66: The Best Ways to Fall Asleep & Stay Asleep Naturally

Narrator 00:04

How would you like to improve your health and keep your family safe? You're listening to the Healthy Home Hacks podcast where we firmly believe in joining optimal health shouldn't be a luxury. Healthy Home authorities and husband and wife team Ron and Lisa will help you create a home environment that will level up your health. It's time to hear from the experts. listen in on honest conversations and gain the best tips and advice. If you're ready to dive in and improve your well-being and increase your energy, you're in the right place. All right, here are your hosts, building biologists, authors, media darlings, vicarious vegans and avocado aficionados, Ron and Lisa Beres.

Lisa Beres 00:50

This episode of healthy home Hacks is brought to you by Boiron - world leader in homeopathic medicines is stress overload causing you some sleepless nights do you want to rest easier by supporting your body with a better way to feel better? For 90 years Boiron has been dedicated to providing your family with the purest medicines made from the Earth's best resources. Born sleep calm for adults and kids are melatonin free sleep aids with no next day grogginess. The meltaway. tablets for adults and individual liquid doses for kids are non-habit forming and have no drug interactions, from stress to sleep, pain relief, allergies and more. Boiron get you and your family covered with affordable homeopathic remedies that are easy to find online and unnatural product stores nationwide. Help your body the natural way with gentle worry-free formulas for even the littlest ones in your family. Visit boiron.com That's boiren.com to find the nearest retailer or by direct using code RL20OFF that's RL20. Off to save 20% off your entire purchase.

Ron Beres 02:00

Sleep. It's joyful. It's relaxing. It's a sensual, and it's a struggle for most people and even children today, especially with back to school schedule changes.

Lisa Beres 02:16

That's right. And did you know between 50 and 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders today, approximately 30 to 35% of adults complain of insomnia. One in every 25 Americans relies on prescription sleep medication and more than 1/3 of adults do not get enough sleep on a consistent basis. That is exhausting.

Ron Beres 02:40

If you're listening, perhaps you can relate in an effort to get some Shaddai many people turn to meds, but the side effects can be dangerous. If lack of sleep is affecting your mood, zapping your energy, clouding your cognitive function or interfering with your ability to get through the day. without sugar highs and unsightly eyebags. counting sheep may soon be a distant memory. There are natural solutions that won't have you feeling drowsy with drug side effects the next day.

Lisa Beres 03:13

Our guest today. Dr. Pam Hakimi is here to shed light on this very topic. Dr. Hakimi is a board-certified family physician. He has quite a diverse medical training and he has merged his specialized alternative medical modalities to create a comprehensive practice and he serves as the medical director of body of harmony in Beverly Hills, California and Miami, Florida. Dr. Hakimi practices integrative and functional medicine, IV nutrition, stem cell therapy anti-aging medicine, osteopathic manipulation, cranial osteopathy and clinical homeopathy.

Ron Beres 03:52

While finishing his residency. He was elected chief resident and Assistant Clinical Professor at the USC Keck School of Medicine. He is a key instructor for teaching medical students, professionals, the public the art of science of integrative medicine. He is currently a senior teaching faculty with the Center for Education and Development of clinical homeopathy in the US. Welcome to the show. Dr. Hakimi.

Dr. Hakimi 04:18

Thank you, guys. You guys are amazing. Glad to be here with you guys.

Ron Beres 04:24

Hi Dr. Hakimi.

Lisa Beres 04:25

Exactly. We are thrilled to have you. Thank you so much for being with us today. This is such an important topic. I bet there's no one listening who doesn't suffer from some sort of sleep issue or ailment. So, this show is for everybody today.

Dr. Hakimi 04:38

Exactly. Because sleep issues can affect us actually, during our lifetime because of different reasons. It can be just a situational issue where you know, someone is going through a stressful time. There are some sleep issues and then some of us actually have chronic insomnia and problem with falling asleep. We're going to go over this but some of us are actually on medications that cause sleep abnormalities. So, a lot of the medications that we use can also cause sleep abnormalities. And as you said, I see sleep conditions, low back pains, but the highest number of, sort of the reason that people actually come to their physicians and or go to the emergency room because of these reasons. So, sleeping important, and obviously, you know how important that sleep is. Because if we don't sleep well.

