How to Get a Good Night's Sleep

Summary

Podcast Summary: Chasing Life – "How to Get a Good Night's Sleep"

Host: Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Guest: Dr. Brian Miner (Assistant Professor, Yale School of Medicine, Sleep Medicine & Geriatrics)
Date: July 14, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode focuses on practical, science-based approaches to improving sleep quality, particularly as we age. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joined by Dr. Brian Miner to answer listener questions about sleep duration, interruptions, sleep tracking technology, and the risks and benefits of sleep aids. The conversation targets common issues faced by older adults but contains advice relevant for all listeners.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Understanding Sleep Needs and Changes with Age

• Healthy Sleep Duration

  • The standard recommendation is 7–9 hours per night for adults. For older adults, getting close to seven hours is often sufficient.
    • Dr. Sanjay Gupta: "It is pretty widely accepted that adults should get between seven and nine hours of sleep every night...it's not that simple for a lot of people, especially for older adults." (02:34)
  • Lighter sleep and more frequent awakenings are common with age.

• Napping and Cognitive Health

  • Daytime naps (less than an hour, earlier in the day) are beneficial if night sleep is insufficient.
    • Dr. Brian Miner: "A nap during the day when the overnight sleep duration is a bit on the shorter side can be helpful for cardiovascular health. It can also be helpful for cognition." (03:07)

2. Frequent Nighttime Urination: A Warning Sign

• Potential Sign of Sleep Apnea
  • Urinating three or more times per night (but not during the day) may indicate sleep apnea, especially in older adults.
    • Dr. Brian Miner: "Frequent urination three to four times a night and not frequent urination during the day is, in my mind, sleep apnea until proven otherwise." (03:46)
    • Dr. Sanjay Gupta: "Frequent urination at night, but not during the day is sleep apnea until proven otherwise, according to Dr. Miner." (03:53)
  • Listeners with this issue should consult a doctor.

3. Nighttime Awakenings – Normal or Harmful?

• Short Awakenings Are Usually Benign
  • Waking briefly during sleep (even 15–20 minutes) is normal unless it causes significant distress or inability to fall back asleep.
    • Dr. Sanjay Gupta: "These can be normal parts of the sleep cycle...waking up in the night becomes a problem when you start ruminating on the fact that you're not sleeping and that starts to wind you up." (05:16)
• Don't Obsess Over Wearable Device Data
  • Sleep trackers often over-report night awakenings and are less accurate, especially in older adults or those with disrupted sleep.
    • Dr. Brian Miner: "These devices were not designed and tested in people who are older and may have disrupted sleep, so they're not as accurate...I would really caution people to not put a lot of stock in a value like that." (06:09)

4. The Role—and Risks—of Sleep Aids

• Discuss With Your Doctor
  • Many over-the-counter and prescription sleep aids have significant side effects or can interact with other medications.
    • Dr. Sanjay Gupta: "You want to make sure first of all that it's safe, that it's a safe dosage, and that it's not interacting harmfully with other medications you might be taking." (09:25)
• Melatonin
  • Safe at low doses and short-term use but not effective at keeping people asleep; some research links long-term use to heart failure risk.
• THC (Cannabis)
  • Not proven to help with sleep; potential cardiovascular risks.
• Diphenhydramine (example: Benadryl)
  • Strongly discouraged, especially in older adults, due to next-day grogginess, cognitive impairment, and long-term risks.
    • Dr. Brian Miner: "Do not use diphenhydramine regularly." (Summarized at 10:28)
• General Rule: Regular need for sleep aids signals an issue that should be discussed with a healthcare professional.

