#372 3 P’s For Better Sleep with Dr. Angela Holliday-Bell

This week on The Less Stressed Life Podcast, we're diving into the secrets of a good night's sleep! 💤 I sit down with sleep expert Dr. Angela Holliday-Bell, who shares her journey from struggling with insomnia to becoming a leading advocate for restful sleep. Dr. Bell is on a mission to help others harness the power of quality sleep for a happier, healthier life. 🌙✨

We dig into the “Three P’s” of sleep—Prioritize, Proactively Manage Stress, and Protect Sleep. Dr. Bell explains how small changes can make a big difference, and why sleep is non-negotiable, especially for high achievers. 🛌💪

Plus, she sheds light on how our modern lifestyles—hello, remote work and artificial light!—are wrecking our sleep patterns, and what we can do to fight back. Trust me, after this episode, you'll want to rethink your nighttime habits! 🌞🌒

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• The “Three P’s” for reclaiming restful sleep
• Why prioritizing sleep is essential, not optional
• The hidden impacts of artificial light on sleep quality
• How sleep tech can help (or hurt) your sleep routine
• Why you deserve good sleep—no earning required!

ABOUT GUEST:
Dr. Angela Holliday-Bell is a Board-Certified Physician, Certified Sleep Specialist, Author, Speaker and Founder of the Solution is Sleep LLC. As someone who formally suffered from insomnia herself, she understands the transformative power of good quality sleep and how obtaining this regularly can lead to a happier, healthier, and more productive life. She has been featured on local and international television shows and networks such as the Dr. Phil show, ABC news, and WGN television spreading her message about the power of good sleep.

Find Dr. Bell's book Sleeping On The Job here: https://sleepingonthejobbook.com/
FREE 7 Days to Better Sleep Guide: https://thesolutionissleep.com/better-sleep-guide/

WHERE TO FIND:
Website: https://thesolutionissleep.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesleep_md 

WHERE TO FIND CHRISTA:
Website: https://www.christabiegler.com/
Instagram: @anti.inflammatory.nutritionist
Podcast Instagram: @lessstressedlife
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lessstressedlife
Leave a review, submit a questions for the podcast or take one of my quizzes here: ****https://www.christabiegler.com/links

NUTRITION PHILOSOPHY:

• Over restriction is dead
• Whole food is soul food and fed is best
• Sustainable, synergistic nutrition is in (the opposite of whack-a-mole supplementation & supplement graveyards)
• You don’t have to figure it out alone
• Do your best and leave the rest

Transcript

[00:00:00] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So sitting inside and just it's artificial light all day and all night really is the bigger issue, really throws us off and is difficult for our bodies to understand.

[00:00:08] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Okay, what is daytime? When should our melatonin be turned off? When should we be circulating that melatonin again? Because we're constantly just. Just giving ourselves cues that we should be awake and alert and the melatonin release should be off. 

[00:00:20] Christa Biegler, RD: I'm your host, Christa Biegler, and I'm going to guess we have at least one thing in common that we're both in pursuit of a less stressed life. On this show, I'll be interviewing experts and sharing clinical pearls from my years of practice to support high performing health savvy women in pursuit of abundance and a less stressed life.

[00:00:50] Christa Biegler, RD: One of my beliefs is that we always have options for getting the results we want. So let's see what's out there together.

[00:01:07] Christa Biegler, RD: Today on The Less Stressed Life, I have Dr. Angela Holliday Bell, who is a board certified physician, certified sleep specialist, author, speaker, and founder of The Solution is Sleep. As someone who formerly, when formerly, suffered from insomnia herself, she understands the transformative power of good sleep and how it obtaining this regularly can lead to a happier, healthier, and more productive life.

[00:01:30] Christa Biegler, RD: She's been featured on local and international television shows and networks, such as the Dr. Phil show, ABC news and WGN television, spreading her message about the power of good sleep. Welcome to the show, Dr. 