Lisa Beres 05:24

We are just like zombie. Zombie. Walking around zombies. Did you say low back problem are part of what's causing the sleep issues? Or they kind of just go hand in hand?

Dr. Hakimi 05:34

No, these two are the most reasons that people come to doctors� offices is either low back pain or sleeping issues separated from one another unless the back pain low back pain is causing the sleep abnormality that can be together otherwise, biggest things that brings patients to our office, sleep is very important. And it changes as we age, our sleep changes. We're going to talk about kids and how much sleep they need. And then we know as we age, the sleep changes. And we go through different periods of time where sleep is needed more like if we're going through, let's say an illness, let's say an upper respiratory infection, or what we when we see a lot of our patients say they actually need more sleep than before.

Lisa Beres 06:16

Yeah, Ron and I just recovered from COVID. And that was shocking. I did not know I was capable of that much sleep. Was sleep for the first three days. I couldn't even watch a TV show. I was too tired to just sit there and watch a show.

Ron Beres 06:30

What I feel like there's so much time flew by. Yeah. Bizarre. Well, Dr. Hakimi, you mentioned this earlier. So why is sleep so important, especially this time of year when kids return to school and experience many disruptions in their schedules? What can parents do?

Dr. Hakimi 06:47

So, sleep is important, obviously, because we know healing happens in sleep, body resets itself in sleep, body rejuvenates itself when we're sleeping. So, this function of sort of being unplugged and letting the system do its job properly, and getting things back in order. It's very important for us, especially for young kids, as they're growing, they need more sleep. And let's look at it you know, they get up early in the morning, they have to be rushed to school, and then you know, they're in school the rest of the day, and then they come home. And obviously, there's a lot more activities that happens nowadays with kids going to martial arts and going to learn music and everything else. So their brain is always being used throughout the day, the brain needs to shut off for a while so that it can actually regenerate itself and regenerate all its neurophysiology and all the hormones that are in the brain that make it think properly focus properly has a lot to do with the mood. So, these actually are very important, especially as young age for kids. And we know that you know, having the summer off and relaxing and staying up a little bit longer and then needing to go back to school, you know, needs to go back to a regular sleeping hour and then there might be a little bit of anxiety involved with I'm going to go back to schools, am I going to see some of my friends? Or am I going to see, you know, I'm going to have a different teacher. So, there is a little bit of anxiety definitely involved with that. And we all know as adults, whenever we are stressed out a little bit that sleep always gets pushed back just a little bit.

Lisa Beres 08:19

Yeah, it's crazy how it can affect you on such subtle levels, like just knowing you have an important meeting the next day or you know, just silly little things can stop you from sleeping. Okay, so many people hell melatonin as the holy sleep grail. But what do we know about using melatonin for sleep? And can you shed a little light with our listeners on some of the common misconceptions about it?

Dr. Hakimi 08:42

Of course, melatonin is a good molecule to use for adults. And we use it for many different reasons. And there's new research that talks about, you know, high doses of melatonin being used for cancer or being used for diabetes being used for sleep. But melatonin is or was specifically given to people who had jetlag, or they basically had a hard time falling asleep because they're a nighttime worker, and their circadian rhythm is a little bit off and they needed to have this molecule so that they can sleep better. Melatonin is a natural hormone that's released in the body, sort of as the day is sort of coming close and then as the light is going down, we have more production of melatonin in the brain that helps us calm down and slowly go to sleep. So, melatonin is very important in our body for asleep, but was mainly used for a jetlag and also for people who work at night. They work night shifts, and they need to change that. But then we started giving it to kids as well and there not a lot of good research that tell us what melatonin is doing. And what's a good milligram dosage for kids. And, you know, a lot of our kids based on their sensitivities can have actually reactions to it. They can basically have melatonin and then have a hard time getting up in the morning or be groggy throughout the day and not learn in school as much as they're supposed to do.

