Photo of Dr. Bijoy John, author of "Nobody's Sleeping."

Dr. Bijoy John wants people to sleep well, especially later in life

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Note: Dr. John also outlines his seven strategies for effective sleep in podcast Episode 058.

Who doesn’t like getting a good night’s sleep? Not only do you wake up refreshed and ready to face another day, but you also often feel like a million dollars.

Dr. Bijoy John wants people of all ages, but especially seasoned citizens, to get the best sleep possible every night. The sleep specialist from Nashville suffered from sleep-related problems earlier in his life, especially during med school, after he lost his mother and in the early stages of starting his business.

“I can sympathize with people who don’t sleep well,” he explained. “After 25 years of going through that myself, I found the most holistic way to help people.”

Today, he compiled his seven proven sleep strategies in a book which he then shared with the world.

A pandemic of poor sleep

Dr. John said the problem with poor sleep is so widespread that he classified it as a worldwide pandemic impacting people everywhere.

“Some of it is related to the way people age,” he explained. “As teenagers, our biological clocks naturally move forward. However, starting around age 50, we experience hormonal changes that I call menopause and ‘manopause’ because it affects both sexes.

“Around age 70, we experience another shift as our biological clocks move forward once again, which causes us to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier,” he added.

COVID changed the sleep patterns of billions of people. Because they often had to work from home, they not only took work to bed, but everyone started sleeping in later because they no longer had to go to the office.

“So our biological clocks shifted forward, and I’m not even mentioning our addictions to cell phones,” said Dr. John. “Our phones are often our best friends today. We’re going to do whatever it takes to be on our phone.

“We will compromise our family time, personal time and workout time just to spend more time on our phones,” he explained. “As a result, people also compromise on their sleep. Our natural aging progression combined with societal influences has created a sleep debt for all of us.

“Today, we are all walking around without enough sleep to ensure we are operating at our optimal performance,” he added. “I discovered the joy and superpower of sleep. My passion is to share that with the world.”

Devices in the bedroom

Two decades ago, most people had a television in their bedrooms, and it was already concerning Dr. John.

“I used to recommend to people that they don’t watch TV in the bedroom. Today, they have a choice between watching TV and being on their phones,” he explained.

Watching television creates ambient light, which can interfere with the body’s ability to get to sleep. But, using a phone in a dark room exposes people to a more direct light which is even closer to their eyes.

“Companies are selling blue light filters, so patients are asking me if using one would help,” said Dr. John. “It’s like the difference between Coke and Diet Coke. It’s marketing genius.

“No matter what type of light goes into the eye, it tells the brain, ‘Hey, it’s daytime and there is no need to sleep,’“ he explained. “That’s why children and babies wake up at the crack of dawn because the light information goes into their eyes, which signals their brain that it’s time to get up.”

Undervaluing sleep

What may be the biggest contributing factor to getting poor sleep is the fact people no longer value the benefit of good sleep, said Dr. John. That applies to people not just in the United States, but around the world.

“We are in the hustle culture today because we are hustling all the time,” he added. “But, I think the hustle culture has met its match in sleep. You can’t data mine or hustle your way into sleep.

“Our devices create interruptions all the time. Every beep or buzz delivers more worries and news of the day to you,” he explained. “You have to leave it all behind when you enter the bedroom. That space needs to be reserved only for sex and sleeping, in that order, not for snoring and worrying.”

Although some people consider it a badge of honor to function with as little sleep as possible, they don’t realize how much better they can feel and how much more they could do with good sleep.

“People tell me all the time, ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” said Dr. John. “So, I tell them, ‘If you stay on this path, you will be dead soon enough.”

“They will literally die because poor sleep puts a lot of stress on the cardiovascular system. It raises blood pressure and creates a mental fog,” he explained. “Poor sleep affects all parts of the body to increase stress on it. It will catch up to you within 10 years.”

Some people are gifted with the ability to sleep less, but it doesn’t apply to many individuals.

“We call them ‘short-sleepers.’ People like Elon Musk, President Obama and President Trump are all short-sleepers who can still function well with less sleep.

“But even Elon Musk tells people that he’s made differently, and the rest of the people on his team need more sleep,” said Dr. John. “We should not consider short-sleepers as examples of people who can function at their optimal best even with less sleep.

“Personally, I need about seven hours of sleep a night to ensure my engine, or my body, and my supercomputer, the brain, gets every minute of those seven hours of rest,” he added.

Consequences of poor sleep

As people get older, the consequences get more serious when they don’t get enough sleep.

“Around age 50, women go through menopause, which can be very hard on them for many reasons, especially due to the drop in estrogen,” said Dr. John. “Men, too, can experience a drop in testosterone.

“Both the decline in estrogen and testosterone can create a new condition called sleep apnea,” he explained. “Earlier in life, those hormones kept everything in good stead.

“However, when those hormone levels fall, everything becomes flabby and drops into the back of the throat, which causes an obstruction by the tongue,” he added. “It disrupts our sleep because the brain gets less oxygen.

