7 Easy Ways to Get Better Sleep (Foods, Supplements, and Deep Sleep Routine)

Hey everyone, welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. I am your host, Dr. Axe, and each and every week on this show, we dive into the science and principles behind how to grow and heal physically, mentally, and spiritually, and help take your health and your life to the next level. Today, I'm gonna be diving deep into how to get better sleep and the impact sleep has on your health. I'll be going into the top vitamins, supplements, and natural therapies you can do to get deep, quality sleep. I think you're gonna be pretty surprised to find out just how important sleep is to your health. In fact, it's just as important or could be more important than what you eat on a daily basis. Before I dive into the content though, make sure to subscribe to the podcast and hit the notification bell so you don't miss a single episode. By the way, we have had so many great episodes coming out, great guests, and just so you know, every time you subscribe, you allow me to bring on higher profile guests like I've had in the past, like Carrie Underwood, Dave Ramsey, and many of the other experts that we've covered and had on the show who have covered some incredible topics. But today, I'm talking about sleep. So it's important to note that sleep is essential for organ function, for immune health, for hormones being balanced. If you're a woman watching this and you want balanced estrogen and progesterone, well, you need good sleep. If you're a male watching this and you need and wanna have higher levels of testosterone, you've gotta get good quality sleep. It is essential for hormonal health, for gut health, for immune health, for beauty, for longevity, and so much more. Now, here's the problem today. People in Western countries, such as the United States, Europe, and Australia are sleeping an average of 6.8 hours per night. Now, that's 1 1⁄2 hours less than 100 years ago. And only about 1⁄3 of the population reported getting eight hours of sleep per night. Now, I wear a ring at night called an Oura ring, and I'm able to track my sleep, such as deep sleep, REM sleep, and regular sleep. And I'm gonna dive into some of those principles as well today, but I'm able to track what I sleep. And I can tell you, when I get eight hours of sleep or more per night, I feel younger, my joints feel better, I am more mentally sharp, my immune system's stronger, of course I have more energy. All of those things line up. However, if I get less than eight hours, and let me say it's especially when I get less than seven hours, I am tired, it affects my mental health, it affects my energy, it affects everything. And when I think back about any time I've gotten sick in my career, okay, in my life, I most often get sick with two things. One, if I travel, or two, if I don't get enough sleep. Those are the biggest factors that impact my immune system, getting sick and not feeling well. So if you have a medical condition, especially if you've got autoimmune disease, or cancer, or low testosterone, or hypothyroidism, or any condition you can think of, getting quality sleep is one of the greatest things you can do to get healthier. And it should be at the top of your priority list. Oftentimes, we think about diet and exercise today. Well, sleep and reducing stress are other factors that are just as important as eating healthy and exercise. So let's dive into the medical research and the science that shows just how important sleep is, and then I'll be going through the foods, the supplements, the essential oils, and other things you can do to boost and improve your sleep at night. A study published in the journal Sleep found that individuals who slept less than six hours per night were 4.2 times, that's 320% more likely to develop a cold or flu when exposed to a virus. Also, those who slept six to seven hours per night had a 66% increased risk of a cold compared to those who slept seven hours or more per night. So you can really see, if you get less than six hours, your chance of getting sick goes up tremendously. But really, anything less than eight hours, your chance of getting sick goes up, okay, especially with a cold or flu, but really also chronic illness is also going to increase, such as autoimmune disease and other conditions. Now, here's another study that looks at how important sleep is to brain function and productivity. And this is out of the Research in Nature reviews, it's a neuroscience journal, and they found that participants who had a good night's sleep before learning a task versus not getting a good night's sleep performed significantly better in tests assessing memory retention, demonstrating how important sleep is to mental function and performance in academics. And so if you are a student, whether it be elementary school, high school, grad school, getting a good night's sleep is very important for your memory and focus. And if you've got a career, it's a very similar thing. You know, when I ran my full-time functional medicine practice in Nashville, that was in person. It was very mentally taxing. I mean, I've seen patients all day. Now, by