Welcome to "Healthy Living!" 00:00:15.28\00:00:16.64 I'm your host Margot Marshall. 00:00:16.68\00:00:18.61 What is the price of a good night's sleep? 00:00:18.65\00:00:22.35 A marketing analytics firm projects the sleep industry 00:00:22.38\00:00:26.52 could reach an astounding 32 billion dollars this year 00:00:26.55\00:00:30.66 in the United States alone but that's just the dollar figure 00:00:30.69\00:00:34.96 not the cost to our health. 00:00:35.00\00:00:36.63 Dr. Eddie Ramirez has many proven sleep solutions 00:00:36.67\00:00:40.74 including a surprising one from a recent research paper. 00:00:40.77\00:00:44.77 Stay tuned! 00:00:44.81\00:00:46.68 Here to talk to us about sleep solutions is Dr. Eddie Ramirez 00:01:22.54\00:01:26.98 who travels a lot going through many time zones. 00:01:27.02\00:01:30.25 In fact last year, he visited 25 countries, yet managed to 00:01:30.29\00:01:35.82 avoid jetlag. 00:01:35.86\00:01:37.19 Welcome Eddie! Thank you very much. 00:01:37.23\00:01:39.03 You have our full attention. 00:01:39.06\00:01:41.70 Yes, this is a big, hot problem today. 00:01:41.73\00:01:45.33 In the clinical consultation, I see many patients 00:01:45.37\00:01:49.94 that complain that they have issues with their sleep. 00:01:49.97\00:01:54.88 So if you're one of those, I invite you to go and get a 00:01:54.91\00:01:58.71 piece of paper and a pen as you will be getting 00:01:58.75\00:02:01.52 some very important information today. 00:02:01.55\00:02:04.25 In fact, I have even had people in the airline industry 00:02:04.29\00:02:09.29 like air attendants come to me and say, "You know, what's 00:02:09.32\00:02:11.93 your secret, you know, can I do what you are doing?" 00:02:11.96\00:02:15.56 I mean, just recently I had a television interview in Norway, 00:02:15.60\00:02:21.57 flying from America and, I mean, I flew coach and got off 00:02:21.60\00:02:28.24 the plane and went to the studio 00:02:28.28\00:02:30.15 and recorded a few programs there, you know. 00:02:30.18\00:02:32.71 So I know that if you understand the principles, you can 00:02:32.75\00:02:37.49 also be able to implement this in your own life. 00:02:37.52\00:02:41.49 Even if you're traveling through different time zones 00:02:41.52\00:02:45.39 and your body clock - I mean that's major! 00:02:45.43\00:02:48.96 I mean, a lot of people have sleep problems when they 00:02:49.00\00:02:51.57 don't do that - just ordinarily they have sleep 00:02:51.60\00:02:54.30 problems functioning (That's right) but you even 00:02:54.34\00:02:56.91 managed to get good sleep when your body clock 00:02:56.94\00:03:00.61 should be telling you something else - so very, very 00:03:00.64\00:03:03.75 interested to see what you have to say about this. 00:03:03.78\00:03:06.28 So the key here - it's going to be a very important substance 00:03:06.31\00:03:10.95 that your body secretes that is called "melatonin." Okay. 00:03:10.99\00:03:16.06 So the melatonin is going to be the important substance. 00:03:16.09\00:03:19.63 And see, we know by research papers that melatonin is 00:03:19.66\00:03:24.90 so important for healthy living. 00:03:24.93\00:03:27.97 In fact, it has been called the most powerful antioxidant. 00:03:28.00\00:03:34.01 That's impressive! We hear a lot about antioxidants. 00:03:34.04\00:03:37.45 Yes, people pay a lot of money for this antioxidant, 00:03:37.48\00:03:40.65 and this other one and they neglect their own melatonin. 00:03:40.68\00:03:44.65 So we're going to learn today how we can 00:03:44.69\00:03:47.69 optimize that melatonin. 00:03:47.72\00:03:49.66 Melatonin also helps decrease ageing because melatonin 00:03:49.69\00:03:54.96 plays a special role during the night 00:03:55.00\00:03:57.53 to repair your organism. 00:03:57.57\00:04:00.00 So every night that you are sleeping, that melatonin 00:04:00.04\00:04:04.81 has been acting repairing your body and so forth. 