June 12, 2024

7 Proven Sleep Strategies with Dr. Bijoy John [Ep. 99]

I’m joined today by Dr. Bijoy John, a board-certified sleep specialist with over 25 years of experience. Dr. John discusses various sleep strategies from his new book, 'Nobody's Sleeping: The Seven Proven Sleep Strategies,' which addresses common sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, and restless leg syndrome. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining a regular sleep schedule, creating a low-light, low-noise, and low-temperature environment, exercising appropriately, and managing worries to improve sleep quality. The episode also covers how proper sleep impacts overall health and weight management, and offers practical advice for overcoming both sleep onset and maintenance insomnia.

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More from Dr. Bijoy John:

About Dr. John:

He also is the founder of Sleep Fix Academy which offers online courses, podcasts, and other resources to improve sleep quality, and serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine.

Dr. John is a member of the American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, and American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He was recognized as one of the Top 100 Physicians in Nashville for 2022 by My Nashville magazine. Additionally, he received the Top Sleep Specialist award consecutively from 2015–2020 from Nashville Lifestyle magazine, as voted by his peers and patients. He is also mentioned in Marquis Who’s Who as one of the Top Sleep Physicians for 2023-24.

Dr. John has been happily married to Dotty for 30 years and is the proud father of two grown children. He enjoys maintaining his coral reef aquarium, playing ping pong, tennis, golf, and loves to travel.

More from Well with Lisa:

Schedule a free session: wellwithlisa.as.me
Your Go-To Meal Guide: grab it HERE
Instagram: @well_with_lisa

WEBVTT

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This is the Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well podcast.

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I'm Lisa Salsbury, and this is episode 99, 7 proven sleep strategies with Dr.

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Joy, John.

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But joy.

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John is a board certified physician and practicing sleep specialist currently in private practice with over 25 years of experience in pulmonary and critical care.

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And sleep medicine.

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He reached out to me to share some of his proven sleep strategies that are the foundation for his new book.

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Nobody's sleeping.

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I know that many of you struggle with sleep, whether it's primary insomnia, which we get into quite a bit here, or just going back to sleep when waking in the night.

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Sleep is so foundational to living well and to weight loss.

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I know you're going to really love this episode and the strategies that Dr.

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John shares.

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Welcome to Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well; the podcast for women who want to lose weight, but are tired of counting and calculating all the food.

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I'm your host, Lisa Salsbury.

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I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach, and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter.

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I'll teach you to figure out why you are eating when you aren't hungry, instead of worrying so much about what you are eating.

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Welcome back to the eat well, think well, live well podcast.

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I'm delighted to have Dr.

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Bijoy John here with me today.

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He is a board certified sleep specialist.

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And so obviously we're going to be talking about sleeping well today that falls directly in our living well pillar of the podcast.

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Sleep is such an important part.

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Obviously we are going to get into that.

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So welcome Dr.

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John, please introduce yourself.

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.

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Well, thanks, Lisa.

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Thanks for having me on your show.

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You know, sleep is the foundation.

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It is the superpower.

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If you have a Lego, you put that sleep at the bottom, then you build your diet and fitness on it, right?

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So without sleep, you can't have the energy.

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You don't make the right choices with food.

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So it affects all parts of the body, you know, mind, heart.

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Uh, so.

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You know, this is within ourselves.

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It is free.

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I've discovered it over the years of practicing, you know, my background is pulmonary, but I'm a full board certified sleep specialist for the last three years.

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I just started my own clinic.

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So I perfected the art and I want to share it with the world.

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So that's why I decided to write the book called Nobody's Sleeping, The Seven Proven Sleep Strategies.

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If you have time, we'll go all over that.

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I'm ready for all the questions, Lisa.

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Let's go.

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Perfect.

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Perfect.

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Okay.

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So let's start with the issues.

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What are the three most common, like sleep disorders, or maybe there's more than that, but I think you mentioned that there are three pretty common ones.

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Um, a lot of times when I'm talking to clients, when they're not getting enough sleep.

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The first thing I address is like, well, are you going to bed on time?

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A lot of times I find with my clients, especially their moms, their, their busy women, their midlife, they have a lot going.

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They just don't go to bed on time because they have so much going on.

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And when we correct that, they get enough hours of sleep.

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But then there's the portion of my clients that have sleep disorder of some sort.

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They're not able to go to sleep or they were waking up in the night.

