Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses ways to improve sleep with Restful Sleep MD’s Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
This morning on BRN, practical strategies to improve sleep for the whole family. And joining me now to discuss this, Dr. Funke Afolabe-Brown is with Restful Sleep MD. Dr. Brown, great to see you. Thanks for joining us on the program this morning.
Funke Afolabe-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
Thank you so much for having me.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And we’re going to talk about strategies for improving sleep for the entire family, but let’s just, as a baseline, I was sharing with you in the green room, I don’t sleep very well. In general, how are we doing, and I say Americans, those of us around the world, doing in getting sleep?
Funke Afolabe-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
I would say there’s room for improvement, and that’s because I am very positive and optimistic. The CDC actually declared that insufficient sleep is a global epidemic. So this is something that we are not getting enough of in the US, all over the world.
So the data shows that about maybe 35% odd patient people get enough sleep. So you can imagine there’s a large number of people that are not getting sufficient sleep. So there’s definitely room for improvement.
And in addition to just the basics of optimizing and prioritizing sleep, there’s so many people that have sleep disorders, and these sleep disorders are, they go undiagnosed for years, and they have a huge impact on our overall health and wellness.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And are there certain, so I’m holding my phone up, I was going to show you that, I think this is one of the biggest culprits to not getting sleep, and I’m sure you probably have some thoughts on that, but are there certain demographics within the population, young, mature, men, women, does it run the gamut in terms of those that are inflicted? So I remember sleeping very well when I was a young boy. I had no worries in the world, at least I didn’t think I did.
Now that I’m an older, mature man, I’ve got a lot of worries. So does it run across all demographics?
Funke Afolabe-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
Yeah, that’s a great question. It turns out, yes, it actually does. So we know that about 58% of even middle school kids are not getting sufficient sleep.
About 74% of high school kids are not getting enough sleep. And when it comes to adults, I mean, depending on where you’re looking at the literature, close to 40% of people in their 40s are probably really short on sleep. So you can tell that it really does cut across all age groups, from young all the way to old.
But I would say the causes, the things that are contributing to poor sleep differ a little bit as we get older.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And so just to kind of follow up on that, as we mature, and I would say the repair recovery time of sleep, probably really important as you mature, you can bounce back when you’re a younger person, you know, you can work on three or four hours, you can drink caffeine. As you get older, though, you need to be able to repair your body on a day to day basis.
Funke Afolabe-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
Yeah, no, that’s true. And you know, things like stress start to play more of a role, work, you know, but still everybody’s on their phones, we’re constantly plugged in. So I think that is something that’s common across the all age groups.
But then, you know, you have so many other responsibilities, so many other obligations as you get older. And also, you know, there are other diseases that, you know, maybe chronic migraines, or, you know, chronic pain, or other things as you get older, that may put you at risk for poor sleep quality overall.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
So if I’m a parent of younger children, and I’m saying younger, younger than 18, what are some strategies that I should follow to help my, my children get better sleep and ultimately, be better prepared for the day at school and college, maybe even work?
Funke Afolabe-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
Yeah, you know, I usually would say because we look at this from a family approach. So I would say, these recommendations are very important, even for you as the parent. And the first is really being a role model.
I think kids, you know, our children, everybody that we’re leading in one capacity or the other, they watch the things we’re doing more than what we say. So I could say, yeah, tell your kids to put their phones away till I’m blue in the face. But if you’re on it, they’re going to call you out.
So I think it’s really important that we set that cadence in the home. So there’s an acronym that I created, which is super easy, very because everybody’s tired, you don’t want to go start looking up 20 different things to do. So CREATE stands for C-R-E-A-T-E.
And that’s how you create healthy sleep habits. So C is consistency. So what that means is you are setting like clockwork, a consistent sleep time and a consistent wake up time, not just for your child, but also for you as a parent, because this is really what helps anchor those internal clocks or circadian rhythms.
And a lot of studies have shown that if you have a consistent sleep time and a definitely consistent wake up time, you are more healthy in the long run. So try to avoid sleeping in on the weekends excessively. And then the next is R.
R stands for routine. You want to have a routine that is cool, calm, that is relaxing and is heading in the direction of the bedroom. So yes, that might include reading to the kids or them taking a shower and just really winding down and things like that.
But for us as well, we need those routines because it cues our brain to know when it’s time to get to bed. E is the environment. So what does that environment look like?
You want it to be cool, you want it to be dark, and you want it to be noise free because all those things can affect your sleep quality. A stands for assign the bed for sleep and sleep only in bed. So really avoid bringing work into your bedroom.
Really avoid bringing your laptop in to do emails or eating or watching TV. The bed should be where you sleep. T is technology.
And we all know that technology impacts us in so many ways. That’s like a whole talk on its own, right? It decreases the melatonin, which is the sleep hormone that helps us to sleep.
It is very, very stimulating. So it makes it hard for us to wind down. And then it just displaces sleep overall.
And then the final E is eliminate. So what are you eating? What are you consuming that’s affecting your sleep?
So that might look like caffeine. That might look like alcohol. That might look like eating really heavy meals just before bed.
You really want to try to eliminate those. So create healthy sleep habits. And I think this is something that is practical, both for us as parents, but also for our kids as well.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. So if we follow create, doctor, does it matter what type of bed? You see the ads like I do.
You got this type of bed where you can adjust the number, you got this type of bed, which is maybe a different material. Does that matter as much relative to what you’re talking about, which is following these letters that this acronym in order to get a better part of sleep?
Funke Afolabe-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
I think those are bells and whistles, you know, right. So I would say, follow those fundamentals first. I would rather you literally sleep on a bumpy old mattress than have a very, very irregular sleep schedule or no have no routine.
Of course, those things are important really for alignment. You know, we want things that are comfortable, but I, I feel like we need to make, we need to put the priority on what’s important. And so once you follow those fundamentals, then you could say, okay, how do I then make things a little bit more, you know, up level a bit more.
And that’s where some of these other elements come in. So, you know, being practical, you want to make sure that you are sleeping on beddings that are comfortable, because if not, you might end up finding that you’re still waking up because you’re uncomfortable. Right.
You want to make sure that your mattress is firm and it’s, it helps you with spine alignment so that you don’t get chronic back pains. But all the other things, those other details, I would say is minor details when you compare them to the fundamentals. I’m not saying they’re wrong.
But I’m saying really, we have to make sure we’re putting priority where it’s important.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, good sleep, sleep hygiene, as well as good wellness is very important. Doctor, we’re gonna have to leave it there. Thanks so much for joining us.
And we look forward to having you back on the program again, very soon. Thanks for having me. And don’t forget to subscribe to our daily newsletter, The Morning Pulse for all the news in one place.
Details are at our website. And we’re back again tomorrow for another edition of BRN. Until then, I’m Jeff Snyder.
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