5 Sleep Hacks to Boost Your Productivity Overnight | Dr. Peter Martone DSH #975

Summary

Digital Social Hour - Episode 5 Summary “Sleep Hacks to Boost Your Productivity Overnight” featuring Dr. Peter Martone

Introduction to Dr. Peter Martone In Episode #975 of the Digital Social Hour, host Sean Kelly welcomes Dr. Peter Martone, a leading sleep expert and neurostructural specialist from Boston. With a background in kinesiology and chiropractic care, Dr. Martone brings over 15 years of experience in addressing chronic pain and sleep-related issues. His personal journey—from battling persistent back pain to developing innovative sleep solutions—sets the stage for an insightful discussion on optimizing sleep for better health and productivity.

The Crucial Role of Sleep Posture Dr. Martone emphasizes that traditional sleep advice often overlooks a fundamental aspect: sleep posture. He explains, “When sleep experts talk about sleep, they talk about the vertical of sleep… but they miss a huge vertical, which is the structure. Your structure affects your function” (00:57). According to Dr. Martone, improper sleep positions, such as sleeping curled up, can lead to structural imbalances in the spine, adversely affecting overall health.

Neurological Impacts of Sleep Position Delving deeper, Dr. Martone sheds light on how sleep posture influences the nervous system. “Your neurology is housed within your spinal column... when you sleep like that, you’re destroying your structure…and you don’t realize you’re destroying your health” (03:19). He illustrates how a tilted head can disrupt the vagus nerve, impeding deep, restorative sleep and leading to issues like heart palpitations, digestive problems, and hormonal imbalances.

Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic Nervous Systems A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous systems. Dr. Martone explains, “During the day… you’re in the sympathetic state… at night, the parasympathetic state is supposed to take over. That’s when you heal” (04:44). He highlights the cultural dominance of the sympathetic state, which hampers the body’s ability to engage in restorative processes during sleep.

The Triune of Sleep and Sleep Avatars Dr. Martone introduces his proprietary concept, the Triune of Sleep, which integrates body alignment, subconscious safety, and conscious brain control. He describes a unique tool—Sleep Avatars—that categorizes individuals into animal archetypes (e.g., ostrich, armadillo, gorilla) to tailor sleep strategies based on subconscious needs. “Based on what animal sleep avatar you are, then we know how to create safety when you’re in this position” (16:49).

Effective Sleep Hacks and Techniques Throughout the episode, Dr. Martone shares actionable sleep hacks aimed at enhancing parasympathetic tone and improving sleep quality:

• Positioning: Advocates for sleeping on the back with a specialized pillow that supports the head and neck in extension, allowing the cervical curve to realign.
• Memory Techniques: Suggests “remembering yourself to sleep” by recalling distant, positive memories instead of actively trying to think your way to sleep. “You can remember something that happened yesterday… as long as a good memory doesn’t cause an adrenal response, the quicker you’ll fall asleep” (21:06).
• Environmental Adjustments: Recommends warm showers before bed to align with the circadian rhythm and promote relaxation.

Napping Strategies for Optimal Productivity Addressing the controversial topic of napping, Dr. Martone advises on scheduled and intentional napping. He emphasizes that napping should complement, not disrupt, the overall sleep architecture. “If you nap every single day just to nap, you’re gonna throw off your sleep patterns. But if you nap with intention, it’s critical” (22:10). He shares his personal approach of strategic napping following late-night activities or alcohol consumption to mitigate their negative impacts on sleep.

The Interconnectedness of Sleep and Overall Health Dr. Martone articulates the profound connection between sleep and various aspects of health:

• Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction: Links poor sleep posture to chronic fatigue, digestive issues, immune system dysfunction, and brain fog.
• Hormonal Imbalances: Explains how disrupted sleep can lead to hormonal imbalances, particularly impacting women's postpartum health.
• Spinal Health: Connects forward head posture and scoliosis to sleep posture, emphasizing that correct alignment during sleep can prevent degenerative spinal changes.

Conclusion and Resources As the discussion wraps up, Dr. Martone underscores that sleep is not merely a passive activity but a critical component of overall health and productivity. He encourages listeners to explore his resources for personalized sleep solutions:

• Website: Dr.Sleepbright.com
• Sleep Avatar Test: Engage with the free animal sleep avatar test to identify personalized sleep strategies.