[00:01:39] Christa Biegler, RD: Bell. 

[00:01:40] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. 

[00:01:42] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. So let's talk about how you got into this niche, this area of health, because so often some of our greatest work is led it's because of our own struggles.

[00:01:55] Christa Biegler, RD: Sometimes it's always, we have empathy. We have a lot more empathy if we've experienced that. So tell us a little bit about what happened with you that got you really into this topic. 

[00:02:04] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Absolutely. So I am someone I like to say who's always had a deep loving relationship with sleep. I was that person who was always sleep.

[00:02:11] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: I did a lot of sleep and loved it until I started to go through our medical training. I am actually a board certified pediatrician by training. And as I went through medical school and residency specifically, sleep became much more difficult to come by. And it started with me seemingly not having time to sleep, but then became me not being able to sleep, even when I had the time and absolutely was one of the most frustrating and difficult experiences I've ever had in my life.

[00:02:37] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: There were all the training and all the other things that I've been through. So it started with my own journey just to fix my sleep. I started reading every single book there was on sleep, started to volunteer in the sleep clinic and in that process really fell in love with sleep and started to learn that it was more than just about feeling rested, that it was really critical to optimal performance in every facet of my life.

[00:02:57] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And as I started to put the principles into place that I was learning, I saw my sleep change. I saw my life change for the better. And I knew that there were so many other people struggling from what I was seeing myself in clinic, from friends, from families. And so I knew I had to help other people do the same.

[00:03:12] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And I decided to become certified as a sleep specialist, got trained in some cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, started my sleep consulting business. And now we're here. 

[00:03:21] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. Things have changed. What is the population that struggles with sleep? Doesn't like half the population. Yeah. 

[00:03:27] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah, so statistically speaking, a third of U.

[00:03:29] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: S. Adults suffer from chronic insufficient sleep, and that's just from the individuals who report having chronic insufficiency. But I think the number is actually much higher than that. I've never walked into a room with more than one person, and there have not been at least one person struggling with sleep issues.

[00:03:44] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So for sure, there are a lot of people in the numbers are growing so much so that all the way back in 2000 and nine, even before Covid and things have worsened since then. So The CDC deemed sleep deprivation to be a public health epidemic because so many people were suffering. 

[00:03:58] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. And in your story, I see this with high achievers.

[00:04:02] Christa Biegler, RD: You didn't have time to sleep. And then when it was time to sleep, you couldn't sleep. And it's a very human thing to want, be frustrated about what we cannot control suddenly, right? Like it was working and then it was not working. It, as you started to dive into some of the sleep research, was there anything That really struck you as an Oh my gosh, I have to change my life here.

[00:04:22] Christa Biegler, RD: And what I'm thinking about is every once in a while, I run across a client who's very devoted to their work, very hard worker. I just had someone do this pretty recently, about a month ago. And I had someone a couple of years ago that would stay up at least two nights straight to do work.

[00:04:37] Christa Biegler, RD: And that, yeah, I know. And it was, you can get away with things for a little bit. And what I remember about that particular person was that her brain was literally so broken. Like she was very hypersensitive. And I, so I just had someone recently telling me, I feel so good when I just work for 20 hours.

[00:04:54] Christa Biegler, RD: And when I'm like really on a roll, I'm like, Oh man, I'm having some PTSD about this conversation. And We know that sleep helps you repair overnight, but as you were digging into the research and falling in love with it, was there some specific things that really jumped out at you related to this?

[00:05:09] Christa Biegler, RD: Because, like you said, when you're training for a doctor, I do think, for people that I know that have gone through this training, it's so rigorous, and sleep is, it is literally such a way to ruin your health. Yeah. So I'm curious, what were some of those things that were like, oh my gosh, I have to make some shifts right now or what 

[00:05:27] Christa Biegler, RD: really struck you? 