5. Natural Sleep Strategies – The Gold Standard

• Regular Routine
  • Go to bed and wake up at consistent times every day, even on weekends.
    • Dr. Brian Miner: "The body loves a routine, so that means going to bed at the same time every night and getting up at the same time every morning." (11:05)
• Daytime Activity
  • Stay physically and socially active regardless of the previous night’s sleep. Don’t cancel plans because of a bad night’s sleep.
    • Dr. Brian Miner: "Whatever things you were planning, continue to do those things that keep you physically active and socially active even if you didn’t sleep well, because that means that next night you will sleep." (11:36)
• Lifestyle Choices
  • Monitor and limit alcohol and caffeine, especially later in the day.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dr. Sanjay Gupta: "Sleep is not an eight-hour coma." (00:36)
• Dr. Brian Miner: "Frequent urination three to four times a night and not frequent urination during the day is...sleep apnea until proven otherwise." (03:46)
• Dr. Brian Miner: "These devices [sleep trackers]...are not as accurate. I would really caution people to not put a lot of stock in a value like that." (06:09)
• Dr. Brian Miner: "Natural intervention number one is to maintain a very regular sleep schedule, okay?...The body loves a routine." (11:05)
• Dr. Sanjay Gupta: "If you feel the need to take something to help you sleep, that’s probably an important sign that you should be bringing this up with your doctor." (10:44)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Topic/Quote | |--------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:02 | Introduction to sleep’s importance by Dr. Gupta | | 02:34 | Optimal sleep duration and its challenges as we age | | 03:07 | Dr. Miner on benefits of short, early naps in older adults | | 03:46 | Frequent nighttime urination and its link to sleep apnea | | 04:43 | External sleep factors: caffeine, alcohol, and their impact | | 05:16 | Are brief nighttime awakenings harmful? (Spoiler: Usually not!) | | 06:09 | Why sleep trackers may not be reliable, especially in older users | | 08:15 | Listener questions on sleep aids: THC, Xanax, sleeping pills, melatonin | | 09:25 | Warnings about diphenhydramine and other over-the-counter sleep medications | | 11:05 | Natural interventions: regular schedule, activity, and lifestyle management | | 12:00 | Episode wrap-up: key takeaways for improving sleep naturally |

---

Episode Takeaways

• Understand your personal "normal": Occasional wakefulness or short sleep duration isn’t always a problem if you feel rested.
• Consult a doctor for frequent nighttime urination or regular need for sleep aids.
• Technology can mislead: Don’t obsess over sleep tracker data.
• Focus on routine, moderation, and daily activity for better long-term sleep health.
• Limit problematic substances: Alcohol, caffeine, and unnecessary sleep medications—especially diphenhydramine—should be used cautiously, if at all.

---

This episode delivers actionable advice and expert guidance for anyone seeking better sleep, with a warm, reassuring tone and plenty of relatable listener questions.

Transcript

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Hey there. Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. Thank you so much for joining us. This is the show where I get to hear from you, where I get to answer your health questions. Zonked out cold. Crashed, Dead to the world. Catching winks. There are a lot of ways to describe being asleep. Maybe because we spend so much of our time doing it. If we're lucky, we get eight hours a night.

[Commercial Voice 1]

And.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

And if you think about it, that translates to about a third of our lives. But even things that come naturally don't always come easily.

[Dr. Brian Miner]

Sleep is not an eight hour coma. I had a mentor once who told me that and I like to tell people that.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Dr. Brian Miner is an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine specializing in sleep medicine and geriatrics. And she's going to join us today on the podcast to help answer some listener questions about sleep. From A to Z's. Stay tuned.

[Google Health Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by Google Health. Stop chasing someone else's definition of health. What matters is what's healthy for you. Google Health offers a new kind of coach built with Gemini for effortless tracking, sleep insights and holistic coaching tailored to you. Visit googlestore.com to learn more and start a new relationship with your health. Requires Google Account, Google Health app Internet and Google Health Premium subscription Features subject to change. Availability and results vary. Not intended for medical purposes. Works independently of Gemini Apps. Check responses for accuracy.

[Pepsi Commercial Announcer]

And we're live on Matchday as Doug reaches for a buffalo wing. He's got it. Oh, and he's gone for a can of Pepsi too. What a finish. There's no doubt about it. It just tastes better. Match days deserve Pepsi.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Welcome back to paging Dr. Gupta. Our first two listeners called in to ask a similar question. If interrupted sleep is a problem. So let's start with Patty from California.

[Listener Callers]

Hi Dr. Gupta. I am an 82 year old female and I can't seem to get more than five hours of sleep at night. I'm frequently awakened by the need to use the bathroom and sometimes I have a hard time falling back to sleep. I do not wake up tired, thank goodness. But I do have a need to take a daily nap around 12:30. How do I train myself to sleep longer? I've heard that seven hours of sleep is optimum. I appreciate your helping us all.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So first of all, Patty is right. It is pretty widely accepted that adults should get between seven and nine hours of sleep every night. We talk about that all the time. It's a good goal. But of course, it's not that simple for a Lot of people, especially for older adults. Part of the issue is this, as we age, lighter sleep and more frequent awakenings just become more common. And Dr. Miner says getting close to seven hours of sleep, if you're older than 65, that can be great. And the occasional nap as well, just fine.