00:04:04.84\00:04:09.11 Also, there is some interesting research that suggests 00:04:09.14\00:04:12.78 that melatonin may help us fight certain cancers as it has that 00:04:12.81\00:04:18.52 antioxidant activity in the body. 00:04:18.55\00:04:22.56 Well that makes sense because that's what antioxidants do, 00:04:22.59\00:04:25.39 so, yes, this is sounding better and better! 00:04:25.43\00:04:28.83 And also we know that it may help decrease blood pressure 00:04:28.86\00:04:34.90 and also may improve immunity. 00:04:34.94\00:04:38.44 That's why every person needs to learn to have optimum levels of 00:04:38.47\00:04:45.31 melatonin so that their health can be improved. Excellent! 00:04:45.35\00:04:51.09 I used to be in the hospital and doing rotations and so forth 00:04:51.12\00:04:56.59 when I was in medical school and I remember I would get 00:04:56.62\00:04:59.89 in the conversation with some of my attending physicians 00:04:59.93\00:05:02.50 and I would tell them, "Look, what kind of 00:05:02.53\00:05:04.37 hypocrites are we, you know?" 00:05:04.40\00:05:05.73 I would be doing this 36 hour long hospital duty, 00:05:05.77\00:05:11.74 and I would tell them, "Here we are trying to help people 00:05:11.77\00:05:15.51 and here we are killing ourselves, you know, 00:05:15.54\00:05:18.21 in the process." 00:05:18.25\00:05:20.25 I had that knowledge when I was in medical school and that's 00:05:21.25\00:05:26.09 the reason why there was not a 00:05:26.12\00:05:28.26 single night I spent the whole night studying. 00:05:28.29\00:05:31.53 See, melatonin will also help you retain information, 00:05:31.56\00:05:36.46 so if you have a lot to do, if you are a student 00:05:36.50\00:05:40.54 or you have that type of work that is labor-intensive, 00:05:40.57\00:05:43.97 instead of cutting corners and staying in late, 00:05:44.01\00:05:48.11 what you need to do is you need to go to bed early 00:05:48.14\00:05:51.35 and wake up early, and in that way you get 00:05:51.38\00:05:54.68 that amount of melatonin. 00:05:54.72\00:05:57.42 Okay, so you're saying that melatonin is produced more 00:05:57.45\00:06:02.89 in the pre-midnight hours. 00:06:02.92\00:06:05.29 In the early hours exactly! 00:06:05.33\00:06:07.20 In fact, research showed that before midnight you're 00:06:07.23\00:06:12.90 going to get one of the highest amounts of melatonin. 00:06:12.93\00:06:17.04 That's the reason why if you go to bed at 10:00 or 9:00 00:06:17.07\00:06:22.04 and wake up early or if you go to bed at 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. 00:06:22.08\00:06:27.18 and you still sleep your 8 hours, you still don't feel the 00:06:27.22\00:06:31.35 same because you have lost most of the melatonin of the night. 00:06:31.39\00:06:35.49 And this is a fascinating quotation that was written 00:06:35.52\00:06:39.19 more than 100 years ago, we can see that quotation 00:06:39.23\00:06:42.60 on the screen and it says: 00:06:42.63\00:06:48.30 So as you can see, there is an important timing issue here. 00:07:00.82\00:07:08.12 So you need to learn to go to bed early, maximum 10:00 p.m., 00:07:08.16\00:07:13.19 9:30 wonderful, 9:00 fantastic! 00:07:13.23\00:07:16.90 And what about if you went before that or is that? 00:07:16.93\00:07:20.30 That's right, those days that you feel very tired and that 00:07:20.34\00:07:25.71 you feel that you need more rest, what you should do 00:07:25.74\00:07:31.25 instead of staying late, in the morning sleeping you're 00:07:31.28\00:07:35.75 literally wasting your time, I'll tell you why in a minute, 00:07:35.78\00:07:38.72 you need to go to bed early and in that way, you will get 00:07:38.75\00:07:44.69 more amount of melatonin so that your body can be 00:07:44.73\00:07:49.06 repaired adequately and you can function correctly. 00:07:49.10\00:07:52.37 I know, as I talk to patients, some of these patients like to 00:07:52.40\00:07:58.41 go to church and so forth, and if you are staying in bed 00:07:58.44\00:08:04.41 late and cutting corners, you're actually not 00:08:04.45\00:08:07.65 getting that benefit. 00:08:07.68\00:08:09.05 You're tired - go to bed that that weekend a little bit 00:08:09.08\00:08:13.32 earlier and in that way, you will get your 00:08:13.36\00:08:15.46 proper amount of melatonin. 