Recently, I interviewed Dr. Lisa Merritt, a functional medicine expert and holistic health educator, shares how seemingly harmless habits can disrupt sleep and accelerate aging. We talk about strategies for calming a racing mind, improving vagal nerve tone, and setting up an environment that supports deep, restorative rest. You’ll also hear how to spot anti-aging fads that waste time and money, and the simple shifts that create lasting benefits for your body and mind. If you would prefer to listen to the interview you can access it by Clicking Here [1].
Dr. Eric Osansky:
Hope everyone is having an awesome day. With me, I have Lisa Merritt. We’ll talk about anti-aging traps and quality sleep. Dr. Lisa Merritt is an educator, mentor, and founder of the Merritt Wellness Method and Weddington Chiropractic Wellness Center. Welcome, Dr. Merritt.
If it’s okay with you, I figure we’d start out by talking about sleep, showing those with hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and anyone else joining us about how to get better quality sleep. Then we can talk about anti-aging. I know sleep plays a big role when it comes to anti-aging.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your background? How you got into anti-aging?
Dr. Lisa Merritt:
This has been my blood, sweat, and tears my whole life. I will be 65 in November, but I was raised under holistic wellness. I was fortunate to have my dad as a role model. He was also a chiropractor. We had a health food store. Probably my calling was very early in life.
My senior year was when I worked in a nursing home. They didn’t call them senior living centers. It really invigorated me and created my calling that I had passion for what made people age gracefully. What was the attitude? What were the things that would make me see how people can age, have longevity? At a young age of 16, I said there is something about this that speaks to me, and I wanted to make a difference not only in my life, but that was when I started to know I wanted to be a doctor.
The aging has been, as I’m also gradually aging, hopefully gracefully, that as a chiropractor, I saw people needing structural help, but I knew there was more going on physically and physiologically that they needed the psychological help, the inflammatory help that people were not healing as well. What were the problems with their repair? That is what led me to be more in the naturopathy, doing acupuncture, studying mindset with biofeedback work from HeartMath.
It progresses that you have to look at what I call my triangle of health approach. There is the structural, the chemical and the nutritional, and the emotional wellbeing. You can’t leave any one of those sides out. When we see people not troubleshooting the other, you will not have total health.
We know that sleep is when your body repairs. If you don’t sleep well, you will be in trouble for how you function in the day. That’s why we’re going to go into it a little more with you and everyone here today.
Dr. Eric:
Sounds good.
Dr. Lisa:
I’ll go into it a little bit more now that we know your rhythm of the day. We talk about adrenal health. We talk about what happens with the hormones in our body. This is a hyperthyroid group and hypothyroid. We know that the body is racing, and there is irritability, and there is heart rate that is out of control with a lot of hyperthyroid. The sympathetic, the system that doesn’t know how to slow down can’t sleep and digest and let the rest of the functions go because the body is revved up all day long.
As you have taught them so much about dietary and those habits, we know that we have to think about what our minds are doing and how we can regulate our day. Our sleep schedule, even like a baby, I’ve had six babies, and knowing how to help a baby go to sleep is what we need to practice, too.
You want to have the end of the day start to slow down. A lot of us don’t. We’re watching TV. We are on our computers. We may have stress that we haven’t resolved in the day. The concepts of what are we talking about at the end of the day. We do that even as a baby. Slow down, get music going, get the environment to settle down, dim the lights, create a setting that slows us. Get a nice bath at nighttime. Practice your breathing. Don’t do heavy exercises at night. Yoga, stretching. Settle your day.
A lot of people go, “Yeah, I guess I need to do that.” It is part of our practice to stay away from caffeine, excess alcohol. You won’t sleep well, and your body won’t repair well if you’re not thinking about what you’re eating at night. Eating too late at night. Don’t have a heavy meal at night. Include your proteins. Those are all things that gradually get us to sleep.
Most people will say, “I can’t turn my mind off.” There are breathing exercises. There are meditations. Kind of counting sheep to help you sleep. That doesn’t always work if our chemistry is off, too.
Dr. Eric:
Being that you’re HeartMath certified, a certified biofeedback practitioner, can you talk about HeartMath and how that might also be beneficial when it comes to sleep?
Dr. Lisa:
I am not sure if you have talked to your group about the vagal nerve. It is the 10th cranial nerve. It is called the vagal nerve because it is a vagrant. It is the longest nerve from our brain going into our body. The vagal nerve works with digestion. It works with our thought patterns. It works with the organs in our bodies.
HeartMath works with the regulation of your heart rate. Our emotions change our heart rate. The demands of our body regulate our heart rate. Blood pressure, the fast and the slow of the body. If you have that adrenaline rush, you know your heart rate picks up.
What HeartMath actually does, it’s a breathing technique, but it is also a visual connection of watching your heart rate in a baseline. What happens when we have thoughts that get out of control. Say it could be trauma or post-traumatic stress. We even say sometimes you can have road rage, and you know what that does to you.
With HeartMath, it is a program of learning what is your base. Do you have control of the base of what your heart rate is doing? You regulate it by your fingertip, or it can go on your ear. It’s a software that shows how your heart rate is doing.
