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Tired But Wired? You Might Be “Overtired”

by Ellen Vora, MD on Jan 25, 2018 / Share

After having a baby I learned the concept of “overtired” and it has completely changed the way I treat insomnia in adults.

Welcome to Rebel Health

by Ellen Vora, MD on Jan 25, 2018 / Share

Welcome to Rebel Health, my quick and casual attempt at a video blog. Nothing scripted or rehearsed–it’s just me dishing, teaching and speculating on various health topics.

3 Holistic Techniques You Can Do Now To Feel Less Anxious

by Ellen Vora, MD on Dec 3, 2017 / Share

Originally appeared on mindbodygreen.com

Ellen Vora, M.D.

Photo: Stocksy

Excerpt:

1. Stabilize your blood sugar.

Problem: Anxiety occurs when the body is tripped into the “fight-or-flight mode” or “stress response.” Sometimes the stress response is out of your control, like during a big presentation at work or traffic on your commute, but other times it’s completely preventable. One very common and preventable cause of stress response is low blood sugar. Many of you are already familiar with the experience of feeling “hangry” (hungry/angry). For some people, blood sugar dips cause anxiety. And most of the time these folks aren’t even aware of this connection. If this is you, you can make yourself significantly less anxious by maintaining stable blood sugar.

Solution: The definitive solution is to cut out (or down) sugar and refined carbohydrates, eat plenty of healthy fats and protein, and stick to safe starches like sweet potatoes and plantains. Short of that total diet overhaul, you can also rely on something like coconut oil or sprouted almond butter to give yourself a blood sugar safety net. If you feel your blood sugar crashing, take a spoonful of coconut oil or almond butter. If you’re running out of the house and you know you’ll be on the go without much time to pause and eat, take a spoonful. If you’re about to go to bed and you often wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning with racing thoughts and anxiety, take a spoonful before bed. If you’re headed to a happy hour or a wedding, and you know there will be booze aplenty but not necessarily healthy food, take a spoonful. You can even carry portable almond butter packets in your bag so you can always have a spoonful on hand. Taking these precautions to keep your blood sugar stable can prevent your body from going into a stress response, and this will curb your anxiety fast.

#ANXIETY #SLEEP #WELLNESS

Why Having A Baby Was The Best Thing That Ever Happened To My Sleep

by Ellen Vora, MD on Dec 3, 2017 / Share

Originally appeared on mindbodygreen.com

Ellen Vora, M.D.

Photo: Stocksy

Excerpt:

The expectation is that having a baby wrecks your sleep, and you feel exhausted and sleep-deprived for 18 years until they fly the coop for college. But I’d argue that having a baby was actually the best thing to ever happen to my sleep.

Why? Because my baby, with her healthy brain and intact circadian rhythm, wakes up at 6:45 a.m. like clockwork. And there’s no snooze button on a baby (believe me, I’ve searched high and low). Her adorable cries have forced a rigid sleep schedule on the whole household in a way that no alarm clock ever could have. And it has been amazing.

…

So here’s how to sleep like a person with a baby, whether you have one or not:

Step 1: Assume your wake-up time is not long after sunrise. Aim for something in the range of 6 to 7 a.m.

Step 2: Accept that this wake-up time is seven days a week, nonnegotiable, and as certain as death and taxes. Live by this. If you have kids, they’ll take care of this for you. If you don’t, it’s the honor system. This is a relationship between you and your alarm clock. With each snooze, you’re only cheating yourself.

Step 3: You need to get in bed early enough that you get enough sleep, even though the alarm is going off at the crack of dawn. If you need eight hours of sleep, then count back about eight and a half hours from your wake-up time, and that’s when you need to be in bed.

#HEALTH #PARENTING #SLEEP #SLEEPING

I’m A Doctor Who Treats Anxiety. This Is How I Center Myself Every Morning

by Ellen Vora, MD on Dec 2, 2017 / Share

This article first appeared on mindbodygreen.com

Ellen Vora, M.D.

View video here.

If you’re as into morning routines as we are, you’ll love Dr. Vora’s tips. Ellen Vora M.D. is a holistic psychiatrist practicing with Frank Lipman M.D. at the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in New York City. We love that it’s realistic (read: one to two minutes of meditation is enough and OK!) and goes beyond the basics. She shares a few gems, specifically her favorite breathwork and meditation app and her signature morning tonic, which has a fascinating ingredient we can’t wait to try.

