Hacking sleep with The Sleep Doctor
Hacking sleep with The Sleep Doctor
16:02

Hacking sleep with The Sleep Doctor

Culture
[MUSIC] Welcome back to the CNet stage as our coverage of CS27 continues. With me right now is Dr. Michael Bruce. He's the sleep tech ambassador. I am. Also known as the sleep doctor. And today, he is going to help us hack our sleep with some new products here at CS. So, you've been around. You've seen some stuff. You know how to cut through all the nonsense. I do. All the stuff that's not gonna help you sleep, but you've got some things here that you think will do that. So, can you explain what you have here? Absolutely. So, working with the National Sleep Foundation, they've had me go around and look at all the different sleep tech that's out there. And it's pretty impressive, some of the stuff that they've got going on. These are three of my favorite items that are out there. I'm gonna start here and I'm gonna move my way towards you. Let's do it. Okay, so these items are created by a company called iHome. You're probably very familiar with the iHome. They're big into the bedside table. Sure. And what's really interesting is this is a new unit, it's called the synergy unit. And so, it actually uses light And sound, not only help you fall asleep, but to help you wake up. So this is stuff that you kind of have, you've done a lot of research on this stuff. I have. This is stuff that is actually designed To follow a certain sort of science that'll help you lower your heart rate. Exactly. So this- How does that work? Is that I feel like, when you tell something like, yeah, this alarm clock is gonna lower your heart rate. Just play along with it. [LAUGH] Explain how that works. This is really interesting. Most people don't know, but you want your heart rate to lower to about 60 beat per minute In order to enter into a state of unconsciousness. Well, if you're sitting up, or even if you're lying down, your heart rate might not be anywhere near there. No, I feel like mine's constantly at 140. Yeah, I think yours might be, actually. [LAUGH] So, what's really interesting, if you notice, the light is changing, and so you would breathe in. With the yellow light. Okay. And then you would breath out as the red light comes on. And by doing that, just that simple breathing technique, your heart rate will begin to lower, lower, lower and get you there and then bring you right into sleep. Which is pretty cool. There's also different sounds, that can be actually quite helpful as well. We've got ocean sounds, we've got nature sounds, things like that that are very valuable, in terms of relaxation, right before sleep. Cuz we talk about this all the time on your show, but sleep's not an on off switch. It is certainly not. Right, it's more like pulling your foot off the gas, and slowly putting your foot on the brake. This is an assistant to doing all of that. So for the people who have a hard time shutting off their mind, which a lot of people do. Or they're looking for a way to hack their sleep and get there quicker, this is the type of unit that I would recommend for people. I recommend it to my patients. I've got it in my house, things like that. [LAUGH] I'm sure you do. It's a lot of fun. So now, in addition to the breathing assistance that it does for you, you said there's also a bunch of different kind of Sounds that'll ease you into sleep. There are multiple sounds. Okay. There are multiple lights and so the lights are designed, so blue light we know is something that wakes people up. Okay. And red light is something that we know that helps people fall asleep. Got you. So it turns out that there are cells in your eye that react to these different colors or wavelengths of light. Blue light actually shuts off the melatonin faucet. Well we don't want that shut off at night. But we do want it shut off during the day. So that's why we get blue in the morning and we get red in the evening. Cuz red actually helps turn the faucet on. So that's what's pretty interesting about this. It's also obviously got an alarm, it's got a smart wake feature so it can, wake you up at a good time. There's a lot of really cool stuff on here. Yeah there seems to be an intense amount of functionality going on, and then I really dig the kind of subtle time just displayed behind the grill there. It looks really- Absolutely. Really cool. So now this is gonna go for how much? So this is available right now on Amazon 99.99, okay? Okay, great. [CROSSTALK] Portable version. So this is interesting. So this actually won the 2017 CES innovation award. Okay. And so this is a portable unit As you can see you can attach a cord, but it's chargeable. And here's what I like about this, is I can toss it into my suitcase, and I can use it when I travel. Definitely. Or I can put it in a child's room. I can put it on a crib, something