One sentence. The shorter you sleep, the quicker you die.

You are most welcome. And just to add to the introduction, I often say that the only other thing that is more important than sleep, is breathing.

So I come from a medical background and my specialty is children and children's sleep. So I was a midwife and I was a health visitor. Now the four main components of a health visitor are child psychology, child development, sleep, and nutrition. But the very subject of sleep has just fueled my brain and I'm so excited by anything in regards to sleep. So whether it's helping tired parents, exhausted CEOs, and of course children, sleep is there to be achieved.

It's quite interesting actually because when people come to me, they're normally really broken. Particularly young parents and working here, especially here in Dubai. High-powered jobs, trying to navigate family, trying to navigate life in Dubai, which is 'on'. There is no 'off' switch. So typically people who come to me, they are absolutely exhausted. They've waited almost too long before seeking help.

Find what works for you.

No, absolutely not. Just like we all have different shoe sizes, we all have different sleep needs. And what works with one person will absolutely not work with another.

The most important one for me is light. Light exposure. So natural sunlight. And this is a habit that I really do not compromise. So exposure to natural sunlight or light in the morning—and it needs to be as little as three minutes, so everything is manageable as long as we allow it to be—and then again natural light in the evening. Now whether that's going out for a walk in the evening or whether it's just sitting out on the balcony or in the garden for five minutes, that is going to really strengthen our circadian rhythm.

So there's lots of different factors there. So for example, Australia. Australia sleeps the longest of... they're in the top five. Of course it moves around, but they're in the top five. But their sleep quality and sleep efficiency is one of the lowest in the world. So it's really helpful this study from the Oura Ring that is showing us it's not about duration, it's about quality of sleep. Now one of the main reasons... since we first arrived on this earth, safety is a really important factor. So if, for example, I have a CEO I'm working with, and I will ask them what's on their nightstand. And if their nightstand has books relating to their performance or to their workplace, that's the first thing that will be removed from their bedroom. Because that will put their brain into a state of high alert. And so if the brain is now on high alert, the brain can't shift down the gear into deep sleep. And it's the deep sleep that really builds up on that efficiency. So I believe it's safety. So, you know, again, the Middle East, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, we are one of the safest countries in the world. We can go out, we can take a walk at 3 o'clock in the morning and not fear for our safety. And that is so important when it comes to efficiency of sleep. I think we are all here, most... 99% of people that are here, are here because they want to be here and they have a goal and they have aspirations. And this country really allows us to achieve that.

Yes. I'm also wondering because of course the country is set up for a cooler environment because we are so warm, it is so hot, and we do have the AC. Now the AC enables us to sleep in a cooler environment which then supports better sleep. You know, the ideal temperature is 18.3. Ideal. Now of course we're all different so it's about finding what, you know, which temperature suits us all best. But I think that also has a significant factor.

Well first of all, I do believe that we're living in a world where we are so overwhelmed with information. And that's happening now more than at any other time in history. And in order for the brain to sleep, of course it needs to dial down. Yes, there is all that information out there, but it doesn't all apply to us. So it's almost like we switch off. You've got all that information but actually it's too much information. Just like if you go out for a meal and your food that comes to the table, on the plate there's just so much of it, it almost... you've lost your appetite. And I think that's what's happening, that we are being given too much information and it's also not tailored enough. You know, like you said around the magnesium and taking NAD+ and dimming the lights down. All of those things actually put so much pressure on sleep. And if we just take a step back, we'll sleep better.

Oh that's such a lovely question. So, learning to fall asleep is like learning to drive a car, learning to ride a bicycle, or learning to swim. Very, very few people, my father I think was one of them, got into a car, turned the engine, and off they went. It's a process. And it's so much a process for adults and children. So it is about learning how to do it. And if we've not learned it as a child, going into adulthood, that whole process of independent sleep makes it very difficult for us to sleep independently without all of these sleep hacks and associations. And when we have our children, and the emphasis is so much on routine and positive sleep associations because what's also important is that the brain is the most powerful associative machine. And so, you know, having the story before bedtime, having the bath before bedtime... now that's not just a positive association, that's physiological as well because it does drop the core body temperature down. But all of these things, it's almost like a GPS for sleep for children. But yes, us as adults, we need to have, bring that routine back. And that's what's going to allow our brain to go on this journey for sleep.