Sean Kelly closes the episode by highlighting the transformative potential of Dr. Martone’s insights, urging listeners to prioritize sleep posture and adopt the shared sleep hacks to enhance their well-being and productivity.

Notable Quotes:

• “Your structure affects your function.” – Dr. Peter Martone (00:57)
• “A cell cannot be in growth and defense at the same time, you're either surviving or thriving.” – Dr. Peter Martone (04:57)
• “You can’t think yourself to sleep. You have to remember yourself to sleep.” – Dr. Peter Martone (21:06)
• “Sleep isn't just about closing your eyes and waking up. It's about the healing that happens at night.” – Dr. Peter Martone (27:35)

Key Takeaways:

• Sleep Posture Matters: Proper alignment during sleep is crucial for spinal health and neurological function.
• Balance the Nervous System: Enhancing parasympathetic tone is essential for restorative sleep and overall health.
• Personalized Sleep Strategies: Utilizing tools like Sleep Avatars can help tailor sleep practices to individual subconscious needs.
• Intentional Napping: Strategic naps can complement nightly sleep without disrupting sleep patterns.
• Holistic Health Impact: Quality sleep influences various health dimensions, including immune function, hormone balance, and mental clarity.

For listeners seeking to optimize their sleep and, by extension, their productivity and health, Dr. Peter Martone’s expertise offers a comprehensive roadmap to achieving transformative sleep quality.

Transcript

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[Dr. Peter Martone]

When sleep experts talk about sleep, they talk about the vertical of sleep, where, oh, you know, you know, keep your airway closed. Or it's about breathing. Yeah, maybe they help people fall asleep, but they miss a huge vertical, which is the structure. Your structure affects your function.

[Host]

All right, guys, Dr. Peter Martone here. Today we're talking sleep, one of the top sleep experts in the world. Thanks for coming on, man.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

[Host]

Yeah. And you're from New York?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

From Boston.

[Host]

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah, yeah. East Coast.

[Host]

Let's go. Same here, Jersey. Whoa.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

I could tell.

[Host]

Yeah, I love East Coast.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Nice. It's good.

[Host]

It's hard to beat.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Totally different gig.

[Host]

They're too lax out here, man. Yeah, we hustle.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah. You know, you're not lying. It's definitely a hustle.

[Host]

Yeah. How'd you get into the sleep stuff?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Well, it's interesting. I'm a kinesiologist and chiropractor. That's kind of my background. And I was working with patients at the time. 15 years. Always had back pain. And I'm a competitive mountain biker. So I had herniated my disc in a little mountain biking injury. And I reviewed about 3000x rays and found that the problem with my back wasn't my. It wasn't really my back at all. It was my neck. And it was because I lost the cervical curve in my neck and picked up rotation in my lower back, which I was helping my patients with for years. And I'm like, if it's my neck, I should be able to fix this. How? Why? Why is it, you know, when Can I fix it? I've been getting it adjusted, and I'm like, well, due to Davis's law, the only way to really stretch a curve back into the neck is what? Long. Like, when you stretch, you want to stretch, like, for a long period of time. Right. To get the maximum benefit. So you have short stretching, you know, where people will bounce. But the most beneficial stretching is slow stretching over a long period of time. And I said, you know, best time to do it is to force myself to sleep on my back and get my neck into extension. And I created a pillow that does that. And I started to sleep on my back. And after about a month of, like, sleepless nights, but really focusing on my sleeping posture, my back pain went away, and I've never had back pain again since.

[Host]

Damn. So sleep posture is super important.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

It's so, you know, when sleep experts talk about sleep, they talk about the vertical of sleep, where, oh, it, you know, you know, keep your airway closed, or it's about breathing or, you know, room temperature. And, you know, they talk about all of these things that, yeah, maybe they help people fall asleep, but they miss a huge vertical, which is the structure. Your structure affects your function. Your neurology is housed within your spinal column, and when you sleep on your side. And most people sleep curled up in a ball because they want to feel protected and safe. And when you sleep like that, you're destroying your structure. And what you don't realize is you're actually destroying your health. So, yeah, man, sleeping position is critically important to being able to not just sleep better. Like, I can fall asleep. You could put a glass of water on my chest, and it will be there. I do not toss and turn because my body is in a neutral position. And I get such sound sleep because of that. And then that's really what led me into the industry, is I'm trying to help my patients need me less because they were always coming in with the same exact problems. Neck pain, hip pain, adjust, adjustment, and I felt like an aspirin. But once I started to address the root cause of the problem, which is sleeping position, things just changed. Transformed.