“The brain says, ‘You’re not breathing, so it wakes you up,” said Dr. John. “Even though you were sleeping, you weren’t able to get into the deep sleep stage. You remain in a micro-arousal state.”

In more serious cases, sleep apnea can cause fluid buildup in the heart. The heart in turn secretes diuretic hormones that wakes you up to urinate.

“Many people pass a clock on their way to the bathroom or have a clock in it. They see it’s 3 a.m., which triggers a rumination process that causes them to start thinking again,” said Dr. John. “For some people, an iron deficiency, can lead to Restless Leg Syndrome which can interrupt sleep.

“Some people develop what is called REM Behavior Disorder where they act out their dreams and start punching their spouses in the process,” he added.

Lack of sleep also contributes to uncontrolled diabetes, worsening heart problems and lung problems as well as mental health problems.

Benefits of good sleep

When people get all the sleep they need, it works to keep their body healed and functioning as it should.

“At night, when you sleep, your breathing goes down along with your blood pressure,” said Dr. John. “Everything is auto-regulating.

“Without good sleep, your body releases a chemical called norepinephrine, which is a stress hormone that keeps your body in a revved-up state all night so you don’t get rest,” he explained.

“Good sleep allows the body to heal and fix itself,” he added. “It also allows people to dream.”

Early in his med school years, Dr. John realized the more sleep he got, the better he performed on tests.

“Getting sleep and treating sleep disorders like sleep apnea enables the brain to be well oxygenated and helps with memory consolidation, and reducing brain fog,” he explained. “That alone helps prevent dementia.

“Good sleep improves your libido, or sex drive,” he added. “It also helps weigh loss but controlling leptin and ghrelin, two hormones that regulate appetite and body fat.

“Let’s face it. It’s better for your body from head-to-toe to get better sleep,” said Dr. John.

The role of a good mattress

People can’t really overlook the benefit of having a good mattress and the role it plays in facilitating a good night of sleep.

“I suffer from back pain myself. So, using my previous spring mattress, even if I went to bed without pain, I would often wake up with pain in my back,” said Dr. John. “After buying a foam mattress, my body pain is much less. The same applies to pillows.

“But the mattress and pillow are not going to fix your sleep, if you have a problem,” he explained. “Sleep problems need to be fixed from the inside out.

“It’s your mind that keeps you revved up, and your tongue blocks your airway,” he added. “So it’s an inside problem. Mattresses and other gadgets are trying to fix the problem from the outside.

“What will happen is that you will spend a lot of money on a mattress and worry about how you’re going to pay that bill, which won’t contribute to good sleep,” he said.

Develop a sleep routine

One of the easiest things people can do to try to improve their sleep is to develop a nighttime routine, and religiously follow it when preparing for bed.

“Sleep is a lost art. “You don’t really fall asleep, rather you succumb to sleep,” said Dr. John. “We want to hustle, hustle, hustle, and then think we can flip a switch and go to sleep. You can’t instantly go from 60 miles per hour to zero.

“Sleep works more like a dimmer. Preparing for it is like enjoying a seven-course meal,” he added. “You need the music, the cheese, wine and salad. You don’t just dive into the main course.

“It’s more of a process. The best time to sleep is between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.,” he explained. “But you need to start preparing for sleep around 8 p.m. in order to get into the proper mood. Good sleep is an ancient thing for which the modern world is ill prepared.”

Electricity was first introduced into homes less than 150 years ago. Before then, people were forced into a nighttime routine where light was reduced by candles or campfires. They had to slow down.

“Before the industrial revolution, people slept much longer without artificial lighting,” said Dr. John. “Today, those artificial lights make it feel like daytime around the clock.

“We need to recreate that dimming effect and reduce the intensity of light in our lives at night,” he added. “Gadgets in the bedroom are the ultimate distraction.

“By eliminating those distractions, you tell your suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is a part of the brain the controls the rhythm of your internal clock, that it is time to sleep,” he explained. “Simply reducing light can help improve your sleep by at least 20 percent.”

While some people will use devices to play natural sounds or meditation music to help them sleep, the problem is that phones bring with them a bunch of other distractions. Receiving notifications, along with their incessant beeping or buzzing, works to wake people from sleep. Then, the natural tendency is to check the notification. That leads to people reading email and text messages, or watching a video, which revs up their minds.

“I tell people to do meditation, but outside the bedroom, then gently walk into the bedroom and climb into bed,” said Dr. John.

Avoid sleep-inducing drugs

Some people take sleeping pills or natural melatonin to help them get to sleep. However, those often cause more problems.

“Our bodies secrete melatonin on their own, but only in darkness and in lower temperatures,” said Dr. John. “I’m not a fan of taking melatonin.

“Sometimes it is necessary to adjust our internal clocks when recovering from jetlag,” he explained. “But, on a long-term basis, it can be detrimental to your body.

