Unbreakable Episode 7: Sleep, Stress and Aging

These are all tips that can set you on the right pathway for sleeping better.

When I was much younger and in my residency and fellowship, I used to say stupid things like "I will sleep when I die,"

meaning that I had so much work to do, I was going to put off sleeping and get my work done. The reality is the more I learn about sleep science,

I will die if I don't sleep. And it scares me a little bit to think of all the years of sleep I gave up.

Sleep is a critical time when we may think that we're just passed out and nothing's happening. But the reality is that for our brain and much of our body

physiology, it is the time of restoration where our cells renew, where we programmed cells

to die when they're worn out. Sleep is not just good for us. It is critical for our survival.

JIMMY FALLON: It started a whole debate. Is that too much sleep? Is that enough? Who gets to do this? No one sleeps for-- Why is sleep bad?

Like, why? Leave me alone. [LAUGHTER] Sleeping-- I just-- I love sleeping. And I need sleep.

I close my eyes. And I say, I am going to sleep.

And it works. WOMAN: A true nightcap-- go forth and get your sleep on.

One of the biggest complaints in midlife, specifically in perimenopause and menopause, is lack of sleep.

Whether it's because your sleep is disturbed, or maybe you're having hot flashes and night sweats, or maybe the anxiety is waking you up, sleep is gone.

So one of the important things to restore our sleep is to make our estrogen and progesterone decision.

Those can really help to reregulate your sleep patterns. But what kind of habits can we have

to push us towards great sleep? Well, the number one thing we need to do is wake up every morning at the same time.

Whether it's on the weekdays or on the weekends, set your alarm. Get up at the same time because that, my friends,

sets your circadian rhythm for the day. Next is going to bed at the same time. That way, you'll establish a rhythm in your body.

Rule number 3 is do not eat three hours before you go to bed. When we are digesting food, we are

using all of our body's energy, lots of our blood supply, to digest that food in an active way.

We want to be completed with most of that by the time we go to sleep so that we can devote that energy to restoration.

We think of stress as only a bad thing in our body. But the reality is it's one of the tools our body uses to protect us.

You know that old fight-or-flight response, where if we're in danger, whether real or perceived,

our body mounts an entire cascade of behaviors that will help us survive? Stress is only bad when that flight-or-fight response

continues and continues and continues and raises our overall body cortisol level.

And that constant inflammation, that constant on and ready state, can cause us to develop diseases, to be constantly

in the high mode of activity. Sometimes, getting in front of those things that make us feel stressful is actually taking a step back

having some insight, giving ourselves some grace to feel something and not immediately solve it,

will help us understand it so that we can be more tactical in our response.

Here are the ways that I have mastered sleep in midlife. Number 1, I made my estrogen and progesterone replacement

decision. Number 2, I go to bed and get up at the exact same time, no matter what day of the week it is.

Number 3, I stop eating at least three hours before bedtime so I'm fully digested.

All these things set a habit of behavior that puts us into optimal sleep mode.