely important for our mental wellbeing.

Action Points

Mindset shift - Re-evaluate how you prioritize your bedtime and your sleep. If you are not getting enough sleep and going to bed on time all of the above functions, repairs will suffer.

The repairs, restoration and re-setting will take care of itself as long as you are getting sufficient quality sleep.