I think with children they are so in the moment. Everything is about the here and now. And we've lost that. As adults, if we could just bottle a little bit of that. They are so in the moment. Yeah, we think too much about the future and tomorrow and... yeah. And so, come bedtime, it's almost like their brain has been emptied and they know what's coming next. Whereas with us as adults, exactly that. We are thinking about all the things that we didn't do today, all the things that we hadn't achieved, and 'Oh my goodness, I know if I don't go to sleep now, then my day is going to be ruined tomorrow.' So we're not in the here and now. So yeah I do think as adults we do need to go back to that place where just being.

Yes. So there's two systems that we need for sleep. And without these two systems, none of us can sleep, be it an adult or a child. So the first system is what we call our circadian rhythm. Now that is so much more important than we give it credit for. And for example in 2017, three doctors were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine because of their work on the circadian rhythm. So it is absolutely critical for sleeping. Now, the circadian rhythm is all about light. And when we strengthen that circadian rhythm, we then sleep so much better. But it's the type of light. As adults now and even as children, we're getting so much junk lighting. Just like we don't want to consume junk food, we also don't want to consume junk lighting, particularly first thing in the morning and when we go to sleep at night. And a perfect example of junk lighting would be: So in the morning, that very important sleep hormone, melatonin, that has left our body around the same time every single morning. And the brain is understanding that it's approximately 6:30. Now if we look at the phone and that's the first thing we do in the morning, we have now just given our brain and body a huge shot of cortisol and adrenaline because the light perceives... the light from the phone is perceived by the brain as 2 o'clock in the afternoon because it's the spectrum. So suddenly we're starting our day stressed. So natural light is really important. So that's circadian rhythm. And it's also about recognizing that our sleep tonight will start from the minute we wake up in the morning. So that's your first mechanism, the circadian rhythm. So natural light. The second one, which is also of equal importance, is what we call sleep pressure. So with our children, it's known as awake windows, how long our children can stay awake before they feel sleepy. But our sleep pressure, a good example would be, if we've, you know, were really tired, we come home and we sat on the sofa for... we just think 'Oh I'll just have a nap for 10 minutes' around 6 pm. That is going to rob your body of sufficient sleep pressure not only for the beginning of your sleep at bedtime, but for the whole night. Oh my god, I'm doing that so often. So two factors. Two factors. That's it. So again just think about light and think about being awake long enough so you can sleep long enough.

Well there is so much to that question. And what's very interesting is, it was a German neuroscientist who made it very clear... there actually there isn't a difference. There isn't chronotypes. Although there's lots of other neuroscientists will argue. Oh. But this German neuroscientist, he brought a group of people into the Colorado forest and they went into a cave. Now within these, the group of people, there were people who swore 'I am absolutely an owl,' meaning my melatonin comes in late at night and it leaves late in the morning. That's my biological clock. Equally ones who were 'I'm only a lark,' meaning melatonin comes in early in the morning and they're early to bed. And all in between. And after spending one month in this cave, everyone was waking up within 30 minutes of the sun rising and going to sleep at sunset. Light is so important. Now of course there's varying degrees because we are all different. And there's another group who believe, neuroscientists who believe that the reason why the chronotypes are there is because going back into the plains of Africa, when some were sleeping, we needed to make sure that we could watch over those sleeping because of course when we sleep we're vulnerable and any saber-toothed tiger could come and kill. So those who were owls, they would stay up watching while the larks slept and they would swap. Ah. But that's beginning to have less and less input. But it's really about working with your biology.