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So what's the three most common things that you are seeing that doesn't just have to do with the folks that just, just aren't going to bed on time.

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Like let's start with turning off the TV and going to bed on time, first of all, but if we've got that under control, what are some, some of the other issues that you see?

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So when I approach a sleep problem, I ask myself or the client was coming in.

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Is it primarily a sleep problem or you have underlying medical problems, psychological problem, or you have a sleep disorder, right?

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So the most common sleep disorders in my clinic are insomnia, either you know, have difficulty going to sleep or staying asleep.

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Number two is sleep apnea.

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Number three is the restless leg syndrome that people have that prevents them from going to sleep.

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So now talking to medical problems, like if you have a heart problem, if you have a lung problem, if you have chronic pain, Uh, you know, or even if you have diabetes, you're using the restroom at multiple times during the night.

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You don't sleep well.

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Then comes the psychological problems, whether you have anxiety or depression.

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So, you know, if you're anxious, you don't sleep well.

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When you don't sleep well, you don't heal well.

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You're more anxious.

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So, so once I come to that conclusion, then we go into this pathway of, you know, addressing the, the three common sleep disorders.

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That's how My approach is and it's a practical approach because if you have other problems, you can do everything you can, you won't be able to fall asleep because the other problems are affecting you.

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Yeah, that is such an issue because I mean, from, from my perspective, as far as like from coaching, like I said, mostly what I do is help people like prioritize their sleep.

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But if they have true insomnia, what do you see as the best ways to overcome that?

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Right.

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So that's called, you know, primary insomnia.

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You just can't turn your mind off.

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Then the other reasons are called the secondary or comorbid insomnia, either condition.

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So how do you do this?

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So I formed the 7 Proven Sleep Strategies.

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I have an acronym for that.

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If your, you know, viewers are listening, you can write it down.

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It's called S L E E P.

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Now, sleep now acronym.

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So I'll go through one by one, which is practical.

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Uh, you know, I've perfected it over the last 25 years.

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So the first S is called the schedule, right?

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For every plan to succeed, we have to have a schedule.

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So if you, uh, the general time to go to sleep is between 10 PM and 6 AM.

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So if you go to bed at 10, you can't fall asleep till midnight.

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Don't go to bed at 10.

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So the inclination is most people, in fact, they go to bed at nine.

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Now you're suffering from nine to midnight.

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So go to bed closer to the time you fell asleep, like 1130.

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Then once you're able to establish that, move a little bit backwards to 1115, 1110, 45 and so forth.

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But the most important thing here is you have to wake up at six.

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Um, so that's I'm trying to create a sleep debt.

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So that's the most important you have to have.

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So most people when they go through is very hard.

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The first two weeks, you know, people are very angry at me and they're angry at themselves.

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But after two weeks, you'll be so amazed.

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Your clock will start to turn.

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You'll start getting 15 minutes, 30 minutes increments.

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So, but you have to wake up at 6 a.

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m.

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So that's the S most important thing.

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Uh, the next is being the

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sorry, Dr.

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Dunn, let me interrupt you here.

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So what you're saying is you need to get up at the same time but you want to go get in bed at the time you typically go to sleep and then increase that, move it back by 15 minutes every day, or like how often can you move that

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So you have to establish that time for at least a week.

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You know, it's a slow process to move your clock because you know that might be a false.

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So once you are established for at least three, four, five days, ideally seven days, but you know, four, four days, five days, that's good.

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I think I've heard this method called sleep restriction or regulation.

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Is that what it is?

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You restrict the sleep into the times that you normally do sleep.

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Sleep consolidation.

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Okay.

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And this works best for primary insomnia or you have trouble going to sleep.

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Right.

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Okay.

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All right.

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So now we go into the L in the acronym is.

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Low light, low noise, and low temperature.

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Melatonin, if you remember, is only secreted in darkness and low temperature.

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And of course, the noise affects our sleep.

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So, uh, the melatonin, the MELA is darkness.

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So make sure your bedroom is dark and it's quiet.

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Uh, and the temperature is between 65 to 70 degrees.

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Okay?

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So that's it.

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Sorry.

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I'm going to interrupt you again.

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I have so many questions.

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Okay.

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On darkness, how dark, like I have a clock bed, bedside that, you know, glows and there's, I just have regular, like two inch wood blinds.

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I don't have any kind of like blackout curtains.

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So sometimes when the moon is bright, that, you know, I can see, the wall across the room.