00:08:15.49\00:08:17.93 Right, so the hours before midnight are the 00:08:17.96\00:08:21.56 important ones. Those are the important ones! 00:08:21.60\00:08:23.43 It's not enough just to have the 8 hours but when you do it. 00:08:23.47\00:08:28.10 So let us examine a little bit of how this melatonin 00:08:28.14\00:08:32.67 is produced so that we can understand how to 00:08:32.71\00:08:36.38 optimize this melatonin. 00:08:36.41\00:08:38.55 Yes, this is something we need to know. 00:08:38.58\00:08:40.48 The first step that we need to learn is a key word 00:08:40.52\00:08:45.05 called, "tryptophan." 00:08:45.09\00:08:47.29 There are many amino acids form the protein - think 00:08:47.32\00:08:53.63 about them as the Legos. 00:08:53.66\00:08:55.23 You know how there are Legos that are square, circle, long, 00:08:55.26\00:08:58.43 so forth, in the same way there are different amino acids - the 00:08:58.47\00:09:03.00 combination of amino acids compose protein. 00:09:03.04\00:09:06.21 Well, one of those amino acids is called "tryptophan," 00:09:06.24\00:09:10.11 and tryptophan is essential for you to have good melatonin 00:09:10.15\00:09:16.42 in your body - let me tell you why. 00:09:16.45\00:09:18.22 Tryptophan, when you eat the tryptophan, combined with 00:09:18.25\00:09:24.13 bright light generates something that is called "serotonin." 00:09:24.16\00:09:29.50 If you are that type of person, and I know there are many 00:09:29.53\00:09:34.40 because depression is a huge problem here in Australia. 00:09:34.44\00:09:38.04 If you're listening to me and you're that type of person 00:09:38.07\00:09:40.94 that goes to bed and then wakes up at 2:00-3:00 in the 00:09:40.98\00:09:45.88 morning and you cannot go back to sleep, I can tell you 00:09:45.91\00:09:51.05 you probably have a deficiency of melatonin 00:09:51.09\00:09:54.69 secondary to low serotonin in your brain. 00:09:54.72\00:09:58.59 So let us understand how we can optimize that. 00:09:58.63\00:10:02.23 See, tryptophan is not just because you read in the 00:10:02.26\00:10:06.70 ingredients, nutritional facts, that this food has tryptophan, 00:10:06.74\00:10:12.17 that is not enough. 00:10:12.21\00:10:14.71 You need to get your tryptophan from a plant source. 00:10:14.74\00:10:20.68 See, animal products are rich in other amino acids 00:10:20.72\00:10:26.49 that look like tryptophan - they are not tryptophan, they are 00:10:26.52\00:10:31.09 an amino acid but chemically speaking they are similar 00:10:31.13\00:10:36.06 to tryptophan. 00:10:36.10\00:10:37.50 So the issue is this - in your brain very little tryptophan 00:10:37.53\00:10:43.00 actually can make it through. 00:10:43.04\00:10:45.51 So if you are eating your tryptophan of animal 00:10:45.54\00:10:50.65 product sources, you're sending all these competing 00:10:50.68\00:10:54.92 amino acids and very little tryptophan in the first place 00:10:54.95\00:11:00.19 was coming in, but now these competing amino acids 00:11:00.22\00:11:02.72 try to also go in there - so they end up going in the brain 00:11:02.76\00:11:06.80 instead of the tryptophan as they need to pass 00:11:06.83\00:11:09.53 through the blood-brain barrier. 00:11:09.56\00:11:12.37 Also, that little door that you have to put that tryptophan 00:11:12.40\00:11:17.64 inside your brain is dependent on insulin. 00:11:17.67\00:11:23.75 There needs to be a little bit of insulin spike in 00:11:23.78\00:11:26.51 order for that little door to function. 00:11:26.55\00:11:28.85 Animal products don't give you that insulin spike while 00:11:28.88\00:11:33.92 plant-based foods give you that insulin spike 00:11:33.96\00:11:40.56 that will help that tryptophan go inside the brain. 00:11:40.60\00:11:44.10 That's the reason why in our very successful depression 00:11:44.13\00:11:48.47 program, you actually can increase that tryptophan amount 00:11:48.50\00:11:55.68 to the brain because we switch all of our patients 00:11:55.71\00:11:59.01 to a full plant vegetarian diet. 00:11:59.05\00:12:02.25 If you're interested in the topic, just Google the word 00:12:02.28\00:12:05.25 "Nedley and hypothesis," this is a whole paper 00:12:05.29\00:12:10.43 that I wrote about explaining our hypothesis. 00:12:10.46\00:12:13.63 Okay, that's very good. 00:12:13.66\00:12:15.30 This is one more reason - you know you've done a number of 00:12:15.33\00:12:17.77 programs with us and all kinds of reasons why a 00:12:17.80\00:12:20.87 plant-based diet is helpful and now we're finding 00:12:20.90\00:12:23.54 it's helpful for sleep - so that's another reason 00:12:23.57\00:12:27.14 to go for the plant foods, excellent! 00:12:27.18\00:12:29.51 So people are asking, "Okay, so which plant foods have some 00:12:29.54\00:12:35.28 good sources of that." Tryptophan, yes. 00:12:35.32\00:12:37.12 Among the foods that you can easily acquire, the king of the 00:12:37.15\00:12:43.36 tryptophan is actually "tofu," very high in tryptophan. 00:12:43.39\00:12:48.00 If you don't know how to use tofu, just go to the internet. 00:12:48.03\00:12:51.93 There are so many recipes there - tofu has that 00:12:51.97\00:12:55.47 characteristic that it can acquire sweet, it can acquire 00:12:55.50\00:12:58.47 a salty taste - it can acquire different tastes 00:12:58.51\00:13:03.38 depending on what you put on. 00:13:03.41\00:13:04.81 So tofu, things like pumpkin seeds; things like beans, 00:13:04.85\00:13:12.35 wheat flour, walnuts; things like linseed - these types of 00:13:12.39\00:13:20.03 foods are nice and rich in this tryptophan so make sure 00:13:20.06\00:13:24.67 that you're eating them especially if you are 00:13:24.70\00:13:27.84 having problems sleeping. 00:13:27.87\00:13:29.24 So we said we need two things: 00:13:29.27\00:13:30.97 #1. You need that tryptophan inside your brain. 00:13:31.01\00:13:33.21 #2. You need bright light. 00:13:33.24\00:13:35.91 So what I want you to do, if you are having trouble 00:13:35.94\00:13:39.11 sleeping, I want you to wake up at the time that the sun 00:13:39.15\00:13:43.49 is coming up and you go outside and expose yourself 00:13:43.52\00:13:48.66 to sunlight between 30 to 45 minutes. 00:13:48.69\00:13:52.53 So what I suggest to you is, why don't you go for a walk? 00:13:52.56\00:13:56.00 See, it may sound mean but in our depression program, 00:13:56.03\00:13:58.73 we have the key of every single one of our patients, 00:13:58.77\00:14:02.20 and when the morning comes, if they didn't sleep enough, 00:14:02.24\00:14:05.77 they may say, "Oh, I want to stay longer in bed." 00:14:05.81\00:14:08.38 No! that's not an option. 00:14:08.41\00:14:10.65 We go, open those doors and we put our patients to expose 00:14:10.68\00:14:15.68 themselves to bright light, 00:14:15.72\00:14:17.69 and in that way, they get that benefit. 00:14:17.72\00:14:19.62 There was an interesting study that showed that those people 00:14:19.65\00:14:22.42 that say that they're "night owls," they put them 00:14:22.46\00:14:26.53 in a tent far from a city and suddenly every single 00:14:26.56\00:14:32.83 one of them became a morning person. Is that right? 00:14:32.87\00:14:36.10 So that is actually not an excuse. That's interesting! 00:14:36.14\00:14:39.94 That's fascinating, isn't it? 00:14:39.97\00:14:41.31 So they changed from owls to fowls. That's right! 00:14:41.34\00:14:45.55 So especially older people, yes. 00:14:46.82\00:14:49.38 So how long would that take? 00:14:49.42\00:14:51.15 In a matter of a couple of days, 00:14:51.19\00:14:53.66 the person becomes a morning person and I can 00:14:53.69\00:14:55.89 tell you from our patients that come to 00:14:55.92\00:14:57.96 our depression program... 00:14:57.99\00:15:00.26 You put them in a tent outside. Laughter. 00:15:00.30\00:15:02.40 What we do also, if you don't have access to the bright 00:15:02.43\00:15:05.73 sunlight of the sun because of work and so forth, 00:15:05.77\00:15:09.47 I would encourage you to get a medical grade bright light 00:15:09.50\00:15:13.38 which you can expose yourself from 30-45 minutes 00:15:13.41\00:15:17.45 early in the morning and in that way, 00:15:17.48\00:15:19.35 you can accomplish that. 00:15:19.38\00:15:20.72 If you still are having trouble after doing that, 00:15:20.75\00:15:23.55 get yourself a second dosage around 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. 