the way, I do have a virtual clinic now where I have a team that meets with people. It's at the Dr. Axe Clinic at the Health Institute. And so we still see people, but going back to this, when I ran in-person functional medicine, I would see patients and it was just very mentally taxing. And so what I would do is I would go home from work, I would eat lunch, go on a walk, and then I would go and just lay down and turn my brain off sometimes for just 20 minutes. And I found that turning my brain off for 20 minutes, laying down and not thinking, allowed me to go back in the afternoon and be sharper. In fact, there are now studies coming out showing that taking a nap for 20 to 40 minutes dramatically improves your memory, your focus, your energy later on in the day. And now let me give you a warning here. Don't fall asleep, okay? Taking a nap is like just laying there, shutting your brain off. But if you fall asleep for more than 40 minutes, you get very groggy for the next hour and then it's actually hard to perform up until later in the afternoon and can affect your sleep at night. But that 20 to 40 minute window, all that being said, what's even more important than the nap is, getting a good night's sleep makes you a better performer at work. It makes you a better performer if you are homeschooling or as a mom or a dad or whatever role you're playing in life, sleep is going to improve your performance, allowing you to do at a better level. Oftentimes people think, well, I'm going to sacrifice sleep and I'm going to put in more work hours. There is a book that came out that I read years ago called The Powerful Engagement. And this book really goes through the medical studies on how working 60 to 80 hour work weeks, actually you are less productive. There is a law of diminishing return where the quality of your work goes down dramatically because your brain can't handle that much thinking. And so it's really important that instead of trying to work 80 hour work week, that you work a 35 to 40 hour week, but you even schedule mental breaks, like taking a walk or getting up every little bit, taking those breaks every two hours and then going back full engagement, full focus and getting deep work done. And so again, sleep is important for brain function and mental performance and memory. Also mental health. Listen to this, across 21 studies, individuals with insomnia were 160% more likely to develop depression compared to those without insomnia. So we see this link here between insomnia or just being a poor sleeper, just getting less than that seven hours a night and your increased risk of depression and anxiety. Here's another study. According to the CDC, they examined sleep data of 273,000 US adults at age 1884. And the participants who averaged six hours or less of sleep per night had a 250% greater increased risk of a mental health disorder, such as depression, anxiety, or loneliness compared to those who slept for six hours or more per night. So we see people with mental health issues, oftentimes they're staying up too late on devices, on computers, on TVs, and that is greatly disrupting their sleep, which then is impacting their mental health because they can't think clearly. So one of the greatest forms of medicine or the prescriptions I could give for improving mental health today is getting more sleep. So one of the single greatest things you can do to improve your sleep at night is become more aware of circadian rhythms in caring for your biological clock. Now, circadian rhythms are really how well we are living in tune with nature. You know, we should be going to sleep when the sun is setting, and we should be waking up when the sun is rising. So we are meant to live in tune with nature. Now, we violate this all the time, especially the past 100 years with the invention of the light bulb, is really, really disrupted our sleep in a tremendous way. However, we can all get back to how we were supposed to live by paying attention to this biological clock, and there are a lot of great resources, natural things you can do that I'm gonna share with you, but I do wanna dive into what's known as the Chinese medicine body clock and how different organ systems are more active at different times of the day and how you should be caring for these organ systems at certain times of the day. And so just to give you an example, when you are first waking up in the morning, typically between 5 and 7 a.m., okay, for most people, that's when at least the sun tends to rise. Right now, this time of year I'm in right now, it's around 6 a.m., okay? When that starts to rise, that's connected to your large intestine, okay? And the large intestine and lungs really make up your immune system, and so you really wanna be caring for those organs first thing in the morning. One of the best things you can do is start to move. Walking is tremendously beneficial for your large intestine. It starts to cause peristalsis, allows you to prepare to have a bowel movement in the morning, so a large intestine, getting out and walking first thing is critically important. I do wanna mention as well, getting outside and getting that sunlight, when