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How dark is dark enough?

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Yeah.

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As dark as possible.

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So I actually eliminate all clocks and glow lights in the, in the room.

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Uh huh.

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So that is a hindrance to you.

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Uh, because as we go along to the next E, that's what I'm going to talk about.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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As dark as possible is my short answer.

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I mean, sometimes you can avoid it.

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That's okay.

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But as much, you know, curtains to keep it dark is the thing.

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So the E is the most important thing.

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Note electronics at least an hour.

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On a practical basis, at least 30 minutes because the light, no matter blue light filter and any of those filters, the light from the phone and the electronic devices, especially in your bedroom where there's no ambient light, it sends a stronger signal to the brain through your eyes saying, Hey, it's still daytime.

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You don't need to go to sleep.

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Melatonin is only secreted in darkness.

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So what happened with COVID?

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We bought our work home and from home, we took it to our bedroom.

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So we have all these gadgets.

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Next to us.

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So I keep my phone in my bathroom, I set an alarm for six, and I have to literally wake up no chance to snooze button.

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I'm walking and turning it off, right?

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So it's, and also you might have, uh, disturbances, like your text messages, notifications, uh, you know, you may, you don't have a temptation to do that.

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So if your phone is away from your, uh, from your body, you know, out of reach, you have to walk.

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So that's a great thing you can do.

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So that's the, uh, NAE the next, go ahead.

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You got a question?

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yep.

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More questions.

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Um, the electronics, I have always wondered, does TV, like if we're, so we, my husband and I don't have a TV in our bedroom, but we watch TV downstairs is, does that also have the blue light or is that okay to turn the TV off and then go directly to bed?

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Or Is it just the phones that have the blue light?

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Yeah, TVs also.

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So what happens is, uh, you don't want anything big electronics in your bedroom, right?

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Bedroom is only for, you know, sex and sleep.

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You don't want TV.

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Nothing good happens.

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Your thoughts are provoking.

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I still remember the 1999 election, Al Gore versus Bush.

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Every few minutes it was changing.

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I was up all night.

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The TV was next to me.

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You know, that's when I realized I got to take this TV out and you know that all this research about taking your TV out of your bedroom is all new in the last 20 years.

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So I'm right there.

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So I took the TV out.

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And since then, I don't let TV in my children's room or in, you know, uh, in my own room, we don't have TV.

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So you don't want to have a TV, you know, you turn it on light.

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Boom.

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So, you know, in the middle of the night, if you wake up, I tell people to leave the bedroom and go watch TV, see between the TV and the phone.

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TV is a little bit better because you will have to turn on another line light and it's it's much calmer on your body and then the phone, which has got so close to you.

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Boom, it goes in.

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So nice.

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Good question right there.

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So it's, I mean, but like at the fundamental, is it considered blue light?

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Is TV considered blue light?

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I'm sure it is because there's my multiple.

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I'm not sure.

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Completely sure of the answer, but I'm sure it is.

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I also use, um, pretty frequently a Kindle, which is just like the paper, white, the paper, paper, light paper, something.

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Anyway, it doesn't, from what I understand that is not blue light.

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That's just Because it's like black and white.

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so the analogy I gave he give here is Coke and Diet Coke, right?

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So it's still still light.

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You can split it as much as you can, but it is not good for you.

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I tell people, you know, if you have any electronics, I tell it's like a TSA screening.

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If you're going through your, you know, the screener, You're carrying your phone like that.

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That should be your entrance to your bedroom.

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Beep.

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You have your phone.

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Take it away.

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You're bringing all your worries to bed.

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Beep.

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You have to leave it all outside.

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So that's the entrance to your bedroom is your TSA scanner.

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No phone.

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No electronics.

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So

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I cannot go to sleep without reading.

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It helps me go to sleep so much.

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you know, if that's one thing, that's okay.

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But, uh, you know, but I'm giving it when you give an advice, it has to be for the majority of the people.

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Some people are always exceptions.

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You know, some people can, you know, drink coffee and go to bed within half hour.

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You know, some people can have loud music.

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So, but most people cannot.

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So,

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Well, and I mean, the truth is I don't really have a lot of sleep problems.

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And so I feel like, well, if it's working, then maybe I don't need to change, but I just have wondered like if, if it is considered blue light.

00:12:20.861 --> 00:12:24.672
Yeah, I might have to look into it, but I don't give a wrong answer to you or your viewers.

