Better Sleep, Better Health: Practical Habits That Build Deep, Restorative Rest with Dr. Christine Dao

You can’t brute-force sleep at 11 p.m. if your day kept your nervous system on high alert. In this episode, Dr. Anita Haque is joined by Dr. Christine Dao, acupuncturist and functional medicine expert, to map the real levers that turn scattered nights into steady deep sleep—and the surprising ways one restless evening can disrupt glucose regulation, raise pain sensitivity, and cloud memory the very next day.

Walk away with a simple plan: change one habit, track the effect, and let the data guide your next move. If this helped you think differently about sleep, subscribe, share with a friend who needs better rest, and leave a quick review so we can reach more listeners looking for real recovery.

Transcript

Welcome And Why Sleep Matters

Dr. Christine Dao 0:00

And then what is your stress during your day? Because the research also shows that if you're chronically stressed during your day, trying to just suddenly tell your body to go to sleep and wind down, it doesn't work that way. We have to take bits during our day to wind down and practice being calm and practice getting our body into the sense of safety.

Intro/Close 0:27

Welcome to the Hawks Health Hacks Podcast, your trusted source for wellness, fitness, and healthy lifestyle insights. We believe in empowering you with knowledge to take control of your health. Join us as we explore the latest in self-care, care expert advice, and guide you on your journey to optimal well-being. Let's embark on this path to a healthier you together.

Sleep Duration, Metabolism, And Pain

Dr. Anita Haque 0:55

Hi, and welcome to Hawks Health Hacks. So excited to have you here listening or watching today because really this podcast is aimed to giving you small steps for big changes. And that's why we have these hacks for you. If you've listened to any of our previous episodes, this episode is going to tie into really helping that because we're going to be talking about sleep and how to get better quality sleep and hacks that you can put into plug and play that's going to help you with some of our previous episodes, like I mentioned, things that help with your immunity, your digestion, your posture, your body-mind connection, your digestion, all the things. So sleep is really vital for that. And I have a very special guest who's been with me before, Dr. Christine Dow, who's not only an acupuncturist but a functional medicine doctor. She has such great insights, helps her patients so much with sleep, just like I do. So we want to just dive in and get started so we can all sleep better. So, first and foremost, to start us off, Dr. Dow, thank you so much for coming on. Let's talk a little bit about why sleep matters so much. I wanted to share a couple of things, if you don't mind, before I let you dive in, because I know you have a lot to share. This past weekend, I was actually at the largest national chiropractic conference, uh, which was taking place in Las Vegas. And one of the educational classes that was top on my list to visit, and there were so many docs in there, was sleep, how to get better sleep, and talking about the science behind what's happening to our bodies when we don't get enough sleep. So, why sleep matters, I just want to start off a few things that I learned and kind of refresh for myself as well as for our listeners and watchers today, is most people realize we need seven, eight hours. Okay. So that is still the standard. I learned over again this weekend. Seven, eight hours is kind of the gold standard of what we're aiming for. And if we go over eight hours, it doesn't necessarily make our bodies that much better, which is kind of interesting because sometimes I thought too, hey, let's try to get 12 hours to catch up for my last night where I only got five or six hours. That doesn't work. So if you even lose an hour, a couple hours of sleep per night, guess what it does? The biggest thing I learned this weekend is it really messes up with your insulin uptake. So it affects your metabolic factors. And when you don't have good insulin uptake, guess what happens? It leads to conditions like diabetes type two. And the other thing it leads to is chronic pain conditions actually increase. So people are already having pain in their back or their neck or their shoulders, conditions that I know that we treat regularly. And if they're not sleeping well, it not only causes the insulin issues, but it causes more pain and more decreased sleep. So it's just like cycle that can really wreak havoc in our lives and our health. And why sleep really matters is it affects your memory. It's gonna affect tissue uh repairment, immune system health. It helps with the cognitive function of your brain. It supports the growth hormone. It's gonna also provide the musculoskeletal um restoration that we need when we are healing, in addition to, like I said, helping with our insulin, which is what gives us that waking, gives us that ability to process sugars properly. So there's so many benefits that I think we can take advantage of, thinking that we can get by with less than seven, eight hours. I hear patients on a regular Dr. Dow, I think you do too, that say, I don't need eight hours, I just need four hours, I need five hours. They might be fooling themselves, thinking that that's okay. But the science is telling us that we really want to get that seven to eight hours of quality sleep and that slow wave sleep cycle, which is the SWS. We think we want REM sleep, that's when we're having the dreams, but we actually want a deeper sleep, which is kind of like our slow wave sleep where we get all that repair, the rejuvenation. So, doc, I don't want to keep going on and on as I can. I'm so powered out from this conference that I was just at learning about sleep. So I'm like that, like forgive me if I'm like so juiced up. But tell me, what are you feeling? What have I missed that for our listeners? Why sleep matters so much?

