How to Have More Energy In the Mornings and Better Sleep At Night
On this week’s episode we talk once again with author and naturopathic doctor, Kate Rhéaume. Do you wake up in the mornings and still feel tired and sluggish? It’s not just because you’re getting older! There are easy steps you can take to boost your energy, even at a cellular level. Dr. Kate walks us through some of her favorite supplements and lifestyle changes to give you a boost of natural, long-lasting energy.
MEET DR. KATE:
Our guest, Dr. Kate Rhéaume, is a graduate and former faculty member of the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. Dr. Kate lectures internationally on many topics related to health and wellness, and is a frequent guest on radio and television across North America. She is the author of the best-selling book Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life.
Some Questions We Discuss:
How does sleep (or lack thereof) impact our energy levels? (4:44)
What are some ways we can optimize our energy levels and how is it made? (9:30)
How can you protect your mitochondria? (13:18)
What do free radicals do in the body? (16:23)
What role do our adrenal glands play in energy production? (25:52)
How can we optimize our sleep? (34:30)
Some key takeaways from this episode:
Sleep and energy are two fundamental, foundational aspects of our health and overall well being. (6:21)
Our mitochondria are the energy producing centers of our cells. (9:51)
Exercise and maintaining muscle mass is key to protecting mitochondria. The second thing is nutrients. (13:28)
Your adrenal glands are in charge of setting your daily rhythm. (27:57)
Products + Resources:
Get Social with Dr. Kate:
Twitter: @DoctorKateND
Facebook: @doctorkatend
Website: https://doctorkatend.com
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Brian Strickland 00:35 Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Holistic Navigator Podcast where we believe in the body's capacity to heal itself, if it's given the proper nutrients and care it deserves. My name is Brian Strickland. I'm the producer of the show, and I am joined as always in the studio today by our host, Mr. Ed Jones. On today's episode, we're talking once again with Dr. Kate Rheaume. Dr. Kate is a fantastic resource. And on today's episode, we're focusing on energy now, most of us probably feel pretty tired from time to time, some of us more than others. And that's exactly what we're going to talk about today. Our energy really affects us even down to a cellular level with our mitochondria. Our sleep affects our energy. And that's what we're focusing on today's conversation. We've got a ton of ground to cover on this episode, so I'm not going to hinder it any longer. Let me go ahead and introduce your host, Mr. Ed Jones.
Ed Jones 01:33 Thank you again, Brian, for that introduction. And yes, I am again excited for our guest today on the Holistic Navigator. Because rarely do we have people on more than once or twice but Dr. Kate will be with us today's be our second time on the Holistic Navigator. A follow this wonderful lady doctor author, naturopathic physician for many, many years. I remember early on when she had written the book on vitamin K. I grabbed it as soon as it came out, because there just wasn't a whole lot of good, credible information and she made made some wonderful inroads into educating the public and healthcare professionals on the almost sometimes miraculous effects of vitamin K. And this is available on the holistic navigator if you go back to the vitamin K podcast. Well Dr. Kate is a graduate and former faculty member of the Canadian College of nature Pathak medicine. And for those of you who really don't have a clue of nature, Pathak medicine, it is an intense protocol. I mean, that is no less difficult than then the regular docs that you may go see just has a different angle, which is one of witches, they have an ultimate respect for the already instilled in us power to heal and be healthy, and works more on the avenue of supporting the systems of the body so that it can attain its own optimal health rather than treat symptoms. Dr. Kate lectures internationally on so many topics related to health and wellness, and is a frequent guest on many radio and television stations across North America and is the author of the best selling book, the vitamin K two and the calcium paradox how a little known vitamin can save your life. Welcome to the Holistic Navigator, Dr. Kate,
Dr. Kate 03:32 Thank you Ed, good to be back.