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Uh, the next is the exercise.

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So exercise generate heat.

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So make sure you don't exercise at least four hours prior to going to sleep.

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Uh, because remember melatonin has to, your body has to, uh, you know, cool down.

00:12:36.621 --> 00:12:38.951
Same thing with eating a big meal before bedtime.

00:12:38.951 --> 00:12:44.241
You're having a lot of heat within, you know, the sleep onset is like half hour prior to the temperature drop.

00:12:44.241 --> 00:12:48.902
So there's, it's kind of related to the temperature, uh, minimum at night.

00:12:49.241 --> 00:12:51.246
So Exercise in the morning.

00:12:51.256 --> 00:12:57.076
If you don't have a chance, make sure you exercise for our product, you know, so then we're going on with the acronym is P.

00:12:57.076 --> 00:12:57.736
You have a question.

00:12:57.985 --> 00:12:58.495
Yeah,

00:12:58.804 --> 00:12:59.164
Yes,

00:12:59.184 --> 00:12:59.475
I do.

00:12:59.495 --> 00:13:00.164
Yeah, shoot away.

00:13:00.164 --> 00:13:01.245
Yeah.

00:13:01.465 --> 00:13:07.554
um, as far as I just caught, you said, um, eating to produces heat.

00:13:08.195 --> 00:13:14.215
I noticed that is really common with my clients that they tell me, yeah, I just don't sleep well if I have a really big meal.

00:13:14.565 --> 00:13:29.460
And so it's one of those sort of, I talked to them a lot about short term reasons for not over eating because, overeating is primarily what I help my clients discontinue is just plain old overeating, not anything, you know, crazy.

00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:34.149
And we need to have reasons for why we don't overeat, right.

00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:36.750
And a lot of them are these like long term health reasons.

00:13:36.769 --> 00:13:39.019
And so I always try to bring it in short, like, okay, but.

00:13:39.370 --> 00:13:44.879
What will change if we don't overeat within an hour of now, two hours from now, three hours from now.

00:13:44.909 --> 00:13:49.070
And sleeping is a huge one for my clients with not overeating at dinner.

00:13:49.100 --> 00:13:52.419
They often will tell me if I overeat at dinner, I don't sleep well.

00:13:52.649 --> 00:13:59.200
And so it's interesting for you to say it's partly because the heat of Digestion, the heat is generated.

00:13:59.470 --> 00:14:02.750
And so your body's not cooled down enough to be able to go to sleep.

00:14:02.750 --> 00:14:12.779
So I just love knowing the science behind that for them, because, you know, I hear it a lot from clients that they are sleeping better because they're not overeating at dinner.

00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:15.389
And so that's an interesting reason why.

00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:27.049
and also the full stomach you're not comfortable and then you know, you're also predisposed to acid secretion You have heartburn that can be a reason why people maximum acid is secreted between 2 a.

00:14:27.049 --> 00:14:27.179
m.

00:14:27.179 --> 00:14:27.570
And 4 a.

00:14:27.570 --> 00:14:35.115
m So, you know heating eating early a light meal for dinner has many many benefits purposes, uh, to help with sleep.

00:14:35.625 --> 00:14:37.875
So then we have gone to the SLEEP.

00:14:37.884 --> 00:14:49.465
P is power of your mind, but I've given a chance by calming your body and then also don't access, uh, to all the electronics and the worry creating, uh, you know, emails and text messages.

00:14:49.465 --> 00:14:50.235
You're taking it out.

00:14:50.445 --> 00:14:54.134
So you can't calm your mind without, you know, giving it a chance.

00:14:54.134 --> 00:14:57.065
So I teach two techniques to help people power off their mind in bed.

00:14:57.065 --> 00:14:58.965
One is called a Vivid Imagination.

00:14:59.355 --> 00:15:04.549
So, A vivid imagination is a term, it's there, but for sleep, I am kind of like pioneering it.

00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:06.990
So when you lay in bed, I don't want reality.

00:15:06.990 --> 00:15:09.840
I don't want the imagination of your bills, your problems.

00:15:10.110 --> 00:15:11.039
I want to leave that out.

00:15:11.210 --> 00:15:13.950
But in bed, I want to create your own imagination.

00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:16.740
As the director of your show, you want to be in the abstract.

00:15:16.740 --> 00:15:19.139
You just have to have your thought process go along.

00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:20.110
New story.