Ron Beres 10:09

So, it's the opposite effect. So that's one of the drawbacks for children potentially, is that they're intending to help them sleep better, right, but they're taking melatonin. And basically, it's disrupting their day.

Dr. Hakimi 10:18

Exactly. And melatonin is sort of became known as this natural molecule that everyone can use along with the rest of the supplements that are out there, there's five HTP, there's l tryptophan, there is passionflower, Valerian root, I mean, the amount of ingredients that we can use for sleep is a lot, but we have to make sure that in this age group where the body is changing, the hormones are changing. And some of our kids as they grow, they're going to go through puberty, we need to make sure that the amount of physiological changes and physiological stimulation that we do on the brain is less than adults, because as adults basically reached our plateau. And so, the melatonin is going to work this as opposed to with kids. So, it's really important to figure out the dosage. And again, unfortunately, there's not a lot of good research that tells us this is a good milligram dosage for kids. And again, it creates some side effects with some of our kids.

Ron Beres 11:13

Why is this as a side note, I'm curious, like so I'm a napper and I know I'm an adult, right? Does napping help? You know, like, if you just can't make it through three o'clock 3pm and take a five-minute nap? Is that really helping us or is it there's a different for everybody?

Dr. Hakimi 11:27

Napping is one of the most important things that we can do for our body, that 10-minute nap during the day is rejuvenates the brain. A lot of countries as you know, actually have that sort of mandatory napping at your desk where we don't have that unfortunately, we don't get a chance to do that. However, napping actually regenerates a lot of the brain physiology because we go through certain phases like alpha waves. And that alpha wave sort of brings back the natural physiology and sort of re centers the brain a little bit so napping, the most important thing.

Lisa Beres 12:05

Was it Albert Einstein who napped every day? If that doesn't tell us something. I don't know what I need to nap more. I need my inner Albert. I don't nap at all. I actually feel worse where Ron can nap for five minutes. And he's like, why I feel like a million bucks. And I'm like, what? I wake up feeling worse. So, I don't know.

Dr. Hakimi 12:22

Well, I mean, look at Einstein�s hair. It's always bushy. It seemed like he was always getting out of bed.

Ron Beres 12:31

Right. So, I had no idea.

Lisa Beres 12:33

That's where you get it wrong. Well Dr. Hakimi going back to melatonin. One of the things that really surprised me when I was preparing for this show was that melatonin even though our body it's a natural hormone, the supplements are actually synthetically produced by a chemical process. So, the melatonin that people are taking whether it's adults or children isn't actually natural. Is that correct?

Dr. Hakimi 12:55

So yes, the term natural is used when we're using a hormone or a molecule in the body like B complex, B 12. And these are all sort of considered natural. But when we produce them, we cannot get them from a natural source. That means we cannot get them to remember things that are inside someone's body, inside someone's brain. So, we have to make them synthetically and use them synthetically. So, although they come very close to the natural melatonin that we have in our body, it might not necessarily be exactly the same thing. And also, it's been produced chemically, you're absolutely right. Wow. Yeah.

Lisa Beres 13:32

So people don't think that they think it's just, I mean, it's, you know, your body makes it I don't know, I guess people don't get they don't dig that deep to find out like how things are made and where they're sourced and all of that.

Dr. Hakimi 13:43

I think that's one of the issues that we have is our parents actually think that because something is considered natural. That means that it's okay to use. But, you know, we see symptoms, we see side effects, we see abnormalities sometimes because people are using these natural ingredients. And without knowing that, what's the effect and what's the side effect, and that sometime causes issues. Let's look at probiotic which is, you know, something that we recommend to a lot of our patients, but some of our patients don't need it and just taking probiotics can cause issues for them, like digestive abnormalities, abdominal pain, I've even seen acne because people were using double dose of probiotic without needing it. So just because something is considered natural, it does not mean that we have to go for it and use it right.

Ron Beres 14:34

That's a good point. I'm curious too. So, with melatonin, our body naturally produces that, does it stop producing as much when you're supplementing it with a synthetic? Is it like for example, is that a crutch making you even like weaker off later from producing your own melatonin?

