Dr. Amen is one of America’s leading psychiatrists and brain health experts. He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, general psychiatry and child psychiatry. According to the Washington Post, “By almost any measure, Dr. Amen is the most popular psychiatrist in America.” He recently spoke about the importance of caring for and not hurting your chances of sleep. ( see YouTube link below). Here are some of Dr. Amen’s sleep hacks: Keep a regular sleep schedule even on weekends. Before you go to sleep, ask yourself what went well today? If your mind is spinning with worrisome and negative thoughts, get them out of your head by writing them down. Then write what you can do and what you cannot do about each thought. Avoid caffine-it blocks the chemicals that tell you to go to sleep. Avoid alcohol-it puts you to sleep, suppresses neurons, wears off and then you are back up! No eating within 4 hours of bedtime. Your blood pressure does not drop and you could have a heart attack and/or stroke. Dr. Amen does not want us to become a “non-dipper”–where our blood pressure does not dip. Make your room cold, not warm. You will sleep deeper. Wearing socks on your hands and feet helps us to fall asleep faster. After dark, turn off all lights, gadgets and any device which emits blue light. Blue light decreases the production of melatonin and makes it less likely you will sleep. At a minimum, use blue light blockers. If you want to read, read a boring book on something you want to learn about. Do not read anything intense. If you are sensitive to noise(especially those with ADD), use earplugs and an eye mask. No pets in bed-they bother us. If you are struggling with someone, see if you can work it out in 20 minutes. If not, save the conversation for the next day. Listen to the calming sounds of music or nature. Drink 1 cup of warm almond milk or 1 ounce of dark tart cherry juice prior to bedtime. No naps during the day. If your partner snores, he/she/they may have sleep apnea. This can triple their risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease plus the partner gets a bad sleep! Have this checked out. If you are having nightmares(we are in very anxious times), your brain trying to help you. Dr. Amen suggests writing them down and giving the dream a different, happy, calm ending. This strategy will help decrease those nightmares. Check your meds as many can interfere with sleep-asthma meds, antihistamines, nicotine, stimulants. Check and optimize your hormones. Many women in perimenopause, menopause or postmenopause suffer hormonal imbalances and feel anxious, depressed and have hot flashes. According to Dr. Amen, progesterone is the brain’s natural valium and it drops 10 years prior to menopause(think late 30s early 40s!). Many doctors treat the depression, anxiety or sleep issues with one or more pharmaceuticals when a little progesterone, he says, can help! Dr. Amen is not a fan of pharmaceutical sleep aids or benzos. He teaches how to lower the use of them and how to incorporate more natural supplements for sleep aid. For example, he is a huge fan of magnesium which he says 80% of us are low in. Magnesium glycinate calms down our overfiring brain and can help us sleep! Listen to the full episode below. Sweet dreams from Healthshifter.
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