[00:05:28] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah. So there were definitely some aha moments. I think what pushed me to the edge and what made me be like, okay, you need to figure this out is that I just absolutely became a worse version of myself. I was on edge all the time. I was stressed all the time. I felt like I was trying to learn so much, but none of the information was being retained.

[00:05:44] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: I had this constant brain fog. And and I had lack of energy. I didn't want to do things like work out and I didn't enjoy my leisure time. And so I became this kind of broken version of myself. And I was like, okay, before when I was sleeping, I was not like this and now I am. And as I started to dig into the research surrounding sleep, I realized that all of that was a direct result of my sleep loss.

[00:06:05] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And what really struck me was that initially I was sacrificing sleep because I wanted to be a good doctor, right? So I have to stay up because I have to study and I have to learn as much as I can. I have to be, the super smart person. And then I realized that because of my lack of sleep, I was being a worse doctor.

[00:06:17] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Like I wasn't being the doctor that I wanted to be because I wasn't investing in my sleep. And that's when it was like, Oh, okay. You're, you think you're doing it for this purpose, but you're actually doing the complete opposite. And so in order to be the empathetic person to my patients, to really learn what I wanted to learn, to retain the information, to affects my memory, my emotional intelligence, my ability to overcome stressors.

[00:06:37] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: I have to sleep. And so once I made that revelation, I was like, Oh, okay. I've been doing this all wrong. 

[00:06:43] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. Something else I think about with doctors that are working really hard and I think about some of the symptoms you talked about, when you aren't getting sleep, of course, nothing is recovering, but especially adrenals and adrenals are your organs that produce stress hormone.

[00:06:56] Christa Biegler, RD: And so I'm wondering, did you do any testing on your early road with poor sleep that kind of started things? 

[00:07:03] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Like testing, like lab work, you mean? 

[00:07:04] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah, did you do some lab work or did you do any testing to see how your adrenals are functioning? Conventionally, we don't have a lot of testing and that was not probably something that was talked about in training at all.

[00:07:15] Christa Biegler, RD: So I'm just curious if you did any testing, if you just were able to jump straight to lifestyle. 

[00:07:20] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah. So no, I didn't do any testing at that point for me. It was really the lifestyle changes that made the biggest difference. did think about, I knew that I wasn't doing what I needed to do to get good sleep.

[00:07:30] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So like when I talked to clients or people that I work with, they're like, I am going to sleep at this and I'm doing all these things and I am not getting good sleep or I'm sleeping, but then I still feel horrible and I'm not rested. And it's okay. Is there something else going on? Is there sleep disorders or something affecting your sleep quality?

[00:07:44] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: For me, it started with, okay, let's do the things you need to do to actually try to obtain good sleep and then see where things go from there. So luckily, not that it was easy and it wasn't an overnight thing, but luckily once I started to put those practices into place, things really unfolded and changed for the better for me.

[00:08:00] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: I'm sure my cortisol levels are through the roof. I'm sure that everything was not great at the beginning of that, but I really focused on those lifestyle changes. 

[00:08:08] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. Something I love to ask people is after you implemented changes how long do you think it took to start to see results that were really quite measurable to you? 

[00:08:17] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: That's a great question. Because I was suffering with insomnia and chronic insomnia, meaning I had this broken relationship with sleep, right? So it wasn't just, oh, you're not going to bed on time. It started that way. I wasn't going to to bed on time, not waking up At the same time. Sleep became a battle to me, and it was rots with anxiety and I had to retrain my brain to establish a healthy cook, a relationship with sleep.

[00:08:38] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: That took a while. So I would say probably honestly. six weeks to two months before I really started seeing some measurable improvements. And then definitely a solid like three to four months before I was like in a very good spot. And I continue to do all of the same things that I did to get to that spot to maintain that spot for sure.

[00:09:00] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: But it definitely wasn't an overnight thing. 

[00:09:02] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. And that takes a lot of tenacity and grit to like charge through things. For sure. Did you have a mentor or were you navigating it on your own? 

