How Sleep Impacts Our Overall Health and Skin Health With Dr. Michael Breus

Today, we’re covering how sleep impacts our overall health including healthy skin aging and specific tips to help improve your sleep quantity and quality. I receive many questions about sleep, so I’m excited to have as my guest today, sleep expert Dr. Michael Breus to answer our questions about sleep.

But first, here is a question from Amy, “I notice that my skin is worse when I don’t get a good night’s sleep. Is that just my imagination?”

It’s not just your imagination. Sleep definitely impacts your skin. Dr. Breus talks about this more during the interview, but – when you don’t get a good night’s sleep the hormones that give your skin a healthy glow can become out of balance. For example GH is a hormone that is released in a specific phase of deeper sleep and you need this for healthy skin and skin repair.

If you’re not sleeping well, it may be because your evening cortisol (that’s the adrenal stress hormone you’ve probably heard about) is too high. High cortisol can also trigger skinflammation – so you may be more prone to breakouts of skin issues like eczema and acne.

Today’s guest, Dr. Michael Breus, is a Clinical Psychologist and a Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine and a Fellow of The American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He was one of the youngest people to have passed the Board at age 31 with a specialty in Sleep Disorders, and he is one of only 163 psychologists in the world with his credentials and distinction.

He is the author of The Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan: Lose Weight Through Better Sleep and BEAUTY SLEEP: Look Younger, Lose Weight, and Feel Great Through Better Sleep. Dr. Breus is the Sleep Expert for WebMD and writes regularly for The Huffington Post, Psychology Today, Sharecare, and The Oz Blog. As well as medical and psychology peer-reviewed journals. You may have seen Dr. Breus on tv shows such as Dr Oz, CNN, Oprah, The View, Rachel Ray, Fox and Friends, The Doctors,  or The Today Show. He is an expert resource for most major publications doing more than 100 interviews per year, and he has a  private practice in Los Angeles, CA.

Topics discussed today include:

• Sleep in the brain is defined by a drive similar to hunger - adenosine

• Adenosine and caffeine are one molecule off - caffeine masks your sleep

• Circadian rhythm - internal biological clock

• If either of these things are off, there will be sleep problems

• Sleep deprivation is an epidemic

• Sleep deprivation - quality of sleep matters as well as quantity

• Sleep affects every organ system and disease state

• Cancer cells multiply faster with sleep deprivation

• Stages of sleep

  • Wake

  • Stage 1

  • Stage 2

  • Stage 3-4

  • Stage 2

  • REM Sleep

  • 1 full cycle takes about 90 minutes

• Stage 1 and 2 are light sleep

• Stage 3 and 4 is where all of the growth hormone is emitted

• Sleep Hacking - Improving Stages

• 5 Step Method

  • Go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time everyday including weekends - Sleep schedule is important - five 90 minutes cycles = 71/2 hours Try this and you will discover your sleep cycle - The same times - your brain knows it’s time to sleep

  • Caffeine has a half life of 8 to 10 hours, stop drinking caffeine by 2:00 pm

  • Alcohol - passing out, not sleeping, prevents deeper stages of sleep - stop drinking 3 hours before bed

  • Exercise - the best way to improve overall sleep quality

  • Get sunlight - when sunlight hits the optic nerve it stops melatonin production - sunlight in the morning will wake you up, get 15 minutes

• Bubble bath can help you sleep

• Environment has huge effect on sleep

• 5 Senses - is there anything to prevent sleep - light

• Blue light keeps us awake - screens

• Sound - more quiet, the more acute your hearing becomes, white noise is fine, snoring keeps people awake

• Touch, temperature in the room 65 to 75 degrees, pillows and mattresses matter

• Throw out pillow every 18 to 20 months

• Your body will tell you when it is time to get a new mattress, don’t mix up support and comfort, keep spine aligned, don’t keep mattress longer than 8 years

• Smell - Lavender is helpful

• Taste - spicy meal before bed leaves to bad sleep and even nightmares

• Sleep Summit - has never been done before and we have so much research now

• 35 speakers, free sleep app

Mentioned on today’s show:

The Sleep Doctor

The Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan

Beauty Sleep

The Power of When

Additional links to check out:

• TheSkinQuiz.com - Get your customized skin profile. It’s free, and based upon your answers, it will give you great tips for glowing skin and vibrant health.

Don't miss out on all of the latest tips to get glowing healthy skin from the inside and out. Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter. Join the conversation!

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