That is a biological fact of life. The bird does that. The bees do that. We do that too. No, it's not that.
Of course, I'm talking about sleep, which is a key condition that allows us to charge and even cleanse the toxins of the day from our brain. But what happens if it doesn't come easily? And why do some people spend more time falling and sleeping than others?
These are just a few of the questions we answer in this week's episode. Please explain it to meVox's go-to hotline for all the questions you can't answer yourself.
To get to the roots of what keeps you at night, we spoke with Jade Wu, a sleep psychologist who specializes in helping people with insomnia. So, what makes up a good sleeper? “That's more complicated than you would guess,” Wu says. “We believe that getting enough sleep is important for a good sleep. But believe it or not, some major studies have recently revealed that timing of sleep is even more important. I realized that it could be.
“People chasing middle-aged people towards older people have a lower risk of cancer, heart disease, dementia and overall mortality if they sleep at a more consistent time of day,” Wu says. “So it's timing, it's quality, it's quantity, it's about many other factors.” What are those factors? That's what we're going to tackle this week.
Below is an excerpt from the conversation edited for length and clarity.
You can hear Please explain it to me Get your podcasts on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere. If you would like to submit a question, please email [email protected] or call 1-800-618-8545.
What are major sleep dysfunction?
The most common problem I see is insomnia, which is just a struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep. And it comes from a variety of sources. Often, it's a matter of life stage. For example, many women experience sleep disruptions during perimenopausal period and menopause.
And if you experience unemployment, move around, go to a truly fun bachelor party, or can't sleep for three nights in a row, you'll find that you can't get off track about sleep.
Insomnia is truly in the eyes of those who see it. For example, there are no cutoffs that require you to take an hour to fall asleep or wake up for two hours in the middle of the night. It really is, if it takes a long time to fall asleep, or if it feels like you're back to sleep, or if your sleep is very unsatisfied or not repetitive. If it's going on for more than a few weeks and it's really hindering your functioning, it's insomnia.
If it's going on for more than a few weeks and it's really hindering your functioning, it's insomnia.
Another major problem is daytime sleepiness. This is kind of the opposite problem, not that you can't fall asleep. This means that you can't keep your eyes awake really well during the day. And this is also from a variety of sources.
The most common is probably sleep apnea. This is a sleep disorder characterized by episodes of repeated breathing during sleep or light breathing. And this affects everyone. It's not just older people. It's not just people who are overweight or obese. Women are not actually diagnosed by a significant margin. No such cases have been diagnosed, such as 8 or 9 out of 10 women with sleep apnea. It can cause daytime drowsiness and can be a burden on your heart and brain health. It's a really important topic that people don't pay enough attention to.
And there are more colorful sleep issues, such as sleep paralysis, sleep hallucinations, and sleepwalking. It's something rare that happens at night.
I got a call from a listener named Skylar who said he was interested in sleep chronotypes. They are night owls and want to know if they tend to deal with people who are not early birds more.
I feel you, Skyler. I'm also an owl at night. And I absolutely agree that society should have more understanding of our night owls. We all have our own chronotype: it's like height. It's a kind of bell-shaped curve. Most people are in the middle, and then some are people in extreme mornings. Some people are owls at extreme nights. But society is designed by the people of the morning. As night owls, we struggle and we can't sleep at the best time. We often don't get enough sleep.
If you think about it evolutionarily, early human tribes needed a variety of sleep timings to keep everyone safe. Let's say everyone falls asleep at the exact same time, falls asleep all night, and wakes up at the same time. It's a simple pick for a Saber toothed tiger. Our night owls should be saying “You are welcome” to keep your watch so that the rest of you can sleep safely and soundly.
Why do people like Skyler become night owls? What determines where on the bell curve of the people sleeping?
Many of them are genetic. Melatonin is a time-controlling hormone released by our brains. It usually ramps up in the evening, stays high throughout the night, then the morning leaves. It shows the whole body that it is time to shut down the factory and rest, sleep, or start with more days.
Our night owls should be saying “You are welcome” to keep your watch so that the rest of you can sleep safely and soundly.
For us, who are night owls, our melatonin curves begin later and disappear later. Therefore, when others are already asleep, our melatonin curves still behave like daytime. And others are ready and say our melatonin is still high in our system and it's still night. On an individual level, there are things you can do to shift the chronotype to a better kind of counterfeiting as a morning person, and to spend an easier time waking up.
What advice does the night owls give to people like Skyler, living in a very 9-5 world?
Well, Skyler, if you can swing it, you live on the East Coast and work remotely for a company on the West Coast. That's the ideal situation. I actually let the patient do that.
But if you can't shake it, the best thing to do is get plenty of bright light first thing in the morning. Ideally, as soon as you wake up, use a lightbox or go outside. Opening the shades and curtains is not enough. You should actually be on a wide spectrum – about 20 minutes of full sunlight. And it really helps your brain wake up, teach your circadian rhythm, start the day before, and release that melatonin even early in the evening.
What's about sleep is that it's universal. Everyone needs it. But so many people have sleep problems. Why do you think so? What's so difficult about sleep?
There are so many reasons. I probably don't have enough time to do it all. But I'd like to one day get on the soapbox and talk about capitalism – and how it was formed…
I love soap boxes. yes. A girl climbs up there.
When the Western world was at least industrialized, we took on this, eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, eight hours for you kind of slogan. And we began to take up expectations and constraints around sleep that we didn't have before.
Do we sleep worse than we are now? I think about all of the screen time we have.
From access to information 24/7, to small dopamine hits, bright lights in the night, to all these tech-enabled distractions, we probably have a bit of a bad sleep. When we should be sleeping, we can really keep us.
Why is it so important to get a good sleep? What does it do for us?
I think it's on par with nutrition in terms of how much it affects our health and well-being. If this basic biological drive is not met, we cannot really work well. And when it's not very satisfied, it's about our physical health, our mental health, our performance, our relationships, our relationships, our creativity, our connections with other people It will affect. It affects everything.