[Host]

Wow.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

People were needing me way less. They were getting better. And then. And then because their structure was improving, their neurology was improving, they have less headaches, less digestive problems, less hormonal imbalances, and it just.

[Host]

It just blew off awesome, good sleep. Wow. That's incredible. Yeah. Because the average person tosses and turns 20 to 40 times a day. Right.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

20 to 40 times a night. Because their body is in pain.

[Host]

That's a lot. You don't even think about that. But that's like two every hour.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Every 20. Every 20 to 30 minutes, somebody will move out of that position.

[Host]

Damn. Yeah, I definitely do it too, to be honest. And you said you could look at someone and identify their sleeping issues.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah, because. So if I like, my arm's straight right now. Right. But if I want this arm to be bent, all I have to do is take an arm and hold it like this. And after a year, you'll have a bent arm because tissue remoulds based on the stresses applied. So the spine's like clay. It can be molded. The older somebody is, the hotter it is to mold. But think about your pillow. Think about how you sleep as a mold for your spine. So when I look at you, you had shifted, so your head shifted to this side. Well, body posture adjusts to head position, which is the writing reflex.

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[Dr. Peter Martone]

Safety info found @freestylelibre us. So your hip's gonna go that way. So if the head goes this way and the hips go that way, well, then you're affecting the neurology up in the base of the neck. That's affecting your vagus nerve. That vagus nerve is going to affect your ability to be able to get deep sleep. Because ultimately, sleep is a nervous system problem. So within our culture, we are way too sympathetic dominant. Right. So there are two systems in our body. There's a sympathetic nervous system, which is fight or flight, and then there's rest and digest, which is the parasympathetic nervous system. And during the day, when we're awake in surviving or we're, you know, stressed, that's the sympathetic state. You're not healing when you're in sympathetic dominant state at night, the parasympathetic state is supposed to take over. That's when you heal. That's when you thrive. So it's survive versus thrive. A cell cannot be in growth in defense. At the same time, you're either surviving in lieu of thriving. So at night, we need to be able to do this, be able to tap into our parasympathetic nervous system. But because we are all so anxious in these unsettling times that we live in, we live in this sympathetic dominant state. And that parasympathetic nervous system is like a weak muscle. And we've never been taught that sleep is a neurology issue. So we don't know how to engage it. And when you can't engage that parasympathetic nervous system, you get heart palpitations, you get shortness of breath, you get digestion issues. You know, women will have, you know, hormonal imbalances and fluctuations in a major way. So when we started addressing these problems at night when people sleep, it's changing the game.

[Host]

Wow.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah. Changing the game.

[Host]

Dude, I had heart politics for the past two weeks.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

The. The tilting of your head is giving you vague. And you also have digestion issues too.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Because with the heart palpitations is a, is a low vagal tone. So you're also going to Pick that up in your digestion, digestive tract, and also your ability to take a nice, deep, smooth breath. All of those are affected at the same time.

[Host]

Damn.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Because it's all neurology.

[Host]

Yeah, I never connected that to sleep. Dude, that's crazy. I thought it was coffee.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

No, it's, well, coffee. So coffee does this. So if you drink a lot of coffee, you're suppressing this tone. So it's even more important for you to get your sleeping position down correctly, because if you don't, you're going to always have a weak parasympathetic muscle because it's being. It's like watering a garden, stepping on the garden hose. When your head's tilted like this, you're stepping on the hose. So you're suppressing that tone. And you're never going to get good restorative sleep until we address that.

[Host]

So you got to sleep with your head straight.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah, we can bust it out right here. I'll show you the position you need to sleep.

