Happens in those with anxiety disorder. Findings suggest that sleep could help with many illnesses. That study is in the journal of neuroscience. We have dr. Winston chung you with us in the studio to talk about why quality sleep is to critical to our health. He is medical director of inpatient psychiatry at California Medical Center and works at the guisal school of medicine. Nice to have you here. Thank you for having me, cheryl. You went to med school, youre a doctor u. Probably didnt sleep at all. There were a lot of nights without much sleep, correct. But its so important to have a good, quality sleep. Sleep hygiene is the new phrase, i think. Absolutely. Very important. Simply put, restful sleep is critical for our mental and physical functioning. You described some of the ways that poor sleep can impact us physically, but certainly our mind throughout the day is involved in a lot of activities, planning, organizing ourselves. When we drive behind the wheel, if we lose hours of sleep at night, that can impact our ability to function in that way, in an appropriate manner. Its important to just shut the brain down for a while . Yeah. Our brain is very busy during the day, and in a certain sense our brain goes into a different electrical mode at night that helps rest, recharge. Studies show that children or teens who dont get adequate sleep might have more difficulty learning. They might also have more emotional or behavioral difficulties as well. Studies also show that sleep dip deprivation affects certain parts of the brain. So restful sleep is critical for brain functioning. The amount of hours is different for different people, right . Could you walk us through that. Thats right. I think its important to keep in mind theres no magic number. Theres no exact number of hours one needs. Generally speaking, however, younger people, specifically newborns, infants, toddlers, may need a little bit more sleep than adults. And even teens need a little bit more sleep than adults. On average, they say that an adult who gets less than seven hours a sleep might be susceptible to some of the things you mentioned, heart disease, obesity, difficulty with immune function. That evidence is pretty strong. Theres also some evidence that suggests more than nine hours could also be detrimental for illnesses, Motor Vehicle accidents. Theres some controversy whether that evidence is very strong, but they say maybe somewhere between seven to nine, but its individually based. For instance, my wife needs a certain amount of sleep, maybe more than eight hours, and maybe i can use a little bit less. Thats what we need, and its individually based. You just have to kind of figure it out. Yes. So what are some of the things that we shouldnt do . So my donts of sleep hygiene would be to not use caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine. Within a certain amount of hours . Certainly not close to bedtime, but in general, if youre having problems with sleep, you may want to cut that out entirely. Other things to try and avoid would be latenight eating, not nappi inping close to bedtime. That can disrupt sleep. Avoiding screen time close to bedtime. No tv . No tv. We live here in the bay area. Were very wired. But ipads late at night creates this artificial light that can, some studies show, can disrupt melatonin production which is critical for our sleep wake cycle. How do we get into that relaxing mode to get that good hygienic sleep . You can try a routine, a bedtime routine, that is a calming routine. That could include, for instance, setting a nice bath with maybe some aromas, nice, calm music. Something that kind of begins to calm your body and mind down. For some people it could even be making sure at certain times youre doing things. Im going to start my routine at 10 00, and that includes brushing my teeth in the same way. Again, our bodies like rhythms. And the sleep wake cycle is a rhythm. Anything we can do to facilitate that rhythm is going to be helpful. The relaxing bedtime, i bet your wife loves you for that, too, because your job is extremely stressful. I bet she has a stressful life, too. How do you deal with clearing out all the mental clutter so you can get that good, quality sleep . Well, thats a challenging thing a lot of the time. Again, theres no right answer for that. But some of the things that people can do that might facilitate clear things out later would be to be more active in the daytime. During waking hours if youre more active, expending physical and mental energy, that might later make it such that you have an easier time calming down out of exhaustion. Is exercise a good idea . If done in the daytime. They recommend against exercising close to bedtime because that might be stimulating. I think that you talked already about alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, late naps and no food, no eating late. No eating late. Its one of those things, alcohol as well, you know, sometimes people might feel like they fall asleep easier with a little alcohol. Some people feel they may nap or fall asleep easier after eating, but the fact of the matter is it disrupts the quality of sleep. Youre not going to get the same restful sleep were going to need for our body and mind to recover for the next day. I appreciate all of your advice. Thank you so much, doctor. Thank you for having me. And we do have to take a break, but well be back in just a moment. Were going to hear from our experts who have insight on a worldrenowned sleep center often considered the birthplace of sleep medicine. Stay with us. Well be right back. Music the lord says, come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and i will give you rest. Join us for the majesty of the catholic mass here sunday mornings at 8 30. For more information visit mysundaymass. Org well will come back to beyond the headlines. We often consider sleep to be eye pa eye passive activity, but its a critical part of good health and helps prevent diabetes, hypertension and depression. A proper bedtime is important when it comes to kids and their learning. British researchers studied more than 11,000 children under the age of 7. They found that kids that went to bed after 9 00 or whenever they