Dr. Matt Walker

They're not tips.

I don't like the word.

I know you don't either, or hacks.

These are protocols, and they're well-informed scientific protocols.

In all of this discussion today,

you can get all of these things in place and still have problems with sleep the reason is because you may be suffering from a sleep disorder so the analogy would be let's say that i'm your athletic coach and you're a sports superstar i can perfect everything i can perfect your your diet your supplements we can perfect your technique we can perfect but if you've got a broken ankle

None of those things are going to alter your performance right now.

You've got to get to a doctor and get that seen to, and then we can come back to fine tuning your performance.

It's the same with sleep.

If you've got a sleep disorder, such as snoring, sleep apnea, or insomnia, we need to get you to a doctor first.

And then only after that, come back once you're resolved, then we can start to optimize.

That's the only other thing I probably should mention.

If you look at the statistics, that's highly likely.

In your lifetime, you are more than likely to go through either a period of challenging sleep or, in fact, a bout of insomnia.

Nor am I. And it's not because I have anything against it.

Great question.

So in terms of the mechanism, it seems actually not to be the alcohol, but some of the metabolic byproducts of alcohol.

We think that perhaps the main culprit may be some of the aldehydes that are the metabolic separate consequences of alcohol metabolism.

You make a good point though, in terms of the dose response timing curve, how late or how early do I have to cut myself off from alcohol?

People have done those studies and they have found that even an afternoon single glass of wine, if you measure sleep in the way that we measure it at Bicenter with high fidelity, you can see compromises and impairments.