Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses the importance of sleep in maintaining your long-term health with Restful Sleep MD’s Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Well, Dr. Afolabi-Brown, it’s so great to see you again. Thanks for joining us this morning.
Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And I know an area of expertise of yours is sleep. And I have to confess, I have not been sleeping well these past few nights. I’m not sure what it is.
I’ve tried warm milk. I’ve tried a lot of things. And so I’m excited to talk to you.
But I wanted to start with a kind of a high level base question, which is how does a lack of sleep contribute to or hurt our overall health?
Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
It hurts. Lack of sleep hurts our overall health in multiple ways. One of the first things we start to notice is an impact in our memory and performance.
Because during sleep is when we get to consolidate memory and our attention and focus gets sharpened. So we lose that. And then it also affects our physical health in terms of a higher risk of conditions like high blood pressure, heart attacks, feeling run down.
You’re more likely to have a lower immune system or lower functioning immune system when you don’t sleep. And then also our metabolism. So there’s a higher risk of gaining excess weight, losing said weight and making those healthy food choices.
So again, it impacts every aspect of our health.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And are there certain segments, you know, I’m an older guy, but are there certain segments of our population that maybe are impacted more than others or aren’t sleeping as well as they should be?
Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
Unfortunately, it’s a cross board. I would say, you know, the much younger kids are not sleeping well because, you know, they may need, you know, a lot of reinforcement. They need their parents in bed with them.
And as a result, their parents are not sleeping well because they’re tending to the kids or they have like worries, anxieties, and, you know, being in maybe a sandwich generation sometimes that also contributes. And then even our elderly population are also struggling with sleep because sometimes they’ve been on medications for so long. And sometimes the medicines are not working.
And then also, you know, there are other multiple sleep disorders that can contribute to, you know, sleep issues, which is common across board.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And do you think that, is this a kind of a newfound, I mean, I can remember as a kid, I could go out, come back, sleep for four or five hours. I bounced back and I was fine. And I don’t remember all this level of anxiety that I personally feel and I think others feel.
Do you think that’s something new within the past five, 10 years that as a society, as a culture, we’re just all feeling stressed?
Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
Yes, I think that’s exactly right. There’s a lot more anxiety just with, you know, every, the climate, the political climate, all of that. You know, a lot more people, social media is playing a role as well.
There’s a lot of uncertainty about the future. Those are things that are contributing to the sleep issues and the anxiety. And these things were present way back, but they were not as, you know, intense and then so widely circulated because, you know, now social media is able to take things from zero to 180 very quickly.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, I mean, it is just in everyone’s face. I think virtually everyone of every generation carries a phone now, has access to this information in real time. And I get the sense, at least from my own perspective, that it creates a level of stress.
Let’s move forward and talk about, I mean, we can’t go back and change social media. That’s for, I guess, for others, but let’s talk about the best way for anyone to approach getting to sleep. Is it still the warm glass of milk or is that just a wives’ tale, a myth?
And there are other things that we should be thinking about.
Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
Yeah, so yeah, with a glass of milk, I mean, it’s pleasant. If that works for you, it’s fine. But it’s really more of a, you know, there’s so many other things that we need to focus on that can help.
So things that can support our nervous system, that can support our biology and our physiology is more likely to give you the best results. So, you know, when we think about that, we think of things like having a consistent sleep time and a consistent wake up time. That’s really important.
That’s important for circadian rhythm and things like that. And then the second thing that you wanna pay attention to is having a bedtime routine. That really helps to set your brain into that mode for sleep.
So, and that really is a cue for that circadian rhythm as well. And then your bedroom, you know, paying attention to your bedroom, make sure that your bedroom is cool, it’s dark, it’s free of noise. I think I would say that’s really important.
Another thing to pay attention to is really where are you laying in the evening? Are you spending the rest of the evening in bed where you’re watching TV, you’re eating dinner, you’re talking on the phone, you’re on your laptop? We don’t wanna do that.
We wanna be able to make sure that the bed is for sleep and for sleep only. So that’s something that you wanna try and focus on. And then, you know, there’s the technology we talked about, limiting how much technology exposure you have before bed will be very important because you, you know, your bright mind racing, the blue light from the screens, all of that makes it hard to fall asleep.
So you wanna avoid the use of devices. So not just your phone, your iPad, your laptop, all of that, about 30 to 60 minutes before bed. And then I would say the last thing would be just paying attention to what you’re eating.
So if you’re eating too late, if you’re eating very high carbs, all of that, if you’re eating too late, then you’re more likely to struggle with sleep issues as a result of that.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Really excellent tips. And I wanna come back to something in a second, but let me ask you about sleep aids because, you know, you see the same ads I do. People, you know, we talked about the, kind of jokingly about the warm glass of milk, but there are sleep aids over the counter that people can get, and you can also get them prescribed.
That seems to me like a patch, not a solution, but I wanna get your feedback on that and what we should be looking out for.
Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
Yes, I think it’s really important to look at what your goal is if you’re using a sleep aid. As a temporary solution, maybe something is going on in your life, you know, in situations like that, that’s okay, but it’s not really addressing the root cause of your sleep issues. So I always say, before you go grabbing the sleep aid or if you’ve already grabbed it to say, okay, what is driving this?
Why am I struggling with these issues? And how can I, you know, get through where I can be able to be weaned off this sleep aids?
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, I mean, I’ve read all sorts of horror stories. I mean, you don’t wanna be dependent on a chemical. You kind of wanna patch your problems and kind of work it through.
So I wanna come back to, you know, I’ve read a lot about the gray divorce, people in their 50s, 60s getting divorced, but I’ve also heard about the sleep divorce. Some people just can’t sleep with someone else in the bed. I mean, they move around, they’re, you know, all sorts of issues.
How prevalent is that? And is that kind of a recent development? And is it good sometimes to sleep on your own?
You know, no spouse, no cats, no dogs, no whatever in the bed with you, no children.
Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
Yeah, so the sleep divorce is a term that was coined more recently, but this is a practice that’s been going on for decades, for a very long time, right? This is, I mean, I remember my parents even, right? So, and it’s a mutual decision where the couple decide that for the sake of better sleep, that they would rather sleep in separate rooms.
My opinion is really around the why. Again, the why is so important. Why do you need to sleep in separate rooms?
The person has restless sleep. Why does the person have restless sleep? So before we abandon and go to a different room, let’s make sure that, well, maybe it’s suggested to get some help, maybe do some blood work to figure that out.
Sometimes it’s snoring. One of the spouses is snoring. Well, before we leave the room, and it’s fine if the noise is so bothersome, but really making sure that that partner gets the help they need.
Snoring might be a sign of sleep apnea, which is a very serious condition. And we wanna make sure we don’t ignore it because at the end of the day, you’re actually the solution to that person getting help for their snoring. Now, if you leave the room, who’s gonna let the person know?
Because the person is asleep. So how on earth are they gonna know that they’re snoring? Because you’ve left the room.
So I think really important to reach out for help, even though the sleep divorce and sleeping in a separate room may help temporarily, but you wanna make sure that you’re really supporting that person who might be struggling with a sleep problem.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, very well said. And look, there’s eight, nine, 10 hours of rest and recovery so vital, especially as we get older. Dr. Afolabi Brown, always great to see you. Thanks for joining us. And we look forward to having you back again very soon.
Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD, Restful Sleep MD
Yeah, thank you for having me.