Ed Jones 03:36 The topic today is going to be better mornings with better energy. And when I first saw that just as a header, it was kind of like wondering which direction will this go? I think this will be very, very valuable asset in addition to the now I think 96 podcast with the Holistic Navigator. Just thinking always I go back to a guest, as most people do their own experiences in life. And I think most of the time if I had a Christmas list of what if I could click a button which does not happen in our bodies, our health, but if I could, I would want two things, I would want better sleep and I would want more energy and not stimulant energy, but quality, focused but not chaotic energy. And I think today we're going to cover a lot of these areas that can help people put together a toolbox that will allow the best potential for this. I will say on a personal note, and I know I'm not like most people. I struggle with energy at times, but the mornings I don't. And I don't know why that is but I struggle heavily with sleep. I've admitted many times I'm a chronic Insomniac. And but without, as I told someone yesterday, if I didn't have this toolbox of have experience in remedies in the natural world. And all I did was rely on medications, I think I would, I would either be totally addicted to pharmaceuticals or sleep or I'd be dead. I mean, I just know we have to go outside those boxes to fix things like energy, there's not a physician in the world is going to give you a pill to make you energetic. The body has to be the factory for this energy. And again, I believe in the rhythm of the body, I talk about it constantly to a lot of the clients that I discuss, we're not Ford F 150 trucks that you can go in and just turn buttons or fix little parts. And there's a rhythm to sleep, there's a rhythm to everything. Just look at the oceans, look at the moon, all the movements of the weather, nothing is just the same every single day. Well, working with these rhythms is how you attain optimal quality of life and respecting them. And I think I think all people in the nature Pathak field was certainly none of them would disagree with that philosophy. So I've rambled a little bit too much here to get started. But I am very interested in what we can talk about and all of your delving and research into this topic of energy and sleep. So you start us off here, Dr. Kate?
Dr. Kate 06:21 Well, I think you've hit on some really important points, Ed, which is that sleep and energy are two fundamental foundational aspects of our health and overall well being. And if they are not as good as we like it can affect our quality of life in general. And, you know, on a personal note, I think I it sounds like I'm the opposite of you, and that I've always, in general slept well. But my energy in the morning, yet somehow isn't always great, which is why this particular topic has been of an interest to me. And of course, there's always going to be a genetic component. You know, some people are naturally morning people and others are night owls, for example. And I know I come by this, honestly, my mom was never a morning person. And I guess I take after her but yet, I thought there still gotta be ways to wake up feeling better. So interesting that you despite not sleeping well still have energy in the morning. But that, of course, is a big factor for most people who aren't sleeping well also don't feel well or don't have energy in the morning. But it can go either way. You know, you can sleep well and still not have that get up and go when we start the day. So certainly, you know how well we sleep, our quality of sleep is fundamental. And it will affect the kind of energy we have not just in the morning, but the rest of the day. And of course, there's there's things we can do to affect that. But I think regardless of what our you know, genetic leanings are there are ways that we can optimize our energy, both in the morning and throughout the day. And you're right, it's got to come from the body, not stimulant energy. That it that doesn't work as a long term solution.
Ed Jones 08:12 Absolutely. And I think the only reason that I'm fairly functional with at periods some pretty dismal sleep patterns, is because I do all the other things to create the best optimal balance and nutrition support and platform. If I was eating the normal way, like like I used to when I was young, or like most people do. And doing a lot of the excessiveness of carbohydrates and processed foods and not taking nutrients. I would not be energetic in the morning. But we you know, we can we do the best we can I certainly do. And this paid off, I'm here, I'll be 64 next month, and I still work six days a week. And I would feel like Superman, if I truly could get fully rested. But I'm doing the best I can with what I have. And that gummit that it really shows me the power of lifestyle, food, exercise and nutritional supplementation. Because here I am with the past actually, few months, I probably averaged five and a half hours a night. And that's not enough. And I'm still doing dang well, I don't like it, but I'm still doing pretty well. So the power is in our hands to help even help compensate when we can't get the exact answer we want. So tell us a little bit more about some of the tips that people?
Dr. Kate 09:35 Well, I think, you know, specifically when we're talking about energy, it's helpful to understand a bit of what that means that there's a specific meaning out to that where energy comes from the body, how it's made. I'm sure that your listeners are aware that our mitochondria are the energy producing centers of our cells. Each cell in the body has at least a couple 1000 of these batteries you can call them. But certain cells that have higher energy requirements like the brain, which is always thinking and working the ever beating heart, they can have hundreds of 1000s of mitochondria per cell. And over time, those because of the electrons bouncing around as as energy is made being made at the cellular level, they are prone to damage free radical damage until they can be damaged. And they need to turn over which they do every two to three months. Even the mitochondria don't live very long because of this damage that is part and parcel, sort of a double edged sword of their energy production. And so the point is that, we need to have a basic understanding of what helps us produce more and fresh batteries in our cells, because that, in turn, ultimately leads to energy production, which we feel can make a difference in our energy throughout our day. And that affects, you know, it changes throughout our life that can slow down our replacement of mitochondria can slow down. And that has a really powerful impact on our overall well being. So when you say that you despite your lack of sleep, still, you know, do well in the Energy Department. That's likely because all the things you're doing including exercise and very specific nutrients that will feed the mitochondria.
Ed Jones 11:28 Yes, I love that. I know we're going to discuss that. I talked about the mitochondria probably, and maybe 30 out of my 90 plus podcast, and you I love the analogy, you use that it's the battery of the body. Because I just had a phone call five minutes before I came on this podcast, my girlfriend's battery was dead in our car. Well, that happens that can happen to the mitochondria with all of the things that we go through that damage it. And I'm a huge fan of the theories of mitochondrial dysfunction, and cancer rates. In fact, there's one of my favorite books of all time is tripping over the truth, I think is the name of it. And it was so well written and so well documented about the the mitochondrial damage is then what causes most cancers to certainly grow and go crazy and certainly established a lot from day one. And I that's why I live on a lean toward a somewhat of a keto diet, I'm taking the nutrients. And so I want people to know that the mechanism of action, the whole goal is if we could maintain a 15 year olds mitochondrial function into older age, we wouldn't even know what those people would be like. I mean, it would we would be literally age lists, probably pretty much, because a 90 year old has, I think, saw about only 8% of mitochondrial function they had when they were 15. But we know good things which are going to tell us that we know how to preserve it to keep it from being damaged. I mean, it's like if you have a car with a beautiful paint job, you keep it in the garage and you wax it, that paint job is gonna last a whole lot longer than letting it sit in the driveway in the hot sun as is damaging it with the oxidation of sun, same nutrients and lifestyle. So let's let's talk about what what does that involve when people want to do I understand this program of mitochondrial protection? What does that mean for them?
Dr. Kate 13:28 Well, fortunately, it's relatively simple. There's, I would say you can break it down into two basic things. First of all, exercise, especially maintaining muscle mass by doing strength training exercises will help maintain mitochondrial levels. But But you know, just any kind of activity is helpful throughout life, and then nutrients so and when you look at the nutrients, there's specific nutrients, antioxidants that protect against the free radical damage that is part and parcel of that energy production process. You can't escape that when it comes to the mitochondria, so any and all antioxidants, but there's certain ones in particular that we can focus in on that will protect the mitochondria, as well as nutrients that help to feed the mitochondria help it do its job better help make new fresh mitochondria. So mitochondrial biogenesis as it's called, there's a new trend that many people may not be familiar with called PQQ perlow quinolin Quinones the mouthful, that's why we just call it dq. And it is a nutrient that is found in teeny tiny amounts in almost every single food you can imagine which six speaks to its importance. But in larger amounts, this PQQ has been studied in clinical trials and has been shown to help promote mitochondrial biogenesis. In other words, it will stimulate and enhance the cellular mechanisms by which we replace those batteries on an ongoing basis. This, in turn, has been shown to help, for example, support and regenerate neurons in some capacity or similar capacity that exercise does. We've seen that protecting neurons, nerve cells and other cells. And this in turn has been shown clinical trials to support cognitive performance, memory and attention. So there's some brain benefits here. But overall, energy benefits PQQ is, I would say one of the top nutrients that supports the mitochondria that people aren't aware of.
Ed Jones 15:41 I love that. I remember when pq q came out in the big picture, it wasn't that long ago, it was one of the probably, I've been doing this almost 43 years. And I won't say it's it was recently discovered, but it was certainly recently available. And I looked on PubMed, and I was pretty shocked by the studies that one of which is the safety of it. Secondly, is the effective ness of PQQ. And initially, I had a few people who actually gave it to their animals and could see some pretty significant results on on animals. And I want to say one thing real quick, some people I think most people listening to this are quite educated about this conversation. But the word free radical and I thought of this analogy years ago, free radicals are what damage the cells. And they do great damage to mitochondrial function. And I, if you can imagine a fireplace, the old like when I grew up, not the gas, but the wood with wood. And you're sitting there on a couch and you have a big roaring fire. And every now and then there's a spark that comes off of that fireplace, you can hear it pop. And then if you have a screen, it stops any damage. But if you don't have a screen, it's going to pop out and burn the carpet every time it hits it. Well that's a free radical comes from oxygen, unstable oxygen molecules and many other things. So that's where you get this huge damage. Well, things like pqq, protect that kind of damage, doesn't it?