The thing I love about it the most is it actually makes you connect with your emotions that you might not always want to talk about. Then you learn to say, “Yeah, look at what my heart rate does when I talk about my mother-in-law,” or something like that, like, “I hate my boss,” and you see your heart rate do that. You learn to say, “Okay, I know how to lower my heart rate by breathing. I know how to lower my heart rate by relaxing my body. I know how to lower my heart rate by these techniques of my mindset control.” You realistically can say “Okay, I get stressed about this,” so you don’t get in a panic attack. You learn how to settle yourself.
Maybe some of the women out there went through natural childbirth. One of the greatest things in natural childbirth is you learn to control that intense labor pain by breathing and settling your body. It’s an incredible experience to learn. I have had all my children through natural childbirth, and you’re learning to control your breath and the physical pain. Then the fear and overwhelming experience. That’s what we learn in life.
COVID. I have seen so many patients have incredible anxiety and fear. Now they’re overwhelmed with obsessive thoughts and learning to meditate and do this breathing with regulation of heart rate monitoring. It’s just an incredible tool.
Dr. Eric:
It not only can help with sleep but overall health. If someone is anxious, which also can prevent someone from falling asleep.
Dr. Lisa:
Absolutely.
Dr. Eric:
I am very familiar with HeartMath as well. I am also an advocate. I have the Inner Balance and the emWave2. I use the Inner Balance more.
Dr. Lisa:
The cool thing about it is we could practice yoga or tai chi or prayer time. These applications are all tools that we incorporate. When I do acupuncture with my patients, I teach them a breathing technique. I teach them some physical breathing techniques. People breathe like this, and you’re supposed to belly breathe, not overusing these muscles.
An interesting point about that, especially with thyroid and going back to vagal nerve tone. When we breathe too much with our upper body, and when we have a lot of thyroid issues, and we’re shutting down a flow, our lymph system gets blocked, our muscular system is viced. Our vagal nerve connection is actually on the carotid arteries. It also is locked. Chiropractically and even therapeutically, our necks may be tight. Our vertebrae range of motion is resistant. All of that connects.
If we just think about thyroid, thyroid, thyroid without breathing, without the vagal nerve massage, belly breathing, all these things are part of what we need to look at that segment of our body. That is where it always comes together with people who can’t swallow. That’s also part of this tension. There is that structural, chemical, emotional connection for just settling your body at night.
A lot of people stay in the fetal position for sleep. Learning to relax the neck muscles with a good pillow. Practicing the breathing. You’ll start to sleep better. Learning to have the mindset with the thought patterns.
Dr. Eric:
Awesome. You said you were possibly going to share some vagal exercises.
Dr. Lisa:
I know you know a lot about the vagal nerve tone. Vagal nerve tone exercises are really fascinating. They said that even though monks had very good vagal nerve tone, it helps with cognitive functions and peace of mind. It’s because they chant and sing and breathe and meditate. Those are all vagal nerve tone exercises.
The vagal nerve tone exercise that is actually on your throat, you have to do it laying down because you can make yourself pass out. Remember this. While I show you, I am not going to really do it on myself because I don’t want to pass out.
But you want to find that deeper area on each side of your throat where you will feel your pulse, which is your artery. As you’re laying down, you want to keep your fingers three level. Don’t have your fingernails going too deep. I keep my nails short. Some people like to massage. Some people like to really apply deep pressure.
This is for 10 seconds. 30 seconds. I like to do maybe 10 seconds. Some people have different thoughts. You do it on each side for 10 seconds, three times. You then will be able to massage, and you go to the other side. You will do that three times. Don’t do it together. That will start the sensory nerve pickup for that vagal nerve to wake up.
Dr. Eric:
Is there a better time of day to do it? If someone is trying to kick in that parasympathetic nervous system and try to get better sleep, should they do it right before they go to sleep?
Dr. Lisa:
If you’re doing it laying down, it’s great to do it maybe twice a day, if not three times a day. Twice a day would be when you’re going to sleep and when you wake up in the morning. I like people to practice their breathing meditation techniques or even HeartMath. Say you’re going out at night, or you’re going to have dinner. It could be 3pm or 4pm, and it will give you that extra pickup to tone that vagal nerve by doing that exercise.
Another crazy one I do every morning. I don’t know how many people out there would raise their hand, but the cold shower. I brace myself every morning. I get my hot shower, and then I turn off the hot water.
Dr. Eric:
Same here. I do that, too.
Dr. Lisa:
I let the cold water go all over me. I count it. I brace myself to turn around and get my back. When I wash my hair, I really get that cold water.
Dr. Eric:
Sounds like we have the same routine.
Dr. Lisa:
I know that’s why- What are they called, the polar bear people who jump in the ice? There are a lot of studies about brain function, energy function. It turns that vagal nerve. It’s a form of discipline. You say, “Okay, it’s in my regimen.” I do it and go, “Okay, I am ready for my day. I am certainly woken up by that.”
