Tip of the Day - Sleep

Summary

Dr. Mike discusses the importance of quality sleep for overall health, highlighting that poor sleep can lead to issues like low energy, hormone imbalances, and mental health problems. He advises ensuring restful sleep, addressing potential breathing issues, and consulting a doctor if sleep problems persist.

Full Transcript

Hey everybody, Dr. Mike here coming at you for the Referral Class Network. It's good to be with you again. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about something important today regarding sleep. I have a lot of patients that struggle with their sleep, and it's one of those things that I'll just tell you a few basic things to think about regarding your sleep.

First, sleep is so fundamental to your health and well-being. Bad sleep can result in poor concentration, low energy, and for men, it can result in low testosterone and hormone imbalance issues in both men and women. Ultimately, it can affect mental health as well, with anxiety and depression that can come along with sleep problems. So, Sleep Quality is really important.

One of the measures for the quality of your sleep is how you feel when you wake up in the morning. Ask yourself: do you feel refreshed? Do you feel like you got enough sleep, or do you feel like you're dragging through the day as a result of a poor sleep pattern? If you wake up more often than not feeling tired, that might be a sign that there's something to work on with your sleep.

When it comes to sleep, there are various considerations, and we can go into more details in future conversations. But I'd like to point out the anatomical considerations of breathing. From the tip of your nose all the way down through the base of your lungs, it's all part of the respiratory system. I've got a number of patients with large tonsils in the back of their throat or nasal obstructions, such as nasal septal deviations or sometimes the turbinates, which are structures in the nose that are extra large, making it hard for the person to breathe, particularly when they lie down flat. This becomes a big issue at night.

So, number one is to make sure that the quality of your sleep is high enough that most of the time, you wake up refreshed. Number two, if you notice that your sleep is not that great—if you're snoring, if your partner is telling you that you stop breathing at night, or if you find yourself having difficulty breathing during the day due to possible nasal obstruction—it is time to see your doctor. At that point, discuss the possibility of an exploration of your nasal cavity to see if there's any blockage there.

I've got a whole bunch of people with sleep apnea issues, and we can talk in more detail about that and how to work on it. But that's Dr. Mike coming at you regarding a really important health issue: the quality of your sleep and how to work on that with your healthcare provider. With that, signing off—looking forward to seeing you next time. Thanks, and have a great day!

Summary

Dr. Mike emphasizes the importance of investigating the underlying causes of sleep issues, such as breathing problems or other discomforts, through sleep studies before resorting to medications. He advocates for understanding the root causes rather than immediately prescribing sleep medicines.

Full Transcript

Hey everybody, it's Dr. Mike again coming at you from the Referral Class Network. I'm grateful to join you again today. I wanted to talk about an important component of my medical practice related to sleep. What I find a lot of times is that we doctors are more than happy to just give out medicine when it comes to sleep problems. I recently talked to a patient who has been on two major sleep medicines for years, and I asked her, as she was a new patient, if she'd ever had a sleep study to investigate why she wasn't sleeping. She said no, and I thought about that—how often, when we see the doctor, the answer is medicines, pills instead of investigation. I try not to do this, and I know many of us as healthcare providers try to do a good job with this.

The medicines can be very helpful, but in many of my patients' cases, when we do the sleep study, we find issues that are related to why they're not sleeping. It's not just a matter of using medicines; it has a lot to do with dealing with their breathing issues, grinding of their teeth, muscle pain, or other issues in different parts of their body that make them uncomfortable, causing them to shift around. Many times, I find people with urinary issues—they're up several times every night using the bathroom, which can cause problems.

My point behind this conversation is that before we accept medications when it comes to sleep issues, as patients or as doctors prescribing them, we ought to know what it is and why it is that way. I'm a big fan of sleep studies. I think before you proceed with any kind of medicine, you ought to strongly consider getting an investigation to sort through what the issue might be before you just start taking a medicine. With that, I'm Dr. Mike. It was good to join you again today for the Referral Class Network, and I hope to see you again soon. Bye.