[Host]

Yeah, we'll definitely do that. I'll get one of your pillows, too. Is it a body pillow or is it a.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So the body works on specific laws, Right. And there's a law that's basically stated, if you don't use it, you lose it. So which means degeneration and atrophy will occur. If you put your arm in a cast. Right. The arm will atrophy, the joint will atrophy. So the body reacts to lack of movement or lack of stress with atrophy. So if I want to atrophy my cervical spine, all I have to do at night is support my head. And then because you're supporting the head and there's no extra stress, you're going to deteriorate the muscles in your neck. Well, what's a pillow? A pillow defined is a support for your head. When you support the head and the neck at the same time, you're atrophying and destroying the cervical curve.

[Host]

Wow.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So when you sleep, this is when really it came back about in 2000, I think maybe it was 2001. There was a movie called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the actors, when they came out of the room, there was a block of wood that they slept on in the room. And holy mackerel, that would be so uncomfortable. But it wasn't for their head. It was to rest their neck in. Their head just hangs off the back of it. Well, so if you like a slinky, if you support the neck, but you don't support the head completely and the head's about a quarter of an inch off of the bed. You're using the weight of the head to gently distract a curve back into the neck, de tensioning the pressure on the vagus nerve, improving vagal tone. You're not just improving sleep, but you're improving digestive function, you're improving heart function, you're improving respiratory function, hormonal function. You know, everything balances out. If we can get the world to get to understand that sleeping position, deck.

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[Dr. Peter Martone]

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[Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

The study that was done that they all references was done in 2015. That study was done on rats. But there's a significant statement in there saying, although the best position for a rat is on your side due to glymphatic drainage, we understand that this was done on rats, but we're assuming that it's going to be the same for humans. So we're applying it to humans. The structure of a rational is way different than the structure of a human's neck. It's a reverse cervical curve in a rat versus it's the total opposite curve in a rat versus a human. So you cannot use that study and extrapolate the best sleeping position because it was done on an animal that has a totally different spinal structure.

[Host]

Wow.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So when we look at all of this research and people run with these things, they're not looking at the correct verticals. So my one of my verticals is one of my number one truths in my anchor is that the nervous system controls everything in the human body. Can't argue it. That's what happens. And then number two, the nervous system controls everything. The spine protects the central nervous system. So the structure of your spine plays a critical role in how the nervous system functions. So if we're teaching people to sleep in a position that is putting them at risk for tossing and turning 20 to 30 times a night, 20 to 40 times a night, how can that be good for somebody's sleep and spine? So as a neurostructural specialist, my focus is to get people to just fall asleep in the position I want them to. They don't have to stay there all night, they just need to fall asleep that way. So we came up with this thing, it's called the triune of sleep. You start with the body and mind. You put the body in alignment, then you have the body and then you have the conscious brain, the body, all it wants is alignment. It just wants, it wants to be in alignment, doesn't want to be in pain. The subconscious brain, all it wants is safety. And then the conscious brain screws everything up. So we just need to hand it off. Because when your conscious brain puts you to sleep, most people think, oh, this is what I'm comfortable in. You're not comfortable, you're mistaken. Comfort for safety, you feel safe. Like when I grew up in Malden, Massachusetts on a busy street, when I was a kid, people would bang on the window, I'd be petrified to go to sleep. So I would put all these stuffed animals around me, curl up in a ball, and then I would be able to fall asleep. So you fall asleep when you feel safe. So what we do is we put people in alignment and then they go to Dr.sleepbright.com to take a sleep avatar test. And we tell them, what animal are you, Are you an ostrich, are you a gorilla or are you an armadillo? And based on what animal sleep avatar you are, then we know how to create safety when you're in this position. And then we teach you how to get the conscious brain out of its own way.

[Host]

Interesting. So what's the difference with the avatars?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So the gorilla is. So the avatars are really identifying your subconscious. Right. So we have the body subconscious and conscious body wants alignment, subconscious wants safety. The picture, somebody that's really timid, right. Was abused, you know, had a hard life. You know, they have this timid personality. Yeah, that's the ostrich, right. They're going to want to stick their head in the ground to feel safe. They're going to need to sleep in a cocoon. They're going to be the stomach sleepers. They're going to want pressure all over their bodies. They're going to put their covers over their head because they need that much safety to be able to fall asleep. Right. They think it's comfort, but it's safety. Then you have the armadillo. The armadillo doesn't require as much safety as the ostrich, but it still curls up in a ball side sleeper, you know, gonna use pressure on Your chest, maybe a sleep mask, something to really feel protected. The gorilla, it can. It doesn't have any enemies. It can fall asleep anywhere. So the gorilla is the easiest avatar for me to put into the positioning I want Armadillo. We have to make some specific considerations. The toughest is going to be the ostriches.

