Daily Tip#23: Sleep Better, Protect Your Memory Daily Habits
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VARSHA: ~ Today's daily habit. Oh wait. Welcome to, oops. Hold on. Hold on a minute. Hold on a minute. Okay. Welcome to my podcast. Welcome to the podcast. Today's daily habit has to do with. Reducing your risk for dementia. Welcome to my podcast. Welcome to my podcast, no. Let's see. Welcome to today's podcast. ~[00:00:00] Welcome to my podcast, functional Medicine with Dr.
Var. Reset your health and Reclaim your life. Today's daily habit has to do with reducing your risk for dementia.
~Today's daily habit has to do with something that is so important, which is reducing your risk for dementia. If you are sleeping less than seven hours a night, your brain may already be storing the same toxic proteins that are linked to Alzheimer's disease. Okay. If you are sleeping less than seven hours a night, your brain may already be storing the same toxic proteins that are linked to Alzheimer's disease.~
If you are sleeping less than seven hours a night, your brain may already be making the same toxic proteins that are linked to Alzheimer's disease, and you won't even notice that it's happening until it's too late. See your brain is like a busy city with trillions of messages firing between neurons every second of the day, and all that activity leaves behind some waste, just like traffic leaves behind pollution.
At night, your brain doesn't completely shut down. It's switching ~to the night shift, ~to the night shift cleanup crew. And if that cleanup crew doesn't happen, things pile up. The cleanup crew is called the glymphatic system. Think of it like. The plumbing system of your brain, and here's how it works. When you go into deep sleep, your brain cells actually shrink a little.
~Your brain cells actually shrink a little.~
This opens up a space between them, letting your brain fluid, called cerebral spinal [00:01:00] fluid wash through the brain and carry out toxins. And one of the most important toxins it clears out is beta amyloid, ~the sticky pro. ~The sticky protein that forms plaques in Alzheimer's disease. If you don't get enough deep sleep, your glymphatic system doesn't have enough time to do its job.
Over the years, the buildup of proteins and inflammation quietly damages the connections between your brain cells. And here's the part that many people don't realize. This process can start in your forties. You might start noticing some memory changes, and you might start brushing them off, like, you might forget a word.
Misplace your keys, walk into a room and not remember why. But these normal lapses may be early signs that your brain is not clearing out the waste as efficiently as it should. ~That's why protecting your sleep now is so important. That's why protecting, that's why it is imperative that you protect your sleep.~
That's why it is so important to protect your sleep and to make sure you're getting at least seven hours of sleep a night.
~Studies show. ~Studies show that people who chronically get less than six hours of sleep have about a 30 to 40% higher risk of developing [00:02:00] dementia, ~this can even happen. I dunno what I'm saying here.~
~Oops.~
On the flip side, people who get seven to eight hours of sleep consistently not only think more clearly, but they also protect their long-term brain health.
This leads me to the daily Habit Challenge, which is to try to be in bed by 10 o'clock, and I say 10 o'clock because usually the first couple hours of your sleep is where you get the most deep restorative sleep. On average, most people get up around five to 6:00 AM in the morning to get ready for work. So going to bed by 10 gives you that optimization of getting seven hours of sleep. Now, of course, if you have a different schedule, then just count backwards seven hours and try to go to bed.
By that time period,
if you are finding it difficult to go to bed earlier, then here are some things that you can do. You can set a reverse alarm.
To Remind yourself. To go to bed . Just count backwards from the time that you need to get up and make sure that you get at least seven hours and , a half hour to an hour before that set your alarm so that. It tells you that you need to start winding down so that you can get ready to go to bed.
This means no blue light devices, which is [00:03:00] difficult, I know, but you wanna avoid your blue light devices because that messes up your circadian rhythm and that affects your quality sleep.
~So that that hour before bed create a calming ritual. Think of it as something, think of it as self-care. So it's something that you can look forward to. Pick something that you enjoy, like a warm shower, some breath work. Even some journaling just to thought, dump all of your thoughts for the day, and that way you can get it out and you're not awake in bed, remembering all the things of the day.~
~And it even helps with anxiety.~
~You could. S ~that hour before bed create a calming ritual, a warm shower, some gentle breath work or stretching. You could even keep a journal and get all your thoughts out for the day, so they're outta your brain and your brain can just try to let it go and rest.
You could even write down your to-dos for the next day as this helps your brain feel safer and ready to power down 'cause you're getting it all out of your head.
Now if it's really difficult for you to. Jump to seven hours a night. Like let's say you're really getting like on average four to five hours a night, then just try to work backwards and add an extra 15 minutes every week until you're getting to that seven hours.
So if you only get five hours of sleep, try to get five hours and 15 minutes the next night. And then after a week when you get adjusted to that, then try to get five and a half hours of sleep and so on. You may not notice the effect of getting more sleep right away. It does take a couple [00:04:00] weeks for your brain to reset.
So if you get one night of seven hours and you think, I don't feel any different, just hang on. I promise you, if you stay with it for a couple weeks, ~you will notice a difference.~
You will notice a difference.
And over the years, your brain will notice a difference because you will get your glymphatic system working again and you can clear out all of the gunk and reduce your risk for dementia. ~And that is so worth it. ~That is so worth it.
It's so important. Everything else that you have to do can wait, because if you don't manage this now, you're gonna regret it later.
~I don't think I need to do all that. That's kind of what's a dismal spin. Okay.~
~Protecting your sleep is one of the simplest, most powerful ways to defend your memory and reduce your risk. And reduce your risk of dementia.~
~So make this a must for your habits. I dunno why I have to keep going that way. You know,~
~protecting your sleep is, ~protecting your sleep is one of the simplest, most powerful ways to defend your memory and reduce your risk for dementia. I hope this was helpful. ~Please follow or subscribe. If you're watching it on video, ~please follow or subscribe.
Please share with someone who may benefit from these daily habits.
~I don't need to go there. Why am I going there? I just stop. Okay.~
~If this helped you, please subscribe.~
Thanks for listening or watching and have a fantastic day. ~And be sure to check out the description. There are some downloadables such as a gut health. Okay. Oh.~