Oh again a really lovely question. So there are particular countries in the world, the research is showing that they are, there is a significant increase in MS, in multiple sclerosis, and they are thinking that's due to their exposure to sunlight. So it does have a huge impact on our overall health. Denmark for example, where the light there can be different. Again there is other health issues. So yes. But most importantly it's the spectrum of light that's coming off the natural sunlight. And what's happening is there is a group of cells that sit just behind the retina. And this group of cells, which was a fairly recent discovery, which is for me what makes sleep, all our sleep learning so exciting because there is these new discoveries all the time. So this group of cells that sit just behind the eye, it's called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Okay that sounds very fancy. SCN. Very easy. But this group of cells is about 50,000 of them. And then that relays this information. So the only function of the SCN, which is behind our eyes, is to relay and tell the time. That's it. It's not for any kind of eyesight, seeing, vision. And it's to tell all the major clocks in our body what time it is. So that's why it's so important that light coming into the eye is as accurate of outside as possible. So how many biological clocks do you think we have in our body? We have one master clock here, SCN. And then how many other clocks do you think we have in our body? Roughly?

37.

No. So for example, it's really important that we don't eat too late into the evening because our digestive clock is preparing for sleep depending on the information that we're getting. And so if we eat too late at night, then that's going to impact our cortisol which is going to be counterintuitive to the melatonin. So everything does work with synchronicity. And we want all of these things as much as we can to be aligned.

Well I think what's really, really fascinating is to realize that all sleep research didn't include any women until approximately the 1960s.

Yeah. And yet we've had the menopause since women were on this earth. And considering, you know, we make up just over 50% of the population, it's absolutely shocking. So all the research is not applicable to women. It can't be. And a woman's cycle, you know, is monthly. Whereas a man's cycle is something very different. So it absolutely does have an impact and our cycle changes, you know, and it's altered when we are menstruating. It really is altered quite dramatically. Equally, perimenopause and during menopause and post-menopause, again our cycle and our circadian rhythm is being altered. And it is primarily due to estrogen and progesterone. And of course testosterone. So all of these are having a huge impact on the quality of women's sleep. And we know that with women going through the menopause, core body temperature is impacted hugely, which again increases our cortisol which completely disrupts our biological clock.

Now I have such... I have the answers but what I'm really keen not to do is to create anxiety and more stress and more pressure around sleep. And yet the science is there. Now what we don't want to do, we don't want to weaponize the science because that's not going to help anyone. But for example, a very frightening piece of research is that on the night that we sleep for 4 hours or less, our anti-cancerous cells drop by 70% that night. There is a reason why there's so much cancer now and there's a reason why with COVID and all these different things. However, there's always positive solutions. And, you know, sometimes too much knowledge is quite frightening. Now there was one particular night, and I remember it very very clearly, there was one particular night when I was sleeping badly, and it's not often I sleep badly, but this particular night my stress levels and for particular reasons... and I was so aware of the clock ticking. And on that night I knew I got to my 4 hours and I was aware of that 4 hours and what was happening to my anti-cancerous cells. But that information, I turned into a positive. Because I then, when I did get up in the morning, I knew that I had to work hard on making sure that I corrected it the next night. So the first thing I did when I woke up in the morning—and there's three things which I often do—one, exposure to natural light. First thing I did. And three minutes I can do, and I actually did longer. The second thing, sleep is really dehydrating. And so the first thing I did was to have some coconut water. Now I don't have coconut water every day, but in terms of hydrating, we know that the electrolytes within the coconut water hydrates us much more efficiently. So, and then the third thing was I did quite a few stretches. So not physical exercise as such, but I did some stretches because in that movement, that signaled to my brain to start to add to the human growth hormone that was going to be released at night which meant I got a deeper sleep. So it's not that, you know, when we have really bad sleep, what's going to happen and how bad it is. It's about eliminating damage limitation where we can. Now the other thing as well is that, and again the studies are there, they took a group of people, healthy young adults, and they exposed them for 6 to 7 days of shortened sleep. Now that shortened sleep was 6 hours. So with most people, you know, if you look at the States for example, that's their average. But shortened sleep of 6 hours. And what they saw was that we had placed the... that group of people, their blood results showed that they were pre-diabetic. Oh yeah. So it has an impact on every... there isn't one part of us...