Dr. Hakimi 14:46

I don't think there is a specific research that shows us if melatonin stops producing itself but your point is very valid because we know when we give someone thyroid, we give them sort of thyroid medications or we give them testosterone. A lot of worries with thyroid and testosterone treatment is basically we're getting the gland the physiological organ that makes and produces these hormones that says, if I'm getting it from outside, why should I produce it myself so it stops functioning. We have not seen that with melatonin. There are no studies that shows people who use melatonin supplements actually stop making their own melatonin. But we don't know it because melatonin does not have blood chemistry value. So, it's nothing that we can actually check directly in blood and say, Oh, your levels are low. Let us give you more. There are certain esoteric tests that might test for it. But again, they're not specific values. And so, it's really hard to figure out if someone's melatonin is low or in response to taking melatonin their melatonin has decreased.

Ron Beres 15:47

Oh, excellent. But Dr. Hakimi, you know, switching gears for what are the main advantages of homeopathy for sleep disruption?

Dr. Hakimi 15:55

Ron, I've been practicing homeopathy since 2005. And I teach doctors to practice homeopathy as well. The use of homeopathy because of the fact that these are ingredients that are found in nature. And we're using them in very diluted amounts comparing to let's say, melatonin, which we say three milligrams, or we say six milligrams, homeopathic medications are so diluted that you're not going to find any milligrams of them in the homeopathic medication. So, in essence, most of the ingredient is diluted. And homeopathic medications are used to stimulate the body to do something. So, let's say, again, we're going to stay with this example and say, melatonin, we know that creates an effect of sleeping on the brain. And the more melatonin you use, obviously, the higher this effect is going to get. So, based on the milligram dosages that you're going to use this effect is going to get more but in homeopathic medication, there's very minimal amounts of any ingredients. So, you're basically not pushing the body to do anything. You're stimulating the body; you're giving it its small ingredients that it needs to do basically sending messages to the body and telling the body this is what you need to be doing right now which is sleeping. So completely different than the supplements. And a lot of the time, this is something that we need to correct with a lot of my patients come in and they say they use Homeopathies. And when I asked and I said what homeopathic are you using? And they tell me and they say melatonin or they're using turmeric and I have to explain that homeopathy is so diluted that you're not going to have any milligram dosages. So that's the advantage of homeopathy that is only going to stimulate the body to do something. But it's not going to overcorrected, meaning with melatonin, you're going to get the effect which is sleeping. But if it gets overcorrected, then you get groggy during the day, with homeopathic medication, you're not going to have that effect, you're only going to get the sleep effect and not the grogginess because there's not a lot of ingredients in there.

Lisa Beres 17:59

Wow, that's interesting. And also, that there's no danger of dependence on homeopathy medications, and that they really don't have side effects, right, that you would see with over the counter and other kind of sleep aids and other medications.

Dr. Hakimi 18:13

We have not seen side effects with homeopathic medications, and because of the fact that there's, you know, minimal ingredients in them, and they're just to stimulate the body. But as you said, there is no dependence, that means, you know, I might give the homeopathic medication for sleep to one of my patients for the duration of the time that they're going through a stressful situation. And right after that I can take it away, and it's not going to cause any dependence is not going to cause any other abnormalities. What we see. It's amazing that some of our patients actually respond by being agitated and hyperactive. When they take melatonin. It's a reverse reaction that some patients have where, you know, they take them melatonin and they can't sleep at night, you're not going to see any of those effects or side effects with homeopathic medications. Again, their natural, the metal minimal, that is just to help encourage the body to do something.