Dr. Kate 17:12 Yes, I love that analogy. And you're right pqq in addition to helping to promote the production of mitochondria, it as many other nutrients but you know work in the mitochondria is also a powerful antioxidant. People I think are more familiar with coenzyme Q 10. Also powerful on antioxidants. Specifically, it helps to work in the mitochondria, helps with the process by which I guess you could say that you will, you will help throw and catch electrons and move them down this production chain this this energy production assembly line you could say. And so coq10 is also a powerful antioxidant. It has been in the same family similar molecular structure as the pqq. And these two have been shown to work better together, they complement one another. And so looking for combinations of pq, Q and CoQ10 together. This will provide you know the benefits that have been seen of those complimentary nutrients.
Ed Jones 18:17 Let's just get down to the nitty gritty on it. Because we're going to move on on pqq, what would be the average dose?
Dr. Kate 18:24 Well, you're looking at about 20 milligrams. This is the dose that's been used in the clinical trials for things like you know, cognitive performance, nerve growth, etc. So 20 milligrams is what we're looking at for the pqq.
Ed Jones 18:38 And that's one tiny little capsule, isn't it?
Dr. Kate 18:42 Oh, yes, this is not, you know, you're not looking at very large amounts. Like I said, it's present in miniscule amounts in food. But for this kind of clinical effect, it's this 20 milligram dose.
Ed Jones 18:54 And that's a great segue for me to make one another comment is, you know, and I'm the biggest believer in the power of healthy foods of anyone I the knife and fork is one of the strongest tools for health that we'll ever have. However, just if you want to be if you want to ease father Time's cruelty to us as we age, you have to embrace what when you called therapeutic nutrients, because you can not eat enough to balance the ravages of father time, and really were put on this earth biochemically and and physiologically to do one thing and that's to procreate and have babies. So nature put into us a wonderful optimal system between 15 and 30 years old, but it didn't really care about us once we get past ages of having children. So it's time that we have to step up to the plate with knowledge, experience, wisdom, things you're sharing, to, to really ease this this into the graceful aging rather than radical aging. I have a great customer client. I've known him for almost 40 years. His name Steve. He's practiced very similar lifestyle habits as I, he's about four years older than I am. So he's about 67. And he sent me a photo of his class reunion last week. And he said, I cannot believe how old everyone looks. And I said, That's because probably none of those people lived the life that you did. He's taking nutrients, he's exercise, and he's eating the correct foods for as long as I've known him. And you know, I mean, people can poopoo it all you want the proofs in the pudding in 90% of times, in cases, it is remarkable what long term benefits and visual benefits can come from this. So it's coenzyme Q 10. Secondly, so that's another I know, very important mitochondrial protectant. And, but maybe talk a minute about that. But the dose on Q10, and I'm really curious, what your what do you think the average 50 to 60 year old would need to be doing every day?
Dr. Kate 21:01 For general health maintenance, you know, in the 50 plus range, I would say 100 to 200 milligrams. And it's probably more along the 200 milligram end of things. And again, I like that in combination with the pqq.
Ed Jones 21:20 Yeah, absolutely. And I always tend to recommend this to people to take q 10. With fatty foods. Do you agree with that, that easy absorption of it? Or does it need that?
Dr. Kate 21:29 Well, definitely, you know, if it's coming in a soft shell form that that is taken care of. But it is a fat soluble nutrients, so it will be absorbed better with fat, especially if it's in a capsule form.
