Great Sleep, Every Night According to Sleep Doctor Janet Kennedy
Show Snapshot:
Up all night? Sleep doctor Janet Kennedy offers tools to get your ZZZs on – no medicines needed. For 20+ years, Dr. Kennedy has been helping people break out of the cycle of bad sleep and all its debilitating effects. She is a health psychologist, an expert in sleep disorders, and a believer that you don’t have to settle for exhaustion. A good night’s sleep doesn’t have to be a dream!
In This Episode We Cover:
1. Trouble falling asleep? How to get your brain to shut off and let shut eye take over.
2. The #1 way to fall asleep fast may surprise you.
3. Circadian rhythms, 3 am wake-ups, optimal bedtime, when to set your alarm clock.
4. No, you aren’t alone. Menopause and midlife sleep disruptions.
5. When to use CBD and sleep medications. And when to say enough is enough.
6. Sleep hygiene 101.
7. The low down on sleep masks, ideal sleep temperature and sleep positions, and whether exercising before bed is good or bad?
8. Sleep myths, plus dos and don’ts.
Quotable:
We really need time to settle the mind down before we ask it to do all the amazing things it needs to do for us while we sleep. We didn’t used to live the way we do now with all the multitasking, all the information, the blurred boundaries between work and personal life, the social media scrolling. We can’t just hit the brakes, dive into bed, and expect to fall asleep immediately.
The first thing I do is make sure that people are not going to bed too early. You get stuck in a cycle where you’re up in the middle of the night for a long time, then maybe you get back to sleep for a little while, then you’re exhausted during the day. Maybe you nap, maybe you drink tons of coffee, but you probably end up going to bed earlier than is natural for you because either you’re very tired or you feel like you have to maximize sleep. And what ends up happening is you’re sleeping out of sync with your natural biorhythm and your sleep is going to fragment more, and it’s going to feel less restorative.
More Resources:
Dr. Kennedy website
Dr. Kennedy on social:
Want some bedtime reading? Head to the A Certain Age bookshop on indie bookseller Bookshop.org.
Transcript:
Katie Fogarty (0:07):
Welcome to A Certain Age, a show for women on life after 50 who are unafraid to age out loud. I’m your host, Katie Fogarty.
My youngest son recently asked me one of those questions you only get from kids. What would I wish for if I could get a genie to grant me any wish? My response was a mom-friendly answer: I would wish for everyone I love to live into a healthy, old age. Which is true, but haaalf of me was secretly thinking, I just wish I could sleep through the night, every night. I mean every night. Doesn’t that sound amazing?
My guest today is somebody who can help me and help you clock those Zs we all crave and need to function. For almost two decades, Dr. Janet Kennedy has been helping people break out of the cycle of bad sleep and all of its debilitating effects without relying on medications. She is a health psychologist, an expert in sleep disorders, and a believer that you don’t have to settle for exhaustion. If you think a good night’s sleep is just a dream, you do not want to miss this show. Welcome, Janet.
Dr. Janet Kennedy (1:08):
Thanks for having me, it’s great to be here.
Katie (1:10):
Janet, I’m so excited to talk all things sleep because midlife sleep struggles are real. And I want to kick off by starting at the beginning. We get into bed, our minds race, we cannot fall asleep let alone stay asleep. How can we get our minds to shut off and let shut-eye take over?
Janet (1:27):
I think it starts before you get into bed. Because we really need time to settle the mind down before we ask it to do all the amazing things it needs to do for us while we sleep. You know, we didn’t used to live the way we do now with all of the multitasking, all of the information, the blurred boundaries between work and personal life, the social media scrolling, the being on our phones, even while we’re relaxing and watching TV. The input that’s going on all the time is really overstimulating and we can’t just hit the breaks, dive into bed and expect to fall asleep immediately.