00:15:23.59\00:15:28.42 another 30 minutes and this is something you can take it 00:15:28.46\00:15:30.59 to your job and put it there as you are working 00:15:30.63\00:15:33.63 and so forth, and expose yourself to that bright light. 00:15:33.66\00:15:37.67 So, step #1. Tryptophan plus bright light. 00:15:37.70\00:15:40.94 That will increase the serotonin that will make you 00:15:40.97\00:15:43.71 feel good throughout the day. 00:15:43.74\00:15:45.44 Now, melatonin - I need the other opposite which is 00:15:45.47\00:15:50.65 darkness - melatonin is only secreted when we 00:15:50.68\00:15:55.65 have complete darkness. 00:15:55.68\00:15:57.99 So make sure your room is completely dark. 00:15:58.02\00:16:03.39 That's going to be the key to generating enough melatonin. 00:16:03.43\00:16:08.36 So you're really resetting the body clock by 00:16:08.40\00:16:11.53 getting up at the right time and then going to bed 00:16:11.57\00:16:14.40 at the right time and the tryptophan and the bright light 00:16:14.44\00:16:18.01 are actually helping to reset the body clock. That's right! 00:16:18.04\00:16:19.87 And make sure also you have enough vitamin B6 and in 00:16:19.91\00:16:24.71 things like, we call it in America "peppers," 00:16:24.75\00:16:29.48 you guys call them "capsicum" here in Australia. 00:16:29.52\00:16:33.22 Okay, that's a very nice rich source of vitamin B6, 00:16:33.25\00:16:36.56 and veggies in general are good sources. 00:16:36.59\00:16:40.70 And also make sure that you're eating enough calcium, okay? 00:16:40.73\00:16:45.60 Many of the modern substitutes for milk - 00:16:45.63\00:16:48.80 soy milk, oat milk - many of them have enough calcium 00:16:48.84\00:16:53.68 there, so make sure you are drinking some of these, 00:16:53.71\00:16:56.31 that's part of the equation. 00:16:56.34\00:16:57.88 So you need to have that darkness and you need to have 00:16:57.91\00:17:01.58 regularity. 00:17:01.62\00:17:03.49 That's the key - every night at the same time, 00:17:03.52\00:17:06.72 you need to go to bed including the weekend. 00:17:06.76\00:17:09.76 Many people unfortunately on the weekend, 00:17:09.79\00:17:12.29 they move that program and no wonder on Monday 00:17:12.33\00:17:15.70 they feel horribly terrible. 00:17:15.73\00:17:18.53 We have a term for that, it's called, "Mondayitis." 00:17:18.57\00:17:21.40 Okay, Mondayitis or blue Monday we call it, that's right, 00:17:21.44\00:17:24.44 in America, yes. Yes, probably the same thing. 00:17:24.47\00:17:26.14 So it's really caused by interrupting that regularity. 00:17:26.17\00:17:31.31 In fact, I published a research paper and it's going to 00:17:31.35\00:17:35.98 be coming out in the Journal - "Obesity Review," 00:17:36.02\00:17:39.29 and we can see it on the screen. 00:17:39.32\00:17:41.39 In this paper, we were showing how regularity in eating 00:17:41.42\00:17:46.49 and sleeping improves the mood, and not only that, 00:17:46.53\00:17:50.77 it has a positive effect on the weight of the person. 00:17:50.80\00:17:56.27 So this actually helps to lose weight, makes you feel better, 00:17:56.30\00:18:01.48 and your depression actually decreases dramatically 00:18:01.51\00:18:05.21 once you get into a regular program the whole week 00:18:05.25\00:18:08.95 including the weekend. 00:18:08.98\00:18:11.05 Also, there are many... 00:18:11.09\00:18:13.02 Can I say something? Yes, go ahead. 00:18:13.05\00:18:14.39 That's such a big thing as depression is the single 00:18:14.42\00:18:19.36 greatest cause of disability worldwide. That's right. 00:18:19.39\00:18:22.86 Also, the case in Australia, just to be able 00:18:22.90\00:18:27.57 to get your sleep sorted out is tremendous. That's right. 00:18:27.60\00:18:32.01 So this is really, really important. 