Lisa Beres 19:09

I love that concept. I know Ron and I were on a vacation. And we were with a couple and the guy was on some heavy I think it was Ambien heavy sleep medication. And we were up with his wife playing games. And um, he came out and he had this whole conversation with us. And we were like, Oh, that's great. You know, do you want to play? He said no, he talked to us for a while he went back to bed. He had no recollection of the entire conversation the next day. He didn't remember talking to us. And it was really creepy. And I know we've all heard a lot of crazy stories about people making bread. I think it was my mom's friend got up and made loads of loaves of bread and like had no recollection of it. The next day. He'll he was doing something productive. But that's scary. It's really scary to think of what you could do. You're in an altered state. Right? So, I thought I'd throw that out there for listening. So, what are supplements like melatonin in gummies form, why is that problematic? We're seeing so many gummies. Now, gummy everything for kids and adults, right? Everybody wants to take something that tasty. Is that a problem for melatonin?

Dr. Hakimi 20:11

Gummies one of the issues that a lot of functional medicine doctor and doctors who practice more natural medicine are having right now. Because in one point, we say, well, let's give them melatonin. But let's also add a lot of sugars and other ingredients that fillers and everything else that we know, we don't know, what's their effect to your kids. And the sugars are going to actually sort of make the kids a little bit hyper. And that's not the most of the problems, the problem is that these things are number one, going to cause a physiological effect in the body with rubbing up the body a little bit. And the other hand, they actually taste good. And we know that there have been studies have shown that there have been multiple numbers of incidental accidental use of gummies by kids just because it tastes good. And you know, it's sort of the last resort that the parents have. It's like, they sit there with the kid and the kid does not go to bed. And you know, they also have to sleep because the next day they have to go to work. And then at a certain point, they give up and they say, well, here's a melatonin, and it tastes good. And sometimes you see kids go after finding these bottles and have, you know, huge doses of these things. And studies have shown that that is one of the problems, accidental use of these things or overuse of these things. The other thing is the amount of melatonin that given each of these does not necessarily stay constant. So, one night you're giving your kid and melatonin less than what it says on the package. And then another night, you might be giving them something that's much stronger and much higher. So, we cannot keep that sort of table. And on the other hand, here's the amazing thing is we're just giving our children a natural thing per say, but we're using sugars and everything that goes with it and active ingredients and cartilage and everything else.

Lisa Beres 22:01

And cartilage. Thank you. For the vegans out there - fellow vegans. You don't want to be ingesting cartilage. Okay, now, if you guys are non-vegans, and you'd like cartilage go for it. A lot of people don't know gummies. Right, Dr. Hakimi? Gummies and gelatin capsules? Tell us about that.

Dr. Hakimi 22:19

Exactly. I mean, we have gelatin capsules that are specifically made for vegetarians. So you we can actually a lot of our supplements, you know, body of harmony, a lot of my supplements are based on vegetarian capsules, because it can be anything and not only it's one thing to say, we are vegetarian, and we're vegan, and we don't want to be on it. The other thing is, what reaction is this causing in your body? If you have a cap that's not vegetarian, and it has some other molecule in it? What's in there? And where did it come from? And what reaction is it causing in your body? Is it actually damaging your body a little bit more that you don't know? If so, we're trying to fix something. And then we're adding something else to the body?

Ron Beres 23:00

We're adding mad cow disease.

Lisa Beres 23:03

Yeah, I mean, I don't think a lot of people know that that comes from cartilage of animals - cows and pigs, right? Or is it just cows? I don't know. The first time I heard that, which really wasn't that long ago. I was like, what I had spent a lot of my life you know, taking supplements not even paying attention to something that's such an easy fix, right? You don't even have to be vegan to go well; I don't think I want cartilage you know unnecessarily from an animal in my body. And then, you know, going back to we have, you know, an epidemic of obesity, childhood obesity is really on the rise. And you've got artificial food dyes and fillers. And like you said the sugar and maybe even artificial sweeteners, we don't know what they're putting in these vitamins and the supplements marketed towards children.

Dr. Hakimi 23:45

And guys, you know, these gummies have to have a purple color or a red color or a blue color. So, what does that color come from? Melatonin is not that color. So, you're adding all these things. And then we worry about some of our kids are having ADD and ADHD and we said, well, where's this coming from? A lot of words coming from is what's in their diet, what they're eating. And again, it can be this natural stuff that we think, well, these are absolutely natural and amazing. But the unnatural sweeteners and everything else that's in there can be the culprit. Yeah.