So, one of the things I really try to help people with is to understand what that wind down can be, what their needs are. And really, you need to kind of down shift. So, if you’re watching TV, just watch TV, put the phone away, look for a singular source of stimulation and ramp it down. Have yourself a bedtime routine that appeals to you, it’s something you feel like you get to do. It doesn’t have to be elaborate but it needs to signal that it’s time to settle down. Whether that’s just washing up, getting into some nice PJs, and getting into a wonderful, cozy bed—that’s totally fine, it doesn’t have to be elaborate. But then once you’re in bed, you may need to give your mind something to do while your body takes over. We tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to sleep on command and that rarely, rarely works.
Katie (3:16):
So, what’s a normal kind of wind down? You get into bed. My husband seems to start snoring immediately [Janet laughs] and I’m so jealous because I’m there like, what’s happening? Why can’t I fall asleep? So, what’s normal to fall asleep and then when should we start to be truly worried that we’re not gonna be able to do it?
Janet (3:38):
From the time you turn out the lights, it can take up to half an hour. But what’s really important is what you do before you turn out the lights. Because if you’re getting into bed before you’re really sleepy before you’re ready to settle down, then the mind is gonna keep going and it’ll actually speed up because you’ll be going through your lists of the day, everything you didn’t have time for pops up, then you start to worry about not sleeping and not being ready to address all these things the next day. So, what I recommend to everyone is to give your mind a place to go away from that stuff so you can kind of separate what the body’s doing from what the mind is doing. And the best, most fool-proof way to do that is just reading fiction, something you get kind of swept into so that your mind is kind of, you’re kind of throwing your mind a bone to distract it, while the body realizes, okay, I’m sleepy and I’m gonna pull you into sleep. My number one recommendation to people is really don’t try to sleep, you have to let sleep come to you. And when you’ve had a lot of bad experiences with trying to fall asleep, we tend to lose trust in the body’s ability to do what it’s designed to do. So, what I help people do is to kind of get themselves out of the way so the body can resume this very, very natural process.
Katie (5:15):
First of all, I love to read in bed. There will be nights where I can’t make it through a page because my body’s like, All right, we’re done. I see that that’s really an effective kind of wind down. There will be nights where I read for half an hour if I get into bed early I’ll read. So, I agree that it’s a wonderful transition and for me, it’s just a treat because I love to read. Do you have advice, should we be reading paperback books versus on a Kindle? If we’re reading on a device because a lot of people do, you know, they read on their phones or on Kindles, should we be using blue light blockers? Are there any little hacks that you can share?
Janet (5:48):
So first and foremost, you should not be reading on anything that is connected to the internet. So, if you’re reading a Kindle, it shouldn’t be a Kindle where you can open a browser and check your bank balance [Katie laughs] or check your email one last time. So, anything that plugs you into the day is just..
Katie (6:09):
A no-no.
Janet (6:10):
A no-no. In terms of blue light, you know, as long as it’s not backlit and the light is flashing in your eyes, the effect is gonna be pretty controlled. It certainly doesn’t hurt to use blue-light-blocking glasses or a screen protector or even an amber light bulb or an amber-colored book light, just to keep the sort of melatonin churning as it’s supposed to. But reading a book versus a Kindle is really a personal choice.
Katie (6:51):
What if you don’t like to read? I don’t know who those people are [Janet laughs] but I’m sure they’re out there. So if somebody’s thinking to themselves, gosh this sounds like homework, I don’t want to get in bed with a book because that’s not my jam. Do you recommend things like meditation apps? Where do you land on that?
Janet (7:08):
So, I think meditation is wonderful and I think that it has a place, certainly, in a bedtime routine. I don’t recommend trying to fall asleep while meditating. Partly because if you get to the end of the meditation and you’re not asleep, you may get more anxious and frustrated and actually have a paradoxical response. But also because I’ve actually encountered people who get sort of stuck in a light sleep when they’re meditating and it impedes the ability to get sort of, fully out cold, for a lack of better words. But you can get stuck in that sort of hovering feeling if you’re doing it as you’re trying to transition into sleep. So meditation, yes. But I would do something else before you fall asleep. If it’s a crossword, that’s fine, do it on paper though. I would not do anything on your phone. Audiobooks are also helpful. Again though, you want to stay disconnected from your phone in some way. Coloring is helpful. But I would also challenge this idea of not liking to read.