“After receiving something externally, your body can tell itself that it no longer needs it, so it stops producing that chemical on its own,” he added. “After a while, the system gets rusted/downregulated and no longer works at all.

“When that happens, then people try to stop taking melatonin or sleeping pills, but their body needs a long time to recover to restart the process,” said Dr. John. “In the meantime, people get restless and increase the dosage, and they fall into a vicious cycle.

“They start taking two milligrams, but within a year, they need 20 milligrams to achieve the same effect,” he cautioned. “It’s for the same reason that I rarely prescribe sleeping pills.”

Correlation between sleep and weight

There are two hormones which control the body’s ability to process food. Leptin lowers appetite, while ghrelin increases appetite. As a result, we want more leptin to help reduce belly fat, said Dr. John.

“The problem is that when we don’t get enough sleep, the ratio is reversed, and we have less leptin and more ghrelin,” he explained.

“Without sleep, that means your body spends more time awake, but you feel groggy,” he added. “So, what do you do? You often reach for high-sugary foods and caffeine products to give yourself a boost.

“Studies show that if you eat a meal high in carbohydrates four hours before going to sleep, then the quality of your sleep will be really bad,” said Dr. John. “That means you have more time awake to make wrong eating choices.

“That leads to weight gain and predisposes you to sleep apnea,” he explained. “The No. 1 thing you can do to help your weight-loss journey is to get more sleep.”

Dr. John recommends people stop eating at least two hours before bedtime.

“Food stays in the stomach for about two hours while it digests, and that creates heat,” he explained. “Because of the thermogenic process to digest the food within the body, I tell people not to exercise or have a big meal closer to bedtime.

“Plus, if you eat spicy food, then you’re likely to experience acid reflux between 2 and 4 a.m.,” he added. “First, you’re going to feel uncomfortably full if you eat two hours before bed. Then, depending on what you eat, you can feel uncomfortable because of the acid being generated to digest the food.”

‘Nobody’s Sleeping’

Over the years, Dr. John developed several strategies to help people develop better sleep habits. He recently compiled those strategies into a book titled, “Nobody’s Sleeping: 7 Proven Sleep Strategies for Better Health and Happiness.”

The book is divided into different sections with chapters devoted to children, teens, women, athletes and older adults.

“I want people to understand why they’re not sleeping at night,” he explained. “Just like diet and exercise, good sleep has to be a family affair. I wrote my book for the whole family.

“Think about it. If a child is not sleeping, then mom’s not sleeping either,” said Dr. John. “If an older adult has sleep apnea that causes him or her to snore, chances are others in the house aren’t sleeping, too.

“I want everyone to improve their sleep so they can be mentally healthy, more productive and feel joy in their lives,” he explained.

S.L.E.E.P. N.O.W. 

Dr. John developed a self-help course to aid people in developing better sleep routines. It is available at www.sleepfixacademy.com. The course guides people through seven strategies, which can be remembered by thinking about the acronym SLEEP NOW. It stands for:

Schedule – Sleeping from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. is a good goal to achieve. But, if it takes two hours to get to sleep, then go to bed closer to the time you typically fall asleep. Yet, always try to wake up by 6 a.m.

Low – This applies to low light, low noise and low temperature. Dr. John recommends setting the thermostat to between 65 and 70 degrees. If your partner needs more blankets, that’s fine.

Electronics – Banish them from the bedroom and stop using them 30 to 60 minutes before going to bed. He recommends setting an alarm for 6 a.m. and putting the phone in the bathroom.

Exercise – People should stop exercising at least four hours prior to bed, and ideally engage in that activity in the morning.

Power Off Your Mind – Dr. John recommends two techniques he has used personally for 30 years to signal the brain it is time to sleep. The first is called vivid imagination and the other is yoga nidra.

“Vivid imagination doesn’t take reality into the bedroom,” he explained. “You start thinking in the abstract, like imagining you are directing a movie. Yoga nidra requires you to lay down with your palms up and start thinking about different parts of your body, from your head muscles to leg muscles, and telling each part it’s time to rest.”

No Worries – Dr. John recommends limiting worry to between 6 and 8 p.m. After a good night sleep, the solution may simply present itself.

Outside – Whether it is worries, stress or technology, always leave them outside and never take them into the bedroom.

Win – You win by losing yourself. It also helps to keep routines simple, so they are easy to remember and just as easy to implement.

“My family and hundreds of patients have successfully implemented these strategies for years,” said Dr. John. “We are trying to harness our own power. It’s a small price to pay in terms of discipline, but, in the long run, you’ll develop better sleep habits.

“You have to stick to a regimen for at least two to three weeks to help your body develop a new routine,” he added. “The first weeks will be hard but stick to it. You will love me for the advice and love yourself for sticking to it.”

Dr. John’s book, “Nobody’s Sleeping: 7 Proven Sleep Strategies for Better Health and Happiness,” is available on Amazon and at other bookstores.

For more information

People can connect with Dr. John in several ways:

If you order Dr. John’s book from a link above, Forward From 50 may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.

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