wanted scored lower on reading and math tests. Researchers think the lack of sleep may impair the way the brain processes information. The study is published in the journal of epidemiology and community health. Here to help us understands this a lot better from the Stanford Center for sleep sciences and medicine is associate professor raphael palia. Thank you for being here today. Thank you for having me. Sleep is illusive for a lot of us in this industry. Sure. For the families who come to see you also. Lets start with the kids. What should parents know about the kids and what they need . I think parents need to know that kids are 3408ding after them. As a parent, if you dont make sleep a priority in your life, dont be surprised your kids arent doing it. For a lot of parents, the kids sleep is the way for the parents to get a break from their kids. You cant do it that way either. I think kids need to be taught that they get to sleep, not that they have to sleep. Its different. If you ask a child sometimes why you sleep, they dont have a good sense of it. Whats the value of it . We know why we have to eat. We know what the other things are, exercise. But ask somebody why they have to sleep, parents dont have a good answer a. They want a break. I think its important for parents to realize kids model them. If the parents stay up late, the kids are wondering what theyre missing out on. If the parents are watching tv late at night or on the computer, why cant the kids do the same thing. Kids are watching them. We were talking about the study that mentioned that kids dont do well on testing if they dont get enough sleep. Kids arent going to make that correlation, but the patient pa should. Right. The overarching question is always the same why sleep in the first place . One of the early sleep scientists said, if sleep had no function, its the biggest mistake evolution ever made. If you think about the body, the kidneys dont have to sleep, the lungs dont sleep, the heart doesnt have to sleep. Its for the brain. So what is sleep doing for the brain . Obviously sleep is an important function for the brain, and we now have a better sense that one of the things that is happening is that, while were sleeping, the brain is integrating information, taking what it learned during the day and applying it to tomorrows problems. So that processing and integration occurs in sleep. Creativity we think is linked directly to dreaming, for example. Kid ans act out whether they dont get enough sleep, right . Kids and adults. Oh, yeah. The first thing affected by lack of sleep is mood. People tend to be grumpy, in the mornings, i need my coffee. They really didnt get enough sleep. Otherwise, you just had a lot of sleep. What do you need coffee for . The first thing affected is mood, the second is attention. Last thing affected is your motor performance. So adults can drive their cars, for example, be grumpy and airritable and forgettable. With children, certainly if you dont sleep well how can you possibly learn . Especially when youre not getting enough sleep, it shows up when youre in a boring, monotonous environment. If a child is bored, we all know how kids behave. When a child doesnt get enough sleep, any 3yearold in the supermarket, you make eye contact with that adult about their child, they look at you and say, he skipped his nap. You say, oh, i understand. Going nuts because you skipped your nap. That phenomenon is going to carry over. Kids are not voluntarily going to lay down to take a nap. This is what theyre told to do. What about teenagers . I have a 15 and 18yearold. They sleep actually really well, fortunately. By the way, my wife is also a sleep doctor. Maybe that has something to do with it. They dont get a break. But its an important thing about sleeping because teenagers start to behave more like adults in some ways but their sleep is still very childlike. In fact, physical growth leng lengthening of bones occurs in sleep. If your child is growing, they need more sleep. Thats been measured, the lengthening of the bones. Teenagers need more sleep than yucker kids do. This ha thiss a little surge. The first thing you need to watch for in teenagers, first thing to watch for is they start sleeping in on weekends. 8yearolds dont sleep in. Parents wish they would when theyre 8. They dont. 8yearolds just get up and go, they motor around, take off, no naps. They just move. But when you start getting extra sleep on weekends, the idea of catching up, the parents might feel guilty, my child needs more sleep. Thats fine. But it lets you know something is very, very wrong during the sleep. People dont get extra calories on weekends, they dont need extra food. Why sleep . What do you worry about . Theres data on this. If your child sleeps in more than two hours compared to their usual school day wakeup time, normally gets up at 8 00 or 7 00, if they sleep in beyond two hours on weekends, theres a problem. Data shows kids who are sleepy who sleep in more than two hours of weekend have high chances of suicidal thinking. Lets start with that when we get back. We have to take a break. The doctor will stay with us to talk about the disorder thats can be caused by poor sleep. Stay with us. Well be right back. Welcome back to beyond the headlines. Todays show is about sleep and the fact we need it. A study in the journal of sleep shows that a link between breathing problems and insomnia. People are respiratory problems show a drop in the oxygen inhaled which could affect how deeply they sleep. Chronic insomniacs wake up as many as 30 times overnight. The Stanford Sleep Center finds that at some point in our lives, at least threequarters of adults will suffer from at least one of 90 diagnosable sleep disorders. Agai i wanted to get back to something you said before the break about how sleep and your thought processes start changing. Talked about kids and suicidal thoughts. Yeah. Sleep has a function, and sleep is good for the brain. We do know that people who dont get enough sleep their brain doesnt work as well, their memory isnt as sharp. Children may be inattentive. When theyre bored they look for things to stimulate themselves. And people who dont get enough sleep tend to be more