your eyes, it's very different than having lights on in your kitchen when you wake up in the morning. Having the actual sun with those very specific rays starts to tell your body, okay, we need to increase cortisol for energy, we need to lower melatonin, and start balancing out these hormones for the day, and we're gonna do the inverse later on in the evening. But again, large intestine, you need to care for via movement. Exercise and walking, it's great to do first thing in the morning, and then after that time, that's 5 to 7 a.m., from there it's 7 to 9 a.m., and that's the time of the stomach. That's when we, most of the time, we'll have our first meal of the day. Now, people may have questions about intermittent fasting. I think for the most part, you should have something small first thing in the morning, start nourishing your stomach and spleen. And that's between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. there as well. And so, and maybe it's a handful of figs, maybe it's a little bit of bone broth or protein powder, but something like that first thing in the morning really is in tune with nature and our biological clock. And so, and you'll see here, different times, there's ways of physically nourishing these organs, there's also ways of spiritually and mentally nourishing these organ systems. We know the time of stomach and spleen is time of family, so getting some time with the family sometimes, even if it's just five minutes in the morning, getting kids ready for school if you're a parent, those sort of things. And then around noon, that's the time of the heart. That's when you're typically putting in some hard work, you're doing things you're more passionate, you're more energetic about. Also, it's a good time for lunch because you're sitting there with community, building relationships, and that's part of that meal, is you're typically not doing that by yourself as you might in the morning with breakfast, you're typically doing that with coworkers or with others. And then we get on later in the day, around three o'clock to five o'clock, that's the time of taking care of the bladder and reproductive organs. And then around five to seven, a similar thing, that's bladder and reproductive organs. And then, or kidney and reproductive organs and adrenal glands, and that's when you should start winding down, okay? Five p.m. to seven p.m., that's when it's like, okay, now your adrenals need you to start resting, okay? You need to start doing things to, again, wind down. And that doesn't mean, it could be playing with your kids, it could be playing pickleball, it could be connecting with a loved one, okay? And then from seven to nine p.m. is the time of the pericardium. That's really where you should be connecting with loved ones and family. This is when your sex drive can be high as well, if you're sleeping well, okay? If not, then it won't be. But this is really a time for family, community, connection, and then around nine p.m., that's when you should be getting to bed, for most people. Okay, now you might sound like, that sounds early. Well, again, most people should be waking up about six p.m., going to bed around, I'm sorry, waking up around six a.m., and then waking up around nine p.m., and that'll put about nine hours of sleep. Now, maybe it's a little bit different than that, but that's ideal. If you wanna know what the ideal is, that's the ideal for almost everybody. And then from nine to 11, in Chinese medicine, we call that the triple burner, and that's really connected with your thyroid and hormones. So if you go to bed after nine p.m., and you have hypothyroidism, you could really be damaging yourself because that organ system regenerates the most during that time period, okay, nine p.m. to 11 p.m. And then we have time of the gallbladder and liver. That's really when your detoxification channels are the strongest, it's liver, gallbladder, and lymphatic system. And then from there, from three a.m. to five a.m., we have the time of the lung, and that's really where your immune system is cleansing and activating the most. Now, another thing I wanna mention with our circadian rhythms, and while you're sleeping at night, is you should be getting both regular sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. Now, deep sleep is the most restorative physically, okay? And this is where I see, again, a lot of people are deficient in deep sleep. But deep sleep is what your physical body needs to regenerate. It's very important. Now, your REM sleep is connected to your mental capacity, and it's really your regeneration of your mind. And so, you'll notice, if you got very little REM sleep, you can't think, your memory is poor, it's gonna affect your brain and neurological health. If you get poor deep sleep, you're gonna be physically tired, not mentally or emotionally tired. And you really wanna have over 90 minutes of both, but at least one hour of both every single night. Now, I wear something called an Oura Ring, and I'm able to track my sleep and look at exactly how much deep sleep and how much REM sleep I have every single night. And these are metrics I really look at. If I have