Getting enough sleep is important to Sal Daher’s effort to keep off 100 pounds. This short episode discusses how sleep connects with weight and how to improve sleep in support of weight control.
Sal napping.
Highlights:
Why We Don’t Sleep Enough
Markets & Technological Innovation Are to Blame but the Solutions Need to Come from Individuals and Voluntary Associations, not from Leviathan
We Know We Need to Sleep More but the Cards Are Stacked Against It
Why Is Sleep So Important to Weight Control?
As We Age Our Need for Sleep Does Not Decline but Our Ability to Sleep Does
Why I do Early Morning Exercises Outdoors – GoodLux Technologies
Huberman Lab Podcast Offers Valuable Tips
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Transcript of “Sleep and Weight”
Guest: Sal Daher
Technology has been at war with sleep for a long time. Figuring out how to overcome this assault on our rest is more important than ever. It is related to the crucial question of our time: how do we retain our humanity in the face of accelerating technological and market-driven change?
Hi I’m Sal Daher, an investor in biotech who is keeping off 100 pounds of body weight purely through healthy habits for eating, exercising and sleeping.
Having been overweight my whole life, I have managed to gain control of my weight in my sixties. I would like to communicate to those who have similar struggles that it can be done. It’s not easy but with enough focus and enough support I’m convinced that every person can build her or his own set of habits to maintain ideal body weight.
Sleep has played a pivotal role in my weight management. This episode argues for the importance of adequate sleep not just in weight loss but ultimately to our emotional and physical health.
Why We Don’t Sleep Enough
Cheaper and better lighting has for centuries been extending the time in the day when people can do productive or entertaining things that previously could only be done in daylight. This trend accelerated greatly with the advent of widely-available electric lighting in the late 19th century to the point that today large segments of the population are not sleeping enough. As reported on the NIH website, 40% of Americans surveyed reported nodding off unexpectedly during the day at least once per month.
Recent advances in large language models point to even greater technological disruptions in our future. Getting enough sleep is a particular case of a much broader question: how do we choose prudently from the avalanche of choices afforded by technology-enabled markets? We are tempted with endless varieties of hyper-palatable foods and our waistlines are bigger than ever. Clever products abound and our homes are cluttered with them. The means of communication are superbly developed yet we are more disconnected than at any time before. Information has never been more accessible yet, are we proportionately better informed?
I see little in the culture of 21st century America that counters these disturbing trends. My guess is that things will get worse before effective solutions are broadly accepted. Given this reality, each person has to devise strategies to deal with these trends on her or his own terms. We need to learn to ride the avalanche of choices and not be drowned in it.
Markets & Technological Innovation Are to Blame but the Solutions Need to Come from Individuals and Voluntary Associations, not from Leviathan
The alienation, over-consumption, exhaustion and anxiety are the downside of the prosperity our age has brought. They are undoubtedly produced by the interplay of mostly free markets and technological innovation. Yet, the last thing I would want is for the government to trouble itself with the matter. Any action by government is bound to be distorted by special interests, have none of the intended consequences and likely create a host of other unintended problems. “God bless and keep Uncle Sam, far, far away.”
True solutions need to come from individuals and voluntary associations by education and persuasion, never through compulsion. These would create patterns of decision-making by individuals that support human thriving rather than detract from it. That use digital interactions to enhance human connectedness, that harness the supply chain to provide needed products but does not veer into excess and that support us in getting needed exercise and rest.
Enough theorizing, let’s get back to the practicalities of getting enough sleep.
We Know We Need to Sleep More but the Cards Are Stacked Against It
I remember attending a multi-day event for admitted applicants at Cornell University for Grace Daher Ramirez, our younger daughter. It included a packed schedule of presentations and talks by the most sought-after lecturers at the university. Among these was a talk by the prominent sleep researcher and very popular lecturer James Maas. Professor Maas argued for the importance of getting enough sleep.
He related the story of an aspiring Olympian whose training was not going well despite her long hours on the ice. Dr. Maas reviewed her daily schedule and discovered that she was not sleeping nearly enough to allow her body and mind to consolidate the benefits of workouts. It turned out that she had added an early-morning practice with a group that had a good record of training Olympians. His advice was that she drop the much-vaunted early morning practice and use the time to sleep in. The result is that she made it to the Olympics.
The story and his entire presentation were highly compelling. Afterwards my wife, Jone, remarked on the irony that she and I listened with rapt attention to the talk about sleep yet could not resist participating in every one of the activities of that weekend to the detriment of our sleep. We understood then, just how hard it must be for college students to avoid the temptation to try to do it all.