[Host]

Interesting. Yeah. I got to take that test. You have an interesting take on melatonin?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yes.

[Host]

So whenever I take it, I get nightmares.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah.

[Host]

Isn't that crazy?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So melatonin is a. Basically, it's a hormone, right? And when you take melatonin, it can knock you out. And what happens whenever you take anything that it. Like a sleeping supplement or a melatonin that knocks you out? What you're going to do is you're going to dive into this deep comatose sleep. And then at the end, once your body metabolizes that melatonin, and then your system starts to come back online, you get this REM rebound. So you have these crazy dreams, but your body's trying to make up for you being in that comatose state. Same thing happens with alcohol. You drink alcohol, you don't dream all night long, you don't get deep restorative sleep. And then at the end of your sleep cycles, you get all of this crazy dreaming, shallow dreaming. It's called REM rebound. So that's why when. And so I like being able to look at somebody's neurology because you're going to have, like, me, I got add. I can't even shut off my own brain. So. So that type of neurology needs to shut off their brain. A very specific way. I can teach anybody how to get to sleep and stay asleep with very specific techniques to be able to increase their parasympathetic tone. And if you can increase your parasympathetic tone, you start to see that sleep isn't something that you can't control. It's something that you need to learn how to master the art of. And the more time you can put in, because. So picture this. Sympathetic is fight, fear, hate, guilt. That's the sympathetic emotions. Parasympathetic emotions. Love, gratitude, you know, abundance. These people don't allow. I lived in Italian culture, right? These words, you know, we don't allow ourselves to live here. So based on how we're brought up, based on a lot of old programs, a lot of old patterns that are running in the back portion of our brain, it's affecting how we sleep. So if we start to look at sleep as a balance between the Autonomic nervous system. It's a dance between the sympathetics and the parasympathetics. And then you dive in. Instead of focusing on your sleep, you focused on how to live a more balanced life. Then you're going to be able to just get better sleep. The byproduct needs to be sleep. See, we're designed to sleep. We just screw it all up with our conscious brain.

[Host]

Right?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So that's why we, you know, we have the body, subconscious brain, conscious brain. We gotta teach the conscious brain how to get out of its own way. One of my biggest tips I give people, you can't think yourself to sleep. You have to remember yourself to sleep. So when you're thinking, you're in the conscious portion of your brain, you can't think.

[Host]

Never works.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Never works. But you can think about. You can remember something that happened yesterday. And as long as your brain has already categorized it, you'll fall asleep.

[Host]

Wow.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

In the further back that memory is that you recall, as long as a good memory doesn't cause an adrenal response, the quicker you'll fall asleep. And once you remember yourself to sleep on that memory once you can go to sleep on that same memory over and over and over again, you'll get to sleep quicker and quicker.

[Host]

Wow, that's a good sleep hack.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

It's a hack. It's awesome hack.

[Host]

Yeah. I wonder if that works on, like, an airplane too.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

I put myself to sleep on the airplane. It does. It did.

[Host]

What's your opinion on naps? Because I've heard controversial things.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah. And I was just talking to one of my clients about napping. All right, here's the deal. You need to nap on a schedule. Okay. So I nap on. I nap specific portions of the day because I know I'm going to get horrible sleep the night before.

[Host]

Okay.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So I'm a competitive mountain biker and I mountain bike on Tuesday nights. When you, when you exercise late, what does that do to your heart rate? Increases.

[Host]

Right.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

What's that do to your metabolism increases and stays increased for hours. One of the things that needs to happen for you to get good, deep, restorative sleep is your heart rate needs to come down and your core temperature needs to come down. That doesn't happen if you exercise late. So I know based on Tuesday nights not being able to, I'm not going to get a good night's sleep and I'm going to wake up Wednesday and I'm going to be beat down. So I nap on Wednesday afternoon because I know that I'm not getting good sleep the night before. And then if I have cocktails on a Friday night or in a Saturday, I have Sunday afternoon when I'll nap on those days, too, because I know that alcohol messes up with your sleep cycles. So napping on a schedule with intention is critical. If you nap every single day just to nap. Yeah. It's, you know, you're gonna throw off your sleep patterns, but if you just, like, exercise, you build a sleep blueprint into your life. That's what we teach in our programs. It needs to be a bad sleep is a critical. It needs to be a critical portion of your health regime. I guess you can say, right.