low REM sleep, I realize that I am thinking too much. I'm not turning my brain off, maybe I'm doing too many videos, I'm on the TV or a computer or phone too much. But what will really drop your REM sleep down is too much time on devices, too much time overthinking, obsessing, just using your brain too much. What will affect your deep sleep is if you're not physically active enough. If you're not outside enough and physically active enough, you won't get enough deep sleep. Those are the things that typically interfere with those the most, and you will tend to get your deepest sleep between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., and that's connected with the liver, and you tend to get your most REM sleep kind of in those wee hours of the morning, typically between, let's say, 3 a.m. and even 6 a.m. And so you really wanna make sure that you are getting very, very good quality of sleep, and that's why, again, going to bed around 9 p.m., waking up around 6 a.m. for most people, that is the ideal. And I know, hey, it doesn't operate in the ideal. Maybe you have kids that don't start athletic events until 7.30 and you're getting home at 10. Again, we have certain lifestyle factors that can disrupt some of these circadian rhythms, but do your best to live in tune. Your biological clock. Okay, I wanna mention this with melatonin production. We talked about melatonin and cortisol. Exposure to light during the biological night, so once the sun sets, can suppress melatonin production, and it also is associated with a deleterious effect on health. I mean, I'm talking about incredibly negative. In fact, one example, there is a 50% increased risk of developing breast cancer in nurses exposed to rotating shift work who have to be on during the night shift, okay? I mean, we're talking about a great, great increased risk. And so it's important to know that you wanna do everything you can at night once it's dark out to shut off these devices and do things to not be looking at light, okay? And even if that's listening to an audio book, I mean, that's the way that I really try and deal with things. Again, I typically go to bed, let's say now, sometimes it's earlier, but let's say I go to bed around 9 p.m. Well, right now it might be getting dark closer to 7.30, okay? But once that sun sets, I am doing things like listening to audio books. Or if you are gonna watch TV, wearing those blue blocker glasses so you're not getting the blue light which is telling your body it's middle of the day. So something to consider. I also wanna mention something here with cortisol. One study found that people with sleep problems had approximately 17% higher cortisol levels throughout the day compared to those without sleep problems. And those reporting sleep problems had about a 96% higher increase in evening cortisol levels. And that's the big thing. So remember, when you're looking at blue light, when you are still in busyness mode in the evening, before bed or when it's time to go to bed, cortisol, you're increasing your cortisol levels. And remember going back to that Chinese biological clock. Remember, after five o'clock, that's when you should be shutting your brain off. You can go and work from that nine to five, which is about ideal based on the Chinese biological clock. You can wake up and work out at 6 a.m., 5 a.m., and that's all good. But if you are working and doing mentally taxing things past really six o'clock after dinner, that's what will take you out. I wanna tell you a personal story of how this happened to me. When I first opened up my functional medicine clinic in Nashville, Tennessee, for my first two years of practice, I was working vigorously. And listen, it was all for a good cause. I wanted to help save lives. I wanted to teach people how to use food as medicine and how to heal naturally. But I would go home after work. I would eat around 6 p.m. But then while I was eating, and even after dinner, up until the moment I went to bed, I was on my computer writing articles, preparing podcasts. I was working. And after two years, I noticed I started having leaky gut. I had loose stool. I wasn't absorbing things properly. Started getting skin issues, health issues. And I thought, what is going on? I'm eating, I thought I was eating perfectly. Well, I met a man who was one of the world's leading experts in Chinese medicine, and I shared this with him. And he said, well, tell me about your day. And I shared what I was eating. He said, well, that all sounds fine. He said, well, he actually told me you should stop eating so many salads and do more soup. So I will tell you that. So I did make a switch there to more cooked foods from raw foods. But he said, you really want, he said, after dinner, you need to completely shut your brain off and focus on things you enjoy, reading books, listening to books, time with friends and family. And I started doing that. And within three months, boom, just all of a sudden, leaky gut, 100% completely gone. Every health symptom I had, completely gone. And so the reality is there's a lot of people who think, oh, my diet's my problem, or my genetics are my problem. My mom had this, so