00:15:20.110 --> 00:15:22.840
You don't want to live in reality, which really helps.

00:15:22.909 --> 00:15:24.259
I've been using this technique personally.

00:15:24.259 --> 00:15:27.605
I've I've taught many people for 30 years and it really, really works.

00:15:27.815 --> 00:15:31.355
But, but remember, I'm giving your body a chance, your mind a chance.

00:15:31.980 --> 00:15:33.850
you give an example of what that would?

00:15:33.990 --> 00:15:35.470
So

00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:41.059
So like, let's say last night I watched a TV show, and then, hey, what if I think I'm the director?

00:15:41.059 --> 00:15:52.100
I'm going to have this characters play out and I literally write a story in my head and then what happens to you, you will be surprised to know as the story develops, you, you fall right into sleep.

00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:54.009
It's, it's a, it's an amazing technique.

00:15:54.429 --> 00:16:00.235
Uh, but what happens is contrary, contrary to that, we Think about, you know, the problems.

00:16:00.495 --> 00:16:03.784
We're trying to solve the problems in our bed, which is not good.

00:16:04.235 --> 00:16:04.725
So that's

00:16:04.750 --> 00:16:14.440
instead of trying to solve our actual problems, we maybe put ourselves in an imaginary situation and we become, do you like us to be the hero in those

00:16:14.924 --> 00:16:19.504
Whichever you want to be, whatever you want to be, it's your, your show, you created it.

00:16:20.945 --> 00:16:24.044
And part B is, uh, is yoga nidra.

00:16:24.044 --> 00:16:25.245
There's many types of yoga.

00:16:25.245 --> 00:16:26.605
Nidra means nothingness.

00:16:26.605 --> 00:16:29.245
When you lay in bed, you want to be completely nothing.

00:16:29.575 --> 00:16:33.825
Think about nothing, but I give people a little bit of a chance to think about the different parts of the body.

00:16:33.825 --> 00:16:39.125
Start from your scalp, you know, facial muscle, neck muscles, chest, belly, and go all the way down.

00:16:39.284 --> 00:16:42.495
So this is cognitive behavioral therapy, uh, of insomnia.

00:16:42.514 --> 00:16:43.955
But this is, I just incorporated.

00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:46.090
But, you know, you can only do all this thing.

00:16:46.350 --> 00:16:47.879
The phone's next to your ding.

00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:49.690
Oh, no, I want to answer this one.

00:16:49.700 --> 00:16:50.759
You can't do it, right?

00:16:50.789 --> 00:16:54.159
So, and the bright light, noise going in, and had a big meal.

00:16:54.620 --> 00:16:57.070
And so, remember, sleep is a dimmer switch.

00:16:57.070 --> 00:16:58.259
It's not an on and off switch.

00:16:58.259 --> 00:16:59.850
We want it to be an on and off switch.

00:17:00.289 --> 00:17:05.670
And we have met our match in the counterculture, or the hustle culture, with sleep.

00:17:05.670 --> 00:17:07.410
Sleep is that test, you know.

00:17:07.650 --> 00:17:08.609
It's an ancient art.

00:17:08.609 --> 00:17:11.059
It is simple, yet complicated for many.

00:17:11.295 --> 00:17:16.295
Because of the, you know, the type of world we live in, you know, busy, busy, busy.

00:17:16.515 --> 00:17:19.484
So we come to P, we are power off your mind.

00:17:19.724 --> 00:17:22.184
Next is the N O in the acronym.

00:17:22.194 --> 00:17:23.045
No to worries.

00:17:23.315 --> 00:17:23.984
We all worry.

00:17:23.984 --> 00:17:24.825
I want you to worry.

00:17:25.065 --> 00:17:26.744
But I worry between 6 p.

00:17:26.744 --> 00:17:27.025
m.

00:17:27.125 --> 00:17:27.815
and 8 p.

00:17:27.815 --> 00:17:27.964
m.

00:17:27.964 --> 00:17:29.275
I'm done by 8.

00:17:29.605 --> 00:17:32.095
If I'm not solving the problem, I'm writing it down.

00:17:32.095 --> 00:17:33.535
I'm getting ready for your show tonight.

00:17:33.535 --> 00:17:34.515
I say, what time is it?

00:17:34.515 --> 00:17:35.535
Is it Eastern time?

00:17:35.565 --> 00:17:37.365
All those things that do my notes.

00:17:37.595 --> 00:17:39.134
And I'm out by 8 p.