Deep Sleep vs REM And Tracking

Dr. Christine Dao 4:59

Well, I like to use the term sleep is water. So when I'm trying to create an analogy for patients and referencing, okay, what are the priorities in your life? And we all know we tend to be dehydrated, but sleep is equal to water, not food. So, you know, we're talking about the priority, that's how high it is. And so I try and make that analogy really clear that there's nothing more important than nailing down why you might not be sleeping. And yes, the fallacy that, oh, I'm good with five to six. I've always done this all my life, I'm fine. We don't need to talk about that. And I always try and push past it and go, okay, let's dive in, let's get some data. What tools do you have to concretely, you know, anchor to how much deep sleep, REM sleep, um, what's your HRV score? So I'm gonna get a little technical real quick. Yep. Um, and then what is your stress during your day? Because the research also shows that if you're chronically stressed during your day, trying to just suddenly tell your body to go to sleep and wind down, it doesn't work that way. We have to take bits during our day to wind down and practice being calm and practice getting our body into the sense of safety, another really big area for patients, right? A sense of safety. And if that doesn't happen a few times during the day, that when it comes to nighttime, nothing's changed. You're still on the hamster wheel, so to speak. And then they wonder why that deep sleep score eludes them. You know, the goal is an hour and a half, not a little bit more. And a lot of people sadly are at 35, 45 minutes, and they're like, Oh, but that's just who I am. No, that's not who you are.

Daytime Stress And Safety Cues

Dr. Anita Haque 7:01

Yeah, your body is the science is telling us otherwise. And like, you know, just one of the things that I had mentioned was like the science also says too like that one poor night of sleep, it disrupts the insulin glucose regulation by 25%. That's a quarter of the body's ability. So when you're eating, if you don't sleep well, then you have like a bagel in the morning, for example. Oh, yeah, that then you wonder why am I putting on weight? I'm exercising, I'm doing the things, and things are not working for me. It might really come down to you not getting your sleep, which is, you know, a huge part of all of our systems working its best way. So um, I I completely agree that the science is telling us it's not true. Five, six hours, it's not I can sleep less. It actually, you need more sleep. You just don't know what your body has gotten used to kind of underperforming below its potential, maximum potential that it can perform. So imagine if you can run on five hours, how much better your body, your mind, your functioning would be at seven to eight, right? So let's talk a little bit about um, you know, some of those hacks, things that people can do, how to really improve sleep, because that's really, I think, where we struggle. Um, and one of those causes of things that can create, you know, issues with our sleep. You mentioned stress, Dr. Dow, and I completely agree. High amounts of chronic stress is definitely going to leak into not being able to sleep well. Um, I also found in one of the things that we spoke about, you know, many of us already know, is our screens, you know, this light that is emitting to us now constantly from our phones, our devices, right? And then having those devices all the way up until bedtime is something that also is interrupting our ability, our circadian rhythms to really sleep comfortably. So that's something that I want to kind of put in the forefront because I know it's so hard to get away from our screens these days. Um I don't know if you are dealing with that with your patients too, but like we're glued right with our hands from like the moment we wake up to basically right before we go to sleep. And then we wonder, why am I not resting? So that is a big problem as well. So I always say to my patients too, is maybe getting away from your device an hour or two or any kind of screams before you go to bed can really make a difference. Blue light glasses, things that can help diminish some of the lighting issues that's affecting that circadian rhythm can also maybe be helpful. Um, what about you, Doc? What are you finding is some of the main things that are interrupting our sleep besides stress, our devices, our diets.

Dr. Christine Dao 9:35

Diet, I was just gonna bring up diet. So um, this is a big subject actually for my perimenopause patients, uh, when the sleep cycle gets a little messed up. And our dietary needs are different. So protein needs to go up. And a little tiny bit of carbohydrate before bed actually helps that glucose regulation during sleep.

Speaker 3 10:00

Sure does.

Screens, Circadian Rhythm, And Blue Light

Dr. Christine Dao 10:01

Um, so it's not a lot, it's like a quarter of a cup of rice or a quarter of a cup of quinoa to help that go through the night and keep you more stable. And so then on the flip side, though, when you wake, you talked about the bagel. It's 30 to 40 grams of protein within an hour of waking to really help that rhythm and that cortisol response because a lot of patients have been go, go, go, and their tendency has been, let me grab that cup of coffee before they even eat. And there was a uh great video that just came around, a doctor talking about you really need to wait 90 minutes to have your caffeine and you need to get your protein in first, and it really does affect your cortisol and melatonin rhythm. And so that's really important. Like, when are we putting these foods? And to realize that it's okay to put some carbohydrates at your dinner. A lot of people get scared to put it there, and that's actually a good thing to do when you're in perimenopause and then really front-load that protein in the morning and get yourself going, get yourself fueled.