Dr. Eric:
How about supplements? I know people tend to go to supplements when it comes to sleeping. Melatonin and GABA. What are your thoughts? Is there a time and place for supplementation or even medication when it comes to getting better sleep?
Dr. Lisa:
Really good question. A lot of people think melatonin is always the answer. It is not always the answer.
In my opinion, we need to check that cortisol level, which is an inverse relationship with melatonin. There are some people who do not respond well with melatonin. It actually does the opposite. A lot of the autoimmune people could have that opposite.
I am also not always a person who believes in an end product. I like to get the body to create as much of it as it can before I say to take a melatonin or other kind of hormones. To get that cortisol and inflammation down, we know with our thyroid patients, the inflammation is just always an issue for them. The melatonin doesn’t respond because at nighttime, cortisol should go down, and melatonin should go up. If you’re not in that regulation, then your body is fighting using melatonin. Do you agree with that?
Dr. Eric:
I would agree. What you mentioned earlier about your environment, making sure you dim the lights at night, that your room is completely dark when going to sleep. Those things could help greatly in your production of melatonin.
Dr. Lisa:
Yes. Our body is in the major detoxification and repair time at night. Taking the wrong supplements or having the wrong diet, and you’re not detoxifying at night. If your blood sugar is not balanced, then you’re also not sleeping well at night. We know our thyroid patients are not detoxifying and synthesizing their hormones the same. Doing the anti-inflammatory and detoxification is going to actually help you sleep better at night. You won’t awaken so much.
The worst thing I could- It’s so hard to get people off of sleep medications because Ambien is just full dependent. The body has gotten so used to it. The more your body gets used to something on a chemical synthetic level, it doesn’t know how to respond and work on its own because you keep on switching and trying to demand it to go to sleep. It doesn’t know how to reset.
The Ambien patients are never getting REM. REM sleep is when we are still and calm, and our body is in deeper time to repair. Our body is in deeper time to also help the brain heal and allows the memory and cognitive functions occur.
I like magnesium. I test magnesium. Dr. Osansky knows that when your magnesium levels go below 2.0 of your blood chemistry, it has been like that for a while. We want that magnesium to be in the system. I like layering in. I like chamomile teas if you are not allergic to chamomile. I do think CBD has helped many people sleep better. Those calming teas are very helpful and hydration.
Dr. Eric:
How about essential oils?
Dr. Lisa:
Yes, I love essential oils. Valerian oils, calming oils.
Dr. Eric:
Lavender?
Dr. Lisa:
I use Young Living. I like the Stress Away. Frankincense has helped, which is also boswellia. That has helped. The proper B vitamins.
Our adaptogenic process is very good to get the body to know how to help that time to get the adrenals to shut down and give you cortisol for the nighttime balance. Blood sugar is super important. People who can’t go to sleep and have a hard time going to sleep, we know that that can be more on the hyperglycemic.
Insulin resistance. Having a little bit of protein will help you keep those carbs lower. No sugar. No synthetic sugar. People say it’s no sugar. I’m like, no, your brain thinks it got sugar. Not a good idea. People who wake up in the night, it can be a hypoadrenal response. You may need a little protein before bedtime to help you not wake up in the night. That brain needs fuel.
I don’t know if any of your people try a glass of water with the gray bead. Maple syrup sometimes helps them go back to sleep. Those are some things to pick up the blood sugar a little bit in the middle of the night.
Dr. Eric:
Great tips. I want to make sure we have time to dive into those anti-aging traps that I told everybody that we’re going to have you discuss. What are some of the anti-aging traps that people could avoid? When they turn 64/65, they can look just as great as you do.
Dr. Lisa:
Thank you. I have been writing my courses and building my vision of how I’m going to speak to people more and more about anti-aging. The fear of aging is the biggest thing I want people to battle. If you are so afraid of aging, you’re not living.
You need to be smart. People start to freak out with aging when it starts to get to be too late. We need to think about how our body is at 30. I love teaching the young people. Don’t wait until your body starts to shut down. Learn the signs it’s giving you.
I also want people to embrace living and balance their living. Live and love and laugh and humor and try not to stay so much so that you can’t focus on the special things. Don’t wait for bucket lists to be too late.
My grandmother wrote once that we work so hard, and we are not thinking about what are we doing today to enjoy and embrace it. You don’t want to be foolish and say, “I’m living for today,” but you do want to savor each moment and think of your day and the good things. Even 10 minutes of gratitude.
We know laughter and peace of mind heals our immune system. It makes our bodies healthier. It helps our red blood cells invigorate. I love hearing older people tell you to resolve your issues. Tell people you love them. Don’t wait until so late in life with grudges. Let go of things and resolve them. Share your thoughts today.
Aging is not just being an ostrich. What am I doing today? Do I have good instincts? We are always trying to teach our patients about healthy diet and eating vegetables and getting exercise. If we don’t keep that in check, you want good instincts. Am I moving my body? Am I sitting too long? Am I eating colors of the rainbow? Am I eating healthy? Do I have apathy that I don’t want to cook? I don’t have energy to cook. There are so many people who don’t know how to cook. It’s not that hard. You don’t have to be that fancy. It’s just basically start getting groceries and pantry items.
