Glass Half Full
Glass Half Full
Sleep Is The Superpower You’re Missing
What if the fastest way to think sharper, feel steadier, and show up stronger is the one habit you keep postponing? Dr. Leah Kaylor—licensed clinical and prescribing psychologist and longtime sleep expert for the FBI—joins us to unpack sleep as the hidden engine of performance, health, and daily sanity. Her journey from a small Pennsylvania town through the VA sleep clinic to federal service reveals just how many struggles are actually sleep problems in disguise—and how fixable they can be with the right tools.
We get practical fast. Leah demystifies insomnia by splitting it into primary, secondary, and paradoxical types, then walks through the proven CBT-I playbook: consistent wake times, smarter naps, reframing anxious sleep thoughts, and designing a wind-down routine that lowers light and dopamine. She breaks down circadian rhythm in plain English and shares a free, powerful reset: morning outdoor light within an hour of waking to cue the brain’s clock and get melatonin flowing on time at night. We also explore the link between short sleep, hunger hormones, and next-day cravings—why a single bad night can push you toward sugar, extra calories, and sluggish motivation.
Leah doesn’t shy away from the tricky stuff. She outlines how to make bedrooms safer for sleepwalkers, why scheduled awakenings can interrupt predictable episodes in kids, and how alcohol quietly wrecks sleep quality even when it helps you doze off. And we talk about her new book, If Sleep Were a Drug—a practical, data-informed field guide written with first responders in mind but useful for anyone who wants steadier moods, clearer focus, and real recovery.
If you’re ready to make tonight easier and tomorrow better, press play and try her simple steps: dim earlier, cut the late scroll, get morning light, and give yourself a landing strip before bed. If this conversation helps, share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a review so more people can sleep better and live better.
drleahkaylor.com
all socials I am Dr. Leah Kaylor
Book will be on my website, books.by, and amazon.
Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, wherever you are in the world, and welcome to another episode of Glass Half-Full, a podcast and a safe platform where we talk with a variety of teachers, entrepreneurs, spiritualists, uplifters, givers, shakers, and serenaders. Everyone has a lesson to learn and a lesson to share. Let's use our life experiences to enrich someone's heart, mind, spirit, and soul. Through sharing our experiences, we can be a learning inspiration for one another. I'm your host, Chris Levins. If you love the show and want to support us, you can become a monthly subscriber or make a one-time donation. Just look for the heart icon or the support link on our podcast platform. We're so grateful for your continued support. It helps us keep making this show even better. Let's welcome today's guest. Today's guest is Dr. Leah Kayler. Dr. Leah Kayler is a licensed clinical and prescribing psychologist who has served as the FBI sleep expert for over five years. With a passion for optimizing human performance, she's on a mission to help others harness the transformative power of rest. Because better sleep shouldn't be top secret. Dr. Leah shares practical, science-backed strategies on her YouTube channel, and her upcoming book, If Sleep Were a Drug, hits shelves on October 1st, 2025. Let's give a warm welcome to Dr. Leah Kayler. Good morning, good morning, good morning.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Thank you for having me. What an introduction. I feel like I'm like a celebrity. Thank you.
Chris:I love that. My pleasure. Thank you so much for taking some time out to be a guest here on Glass Half Full. We're so happy to have you today.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Thank you. I'm excited to be here. I love the attitude of a glass half full, so let's do this thing.
Chris:Yes, I love it. Can you tell everyone where you are in the world and what time it is, please?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Sure. So it's uh around 10 a.m. I'm on the East Coast and I'm uh in Pennsylvania.
Chris:Awesome. Thank you for this morning chat for sure. How's the weather today?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Um, I'm hoping that it's gonna get nicer. When I woke up and and was looking out the window this morning, it was very, very foggy and rainy, which we are getting into fall, so that's pretty typical, but I think it's gonna warm up to about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. So I'm looking forward to a nice afternoon.
Chris:All right. And you know, we do need the rain. It's it's part of the importance of the ecosystem. So I feel those days are not bad as well, for sure. I love it. All right, we're gonna jump right on in. I like to ask all my guests this first question. I believe that our lives are in spiritual design. Can you share your life layout or blueprint with everyone? This is how you grew up, where, your family lifestyle.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Sure. Um, so the the town, actually, where I am right now is where I was born and raised. Um, I a little tiny town outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And um I have one brother, and his name is Tim. And um I grew up, I would say, just a relatively normal life. I I was into sports, I did dance and horseback riding and gymnastics. And once I found gymnastics, that was it. I I did that for 10 years and in college, yes. And then because of that, um, it took me to the school that I went to, which is in Philadelphia. Um, it's called her Sinus College. That's where I started my undergraduate degree. And then I kind of ping-ponged all around. So I moved to New York City to do my master's at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in forensic mental health counseling. Wow. Then I moved to St. Louis, Missouri to do my PhD in clinical psychology at St. Louis University. Then I matched for my residency, and this is where sleep starts to come in, is that I was at the Memphis VA Medical Center for my one-year residency. And there I was put on one of the many rotations I got the sleep rotation. And that's kind of where it all started. Um, I was also an FBI intern at that time, waiting for my degree to be completed so I could accept a full-time position. And that's exactly what happened. And uh I got to the bureau. My supervisor at that time had asked me, okay, Leah, so what's gonna be your thing? And I said, well, gee, I don't know. Um I was trained as a trauma psychologist, but I just got off a sleep rotation. Why don't we, why don't we do that? Why don't why isn't sleep my thing? And so that ended up being one of the first presentations that I did at the bureau. And it's been just kind of growing because before that rotation at the Memphis VA Medical Center in the sleep clinic, I didn't realize how incredibly widespread problems with sleep are, how many people are struggling, how many different ways you can struggle, and just how impactful that is, not just to your sleep, but to all of your daytime functioning. Sleep literally touches everything. And so that is kind of how it all unfolded. And I've been doing, I've been helping people with sleep now for about seven years. And a about almost one year ago, I was at a conference in the community um in Wisconsin, and I had given a talk on sleep and healthy sleep and how to get better sleep. And a woman had approached me after that uh lecture and just said, This was fantastic, but my friend who really needs this information isn't here. She unfortunately couldn't be at this conference. But, you know, do you have a handout? Do you have a website? Do you have a book? And I was just like, Excuse me? There's there's there's other books out there that you know touch on this. And and she basically planted a seed, and I thought, you know what, there are there's so many demands for me to come lecture about speak or about sleep, um, or to have people work one-on-one with me about sleep. And so I thought, you know what, actually, maybe maybe there is room out there for a book about sleep. And so that's what I've devoted my about last year to. And it's called If Sleep were a drug, and you mentioned it here earlier, and so that's gonna release here in the next couple of days. So I'm busy working away at marketing and and final touches, and so there will be an ebook, a paperback, and an audio book, too, that I will be the author or the narrator of.