Yes they do. That is absolutely right. And again that's due to the more recent research that we have. And that's why we're very aware that it is becoming more accurate. And certainly the studies are showing... now it's not a huge amount, but it is significant. And again it's finding out what your sleep need is as opposed to women need more sleep. It's really about how you feel in the morning. So for example, we talk about getting the 8 hours of sleep. 8 hours is mathematically impossible in the respect that we are either a 7-hour sleeper or a 9-hour sleeper because an adult sleep cycle is approximately 90 minutes. So it can't be 8 hours. Can't be... it's not possible. So it's about finding out when you wake in the morning, do you feel rested? Are you able to wake without an alarm? Are you able to stay awake without feeling sleepy in the day? Now that's not every day, you know, sometimes you will feel sleepy. But if you're having to rely on a nap for example every day to get you through the day, then there's something not right.

So again, it's not about having an opinion. It really is about what the evidence is showing us. And as recent as 2012, there was a female neuroscientist who identified that the brain has its own drainage system. Now up until 2012 we thought the lymphatic system drained the brain as well. But that's not true. We now know that the brain has its own drainage system, it's called the glymphatic system. Now this is very relevant to your question because we know it's not an old wives' tale where an hour before midnight is more valuable than two hours after. Now why that is happening is because this glymphatic system happens in the early part of our night sleep. And this glymphatic system removes all these toxins of the day. Now the two really important toxins that are being got rid of are beta-amyloid and tau proteins, these two proteins. Now when you go to sleep at night, when we all go to sleep at night, it's almost like a dishwasher program. You put your dirty plates in the dishwasher, you set the program, and then when that program is complete, we have sparkling plates and glasses. That's what happens to our brain. When we go to sleep and have the right sleep, do you know that the brain removes fluid, 200% of the fluid that... in our brain in order to clean out all of these toxins. And it's in the early part of the night. That doesn't happen during the day when you've gone back to sleep. So you really need to go to sleep earlier. Now again it's got to be manageable. So if you've been going to bed at 12 o'clock forever, then you're not suddenly going to be able to go to bed at 10 o'clock. So bring it back slowly. So it might be 11:30 and then it might be 11:15 and then 11 might be your sweet spot.

So the first thing is, which I think is really interesting, we are a society now that is driven by data. So we've collected all this data but actually we don't really look back on it. There's so much data there that nobody has a clue about. The second thing is, none of these trackers, no matter how good they are, the Oura, the Whoop, the Apple, none of them actually are tracking your deep sleep or your rapid eye movement sleep. None of them. They're only really tracking your stillness. In order for that to be tracked, you need the gold standard which is the polysomnography test. And you know, you have to go into a clinic. And now you can actually get these, you can do the home test, they're a little bit more reliable than they used to [be]. But that's the only way that you will know. So what the trackers are doing is just an estimation I guess. Yeah. And also where they're really, really helpful to you is to use them to look for patterns. And I would absolutely recommend that you would perhaps use them for one week per month and then take them off, put them back in the cupboard, and bring them out. So not to have them every single night. That's where I don't think they're being beneficial or helpful to you in terms of your sleep.