[00:09:09] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah, no, I navigated it on my own. I was just bootstrapping it. I think, unfortunately, in medicine, there is this mindset of just grind through it.

[00:09:19] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: You sleep when you die. You just have to keep working. Everything is about, being a doctor and all these things. And I think that I would say one of the worst things you can do for your sleep and honestly for your health is become a doctor, unfortunately. We need doctors, it's important, but the way that we do it is just not great.

[00:09:33] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And so there was no one around me who was like, Oh yeah, you need to sleep. No one was really saying that, but I knew for myself that I was important and I was suffering in that way. So it really was just my own doing of I've reached my wit's end and I have to change because I can't continue to exist in this way. 

[00:09:47] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah, I know we're going to talk about the three P's, but when you say you had chronic insomnia, is there a way that is measured if it's in a black and white box or does it just look like I can only sleep half the night or what was your sleep pattern like? 

[00:09:59] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah. So the definition of chronic insomnia is difficulty falling asleep, maintaining sleep, or waking up earlier than intended, at least three nights per week for at least three weeks.

[00:10:09] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So once it got to that point, it was like, okay, this is a chronic thing. And again, oftentimes it's more complicated than just not going to sleep. There are some maladaptive thoughts and behaviors that have progressed and occurred surrounding sleep. So for me, again, at first it was me not making time, me sacrificing sleep, but then it was like, okay, I'm tired and I need to sleep.

[00:10:28] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And I would try to go to sleep. And then I would instantly be awake and anxious and tossing and turning. For hours, and then I will fall asleep right before my alarm went off. And then I do it all over again. And then I started to dread sleep because I was like, Oh, now it's going to be another battle.

[00:10:42] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And I'm going to go through this all over again. Then there were days I'm like, I'm just going to go to sleep so early so that I'm in bed long enough that even if I get less sleep, it'll still be enough sleep and that only made the problem worse, so it really started to be this point of contention for me, as opposed to this restorative process that I looked forward to, it was like it was like a dragging dreadful.

[00:11:00] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Feeling that I had every night going to bed. 

[00:11:02] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah, that's tough. Thanks for that definition. So when you're helping others with sleep, there's a few frameworks that you use to try to make it a little bit easier. And one of them is the three P's. Will you tell us about the three P's for better sleep? 

[00:11:15] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah, the three P's about sleep.

[00:11:16] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So this is just a simple, more bird's eye view of some things or some concepts surrounding sleep. That's a good way to just get started. When we tackle sleep issues, it can be such this big thing, right? There's so many things that affect your sleep, but it's helpful to break it down into at least these three parts to begin with.

[00:11:32] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: The first P, and I think the most important one is to prioritize sleep. And it sounds so simple, but that is actually the part that most people miss out on. Even people who understand that they should get better sleep or want to get better sleep. What that looks like is I get up, I go to work, I come home, I take care of home duties, maybe child care, spend time with my spouse, binge watch my favorite show, and then whenever time is left, I'm gonna, use that for sleep.

[00:11:57] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And because I turned the lights off, I should just be able to go to sleep. And that is not prioritizing sleep. Sleep is actually a 24 hour process. So from the moment you wake up, you actually should be Setting yourself up for better sleep. And so I had to start my day with sleep in mind and being like, how am I going to set myself up for better sleep and not leave whatever time is left over when I'm done with everything else for sleep.

[00:12:18] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So it's really a mindset shift that works wonders. And for some people, just that shift. I'm like, okay, I need to set up my day and night for better sleep. really makes a world of difference. The next P is to proactively manage daily stress and anxiety. So particularly as a resident medical doctor, a lot of my sleep issues were related to stresses and anxieties that I was experiencing throughout my day and related to my sleep.

[00:12:41] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And Of course we can't just make all the stresses of life go away. I wish we could. But there are things that we can do proactively to decrease the stress load we bring to bed with us is what I call it. So anything that you do have control over during your day, something as simple as giving yourself more time for your morning routine so that you're not rushing and your cortisol is not surging first thing in the morning.