You learn from your ancestries. The American diet is SAD, the Standard American Diet. What are people eating that their ancestries ate? Go back to the Mediterranean or Asian diet or the Middle Eastern diet. What was it that they ate that kept them healthy? There was a reason. It was because it was fresh. There was a healthy oil. The healthier grains. Wasn’t processed. Those chemicals and preservatives are now in it. We need to try to get back to those roots.
Dr. Eric:
It sounds like a lot of the basics need to be incorporated. For those expecting you to talk about DHEA and resveratrol and other anti-aging agents, I’m not saying there is not a time and place.
I think there is also a lot of hype with some of the natural agents that promote anti-aging. You can take all the resveratrol you want. You don’t want to take a lot of DHEA because it’s a hormone. You want to eat well, manage your stress, and get proper sleep.
You have some great tips with the gratitude journal. The attitude that someone has on life can play a big role when it comes to slowing down the aging process.
Dr. Lisa:
I take supplements, but that’s what we want to remember. They are called supplements. The nutraceuticals that are given to us now are not just vitamins. They’re not just minerals. The research that I have seen over the last 30 years now has so many wonderful cofactors of adding these herbs or putting this together or adding hydrochloric acid so you absorb iron better, or adding something that works together so that you absorb it better is so much better than just one little thing at a time, so you don’t have to take a multitude list of tons of bottles.
I have a shake every morning. I add turmeric to it. Vitamin D. We won’t get everything from the food we eat because our environment has ruined the quality. We know that broccoli doesn’t have the same amount of Vitamin C as it used to 20 years ago unfortunately because of pollutants. If we all grew organic, and we all had our own garden. Of course, shop local. It’s better. We all know how great something freshly picked off your own tree or from your own garden is amazingly different. A tomato or a peach. My sister would bring mangoes. We know how delicious they are when they are so ripe. Of course, there are so many more vitamins and minerals in them.
We do have to supplement. It used to be the conventional doctors used to say, “You don’t need to take vitamins. Just eat your diet.” Now we know, people get tested for Vitamin D. People want extra B12. We need our probiotics. We are not getting it like we used to.
We have to listen to the signs of our body. We have to look at how the health of our skin is, looking at our nails, looking at our tongue, looking at how well are we digesting food. Do we have heartburn? Do we have bloating? Do we have gas? Do we move our bowels every day? Those are signs that I’m not doing it.
If you’re not going to the bathroom every day, your body is holding toxins. If you are getting heartburn, you are not absorbing nutrients. If you have sinus issues all the time, your body is not flowing. If you get headaches every day, your body is sending you a message. Listening and not hiding it/masking it with medicines is so important.
Dr. Eric:
This all relates to the triangle you mentioned. For example, headaches. That could be chemical, structural. It could relate to any of the three aspects of the triangle, correct?
Dr. Lisa:
That’s right. As far as anti-aging, I love when I have a patient who comes in. They could be 80 years old, and they are not on any medications. They’re not hiding their symptoms. It’s because you listen to their lifestyle. You listen to some of their habits. They have good instincts. They tell you what they eat. Even if they’re home alone, they cook, and they eat fresh. They make sure that they are planning their meals. They get out and walk. They still stimulate their brains.
The people who are aging gracefully are the ones who are still proactive. They have been proactive. It’s just natural in that it’s not just genetics. Our genetics will help us live longer, but our lifestyle is what keeps us living longer. Healthy lifestyle is that triangle approach.
The ones who are on so many medications, whether they are on one medication, and then they are on another because they may have a side effect. Then they are on another because of side effects. Then they are on eight different medications. You can just tell they don’t have energy. They don’t feel good. They don’t sleep well. They have body aches and pains. They are not moving. They are overweight, or they are not sharp. They are not happy either.
The ones who are aging gracefully. When I told you I was a young girl going to this nursing home, I had the job of going into “This is what they titled me. I was an assistant recreational director.” They didn’t want to play bingo or go watch movies. I had to go talk to the people who didn’t want to leave their rooms, or they couldn’t leave their rooms. I saw attitude, not just illness. The ones who were lonely, the ones who had no one come visit them.
I saw the ones who everybody wanted to visit them. Maybe they were sicker. They still told jokes. It was amazing to say, “I want to be like that.” I hope I will. That cute little old lady who still is dancing. You want to be around those kinds of people. You don’t want to be around negative people. You want to be around people. That’s why you and I like to get together. You want to be around people who are magnifying and who simulate your brain and who are positive and not toxic in your life.
Dr. Eric:
Definitely agree with that. I want to talk about exercise. Does it make a difference what type of exercise? A lot of people are promoting high intensity interval training these days. Then there is regular cardiovascular exercise, general walking, weight bearing exercise. Do you recommend a combination of everything?
Dr. Lisa:
Good question. Of course, it all depends on the person. The problem is that things get to be a fad. We know there are fad diets, fad exercises, fad activities. The media and good advertising will just make you feel like you have to be this, the hottest thing that’s out there.