Diet Tweaks For Night Stability

Dr. Anita Haque 11:15

And that makes sense because but it also matters, and I'm sure you'll agree with me on this, Dr. Tao, that it's the type of carbs. I mean, when you're saying having some carbs at the dinner, we're talking about healthy carbs, whether you know, it's carbs from your vegetables, your potato, or maybe real like rice, things like that are natural, right? Lentils, things, those are good, healthy carbs. We're not talking have a have a donut with your dinner, right? Like that's so just in case, you know, when we say carbs, sometimes we need to like differentiate what are the healthy carbs because there are carbs that are really serving your body that you need that are healthy. I think that sometimes some of my patients think going carb-free is the way to really serve their health, but I don't really agree. And the science is showing that we need all the macronutrient nutrients, which are the proteins, the fats, and the carbohydrates for us to survive and be at our best, of course. So I totally agree. You mentioned something about nighttime too, maybe having something like quinoa. I've also, you know, had learned that sometimes even things like tart cherries, a handful of tart cherries, uh, maybe even a banana, some walnuts, those are some healthy foods before bedtime, an hour before bedtime, a good snacks that might also aid in helping you sleep better, you know, through the night too. So I'm sure you've kind of picked up on those kind of foods too, Dr. Dow.

Dr. Christine Dao 12:28

Yes, yes. I mean, if you pair those walnuts with a half a banana, you really got a powerhouse right there. So I may I talk a lot about pairing.

Dr. Anita Haque 12:37

Yes, yes, food pairing matters because you know, it's one thing to just have an apple, right? And and and it, of course, we all know an apple day, you know, keeps the doctor away. We've heard that statement before. And of course, apple is very healthy, lots of nutrients, especially if you eat it with the skin. But an apple is also very high in sugar, natural sugars. But if you in and it can boost, you know, your your sugar levels, your blood sugar levels pretty quickly. However, if you ate an apple with some walnuts, with some protein, healthy protein, that can actually counteract that sugar surge in the body to calm it down and balance it so you're not getting that insulin surge and affecting kind of things that will maybe impact your weight, impact, impact your metabolism. Obviously, you know, the insulin levels affect diabetes, things like that. So there is a food pairing. We can maybe do a podcast on that in the future, which might really be beneficial because I don't think a lot of people realize how certain foods together can actually be more beneficial and also even help with uptake of nutrients. Um, there's so much there, right? Yes, definitely. So something that we can talk about. But yes, protein maybe with the the carb can help and fat can balance that out if you have an issue already as a type 2 diabetic, or maybe you're pre-diabetic, that might be something to do with a healthy carb is add that protein and fat in there. Um what tell me a little bit about what you may say to your patients, because I know I say a lot of things and I'm sure we're we're on the same page, but I'm sure you have some different things that I don't even know. But you know, some hacks, things to build consistently consistency for patients that don't sleep well.

Dr. Christine Dao 14:12

Yes, I I have quite a few. Uh one of them was you mentioned the screen. So, really getting the phone removed there. Uh, Dr. Hyman actually had a fantastic podcast on this subject. And the person he was interviewing, I don't remember, but he spoke about how it was really important to actually get your phone as far away from you as you can and get a traditional alarm clock. And I think that's really important because I even saw it in myself. The tendency that if you wake up in the middle of the night or you're feeling a lot of thoughts to go to bed, you want to just numb out. And the phone really just feels too easy, frankly, to jump on and try and numb out so you can fall asleep. And what we really need to do is get it far away from us. We need to go back to how we used to go to bed, read a book, uh, do a short meditation. Uh, I have a lot of patients doing really well with musical meditations or brown noise. Brown noise actually was shown to help with deep sleep scores. So that was really interesting.

Dr. Anita Haque 15:19

Yeah.

Food Pairing And Blood Sugar Control

Dr. Christine Dao 15:20

Um, so your routine at night, I talk with patients a lot about what does that look like all the way from what we just talked about dinner, right? And then preparation for bed. Um, many women do well with a bath or a shower. It's just really calming and provides that safety again. Um, if you don't feel safe to sleep, your body won't get into that deep, slow rhythm you just talked about. And many people are feeling so frantic with their to-do list that they don't frankly feel safe, even though they're not in danger. It's just you right, you can't relax sometimes.

Dr. Anita Haque 15:57

Like it's like I'm thinking about what I have to do the next day. And you know, sometimes I've actually did this for myself and I share this with patients is if stuff's on your mind before you go to bed, have a notepad, write it down, get it out of your mind, write your to-dos for the next day or what you might like think you're gonna forget. And then now you're done with it, set it aside so that your mind can go into relaxation and kind of, you know, obviously into sleep. I just wanted to ask you one thing about for our listeners, what's the difference between white noise and brown noise?

Dr. Christine Dao 16:27

If you can explain what is brown noise means, it's just a slightly different, I would call it almost like a frequency.

Dr. Anita Haque 16:33

Okay.