impulsive, more risk tarkers. Casinos make you sleep deprived to make more mistakes. Sadly, theres strong data, several studies have come out supporting a link between inadequate sleep and suicidal behavior in teenagers. Theyre under a lot of stress, not getting enough sleep, and then they also may be more impulsive due to lack of sleep. Theres no doubt that the best bang for the buck, as far as improving your help, is through sleep. Its free its free. You get to do it. Its beautiful. I mean, why not get more sleep . We talked about a variety of disorders that can contribute to really poor health problems. Can you talk about that. Of course. There are, as you mentioned earlier a, over 90 different sleep disorders. The most common thing we do at our clinic is something called sleep apnea. People stop breathing in their sleep. The brain has to decide whats more important, breathing or sleeping. For a little window of time, the brain says, id rather sleep than breathe. Theres a gap in your breathing, and that will go on hundreds of times during the night. I think its important for the viewers to understand that theres no such thing as normal snoring. Nobody should ever snore. Oh, boy welling, you and i are both breathing right now, our breathing is silent. When are you more endangered being attacked by predators, sleeping . Why would you tip off your predators by making noise . There is no normal snoring. The only snoring we know of is in humans and domesticated animals. Never accept snoring as normal. So what do you do about that . I know your sleep centers work on that. Ive heard of devices that help with breathing. There are several ways of taking care of the issue. The first thing is, if you have trouble with your sleep or your snoring, its not to ignore it. Thats the most obvious thing. Mild conditions can become moderate and then become severe. And we do know that people with sleep apnea have increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, death, Car Accidents its a real Public Health issue so dont ignore it. Every day at work i hear somebody say, my wife claims i snore. I say, why would they claim that . Of course you do. Theyre not making it up. Of course you do it. Or they say, she just of needs ear plugs. You hear that a lot. Its very important that you mention to your physician. If they ignore it hopefully they dont go see somebody else. Because theresp,c no such thins you waking up tired. As you get older, you shouldnt feel more tired when you wake up. You should feel energized. Never, ever wake up feeling tired. That makes no sense at all. So some of the other disorders i wanted to get to really quickly, restless leg syndrome and narcolepsy. Yes. Restless leg syndrome is a very common condition. Its been considered to be a curse by some people, where they just feel an uncomfortable feeling in their legs, an urge to move your legs as youre about to go to sleep or when youre sitting still. Its a treatable condition. We now know its associated with lack of iron in some people, and its something that there is active Research Going on, shouldnt be ignored. Narcolepsy is a very common condition, affects a lot of young people. Now we know its an auto immune disease, which means the body attacks itself. People with narcolepsy will have their awake behaviors intruding into their daytime. More recent data from sleep centers show its autoimmune which means it can be caused by the body attacking itself. Theres an outbreak in europe from immunizations in children, 2 and 3yearolds that have narcolepsy for life now. We are unfortunately out of time. You are a fountain of information, and well provide the researchers for our viewsers at home to contact your office. Thank you so much. A lot of us who are sleep deprived love this subject. We have to take a break. Up next, we are going to speak to a woman who lives with a disease that keeps her awake its okay to cry, right . No more we dont want anymore [crying] ahhhhhhhhhh everyday price and no extra monthly fees, unlike cable. Speeds up to 45 megs, for 30 a month. Welcome back to beyond the headlines. Weve been talking about the importance of sleep, some of the sleep disorders that keep us from restful sleep. Another reason we need a good nights rest has to do with our diet. Researchers at penn state have found that people that only get four to six hours a night actually end up eating more and usually more of the wrong foods. Doctors say its a combination of hormone changes in the body that results from staying up longer and it affects our eating patterns. In addition, if youre awake, theres more of a chance youre going to eat. Why not, right . Not good. Our next guest has been struggling with poor sleep for 17 years. Kathleen frazier volunteers with the American Diabetes association and lives with type 1 diabetes. I was commenting about how you just look like youre in such great shape. You know, youd never know that youve been living with such a disease. How is this affecting your life, and how is sleep a part of that . Well, diabetes, type 1 diabetes in particular, is one of those conditions that really is 24 7 365. It really requires a lot of vigilance in terms of monitoring blood sugar and dispeninsusing insulin. So a plan requires 8 to 10 to 12 blood sugar checks a day so a lot of diabetes management has to be done it overnight while youre sleeping. Diabetes doesnt sleep when your brain goes to sleep so you really have to be very vigilant even in the middle of the night. So what do you do . So i set an alarm and do blood sugar checks in the middle of the night. A lot of families and i saw from the other slides that youre looking for children to get anywhere from 10 to 15 hours of sleep thats way too long to go without a blood sugar check. What would happen if you did that . Well, you know, the biggest risk is a serious low blod sugar and a serious low blood sugar that i dont wake up from would cause a seizure, coma and you could die. Its about preventive management to ensure im in a safe zone when im trying to sleep. So that must be frustrating trying to balance both things. It is frustrating. Theres a lot of technology out there to help us, i wear a continuous glucose sensor which monitors my bloog sugar 24