The wise thing would have been to choose three talks to attend that weekend and to spend the rest of the time exercising or resting. As it happens, the most salient memories I have of that event are of Dr. Maas’ talk on sleep, of a fascinating talk on molds and funguses and of the last public talk given by the late William F. Buckley. We pretty much knew in advance that these would be the most interesting anyway, but it had not yet dawned on us that we could not do it all.
This brings to mind a quote from the philosophical novelist Walker Percy who wrote:
“Lucky is the man who does not secretly believe that every possibility is open to him.”
We would be much happier if we gave up on FOMO (fear of missing out).
Why Is Sleep So Important to Weight Control?
I find that I have less self-control when I’m sleep-deprived. I have less energy to engage in the active planning that leads to healthy eating and exercise. I tend to reach out to the handiest calorie-dense foods in preference to lower-calorie options.
Researchers have found that our metabolism is significantly altered by just a few days of sleep deprivation leading to reduced response to insulin. This is scary stuff because reduced insulin sensitivity is the main feature of diabetes. Lack of sleep may also reduce our immune defenses.
Lack of sleep makes recovery from exercise slower so we exercise less because we feel tired and have less self-control. This is consequential because as I’ve discussed in the previous episode on exercise, being physically active is a necessary though not a sufficient condition for weight management. I find that when I’m exercising, I’m happier and more energized and thus better able to manage my weight.
Another significant effect of sleep deprivation is that it can lead to depression. A person who is depressed is not likely to be focusing on managing weight.
Ultimately, the most compelling argument for adequate sleep is how well we feel when we are fully rested. If you’ve been burning the candle at both ends, check out how well you feel after two weeks of good sleep.
As We Age Our Need for Sleep Does Not Decline but Our Ability to Sleep Does
As we age, we still need the same hours of sleep we needed earlier in adulthood. Unfortunately, aging causes us to sleep less efficiently. I find that I need to spend more hours in bed to get my necessary sleep. That means that I have to use every reasonable measure to improve my quality of sleep. These range from winding down my work and exercise a few hours before sleep and other types of sleep hygiene. More below.
If I did not sleep well at night, I supplement it with naps of fifteen to thirty minutes in duration during the afternoon. That gives me a boost without making me groggy.
I’ve monitored my sleep with a Fitbit for years and can detect a slow decline in my sleep score. Ironically, my sleep got worse for several months after I lost weight. It’s now gotten back to the pre-weight loss normal.
I’ve also started using the Whoop band and app. Although I got it to help optimize my physical training, I’ve discovered that it’s really helpful in proposing sleep strategies based on my exercise and level of recovery. I can say that I sleep better because of my Whoop. BTW, I have no stake in Whoop of any kind. I’m just a satisfied user.
Why I do Early Morning Exercises Outdoors – GoodLux Technologies
About eight years ago I invested in a venture called GoodLux Technologies. Two of the co-founders were psychiatrists and their goal was to support behavioral changes to help people deal with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), depression and poor sleep without drugs. They designed a device that measured how much bright light a person was exposed to, and through an app coached people on optimizing their bright light exposure from sunlight and from high-quality artificial sources.
While the venture did not succeed, I became friends with one of the co-founders, Jacquie Olds, M.D. Here’s my interview of Jacquie: https://www.angelinvestboston.com/jacqueline-olds-md-love-shopping-and-cocaine
Since that time, I have been keenly aware of the connection of exposure to bright light in the morning to sleep and mood. I try to get bright light from the sun whenever possible but when I’m waking up before sunrise, my wife and I use the bright lights recommended by GoodLux.
BTW, they tested less expensive models and found that at that time they did not deliver therapeutic levels of light. I don’t know if these cheaper devices have improved since then. Here’s the model we use at home: https://www.sunbox.com/shop/10000-lux-bright-lights/sunlight-jr-2/ It bears saying I have no financial connection to SunBox. I’m just a customer.
Huberman Lab Podcast Offers Valuable Tips
The podcast Andrew Huberman, PhD does is an invaluable resource for sound information on many topics. You might check out the episode titled Toolkit for Sleep launched in August of 2022 which is loaded with actionable information to improve sleep.
I hope you find this podcast useful in making better sleep a part of your effort to control weight.
Here are highlights from this episode:
We have been sleeping less and less for more than a century now.
The problem is cultural.
We need to devise our own solutions to get enough sleep because the culture around us will not help in this regard.
We frequently are aware we need more sleep but are simply tempted by the desire to do it all. Banish FOMO.
Sleep is really important to weight control.
As we age, we need the same amount of sleep but sleep less efficiently.
Exercise and early morning sunlight promotes sleep
Check out Andrew Huberman’s Toolkit for Sleep episode.
This is the Angel Invest Boston podcast. Thanks for listening. I’m Sal Daher.