Dr. Christine Dao 16:33

You know how we're learning about these different hurts and how they can affect our um state of calm and healing. And we're learning so much about red light therapy, and then you've got pemp mats and you've got infrared. This is similar to that. Okay, and so it seems to really hit the body in a different way and help with that deep sleep score. And it's not, it's not across the board. Like, so I really want to say hacking your sleep is extremely personalized, and what works for one person doesn't work for the other. And it's really like you said, you got out that journal and talk about your to-do list. I really recommend journaling what turned the knob even a tiny bit, and then go to the next thing. Don't try and do five changes at once for your sleep. Okay, take them one at a time, notate what worked, what didn't work. Um, another thing we talk about is, you know, if you have a racing mind, maybe GABA, not GABA pentin, but a little low dose of GABA. Um, I talk about melatonin. Melatonin is something that's really misunderstood. It's overdosed there at Costco. I really start people at 0.5 milligrams and work really slowly every couple days up to a max of three grams. Um, so that's something I talk about too, because melatonin's easy to grab at your CVS, and then they grab a 10 gram uh milligram and they wonder why they're wide awake and it's not helping. Well, now it's a stimulant. So um, you know, again, bit by bit, um, finding what your stress is. And I'm gonna go back to what's your day look like, yeah. And start hacking your day and finding ways to reduce that stress.

Night Routines, Darkness, And Temperature

Dr. Anita Haque 18:25

Yeah, definitely. And, you know, I also often do this myself, of course, but recommend to patients who are having trouble sleeping. Is I think it's very helpful to have like a bedtime routine that you set, kind of like a morning routine. If you have your bedtime routine for me, it's like I brush my teeth, I I do you know my face, I put all the anti-aging layers that I want to do. And then I go into, I'm gonna stretch my body and do a bedtime stretching. And I recommend this to, especially if you have stress, I mean you store it in our bodies, and then if we don't release it, we kind of take it with us to bed. So spending just five minutes, I you know, I stretch my neck, my shoulders, my lower back, my legs. Then at the end, I can kind of lay in shavasana and get into like a meditative point. Then I'm ready to get into bed, and it's a different state that I am in now than I was before if I hadn't done those things. I also like to make sure that the room is really dark, having you know, dark and cooler spaces. That is a huge difference too. And I think that many of us don't realize that having a temperature can usually around like 60 to 67 degrees uh Fahrenheit at night is going to be much more you know comfortable for you to sleep. You're gonna get into that deeper sleep rhythm than if you have temperature at 72, or you know, in the summertime if you're not going that's low, that can obviously impact your sleep. In fact, many of us feel we're not sleeping as well in those hot summer nights, right? Because of that temperature regulation. So having a bedtime routine that allows you to lower the temperature in advance, get your mind, your body to slow down, write your to-dos down, get it nice and dark, stay away from that device for at least an hour or two, that light coming into you. Maybe, like you mentioned, read, listen to some relaxing music. Um, that can really take the place of getting that bedtime routine to be more of like a comfortable, you're getting that deep sleep. Because one of the questions that I have to all of you listening out there, and I've asked myself this question when's the last time that you woke up feeling refreshed? It's a good question, right? I remember when I was younger, you know, as teenagers, even my early 20s. I felt like I woke up refreshed every day, but I don't think I get that feeling as much anymore that I want to have that. Like you wake up and you're like, oh, wonderful! I had a great night's sleep. So that's kind of what we're trying to accomplish here with some of these hacks, of course. And all the little ones do help. And I agree completely. Such a great tip about don't do it all at once. It's overwhelming. Add one thing at a time, start to make that transition slow and steady, can allow us to make more of those lifestyle changes too, kind of become habits versus trying to do too much and then it's like overwhelming, it's hard to do every time, right? Or every night. What else are you recommending to your patients to kind of help with like sleeping if they're not sleeping as well?

Brown Noise, Journaling, And Melatonin

Dr. Christine Dao 21:14

Well, I pretty much tell every patient that works with me to get an aura ring. Or, you know, if yeah, I have other patients that don't ring. Yeah, things that are actually tracking your sleep. Yes. Right. Because right there is a plethora of fantastic data. When I work with my patients and I was working on hacking my own sleep, um, this was the thing that really made a difference for me because I have to hand it to these devices. They can tell you when you're stressed during the day. Remember, I keep bringing that up. Yeah. Uh, just because most of my patients are. And then they can tell you your deep sleep. They can also make recommendations for when you need to go to sleep. My patients go to sleep a little too late for them to get in the full deep sleep rhythm. And so, really understanding that deep sleep starts as your first sleep cycle when you go to bed. And then you go into REM. So it's really important you have enough time before midnight, frankly, to really get the hour and a half and more if you can. But hour and a half is really like the golden standard. And so that gives you all the data. And then you start to make those micro changes we talked about that you're going to journal and keep track of. And you're going to notice what how did that meal affect me? Because your HRV score is going to be affected. And look at what did I do differently in this routine? I stretched, like you recommend stretching. That's a fantastic way to open up all those joints because we're going to be bundled up for eight hours. Right. Did that help my sleep score? Did it help my HRV score improve? And really understanding that HRV is a true testament to your stress. And thinking of it as a way to, I have some patients that get stressed about their HRV scores. Just use it as data and go, okay, what game can I play? What can I try to get this to go even up one, right? One. And then one more. Not 10. One. Just one step at a time.