Ed Jones 21:41 Wonderful. Yeah. So we got PQQ coenzyme q 10. I do want to say, and I think most some people who are experienced listeners know this, nutritionw.com sponsors, the Holistic Navigator, we have an online presence, and our they do and it's tremendously vetted. Every manufacturer, they do not sell products, just because someone wants to purchase them, it has to go through a very intense evaluation. And on there, I mean, the company's Natural Factors all the way down the list. Secondly, is I make this huge deal this past year, about people who order online, and I'm very blunt about it, I'm saying you're many times you may be wasting your money one, if you don't know the manufacturer, there's a lot of real iffy stuff going on. That means gonna hurt people, but it's not going to help you because it may not be the quality. But I researched it and a UPS truck gets 145 degrees in the in the summer. And we're certainly in the in the midst of that now. And what do you think happens to these dadgum nutrients at 145 degrees, pretty much it's gonna be harmful to many of them. So at Nutrition World for $1 a piece, you get to pick how many cold packs you want, that will not send anything out of probiotic wise omega three wise without it, we won't even send it if even if you didn't want an ice pack, we send it or they send it with that ice pack. But if you order a big order, you know order that for $1 a cold pack just order how many you think you need to keep your nutrients cool in the summer. I don't know why other people have not thought of the damaging effects of this heat. And so that just throwing a plug in for nutrition to be and the fact that they're doing things differently than anyone else out there in the nutrition and the mail order business. So CoQ10, PQQ let's, let's move down the list what else?
Dr. Kate 23:34 So there are a number of nutrients that will as well support the mitochondria for example. acetyl l carnitine. This is a nutrient that will take fatty acids and shuttle them into the mitochondria so they can be burned for energy. So this supplies mitochondrial energy to the mitochondria itself, as well as helping it do its job in producing energy. So this is one as well, quite a bit of research. One of my favorite studies on centenarians, it's an Italian study, including individuals only aged 100 or older participants in the trial where I think we're between 100 and 106. Showing daily supplementation of acetyl l carnitine. Improved energy levels, exercise capacity reduction and feelings of fatigue increase in in muscle mass over I believe it was a three months period of this trial. So I just love this fact that you're literally never too old to benefit and again this the benefits here are our bites feeding the mitochondria. So this was acetyl l carnitine. And it is one of the another important nutrient to support mitochondrial function.
Ed Jones 24:54 And you know the word support I love and you said that helps to shuttle in more of the fuel into the mitochondrial function. Well, I fly small airplanes. And when you fly an airplane that has a turbo on it, it forces fuel and air into the engine opposed to an engine that doesn't have the forcing what the difference is, mine doesn't have a turbo. So when I flew to Colorado, the highest that engine could take me was 12,000 feet, it would not go any higher. turbos can go to 25,000 feet because it's forcing more energy into the engine. So acetylcarnitine sounds like kind of a turbo for, for some of these nutrients. I know I'd take acetylcarnitine I think a little bit for because I work out five days a week, I want it for potentially fat burning, it does help a little on that, does it?
Dr. Kate 25:44 It does, because that's what it's doing. It's taking fatty acids and giving them to the mitochondria to be burned for energy. Yep.
Ed Jones 25:52 Good. All right. And so, and I know we're gonna get into this in a minute, but I know there's this huge kind of conversation we need to have about adrenal function and energy, because that is one of the key components of energy. In fact, just before we even get into it, I talked to my sister last week, and she had gotten a case of poison ivy about six months ago, and it was pretty bad. And she's more medically oriented than I am. But by far, well, I was talking to her just a few days ago, and she said the best she had ever felt in the last 10 to 20 years was the 10 to 14 days that they gave her a high dose of steroids, prednisone. Well, that is an adrenal hormone, when she said, I've never felt better, more energy, more thinking got more done blank, blank, blank and less pain. Well, that would be what we would want our own body to do without a sunset without a synthetic drug. So whenever you want, we can go down, I want to go down the list of other nutrients, but we got to hit the adrenal function, because I know is a key component to all of this energy production.
Dr. Kate 27:01 Well, it is and this is a good time to get into that because it's true that you know, you're potentially you could optimize your mitochondrial function, but your adrenal glands really do set the tone for for example, your day night rhythm, you know, we got into this conversation talking about better energy in the mornings, you know, waking up feeling refreshed, feeling like you've got your get up and go. And a big part of that is having a normal natural circadian daily rhythm of, for example, your cortisol and you to get up in the morning. So you know, we've got energy to get out of bed, and then gradually decrease as the day goes on. So you can unwind and sleep well at night. And if that is off, if that's lagging, if due to stress, your cortisol levels are flat in the morning, then you will be you won't have morning energy, you will be lagging all day. And that speaks to the adrenal glands, they really are in charge of setting this daily rhythm. And they can end up lagging in their capacity and their action due to the effects of stress as well as a lack of nutrients that help them do their job better. There's a whole class of plant based medicines called adaptogens that help us adapt to or cope with stress. And they will work directly or indirectly by feeding the adrenal glands, giving them phytonutrients to help them do their job better to help them produce the right amount of hormones at the right time of day. So we can have energy throughout the day and relax and unwind at night. That's a huge aspect of energy levels and well being is this adrenal function.