I'm gonna have this. In so many cases, in patients I've cared for, it's a sleep issue. And it's a mental bandwidth issue to where you're not following this biological clock. There is a time to work, and there's a time to play. There's a time to work, there's a time to rest. And if you violate the way that God created you in living in tune with nature, there will be a consequence on your physical health. And so you need to make sure you pay attention, not only, and that's why on this show, I talk about physical health, but we also dive into mental health and spiritual health as well, because they all work together. All right, I wanna give you an example here of something else that's very important, and that's spending more time outside. Evidence shows natural light exposure helps regulate our circadian rhythms in improving our sleep quality. And that's the most important thing. That's why I say the best thing you can do is wake up in the morning. Once you wake up, throw on some clothes, go outside, go for a walk. The greatest thing you can do, okay? Getting that natural sunlight as quickly as possible. A study that was published in the Journal of Pineal Health found that exposure to natural light during the day was associated with longer sleep duration and better quality sleep. And I can tell you, I notice, the more time I spend outside, the better my sleep is. It's just, they are directly proportional to one another. If I get more outdoor sleep, my overall, or more time outdoors, more time in the sun, my sleep quality goes up. So this past weekend, I went boating with my family, and we were out on the water all day. And the night before, I had not slept well because I was just working on my computers. I violated, I spent too much time doing what I said we shouldn't do, and just a lot of time trying to finish writing a book. And I went out on the lake, I got home, and I slept. I looked at my Oura Ring like nine hours, just deep sleep, REM sleep, 90%, you know, an A-plus score. And so, and you'll notice that as well. So just know, if you wanna get better sleep, spend as much time outside as you possibly can. It makes the biggest difference. But ideally, the morning is the most important time. And really, you wanna be outside at least three times a day, morning, midday, and right around the time that the sun is setting, or in the evening at some point. And this is why taking a walk three times a day, even if it's five to 10 minutes, can have a tremendous impact on your health. Now, I wanna talk about some other natural solutions to improve your sleep quality. One, using blue blocker sunglasses. Studies show that blue light from screens suppresses melatonin production, elevates cortisol, which negatively impacts your sleep. Using blue blocking glasses has been shown in studies to increase melatonin levels by up to 58% and improve sleep quality. I have a couple brands I use, Swanwick and Boncharge. They have these blue blocking sunglasses. Those are both, I know, very, very quality brands that I would recommend you go out and buy. And so again, what I do is after dinner, or once the sun sets, I then put on those glasses. Okay, in tune with that. Now, sometimes I see people wearing these glasses around all day, the middle of the day. I'm not saying that's bad. I also personally don't think it's that beneficial. But I do think when the sun is setting and in the evening, up until the point you go to bed, wearing blue blocking sunglasses has tremendous benefits, as this study shows improves on your sleep quality. Here's another thing that can greatly improve your health and your sleep, especially if you struggle with any form of anxiety or not being able to sleep through the night. If you wake up several times during the night, getting a weighted blanket. Weighted blankets help reduce anxiety and promote better sleep through deep pressure stimulation. In fact, if you think about this in terms of, neurologically and emotionally, a weighted blanket neurologically tells you that you are being hugged, okay? It tells you you're safe, you're secure. We love blankets, right? I mean, think about this. I think about my wife, Chelsea. She loves sitting by a fire with a warm cup of coffee, being surrounded by a blanket, being surrounded by her loved ones. There is something that's comforting about that. Well, you need to comfort your nervous system. Weighted blankets tell you you're safe, you're secure, having that pressure on your body. And according to one study, it showed that weighted blankets can reduce anxiety by 63% and improve sleep quality in the study as well. So buying a weighted blanket also is tremendously beneficial for improving your sleep at night. I try and buy a weighted blanket as well that it breathes well so I don't get hot at night, and so that's another thing. Now, a few other things that you need to do to create your optimal sleeping environment is you wanna make sure your room is dark and cold. In fact, studies show that around 65 degrees for most people is the ideal temperature. Now, if you say, well, I get cold at night, well, use more blankets. Get a weighted blanket, get a big comforter, get more