preparing for sleep involves external and internal factors.
External factors include his No. 1 rule, what he calls “PTSD” — put the screen down. Singh advises no smart- phone scrolling before bed, as well as lowering the temperature, noise, and other lights. Internal factors
include making sure the mind is relaxed. He recommends spending 30 minutes with a “foreplay” routine that helps the mind unwind. He suggests going for a walk, talking to your part- ner, unpacking the best part of your day, journaling, meditating, or doing a breathing exercise just before it is time to turn in for the night.
If both external and internal ele- ments are right, he said, “sleep will happen.”
“Let sleep come to you,” he said.
“Sleep will fi nd you. No one sleeps bet- ter by trying harder.”
His biggest reminder about the
importance of sleep is that “tomorrow starts tonight.”
Book Excerpt
Sleep Apnea and Surgery: Dangerous Combination J
ust recently I met Simon, a talented cabinet maker in his late 50s who was currently
unemployed due to needing hip replacement surgery after so many years of standing. Simon had never been diagnosed with a sleep disorder, nor did he have high blood pressure.
But in his presurgical evaluation, the
internist (who had heard me lecture before about the higher risk of poorer surgical outcomes associated with untreated sleep apnea) noticed Simon’s neck circumference measured larger than normal. The back of his throat looked narrow, and he was overweight. He suggested that Simon get checked for sleep apnea before surgery.
We discovered 100
breathing pauses per hour! (Normal is less than 5.) Also, his oxygen was dropping into the 70% range at night. This was a severe case of sleep apnea, and it
would be dangerous to move forward with the surgery. I had to sit Simon down immediately and break the news. We now know that untreated sleep apnea can
lead to all kinds of dangers post-surgery. Surgery is a stress on your body, which means you’re going to produce more adrenaline. Untreated sleep apnea also causes higher levels
of adrenaline in the body, which increases blood sugar and is bad for the heart. That’s a lot of adrenaline — which leads to poor
wound healing, rising blood sugars, strain on the heart, and potentially dangerous heart arrhythmias. You are also given meds post-surgery (pain meds, muscle relaxers, sleep aids) — all of which make sleep apnea even worse.
Surgery is a firestorm for the body, no matter how small that surgery is, and untreated sleep apnea is like pouring gasoline on the fire.
We delayed the hip replacement by three weeks so we could get him started on CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) and get this problem under control. I can say with confidence this intervention saved his life (had he gone on to have the surgery untreated), and we increased his longevity, too. Simon has a new hip now — in addition to a e and mo
SINGH ORDER YOUR COPY
Get a Free Off er copy of Sleep to Heal: 7 Simple Steps to Better Sleep — Save $24.99. Online:
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better life and most likely fewer heart problems in his future.
SEPTEMBER 2023 | NEWSMAX 75
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