Ed Jones 28:49 You know, I think even the least read person understands the importance of adrenal function and I know we can go through stages of this where we can be overly active with adrenals and then they tend to get worn out and they will become adoringly fatigued and you're right you say this, if you don't have any adrenal function, you're going to be like a jellyfish kind of you're just not going to have the ability. I don't care how much mentally disciplined you are. It is the the natural mechanism within us that prepares us for the day, gets us ready to accomplish and then also with its own rhythm ends up to helping us to get back to sleep and other things. Do you believe in cortisol testing the either the blood or the saliva for people who are questioning this?
Dr. Kate 29:40 Yes, it is helpful to find out where people are at. In other words, is their cortisol flat? Is it not going up in the morning? Is it going up and staying up too high all day, or is it peaking later in the day? I find that can be helpful. I've certainly used both and the saliva testings quite confused. Yes. However, a no issues with adrenal led function can also be largely recognized clinically, in other words, symptomatically things like, well, low energy, especially in the morning, or being tired and wired at night at frequent cravings, especially for sweet foods, but salty foods can be there to, you know, all of these kinds of things, feeling cold, low mood, feeling frazzled and overwhelmed is is a key symptom of adrenal fatigue. So all of these kinds of signs and symptoms are helpful, really helpful pointers to the fact that the adrenal glands aren't working as well as they should, especially if this has happened after a period of stress. And that can be you know, not just last few months, but what's happened over the last year or two, even in someone's life.
Ed Jones 30:53 So looking at the nutritional support platform for adrenal function, give us some good points on that, please.
Dr. Kate 31:03 There are a number of nutrients that contribute to adrenal function simple things like vitamin C, magnesium, but there's a whole class of botanical medicine, so they're plant based medicines that have different and complementary actions, which is why I tend to like them used in combination that will support adrenal gland function. These are these adaptogen Herbes I was mentioning before, so things like Siberian Ginseng, rhodiola ashwagandha is probably one of the best known best studied very widely used botanical medicines to support adrenal gland function. So like I said, combinations, adrenal sense from women sense but you know, work for women and men is one I've used personally and professionally for such a long time. And, you know, the adaption Herbs can make such a difference in well being that it's almost difficult to describe until you get that sense of resilience in the face of stress. So waking up with energy, being able to unwind, you know, at night, having consistent energy throughout the day. These are the kinds of things that we can expect from a good adaptogen combination to support adrenal gland function with energy.
Ed Jones 32:21 That's wonderful. And I don't want people to get the idea that that this is all you do to create health and energy. But then but we're just focused right now on this specific topic, it does not negate the importance, again, of exercise, proper combinations of food and a regular nutrient protocol. I mean, I came up with something called the core for some time ago, because I realized, I mean, you walk into a really nice nutrition store, it's going to have seven to 8000 products, where in the heck does a person start and if they're only reading little articles, and so many people just kind of try one thing one month and they try another the next month is not what I really feel comfortable with people doing because it's not the platform for overall consistent gains in your health. And so I am really just want to make sure the core for real quickly as always a great multivitamin. And then secondly, is omega threes, I do believe heavily in a green drink. I personally drink natural factors green drink, I love that one. And then vitamin D and magnesium. Those are if if someone does nothing else for their overall pattern of health as no matter what age they are, this will address a big significant part of the needs of the body to maintain itself, then we're talking about what you and I speaking about. Okay, that you know, they're not they just know they're not up to par with energy. I will say one thing. You've seen this Dr. Kate, I'm sure and I've seen it many times, we don't want to rebuild the body on this energy conversation in level and then then further abuse it just because we're feeling better doesn't mean we can work an extra two hours a day and get less sleep. It that's going to end up doing the good stuff that you do. So allowing the energy to go up and then managing it correctly without doing our normal American overwork kind of syndrome is very important. So again, on adrenal function, sleep is imperative for that to recover. I know that all too well. And is there any magical tips you have for people who and again, you hear this I can go to sleep but then I wake up all night long. What are your suggestions?