00:18:32.04\00:18:35.04 And again, if you're interested in the topic, go on Google, 00:18:35.08\00:18:37.81 those key words, you know: "Nedley depression Ramirez," 00:18:37.85\00:18:42.32 and you will get that paper that we published. 00:18:42.35\00:18:45.49 It's open - anybody can read it on the internet. Yes. 00:18:45.52\00:18:48.52 Also, there are some melatonin killers - please avoid 00:18:48.56\00:18:54.66 these things if you want to have enough melatonin. 00:18:54.70\00:18:58.83 And we can see those factors that interfere with melatonin 00:18:58.87\00:19:04.04 on the screen. 00:19:04.07\00:19:05.74 Stress - that's why you don't sleep good 00:19:05.77\00:19:07.81 when you're stressed. 00:19:07.84\00:19:09.18 Caffeine - horrible habit for melatonin and longevity. 00:19:09.21\00:19:13.72 Alcohol - also and Tobacco. 00:19:13.75\00:19:17.39 You're saying there that alcohol can cut it back by 41%. 00:19:17.95\00:19:21.69 That's right! That's massive. 00:19:21.72\00:19:23.06 Many people, they say, "I need a little drink so that I 00:19:23.09\00:19:26.63 can relax and I can sleep." Mistake of mistakes! 00:19:26.66\00:19:31.47 Please don't do that. 00:19:31.50\00:19:33.40 When you do that - yes, you may sleep, but you cut down 00:19:33.44\00:19:37.27 your melatonin and don't repair the body properly. 00:19:37.31\00:19:41.84 So you need to remove those factors from your lifestyle. 00:19:41.88\00:19:46.68 That's why before going to sleep, it's better to change 00:19:46.72\00:19:50.19 your thinking and so forth into 00:19:50.22\00:19:52.89 a more positive type of direction or read the Bible, 00:19:52.92\00:19:58.03 do something peaceful - turn on to your 3ABN. 00:19:58.06\00:20:01.66 On the air, that's good, say that again. Laughter. 00:20:01.70\00:20:04.70 So you can get something wholesome that would put your 00:20:04.73\00:20:08.04 thinking in the right direction. 00:20:08.07\00:20:10.77 And be careful also with bright light in the night. 00:20:10.81\00:20:15.68 We said, you need bright light early in the morning, 00:20:15.71\00:20:18.01 but not at night! 00:20:18.05\00:20:19.51 Cell phones, computers and many other big sources of light, 00:20:19.55\00:20:24.29 they need to be decreased or eliminated ideally 00:20:24.32\00:20:28.59 before you go to bed. 00:20:28.62\00:20:30.49 If you are that type of person that needs to use a computer 00:20:30.53\00:20:34.10 before going to bed or your cell phone, you need to 00:20:34.13\00:20:38.70 install a filter program. 00:20:38.73\00:20:41.44 The one I usually like is called, "FLUX." 00:20:41.47\00:20:48.74 It's free, you can install it; the computer will know when 00:20:48.78\00:20:52.91 the sunset occurs and it will block the blue light 00:20:52.95\00:20:56.45 which is what blocks the melatonin in the night. 00:20:56.48\00:21:00.82 So hours before going to sleep, that program needs to kick in. 00:21:00.86\00:21:06.16 It is a huge mistake to wake up in the night and read 00:21:06.19\00:21:09.30 your messages - you're just shooting all these lights 00:21:09.33\00:21:12.30 to your eyes and the body says, "Oh, it's time to 00:21:12.33\00:21:15.00 wake up, let's wake up!" 00:21:15.04\00:21:16.40 And no, you know you want to sleep, don't do that. 00:21:16.44\00:21:19.04 That's actually one of my secrets 00:21:19.07\00:21:21.44 as I travel across zones. 00:21:21.48\00:21:23.55 You need to be disciplined, so when it's night 00:21:23.58\00:21:27.12 as you're going to be crossing night, you need to 00:21:27.15\00:21:29.75 put something in your eyes, block your eyes. 00:21:29.78\00:21:32.85 Even if you are not sleeping, the fact that you are 00:21:32.89\00:21:37.03 blocking your eyes, it's doing some melatonin in your system, 00:21:37.06\00:21:41.70 and you need to be disciplined. 00:21:41.73\00:21:43.26 Don't take it off when they offer the food and so forth. 00:21:43.30\00:21:46.27 Do you eat in the middle of the night? 00:21:46.30\00:21:48.57 No, so why are you eating in the middle of the night 00:21:48.60\00:21:51.47 when you're in a plane ride? 00:21:51.51\00:21:52.87 So if it's night, the food passes by - you ignore that. 00:21:52.91\00:21:57.85 And that's one of your secrets from the jetlag. 