[00:13:02] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: If you have a commute that you're sitting in traffic and you're rushing to get to work, that can also start your day off on the wrong foot. So give yourself a little bit more time. Do something that you find enjoyable. Take breaks throughout your day. Sprinkle enjoyable things throughout your day so that you don't feel the need to sacrifice sleep in order to do it at night when everything else is done.

[00:13:22] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And then Managing your stress and anxiety before going to bed. So maybe that's making a worry list or worry diary where you're jotting down all those things that you're thinking about so that it's out of your mind and process before you go to bed, doing a sleep meditation, listening to a sleep story, like giving your brain time to process those anxieties and thoughts because they're not going to go away.

[00:13:41] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: They just will likely surface when there are no other distractions when you're trying to go to sleep. And then the last B is to protect sleep. The relationship between your bed and sleep. A lot of people don't recognize this as a problem, but it's a huge problem and that your bed should be reserved for sleep insects.

[00:13:56] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Only no other activities. Including laying in bed for hours awake tossing and turning. So one of the biggest mistakes that I made when I was struggling with insomnia was, I'm just going to spend all this time in bed so there's a greater chance I would sleep. But what I was doing then was making the connection between being in bed awake, stressed, tossing and turning, as opposed to sleep.

[00:14:15] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So that next time I got into bed, I was going to sleep. Automatically, that's what my brain went to because it's this is what we do in bed. We were stressed. Our cortisol levels go up where our fight or flight mode is triggered. And so I had to really break that relationship between stress and reconnect and reestablish the relationship between my bed and sleep.

[00:14:30] Christa Biegler, RD: I bet that was the one you found last because I don't know, but I feel like it would be the one that you would overlook the easiest, right? You would think, oh, I'm fine. This isn't a problem. I think we're very unconscious of kind of consistent things that start to cause and effect, or This essentially neural pathway or the relationship you said, right?

[00:14:53] Christa Biegler, RD: So you don't even recognize that was an issue. Since you came from working with children into really diving into sleep I feel like everyone always has questions about kids. Is this part of your current career, sleep and issues with kids and sleep, or what are some really common issues that kids have with sleep as well? 

[00:15:16] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah, so interestingly, I love working with kids in clinic and in my role as a pediatrician, not so much when it comes to sleeping kids, although I do still do some work with kids in sleep, mostly because a lot of kids sleep comes down to the parents. Okay. And the boundaries they've set around sleep, the behaviors that they've modeled around sleep and the expectations that the kids have because of what the parents have done.

[00:15:40] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Not all of it, but a lot of it comes down to that. So whenever I'm working, aside from a sleep disorder, right? So a lot of people don't realize that a lot of kids, a lot more kids have sleep apnea and mostly sleep apnea, but things like restless leg syndrome or sleep disorders, and people realize you think of it as an adult thing.

[00:15:54] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: But A lot of kids have it too. So that aside, often when I'm working on kids and sleep, it's more of the parents. Like it's me and the parents working together on how to establish a healthy bedtime routine, how to model healthy behaviors, how to establish boundaries, how to be consistent in those things and how to teach them what to expect.

[00:16:11] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So there are some aspects of that I still do work in, but most of my work when it comes to sleep is really in adults. 

[00:16:18] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah, I totally get it. Another thing that comes up with sleep is all of these tools that measure sleep data, but some people, and I think I agree, believe that if you already know your sleep sucks, then don't get a tool to tell you.

[00:16:30] Christa Biegler, RD: So what's your thought on sleep gadgets and tools like that? What are some best practices? 

[00:16:37] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah, I think it depends on the person, right? So honestly, in my peak of insomnia, a sleep tool would have been horrible because it would have made me obsess over the numbers and my anxiety would have increased because now my score is 50 something and I'm trying to make it better and it's not working.