Lisa Beres 24:16

And that's the last thing and then like kids going to bed and sucking on these dummies right before they go to sleep also can contribute to tooth decay and all that too.

Ron Beres 24:24

While I was there. I actually for some reason I self-medicated my throat with cough drops for multiple days when I was like 12 years old, like every night for like a week. Went away and I was like, I'm still going to continue this because I never ever want a sore throat and I went to the dentist and they had like 11 cavities. It was crazy.

Lisa Beres 24:43

I used to eat cough drops are fun. Yeah, I've for fun. I know we're dishing all our dirty secrets. Dr. Hakimi? I don't know there was a brand that was kind of chewy and I thought they just tasted they were like cherry flavored and I just ate him like candy. But I do remember doing like a stupid, stupid, you know? Your brains aren't developed till you're 25. So, but one of Ron and I's favorite companies is called Boiron and they manufacture homeopathic medications, including sleep medication, one of which is called Sleep calm. I'm sure you're familiar with it. And if so, can you explain to our listeners how it works?

Dr. Hakimi 25:18

Of course, yeah, I'm familiar with SleepCalm, I'll give it to a lot of my patients as first line. Because in my office, it's all about treating things as much as we can with homeopathic medications first, then we go to supplements, then, you know, we do IV, nutrition, and everything else. And all of those comes sort of the later stage. But so, homeopathy first and the reason for homeopathy first, again, we said they're made from ingredients in nature, they have no side effects that we have seen so far. And they don't make people groggy or sleepy or tired or wired or anything else. And that's the most important thing about it is the fact that the most important part of homeopathic medication is the fact that they do not cause any side effects. And they are natural, and they stimulating the body to get certain things done. A lot of the medications that we give to our patients or natural supplements like melatonin, the force the kid to fall asleep, because we're raising the hormone in their body, but homeopathic medications are stimulating the body to get his job done. The SleepCalm. The important thing about sleep calm is that it has multiple ingredients in them. And these ingredients can help the child number one with falling sleep, which contains sleep with the anxiety that they might have for falling sleep with the bad dreams that they might have at night. So, and then when they wake up in the morning, they're actually refreshed. So, there is a major change. When and a lot of the times I have to take kids from supplements and medications back to homeopathic medications. And we see the change in their day to day life. Because when they wake up in the morning, they're not fatigued. They're not groggy, they don't have an attitude.

Lisa Beres 27:04

Oh, parents, did you hear that? No attitude. Get this product. Sleep calm kids, it'll be worth every penny. Parents of teens quickly.

Dr. Hakimi 27:16

Sleep calm is great. It has helped a lot of my patients. And it is my number one source. If anyone has any sleep issues, we go to sleep calm first. And that usually gets the job done. We're not talking about I'm not talking about an adult's, as you mentioned, are on strong medications. In that case, there is a period of detoxifying them from the medication, bringing them down to the supplement first, slowly decreasing them from that as well and bringing them down back to homeopathic medication. So, it takes a little bit time but with kids because we don't use medication. It's very easy to go from melatonin right away to sleep calm and see the effects.

Lisa Beres 27:54

Oh, okay. So that's good to know. They can make that switch. But like if you're on heavy medication and you're listening, you do want to do a little detox transition. Correct. Like you don't want to go cold turkey.

Dr. Hakimi 28:05

Yes, it's good to see a functional medicine doctor, a functional medicine pediatrician or, you know, a homeopath who knows what they're doing so that they can actually slowly take the kid from the medications and slowly put them in a dosage change, sort of put them back on a homeopathic mission and keep them there.

Lisa Beres 28:22

Yeah, I think that's so fantastic. If you are new to homeopathy and you this is the first time that you are hearing about it. Boiron I think has been around for 90 years. They originated in France and they have 250 homeopathic remedies. We actually found them a lot of people know if they're cold and flu medicine. Do you know how to say it Dr. Hakimi? Because I pronounce it wrong.

Dr. Hakimi 28:44

I want to see how you guys put in it because that's one of my patients.

Lisa Beres 28:50

Oscillococcinum.