00:21:57.88\00:22:00.72 No caffeine and no alcohol, those things will block 00:22:00.75\00:22:05.69 my melatonin and will make me feel horrible the next day. 00:22:05.72\00:22:09.22 I don't think you have alcohol any day, do you? 00:22:09.26\00:22:11.26 That's right! Laughter. 00:22:11.29\00:22:12.63 As I understand the physiology of this, I avoid alcohol 00:22:13.19\00:22:17.27 like leprosy, myself. 00:22:17.30\00:22:18.93 And I always sit on the window seat - the reason why 00:22:18.97\00:22:24.07 is because as the day comes, you know if you sleep enough 00:22:24.11\00:22:28.68 you make your calculation that you get a good 6-7 hours 00:22:28.71\00:22:32.71 in the plane - the first thing I do is I open my shade 00:22:32.75\00:22:37.55 and get myself that bright light that will help shift my 00:22:37.59\00:22:43.16 time zone to the new zone. 00:22:43.19\00:22:45.96 So those three things you do when you're traveling - 00:22:45.99\00:22:49.00 When you're coming into a country and it's night in the 00:22:49.86\00:22:53.03 country, you cover your eyes so you're basically getting the 00:22:53.07\00:22:55.87 darkness (That's right), you don't eat because it's not 00:22:55.90\00:22:58.97 the time to eat (That's right) in that country. 00:22:59.01\00:23:00.91 Eating will block melatonin, that's right. 00:23:00.94\00:23:02.88 Oh, okay, eating and, okay. That's right. 00:23:02.91\00:23:06.38 So that's why 3 hours before going to bed, 00:23:07.08\00:23:09.52 you need to have your last meal. 00:23:09.55\00:23:10.99 So you cover your eyes for darkness. That's right. 00:23:11.02\00:23:13.12 Then you don't eat or drink anything. That's right. 00:23:13.15\00:23:15.92 And you sit by the window so that when the sun 00:23:15.96\00:23:19.19 is coming up, (That's right), you have control 00:23:19.23\00:23:20.56 of the shade and you can change it. 00:23:20.60\00:23:21.93 You may drink water, it's fine, but don't drink anything else. 00:23:21.96\00:23:25.17 That will cause digestion that will block melatonin and also - 00:23:25.20\00:23:28.67 I was just going to say, if you're a pilot or a flight 00:23:29.50\00:23:34.94 attendant, that's something that maybe you do have to be 00:23:34.98\00:23:39.45 doing things through that time, but some of it 00:23:39.48\00:23:41.72 maybe you could work. Yes. 00:23:41.75\00:23:43.25 And if you are taking blood pressure medication 00:23:43.28\00:23:47.49 like beta blockers, make sure you talk to your doctor 00:23:47.52\00:23:52.63 about melatonin. 00:23:52.66\00:23:54.00 Beta blockers - those medications that end in "lol," 00:23:54.03\00:23:57.07 "metoprolol, atenolol, and these type of medications 00:23:57.10\00:24:02.54 block 99% of your melatonin. 00:24:02.57\00:24:06.78 So a wise physician that prescribes this medication 00:24:06.81\00:24:11.11 will also give some melatonin for the melatonin 00:24:11.15\00:24:15.02 you're going to be blocking. 00:24:15.05\00:24:16.48 I don't advise taking melatonin just by itself unless you 00:24:16.52\00:24:20.19 really need it - I'd rather encourage you to optimize 00:24:20.22\00:24:24.06 the level of your melatonin so that you can sleep better. 00:24:24.09\00:24:28.46 Also, if you're taking more than 3,000 micrograms of B12, 00:24:28.50\00:24:35.14 that also can block your melatonin. 00:24:35.17\00:24:38.21 Be careful not to take too much vitamin B12, and also 00:24:38.24\00:24:42.94 medications that are long-lasting like pain 00:24:42.98\00:24:49.32 medication long-lasting - we don't like to use those ones. 00:24:49.35\00:24:52.25 Medications for pain that 00:24:52.29\00:24:55.92 release in long-time, they also will block that. 00:24:56.62\00:25:00.06 Okay, slow release medications for pain. 00:25:00.10\00:25:03.20 There's another published paper I recently presented in 00:25:03.23\00:25:07.44 a conference; in fact, I got an award to one of the 00:25:07.47\00:25:10.44 best studies presented there. 