Dr. Kate 34:39 Oh, yes, there's so many issues that we can have with sleep, we could easily do a whole show on it. I'm sure you have. I know I have done plenty of talks at lectures just on sleep, you can have issues, getting to sleep, staying asleep, you know people waking every two hours, we can get three in the morning as a special time or waking too early, not being able to get back to sleep. So You know, there is a lot to cover. But the you know a few basic tips of course, you know basic sleep hygiene like sleeping in a dark room, maintaining a schedule of sleeping and waking at the same time every day, waking up to light turning the lights on first thing in the morning if the sun's not up, those are of course basic things and exercise will help. And then there are certain if you're still not having a good sleep quality, certain, you know, nutrients that I love, that are not habit forming, they won't make you feel groggy, drowsy hungover in the morning gentle and they can be used as needed include things like l theanine, which will cause drowsiness but helps to calm down an overactive mind that tired and wired brain is one long with of course, melatonin, the famous sleep hormone in I like it in small amounts, the optimal amount ranges for different individuals, even a little bit of something called Five HTP. This is a precursor that our body can use to make its own natural melatonin. And so this actually, specifically those three common a combination I have really liked called tranquil sleep. And that is sort of a natural sleep aid. But again, there's always specific, you know, these specific nutrients that can really help with sleep quality and quantity.
Ed Jones 36:29 That's wonderful. In fact, that yes, I have done certainly a podcast just myself on sleep, because I feel like I've learned a lot through the challenges of my own life. And I'm a huge fan of everything you just mentioned. Now I use GABA most of the time instead of theanine, but they both work on the same receptor in the brain. And I just I just tend to lean a little bit more GABA. But I love theanine. And yes, you know more and more research, as you well know, on melatonin, just forgetting the sleep issue, we're talking great potential for anti cancer effects all the way down the list of maintaining memory. So it is, you know, very decreasing significantly past age 40. And in some even before that. So it's one thing I want to replace, at least up to a normal level, just for longevity, even if it wasn't involving too much sleep. And I have experimented with everything from tiny doses to massive doses. And everyone's different. And you got to really kind of experiment with that, as you know. And the trenkle sleep product is just a wonderful combination and the fact that tryptophane and five HTP is a precursor to serotonin melatonin. Sometimes it's miraculous when people do this at night and they relatively they know pretty quickly that this is the kind of the right product for them. And you know, people sometimes Of course, they should be cautious about well, how safer are these products? The thing is that there's not another industry that's ever been in this world that has a higher safety record than the nutrition industry despite what the naysayers may say, Oh, it's unregulated. Oh, is this oh is that it was expensive urine. All of that is BS. If you deal with good companies that offer transparency and testing and ethics, it is extremely safe. I mean, the biggest danger is iron and in a chewable form that a kid will open and eat too many are and they will have iron poisoning. That one is significance but that's why they have childproof tops on those things. So I just always want to reaffirm to people that they they generally are going to be far better served by choosing something like this than the other alternatives and I do know and I'm experimenting right now and if you've heard of this ring called the our aura ring oh you are a and it's really interesting because it breaks down my sleep patterns in every avenue from heart rate variability is really as 97% as accurate as medical equipment. I've been very pleased with it he just ordered online and it's really has helped me what is done is because now I can see the REM sleep the deep sleep the light sleep the toss and turn. It's allowed me to figure out okay, what did I do those previous nights? What dose of melatonin did I take? Did I eat too late did I do this? And it's really putting some of the connecting the dots together for me as two parts to this puzzle I had not realized for my own personal benefit. As far as why haven't I been sleeping as well. And so I'm just throwing that out for people because I like to stay up to date has got an aura ring. Oh, you are a what? So anything else that you want to cover before we get finished, Dr. Kate?
Dr. Kate 39:43 Well, I love First of all, I agree that I love that the technology is evolving that allows us to be aware of and fine tune and check these things. I'm also really fascinated with that. And it helps us see the difference in the impact. But even you know for the average person, we can notice the see without any particular technology as well, whether whether we're sleeping better and feeling better. And I think that the main take home point is that if your sleep isn't as good, and particularly your energy, which was our you know, our big topic today isn't as good as you would like it to be. Don't accept or think that's just a consequence of aging, for example, and there is always something we can do to make that better.