like that. It's a really nice thing, and it's got a lot of the similar functionality It's what we've seen here but in a much more portable type of unit, which I really enjoy it quite a bit. And you can also use it as a bluetooth speaker. Absolutely, you can use it as a bluetooth speaker. Like my kids like to use it as a bluetooth speaker and then they throw it in their room, so it's kind of with them all the time. Excellent, so this is essentially the mini version of the larger one. And this is gonna go for how much? So this is on Amazon now for $69.99. Okay, excellent. Now we have a different kind of tech. A very different kind of tech. Ane when you were explaining this to me in the back, I was a little intimidated, to be quite honest. So what do we got going on here? This is really cool. So this is by a company who's name is ResMed. So ResMed is the foremost leader in CPAP machines. So if you remember, people who have sleep apnea where their throat closes at night, they have to wear a mask and a breathing machine at night. That's what this company does, they've been doing it for 28 years. They been in this business, they're eight billion dollar market capped companies. So, they really know and understand sleep. What are the things they wanted to do is be able to track people's sleep. So we've seen a lot of monitors out there. Everyone's charge to do it. Right. There's one on your phone, there's one on your wrist, there's one everywhere. So, one of the things that we want to look at is Contact list, but accurate. Because a lot of times, if you just have your phone on your bed, all it's doing is looking at accelerometry. This actually uses Doppler radar. So if it's raining in your bedroom, this will be like, you're not gonna sleep well with that. Not exactly. Right. So what this does is it actually will shoot out a radar signal that actually sweeps. Across the body. Okay. And they can actually measure your chest movement to the millimeter, even under the covers. Wow, wow. Okay, that's [UNKNOWN] And so what we know is people breathe in a particular pattern and their heart rate is of a particular pattern at certain sleep stages. So we get to the algorithm of being able to now monitor sleep, and we don't have to have something attached to me to be able to do it. You can have one on either side of the bed, and then in the morning you get a Score. Other thing that's kind of fascinating about this is it also measures the light in your room, it measures any sound that's in your room, and the temperature in your room. So if any of those affect you, it will actually generate advice the next day based on your personal sleep cycle. But where's that advice really coming from? Coming from me. So I actually am the person who developed the advice engine behind this. And so this is all from a real sleep Specialists, so it was kind of complicated, cuz there's a lot of different things that can go on, but when we learn certain things about people's sleep at night, we can then give them really applicable device. And that's the big game changer here, because there's a lot of monitors and some of them are very, very accurate, but at the end of the day they don't do a whole lot for you other than Well, I got 13% of REM sleep. Well, what the heck does that mean? What do I do with that? What do I do with that? That's where this comes in as the advice engine. Also, by the way, I forgot to mention over here that these are all fully controllable with an app. Okay, great. So you can actually monitor and do all that stuff. [CROSSTALK] Okay, so you don't have to just helicopter over that. Exactly. Excellent. Exactly. All right, so something Dr. Bruce and I do together when we do podcasts is Turn to the audience for questions about sleep advice. Absolutely. No pressure. If you have a question about sleep. Sleep's important. I don't get enough of it. But if you do have a question about sleep, raise your hand, we'll come over and give you a microphone. Don't worry, I have a few that I have Gone [CROSSTALK] I don't do dream interpretation. Yeah. That's something everyone always, so [CROSSTALK] right away. So I'm just gonna dispel that myth right here and right now. Okay, first question from Twitter, what kind of food should people stay away from before bedtime? This is a great question. So there are foods that are pro sleep and there are foods that are anti sleep, if you will. Obviously anything with caffeine in it is probably not what you want to be having right before. No coffee right before bed is a no brainer. Right, although I've got patients who turn to me all the time and they say hey, Dr. Bruce, you know I just had a triple espresso and then I went straight to sleep. Yeah, they're not human. Well they might That's possible but the trips better is that they don't realize it but the quality of this [UNKNOWN] that they're getting is really not that great. Sure. So that in of itself is a pretty [CROSSTALK]. And trying to use the IO machine is something that it could be very difficult if you're having a lot of copy. Turn out spicy food can actually cause indigestion and that indigestion. Just that turns out? Can affect your dream. Right. That's the part that's interesting. Okay. So when people have like high spice food and things that are upsetting in their stomach, it can actually manifest itself in their dream state. Okay. And it can be a little on the scary side. You just have like the attack of like a chilli pepper in your dreams like that. I heard we have question from the audience, let's get to that Thank you, sir, you brave soul over here. Absolutely. Is that on? Hello? There we go, hi. I'm curious about sleeping and the apnea when it's just before. Because one of the challenges is how do you know you're having it? How can you sense it? Because with sleep apnea, you've already been diagnosed and you have that whole Gear set up. Right. Is there any way to check it out beforehand? Is there any, like this device, would that support it? Or is there any other solution that I might use? So- Good question. It's a great question. So first of all, historically, we used to know that you'd have to go to a sleep laboratory. And you'd have 27 electrodes attached to you and wires and cameras and all that kind of stuff. Now in technology is actually advance, we actually have home kits that are very very small, almost the size of this unit. Now this units are, this are not diagnostic units, this are not medical grade units. But there are ones out there that your doctor can actually sends home with you. And number one see do you still have sleep at [UNKNOWN]? Lets say, you lost weight or using a new treatment. Number two, they can also see how your disease progress. So there are some differences and that could happen, there are some things that are out there from a technology stand point where we can access sleep apnea, but their not so much on the consumer side, their are much more on the medical side.>> Excellent, I think we have another question in the audience?>> Yes.>> Sorry with regards to and maybe you can dispel some of the rumors out there is screen time before we go to bed? Like when should, I read on a tablet or watch TV on a tablet and then I want to go to sleep and my mind's racing. Is there any sort of like rules as to how long it should be on? Yeah, we talk about this all the time. So this is a great question. So thanks for asking it. So we get this question all the time. So one of the things that we know is Lots of people are on their phone right before lights out. I don't know who you're talking about. Who could that be? Or on an iPad, or watching Game of Thrones, or playing candy crush. You should not watch Game of [CROSSTALK] Don't watch Game of Thrones You'd be surprised how many people do. So here's the thing is television which is from a proximity standpoint is all the way across the room isn't as necessary as bad. Now I'm probably the only sleep doctor in the universe that says it's okay to fall asleep with the T V on. And I'll tell you why, because I do. [LAUGH] So if I'm going to be the sleep doctor I better follow my advice right. Sure. So what I find it's hard to turn off my brain at night but if I'm listening to the television usually when people are watching to television to fall asleep their eyes are closed. And they're just kind of listening. And it's just enough of a distraction to make it so that it's not, I'm distracting my brain from would normally keep me awake. That's a proximity issue and an engagement issue. But if I'm on my phone and I'm looking at Facebook or I'm reading an email but has an emotionality to me, that's not a great idea. Right? Also, the proximity, it's 18-24 inches from my face. And so the blue light, 460 nanometers is the blue wavelength. That actually hits particular cells in your eye that can turn on or off the melatonin faucet like we were talking about before. So you wanna avoid screens that are close to you, probably about between 45 to 60 minutes before lights out. And just to piggyback on that, if I could. You may. I find 80s comedies are the best thing to fall asleep to. There is nothing better than Seinfeld to fall asleep to. And you just don't want to really engage in something. You just want to be able to have like Tom Hanks in the background like falling into the floor. Like Bosom Buddies. > > Yeah, something like that. And that really does the trip, the trick. And one other thing that would address that issue as well, Is, there are now blue blocker glasses. So, and they're fairly stylish, fairly comfortable, you can actually wear this glasses while you have your device. So if you have tethered to your device and you have to do it. Even though