[Dr. Brian Miner]

A nap during the day when the overnight sleep duration is a bit on the shorter side can be helpful for cardiovascular health. It can also be helpful for cognition. If it's really five hours and then there's a nap during the day that is hopefully on the shorter side, so less than an hour and earlier in the day so that it's not preventing the ability to fall asleep or stay asleep. And that is maybe not necessarily every day, but a couple times a week. That's the kind of napping that we think is beneficial.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So, Patty, for you, so far, so good. But you might want to pay closer attention to those overnight bathroom trips.

[Dr. Brian Miner]

Frequent urination three to four times a night and not frequent urination during the day is, in my mind, sleep apnea until proven otherwise.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

That's something I didn't realize either, and I want to repeat it. Frequent urination at night, but not during the day is sleep apnea until proven otherwise, according to Dr. Miner. So this is definitely something you're going to want to bring up with your doctor. In fact, we're going to take a closer look at this particular issue in our very next show. But here's a quick definition of sleep apnea from Dr. Paul Hoff.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Sleep apnea is basically your tongue falling back or your palate. You know, the area at the back of the throat where the uvula sits. All that collapses down and stops your airway.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Now, Dr. Miner says you need to also take a look at external factors like caffeine and alcohol consumption. Our bodies simply don't metabolize those things as well. When we become older, we can't tolerate as much. And that brings us to our next question.

[Listener Callers]

Hello, Dr. Gupta. This is Mary Crisp from Westford, Massachusetts. I'm 56 years old. I really loved your book Keep Sharp. So if you've covered this in your book, would you please remind me if the small disturbances that we don't always remember, like turning over or adjusting the pillow during sleep, are detrimental to our brain health or are only the more lengthy awakenings harmful? My watch records all of it and counts it towards, quote, unquote, time awake during the night.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. Here's the headline. Dr. Miner says this is totally fine. Even 15 to 20 minutes is okay as long as it's not bothering you and importantly that you're able to go back to sleep. These can be normal parts of the sleep cycle, she says. Waking up in the night becomes a problem when you start ruminating on the fact that you're not sleeping and that starts to wind you up. Mary Chris question also brings up something that applies to more than a quarter of the American population.

[Dr. Brian Miner]

We have to talk about the watch, right? We have to talk about the watch

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Insider intelligence Market projected in 2025 we would see smart wearables cross the threshold of 100 million adult users in the United States. Think about that. You're going to see a lot of people wearing these wearables. That has pros and cons, especially when it comes to sleep tracking.

[Dr. Brian Miner]

These devices were not designed and tested in people who are older and may have disrupted sleep, so they're not as accurate. When we compare these devices to the gold standard, which is polysomnography that's done in a lab, what we find is that these devices, the best agreement they have is for total sleep time or sleep duration. In this case, I think the listener is talking about wake after sleep onset, so any awakenings in the middle of the night already that value has poor agreement with polysomnography when these devices are tested against the gold standard. So I would really caution people to not put a lot of stock in a value like that.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So rest assured, I guess, that your watch isn't always right. It may be helpful directionally, but I wouldn't count on it to be completely accurate. With that, we're going to hit snooze for a second. When we come back, we'll talk about sleep aids.

[SleepScore Commercial Announcer]

If we knew more about our sleep, what would we do differently? Would we go to bed at a consistent time or take steps to reduce interruptions to our sleep? With Sleepscore, Apple Watch measures your bedtime consistency, interruptions and sleep duration. Then every morning it combines these factors into an easy to understand score from 1 to 100. So you'll know how to take the quality of your sleep from okay to very high. Know your sleep score with Apple Watch iPhone 11 or later required.

[Commercial Voice 1]

If you've ever blasted synth beats from your boombox or burned CDs for your besties, this one's for you. As people get older, much like their music tastes, the their health needs change. AG1 is the simple daily health drink designed to deliver over 75 essential daily nutrients in pre and probiotics to support energy, digestion and mood so you can make the most out of every decade. And dance break. Learn [e-mail].

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

All right, welcome back. We got two questions about getting some medicinal help sleeping at night. First, we're going to hear from Cam in Washington and then Nancy in California.