Chris:I love it. You're busy, busy. I am busy. Okay, I want to go back a little bit and we're gonna come through your story a little bit. I want to talk about your childhood and growing up. Um, what type of how was your family life? Did you guys do you play any instruments? Are you a music family? Was there any type of religion that was in your family? Was sleep something that was important in your family when you were young as well, or not at all?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:So you you made me laugh because you had asked if we're a musical family, and I would say the answer to that is no. I remember us having a piano, and I remember having to take piano lessons and like not being thrilled about it at all. Oh no. And I remember I remember that I like had to go practice by myself and the piano was downstairs. And I remember, like, not sure why I thought this was a good idea, but again, I'm I'm a child, so I have a child brain. And I would walk on the piano keys, and like that was my like defiance of like, I don't want to play this piano, I'm gonna walk across the piano keys. So I remember doing that.
Chris:Wow, my mouth is dropped over here. Oh my gosh. Okay, you it was clear. Okay, no. Yeah, I'm not playing the piano.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:I don't want to do piano.
Chris:Well, who played the piano?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:I'm not even sure why we had a piano. Honestly, I don't, I don't know if yeah, I'm not sure why we even had. I'm gonna I'm gonna call my mom and I'm gonna ask her because I I don't know why we had a piano.
Chris:That's now wait if you find out that one of your parents could play the piano will be an extra gag on top of it. You'd be like, you could play?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:I would be shocked because like I don't recall any instances of them ever playing, or if they did play, that it was like good.
Chris:That is so funny.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah.
Chris:Thank you for that. I love it. Um, did your family grow up with any religion in the house?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Or was there um Yeah, we we were raised um Catholic, and I remember going to Sunday school, but I also remember like that not really being of interest to me either. Like I remember having to go, but being like, well, no, but it's Saturday, like, and everybody else is outside, and then the weather's nice and there's a swing set. So again, just being a child, wanting to be a child.
Chris:Of course, right? Totally understandable. Um, and growing up through school, how was your sleep as a kid? If you look back at your sleeping style, was it something that was healthy? Was it good now that you're the expert?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah, it's funny that you asked that because I as a child loved reading. Like I was super into reading. Um, I remember having just about every single Mary Kate Nashley like murder mystery book. Um just they were like a little bit older than me. And so I like I I desperately wanted to be like a third wheel to their siblingness. Um, so I remember wanting to, it was time to go to bed, like shutting off all the lights, and then like wanting to have a flashlight and still continue to read like after lights out. So I remember, I remember that.
Chris:That's cute. That's cute.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah, but I but I do remember like having a bedtime and having like a wind-down routine and things like that. But one thing I will say is though, my my sleep hasn't always been fabulous. I would say when I was in college and I was um, I was a collegiate gymnast, so I would, and I'm also an early bird, so I would wake up early, I would ask for the earliest classes, I would go to the library, I would go to lunch, and then I would come back home and I would take like an like several hours long nap in the middle of the day. Yep. And then I would go get up, go to gymnastics practice. And those practices are normally about four hours long, and they're no joke.
Speaker 02:Go to dinner, yeah, they're no joke.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Um and then maybe go to the library. And then when it was time to go to bed, like I wasn't sleepy and I couldn't figure out why. Well, you know, hindsight is always 2020. I look back and I'm like, well, of course, here's the problem, you know, these hour-long naps that you're taking in the middle of the day. But uh, at that point in time I didn't have the knowledge that I have now. And so I I couldn't figure it out.
Chris:Wow. That is something. I know it's I I studied gymnastics for a short while too, and like, yeah, you are whooped when you come back. You just feel like you just want to, you know, lie down, eat something, and fall out, you know, from from the rigorous practice. Wow. Yeah. Oh okay. So now in going through, it feels like you have the you had a learning bug. You have so much education behind you. Was it something that your family was um something that was pushed through your family with education, or was it something that you just found, you know what? I just love learning.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:I I think it's me. I just love learning. Um, and I didn't even tell you everything because I also uh went back to school. The FBI paid for me to get a postdoctoral master's degree in clinical psychopharmacology.
Chris:So you can't say that and just say, yeah, I was about to be like, can't please say that slowly. That was a mouthful. Yes.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yes. Um, so I have a postdoctoral master's degree in clinical psychopharmacology. So um this means that I'm a psychologist, but I've also gone back for a two and a half year extra level of knowledge to be able to write prescriptions for psychotropic medications.
Chris:Okay, so you get the prescription pad to be Yes, I do.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:And and not a whole lot of psychologists do that, which is very exciting. Yes.
Chris:Okay. Wow, nice. Okay, so now there adds again. So was this a the bug of learning? Was it something that was in your household um growing up, or was this something that you just felt like, you know what, I just want to keep learning?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:I think it's me. I just like learning. I also think that psychology is so fascinating and the brain and when things go wrong in the brain and how to fix that. And so I would say that it was very much me just being a lifelong learner. And I would say, even now, um, you know, if you were to look at my podcast history or my YouTube history, like most of the time it's not necessarily entertainment, it is learning. It is how else can I better myself? What more can I learn? And so that's almost always what I'm trending towards.
Chris:I love that. I love that. And you know what my grandmother says that if we don't learn something new every day, then we've wasted 24 hours. And it's great. It's nice, right? And I tried to make it a point to be like, oh my gosh, I learned something new. Like as soon as I hear something, I'm like, oh my gosh, I learned something new. Um, because uh it makes sense that we're otherwise we're just kind of repeating the day over and over. And so um, that's great. I wanted to talk about some of the high stakes um professional cases that you've worked with the FBI. As um, what does that mean when they say high stakes?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah, so with regard to that, um, and I'll just make a disclaimer is that everything that I say is my are my own thoughts, feelings, opinions, beliefs, and this podcast is not sponsored by the FBI. And so there's only select things that I can share. However, we are uh, you know, if you watch the news and there's no shortage of it, you will see all kinds of very unfortunate, very sad, very tragic things that happen around the clock. And sometimes we're involved in those things, sometimes we're not. It just kind of depends on if there's a federal element to it. But nonetheless, the things that you see on your TV day in and day out are any of those things could be things that we may potentially be involved in. So when we say high stakes, it would just be, you know, some of the worst of the worst things that you're seeing. And, you know, uh something that a lot of people don't realize is that because we're working so diligently around the clock and behind the scenes, is that there are a lot of things that we are able to stop from happening that never happen because our our organization and the people who do this work are just so committed to the mission.