Ron Beres 28:53

Oscillococcinum

Lisa Beres 28:55

You copied me. Okay, how do we how do you pronounce it?

Dr. Hakimi 28:58

Oscillococcinum.

Lisa Beres 28:59

Oscillococcinum. Um yeah. Okay, we get we get the Cox in their accent. Yeah, it is the best is the best if you have a cold or flu at the first signs, you take that puppy and you will be golden and there's throat calm, and I've given them plugs here just because like their products are so incredible. And their products have no known drug interaction. So, if you are taking something you're not going to have to worry, like Dr. Hakimi said you don't have these side effects and these known drug interactions and all of these potential for addiction and dependence and things like this low side effects if any, so check them out. In fact, we're giving away $200 Amex gift card where you can shop till you drop for homeopathic remedies and we're also giving away a sleep box that's going to be loaded with some of the products we talked about sleep calm, sleep calm for adults, which is 12 and older and then sleep calm kids, which is three years and older. And then they also have stress tablets Stress calm, which I don't know who couldn't use that today, we live in a very stressful world. You know, instead of reaching for that, you know, glass of wine or vodka or cup of coffee, think about maybe there's something that your body needs something that can assist it to get that stress. Because, you know, it's a stressful world. It really is. And there's nothing wrong with feeling stressful, but it's just how do we manage that, like, we need good techniques that aren't going to cause us all these other problems, right, like being drugged up and reaching for addictive substances. So, Dr. Hakimi. Can you leave us with some tips like parents who are struggling with this back to school besides the homeopathic remedies, what other things can they do like maybe to create a dark room or electronics, things like that, like some natural tips that they could implement, like today to help with?

Dr. Hakimi 30:46

Electronics that you said, I think is the major thing because kids are on iPhones and all these electronic gadgets and the blue light, obviously, it's going to change the way the brain functions, the brain physiology as well as the fact that we know and in my house with Shiva, my wife, the rule is as we turn lights off, they don't turn back on. So you create this effect that as if you know it's becoming night and things are dimming out and they're not coming back on anymore, which basically creates the natural melatonin so why should we give it to kids when we can actually create it ourselves, right, so as you turn lights off, or you're dim, we have a lot of dimmers in the house as you dim things down, don't dim it back up don't turn it back on. That way you're actually going to get this effect as if you know things are winding down your brain will understand that it will get the messages that it needs to shut up at a certain point so that would be sort of the number one the other thing is you said right now we're stressed out there's so much information out there there's so many stressors out there nowadays and it's very important that within the two three hours before sleep we cut out I even tell my adult patients don't watch the news at night because you know will rev you up and guess what you're releasing hormones in your body that are not going to let you sleep so cut that out so that there is nothing if you want to see anything or watch anything it can be you know with kids we can do little puzzles to our employees that they want with adults is mostly watching you know. That�s funny because we know a production of serotonin when we have production of serotonin serotonin is the activating molecule. Its job is to help us sleep. It's that fuzzy feeling that we get as we sleep. That's all serotonin. So, you can rev up your serotonin at night by watching something funny but by you know having something the other thing is...

Lisa Beres 32:42

Everybody loves Raman go back and watch.

Dr. Hakimi 32:47

Shiva and I my wife and I are now hooked on Taxi. Right, we're going back to Alaska has become our favorite person.

Lisa Beres 32:57

I love it. I know all those good comedies. It's so true. Dr. Hakimi. I mean, I don't watch anything violence, I don't watch anything or scary as a rule of thumb, because I used to and then sure enough, if I was by myself in the shower, I'd have like, not only crazy visions of you know, someone coming in and like murdering me, but I would dream, I would have horrible dreams. I'm going to have nightmares that night. So, it's your super conscious and your subconscious that take in the information, whether you like it or not, whether consciously you go, no, no, no, I'm not going to think about that. Again, your subconscious will. And it'll seep into your dreams and it'll seep into your, you know, your day to day and that fear. You know, like you said, with the news, cutting off the news, I am a really big believer in that, because we have to sort of program our mind and take control of our thoughts, right, we have to control our thoughts and why not fill it with something joyful and funny, like you said, before you go to sleep versus something that you're going to have nightmares all night with. How are you going to have a productive day the next day, when you've just had a really stressful night of sleep? Because you've been thinking about some horror movie.