Katie (8:28):
Oh, I’m with you. [laughs]
Janet (8:28):
Because you don’t have to read Proust, you know? [Katie laughs] You can read you know, young adult fiction that’s designed to really pull you in and feel like, you know…
Katie (8:40):
Yeah, I love that, I agree. Frequent listeners to the show know my mom’s a librarian, my dad’s a book junkie; we were raised reading. I used to commute to school walking down Manhattan sidewalks with a book in my hand, reading as I walked. So, we are all for reading. Anyone who is looking for some great books, we’ve had wonderful authors on the show. A Certain Age has a bookshop on the indie bookstore seller bookshop.org, you can find it there, I’ll put it in the show notes. We have wonderful, wonderful fiction that people can add to their list.
But, now that we’ve sort of covered a little bit of what you could do to help quiet a racing mind as you’re looking to fall asleep, a lot of people struggle with the opposite issue, they fall asleep but can’t stay asleep. We’re up at 3:00 AM, 4:00 AM and I want to know, why are we awake at this awful hour? And how can we stop doing that?
Janet (9:29):
Well, we naturally wake up at different times during the night as the circadian rhythm goes through its trajectory. Also, as you cycle out of certain phases and into others, you may wake up naturally. But that 3:00 AM waking is particularly tricky. It’s one that may be 4:00 AM for some people. But it can be related to low blood sugar. So if it’s been too long since you’ve eaten before you go to bed, that could be an issue. It could be hormone-related, which is extremely frustrating but I do have some tricks for that. And it could just be a natural waking and then you’re distressed by it so that you then go into the thought process of, “What’s wrong? This is terrible. I’m going to be a disaster tomorrow. I really need this sleep. Why am I broken? Why is my husband sleeping?”
Katie (10:36):
Why are you reading my mind, Janet? [both laugh]
Janet (10:40):
Because I hear this every day.
Katie (10:41):
That’s my question. That’s my inner voice, it’s like, “Really?” My friends and I joke that we should all get together at 3:00 AM because that’s when everyone’s available. So you said you had some tips for hormone disruption. Most of the women who are listening to this show are 45 plus and we’re going through perimenopause or menopause and hormones and the disruptions are an issue. Are we imagining this? Does sleep change in midlife? And how can we fix it if so?
Janet (11:12):
Sleep absolutely changes. And the fix is really a combination of managing it, figuring out if you need some sort of medical supplement or medication, and then acceptance; recognizing that just because sleep is different, doesn’t mean it’s bad. So if you stop measuring it against the sleep you got when you were 17 when you were full of like, high levels of melatonin, you were sleep deprived because you were getting up too early, and sleep just felt like an imperative—you’re not gonna sleep that way anymore. But the sleep you get can be better than the sort of fraught, broken mess that many women experience.
So, first and foremost, talk to your doctor. Because it may be that either it’s a hormone replacement would be appropriate, it may be that supplements would be appropriate, things like magnesium, maybe something like evening primrose, there are all kinds of concoctions out there. I would stay away from the ones that have melatonin in them because melatonin is not really to blame for this and when you mess with melatonin you’re sort of messing with your entire circadian rhythm, not just falling asleep. So, absolutely talk to your doctor about what supplements and what medications may be appropriate for you.
Then you wanna take the stress out of it. Because what we do know is that as hormone levels fluctuate—and they fluctuate like mad in that perimenopausal year, decade, whatever it is for you—what that means is that your sleep is gonna be less stable. You wake up more fully when you wake up during the night and it’s harder to go back to sleep because your estrogen levels and progesterone levels have a big impact on that. So, the first thing I do is make sure that people are not going to bed too early. Because often what happens is you get stuck in a cycle where you’re up in the middle of the night for a long time, then maybe you get back to sleep for a little while, then you’re exhausted during the day, maybe you nap, maybe you drink tons of coffee, but you probably end up going to bed earlier than is natural for you because either you’re very tired or you feel like you have to maximize sleep. And what ends up happening is if you’re sleeping out of sync with your natural biorhythm, your sleep is going to fragment more and it’s not going to feel less restorative. So for example, let’s say your natural bedtime is 11:00 but you are in this rut of being up for an hour and a half at 3:00. So, you get home and you organize your whole life to be in bed by 9:00 because you’re just blown out tired and you think that’s going to be better for you. But when I would have you keep a sleep diary, it would very clearly show me that on the nights when you stayed up ’till 11:00, you do better. Either you feel better or the waking isn’t as intense and your sleep starts to consolidate. So, it’s really important to look at how you’re compensating for lost sleep because very often that makes the problem worse.
Katie (15:05):
So interesting. So naps maybe are not the right move. What about weekend sleep? Because I personally love to sleep a little bit longer on the weekend. Is that a mistake? Should I be more of an 11:00 to 7:00 person, 7 days a week? Or is it okay to occasionally sleep in ‘till 9:00 or 10:00? Please say yes. [both laugh]
Janet (15:24):
It varies from person to person. Some people are very sensitive to that, other people are less so. What I would suggest is not sleeping extra late on Sundays because that, in particular, makes it very hard to go to sleep when you want to on Sunday night. So you add to the normal Sunday Scaries, the fact that you have not been awake long enough to have a really strong sleep drive and you’ve got a perfect storm that leads to insomnia. So, if you struggle on Sunday night especially, I would be very careful about your wake time and certainly don’t nap on Sundays. Some people need to be very strict about it every day. And certainly, if you’re struggling with sleep, I would say, do a boot camp where for two to three weeks you are consistent through the weekend with your wakeup time. Wake-up time is much more important than a consistent bedtime, as long as you’re not going to bed too early. So like, if you want to stay out on a Saturday night, that’s fine, just know that you’re gonna get less sleep because you can’t make up for it on the back end without paying for it later.
Katie (16:44):
That’s so fascinating that you say the wake up time matters more than the bedtime in some ways. In terms of giving us that consistent schedule that will produce, ultimately, better sleep. Because you know, when I think about it, it’s more like, let me get to bed at a certain hour. But you’re right, the waking up consistently is what’s going to orient us.
Janet (17:04):
It sets your body clock.
Katie (17:05):
It’s so interesting. I also just want to circle back for a minute before we change gears about this notion of acceptance. You know, accepting the fact that sleep’s going to look a little bit different. And to me, that feels revolutionary. I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me. Because my life at almost 52 is very different from 32, very different from 26, and why would I expect sleep to be exactly the same? Yes, I want a good night’s sleep and I want to feel rested and like I can function. But it almost feels just like a weight off my mind to think you know what, it doesn’t have to look exactly like it did before…
Janet (17:41):
Absolutely.
Katie (17:41):
…to still be good. I mean, just like a mindset shift which I never thought of. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that.
Janet (17:48):
It’s so important to take the pressure off sleep. Because when we shine a spotlight on it, it gets very scared and it runs away from us. We really have to trust in our bodies to do what they’re designed to do and recognize that we are way more resilient than we give ourselves credit for. We blame everything on sleep. And yes, there’s no denying sleep is crucial and that’s all we hear in the media too. But every time a new study comes out, I get calls because people are worried that they’re—
Katie (18:25):
They’re doing it wrong. [laughs]
Janet (18:26):
Yeah, exactly. And so the more you try to manipulate and fine-tune it, especially if it’s not broken, the more you’re gonna see issues cropping up. And the one thing I didn’t say, which is most important about what to do for nighttime waking is, as an intervention, stop trying to go back to sleep at 3:00 AM. If you know that that 3:00 AM wake up, you’re going to be up for a while, then lying there trying to go back to sleep isn’t helping you. If you can separate and sort of defuse anxiety and frustration and response and just say, “Okay, it’s 3:00 AM and I’m picking up my book again, or I’m picking up my knitting, or I’m drawing a picture, or I’m”…who knows, it doesn’t really matter, then you’re delaying that physical response that gets your fight or flight going and releases adrenaline so that you can’t sleep. And very often, my patients find that setting up this new habit of like, “Okay I’m up, let me reach for my thing, whatever my thing is,” and they’re going back to sleep much more quickly because you’re circumventing that freakout that keeps you awake. And it’s the freakout that is much more of the problem than the actual waking itself.
Katie (20:04):
That makes so much sense. What is your take though on medicines? I know that from looking at your website that you do a lot of sleep coaching and CBT therapy and processes to help people move through this. But what is your take on sleep interventions like CBD oil, or bigger things, I know people take all sorts of things to fall asleep at night. When are these appropriate, if ever? When do you think, “Hmm too much?” What is your take on that?
Janet (20:38):
I think, “Hmm too much,” if it’s every night. So my feeling about prescription sleep aids is different from my feeling about CBD. I like CBD, I don’t think CBD is a sleep aid, I think it’s calming, it helps improve the quality of sleep and there’s actual data for that. So, if you’re not taking it to help you fall asleep, I think it’s great. Once you hand over the reins to something that’s designed to put you to sleep, if it doesn’t have a sledge hammer effect like a prescription medication does, then you run the risk of getting into that space of being frustrated and anxious about whether it’s going to work.
As far as prescriptions go, I think there’s a place for them. If you are in an acute insomnia episode, like; you’ve lost a loved one, you’re going through a breakup, a job change, or you have a big presentation tomorrow morning, you have to catch an early flight, you have jet lag. Things like that where you need to break out of a cycle or you need to sleep in a way that is sort of, not natural, like at the wrong time, or something like that, because of circumstances, that’s all fine. But these medications are overprescribed, they’re prescribed in large quantities and people think they’re benign and that it’s just okay to take them every night. And I just, I don’t think it is okay to take them every night unless there’s a real reason that you cannot sleep. The vast majority of sleep issues in insomnia, whether it’s falling asleep or staying asleep, in that realm, have a primary behavioral component. I’m not going to say it’s all behavioral in every case, it certainly is not.
Katie (22:50):
And so what would behavioral components look like? Like you’re up ‘till 3:00 AM watching Real Housewives? Or you’re drinking too much wine? So, maybe let me step back for a minute. What are some sleep don’ts? Because I’m assuming that sleep don’ts are behavioral things that are impeding sleep. What would be your top three don’ts if somebody wanted a good night’s sleep?
Janet (23:12):
Don’t go to bed until you’re sleepy. And don’t lie there if you can’t sleep, that’s the number one. And do get up at roughly the same time every day.
Katie (23:22):
Okay, that’s a do, I like that.
Janet (23:24):
Yeah. You know, in terms of habits, too much alcohol is an issue because it erodes sleep quality and makes you wake up more. Too much caffeine erodes sleep quality and if you’re drinking it too late can make it hard to fall asleep. But even if it’s not keeping you up, it may be affecting your sleep quality so it’s important to think about that. Overly restrictive diets can be an issue. Not enough carbs, I’m not saying it should be high carbs or certainly high sweets, but very restrictive diets can have an impact on sleep.
Katie (24:06):
Interesting.
Janet (24:06):
Maintaining just good physical health, exercise, diet, and paying attention to your mental health. All of that is just super important for your sleep. If you take care of your body and your mind, sleep is going to join you, it’s going to find you at the right times. You don’t have to be perfect to sleep reasonably well either. But the other key is to recognize that sleep varies from night to night. It’s not always gonna feel the same and that’s okay. So again, it’s about, if we’re talking about don’ts, don’t put a microscope on your sleep all the time.
Katie (24:51):
What do you think about— at one point I was using a Fitbit because my mother was in this crazy obsession with it and we were doing this challenge for 10,000 steps a day and it was really fun and I was using it to monitor my sleep and I finally had to take it off my wrist because I felt badly about myself. I would think, “Oh I had a good night’s sleep,” but I’d look at my Fitbit I was like, “No you didn’t.” Fitbit is showing you all these lines. Do sleep trackers makes us more anxious or are they actually helpful?
Janet (25:22):
They’re both, but mostly they make us more anxious. Partly because the average person doesn’t understand the normal structure of sleep which consists of very little deep sleep. We don’t get that much deep sleep on a good night.
Katie (25:37):
So, what’s normal? Tell us. I’m not sure. We hear about 8 hours of sleep like it’s a magic bullet. Is that even true?
Janet (25:45):
No. There are individual differences in how much sleep you need. And if you hold onto that 8-hour thing, you’re going to end up doing things that make your sleep problems worse. So, if you need 7 hours and you’re spending 9 hours in bed to try to get 8, you’re going to get fragmented sleep with multiple night wakings, or you’re going to be waking up too early, or you’re going to have insomnia at bedtime. You’re not going to be able to get 8 hours if you’re body isn’t programmed that way and it’s more important to get consistent sleep that is restorative to you. So, putting this data in the hands of the general public from these trackers, you’re not given the support you need to interpret that data and that’s what’s really important. What I do like is messages that tell people to prioritize sleep, to take care of sleep. The idea of, “I only need 4 hours,” or bragging about being able to function on very little, that’s not helpful, it’s not healthy. If you allow time in your schedule to end work, process your day, unwind and sleep then your body is going to meet you with what you need.
Katie (27:16):
So what would be too little? You do hear people say like, “I function on 5 hours.” So some people need 8 obviously or less, maybe 7. What would be too little? What do you want to shoot for as a bare minimum?
Janet (27:30):
It really, really varies but if someone is under 6 or 6.5 hours, I’m concerned and I want to make sure that that’s really, truly all they need. You know, usually people I see hover around the 7-hour mark. Some people do need more than that, some people reliably get 8. But the pursuit of 8 has ruined a lot of good 7-hour sleepers, for sure.
Katie (28:01):
I love that. Okay, that makes so much sense. So, that’s sort of a big sleep myth. Are there other sleep myths that your patients come to you with that are getting in their way?
Janet (28:15):
The myth that you should just try to sleep. That, to me, is the toughest one because the more you try, the more sleep runs away. That’s also why the trackers are hard. Because sleep doesn’t function the way your diet or your exercise do. You can control how many steps you take. When it comes to your sleep, the finger on that switch of conscious to unconscious, that’s not yours. That’s gonna happen because you trust that it’s gonna happen and it’s gonna happen at the time when your body decides to do it.
Katie (28:58):
Right. And we live in an age where we really feel like everything is in our control. That we can do whatever we want, we’ve got devices that are helping us do our things and that we can manage everything and I think this past year has taught us that there is a loss of control that we’ve had, which has been challenging for people, but if we just sort of give ourselves over to being present, which I think was one of the biggest challenges of COVID where it was just like, okay I don’t get to schedule anything next week because I don’t know what’s coming next week. And that was challenging, but we all made it through that period of time and just sort of, to bring that spirit of just sort of being present and not hoping to manage every single outcome is probably one of the best things you can do for your sleep.
Janet (29:43):
Absolutely.
Katie (29:44):
Get yourself in bed at the right time. I know that we’re wrapping up and nearing the end of our time but I do want to do a quick speed round with you.
Janet (29:51):
Okay.
Katie (29:51):
Before I let you go because I still have a lot of questions. I could talk about sleep all day long [Janet laughs] and I’m so fascinated by you and your work and I would encourage all listeners to go to Dr. Kennedy’s website when we’re done because she shares some great resources on her blog. But we’re gonna cover some of them right now with our speed round. Okay, so this is a question for me, a sleep eye mask, yes or no?
Janet (30:12):
Yes.
Katie (30:12):
Okay good, yay, I love my mask. [both laugh]
Janet (30:15):
And I would say that if you can’t keep it on all night, put it on when you wake up at 3:00 in the morning because that’s when your melatonin is really starting to dip and the darkness will be especially helpful.
Katie (30:29):
Ooo, good tip. Okay best sleep position: side, back, stomach?
Janet (30:35):
Depends. Stomach is generally hard on your low back. Side is typically best for alignment. And back is also good for alignment, but can lead to snoring. So it really depends on your anatomy.
Katie (30:55):
Gotcha. All right, I’m a side sleeper, going for that. So, white noise machine, thumbs up, thumbs down?
Janet (31:01):
Thumbs up. And I prefer analog machines to digital because they provide a better sound screen. You don’t have to get them as loud for them to buffer the noise and they’re not as irritating.
Katie (31:14):
Nice. Weighted blanket, yes or no?
Janet (31:18):
I’m gonna say depends. Some people love it and other people feel very claustrophobic. So, it really depends on the person. And also you have to think about temperature. They’re more sophisticated now than they were initially and so there’s a lot of thought about temperature control in the newer weighted blankets.
Katie (31:40):
This is a perfect segue into my next question which is; is there an ideal room temperature for sleeping?
Janet (31:46):
Colder, within reason, is better. Most people sleep in the room too hot and living in New York, often it’s not in our control. But you know, 68 to 70°. I wouldn’t go higher than say 72° but even lower is often better. That’s because the body temperature naturally dips at night and sort of helps maintain that helps with sleep.
Katie (32:22):
It’s like a signal. Okay, so we covered alcohol and caffeine can sometimes interfere with sleep or quite often interfere with sleep. Is there another food or drink culprit that can impact sleep? …Can I have ice cream before bed? [laughs]
Janet (32:40):
Yes, you can. Actually, ice cream isn’t so terrible because although it has a lot of sugar, it also has fat. So, the fat kind of balances it out a little bit more, you’re not gonna spike in blood sugar as much as you would if you just ate cookies. So, you know, you want to be mindful of reflux, you don’t want to overeat. You want to be mindful of blood sugar, so having something before bed that has some protein and fat along with the carb is good; like peanut butter toast or avocado toast or something. That can be very helpful. But I get asked all the time about good foods for sleep. You know, there are food that have tryptophan, but you would probably have to eat an entire turkey to get enough tryptophan, [Katie laughs] that’s not the key. So, it’s more about healthy eating and you know, being mindful of digestion and blood sugar.
Katie (33:46):
Wonderful. And so my last question; exercising at night, is that a yes or a no?
Janet (33:51):
Again, it depends. Some people are more sensitive and it takes them a much longer time to cool down. It’s really about body temperature. So, if your body temperature stays elevated, your heart rate stays elevated for an extended period of time, you should probably allow more time before bed when you exercise. You certainly aren’t gonna be able to exercise and dive into bed. You know, if you think about how long it takes you to stop sweating after doing aerobic exercise, your body has to cool down before you’ll be able to do anything, let alone go to sleep, which requires an even lower body temperature.
Katie (34:40):
Got it. So, no hot yoga right before bed.
Janet (34:44):
Absolutely not. [both laugh]
Katie (34:46):
This has been terrific. Like I said, I could talk about sleep all day long. I used to be in the pursuit of it, the elusive pursuit of it; and now I know I’m not pursuing, I’m not chasing sleep, I’m letting it come to me. So I’ve learned so much. Thank you so much for being on the show with us today. But before we say goodbye I want to make sure our listeners know how to keep following you and your sleep tips and your work.
Janet (35:08):
Well the best place to find me is my website nycsleepdoctor.com. I’m also on Instagram @nycsleepdoctor, although I don’t do it as much as I should. So really my website is the best way to find out what I’m up to and you can reach me that way as well.
Katie (35:28):
Great. And both of those pieces of information will be in the show notes which listeners can find acertainagepod.com.
This wraps A Certain Age, a show for women over 50 who are aging without apology. Join me next Monday when we kick off our October shows and our focus on women running small businesses. I’ll be joined by one of the founders of the cannabis wellness company Hello Again.
Special thanks to Michael Mancini who composed and produced our theme music. See you next time and until then: age boldly, beauties.