Wearables, HRV, And Bed Timing

Dr. Anita Haque 23:25

Yes. Build it up. Yeah, it makes sense. I love that you brought that up. That was one of the big things at my conference was being able to have access now to like the aura ring and to the Garmin and to the, you know, all these devices now at our fingertips that help us measure some of these statistics, especially our sleep, we should use those things to help, you know, see the changes as well. So if that's something that you're struggling with out there and you kind of need to track it, that could be very helpful as a device to help you get through it and then add those changes in there. I also feel that certain supports, the type of environment you're sleeping, can make a difference. I mean, if you're not having a comfortable bed, right? You're yeah, and I know that this has happened to my own mattress over years. You know, you see the divot of where you've been sleeping. And if your your mattress is 10 plus years old and you're sleeping in that divot and then you're waking up with aches and pains throughout the night, well, maybe, you know, it's time to get a new mattress. A firm mattress is always what I, you know, a firm mattress you can handle, as firm as you can handle is always better for your spine. A proper pillow that actually supports the posture, the curve of your neck based on the position you sleep in. And most people, you know, we want to be sleeping on your back or your side. But if you're sleeping on your stomach, that's also something that can affect your sleep, affect your joints, cause issues with your neck, and then you know, torto calls issues, which are like a stiff neck in the morning. So you don't want to be sleeping on the stomach, even though that can become a habit for some of my patients. So we try to like break that up. So having a proper pillow, having the right tools. Sometimes if you are a side sleeper, having a pillow in between your knees to support your hips and your lower back can also help you to sleep more comfortably, especially if you're already suffering with some of these aches and pains or conditions in your spine, which many of us are now with our devices, right? Giving us some postural issues. So kind of like how you sleep with a like the right type of you know, um, equipment, so to speak, to sleep on can also make a difference too.

Dr. Christine Dao 25:16

Yeah, I mean, they've even seen that the color of your wall will really affect how you feel to go to sleep. So if you're in a room and you're not feeling really happy with it, really honestly spruce it up, make it feel like your beautiful space that you want to snuggle into. It's important. The colors are are important. You know, does your bedding feel really soft and comfortable? You know, even just the sheets. These are things that we're we're textile and tactile people. And so it matters. Um, the other thing I was gonna bring up is for my sleep apnea patients, I really recommend a wedge and it can make a really significant difference. Not not a short one, a very long one that goes all the way to the hip. Yep. Basically propped up a little bit in the in the top. Yeah. And that can make a huge difference. I have patients who have tried to use a CPAP machine and they just tear it off and it actually disrupts their sleep more. And then they went onto a wedge pillow, they retested, and they they're in the clear and good. And so, you know, just that tiny modification like you're talking about can be really helpful for patients with sleep apnea.

Mattress, Pillows, And Sleep Position

Dr. Anita Haque 26:28

Definitely. It's such a great point. And I've even had patients use the wedge if they have a lot of heartburn and digestive issues, that can also be helpful for them to like not have the acidity come up or them laying like vertically flat, like or excuse me, horizontally. Um, that can also, you know, kind of minimize some of that. I love that idea. Um, the other thing I've told patients is if you're having chronic issues and sleeping, sometimes your daytime habits can also impact that. Meaning, how late do you have caffeine in the day? I think that's sometimes we forget like a cup of coffee or an iced tea or an energy drink after maybe three, four o'clock, that can really interrupt your sleep later. Um, so if we're having troubles with sleeping, maybe keep your caffeine just to like before noon. Try to maybe minimize that a little bit because you know, as we continue to drink more caffeine, more caffeine, it does start to affect our biochemistry and definitely our sleep. Um, and eating heavy meals is another thing that sometimes I know patients, sometimes they eat like eight, nine o'clock and they're going to bed like almost right afterwards. They're wondering why they're not sleeping. I would say try to give yourself a couple of hours to digest your food before you sleep if you can. Maybe a light snack, like we discussed, like a banana, some of those things to help you sleep could be okay an hour before bed. But you know, a heavy meal with like maybe a big steak and potatoes and red wine, like you may not want to do that and try to get your rest. You won't be sleeping as well. And alcohol is actually something that I want to touch on because I know that that the sugar and alcohol can also impact your sleep cycle. For some of my patients, they think that having a glass of wine can help them sleep better, but they what they don't realize is they might help them fall asleep, but it actually interrupts their deep sleep cycles and it wakes them up because that sugar can kind of like, you know, energize them or jolt them in the middle of the night, and they're actually not getting deep quality sleep. So it actually causes interruption with your sleep if you're doing too much alcohol later in the day as well. I'm sure you probably have something to say about that too, Dr. Christine.

