Sleep Better: Setting Your Circadian Rhythm

"Sleep: the true elixir of longevity and good health." This statement was made by Dr. Matthew Walker, the worlds leading expert on sleep research. There seems to be much truth to his statement. The techniques provided in this short lecture are based on the works of Dr. Satchin Panda.

Transcript

Hi,

My name is Sean and welcome to this short lecture on better sleep.

I'd actually previously recorded a lecture on better sleep called Techniques for better sleep that first lecture was based on some of the more traditional sciences In terms of hagiate sleep better the second lecture on it,

Which was I think it was called techniques for better sleep 2 Was based on Matthew Walker's work.

Dr.

Matthew Walker Who is probably the leading?

Sleep expert in the world who wrote a book called better sleep Today I want to present to you the works of Dr.

Sachin Panda in my clinic I have used various forms of herbal medicines and other things to try to Help people get better sleep.

I use dr.

Matthew Walker's techniques in the past for people.

I've used traditional medicines techniques But in all honesty,

They never really seemed to cure the problem Now that I have come across this Dr.

Sachin's pandas techniques a while ago and I've been using it the results have really being amazing Where it's nearly?

To a point where I feel as though we're actually curing people's sleep problems and the only catch with this type of Of method or technique for better sleep is it actually requires the patient to make some form of effort themselves As opposed to taking a sleeping pill,

Which is as dr.

Matthew Walker said yeah,

Maybe it works Maybe it's a quick fix but in the end it just produces junk sleep as it knocks out your cortex so dr.

Sachin Panda became extremely famous a While ago because he discovered a new neuron in the eye called melanopsin There's only 5,

000 of these neurons and this discovery was incredibly amazing because We always thought that our eyes were just used for vision Now we found out that our eyes are not just used for vision Our eyes also have a second major function in the body,

Which is to set the circadian rhythm So the retina now we know is it's not a part of the brain the retina actually is the brain So we will need to keep that in mind as we're talking about this Because these melanopsins are within the retina and that the discovery of this melanopsin neuron was that It was able to recognize blue light So as it is able to recognize blue light it is able to tell the body It is able to tell the body or really specifically tell the brain that It is daylight or it is nighttime and thereby creating an entire cycle or circadian rhythm within the body so now that they found out that there is a neuron that Recognizes blue light and sets a circadian rhythm in your brain we now needed to work out a method of how to use that and what they did was they recommended that you need to get From the time you wake up go outside get two to ten minutes of blue light But which your melanopsin will recognize the blue light and tell your body it is now morning we also want to have that happen in the evening where you go out and you're catching that orange light as The sun setting whereby the melanopsin can't recognize it Starts to see that there is less blue light and the body now knows that it's nighttime This basic rhythm as dr.

Sanchin panda said it sets up your body from the tip of your head to the toes of your feet to function correctly in other words It's the first major step into any form of creating health or any benefit within your body So let's just reiterate this point again first step is two to ten minutes of blue light when you wake up and two to ten minutes of This orange light as the sun setting in the evening very simple incredibly easy to do and very very effective now Where are the problems?

Why is it not as simple as that is not a similar that number one due to night lights?

So when you have lights at night They ended up discovering that it stops the melatonin release by at least 50% Even if it's just a little bit of light So what they recommend is you need to make sure that you your lights in your house are under 20 lux So if you go to the app store,

You can download any free lux app.

There's lots out there I just use the cheap free one It's got a lot of ads but it works well and you just put it against the light and you can see how much lux it is Now under 20 lux is an enormous Amount of darkness in other words,

It's really really not bright at all So it's interesting to note how little light you are meant to have at night so as not to disrupt your melatonin Your melatonin release as you might know the melatonin release technically starts at 9 p.

M So that's the first step night lights under 20 lux The second step is that if you shine any lights including let's say going to the toilet between 11 p.

M And 4 a.

M.

You will also completely wipe out the circadian rhythm So when you wake up to go to the toilet during the night,

No lights The third step is that let's say your wake up time is 6 a.

M The lowest body temperature you'll have is At two hours before your wake up time.

So let's say that's 4 a.

M That 4 a.

M.

Is especially significant because if you have any lights Four to six hours before that 4 a.

M.

You will start to shift your circadian rhythm to be later in other words ends up Making you become a night owl by which you'll end up possibly in the long term developing insomnia So the fourth point that sets and is very important for the circadian rhythm is your eating habits So what dr.