Chris:Okay, I that makes sense.
unknown:Yeah.
Chris:Definitely. Uh I wanted to ask about in your early career as a VA sleep at the VA sleep as at the VA sleep clinic, excuse me, um what did you learn from working with the veterans that might still influence your approach today?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Oh, absolutely. I would say that everything that I learned at the VA is still something that I carry with me today because again, I uh I did not realize how incredibly impactful sleep was. Like I had come to the VA, I matched, I was excited to be there. But in your residency year, it's basically a time where this is it. This is your final year. Like take as many opportunities and experiences as you can to be as well-rounded and as much experience as you can possibly have, and then you'll go out and work under your own license. And so I can't remember if I actually wanted the sleep clinic. I was having this conversation with um uh an individual who was also there with me just this past uh week. I called her and I was like, hey, do you remember if I wanted the sleep clinic or not? And she's like, honestly, Lee, I don't remember if you wanted it, but I but you weren't mad about it. And I'm like, okay. So and I think again, when I was on residency, it's just, it's, it's again, another aspect of learning. It's what else do I do I not know? And I think that this is something that everyone who I come in contact with and who I talk to about sleep, it's kind of like we do this every night, we have to give in to sleep, but but why? And so I think that for a lot of people, it just seems very mundane. It seems like this activity that we just give into every night. So, you know, what's so special about it? And and by being at the VA, then I realized, oh, actually, there's a lot of very special things about it. And when it's not going well or it's disrupted, there are so many things that can go wrong. And I remember a supervisor that I had at the FBI, and she would say, Oh, the three pillars of health, nutrition, exercise, and sleep. And thinking back and reflecting on that back, maybe she said that about six years ago. I'm like, no, that actually was very incorrect, and that sleep is the foundation for everything. And then you can build whatever pillars or whatever else you want on top of it, but sleep is the foundation for everything. And just to answer your question, what I learned there was just the magnitude of problems that people are having with sleep. Uh, I think whenever it comes to issues with sleep, everybody can relate to this. But whenever it comes to veterans, I think that there is, it goes hand in hand with the trauma that they experience. So I was also very grateful to have been trained as a trauma psychologist. Um, I think that the magnitude of sleep issues that folks are having at the VA is also uh kind of on another scale because of nightmares, which maybe normal civilians aren't necessarily experiencing, or maybe like every now and again here and there when they're experiencing high stress. Um just sleep avoidance. I had never seen anything like that before, where I will do whatever I can, I will stay awake as long as I can to avoid sleep. I I cannot go to sleep because this is feels dangerous for me. This feels scary for me, this feels vulnerable for me. And I had never come across anything like that. Um so while I was there, kind of just in a nutshell, I learned how to treat insomnia and nightmares and help people with um obstructive sleep apnea to kind of get used to wearing their CPAP mask. So yeah, it was just a grand scale of a whirlwind tour of getting to understand sleep and why it's so important.
Chris:So this helped kind of build those foundations of what it is that you've built upon today and that you're oh 100%.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:I if I hadn't, if I hadn't had that rotation, I don't know what my career would look like because it has been so I've taken what I've learned there, which was very much my introduction into why sleep is so important, and built upon it and used that knowledge and gained more knowledge and wrote a book about it and like gathered even more research to put into that book. And so I would say I'm still learning because there's sleep is so incredibly complex, and I think that we still don't know everything that there is to know about it. But yeah, if I hadn't had that rotation at the Memphis VA Medical Sleep Clinic, I I don't think that my career would look the way that it does. And I certainly don't think that there would be a book.
Chris:I love that. And you know what, we want to be growing, right? We want to feel that we are continuing to build and seeing ourselves to continue the stride, and so this is what we want. So I love that for you. Yes. Yes, I want to get into some of the cut some of the sleep issues or traumas we might say. Um, you spoke about insomnia. Um, can you tell everyone what is most people's definition of insomnia? Um and what people think insomnia is, um, and maybe it might be something that it really isn't. Can you talk a little bit about that for us?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah, so insomnia is an umbrella term, and a lot of people don't realize that. Insomnia may look like having a hard time falling asleep, having a hard time staying asleep, waking up earlier than you would have liked to, or just waking up and not feeling refreshed. So insomnia can look like several different things, but it can also be complicated by other factors. So I'm gonna use old terminology because I think it's just easier. And this terminology is primary insomnia and then secondary insomnia. So primary insomnia means that there is something wrong with sleep. Um, it's not caused by issues with medical conditions, mental health conditions, uh, medication side effects. Like there is something wrong with sleep. Oftentimes this happens maybe because we have had poor sleep, and then maybe we kind of just like wind ourselves up about, oh no, here comes another sleepless night, or oh, I have things I have to do tomorrow and I have to wake up feeling refreshed, but I know I'm a crappy sleeper. So that is what primary insomnia is, and then secondary insomnia.
Chris:Oh, let me stop you for a moment. So the primary, so you're saying that it's the sleep, it's not the person?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:It's this, it's well, let me say secondary, and that might clarify. No, it's okay, it's okay. So secondary is whenever the insomnia is caused by something else. So maybe you have chronic back pain. Okay. And so it's just hard to get comfortable with a sleeping position. Or maybe you have a condition where you have to get up in the middle of the night many times to use the bathroom, and that can really disrupt sleep. Um so there are with secondary insomnia, the insomnia is caused by something else. So there's something happening and then poor sleep is a consequence of it. Does that make sense?
Chris:Okay. So ideally in the first primary, um, is it is there a difference about how you fix them? Is the fix the same, or is it different because it's the primary might be a little bit lighter than the secondary? Is that a good question?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:They they're definitely treated differently. Oh, okay. So with the primary insomnia, I would normally do uh an intervention called cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, CBTI. And with this, it's it encompasses a lot of different things. So with CBTI, it, and not that a person with secondary couldn't benefit from it, they would, and I would still use a lot of those techniques. But for primary insomnia, yes, we're gonna teach the person about what healthy sleep looks like. Um, what are the cycles or the stages of sleep that you're gonna go through? What is circadian rhythm and why is that important? We'll talk about um environmental modifications, so making your bedroom dark, cool, and quiet. We would talk about behavioral modifications. So when are you exercising? When are you taking caffeine? Are you having alcohol? Um, lots of different things that we don't realize that we kind of get in our own way about. So just teaching the person things like that, teaching the person relaxation techniques and how to have a wind-down routine, because that's very important. Um, we also challenge negative beliefs about sleep. So, kind of how I had mentioned earlier, like, oh great, here comes another sleepless night. We would kind of challenge things like that.