Dr. Christine Dao 28:28

I do. It's actually one of the things that we take out is um, yeah, and it's a tough conversation, frankly. Um, society definitely has you believe that you need that glass to wind down. That's very marketed that way. And frankly, it's a wind up. Uh, so like you said, it does really spike the glucose uh during the sleep cycle. Uh, it impacts the liver's ability to do its cleansing cycle while you're sleeping. Uh, there's nothing positive about alcohol before you sleep and at and at nighttime. I mean, we try and limit the alcohol when when we're working together. And if you're going to do it, I would say in the afternoon actually would be better than putting it at dinner. Um so I agree with you a hundred percent that it's not the down um regulator that people think it is, it's more of the wind up. And so that's what I say.

Dr. Anita Haque 29:27

Yeah, it might wind you down at first, you know, kind of like making you think it's winding you down, but then actually, like you said, it boosts you back up.

Dr. Christine Dao 29:35

Um what it is is they're numbed. And I think that's a really important conversation. If you're needing wine to numb out the noise of the chaos of your day and the noise of your feelings of what's going on, that needs to be looked at and it needs to have a conversation within yourself and with your doctors so that they can help you figure out other tools that help with winding down. You talked about stretching. There was um another study that showed um people who have a history of trauma that if they do some somatic work, like even particular hugs, um, this is a very somatic type hug where you grab under your armpit, um, can really relieve that trauma response and calm the noise. And then there's really great hacks I've had patients start doing, which is um working with the vagus nerve. And you rub your ear in a particular way, and we do this with acupuncture. We use needles that the vagus nerve is right here. And that also helps with that noise. I'm gonna call it just noise stimulation of our emotions, our mind, our body, and allows us then to go to sleep easier.

Wedge Support, Reflux, And Apnea

Caffeine, Late Meals, And Alcohol

Dr. Anita Haque 30:56

I love that. I think that you touched on something that, you know, I had no plan on us talking about, but it is so it's so heavy on how much it impacts us, and that is processing our feelings, being able to deal with that, um, and not numbing ourselves and our feelings to, you know, foods, substances, all the things, you know, whether you're a smoker, you're drinking wine, you're eating more junk food to numb your feelings, numb your stress. And stress is a feeling. I have been working on my own on addressing, feeling my feelings and knowing that my feelings are not facts, they're just that. They're feelings. I try to remind myself that they're clouds, they're gonna pass, they're momentary, but it's still necessary to have them, feel them, because if I try to shove not feeling what I need to feel, it builds up and then I will be numbing myself and not realizing that it starts to layer into a chronic issue where you're you're really not processing your emotions and feelings. And in order to move past your feelings, you need to feel them, is what I've learned. So that yeah, working with a health professional, someone who can help you do that can be very powerful. There's so many tools out there, podcasts that can help you with that. But I'm so glad that you brought that up because that's a very key component on sleep and our functioning overall for our bodies is our mental, emotional health impacts are physical. So such a good point. Another thing that I wanted to touch on a little bit is, you know, some of those hacks and tips for people who might fall asleep, but then I know our bodies can wake us up. We have to use the restroom. Sometimes you're just used to, you know, waking up at two or three in the morning, thinking about your stress and not being able to go back to sleep. So you might be able to fall asleep, but then you wake up and then you're like struggling and you're, you know, you know, you're rolling around in bed, and that is absolutely frustrating. I know it's happened to probably all of us at some point or another. So some of the tips that maybe we can bring to our listeners on that, one thing that I have done on a regular basis, because uh one is sometimes my bladder wakes me up, you know, it you maybe have gone, you know, to have more water before you went to bed, you don't use a restroom right before you went to bed, which is always a good thing to do. And perhaps your body wakes you up regularly at three in the morning, four in the morning to, you know, to urinate. One of the things I tell my patients is your bladder is a muscle and it is something you can control through your mind. And even though it sounds like, you know, you have to go and your body's waking you up. One trick or tip that I mentioned to my patients on that is if your bladder or something's waking you up throughout the night and it's the same time, is to for three nights in a row, usually it takes only three nights, typically, is to ignore it. So you're gonna have to kind of force yourself to go back to sleep. And what you'll do is you'll strengthen the sphincter muscles, you know, the trussor muscles that kind of, you know, keep your bladder closed, so that your body now no longer wakes you up. So it's just a habit that you have to break. Typically, three nights of trying to fight it is all it takes for you not to have to wake up anymore. But you have to trust that. Just fight it for a few nights. But if you don't fight it for the first night, it's not gonna be as easy to fight the second or the third night and kind of break that habit. So that's something I don't know if you've mentioned to your patients about it, but it can be controlled. You do control your muscles, you don't have to let it control you, right? Your mind can control it if you can kind of get yourself, you know, focused on that. And then practice some breathing. If you're not sleeping well at night, it's not a bladder thing, it's not quite, but it maybe it's your mind. I like to practice something called box breathing. And maybe I'm sure you know what box breathing is, but for our listeners, I practice this a lot when I my mind wakes me up and I'm starting to think about all the world problems, all the things I have to do, and I have to tell myself to calm down. So, box breathing is this very simple technique where you take four seconds to inhale. So, as you're breathing in, you're counting four to inhale. Then you hold that breath in for four seconds, then you exhale that breath out over four seconds, and then you hold that breath out for four seconds. So you wait four seconds before you start the cycle again. So it's a box. Four seconds inhale, four seconds hold, four seconds exhale, four seconds hold, four seconds after you exhale, and then you repeat. It's a box. So as you do this, it tires your mind out. It actually makes your mind focus on counting and breathing, which is going to get you into more of that meditative state, calm down the nervous system a little bit. And your mind gets busy and that boredom of counting, which can kind of get you off that stress thinking. So a lot of times I start that box breathing and then I wake up in the morning with my alarm. I'm like, oh great, I slept, I fell asleep. So that could be something that's helpful in terms of mindful breathing to help with, like if you wake up in the middle of the night. What else do you have, Dr. Dow, if there's anything else as a you know, as a hack, if you know, you fall asleep, but then you wake up in the middle of the night and you can't get back to sleep?