We have to be careful. You have to listen to your body. There are times where I will have patients who I can tell they are the slow movers, and I need to get them to move a little more.
There could be the person who is the go, go, go. They get on a treadmill and don’t stop. Guess what I ask them? “Tell me, do you ever just stretch? Would you ever consider yoga?” I could already see the looks. “I knew you were going to ask me that.”
From there, I talk to the people who will say, “No, I hate yoga,” or “I can’t stand people who do tai chi. It’s too slow.” I know they need that. Then there are those who go too slow. I’ll say, “Do you ever try to put that slow walk into a faster walk and move your body?” “Oh no, I never do that. That’s too much for me.” Then you know you have to pump it a little bit more. Those are just different people who have to learn the balance and pacing.
Then we have muscularskeletal issues that maybe people will say, “I can’t do it because of my knees.” Well, you could swim. You could do other things. There is no excuse of not getting movement.
Then there are those who would tell me, “I don’t want to exercise because I work too much. I don’t have time.” Setting time for exercise is very important.
If you have a lot of muscle aches, we know you have to remove why are you getting muscle spasms? Could it be some of the thyroid problems? Could it be some of the issues of posture? The do’s and why’s of people’s lives are so important. Does that answer your question?
Dr. Eric:
Yes, it does. What are your thoughts on fasting? There has been research moreso through animal studies on caloric restriction and intermittent fasting. A lot of people, including myself, do intermittent fasting. When you’re eating, you want to eat whole, healthy foods. Try to eat organic whenever possible. How about going longer periods of time, like 14-16-18 hours without eating?
Dr. Lisa:
There are times where we may not feel like we’re hungry, and the body is telling you it doesn’t have to eat as much. We do want to listen to that. Eric, you and I have talked about it enough, but there are debates about if the adrenal glands can handle intermittent fasting.
Dr. Eric:
Good point.
Dr. Lisa:
Some can’t do that. It’s just like any other kind of fasting. You don’t just want to shut your body down if it doesn’t have the ability to have that resource to provide that repair time because it’s a shock. People do intermittent fasting because they knock out calories. They have to do it the right way.
I think not eating dinner too late and having a little bit of a breakfast, I think it’s still important. We do call it break-fast. I like the old saying of having the bigger Mediterranean diet, the bigger lunch. It’s healthier on our body. An easier dinner. But I don’t think everybody is always the greatest for intermittent fasting.
Dr. Eric:
I agree. Most of my patients, I don’t recommend intermittent fasting for the reason you mentioned. A lot of people have compromised adrenals. Of course, if someone has hypoglycemia or even my hyperthyroid patients. When I dealt with Graves’, I lost 42 pounds. At that time, I was not looking into intermittent fasting.
I was bringing it up because when it comes to anti-aging in the literature, there is some evidence with caloric restriction, fasting, and aging. If you’re in a healthier state, maybe if you’re still trying to restore the health of your adrenals, if you have blood sugar imbalances, possibly not.
Dr. Lisa:
It’s just like any other kind of fasting. We talk about putting our patients on a cleanse or detox. I have found that it’s very important to educate about prefasting and post-fasting. You don’t want to get your body to say, “Well, I’m fasting tomorrow, so let me have this giant spaghetti meal, or let’s go to the ice cream store tonight because I’m fasting tomorrow.” Or “I’m ending this fast, so I can’t wait to do everything I hadn’t done all month.” It’s that prep before and after.
If you’re always really balanced, you don’t have to do a lot of crazy stuff. You should know that you can enjoy a great Thanksgiving dinner. You can enjoy a birthday party. It’s that moderation, knowing when you should or shouldn’t, and not get overwhelmed with it. A lot of patients who were trying to lose weight, they go through that time of, “I blew my diet. I might as well forget it.” They don’t forgive themselves and get back on track.
It goes through that mindset thing I was talking about today. We can’t do a detox properly if you don’t prep right. You can’t undetox if you don’t. We learn in the long run what you should be doing all the time.
I had a patient who told me, “I do your detox every year you bring it up.” Why can’t you just keep it balanced it all the time? 90-95%, just be healthy. What is it that you want? What is it that makes you want the junk food so bad? What is it that makes you slide that you can’t? Why can’t you have a balanced diet?
I don’t get it. My instinct is I want to have a healthy meal, even if I am quickly grabbing something. My healthy meal would be taking a piece of turkey and carrot and celery. That’s what I’ll have. It won’t be chips. It won’t be a cookie. Leftovers are a healthy meal. I eat some leftover green beans and things like that. What are we reaching for? Instead of saying, “I haven’t eaten. Let me grab a Coca-Cola.” It’s not my instinct.
Dr. Eric:
I get it. I agree. Before we answer some questions, because it looks like there are a bunch of questions, is there anything else you’d like to mention when it comes to either sleep or anti-aging or both?
Dr. Lisa:
I was doing a lot of sleep study. I was involved in a group for a while. Before I said my niche was about anti-aging. I realized that sleep problems are very dark. It’s a very dismal world. The people who suffer from sleep hide it, and they don’t tell people. I saw the mannerisms of it.
I had such compassion about that world of people not talking about why they will do anything to sleep better. It’s almost like the addiction of “I have to sleep” because people who are deficit of sleep do go crazy. You can’t think anymore. Your mood won’t be balanced.
It’s very important to keep a journal about your day. Journaling is for thinking about the why’s of why you’re not sleeping. You’re troubleshooting. Did I exercise? What happened in my thought process? What did I eat? If you don’t sleep, you’re going to age.
If you don’t give your body the patterns of sleeping, of regular sleep schedule. I basically wake up the same time every day. We want the same sleep schedule. Everybody once in a while stays up real late. But sleeping in and getting your clock off, it’s just like I said with a baby. If you want to teach a baby good sleep, you have to have good schedules for them. They will get off-kilter, and our bodies are the same way no matter what age. If you’re 30, 50, 80. If you’re not sleeping, like you would on a regular basis. You want to try to have that same schedule.
There are people who say, “I don’t even try to start about thinking about going to sleep until 11pm.” You’re keeping that TV on for that favorite show or whatever routine you’re doing. I really advise you to try to shut down your life around that time and get your schedule regular as best you can.
Dr. Eric:
Great advice. Before we jump into questions, people can find you at your practice website.
Dr. Lisa:
Yes, it’s WeddingtonWellness.com.
Dr. Eric:
I know the practice. I just drive there because I’m in Charlotte, too. If you need an awesome chiropractor-
Dr. Lisa:
We do acupuncture. Dr. Osansky does the chemical side of things. Let him work with you on your blood chemistry, your testing. Let him keep on teaching you because we meet up as colleagues and friends, and we have very like-minded thoughts and protocols. My brick and mortar setting is there for you if you want to come and see me in Charlotte.
Dr. Eric:
Wonderful. Your Facebook group is Fearless Aging.
Dr. Lisa:
Yes. It is primarily a women’s group. I am letting women who are 30 in my group because I don’t want them to freak out with their first wrinkle or gray hair. I don’t want them to start thinking they need to do Botox and all those crazy expensive things on their skin.
I wash my face with soap. I use a very mild soap that has got oil and clay and natural things. I don’t use fancy lotions. I hydrate. I eat a lot of olive oil. I love my fish. I take fish oils. Your skin and eyes and hearing and teeth. There are times where I think I need to get rid of my wrinkles. I want the smile wrinkles. People just need to get back to some of the basics again.
Dr. Eric:
Agreed. Let’s see what the questions are. This first one relates to sleep. Daryl has Graves’, blood test normal, can’t sleep all night. Racing heart. What should we do? “Also, my digestive system is going. Diarrhea every day. Doesn’t make any sense.
I’d like to hear your thoughts. It sounds like digestion, maybe a comprehensive stool panel. There could be other things going on. Even SIBO can present with diarrhea.
Dr. Lisa:
Like we talked about, the diarrhea could be a gut infection. It could be that Graves’ just making your sympathetic system on go. It could be that you may need to have those gut repairs to get the stool. If you do have any dysbiosis, which is an imbalance of your good bacteria versus the bad bacteria. You might have a need for probiotics and repairing the gut.
Diarrhea is a very- I don’t know if you are looking at your diet of what you’re eating. Are you having caffeine? Are you having any help with your Graves’? Talking to Dr. Osansky is very important for you to get some ideas of how your body- I don’t know if any of the pointers I gave you on what you’re doing at night and your breathing practices, but definitely get your digestive system checked. Definitely see if your nervous system. Acupuncture helps with that. The vagal nerve tone exercises. The meditations. The brain health. Your brain motility may just be overactive as well.
Dr. Eric:
Agreed. Even though you have Graves’, your blood test is normal. I assume your thyroid hormone levels are looking good. That’s probably not what’s keeping you up at night. Also, parasites potentially. There are a lot of things that could cause diarrhea.
When you mentioned problems with sleeping, sometimes infections can cause problems with sleep, heart racing. I dealt with chronic Lyme, so I had some of those symptoms, not the diarrhea. I’m not saying you have Lyme, but parasites or possibly another type of infection.
Dr. Lisa:
A lot of people think their blood tests are normal. We talk about the functional ranges versus the conventional lab ranges. It’s amazing how many people say they said I’m normal. They went to a functional medicine doctor, like us, and we look at so many more things that could be a part of the pattern or a warning sign that is on those ranges that are not quite viewed as what we would say is normal. You really do need a functional medicine doctor to look at the ranges that are normal. Outside of even just the thyroid being normal. We want to look at these other lab tests that might give us more indications of what’s happening. Even your adrenal functions. Having Graves’ and other autoimmunities, we could be seeing this as part of it for you.
Dr. Eric:
Yep, agreed. Someone thanked me for having Dr. Lisa here. I’m thrilled she’s here. Daryl wants to know if we will have this forever or if it will go away.
Dr. Lisa:
Daryl, I know you’re feeling very dismal about it. Your diarrhea, you are not getting nutrients, and you’re malabsorbing. We have to look and see about that gut infection because the whole thing with digestion is either are you absorbing nutrients, or are you holding toxins? If you are malabsorbing nutrients, all your body is degenerate. Getting control of the diarrhea is very important.
Dr. Eric:
Agreed. How do we learn more about all this? Do you have anything on your website or any other resources if there are men who are looking?
Dr. Lisa:
They can work with me. My website is the avenue for those who want my nutritional, chemical, emotional approach. I do see people virtually. I’d be happy to do that. With respect to my friend, Dr. Eric, he does have things that can give you more insight as to your chemical and nutritional needs.
Dr. Eric:
What was the name of the vagal exercise?
Dr. Lisa:
You can Google “vagal nerve tone exercises.” It will talk about the vagal nerve massage. In my vagal nerve tone courses, they will talk about different pressures. When I was taking another course, because I do some reflex work with the MMRI program, they talk about vagal nerve tone. Everybody has a couple different nuances of how you do vagal nerve tone.
Like I said, do not do it standing up. The massage can either be a total pressure, and you do it three times. It could also be a massage itself. I found many times with my thyroid patients that they do have a blockage on one side. Definitely sensitivity on one side more. That is almost the side that needs more stimulus. That is more dead and needs stimulus.
I have an article that I wrote about vagal nerve tone exercises. I can share that for the group.
Dr. Eric:
That would be wonderful. You’re a member of the group, too; you can post it.
Dr. Lisa:
I even like Stephen Porges’ work. He did The Polyvagal Theory, which is more than vagal nerve tone. It was a very impressive book about how much learning disabilities and autism and cognitive and Alzheimer’s are tied together with this disconnected brain to the rest of the body. The Polyvagal Theory is a book that I would recommend.
Dr. Eric:
Great.
Dr. Lisa:
That’s why I was saying that about chanting and humming. Those are fine and happy things to do. They say when you go driving down your car, you should be singing really loud. There is vibrational music that also increases vagal nerve tone. These are all things that connect to our brain. I could go in so many different directions. Color therapies. Frequencies in our body.
Dr. Eric:
Singing loud, not just humming, stimulates the vagus nerve. Vigorous gargling. Coffee enemas.
Dr. Lisa:
Singing in the shower really loud. Cold water. You can accomplish a lot at that whole time.
Dr. Eric:
I think this is a response to Daryl. Another user is suggesting it could be SIBO or SIFO. It’s possible. That’s where it gets challenging. With diarrhea, it could be a number of different factors.
Dr. Lisa:
Daryl, SIBO is very difficult. It does require sometimes a medication. It does not always remedy just with an herbal therapy. I don’t know if Dr. Osansky agrees with that. You want to get those patients back to a normal diet as much as possible because it eliminates so many healthy foods. You do need to be tested for SIBO.
One of the big SIBO signs is after you eat, your stomach blows up like a big beach ball. It’s not just a little bloating; it’s a helium balloon blowup. Right? That’s what you would say is one of the good signs?
Dr. Eric:
Everybody is different. Not everybody will present with that. I do agree that some people need to take rifaximin or xifaxan. It really depends. With diarrhea, it’s usually more hydrogen dominant. There is methane dominant SIBO and hydrogen dominant. Usually, with diarrhea, it’s more hydrogen dominant, which is not easy to treat, but when compared to methane dominant, if someone were to take an antibiotic approach, usually they need to take two, rifaximin and maybe something like neomycin. It really depends.
I do like to start people with an herbal approach. One reason is because if they can’t get the rifaximin covered by insurance, it is very expensive. Besides that, with my background, I try to do natural whenever possible.
Sometimes, you’re right. The herbs don’t work; they’re not effective.
Dr. Lisa:
Get tested, and do that breath test. It’s not just found so easy. Even H-pylori is not always found by blood. You have to get a good stool test. I like the three-day sample. I don’t know about you, Dr. Osansky. If you do stool testing and get a three-day sample. What do you like to do?
Dr. Eric:
When I was using Genovva Diagnostics and Doctor’s Data, I used to do the three-day samples compared to the one-day sample. More recently, I have been using the GI Map from Diagnostic Solutions. If there is the option of doing one day versus three days, usually, I think with Genovva and Doctor’s Data, I think it’s the same price if you do three samples compared to one. Even if you have to pay a little bit more, there probably is more worth. That’s the downside of stool testing: false negatives are common.
Dr. Lisa:
Even some blood testing can be false negatives. The breath is a good test to get that will define it.
Dr. Eric:
It’s not perfect either, but there is no perfect test. I do like the breath test. Otherwise, you’re just guessing. If it’s negative.
Someone mentioned SIFO. That can get challenging because that will present as being positive if someone is doing a SIBO test. With SIFO, there is no great diagnostic test. If you are suspecting SIBO, it’s a good idea to do a breath test. If it’s positive, it’s worth treating. If it’s not, you might have to dig a little deeper.
A few people mentioning nobody with Graves’ needs to fast. I will agree. But I will say the majority of people with Graves’ or hyperthyroidism are losing weight. Some people do gain weight. That being said, I still wouldn’t say to fast.
