2549: Tired of Being Tired by Dr. Jenny Brockis on Improving Sleep Quality

[00:00:00] Delicious meets nutritious in the snack that packs a real protein punch. Wonderful pistachios.

[00:00:06] Each one-out serving of wonderful pistachios has six grams of protein, giving you over 10%

[00:00:11] of your daily value and making wonderful pistachios one of the highest protein nuts.

[00:00:16] But perhaps more than that, I love all of the flavors they have. Their sea salt and vinegar ones

[00:00:21] are my favorite when I'm craving that flavor but want to keep it healthy.

[00:00:25] But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Wonderful pistachios come in a variety of flavors,

[00:00:30] like chili roasted, honey roasted, smoky barbecue and jalapeno lime, perfect for enjoying with family

[00:00:37] and friends or taking them with you on the go. Whether you're a pistachio purist who loves

[00:00:42] cracking open every nut or you prefer the convenience of no shells pistachios,

[00:00:47] wonderful pistachios has got you covered. Grab wonderful pistachios and elevate your snacking

[00:00:53] game today. So fill up with a healthy snack when hunger strikes. Visit wonderfulpastachios.com

[00:01:00] to learn more. That's wonderfulpastachios.com. Many of us have those stubborn pounds that seem

[00:01:07] impossible to lose no matter how good we eat or how hard we work out. My solution is plush care.

[00:01:13] Plush care is a leading telehealth provider with doctors who are there for you day and night

[00:01:18] to partner with you in your weight loss journey. They can prescribe FDA approved weight loss medications

[00:01:23] like Wagovie and Zep Pound for those who qualify. Plus, they accept most insurance plans. To get

[00:01:29] started visit plushcare.com slash weight loss. That's plushcare.com slash weight loss.

[00:01:35] This is Optimal Health daily episode 2549, Tired of Being Tired by Dr. Jenny Brokis

[00:01:42] of drjennebrokis.com. And I'm Dr. Neal, your very own personal narrator.

[00:01:47] Hey there, happy Saturday and welcome back to another weekend edition of Optimal Health daily.

[00:01:52] This is where I read to you from some of the best health and fitness blogs on the web,

[00:01:56] kind of like an ongoing audiobook and always with a bit of my commentary at the end.

[00:02:02] Now a couple of days ago, I read to you an article that gave us some tips on how to get

[00:02:06] the best sleep possible. We're going to continue with that idea today. And I have

[00:02:12] a feeling we just might hear some common themes based on the last time we discussed this topic.

[00:02:19] So with that, let's get right to the post as we optimize your life. Tired of being tired

[00:02:29] by Dr. Jenny Brokis of drjennebrokis.com. Quote, I cannot get to sleep tonight.

[00:02:37] I toss and turn and flop. I try to count some fluffy sheep while over a fence they hop.

[00:02:45] I try to think of pleasant dreams of places really cool. I do not know why I cannot sleep.

[00:02:51] I slept just fine at school. Kathy Kenny Marshall.

[00:02:56] Sweet sleep. It's the stuff some of us can only dream of. Yet sleep is essential for best

[00:03:02] brain performance. It's the one thing that can never be up for negotiation in any shape or form

[00:03:07] if we are serious about wanting to get the best out of our brain every day.

[00:03:12] Keeping on top of everything and still operating at a high level takes time and effort. With big days,

[00:03:19] long hours and multiple demands on our time, managing our energy to get through everything

[00:03:24] can be more than a bit of a juggle. But have you ever noticed how despite doing all the

[00:03:30] right things such as eating well, doing our exercise and chilling out, we sometimes still

[00:03:35] feel really tired? It's often because the one thing that our brain needs the most gets

[00:03:41] overlooked or shortchanged. We get so busy with our to-do lists and always urgent deadlines,

[00:03:48] we look to extend our brain's working hours shaving off a little bit of sleep time here and there.

[00:03:53] Sleep is still sometimes seen as a bit of a nuisance. If we didn't have to deal with

[00:03:57] the inconvenience of losing valuable work time from sleeping, just imagine how much more we

[00:04:03] could get done. Except it doesn't work that way. Sleep is the time when our brain is working

[00:04:09] at its hardest, consolidating long-term memory, deepening our understanding, creating new ideas

[00:04:15] and regulating our emotions. Insufficient sleep over a period of time leads to an acquired sleep

[00:04:22] debt and the result is we feel tired, chronically tired. Why this matters so much is that sleep

[00:04:29] deprivation is associated with poorer health. We are at an increased risk of high blood pressure,

[00:04:35] stroke, obesity, depression and cognitive decline. It also has a huge impact on our performance

[00:04:42] that can cost us dearly. At the individual level, it costs us our ability to learn well,

[00:04:48] to form memories and recall information. It reduces our ability to pay attention,

[00:04:54] reduces accuracy so we are more prone to errors. We make worse decisions, we suffer

[00:04:59] more foggy thinking and it makes us irritable and snappy. At the societal level, with roughly 10%

[00:05:06] of the Australian population suffering from some sort of sleep disorder, there's clearly a lot of

[00:05:11] it about. There are many reasons why we don't always get a good night's sleep. Some factors

[00:05:17] may be outside our control, but there are many that are in our control. How we choose to

[00:05:22] live and work can often lead to poor sleep. Have a listen to the following statements

[00:05:27] and ask yourself if any of these apply to you, and if so, how much is it impacting your ability to

[00:05:33] do your work and do it well? By the way, it's important to be honest here. There can be a big

[00:05:40] difference between knowing the right answer and what we actually do. You regularly work extended

[00:05:46] hours or pull all-nighters to get all your work done. You frequently use your smartphone,

[00:05:52] tablet, laptop or computer in the evenings or at night. Your boss or work expects to be able to

[00:05:58] contact you outside normal work hours by phone, text or email and get a response. You work hard

[00:06:06] all day long from start to finish. There's rarely time to take a break, let alone stop for lunch

[00:06:11] other than eating al-desco, then you have a bladder with the capacity any self-respecting

[00:06:17] camel would be proud to have. You have enough annual leave accumulated to not have to work

[00:06:22] for the next six months. Your self-care plan consists of a half a bottle of wine in front of some brain

[00:06:28] dead TV or an ad hoc arrangement to meet your pals at the gym, which might happen one day when

[00:06:34] you're not so busy. You frequently wake up feeling as if you've only just gotten off to sleep.

[00:06:40] You're tired even before the day has started. If it's not your partner snoring like a

[00:06:45] wildebeest or the dog taking up all the space, your sleep time is one long

[00:06:49] interruption after another. Fatigue has become your constant companion. You can't remember what

[00:06:55] it feels like to not feel tired. Coffee is your essential go-to to stay awake and alert in the

[00:07:01] morning or you've canceled dinner dates and social activities because you're too tired to go out

[00:07:07] and enjoy them. How well we work depends on the energy we bring to work and that means

[00:07:13] ensuring our brain is cognitively refreshed after seven to eight hours of great sleep.

[00:07:18] If sleep is something you think you could do with more of, learning and implementing good

[00:07:23] brain hygiene is all about regularity starting with keeping to a regular sleep schedule,

[00:07:30] having a wind down ritual, taking regular brain breaks during the day, exercising regularly,

[00:07:37] keeping the sleep cave just for sleeping and for those intimate moments, turning off technology

[00:07:43] two to three hours before bedtime and avoiding sleep poison like alcohol, big meals before bedtime

[00:07:51] and caffeine. Getting a better night's sleep is part of the Brain Fitness program that helps

[00:07:56] you create a fit and healthy brain optimized for high performance. You just listened to the

[00:08:06] post titled Tired of Being Tired by Dr. Jenny Brokis of drjennybrokis.com and I'll be right

[00:08:12] back with my commentary. When you're hiring it feels amazing to finally close out a job search

[00:08:18] but what if you could get rid of the search and just match? You can with Indeed. Indeed is your

[00:08:23] matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors and a matching engine

[00:08:31] that helps you find quality candidates fast. Ditch the busy work, use Indeed for scheduling,

[00:08:37] screening and messaging. 93% of employers agree Indeed delivers the highest quality matches compared

[00:08:44] to other job sites. One of the things I love about Indeed is that it filters out incompatible

[00:08:49] applicants so when you're hiring the process is much faster and you only have to consider

[00:08:55] applicants that are already likely to be a great fit and listeners of this show will get a $75

[00:09:01] sponsor job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash health.

[00:09:08] Just go to Indeed.com slash health right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed

[00:09:15] on this podcast. Indeed.com slash health terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed.

[00:09:31] See I told you there'd be some recurring themes that you probably heard a couple of

[00:10:01] days ago. Now whenever multiple experts in the field agree on something like how to get better sleep and

[00:10:09] multiple research studies support their advice, it probably means we should consider their

[00:10:14] recommendations. And when it comes to trying to get better sleep, we may not have to do

[00:10:19] everything listed instead incorporating one or two of these recommendations may be just enough

[00:10:27] to get us on the right track. And then once we get that good night sleep, it usually creates a pattern

[00:10:33] where then we don't have to nap or rely on as much coffee during the day which then helps us get

[00:10:39] better sleep the next night and then better sleep the following night you see the pattern.

[00:10:46] So again maybe just start with one or two of these suggestions and see how it goes.

[00:10:51] All right that'll do it for the Saturday episode thank you so much for being here

[00:10:55] and listening every day I hope you have a great rest of your day and I'll be back here tomorrow as

[00:10:59] usual where your optimal life awaits.