00:17:39.134 --> 00:17:39.305
m.

00:17:39.325 --> 00:17:40.535
I don't think about it.

00:17:40.565 --> 00:17:40.894
You know.

00:17:41.164 --> 00:17:47.085
I don't take it to my bedroom, uh, so I, you know, I leave it all, I write it down for the next day.

00:17:47.085 --> 00:17:48.275
So that's the no to worries.

00:17:48.505 --> 00:17:53.444
So how do, I mean, what would you say to someone that's like, but I can't, I can't just not worry about it.

00:17:53.454 --> 00:18:05.585
Like this is a big issue to me, my child, my spouse, my family, you know, that's pretty common worries when, when I, it feels like telling a depressed person, just be happy.

00:18:05.595 --> 00:18:08.765
How do you tell someone who's worried to just not worry?

00:18:09.240 --> 00:18:12.019
know, that's why I'm telling people to take the time between 6 p.

00:18:12.019 --> 00:18:12.180
m.

00:18:12.180 --> 00:18:12.650
and 8 p.

00:18:12.650 --> 00:18:12.789
m.

00:18:12.789 --> 00:18:13.289
to worry.

00:18:13.910 --> 00:18:16.720
See, so dedicated worrying time, right?

00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:17.529
I want you to worry.

00:18:17.549 --> 00:18:20.779
We all worry because that's the way it will, but I want to put a stop to it.

00:18:20.789 --> 00:18:24.049
See, see, what is anxiety and depression?

00:18:24.369 --> 00:18:27.640
Anxiety is the fear of the unknown or the future.

00:18:27.980 --> 00:18:30.420
Depression is worries of the past, right?

00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:32.799
It's a simple definition, but complicated.

00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:38.875
If you can't resolve that, You have two hours to resolve it, you know you're gonna take that into your bed.

00:18:38.875 --> 00:18:40.134
You're not going to resolve that.

00:18:40.134 --> 00:18:41.484
So write it down for the next day.

00:18:41.484 --> 00:18:42.775
So I want everybody to worry.

00:18:43.045 --> 00:18:47.904
so if the child is the problem, we talk to the child between 6:00 PM it builds out the problem.

00:18:47.904 --> 00:18:48.924
Try to do that.

00:18:48.930 --> 00:18:51.085
You know, notes, you know, whatever it is.

00:18:51.585 --> 00:18:52.724
Have a dedicated time.

00:18:52.875 --> 00:18:55.335
It works really, really well because you have a purpose.

00:18:55.335 --> 00:18:58.384
Hey, I have two, two hours dedicated to my worries.

00:18:58.414 --> 00:18:58.714
Right.

00:18:58.835 --> 00:19:00.815
You know, well that's the time I worry about.

00:19:01.434 --> 00:19:03.265
So that's a practical way we all worry.

00:19:04.184 --> 00:19:07.025
I tend to worry in the background while I'm doing other things.

00:19:07.869 --> 00:19:08.779
Yeah, that's okay, too.

00:19:09.089 --> 00:19:11.220
But do that not in bed.

00:19:11.220 --> 00:19:13.069
You know, see, you are a sound sleeper.

00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:18.559
You know, I'm trying that, you know, people who are not good sleepers to take it to their bedroom.

00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:25.009
So you're able to, you know, your secretions of your, you know, chemicals are much more stronger than people suffering with insomnia.

00:19:25.865 --> 00:19:30.055
the nights that I do have trouble sleeping are definitely related.

00:19:30.765 --> 00:19:31.835
To worrying.

00:19:31.855 --> 00:19:35.924
It's definitely the nights when something, has happened.

00:19:35.944 --> 00:19:37.835
I don't want to say something traumatic.

00:19:37.835 --> 00:20:15.392
That sounds a little, that's a little bit, dramatic for times I think that I've had trouble sleeping in the last, you know, I don't know, several months, but I have had, I mean, good things too, like my son got married and there was a lot going on and a lot of stress, and so it's those kinds of things that, um, sort of kept me from sleeping, so I just, I relate to this, like, the worry part, so, is the advice generally then to Sort of have a time dedicated, but then if you aren't solving it to write it down and get it out of the brain and then address it the next day.

00:20:15.686 --> 00:20:40.356
Yes, this works, you know, because you're giving a chance practically, you know, when, when people have poor sleep, I tell them to, you know, I have my own technique, I tell them to write it all down, you know, I have this, sleep, journal, and they're able to see, wow, I had caffeine around this time, I had this much alcohol, you know, this is when I am worrying, so they're able to see it in, in, you know, visualize, so if you're writing down will help you a lot.

00:20:41.051 --> 00:20:41.402
Okay.

00:20:41.926 --> 00:20:42.817
So that's no worries.

00:20:43.017 --> 00:20:45.416
The last one is win by losing.

00:20:45.757 --> 00:20:50.527
Uh, you know, we can hustle our way, hustle, hustle everything, but sleep, you have to let it go.

00:20:50.527 --> 00:20:53.386
You have to lose yourself with easy routines.

00:20:53.386 --> 00:20:58.067
So that's this acronym which has worked well for many, many years, many, many hundreds of patients.

00:20:58.067 --> 00:21:01.136
So S L E E P N O W.

00:21:01.386 --> 00:21:03.237
So that's the seven proven sleep strategies.

00:21:03.247 --> 00:21:05.317
That's the subtitle of my, uh, book.

00:21:05.932 --> 00:21:06.261
Nice.

00:21:06.352 --> 00:21:06.862
Thank you.

00:21:07.261 --> 00:21:11.261
That's really helpful for that primary insomnia.

00:21:11.271 --> 00:21:16.261
Do you think these things help also with I believe it's called the secondary where you wake up in the night.

00:21:16.261 --> 00:21:16.342
Mm hmm.

00:21:17.086 --> 00:21:23.317
Yeah, so what happens is, the second portion of insomnia is, see, this is called sleep onset insomnia, we discussed.

00:21:23.537 --> 00:21:26.007
The second part is sleep maintenance insomnia.

00:21:26.247 --> 00:21:32.406
So the sleep cycle goes through, you know, different REM and non REM, every 60 to 90 minutes we alter.

00:21:32.636 --> 00:21:38.207
Sometimes, you know, we also go through lighter stages of sleep that you wake up, but are you waking up?

00:21:38.707 --> 00:21:54.946
Uh, because of a medical problem, like shortness of breath, or you want to use the restroom because you have diabetes, uh, you know, if you have asthma, or if you're having acid reflux, or if you have a condition like sleep apnea, or if you are moving a lot in your sleep, called limb movement disorder.

00:21:55.116 --> 00:22:00.247
So these are the times you have to have help from your physician to see why are you waking up in the middle of the night.

00:22:00.527 --> 00:22:01.606
So, Dr.

00:22:01.606 --> 00:22:05.457
John, that's a practical thing, but what do I do if I wake up in the middle of the night?

00:22:05.626 --> 00:22:08.287
So if you're short of breath, make, make sure you take your inhaler.

00:22:08.636 --> 00:22:17.287
Uh, you know, if you're using the restroom a lot in, you know, in men, it could be a prostate problem in women, menopausal women have a risk for urinary tract infection.

00:22:17.606 --> 00:22:19.896
So you have to think in those angles.

00:22:20.247 --> 00:22:25.946
Uh, but if you wake up, I want you to leave The bedroom and go outside the bedroom.

00:22:26.136 --> 00:22:29.547

Bijoy John, MD

Author

Bijoy E. John, MD, is a board-certified physician and practicing sleep specialist currently in private
practice with over 25 years of experience in Pulmonary/Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. Based in
Nashville, TN, he treats both children and adults with various sleep disorders. Dr. John is the founder
and medical director of Sleep Wellness Clinics of America which offers in-person and online
consultation, education, modern diagnostic modalities, home testing, and comprehensive treatment
for a full spectrum of sleep disorders.
He also is the founder of Sleep Fix Academy which offers online courses, podcasts, and other
resources to improve sleep quality, and serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of
Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine.
Dr. John is a member of the American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, and
American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He was recognized as one of the Top 100 Physicians in
Nashville for 2022 by My Nashville magazine. Additionally, he received the Top Sleep Specialist
award consecutively from 2015–2020 from Nashville Lifestyle magazine, as voted by his peers and
patients. He is also mentioned in Marquis Who’s Who as one of the Top Sleep Physicians for 2023-24.
Dr. John has been happily married to Dotty for 30 years and is the proud father of two grown children.
He enjoys maintaining his coral reef aquarium, playing ping pong, tennis, golf, and loves to travel.

7 Proven Sleep Strategies with Dr. Bijoy John [Ep. 99]

Bijoy John, MD

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