[00:16:51] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And so if you are someone that already has this anxiety built up surrounding sleep, I typically actually don't recommend the wearables. For individuals who may not recognize some of their patterns that are contributing to their poor sleep, I think it can be super helpful to have this holistic view of your sleep, right?

[00:17:07] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So some people may feel like, yeah, I keep a consistent schedule, but then you look at the wearables and it's actually you went to sleep our, two to three hours difference on the weekends versus the weekdays. That shows you. Or I've had clients who are like I know that, people told me, or you told me that alcohol could affect my sleep, but it always made me sleepy.

[00:17:23] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So I didn't think it was a thing until I saw that my sleep quality actually did suffer every single night. I had that nightcap or that glass of wine, like pulling out those trains and showing people this mirror that they didn't see before. I think it can be super helpful, but I think if you already have this sleep anxiety built up, it could actually be a little bit worse. 

[00:17:39] Christa Biegler, RD: Totally, I agree with you that I think it's really nice to like, assess first and maybe even test and then get results. People sometimes we put too much of our stake in the data, but to your point I didn't really, I also. Maybe would not have realized the impact of late eating and alcohol on sleep.

[00:17:56] Christa Biegler, RD: If I had not seen it recently this last week, and I was on a retreat with a bunch of women and they, one girl was wearing a sleep tracking ring. And someone asked me, do you have one? And I said, I had one for a while and I got what I needed from it. And then it broke good enough. I don't really need to continue to learn all those same lessons are obsessive and a big deal.

[00:18:15] Christa Biegler, RD: Is there anything that you're excited about in the realm of sleep as you look forward to the future? Do you think that we're making progress in certain areas? And something that came up recently in an interview was at home sleep study test, because sleep apnea doesn't always look like you think it should whatsoever.

[00:18:31] Christa Biegler, RD: There's a lot of other oral mouth things and breathing pattern things that can impact it. And so I thought that was really interesting. I'm wondering if there's anything you're excited since you are hanging out in this corner of sleep so much. 

[00:18:43] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah. So I'm excited just about the prevalence of sleep talk and the education surrounding sleep.

[00:18:50] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Even when I started as a sleep specialist, people were not trying to hear about sleep. Everyone was still on this, like, why should I care? I'll sleep when I die typing. And I've seen throughout my career that things have really shifted and people are starting to understand like, Oh wait, no, this sleep thing is important.

[00:19:05] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Now, I do think that sleep trends unfortunately have worsened, but I think that people are starting to take notice on why it's important and looking for ways to make that better. Again, I think some of the technologies are great in that it is giving people access and empowering them in a certain way. If used appropriately.

[00:19:20] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So I think we still have, some ways to go on that. But I think empowering people, even with, like you said, at home sleep test. So it's not this whole daunting thing of having to go to the sleep lab and do sleep studies and just talking about it. People asking my opinions about it, other things like that.

[00:19:34] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: I think that has been so great to see because it's a signal that people are starting to understand how crucially important it is starting to take notice and wanting to make a change. 

[00:19:42] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. Speaking of sleep trends getting worse, I'd love to hear about your thoughts around that for me. I think that there's so much artificial light and I know you talk about circadian exposure to light right away in the morning and then to see the sunset or to turn down the lights at night.

[00:19:56] Christa Biegler, RD: But in general, artificial light destroys our melatonin production throughout the day is how I understand it. Your thoughts or what do you think about the continued worsening trends of sleep? 

[00:20:05] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah, so light is a huge one. And honestly, please hear me out when I say this world. I think remote work is great for so many reasons.

[00:20:13] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: But honestly, it has been a hit to sleep in a lot of ways, especially as it went through throughout COVID. I think remote work can be great if done correctly. Relation to sleep, but our body needs external cues or Zeitgeibers is another word that we use for another term to help us reinforce our circadian rhythm in a way that is important for peak alertness during the day and optimal sleep at night.