#ANXIETY #MEDITATION #PRODUCTIVITY

A Crash Course On Improving Sleep (From A Holistic Psychiatrist)

by Ellen Vora, MD on Dec 2, 2017 / Share

This article first appeared on mindbodygreen.com

Ellen Vora, M.D.

Excerpt:

As a holistic psychiatrist practicing in NYC, one of the most common complaints I hear from patients is that they can’t sleep. Some people can’t fall asleep, some can’t stay asleep, others sleep eight-plus hours and still feel tired all day.

I tend to believe in the body’s ability to figure it out and heal…as long as we get out of the way. Our sleep wake cycle is cued by things like light changes, temperature changes, and routine. As you know, modern living comes with artificial light after sunset, consistent indoor temperatures whether the sun is at high noon or long gone behind the horizon, unpredictable schedules, and chronic low-grade stress. You can begin to see how modern living has messed with everybody’s cycles, leaving us all tired but wired at night and dragging ourselves through the day.

The good news is we can get strategic and recreate something that approximates the appropriate cues for sleep. After years of helping patients improve their sleep, I’ve distilled this down to a few basics. Here’s the crash course:

#HOLISTIC HEALING #SLEEP #SLEEPING

The Magic Bedtime Window For A Restful Night’s Sleep

by Ellen Vora, MD on Sep 25, 2017 / Share

This article first appeared on mindbodygreen.com

Ellen Vora, M.D.

Photo: twenty20

Excerpt:

The Science of Being “Overtired” & the Magic Bedtime

Overtired happens when you don’t fall asleep when you’re tired, and the body releases cortisol, a stress hormone, to meet the demands of staying awake. This results in wakefulness and sometimes a stress response. Overtired babies are irritable, and it paradoxically gets harder rather than easier to get them to sleep. It slowly dawned on me that adults suffer from the same issue. When babies get overtired, they’re irritable and they cry. For adults, it can manifest as feeling tired but wired, a state of mind in which we can’t shut off our minds just as we’re trying to fall asleep.

The fact is, there’s a window of time when you’re sleepy. For most of us, that’s about three hours after sunset, or somewhere in the range of 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. in our local time zones. If we push through and stay up past that window, whether it’s because we need to finish work, check off a few more boxes on the to-do list, or we get sucked into one more episode on Netflix, our body thinks: Oh! We’re not going to sleep even though we’re tired; there must be a good reason: We must be at war or on the great transcontinental migration. In an effort to help us meet the demands of whatever may be keeping us up, the body releases cortisol, which gives us a jolt of energy, wakefulness, and stress. Thousands of years ago, this response was helpful for survival. But today is a different story. For us, this can feel like anxiety, panic, agitated wakefulness, or racing thoughts, even though we’re exhausted. With cortisol coursing through the veins, we attempt to crawl into bed at midnight, or 1 a.m., and, big surprise, we can’t sleep.

#ANXIETY #SLEEP #WELLNESS

The Most Underrated Sleep Factor: Light.

by Ellen Vora, MD on Sep 25, 2017 / Share

Excerpt:

Here’s the thing: sleep is supposed to work. We’re supposed to get tired at night, sleep deeply, and then have energy during the day. So what gives? Why is this system failing for so many people? The system works, but there are aspects of our modern life that throw the system out of whack. The most important and overlooked factor is…Light!Light is the official regulator of our sleep-wake cycles, also known as the circadian rhythm. When we wake up in the morning, light enters our eyes, which sends a signal to the brain saying, “good morning, it’s 7 am!.” This starts the clock for the day. Our body releases hormones making us feel awake and energetic, and starts counting down to the evening, when it will release hormones to make us sleepy. Blue spectrum light is the strongest signal (e.g., screens), and red spectrum light is the weakest (e.g., candlelight).

If we were living on the African Savannah 50,000 years ago, or even just backpacking in the wilderness, the system would work fine. Instead we live in modern homes with electricity. At 9 pm, when we’re supposed to be getting sleepy, light from screens, lamps and even ambient light pollution enters our eyes, telling the brain: “good morning, it’s 7 am!” (even though it’s 9 pm). Our brains get confused, thinking the sun just rose, and release hormones that make us feel wide awake. Then we lie in bed, thoughts racing, wondering why we can’t sleep.

How do we use this insight to improve our sleep? We get strategic about light. Here’s how: