Secrets to great sleep, great sex, and great health from The Sleep Doctor – Episode 142

Join in on this conversation between Dr. Jeffrey Gladden and Michael Breus, better known as The Sleep Doctor. Breus is a double board-certified Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Sleep Specialist. He is one of only 168 psychologists in the world to have taken and passed the Sleep Medicine Boards without going to Medical School. He is an expert resource for most major publications doing more than 400 interviews per year. This episode touches on energy, movement, body types, chronotypes, sleep, diet, relationships, and sex. Yes, The Sleep Doctor can teach you how to optimize all these areas and give you a hint about how best to organize your days according to your sleeping patterns and needs. If you want to revolutionize your entire life just by identifying your sleep chronotype and making a few adjustments in your benefit, this episode is for you.

Listen to this episode to learn about making a hundred the new thirty, living beyond 120, and Living Young for a Lifetime!

Show Notes:

Dr. Gladden introduces Michael Breus. (00:57)

Breus mentions how he is known as the sleep doctor and chronotype guy. (3:25)

Dr. Gladden asks Breus if genetics determine or set people’s circadian rhythms. (5:31)

Breus explains what happened when he allowed himself to sleep at midnight and wake up naturally. (7:11)

Breus brings up the power and importance of WHEN you go to sleep. (9:00)

Breus explains that if you do something at a time when your body wants to do it, then your body will do it better. (10:10)

Breus shares that waking on his own naturally makes his morning better. (11:35)

Breus tells us that sleep in itself is very dehydrating. (13:00)

Breus talks about having the right routines and how his morning routines click him in and allow him to go the places he wants to go. (15:25)

Dr. Gladden hints that, according to a universal finding, if people take too much to drink, they don’t sleep well at all. (16:55)

Dr. Gladden says the best thing that you can give to somebody is to understand them better. (19:15)

Breus speaks about how he does four ten-minute meditations every morning. (20:25)

Breus mentions that “Bears” make up fifty percent of the population. (23:29)

Breus explains how he wrote his books for insomniacs/dolphins and how their sleep drive is very short. (25:23)

Breus talks about how there is genetic insomnia and learned insomnia. He also notes that people go through all the chronotypes as they grow from childhood to adulthood. (26:16)

Breus elaborates about the quality and amounts of sleep of infants versus teenagers. Infants sleep for physical development while teenagers sleep for emotional development. (28:30)

Breus mentions the importance of knowing your bedtime based on your chronotype and doing what helps you relax. (31:17)

Breus goes through the areas that are important when it comes to blocking the blue light. He says you need some for frequency, brightness, and angle. (33:45)

Dr. Gladden makes the point that you can never think yourself back to sleep. (35:25)

Breus adds that sleep is a lot like love. The more you look for it, the less you find it. (37:00)

Breus brings up that many people don’t breathe deeply and are shallow breathers. (39:38)

Dr. Gladden points out that breathing your way back to sleep as opposed to thinking your way back to sleep is the best option. (41:23)

Dr. Gladden mentions that anxiety is a function of not feeling safe. (43:30)

Breus clarifies that on, a general level, most people can sleep. (45:37)

Breus comments on oxytocin and also on the best time to have sex. (48:25)

Breus says to couples that there is a perfect time for sex, and partners should find a way to figure it out. (50:40)

Breus gives a five-step plan. Wake up at the same time seven days a week, stop caffeine at 2 pm and stop alcohol three hours before bed. It is also essential to stop exercise four hours before bed and have a morning routine of taking fifteen deep breaths, drinking fifteen ounces of water, and getting fifteen minutes of sunshine. (53:38)