Howdy folks!
I wanted to shoot this TED talk by my good friend, Dr. Kirk Parsley your way. Doc Parsley (if you have missed the outstanding podcasts we’ve done with him here: 1, 2, and 3) is a former Navy SEAL, went to med school, and then was the Doc for the West Coast Teams for about 8 years. He has a fascinating perspective on a variety of topics, but in particular, sleep. He has chosen two professions which place one in sleep debt perhaps more than just about any other professions I can think of. Kirk has three kids too, so he checks the “bad sleep due to kids” box as well.
Even though I’m a “food” guy, I have talked and written at length about the sleep and photoperiod part of this Evolutionary Medicine story since my first exposure to the dietary side of things. Why? Because it is critical. Sleep and photoperiod considerations are MORE important than food or exercise. If the electricity went “out” but we still had access to shitty food, we’d be remarkably better off. That only sounds controversial if you are ignorant to the literature on sleep.
Doc parsley and I met at a NSW (Naval Special Warfare) gig many years ago and it was both stunning and remarkably validating that we had arrived at essentially the same perspective on how to help people: Take a look at the evolutionary template of humans, and figure out what we are doing that might be seriously at odds with our genetics and epigenetics. Sleep, food, exercise, photoperiod, community. Under community I’d put in people, nature and our gut-biome.
Sleep is an interesting topic in that there IS push back about the importance of sleep. Certain communities (Police, Fire, Military, Medicine) wear sleep deprivation as a badge of honor. It shows they are “hard.” This is “how it’s always been done.” Doc Parsley shows that these same communities (and the rest of us who are under slept) are running at often dangerously sub-optimal levels due to sleep debt. There are numerous strategies for dealing with situations which force a poor sleep schedule upon us, but you cannot “hack” your way out of biology. Well, I guess a machete applied to the cervical spine could solve a lot of problems, but that’s a different topic. All that aside, sleep IS interesting in that although there is a culture that thinks they can get by without sleep, there is not the religious dogma that surrounds a topic like food. If we want to start helping people, and do it in a fast, effective way, start with sleep.
Please watch this video. If you run a website, embed it and make this a landing page for folks who come to you for help with their health. Make a sleep page, get this thing at the top. If you have better sense than to run a blog, please share this far and wide. Get it to Fire and Police Chief’s. Get it to hospital administrators. Get it to the folks who determine what time our kid’s schools start.
I link anyone who will listen to your first podcast with him, looking forward to this talk. Airline pilots can have this mentality too…. It’s difficult to get great sleep with the schedule and time zone always changing. I make sleep (and my sleepy time routine) a priority for me AND my kids. Black out shades! Sleep mask! No screens before bed!
Hey Robb! I’m super happy that you’re talking about sleep. It’s not that sexy of a topic but like you said, I think it trumps diet, exercise, stress, and maybe even emotions and mindset. The last 2 could be pretty high up there but we definitely need to put more emphasis on sleep. Awesome info my friend!
I can’t see any video on this post but I’m guessing it’s this?
http://youtu.be/7s9C_8-OoxI
Yup, that’s it.
Hey there,
Excellent video! One sticking point with me – I think alot of people do realize the importance of sleep, but they just can’t sleep enough. I for one, have had troubled sleep for years. Any pointers there? He seems to highlight the concept of good sleep, but no tips on execution.
-Jim
Jim-
doc goes over a lot of that in the podcast we’ve done. He is also close to releasing a site and will ahve a ton of resources around this.
Nobody watched TED anymore since it’s been hijacked by the current regime.
I wouldn’t have a podcast if it weren’t for me conquering depression by fixing my sleep and diet of course. I worked third shift, as Dr. Hansler has talked about with me, artificial light at night is a carcinogen.
So how much is enough is then the question. I mean it obviously depends on each individual, their age, way of life, health ect. But I read a study recently saying that too much sleep is killing us. If fact some studies have said that too much sleep is worse than not enough sleep. The study I read, I don’t recall who wrote it, stated that the average adult should sleep between 6-7 hours a night. More than that becomes unhealthy. but if the average American is sleeping 6.5 hours a night and is sleep deprived, then where do we draw the line between not enough and too much?
Stay tuned for answers to that question and approaches to deal with disordered sleep.
Excellent video. Thanks for posting it. For years I could only get 7 hours of sleep by taking 3mg melatonin every night, until I purchased blue blocking glasses. Putting them on 2-3 hours before bedtime, and filtering out blue light from artificial sources completely changed that. I haven’t taken melatonin since as the blockage of blue light is allowing me to make it myself.
I agree. I went and listened to the podcast and felt like there was a ton of discussion on the problem and symptoms of the problem. But not solutions. Obviously more sleep, but was it discussed how much is optimal or did I miss it. Great talk though. Very interested in the subject.
Nice video. Great blog post.
I wouldn’t have a podcast if not for me fixing so as to vanquish dejection my rest and eating regimen obviously. I worked third move, as Dr. Hansler has discussed with me, simulated light around evening time is a cancer-causing agent.