Ron Beres 33:58

So, I had one odd question for Dr. Hakimi. So, like when I go to bed, sometimes I'm just out like a light in three seconds. I just fall asleep. Is that a good sign or a bad sign? Did I exhaust myself too much? And that's not good, or is it just good to fall asleep fast?

Dr. Hakimi 34:13

Well, it depends. If you walk outside, people start beating you up. It's because now they're jealous of you that you can fall asleep.

Lisa Beres 34:21

I know, I am one of those people.

Ron Beres 34:24

That's a good thing. I wasn't sure if that meant something. Right.

Lisa Beres 34:27

Okay, it means you're tired.

Dr. Hakimi 34:30

Thanks for joking. No, but yes. So, a lot of people have really good sleep. And it basically means they can shut off their mind very easily. A lot of people go to bed and they think or they're used to thinking, what are they going to do the next day and how's it going to happen and why and what else? So, they actually make the bed for thinking and for planning the next day. We should not do that and you're probably well who doesn't do that you go to bed when you're tired which is one of the things that we say even for adults, when they sleep, go to bed when you're only when you know you're going to fall asleep. And then when you get there, your job is to sleep, your job is not to plan the rest of your week, you know, when you're. So, you're basically one of those people who does that. And you also have good physiology where your cortisol is not being produced at night, you actually get your cortisol during the day, which gives you energy and at night, it starts going away, and you're calming molecules, you're the activating hormones, like Gaba and serotonin come into effect. And these are the ones that knock you out and keep your sleep. So that's the basic explanation of why some people fall asleep much better.

Ron Beres 35:40

So, I'm a deep sleeper, not a deep thinker.

Lisa Beres 35:44

I get a lot done at night. I'm like, Oh, I forgot to send that email tomorrow. I need to do that. So yeah, but no training yourself to run meditates every night. That's probably why you fall asleep. Really good. You're really disciplined about meditating, right when you hit the pillow and so just creating new good habits and I love your point about the blue light use those blue light blocking glasses here I'll demonstrate them because we're going to have this on YouTube so this is the studious me. Ron is going to put this on. Yeah, the blue light blocking glasses these are great you know when you're working at the computer and watching TV if you are watching TV at night to kind of like you said tone down that kind of wind down like we would if we were out in nature right if we were camping, the light would go out we would have a dark and we would wake up when the sun rose right naturally so kind of you know lining back with like our natural body's rhythms so I think that's fantastic and turn off your phones guys you know please put your phone on airplane mode all your kids your teens turn it off but at a minimum put it on airplane mode when they go to bed there's nobody needs their phone on it night they just don't because we're really big into reducing your electromagnetic radiation in and around your home and in and around your sleep environment. So, well this was incredible Dr. Hakimi. I learned so much and I know listeners did too. Friends if you're ready to dream the impossible dream. Rest that racing mind and enjoy some well-deserved and highly sought-after healthy sleep head to ronandlisa.com/podcast for a chance to win that $200 Amex card and $85 worth of natural sleep solutions from our friends at Boiron.

Ron Beres 37:23

Thank you Dr. Hakimi and to learn more about Dr. Hakimi work and service visit bodyofharmony.com. To learn more about natural sleep remedies from Boiron the world's leader in homeopathic medicine. Visit Bit.ly/Boironsleep that's BoironSleep.

Lisa Beres 37:45

And we will have all the links in the show notes at ronandlisa.com/podcast. Stay tuned next week friends and get ready to uplevel your health. See you then. Bye.

Ron Beres 37:55

Bye everyone. Take care. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Narrator 38:02

This episode of the Healthy Home hacks podcast has ended. But be sure to subscribe for more healthy living strategies and tactics to help you create the healthy home you always dreamed up. And don't forget to rate and review so we can continue to bring you the best content. See you on the next episode.