again, not my recommendation, I know it's gonna happen this blue blockers will actually block that blue wavelength of light And it actually reduces eyes strain and so, I was like, really? Come on, this is really work? And I started using them, I was shocked at first of all, how much more relaxed I just felt walking around my house. Because we have all this bright, bright light in our homes and that's really not how our body is design to have it 'cause you know, you used to be you'd fall sleep in the sun window Like way back in the day. Now we don't have that. So these BluBlocker glasses can actually be quite effective. Pretty cool. Do we have one more from the audience? I think we do. Yes, actually. Yes, [CROSSTALK] excellent. Do you have any suggestions besides drugs for PTSD nightmares? Absolutely, so when we look at, so PTSD is, first of all it's prevalent. It's very, very prevalent and it's not just in our veterans or people who've been in active theater boards. It's in our police, it's in our fire, it's in. Traumatic times, you're involved in something traumatic. So the answer to that question is yes. Now when you look at nightmares, there is one drug that's actually been shown to work for nightmares, for PTSD in particular, the drug is called Prazosen. It's an old line anti-depressing but I know we're looking for this that are not Drug related. So when you're looking at nightmares, one of the things I like to talk to about people is there is a treatment that's out of, by a guy of the name of Barry Cracow, out of the University of New Mexico. And what he's done, is he has you write out your entire nightmare. Every detail you can imagine. And then change the ending. So that it's no longer that you're being pursued, but you're pursuing them And then you read this new nightmare if you will with the new ending, multiple times before you go to sleep within seven to 10 days, it actually starts to change in your dreams, which is quite fascinating. And so it's a really nice way of not having to add a pharmaceutical to that situation and be able to use more of a behavioral methodology. There's a little bit of data looking at cannabis And the use of cannabis for nightmares for PTSD as well. Interesting. All right, I wanna finish things up with a few more things that you and I have talked about a bunch. A lot of people are curious about the effects of snoring. It's obviously annoying, but is snoring Can it do damage to you? Is it something that can lead to something else? Absolutely. So when we look at snoring, so when we think about breathing we should think about it across the spectrum. So there's regular breathing and then comes snoring, then comes these things called hypopnea, so not quite a complete stop at your breathing and then apnea which is complete sensation of breath. Right. So, snoring is part of that continuum. For sure. And so, if you're snoring on a regular basis, you could be walking down a bit of a dangerous path when it comes apnea. Right. Now, just to be really honest with everybody, roughly 50% of America snores. But only about 10 to 20% have sleep apnea. So not everybody that snores has sleep apnea, but everybody that has sleep apnea sores. Right. Right, so it's a two-way street, but the traffic's not the same on either side. And also we know that when people are lying next to a snoring bed partner, they lose approximately one hour of sleep a night. Right, it's a selfish thing, right? You wanna- [LAUGH] Finally, we're here to [INAUDIBLE] I've taken this advice From you at the show this year. Excellent. I want to bring it up before we had to say goodbye. Yup. Explain how somebody can really turn a mini nap into something way more get a lot out of that with something you call a Nap-a-Latte. So, this is one of my favorite sleep hacks out there, and I call it the Nap-a-Latte. And so what you do is, let's say that you only got four and half, five hours of sleep the night before. You know your body needs more. Or two. [LAUGH] Or two. Let's hope not. So what you do is you take a six ounce cup of black drip coffee that has the highest caffeine content in it. Throw in a couple of ice cubes to cool it down. Drink the entire thing as quickly as you can and then take about a 20, 25 minute nap. You will actually reduce the amount of stage one, stage two sleep, that your body is craving. The caffeine kicks in, you're good for four hours. You fly to the moon, ladies and gentlemen. Take my advice. Thank you so much for being here Doctor [INAUDIBLE], always a pleasure. Sleep doctor ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much man. Fantastic advice. Thank you. Right now we're gonna take a break. When we come back, we will be featuring. The best new tech for business professionals, so stay tuned. We'll be right back. [MUSIC]

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