on there. And I would say most studies show between 62 to 68 degrees is ideal, okay? So you might be in that lower range. You run really hot and that 62 to 63 degrees is better. You might say, well, I get cool at night and maybe that 68 degrees is more ideal for you. But if you get cold, just more blankets. And here's the other thing, your room should be very dark as well. Studies show that any light at night, it could be coming from a fire alarm. It could be coming through cracks in your window. You want your room as close to pitch black as possible. You wanna get blackout curtains. And if your room is dark, it's cold, you've got a weighted blanket at night, it is going to improve your sleep quality. Now, here's another big one is having a sleep schedule. Maintaining a regular sleep schedule is good for sleep hygiene. You shouldn't just have an alarm for when you wake up in the morning, which your alarm might maybe is the sun. You should have the same time you should be going to bed at night. A few other pieces of lifestyle advice when it comes to getting better sleep is you should read and journal, okay? Journaling has been shown to improve your sleep quality. Big reason is, is that oftentimes one of the greatest thing that keeps us from sleeping well is our mind starts racing at night. You start thinking about things. If before you go to bed, you can get out a journal, and actually with a pen and paper, not a computer, okay? We don't want the blue light. So actual pen and paper, write down a to-do list for the next day. Vet your thoughts. Maybe you're frustrated about somebody at work or you're worried about something in the future. Write it down, okay? When you write it down, it'll keep your mind from repeating it as much. Or write down what you're grateful for, okay? Write down something about God's faithfulness or something you learned that day, but spend a little time writing. That's been shown any form of journaling to improve your sleep. And the other thing is reading or listening to spiritual growth material. Now it could also be a novel, something you really enjoy. I used to, one of the last novels I listened to was the Lord of the Rings. It was probably for the 10th time. So I love J.R.R. Tolkien, so I might listen to him or I might listen to one of my favorite spiritual gurus like C.S. Lewis, or I listen to the Bible on audio. But doing that right before bed, both reading and then or listening to the audiobook version is a great way to fall asleep at night as well. And then I want to dive into some of the nutritional research around getting better sleep at night and the nutrients you most need and that are connected to good sleep. Magnesium is the first one. Magnesium is known as the relaxation mineral. It is beneficial both for muscle relaxation and for sleep. And a study published in the Journal of Research in Medical Sciences showed that magnesium supplementation improves sleep quality in older adults with insomnia by 17%. If you're taking magnesium, the three forms I would recommend for getting better sleep would be glycinate, carbonate, or threonate. Actually, one more I do want to throw in the mix that might be better than all three for overall quality health is a chelate, which has all of those or multiple amino acids attached. But you want to do typically a glycinate, carbonate, a threonate for better sleep at night. Also vitamin D. Adequate levels of vitamin D are linked to better quality sleep according to studies. You want to do about 5,000 IUs daily for adults, especially if you're not getting sunlight during the day. Chamomile tea, drinking about one to two cups a night, that's been shown to improve sleep quality. CBD or CBD oil, that's been shown to improve anxiety scores by one study found 79% and improved sleep by 66%. CBD, cannabidiol, improved sleep. Now there's another one I want to mention, another form, a cannabinoid called CBN. And that also can greatly improve your sleep. So I would say doing a combination of CBD plus CBN is a great thing to do to improve your sleep. And then the amino acid glycine. Glycine is found in collagen and bone broth primarily. And you can take 3,000 milligrams of glycine in the evening or before bed, or in the evening drink the equivalent would be one and a half cups of bone broth or 20 grams of a collagen protein. And you're getting about 3,000 to 4,000 milligrams of glycine if you're doing collagen in the evening as well, which is gonna help you sleep better at night. And of course also be good for your joints, your skin, hair, and nails, those areas as well. Now another amino I love is L-theanine. Theanine is an amino acid found in tea, specifically matcha green tea and white tea and other teas. And it's been shown to improve sleep and relaxation. A 2018 study found that people reported having greater sleep satisfaction after taking around 450 to 900 milligrams of L-theanine daily for eight weeks. Now for most people, I think you're gonna get the same benefits with 200 milligrams. So I'd recommend about 200 milligrams of theanine before bed as well. And another herb that's been shown in studies to help improve sleep, one study on women found