Ed Jones 40:27 I love that, because that is so often the case people are told by most of their medical professionals, it's your birthdays. That's why you're not energetic. That's why you don't feel as well or you don't sleep as well. No, I'm not taking that as an excuse. Because we know the mechanisms of generally the mechanisms of why this is happening, why father time damages our mitochondrial function, instead of just like acting like, we don't have options we do, you're giving people options right now that are quite simple, not that expensive, extremely safe, that can help them to have a better functioning life, especially as we age. And there's so many health professionals who simply because they don't have a toolbox to draw from that they are a big naysayers to any of these kind of ideas. But we also have a growing group of people who embrace what you speak about Dr. Kate and other functional medicine people that, that we have options, we need to delve into the body to see where are we off from optimal standards. In fact, one of my most popular podcasts was that with Dr. LaValle on how to interpret bloodwork, and we do a lot of blood work here in the Wellness Center. And when I tell everyone, the reference ranges are a joke, if you if you think you're going to be healthy and stay optimally feeling good in reference ranges, you probably won't, we need to be an optimal. And that's a big, big jump really to try to go from Normal to optimal. But there's so much that can be done this way. It can be frustrating for me when I watch the standard media and here are the for the conversation from people who go to their health care practitioner. And it's just sad sometimes because you use you're spending your whole life believing in the same fact that we have impact, we can make significant impact on the quality of our life. But we need to be educated we need to find a team that we trust. And I told someone this morning at the gym. He's about 50 year old gentleman who's having some knee issues I said, I'm sorry, but I think the one big thing we need to do as we get older is accumulate a team of trusted individuals. One of them is your regular doc one of them's could be a nature path. One could be a body worker, one can be an acupuncturist, but we're going to need people to help us as we get along on these years of life. And your information today was just fabulous, because it's very concise. We know three or four great things to help maintain mitochondrial function. And like, last question, What age do you think people should really start focusing on maintaining mitochondrial function if they're looking at the long run of aging gracefully?
Dr. Kate 43:16 Oh, ideally, we will have started by 40 to pay attention to this. If not earlier.
Ed Jones 43:23 Yes. Yeah. And and again, you said earlier and even with extremely aged people, you still have some room for improvement and hope. So it's never too late, is it?
Dr. Kate 43:37 Absolutely not. And, you know, I see cases of inspiring people who have started at any age 5060s even 70s and made remarkable improvements in their health who inspire me.
Ed Jones 43:50 Absolutely. And, and, and, and I've seen people as you to that. Kind of they were they wrote themselves off at 60. And at 70. They're running in a marathon. Yeah. And, but generally you do that you're gonna have to get your team together and find trusted individuals and be able to learn. In fact, there's one thing I say on many of the endings of my podcast, I separate the world into two classes of people, learners and non learners in the field of health in the field of getting older gracefully. If you are a non learner, I'm sorry, but you're going to be like my friend Steve, who had that photo of all those about 40 people in his high school reunion, and only one out of 40 looked 50 and the others looked 70 which was Steve because he practiced what you just have spoke about. So Dr. Kate thank you so much for the second time around for was such my amazing wonderful information that can change lives. And I just love the fact that you're a part of the whole world of nature, Pathak medicine and functional holistic health and I just I know will have you back on again for another great informative topic.
Dr. Kate 45:04 Well, thank you, Ed, really appreciate it. Always a pleasure chatting with you.
Ed Jones 45:08 All right, my friend, and everybody out there, I am always just the most exciting day of my week is to know that I'm doing this podcast. If you have any questions, any concerns, any wishes for any topics, please email us and we are here for you. We're going to be hitting number 100. before too long, I'd like to kind of make that one little special day. But all of you out there know that you have the power, if you are informed with the correct information to change your life, and that don't give in to the negativities that we hear so often from people that kind of doom us in that area. No, just like Dr. Kate said, she sees it, I see it, we all see it as possible and it's never too late. So take care and all of you just keep building that health and learn. Learn, learn. Thank you. This is Ed with the holistic navigator.
Brian Strickland 46:03 The information on this podcast and the topics discussed have not been evaluated by the FDA or any one of the medical profession, and is not aimed to replace any advice you may receive from your medical practitioner. The holistic navigator assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever on behalf of any purchaser or listener of these materials. The listing navigator is not a doctor, nor does he claim to be please consult your physician before beginning any health regimen.