[Listener Callers]

Hi Sanjay. I had been taking half of a Gummy with THC in it and then I read recently that the use of that daily was linked to heightened risk of heart attack and stroke. What's my best way to sleep? Should I just take Xanax and hope for the best or is there anything else that's natural then I can add to the mix? Thank you. Hi Sanjay. I take a half a sleeping pill every night so I will sleep for more than four to five hours. I'm really excited when I wake up at 2am and can't get back to sleep and want to start my day, but I know I can't because I'll be tired during the day. Is it worse to take a half a sleeping pill on a regular basis than to go back to sleep for an hour, wake up, go back to sleep for an hour, wake up, and finally get out of bed after about 6 hours? Would love to hear the answer to that. Thanks. Bye.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So, Cam and Nancy, thank you so much for calling in. I love that you listen to the podcast. There are lots of different sleep aids and the most important thing to do is to discuss what you're taking with your doctor. I'm not just saying that these can be powerful medicines. You should be talking to your doctor about this. Dr. Miner says she often has patients treating. Just show her the bottle of whatever they got over the counter. You want to make sure first of all that it's safe, that it's a safe dosage, and that it's not interacting harmfully with other medications you might be taking. For example, some research links long term use of melatonin with higher risk of heart failure. But insufficient sleep can also have the same effect. So the way Dr. Miner thinks about it, melatonin would be considered safe in lower doses, but but it's not really proven to help you stay asleep. On the other hand, THC isn't proven to really help with sleep at all. Dr. Minor especially cautions against regular use of anything that contains diphenhydramine. Okay. Keep that in mind. Do not use diphenhydramine regularly. That's what Dr. Minor cautions against. We're talking about medications like Benadryl, for example, especially for older adults. It can block the action of a key neurotransmitter making you feel groggy and inattentive the next day. And it can have longer term consequences that can outweigh any temporary benefits. In general, if you feel the need to take something to help you sleep, that's probably an important sign that you should be bringing this up with your doctor. And the best way of improving the length and quality of your sleep are 100% natural. Here's Dr. Minor again.

[Dr. Brian Miner]

Natural intervention number one is to maintain a very regular sleep schedule, okay? The body loves a routine, so that means going to bed at the same time every night and getting up at the same time every morning. Then the next part is to be active during the day, to be physically active and socially active. So if you didn't sleep well, you still go out and you do what you were planning to do. Don't cancel plans because you said, oh, you know, I just, I didn't sleep well. I don't think I can, you know, go have lunch with my friends or go to the theater or whatever. Whatever things you were planning, continue to do those things that keep you physically active and socially active even if you didn't sleep well, because that means that next night you will sleep.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

All right, so let's go over those big takeaways because there's a lot in there. Sleep comes in cycles, and some disturbances or periods of being awake during the night are totally normal. If it's not bothering you or disrupting your life, it's probably fine. So pay attention to that. Now, if it does bother you, if you feel like you need a sleep aid of some sort to get good sleep, or if you're urinating more than twice per night. And as we talked about earlier, that could be a sign of a larger problem. Lastly, importantly, think natural, okay? Pay attention to your alcohol and caffeine consumption, maybe even chart that sometimes and correlate it with your sleep or lack of. Keep a consistent bedtime and wake up routine. And yeah, that includes the weekends as well. During the day, try and stay as active as possible. All those things can help you naturally get good sleep for the long term. All right, that's our show for today. Your questions keep this show fresh, so keep them coming. If there's something health related you've been wondering about, send it to us. We might answer it next week. Record a voice memo, email it to Paging Dr. Gupta.com. that's Paging Dr. Gupta. Or just give us a call 470-396-0832 and leave a message.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds. Here for Mint Mobile now. I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills. But it turns out that's very illegal legal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment

[Dr. Brian Miner]

of 45 for 3 months, $90 for

[Commercial Voice 1]

6 months or $180 or 12 month

[Dr. Brian Miner]

Plan required $15 per month equivalent to taxes and fees.

[Commercial Voice 1]

Extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes.

[Dr. Brian Miner]

Me slow when network is busy. See terms Stitch Fix Stop shopping. Get styled a plus on the outfit. Ms. Turner, you are about to slay parent teacher conferences.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Oh these just the most perfect fitting jeans. My stylist sent one.

[Commercial Voice 1]

Oh hello you who didn't set one

[Ryan Reynolds]

foot in a mall and still looks amazing.

[Dr. Brian Miner]

Just share your size, style and budget and your stylist sends personalized looks right to your door.

[Commercial Voice 1]

Stitch Fix get started today@stitch fix.com to

[Dr. Brian Miner]

my stylist this look is dedicated to you. Thank you, thank you.