Processing Emotions And Vagus Nerve

Dr. Christine Dao 35:43

So we're gonna answer that two part. So if it's a consistent problem, we're going back to some of the things that we said earlier, right? So, what are you eating that actually could have kicked off that insulin spike during the night? Uh, because you can get that insulin spike at 2 to 3 a.m. And so that needs to be looked at. So if you're past three days and it's it's you've solved the bladder problem, then it's really time to look at what are you eating? Does that need an adjustment? If you're waking up and you're you're having a ton of thoughts, then we're back to your recommendation of the journal, right? Um, so see how like I'm constantly looking at well, how long has this problem really happened? Is this every once in a while? Is this a consistent theme? And then if it is something that um you need a tool during the night to get back to sleep, I really like sounds, um, meditations. I personally use a hypnosis. Um, so I love Mind Valley. It's one of my favorite education tools. So I'm just give them a little spotlight. But there's a gentleman who does hypnosis for sleep, and it just really, you know, takes your mind off. So there can be different things. People also like Sound Bowl. Um, so you can go on YouTube and you can listen to the Sound Bowl. Um, other people love prayer. It's really up to the person and what helps them get out of their mind, like you just talked about. Yeah. Right. And get into some other state. And so I really work with the patient to figure out what their preferences are and try different things. And again, journal what works and take it bit by bit.

Dr. Anita Haque 37:27

Definitely. And actually, another one that I think is also very soothing, at least for myself, is water, listening to like rain, ocean sounds, thunderstorm, like that sort of like, yeah, the fluidity of the water can really be calming to our nervous system as well. Um, and also, you know, someone who's not sleeping well at night and they're not getting their rest and they're waking up. Um, you know, naps can also help this help us as well, you know, to of course it's not going to be the same as getting a full night, seven, eight hours, but if you're not getting that full sleep, there are benefits to keeping, you know, naps 20 to 30 minutes. So you don't want to, you know, early in the afternoon if needed to kind of give you a pickup, helps to kind of re-regulate. Um, and then also uh movement. I sometimes think that that is a missed piece of this equation of sleeping better, is having healthy movement in the morning hours during the day, uh, you know, getting some exercise. And even if it's just 10 minutes where your heart rate is increased and your body's moving and your blood is starting to circulate more, that can really boost our sleep later. Um, and if you are a person who exercises and aren't sleeping well, if you're maybe exercising right before you go to bed, you may want to switch that to earlier in the day so it doesn't like jolt up your energy, you know, and then try to sleep. You might want you to be a better sleeper, try to do that, you know, in the morning half hours or the half part of the day before 6 p.m. or something like that to get a better rest at night. But having healthy movement, healthy mindset, healthy eating, hydration, those are all key components to not only just being healthy, but getting healthier sleep, regular, sound sleep that will really rejuvenate and provide that wellness factor for your body and that refreshed feeling that we all want to wake up feeling, right?

Night Wakings, Bladder Habits, And Breathing

Dr. Christine Dao 39:08

Like you woke up and you're like, that's what I'm looking for every morning for sure. Yeah, I think you brought up a good point that I wanted to hit on is that um I do a lot of testing of the adrenal glands. It's one of my foundations of our practice. And in that you can see the cortisol rhythm. And if your cortisol rhythm is off, I have many patients now are actually way too low. And so what we need to do is we talked about that dark room. There's a here's the minus of the dark room. If you aren't able to get the sunlight into your eyelids, the studies show concretely that that is a way that our cortisol wakes up. And so cortisol actually increases as the length of time sunlight is hitting our eyelids and our eyeballs. And so uh one of the things I have patients do if they're having trouble sleeping is sit in front of the window for 20 minutes with maybe a warm uh glass of water with a little bit of lemon. Or if they can go for a nice walk, it doesn't have to be strenuous out there in the morning sun. And again, 10 minutes is really beneficial. So you you're right. That's one of my recommendations. And then I just want to hit up a little bit on America really loves, or Americans love to over-exercise. Um, we got kind of two facets. We got the under-exercisers and we got the over-exercisers, and that's a stress. And um, what they've found uh with research is that that also stresses your body and increases cortisol really high. And so that can be disrupting your sleep, not just the timing, but how you're exercising. And we're back to that HRV score. So you use that HRV score to see if you're over-exercising. Did it tank after exercise or did it rise? And that can tell you maybe you need to shift the type of exercise that you're doing.