So I think magnesium for example, magnesium is responsible for over 360 electrical activities in the body. And I do believe that because of modern day farming and the industrialization, the food... that the soil does not have the same nutrients, it doesn't have the magnesium, it doesn't have the zinc that the body needs. I also believe that if we're looking at averages of magnesium, everyone's magnesium is going down. So that average is actually not accurate for optimal health. And I also know that there are, in the States for example, in the whole of America there are only 50 labs that can accurately tell you what your magnesium level is. So when we have magnesium tests, they're not that accurate. So that's why I do believe that magnesium can be really helpful. So for example, one of my daughters, my second daughter, when she would come home and she'd say 'Oh mummy, my eye is really twitching,' I knew her magnesium was low because it is the sleep mineral and it relaxes the central nervous system in our body. There's lots of ways of getting the magnesium efficiently. So for example, if you were to have a bath in magnesium flakes, I know that is more efficient to have a bath for 10-15 minutes than taking 5 magnesium capsules because of course the skin is the second largest... It absorbs it faster I guess. Yeah. So that's really helpful. There's lots of different ways. But of course looking at our food. But then also having the magnesium capsules, but not taking them always. You know, exploring, being curious around 'is this working?' So magnesium can help hugely and I've had many clients and family members and myself, magnesium I find works really really well. Timing of course is important, so an hour before bed, not right before bed and not earlier during the day. Valerian root is a really nice supplement and that can be taken as a capsule or as a cup of tea. Passion flower. Chamomile. Ashwagandha. Interestingly with ashwagandha, that can take maybe up to two weeks for you to see the impact. So it's not that it's not worked straight away, but it is a process. So the supplements can help. But none of them are really going to help if we don't get the basic sleep health right, the foundations there.

So if you are doing all of these things and nothing is working, you're waking up, you know, in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep for long periods of time. So we're looking at insomnia. If you are waking up in the morning and absolutely exhausted and you are feeling very tired throughout the day, your focus, your emotional regulation, all of these things, that irritability, they are all showing you. And that's... your sleep is off. But you know, you know when your sleep is off. And these are all the red flags to say 'I need to seek help'. Or what you might need to do more than anything is 'I need to prioritize my help... my sleep'. I need to prioritize my sleep because if we are not prioritizing sleep, then it's not going to happen. So you need to focus, just focus on that. Like focusing on exercising, right? When you want to build up muscle. So you have to focus on sleep when you want to have a healthy lifestyle.

So, light. So important. And it might be that you will set an alarm on your phone. An hour before bed would be ideal, but if you can't do an hour, that's okay too. 30 minutes. And that alarm is to signal to you and your brain to get ready. So you dim all the lights. And the two most important places where you do not have LED lighting, where you have just incandescent bulbs, are your bathroom and your bedroom. Because the LED lighting is like exposing the biological clock to the screen. So again it works against your biological clock. Now it is getting harder and harder to get non-LED lighting. But again you just order it online, it's not that difficult, especially here in Dubai. You can order anything. But those incandescent bulbs is going to save your sleep. So wind down. And then it might be having an activity that works for you. So for some people, I love all these adult coloring books. Having a sleep journal. Writing down, so basically... and we call it the brain dump. So putting things down on paper so that when you get into bed, they're not preventing you from falling asleep. They're not causing that monkey brain. So having that wind down, dimming the lights, putting aside your work, perhaps listening to some calming music. And I know lots of people say 'don't watch the TV'. But if the TV works for you, then let the TV work for you. But you have got to be honest with yourself. Because if it's that what you are watching is really stimulating, then it's not going to impact your sleep. So for me for example, learning about sleep, I couldn't possibly listen or read it at night because it just excites me, it just makes me want to learn more and more. So I wouldn't... it wouldn't let my brain switch off. And that's what we need. We need our brain to dial down and switch off. I love reading before bed because I get so tired, sometimes I can only read two pages and then I'm gone. Yeah. Yeah, very definitely. Reading is a really helpful part of your sleep. But again if you've got the light on, make sure that your bedside light is...

If it works for you. I mean the science is showing us that it takes you longer to fall asleep with the Kindle. But when we say longer, the science actually says 17 minutes. Okay so that's not... You know, it's not that bad. It's putting things in perspective.

One sentence. The shorter you sleep, the quicker you die. Wow. Honestly, it is... It's that simple.