Even if someone has Hashimoto’s, as Dr. Lisa was saying, a lot of people have compromised adrenals. If you’re going to consider intermittent fasting at all, you would want to improve the health of the adrenals. If you have blood sugar issues, especially hypoglycemia than hyperglycemia, that is another reason why you wouldn’t want to consider intermittent fasting or any type of fasting.
Another question from Daryl: “When I go to the bathroom with a bowel movement, every morning, my nose runs like a faucet. Any idea?” I do not. I don’t know if you have any suggestions.
Dr. Lisa:
In Chinese medicine, the large intestine and mucus membranes are the same. If you want to help your large intestine, you help sinuses. This could be a little connection for you. This mucus is trying to release from your body. I don’t want to get into too much detail with you about your diarrhea, but maybe the mucus here. It could be that sympathetic response of the body trying to rid and letting the poisons out of your body.
If you haven’t gotten a good functional medicine doctor helping you, Daryl, a lot of your questions sound like you need somebody to dive in a little deeper for you particularly.
Dr. Eric:
Yeah, we are both going to be biased because we are functional medicine practitioners. There is a lot you can do on your own with diet, stress management, vagus nerve exercises, and keeping active. There is definitely a time and place for working with someone 1:1. I agree.
Let’s make this the last question. We have been going well over an hour here. “Wondering about Graves’. My heart races very high when in activity. Takes time to get back to normal. I stopped exercising since I’m not sure if it’s good.” That’s one thing with Graves’. I would be cautious.
Like Dr. Lisa was mentioning, there are people who go too slow, and there are people who overtrain. When you have an elevated heart rate with Graves’, you want to be especially cautious when it comes to doing any type of cardiovascular exercise. I would say most people who do light walking, light weight bearing exercise. A lot of people, even just jogging, that’s not high intensity interval training, but still, some people, it’s probably a good idea to take a break from running.
Dr. Lisa:
What time of day? If that person is exercising late at night, especially with Graves’, your body can’t shut down that fast. I Know it’s hard to think about a better time of day for you to exercise. Maybe that might make a difference for you to feel like your body settles at night to heal and rest and get into a better rhythm for your sleep and body to heal.
Same thing goes. Maybe some of those vagal nerve tone things and learning heart rate might be an exercise that is part of the practice that you may need.
There is not one answer for everything. We all want to have one answer. We all wish that there could be that miracle answer. Sometimes, that one answer is the answer.
I had a patient who had pancreatic cancer and had part of her pancreas removed. I was a young doctor, and I thought, oh my gosh, this is going to be a really hard case for me. This was 35 years ago or so. I thought, okay, I am going to do my best. I gave this patient a phone call and thought t was going to be one of my hardest. It turned out to be one of the best. I gave her some pancreatic enzymes. She didn’t need my help for many years until she went into menopause. I always thought to myself, well, that was an amazing run. She responded differently.
Sometimes, we may have a migraine patient who is very detailed, very involved, and a lot of things you wish you could just snap it and help them. There are more layers to unravel.
We are doctors who have to find a protocol. Sometimes, we nip it in the bud. We definitely have our priorities of what we decide is the first step, second step, what phase is best for that person. Just like any kind of thing, we have an educated trial and error. We don’t know what we want to do. There are different nuances that are involved that have to have us know what step to take, like with the gentlemen about the diarrhea. There are a lot of little things that we already were thinking, but we don’t know this or that. We haven’t met you; we haven’t seen other things.
You want a doctor who is passionate with their work, dedicated to their work, who is a curious doctor. I would definitely say Dr. Osansky, and hopefully I would say I’m a humble doctor. I am always looking at finding the answers.
I want to say that I don’t always get to help everybody, but my integrity and my passion and finding the answers. In functional medicine, definitely gives you a lot more avenues. So many more avenues. We are not just going to do surgery or this medicine. There are so many little tangents that people are hungry for. People are wanting more answers. We as doctors in our field of natural medicine, drugs and surgery are last. You want to get to it before it gets so bad.
All of you out there, we want to inspire you to listen to your body. Get somebody who is an extra brain. Obviously, Daryl, you have great knowledge. Get an extra brain from somebody like Dr. Osansky and I. You need that extra brain. We don’t need that extra brain. All of us do. Get the answers for yourself.
Dr. Eric:
This is a follow-up from another person who is doing meditation and acupuncture, which are helping. You are very welcome, Daryl, who thanked us both. We appreciate everyone asking questions. Thanks for attending. Thank you, Dr. Lisa, for sharing and going over time. I appreciate you sticking around to answer questions. I know you have a busy schedule. We all appreciate it.
Dr. Lisa:
I’ll be happy to come back on any time you want. I know you and I love to talk.
Dr. Eric:
We have a good time when we talk. I’m going to wrap this up and hope everyone has a great weekend ahead. I hope, Dr. Lisa, you have a great weekend. Look forward to doing lunch with you again.
Dr. Lisa:
All right, take care, everyone. Bye.