Chris:Or to try to be a little more positive, you mean?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Try and be a little bit more positive, or kind of to help the person realize, like when you have thoughts like that, and when you do that night after night after night, you're kind of part of the problem. You are perpetuating this poor sleep when you have thoughts like that. So, how else can we change these thoughts? What other thoughts can we replace them with that are more adaptive? So, yes, we are we're working with the person's thoughts. So, that is in a nutshell, CBTI. Um, with the secondary insomnia that I had mentioned, the example of chronic back pain or this person getting up throughout the night because they have to use the bathroom, perhaps there might be things that we can do, maybe like pain relievers, maybe massage, things like that, where we might be able to help them figure out a way to get better sleep, but it really is because it's caused by the back pain, for that example. So maybe they go to physical therapy and they get massage and they use icy hot. Yeah, we need to treat what's causing what's underlying and what's causing the sleep issue. So that is how we would treat primary and secondary. But I gotta throw a wrench into things because there's also paradoxical insomnia. Uh-huh. And yeah, paradoxical insomnia. And this one is kind of strange and interesting, but there's a subsection of the population that do have paradoxical insomnia. And so people think that they are awake throughout the night. Um, but in actuality, they are sleeping significantly better than they believe that they are. And so the way that we would figure out if someone has paradoxical insomnia is we would give them maybe an um a wearable, or we might even put them through a sleep study. And with paradoxical insomnia, the person believes that their sleep is much worse than it actually is. And so to kind of break through that, we'd still do a lot of the techniques from CBTI that I had mentioned, but then we might also show them the data from the wearable or from the sleep study to show no, you weren't laying awake in bed all night long staring at the ceiling. In fact, you were in sleep. And we would also do some education around light sleep, and that light sleep is still important, and it is something that you spend almost 50% of your night in. So just I think that with sleep, and this is just a flaw that we have and that we need to work towards and a gap that I'm hoping to fill, is that there we just don't have a lot of education about sleep and why it's so important and kind of what's happening. And so that's a lot of what the treatment is for sleep and sleep disorders is just giving a lot of education.
Chris:I think it's important. I mean, some people say that, you know, they're just too busy to sleep, like they just have too much things. And um what's the first small change that you could recommend that they could try?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:So I'm gonna I'm gonna expand on that.
Chris:Yes, please.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:And and and talk about why that's a problem. So oftentimes I I just love giving lectures about sleep. And so I will tell people about how much sleep adults should get. So I imagine that most of our listeners here are adults, ages 26 to about 64, you should be getting seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Seven to seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Now that will vary. Um, some people are fine with seven. I love nine if you'll give me the opportunity. Everyone is a little bit different. Um, the way to figure out if you where you fall in that category, and people are often surprised by this recommendation, the the best way I recommend is to go on a vacation and to have it not be a vacation where it's wild and crazy and jam-packed with all kinds of activities, but one that is very relaxed and that you can allow your body to fall asleep when it wants to, allow your body to wake up when it wants to, and doing that for several days. And that will give you a good indicator of how much sleep your body needs each night in that seven to nine hour time frame.
Chris:Okay.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:So that's really important because I think a lot of people just don't know.
Chris:No, this is true. They always say eight hours. You can find that. I feel like growing up, everybody like eight hours, you know, eight hours of sleep, you know, it's good enough. Yes. So the seven to nine, at least they haven't been lying to us all these years.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:So yeah, eight is the average there, but seven to nine is is what's recommended by um most foundations that that give us the research that we know about sleep. Now, what about for kids? Um for kids, it's very different. For children, our sleep needs change throughout the lifespan. So if you think about it, an infant is gonna be sleeping almost around the clock. Like a newborn, they're gonna be spending more of their life sleeping than they will awake. And so then if you think as they get a little bit older and we get into toddlerhood and we get into um childhood like elementary school, our sleep needs change. We still need a lot of sleep, and that's also why kids, especially in like preschool and kindergarten, are still having their naps, because the brain is growing, the body is growing, the brain is just soaking up information at a rapid pace. And so it needs a lot more sleep. And then as we get into um, you know, the teenage years, we still need a lot of sleep, but then things kind of get in the way of homework, after school activities, social media, wanting to stay up late and to socialize with friends, and then early school start time. So our sleep needs change throughout the lifetime. But I figure that most of your audience is adults. So that's why I said seven to nine.
Chris:Well, you know, they have this is it because they have kids though. This is this is the extra, right? Yeah. So the kids, then they know how to put the kids to bed. About, I mean, a lot of the parents today, I have nieces and stuff. So a lot of the parents sometimes just let the kids, they don't have bed times. I teach children and they're like, oh, yeah, we were up late watching. It's like after 11 o'clock. I'm like, what? But you have to be, you're at school at 7 30 in the morning.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:So yes, and that's definitely a problem. We definitely kids should not be left to their own devices to figure out how much sleep is right for them. They do need a window down routine, you know, whether That's a bath and pajamas and story time and singing, like we need that. And I don't know where this came about that adults don't need that, but we certainly do. But let me answer your question. So, yes, when we're talking about newborns, zero to three months, they should be sleeping anywhere from 14 to 17 hours a day. That's that's a lot. Again, they're they're gonna be sleeping most of the day, their bodies and their brains are just rapidly developing, and they need that immense amount of sleep. And then as we move to infants, which that age category is gonna be four months to a year, they need anywhere from 12 to 16 hours. So here, yes, yeah, they need a ton of sleep. So their sleep is gonna be consolidated into longer spans.
Chris:Is that including a nap time as well?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:It can, yes, it definitely can. So that's gonna be nighttime sleep and napping.
Chris:Wow.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:For infants, yes. Um, so that's the 16 to 12, excuse me, 12 to 16 is the total amount of sleep within like a 24-hour period. Okay. Yeah. And then when we get into toddlers, so that's one to two years, that's gonna be 11 to 14 hours of sleep within a 24-hour period. Again, they're just soaking in all the information, they're starting to acquire language, they're starting to uh just get more defined motor skills. So again, sleep is behind busy behind the scenes making all that happen. Then we get to preschool, that's gonna be ages three to five, and their sleep, here's where we start to see it lessen. That's 10 to 13 hours a day. Then if we move to school age kids, these kids are ages six to twelve, and the amount of sleep that these kids need is anywhere between nine to twelve hours. And here, where we're gonna start to see issues is if these kids maybe don't have a bedtime, if parents are kind of willy-nilly and letting their kids go to bed whenever they want, this might be where we start to see issues. So if the kids aren't getting the sleep that they need because they want to stay up and watch YouTube all night or whatever the case may be, then we might start to see issues with attention, issues with behavior, issues with health or academic performance. And people might think, oh, well, this kid is has ADHD or this kid's just a bad kid. No, it really could be sleep.
Speaker 02:Wow.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:If we don't have sleep under control. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 02:So that's again, just that's huge.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:It's very huge. Yes. And and maybe, you know, we there uh there's so much for us to talk about. But when it comes to childhood obesity, it might very well be highly, highly connected to sleep and not getting enough sleep. Wow. Yes. Yes.
Chris:Okay. You know what? I there's been examples of I know people getting up in the night to eat, like younger people getting up and eating and or taking things and going back to their room and eating in the night. Um, and even for myself as a child, I used to like walk and eat peanut butter. That's what they say. Like I would eat the peanut butter out of the jar and then like fall out.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:So a a piece of that, um, so it could be what you're describing, but whenever we're not getting enough sleep that we need, and remember now we're if we're talking about the school age, that's nine to twelve hours of sleep. If we're not getting that, it can throw off our our hunger hormones. So I'm gonna really try and simplify it. There are two hormones that are very, very closely connected to sleep and uh and hunger. So we have one called ghrelin, and ghrelin you can think of as the one that says, I'm hungry, feed me.
Speaker 01:And we have leptin.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:And you can think of leptin as the opposite side of the coin. So leptin is I'm full, no thank you, I don't want any more. Even just one night of poor sleep, these hormones get out of whack.
unknown:Okay.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:So ghrelin goes up, feed me, I'm hungry, I want more. Leptin goes down, and we're not nearly as satisfied as we should be. So those are out of whack. But then when we sleep poorly, and this research is more so for adults, but I'm gonna put it out there anyways, just so people can have a better understanding. Is that when we are sleeping poorly, our intake of calories is going to be anywhere from 200 to 500 out 500 calories greater that following day after a poor night's rest compared to someone who is well rested. Now that's just one night. If you're getting poor sleep night after night after night, that adds up.
Chris:So you're saying that you could eat like your calorie difference the next day is going to be more because you didn't sleep well the night before.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Exactly, because those hormones are thrown off. Also, because the hormones are thrown off and our body is looking for the energy that it didn't get replenished at night, it's going to look for quick hits of energy. So a donut or a coffee or a sugary drink. Yes, things that are going to be probably not in alignment with uh nutritional good food. Right. It's looking for things that are sugary and starchy and highly processed to get that quick hit of energy that it needs. So we've got that going. And then also, whenever you've slept poorly, I think everyone can relate to this is the next day we're just feeling kind of slow, unmotivated, would rather hang out on the couch than going and playing outside or going to the gym. And so it's all these factors that come into play that can influence our metabolism and our weight and our just how things are going within the body. So people don't realize that it's so incredibly tied to that. And we're having a very big problem with childhood obesity. And so it may very well need be that we need to zoom out even further and see is it sleep that might be contributing to this problem? Because I imagine that it very much could be.
Chris:Wow, Leah, you might be onto something with that. That's good. I don't know.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:That's good. I don't know.
Chris:That's good. Wow.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:There's so many things.
Chris:I know, right? I want to ask you. Yeah. I love it. I love because it's an important thing, sleep, and we all do it. Yes. No matter where you are in the world. Look, no matter what your color, your race, your creed, your sex, we all close these eyes and go in. So um I want to ask um, is there something that we can walk away with right at this moment to tap into some sleep advantage that people can say, I can start this right now after listening to this podcast to try to help me sleep better, even if they might not know if they're having issues with their sleep?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah, so I would say some very quick, easy things that we can do. One of them, and I alluded to this earlier, is having some type of wind-down routine. In this day and age, we're so busy, we're so go, go, go. There's so many things vying for our attention and our priorities. And instead, we're just busy all day long, and then we try and fight, fall face first into our bed and try and make sleep happen that way. And it just doesn't work like that. And so people need to have some type of wind-down routine. Like I mentioned, for kids, we do the bathtime, we pick out the pajamas, we get a favorite stuffed animal, we read, we sing. And that is what we need to also be doing as adults. Now it doesn't need to look that way. Maybe it looks like, maybe it still looks like reading or dimming the lights and playing some soothing music while we pack our lunch for the next day. Just slowing down, winding down. You can still do the things that you need to do, like picking out your clothes for the next day, packing your lunch, but doing it in a mindful and relaxed way. Um, one of the problems that we that has been created with the invention of electricity is that we have light anytime we want it. That didn't always used to be the case. You know, our caveman ancestors knew it was time to be awake because the sun went up, but then they knew it was time to go to bed because the sun went down. And we are still wired that same way. We still have our circadian rhythm. However, because of the ability to have light anytime that we want it, we have kind of fallen away from that circadian rhythm that has governed us. And it's not that it's not useful anymore, we absolutely still need it, but that's where we can kind of get into our own way of having our lights on 24-7. And so with this wind-down routine, what we also need to be doing is dimming the lights in our environment. For me, I try not to use a whole lot of overhead or uh artificial lighting. I am lucky enough to have uh several windows around my home that I will just leave the blinds up completely and just try and go off of a lot of natural lighting because that's what's important for our circadian rhythm. So, one of the best possible things that you can do to strengthen this circadian rhythm is Can you explain what the circadian rhythm is before you go into it?
Speaker 04:Thank you.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yes. So the circadian rhythm is that internal body clock. It's that 24-hour body clock that is we know to be awake when the sun is up and we know to go to sleep when the sun is down.
Chris:That's and we all have this rhythm, correct?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Every everybody has this. There are select few people who maybe who have been always visually impaired for their whole entire life.
Speaker 02:Oh, okay.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:That that is a disorder where things kind of get out of whack because they don't have the ability to see to then take in the light from their retinas. But that will be a very, very, very small portion of the world. Um so otherwise, yes, everybody has a circadian rhythm, and it is approximately 24 hours, and it is very highly connected to light and dark exposure. So that's what that is.
Speaker 02:Okay.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:One of the strongest ways to strengthen the circadian rhythm is within an hour of waking up. Get up, get outside, don't wear sunglasses, and look towards the sun.
Chris:Oh, wow.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:And yes, simple, free, easy, only takes a few minutes.
Chris:Now, you know, they've always told us don't look at the sun. I know.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:I looking towards the sun, don't burn your retinas. Also, when the when you've just woken up, you know, maybe you're waking up at seven, maybe you're waking up at eight. The sun and looking towards it is not nearly as strong as if you were to try to do that midday. Okay. I agree with that. Um, but looking towards the sun, and what's happening to get super science-y on you is it's coming into the eyes, so into the retinas, traveling back to the brain, back to our superchiismatic nucleus. So that is our internal timekeeper. And then it's talking to the pineal gland. And why this is so important is if you do this um in the morning, whenever you wake up, that these effects will last throughout the day.
Chris:Oh, wow.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yes, it will last throughout the day. Yes. So when the sun should be setting, when you should start to be feeling sleepy, that pineal gland that I just mentioned, that's what releases melatonin to signal to the brain, it's time to start feeling sleepy. So we can strengthen the circadian rhythm in that way, but also, as I mentioned, dimming the lights in our environment, um, or just allowing kind of natural light to come into your home if you're lucky enough to have uh a lot of windows and just watching the sunset. I think that that can be really useful for just reminding the brain of the light and the dark and our circadian rhythm. Um, so that's that's gonna be really important because if we have all of our overheads on and we kind of have our house lit up like a stadium, that it is going to be that much harder for the brain to wind down because these artificial lights are kind of tricking the brain into thinking, well, it's still daylight out.
Chris:This is it. Yeah. Yeah, well, it's still daylight out.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Right. And that's, you know, we're we're treading into the territory of blue light. And, you know, I think that everyone has heard, oh, blue light's bad. Well, that's a part of the story, and we'll talk about that more. But blue light is what's being emitted from our screen. So our TVs, our iPads, our laptops, our phones, and it also depends on how close that device is being held to your face. So if you are, if you've got your phone right in front of your face, you know, watching funny TikToks, that blue light is very close to your eyes. Blue light is the same wavelength as sunlight. So that's how we're tricking our brain. Yes. Yes. Blue light is the same wavelength as sunlight.
Chris:Okay. Yes.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yes. So as we're getting closer and closer to bedtime, you've probably heard, oh, well, shut off your devices. Yes. You know, well, that's why. Also, it's not just the blue light, it is how engaged we are with that screen. So if we're watching um the season finale and we're just so hooked, or we're playing games and it's so hard to walk away, or we're in social media and we just have to keep scrolling. So it's it's an element of the blue light, but it's also an element of dopamine. Dopamine is a naturally occurring chemical that your body and your brain release when it's something that we like doing, when it's something that is exciting and motivating. And oh, I just, I have to keep scrolling. I have to, I need to see the next funny video. Or um, you know, you're playing a game and you're just so deep in this game that you you can't step away and and like time starts to pass and like very quickly, and you're not, oh my gosh, how did it get to be 1 a.m.? Or you know, you're watching a show and it leaves you with a cliffhanger and you're like, I need to watch the next one.
Chris:Yes, I have been there. You cannot walk away. Okay, it's true though. You're like, I can't close these eyes without knowing.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:We all have been, and that is dopamine. Okay, dopamine wants to keep you doing whatever that activity is because it's pleasurable, it's exciting, it's motivating. That is dopamine. And so sleep has a hard time competing because yes, there is a million benefits of sleep, but when dopamine is is hitting, it's sleep doesn't have a whole lot to compete with right then and there. It's like, okay, well, just close your eyes now. And the dopamine is is hard. I mean, you know, the the CEO of Netflix has said that our number one competitor is sleep.
Chris:Oh, wow. I didn't hear that.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yes, yes. So sleep is it has so many benefits, but it's it has a very hard time competing with dopamine. So that's why we say, you know, try and if you're having this wind-down routine, try and do things that don't rely on a screen. So maybe you're stretching, maybe you're maybe listening to an audio book or reading a physical book or just doing things that are calming and boring, things that you need to get done anyways, folding some laundry.
Speaker 02:Yes.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Because when we when we cut that off early and we kind of have, yes, this like technology cutoff time, then it's a lot easier. And I even recommend for people to have like set an alarm. So say, for example, that you want to get into bed at 10. Okay, maybe you set uh an alarm, a window alarm or a technology cutoff alarm at nine. And that is your time of like, okay, we're done here. We're putting this away. And now we're going to move into other relaxing self-care activities that aren't going to be so dopamine fueled.
Chris:Alarms are good because a lot of people are not present in life in general. So they're not aware of time. And just it's some people who even still who are present are still not aware of time. But an alarm will set you right up. And you know, the people have an Alexa, that's what I really use her for is setting alarms and timers.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:I do too. It's so great.
Chris:It's perfect. Because you're like, oh wow, it's only been five minutes. You're like, wow, okay. Yeah.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah. Where did the time go? And so when we are able to keep ourselves on track in ways like that, then uh then we're just setting ourselves up for more relaxation, less dopamine, a better night's sleep. Yes. So give that a try. That's again, simple, easy, free.
Chris:No, I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for putting that out. Because you know, people want to know, like, what can we do now to do it? So I love that. I wanted to ask a little bit about sleepwalking. Um, okay. Is there any correlation to it? Is it something that you have studied in as well? Is it why do people do it? Um, I used to sleepwalk as well when I was a child. So um, it's something interesting I'm wondered about.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah, sleepwalking is interesting. So it happens much more frequently in children than it does in adults. It still does happen in adults, but more so we kind of grow out of it, if you will. So for kids, and I let me say this sleepwalking is not in and of itself dangerous. However, people may walk into situations that may be dangerous. So, for example, walking outside, walking into traffic. So, what we want to do is protect the sleeper by protecting the environment. So, making sure that we our windows are locked, our doors are locked, um, hiding keys, hiding sharp things so the sleepwalker can't get access to those. Um, also having like motion-censored lights or motion-censored lights outside if the person has a tendency to want to go walk outside. With adults, the reason why this happens or the reason why we think that it happens is changes, kind of having like erratic sleep schedule. And what that would mean would be I fall asleep whenever I want to. Maybe it's 3 a.m. one night, maybe it's 9 p.m. the next night, maybe it's 1 p.m. the following night, maybe it's 10 p.m. So it's all over the place. So erratic sleep schedules of thing, there's no rhyme or reason, there's no routine, there's no predictability, and the body like doesn't know what to do with it. So erratic sleep schedules, alcohol can play a factor in sleepwalking. Alcohol is horrible for sleep. We could do a whole episode on that, but alcohol is terrible for sleep, so it can kind of destabilize things. Yes, yes. Um, stress, whenever stress isn't well managed, that can also be a factor playing into sleepwalking as well. Um, go ahead.