00:25:10.47\00:25:12.67 Why don't I get you to say that to us? 00:25:12.71\00:25:14.28 And this one had to do with lavender oil and sleep. Okay. 00:25:15.24\00:25:20.48 So lavender oil orally in capsules, we found out that it 00:25:20.52\00:25:26.32 helped not only with anxiety but also with sleep. 00:25:26.35\00:25:29.52 A little side effect that we found was that if you take 00:25:29.56\00:25:32.33 too much, you may get a little bit of heartburn and so forth, 00:25:32.36\00:25:35.63 but just to be aware of that. 00:25:35.66\00:25:38.23 How much is the right amount? 00:25:38.27\00:25:40.24 Yes, you would want to take 2 or 3 of those capsules 00:25:40.27\00:25:44.51 about 3 hours before going to bed and it may 00:25:44.54\00:25:48.11 have that beneficial effect. 00:25:48.14\00:25:49.48 We also have some herbs that can help - we can see those 00:25:49.51\00:25:52.71 on the screen and you can find some of these herbs here 00:25:52.75\00:25:56.85 in Australia: chamomile, hops, lavender and valerian. 00:25:56.89\00:26:02.92 There are research papers that show the effectiveness of these 00:26:02.96\00:26:08.56 herbs in helping improve your sleep. 00:26:08.60\00:26:13.54 Well that's fantastic, lots and lots of good suggestions there. 00:26:13.57\00:26:17.31 Do you ever need to take any extra melatonin despite 00:26:17.34\00:26:20.64 all your best efforts? 00:26:20.68\00:26:22.01 No, I don't ever take melatonin - I make sure 00:26:22.04\00:26:26.61 I generate my own and believe me, I sleep good, you know. 00:26:26.65\00:26:30.49 I sleep good. 00:26:30.52\00:26:31.95 And you look as though you slept well and, you know, 00:26:31.99\00:26:33.99 you've been doing some traveling just now. 00:26:34.02\00:26:35.79 Because you need to be disciplined! 00:26:35.82\00:26:38.36 And that's what I tell people, you know, sometimes 00:26:38.39\00:26:39.89 you are with shades there on the plane 00:26:39.93\00:26:41.86 and so forth and you are unable to sleep, 00:26:41.90\00:26:43.80 you still need to stay there. 00:26:43.83\00:26:45.90 The worst thing you can do is to remove them and start 00:26:45.93\00:26:48.64 watching the little movie they have in front of you. 00:26:48.67\00:26:51.01 You are putting bright lights through your eyes. Yes. 00:26:51.04\00:26:54.84 You are going to interrupt that. 00:26:54.88\00:26:56.48 So what I suggest to you is if you are having really 00:26:56.51\00:26:59.65 problems sleeping, why don't you tap into 00:26:59.68\00:27:03.32 spiritual resources. 00:27:03.35\00:27:04.95 And I want to share with you one of my favorite verses 00:27:04.99\00:27:07.79 and you can see it on the screen, Proverbs 3:24. 00:27:07.82\00:27:12.56 Oh isn't that lovely! 00:27:22.00\00:27:23.34 And that is, it's beautiful and I think spirituality 00:27:23.37\00:27:26.44 is often overlooked. 00:27:26.47\00:27:29.34 Well it's just something we can tap into and that we can 00:27:29.38\00:27:32.75 benefit from and I just don't think we always realize this. 00:27:32.78\00:27:36.52 One of our recent patients, we loaned him a bright light 00:27:36.55\00:27:41.62 and the person had not slept in years and he said, 00:27:41.66\00:27:47.00 "You know, I'm not giving you back this light, 00:27:47.03\00:27:50.40 I'm using it from now on." 00:27:50.43\00:27:51.83 So you can experience that if you wish. 00:27:51.87\00:27:55.20 Yes, okay, well that's been fantastic Eddie. 00:27:55.24\00:27:58.31 Many of those things you've told us are just so valuable. 00:27:58.34\00:28:02.04 People will probably want to watch them again and you can 00:28:02.08\00:28:05.01 do that and I hope that you will enjoy sound and 00:28:05.05\00:28:10.22 restorative sleep - a good quality of sleep to add to 00:28:10.25\00:28:13.72 the quality of your life. 00:28:13.76\00:28:15.09 So if you want to watch our programs on demand, 00:28:15.12\00:28:17.16 visit our website, that's 3abnaustralia.org.au 00:28:17.19\00:28:21.63 Just click on the watch button and we'll see you next time. 00:28:21.66\00:28:25.17 Thank you very much. 00:28:25.20\00:28:27.70