But first, Sleep. How sleep is your door to longevity.

Out in the community, at baseball games, in private conversations, people ask me the same question over and over. They say "Doc, I want to get healthier, where should I start?" My answer usually surprises them. I think they are expecting me to tell them to eat healthier, or exercise more. That's the standard advice, right? Not my answer. It's easy, a no-brainer: sleep. Without sleep, nothing else works.

If you haven't slept well, your chances of staying on your "diet" are slim. You'll inevitably feel tired in the afternoon and succumb to the temptation of whatever you're trying to avoid. The cookie becomes undeniable. That's from poor sleep! How about exercise? If you haven't slept well then you may not feel the energy or motivation to actually start exercising. Or let's say you do drag yourself to the gym, your workout quality won't be optimal. That's from poor sleep too!

As we transition to the post-work reality, where we have plenty of time and realize we've spent decades trading health for wealth and now want our health back, most people don't have a clear plan on how to properly regain health. They start on a crazy diet, think keto or paleo or whatever's in vogue. They decide to run a marathon and after years (or decades) sitting at a desk, they start running. And then the diet or running routine inevitably fails. You feel frustrated, angry, confused. Perhaps it's because you haven't started with the foundations and jumped right in to crazy fads and trends. That's ok if you've fallen into this trap, it's all over social media and people mistake influencers for experts. They're not experts, by the way.

Start with the most basic of foundations for success. Sleep is a non-negotiable and you will see what I mean once you get into it. The first place I start is with a bedtime. Yes, like you give to your kids. We are the same animals as our kids, we function best with a consistent bedtime, regardless of the day of the week. That's right, no staying up late on the weekends. Now the teenager in you might resist this, it's more fun to stay up late and watch a movie/socialize with friends/doomscroll social. You can do all these activities (minus the doomscrolling) but just time it so it doesn't interfere with your bedtime. Pick a time that gives you about 9 hours in bed total from when you want to wake up. Yes, we're reverse engineering this. If you like to wake up at 6 am, for example, then bed time is 9 pm. Why 9 hours of sleep? You say you don't need that much? Possibly.

But after decades of poor sleep, you won't be efficient at sleep when you start to make it your top priority. You won't fall asleep right away, until your body adjusts. You might be waking up at 3 am and not able to fall back alseep right away. There's tons of things where having that extra hour built in gives space for things to not be perfect. And here's the other point, you may have a massive sleep debt. I know when I started making sleep a priority back in 2023, I needed 9 hours of sleep each night. I had years and years of exhaustion built up from my medical training and high-stress lifestyle. It took me 3 years to finally catch up, and now I need 7 hours of sleep per night. You read that right, it took me 3 years of sleeping 9 hours a night to finally catch up. How long you'll need to fully recover from stressful living is unique to you, but please don't think there's something wrong with you if you find yourself conked out for a full 9 hours.

Setting the expectation on sleep needs is the first step, future posts will focus on sleep hygeine, which is the "wind down" period before bedtime that signals to your body that it's time to slow down and relax. There's even a wake up routine that sets the tone for your day and make sure your circadian rhythm (internal clock) is working FOR you and not against you. But for now, decide you are going to build rock solid foundations and make sleep your #1 health priority. Set a bedtime and stick to it. Consistency is key here, not perfection. If you want to up your game, consider a sleep tracker like your Apple Watch or and Oura Ring to give you feedback and help you make micro-adjustments as needed.

Sleep is the first step, and set a bedtime and stick to it. See you next time!