Chris:No, no, no, no. I said I was like, yes.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:So um one of the one of the things that you've probably heard before is not to wake a sleepwalker. There's, I would say the the best possible thing for you to do is if you can kind of gently guide the person back to bed, that's the best thing to do. Um, yeah, we don't necessarily want to wake them because maybe, especially for an adult, it may be very startling. Uh, they might get defensive, just kind of not, especially when I'm thinking about my population of veterans and law enforcement, they may be startled awake and very scared and want to protect themselves. And maybe that might look like um going into defensive action. So if we can, we just very gently try and soothingly guide them back to bed. That's what we want to do. But what's happening um in the brain is that something, something weird is off. We're kind of uh getting stuck where the motor cortex of the brain is still working. That's how we're able to get out of bed, to walk. Sometimes, you know, like eating peanut butter, like you said, sleepwalking kind of encompasses some you may like pick up your phone and act like you're talking on it, or like things like that. Um, so sleepwalking encompasses things like that, but it's the motor cortex is awake and it's it's up and running, but then the prefrontal cortex, which is the area right behind your forehead, is offline. And so that is yeah. So there's this strange, like the brain kind of gets stuck in between gears, if you will. And so some areas of the brain are online, some areas of the brain are offline, and that's how we can get to that uh sleepwalking.
Chris:And I guess it plays a part too about the level of sleep that you've gotten yourself into, right? If it's like a deep sleep or if it's not so deep.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Um so great question. Um, sleepwalking does happen during deep sleep. Oh, wow. So that's the stage in which it does happen. Okay. And things kind of get out of whack. Also, a contributing factor to this would be sleep deprivation or just not having the sleep that you need. And this is a big problem in society is that people are often running on fumes but think, I have to keep going. I have so many things on my plate, I have to keep going. And because of that sleep deprivation, oftentimes the brain is so hungry for sleep that it's going to kind of like dive really deeply into this deep sleep and then throw onto it maybe poor stress management, maybe alcohol, maybe erratic sleep schedules. And these all create a perfect storm for sleepwalking. Um, one thing that we have the potential to maybe reset, and this could be done for children as well, but when the sleepwalking is done night after night after night, and it is um very predictable, and this suggestion would only be applicable if it's predictable. So this would more so apply to children. Okay. But one of the ways that we could potentially disrupt what's happening is say, for example, this person or this child sleepwalks every night at midnight. What, and if they have someone like a bed partner or a parent who knows this and who wants to try and stop this from happening, what we might do would be wake up the person around 11:45 or 11:50. So about 10 to 15 minutes before the event is going to happen and gently wake them up, maybe give them a glass of water, keep them awake for a couple of minutes, and then allow them to go back to bed. And this is a technique that we often use for night terrors to disrupt the pattern. It's kind of like resetting a glitchy computer. So we would do this for maybe about two weeks and then allow the person to sleep and while also working on those factors of sleep deprivation, cutting out alcohol, trying to manage stress better, um, getting on a sleep wake routine, all those different types of things, in addition to this, what we call scheduled awakening, may potentially help the person. Again, sleepwalking in and of itself is not dangerous, it's really the conditions that the person may walk into.
Chris:That totally makes sense when you say it like that as well, for sure.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah. So there's a there's a lot. And listen, we could talk about sleep all day long. I know you are in it.
Chris:You know, look, you write? Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. So let's talk about this book. Um, it's coming out next week.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:It is. It is October the 1st.
Chris:Tell us why did you write it? What do you, what's your mission? What do you hope people get from it?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah, so I think I again, I think that sleep is something that everybody does. And but we don't think about it. We don't think about how or why it's so important. And and my mission and my goal is to explain to people how important sleep is, and how if you take it seriously and you give your brain and body the amount of sleep that you need each night, how incredibly you could be performing. Just it will blow you away if you allow your body to sleep. And that will be emotionally, that will be cognitively, that will be physically. Like it, there are so many things that sleep touches, psychologically and physically, that if you allow your body to sleep, you would be blown away by the results that you can get. And so this book is written for, it's written for first responders, but honestly, anybody can pick it up and read it because sleep is sleep. Everyone goes through light sleep, deep sleep, REM sleep. Lots of people struggle with sleep and nightmares and night terrors and obstructive sleep apnea. So even though the title says or the front cover says it's for first responders, anybody can pick it up and anybody can benefit. Um, but it's really just to educate people about sleep. It is to show people how we get in our own way, whether that's through caffeine or alcohol or the timing of our exercise or naps. And then at the end, it's a troubleshooting guide, as just like what we did right here with sleepwalking. What is it? How does it work? Why is it happening? How can we get some strategies to fix it? And so that's what I tackle at the very end of the book is various different things that may be going wrong with sleep, like not being able to fall asleep, not being able to stay asleep, nightmares, night terrors, rustling.
Chris:Yeah, that's huge, right? Nightmares and night terrors. We didn't get into that because I feel like that's a whole nother episode.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:It's a whole nother episode.
Chris:But your book has it. We could we could get it from the book. We can get it from the book.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:And it's on pre-order, so I'm gonna give you the link and we'll put it in the show notes so everybody can find it. But it's indeed and I'm just really I want to teach people about sleep because this is the ultimate performance enhancement that you have no idea that is available to you each and every night if you take it seriously.
Chris:I love it. And I I wanted to ask about something. You said first responders. Can you explain what is a first responder?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah, when I wrote this book, I because I've been with law enforcement now for six, seven years, that it is in my mind, these are the people who I have been serving. So I'm thinking about police, I'm thinking about firefighters, EMTs, um, dispatchers. That's who I'm thinking about. Okay. But again, anybody can pick up this book and anybody can read because it's still applicable to every single person. Because we all sleep. We all sleep, you know, and and in this book, you know, I'm teaching you what happens when you get poor sleep. So that is applicable to every single person. I'm teaching you how to track your sleep. That's applicable to every person. Um, so yeah, even though the the cover says first responder edition, this was written because these folks are near and dear to my heart. And and also the military can absolutely have there's a lot of parallels, and many people who are first responders, their first career might have been uh service in the military. So it is written for those folks. And honestly, the person who wrote my foreword, who is Lieutenant Turn Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, he told me, Leah, I need you to go back and I need you to rewrite this book and take out all the first responder references because this book is a book for everyone. And I said, Well, sir, with all due respect, this book is coming out because this is who I've spent my career with. And if the book does do that well, I'm happy to go back in and to write a second edition where it is.
