Sleep Tips From Assorted Experts (Breather Episode with Brad)

I cover tips and research from various sources, including an excellent show with neuroscientist Dr. Matthew Walker of UC Berkeley on the Joe Rogan podcast. Walker hits us hard with some amazing stats about increased dysfunction and accident risk when you skimp on sleep. The function of over 700 genes are distorted when you skimp on sleep to the tune of six hours a night for a week. Walker says we all need 7-8 hours, countering a common assertion that a certain select few of us can function well as short sleepers. Walker also mentions how you can kiss your fat loss goals goodbye if your sleep is less than optimum. In short, you stimulate appetite hormones and mess up fat metabolism when you blast your eyeballs with artificial light and digital stimulation after dark.  

I mention a Scientific American article from Dr. Tafti about sleeping more efficiently. One sign is that you have more intense dreams. Dang! That never happens to me! I talk about a recent show on Dr. Peter Attia awesome podcast, The Drive. He mentions a study from Eve Van Counter talking about how easy it is to become measurably insulin resistant due to sleep deprivation. I discuss a great article in Paleo Magazine that describes how sleep benefits to the brain (literally detoxing waste products from brain cells), and also provides a ton of practical tips to improve your sleep habits. Among then, getting direct sun exposure in the morning, having dark, quiet, calm evening ritual, keeping a simple, Spartan bedroom used for only two activities—definitely no screens! Finally, I talk about some of my favorite tips, like switching to vintage light bulbs with orange hue instead of the traditional white bulbs that blast you with the blue light spectrum that can harm your hormonal function in the evenings. Ditto for orange lenses, candlelight, salt lamps, and general using minimal light in the evenings. Enjoy the show and get motivated to bring your A game to the challenge of sleep!