that valerian root improves overall sleep by about 30% compared to those with the placebo of about 4%, so lots of benefits there. Now I wanna mention another supplement, and it's the most commonly taken supplement for sleep, and it's melatonin. I like melatonin for jet lag or for sleep while you're traveling. I don't like it for long-term use. There's evidence that if you're using melatonin long-term, your body may produce less melatonin or become dependent upon it over time, which will reduce its effectiveness. And so what we see is sometimes if people take melatonin once or even for a few days, it works, but then long-term use, it really starts to dive down. So what I would do is have melatonin on hand for when you travel and use it then and then only and don't use it outside of that. That's what I typically, or if you're sick and you haven't slept and you need to get one good quality sleep, then do it. But I would not take melatonin on a regular basis. I would do more of the things I shared with you, like the magnesium, like the theanine, like the glycine. I think those are better substitutes to do instead. Now I wanna talk about the top foods that can improve your sleep quality. And many of these are connected to some of the things we talked about. The first couple here are almonds and walnuts. They're both high in magnesium. Also, walnuts are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which may improve sleep quality. So almonds and walnuts are rich in magnesium. We know walnuts are also omega-3 fatty acids, so doing some almonds and walnuts during the day may improve your sleep quality. Kiwi. Kiwi is rich in serotonin, and that's a neurotransmitter that promotes relaxation, helps regulate sleep. Studies have shown that eating kiwi regularly in the evening can improve sleep onset duration and help people with sleep disorders. Another favorite of mine are tart cherries. Now I would put these at the top of the list for a food, particularly the Montemoran seed cherries. These are rich in melatonin, naturally occurring melatonin. So tart cherries or tart cherry juice is a great thing to do in the evening as well, or just eat throughout the day for fish. And also they've been shown to support recovery from exercise. Fatty fish is also gonna be up there. Fatty fish has omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D. Also other nutrients of salmon, mackerel, tuna are gonna help get better quality sleep. Turkey, of course we know the old, turkey is high in tryptophan, which is an amino acid that supports creating serotonin, which then helps improve sleep. And last but not least, bone broth. As I mentioned, bone broth is high in the amino acid glycine, which has a calming effect on the brain and body, which can help you get better sleep at night. So listen, optimizing the quality of your sleep is one of the greatest things you could do for your overall health. Remember, sleep is linked to your immune health. Remember, if you get less than seven hours of sleep per night, or less than six per night, your chance of getting a cold or flu goes up by around over 300%, okay? So we know that sleep impacts your immune system, it affects your metabolism and weight gain, it impacts our brain and neurological function, it impacts everything. And so you wanna make sure you're getting good quality sleep. And now remember some of the lifestyle practices. Try a weighted blanket. Make sure your room is dark and cold. Add some of these foods in your diet, like the tart cherries and the kiwi and the turkey and the walnuts. Get these foods in your diet. Try some of these lifestyle practices. Make a plan. Try all of them, okay? Get all of these in your diet. Just a couple other things I do wanna mention about sleep. One of the biggest things that keeps people from sleeping well at night is they get too hot. If you are a hot sleeper, this is where taking a cold shower or swimming in cold water during the day or even doing a cold plunge could be beneficial for you if you have a high body temperature. Now if you have a low body temperature, like if you have hypothyroidism, it's probably not gonna help you. It might actually hurt you. But for those of you who get hot at night, cold plunge, cold shower, doing things to keep your body cooler at night is going to be helpful. So definitely keep that in mind that that is something you absolutely want to be conscious of to improve your sleep quality. Okay, well, hey, I wanna say thanks for tuning in here to The Dr. Josh Axe Show. I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Remember, every week I'm diving deep into how to heal and optimize your physical, mental, and spiritual health. And if you're not subscribed, make sure to subscribe, like, and share the show. Thank you so much for being on mission with me. You know, there are millions of people who don't know how to use lifestyle medicine to improve their sleep. And so by you sharing this, you could save a life. You could transform a life. And hey, thank you so much for subscribing. When you subscribe, you allow me to elevate the quality of this show. I'm so grateful for you. And I will see you on the next episode.