Chris:I know that's right.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:For for more general um explanations and examples and things like that. So we'll see. So maybe this is just the first of many. I don't know. I love it.
Chris:He says, sir, sir, this book, let it let it do its own thing first. Right. I love it. Yeah, I mean, that's a lot. You're like, come on, you know, yeah, I agree. Like, let's wait and see what's gonna happen. Yeah. Where's the pat on the back, sir? Yeah.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:And he he is a huge champion of this book, and and that was meant to be a compliment of Leah. This book is for everyone. Um, and it it is, it really is. Um, so I am so excited. I'm lovingly looking at it right now while we um while we talk.
Chris:You just hand over the cover. Yes. Now, is it a long book, Leah? You got do you got it for a long time? Is it a short little something? What kind of read are we talking about?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:My editor told me you have to stop. You have to stop. You have to stop writing. It's 350 pages, but okay.
Chris:We got it, we got a little read. Okay.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:It is. It well, and here's why I wrote it is I want you to have this book and to keep it because sleep will change throughout your life. You may go through something at one point in time and you're experiencing nightmares. Dust it off, get it off the shelf, and read that chapter. Okay.
Chris:Put it back. It's a tool. You're giving it to us as a tool.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:It's a whole toolkit. And so the first section, all about how sleep touches all the different areas of your life, that's a must-read. The middle section, all the ways that we get in our own way, that's a must-read. But then the third section is really a troubleshooting guide. So you can read it and you can learn. But if you're not having trouble with sleepwalking, you don't have to read that chapter.
Chris:Got it.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:So that's that's how the book is laid out is the first and second are must-reads. The third section is troubleshooting. So you go to which chapter you might be needing help with.
Chris:Well, you know, and this is this is important. This is what I say to my students is that my job is to give you tools to be able to use when I am not there. When things happen, you can go in and say, okay, I know this, or I can pull this book from the shelf, I can grab this. Oh, that's right. We've got this page marked about this. And that we can use it. It's a it's a lifetime thing that you can have for for knowing knowledge. And so um I think that's great that we can go back, that you've made a reference, especially troubleshooting. Like, that's the main thing. It's like, okay, we read this, but like what happens if this, you know, and so I love that you thought about that because that's so real, it's so practical, um, and something that we all could use in our lives at this moment, that's right now. So um awesome. That's so good. So good. Congratulations to you. Let me give you a little bit. Thank you. Yes, yes, yes, yes, for sure. I always like to ask my guest this final question. Is your glass half empty or half full?
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Oh, I definitely think that it's half full. I'm I I I think that there's so many good things to come, and there's so many things, you know, if I'm just thinking about my personal life, like so much that I don't know yet, and so much that hasn't unfolded. Like you and I are talking just a few days before the release of the book. And I I woke up this morning. It's it's listed on Amazon for purchase. So it can't even go out yet, but you can purchase it. And just this morning it hit number one for new releases. And so wow, that was like a glass of. Overfilling for me this morning. I'm like, holy cow, I have no idea what to happen next. But the glass is definitely half full. And so I just, and for me, it's all about helping people. And that's why I wrote the book, is because I don't, there's not enough of me to go around. I don't have enough hours in the day to do every person. And so it's really my glass will be half full. If there are people who read this, who get help, who pass it on to a friend, who tell somebody else, that's what I'm hoping to make a change in this world by helping people sleep better. That's what it's all about.
Chris:Yes, Leah. Give it back, giving back. I love it. And we all do this. I mean, this is you touch a category that affects every person, even the animals. So, like it's it's something that we all can learn from. So I love it. I love it for you, and I'm excited, definitely. I wanted to ask you do you have any final thoughts for our listeners? You gave us so much information, but something that you'd like to just leave us thinking about or sleeping over. Yeah.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yeah, I'll give you something to sleep on. I would say you have one brain, you have one body, take good care of it. You you're not, I mean, yeah, you might get some replacement parts here and there, but you are given one. And if you are deciding that you want to skimp out on sleep because you need to see the season finale, these things will catch up with you. And so take good care of yourself because you when you don't have your health, you don't have anything.
Chris:It is so true. Amen. On that for sure. Can you tell everyone how they can reach you if they want to find out more about you? Also, about where they can find your book.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Yes, yes. So my name is Dr. Leah Kalar, and that's spelled K-A-Y-L-O-R. I'm on all the various different social medias trying to give you some quick sleep knowledge. Um, and it's just at Dr. Leah Kaler. You can find me on LinkedIn. Please uh find me and friend me. My book is called If Sleep Were a Drug. It's available on Amazon. It will also be an audiobook, and that audiobook, I think, will be on Audible, but it will also be on my website, which is just drleakah.com.
Chris:Excellent. And all of this information will be listed when the podcast airs so that people can easily find it there too. Oh, thank you so much for your time and your information. You are like an encyclopedia, honey. You know it. That information was flowing through, honey. It's pouring through the pores. I was like, we need to get this. Yeah. You could do a whole series. You should think about that. You should you should really think about that. You could do a workshop, you could do a whole series of it, different areas in the night. I could see it. I could totally see it. Because it's something that's yes, get an assistant, honey. Get it, get ready, get ready.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Get ready. Thank you. Thank you. See, that's the good vibes. That's the the glass, even more than half full, with those vibes you're giving me right now.
Chris:This is it. This is it. Step into it, step into it. You're already doing the work, so excited for you.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Thank you. Thank you so much for excited for me, too.
Chris:This is how it's supposed to be, right? This is how it's supposed to be, for sure. Thank you so much for being a guest here on Glass Half Full. We are so happy to have had you today. You gave us such amazing information, and just to make us think about our sleep and how important it really is, and that it affects so many areas of our life. So thank you for leaving those thoughts with us, and we'll see you real soon.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Sleep tight.
Chris:Thank you. I love it. Thank you. Take care. Bye bye.
Dr. Leah Kaylor:Bye bye.