[00:20:35] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And when we have Lack of a consistent schedule or lack of movement or lack of going outside, we lose some of those external cues and so we have this free running schedule that makes it more difficult for sleep. Light is one of those. So sitting inside and just it's artificial light all day and all night really is the bigger issue, really throws us off and is difficult for our bodies to understand.

[00:20:57] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Okay, what is daytime? When should our melatonin be turned off? When should we be circulating that melatonin again? Because we're constantly just. Just giving ourselves cues that we should be awake and alert and the melatonin release should be off. Something that people don't even understand is just normal room lighting.

[00:21:11] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: I'm trying to get people to understand. It's not just like bright, people think of like screens, right? Like on my phone and my computer, that's a huge one. But sitting just in normal room lighting within a couple hours of your bedtime has been shown in research to delay your natural melatonin release by up to 90 minutes.

[00:21:25] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Because you're still sending those cues. There is blue light in normal overhead lighting, especially LED lights, which is what most of us use now. So I think there definitely needs to be more education on circadian rhythms and external cues and light and darkness and how that impacts sleep.

[00:21:39] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: And I think that's a huge reason that we're seeing some of these disruptions in sleep that we're seeing now. 

[00:21:43] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. 

[00:21:44] Christa Biegler, RD: And, a while back, I think it's probably a year ago. I finally had to add to all of my follow up forms for clients. What is your sleep schedule? Because I will say very intelligent people have many opportunities to improve sleep.

[00:21:55] Christa Biegler, RD: Very intelligent people, right? So it's like overhead light, you don't know always what you don't know, and even though sometimes we swim in this information about light. It's yeah, it actually. does really impact melatonin release. So if you are finding that you are not falling asleep, maybe start with the light things first.

[00:22:12] Christa Biegler, RD: And I will say the more severe the situation is, so the more, the worse the sleep issues are, the more that person is impacted positively by circadian rhythm efforts very quickly. So that's a positive thing. Is there anything you think we forgot to mention that you would love to mention? And then also where can people find you online? 

[00:22:33] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah. So I think for me the way that I approach sleep and sleep issues is often from a mindset perspective first. And we touched on some of this with prioritizing sleep, but I think. I also try to get people to understand that they deserve to sleep. So it's not this thing that like, even if you feel like, yeah, I'm not prioritizing it and you understand that's, not a thing you're doing, a lot of times people almost feel like they have to earn the right to sleep.

[00:22:54] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So once I work enough, once I do this much, then I can sleep. And there's this guilt around sometimes sleeping. And I try to get people to understand that you don't, there's nothing you have to earn. By virtue of existing, you deserve to sleep. And we often wear so many hats and are doing so many things but don't realize that just like I was being a worst doctor because I was sacrificing my sleep, you would be so much better in all of those roles as you play If you prioritize your sleep first, so you deserve to sleep, it's okay to do that.

[00:23:20] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Do not feel guilty, and you'll be better off for it in all the other roles. So I really like people to understand that. But the best way to connect with me is probably through my website. The solution is sleep.com. It has my socials there link to my book, sleeping on the Job, and my contact information.

[00:23:35] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: So I'm always happy to connect and discuss further. 

[00:23:38] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah, I think you're the sleep provider for high achievers, right? Because I love that last comment. I find very frequently this is something I've come to recently is that worthiness is something that many people struggle with for a variety of reasons.

[00:23:54] Christa Biegler, RD: And usually they're very high achieving people that struggle with that, right? That's why they're like climbing the ladder to try to find worthiness and achievement. Where I, as a person who has struggled with that a lot, I readily resonate with your comments there as I have found that's a really beautiful sentiment to share an affirmation as well.

[00:24:12] Christa Biegler, RD: So thank you so much for coming on today. 

[00:24:14] Dr. Angela Holliday - Bell: Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

[00:24:16] Christa Biegler, RD: Just keep breaking. Gotta get myself.