Dr. Anita Haque 41:05

Definitely.

Dr. Christine Dao 41:05

So yeah, that's a great point.

Soundscapes, Hypnosis, And Naps

Dr. Anita Haque 41:07

And in fact, I think you know, one of the doctors was was hitting on that on the weekend with movement and you're having issues. Sometimes um, shorter bursts, high intensity interval training might be a better form of exercise. Maybe we're doing more yoga as a form of like stretching and strengthening, yeah, to get things going. So such a great point to, yeah, the type of exercise and over-exercise could be an issue. I could possibly be guilty of that myself at moments because it's such a stress reliever for me to like get it out. But then, yes, it could like really cause issues for you as well. Too much of anything, I think, can be bad. Even the good things that we think are, oh, we can't get enough of this. No, you can even drown yourself by drinking too much water, actually, right? Like too much of anything good could be actually really uh not the healthiest thing for you. And I agree with you completely. I did want to mention that I'm so glad you brought that up, that having that dark, cold room is important, but also to reset your circadian rhythms within the 30 first 30 minutes upon rising. I recommend get your eyes in sunlight, natural sunlight, even if you're looking out the window, you go outside for a few minutes, have your have your morning like hot water with the lemon on the porch, you know, get that sunlight, fresh air in. It actually makes you feel that much better too. It there's a huge like yes, correlation of just and sunlight as well. I mean, it gives us our natural vitamin D, which is a huge proponent for us to be healthy as well. So there's so many multitude of like, even though we might worry about, you know, too much sun exposure, put your sunscreen on, get some sunshine, especially earlier in the morning. The sun is not as sharp in terms of the UV rays to affect you, like, yeah. Um, so it's actually better to be out there, you know, before noon and get, you know, 20 minutes, 10 minutes of some sunshine could be huge. Even the car, you know, getting some sunshine on your way to the office or your work or where you're going to the gym can really be helpful, like I said, within the first 30 minutes upon raise and waking up. So such great points here. Doc, I'm so glad that we got to talk about this because I um I'm gaining benefit. I'm always looking to sleep better. So having, you know, those tools at our fingertips, we can track our sleep with these devices. We have lifestyle things that we can do to help ourselves sleep better, winding down better, things that we can do to help our minds, devices, you know, the way to use our devices, or you know, even the glasses, like I said, can help those blue light glasses kind of like minimize some of that exposure. Um, and so before we wrap up, not to rush us, is there any other tips or health hacks that we haven't gone over for our listeners today?

Dr. Christine Dao 43:35

I think we hit on most of them, but I I guess I would say take it slow, be gentle, loving, kind with yourself. Um leave the frustration. I know it's frustrating and irritating, and try and be as loving as kind to yourself through this process, and you will get there. I love that.

Dr. Anita Haque 43:55

I completely agree. And for those of you listening, if you've been struggling with Sleep, I implore you to try even one of the tips at a time, whether it's getting to bed earlier, getting a sleep, you know, schedule going, a wind-down schedule, you know, working on when you have your caffeine, your movement, the deep breathing, all the things. And, you know, also if you're one of those people who are just struggling to sleep at night and it's been 20, 30 minutes, get out of bed. Go do another activity outside your bed that sometimes can help you get back into bed and you know, use your bed maybe just for sleep too. Sometimes I think our beds can become like our new couches, our new hangout spots. I've been guilty of it too. Or yeah, you watch a movie in there, maybe you're having a snack, maybe you're on a call, maybe I'm getting some work done on my laptop, and then I'm using my bed for sleep too. So sometimes just using your bed only for sleep can also help you kind of re-establish, re-you know coordinate your relationship to the bed and sleep only. So we I totally agree. Be gentle with yourself, try to get more sleep, calm your mind down, and be certain to look out for our next um episode that's gonna come out where we will be talking about, you know, more things that are gonna help you naturally function better, live better, feel better. So thanks so much for being here with us today. We hope. Yeah, absolutely. It's been a pleasure. And for those of you listeners, please get some better sleep, share this episode, subscribe, and we'll be back more for some great health hacks for you.

Movement Timing And Overtraining

Intro/Close 45:24

Thank you for tuning in to the Hawks Health Hacks Podcast. We hope today's discussion has provided valuable insights into achieving and maintaining your health. Remember, your well being is our priority. Visit us at hawkcairo.com or call 925 960 1960 to learn more or schedule an appointment.