Sanjian pandas lab did was they got two groups of mice one group of mice They would allow them to eat between a 15 hour period So what that means is let's say you wake up at 8 a.

M They would allow this mice to eat past 8 p.

M Up to 11 p.

M Then the other group of mice they only allow them to eat within a 10 hour time period So in other words from 8 a.

M.

To 6 p.

M Now the group of mice that had a 15 hour Eating cycle got fat got morbidly ill and started to die What they did was they then took those same mice and reversed it to a 10 hour eating period whereby these mice Suddenly started to lose their weight not be ill and still remain healthy It's interesting to know that both of them were actually given bad diet.

So even on a bad diet.

They still remained healthy Now the reason for this is that you can't eat a lot of food Now the reason for this is that you need that 12 hour period whereby you're not eating which allows your bodies to burn fat Repair DNA,

Etc,

Etc It also helps set the circadian rhythm itself So the next crucial aspect of getting good sleep is getting as much morning sunlight as you possibly can Again,

Right getting that blue light Now the point here is not just getting it their point is actually looking at the blue sky now don't look at the Sun of course or hurt your eyes because That would be a very bad idea because once you lose your retinal neurons,

They're gone But you're looking at the blue sky as much blue light as you can get safely now a recommendation kind of was Use your app get 2,

000 lux or more for at least 60 minutes in the morning Now the final aspect of the sleep protocols Was the timing of your sleep?

So what they did was they got a whole bunch of people in different areas and stuff and put them in apartments with no clocks After a while,

They started notice that every single person started to sleep at 10 p.

M So this gives us a key aspect here of that We don't want to be sleeping later than 10 p.

M Because 10 p.

M.

Is is probably the latest natural time period we would want to sleep now The reason why that is particularly important from a science point of view Is what?

That you're not getting your non REM sleep,

Which is your primary rejuvenation sleep So let's just recount these things Over again,

So we've got so number one two to ten minutes of blue light in the morning when you wake Number two make sure you're basically watching the sunset in the evening number three no night lights or Keep it under 20 minutes keep it under 20 lux 11 p.

M.

To 4 a.

M Absolutely no lights whatsoever including going to the toilet Number three we spoke about the lower body temperature and no lights Between that period this we've already gone over The fourth aspect was keeping keeping your eating periods in a 12-hour cycle under a 12-hour cycle.

I should say Getting as much morning sunlight as possible and sleeping before 10 p.

M One final note is as I said is this is something that I've been using clinically and has been incredibly effective So I really hope this works for you if you Look under academia put in my name Sean Ramston.

I've put in a document in there called health advice from four Leading scientists this is all set there in a chart that you can even put on your fridge Thank you for listening and I hope you have a good sleep tonight

Reviews

Thanks for the information…I shall try try suggestions!

Great information. Thanks so very much. I have struggled with sleep for many years. I will try all of this and I thought I had heard it all

Excellent thank you. I used to have poor sleep but decided one day about 3 years ago that I would try something different without consulting a doctor or sleep therapist. Basically it seems I've been doing what you have suggested in your talk without knowing the science & technical support benefits. Such good confirmation for me as my 40 year old daughter & 18 yr old granddaughter have lack of sleep problems to the point where they don't function well during daytime. Both are severely depressed. I have tried to help, but because I'm not a Doctor or have any scientific qualifications they dismiss my recommendations even though they have seen a huge change in me; weight loss, energy, clarity of mind & pure joy of living. Thank you.

Excellent, cave dweller sleep program. I am confident it will work. Cloudy Minnesota winter may challenge me but I am creative, a cave dweller would also get orange light from a fire.

Thank you 🙏 for your awesome meditation. I slept so deeply, I woke refreshed and ready for the day!! Very rare for me. 💝💝💝💝

Excellent, wonderful knowledge shared here, very well explained. Thank you for sharing it 🙏🏼🙇🏻‍♂️

Excellent! Easy to understand and succinct summary of the research-supported steps you can take to improve your sleep.

Excellent thank you

Amazing info! Thank you 🙏🏽 Not sure how I’ll ever be in bed and asleep by 10pm, but good to know 💤

Very helpful. Thank you.

Simply well said. I’ve heard some of this before but you clearly explained it. I am motivated to make all if these changes in a consistent level again, thank you.

Really interesting

Interesting 👌thank you