[Host]

You need. They say seven hours. Right.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Well, I mean, it all. It all depends on what you're trying to accomplish. So that's seven hours if you're not. If you don't want a lot of performance out of your body. Right. I expect a lot of performance. I mean, I'm, you know, go, go, go. I. I have, you know, five companies I'm running.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

I got multiple things going on. I need to be, you know, cognitively really sharp. So I get eight and a half hours.

[Host]

Wow.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah. And because. Because think about this. The more apps you have running on your iPhone or your phone, whatever it is, the. The more you're going to have to plug it in to recharge it.

[Host]

Right.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So I want my battery plugged in at 100% so I get the performance I want out of my body the next day. If I'm only plugging in, you know, six hours, seven hours, I'd be a mess the next day, and I'd internalize that. So. And I would need caffeine to stay, you know, you know, stay focused. And I do all of these things to make up with my adrenal glands, the energy that, that, that I'm lacking. And eventually you internalize that. And I see a majority of my clients now all have chronic fatigue. They run down. They have digestion issues, immune system dysfunction. They're in brain fogs. They. They can't. They can't even get out of their own way. Some of them have lost their jobs because they can't even go to work because they're so tired.

[Host]

Damn.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

And it all stems back to years of internalizing. Chronic, chronic lack of sleep.

[Host]

So it's like a bank. It doesn't go away.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

It doesn't go away. You just keep internalizing it until one of the systems fails.

[Host]

Damn. Can you make up for lost time with oversleeping the next day?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah. No.

[Host]

Oh, no, it's.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So think about this. You go, you're eating like crap McDonald's every day, and then you eat a salad tomorrow. Does that make you healthy?

[Host]

No.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

No. It's what you do on a ritualistic basis is what it is. So now for me, I don't like to make up sleep the next night. It doesn't really work well, that's why I build that little nap. And if I can't, you know, you know, you can run down for a week and then make it up on a weekend or do something like that. But. But in general, and especially around time changes, you. If, if you're running so tight, you don't change your schedule, time changes after three to four weeks. After a time change, you're going to see everybody getting sick.

[Host]

Damn. Just three to four.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

That's it.

[Host]

Wow. Yeah. Traveling and sleeping is always a difficult thing.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah, I know.

[Host]

So are you. Because you're from Boston. So that's three hours ahead, right?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Three hours ahead, yeah.

[Host]

So are you changing your time here when you sleep tonight?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Well, so. No, I'm going to, because I'm only here for 24 hours. I'm going to make it up this weekend.

[Host]

Oh, got it. I love it. Man, oh, man. Yeah. People don't connect the dots on sleep and their health issues ever. You know, I don't ever hear people talking about that.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

No, no, everybody, they, you know, sleep. And I'm writing a book right now in the first. The first chapter is don't waste your time sleeping. Right. And really think about it. If you. When you think about sleep, what are you doing? You're lying down for eight hours, nine hours, doing nothing. Like, it's really a waste of time. People don't want sleep. They want who they're becoming because they have good sleep. Right. So when we start to understand that in order to have a way better life, see, we want better sleep for a better life. We want better sleep for way better health. So understand that sleep is critical component to be able to have this. Then you now start to look at improving your performance in the bed. Like, do more with the time that you're potentially doing nothing to improve your health.

[Host]

Right.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So if we can look at sleep like that, it's a game changer for your health moving forward.

[Host]

Yeah. What do you think about eight sleep? The mattress. Have you heard of them?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah, I've heard of every mattress out there. But one of the things is if you get your positioning down, what you're sleeping on becomes way less important. So mattresses are becoming more and more comfortable for unsustainable positions. Right. It's, you know, the pillows hasn't changed. And then we're trying to support like the shoulders going into the mattresses and then support the spine where we're keeping people in contorted positions longer, which is destroying their spines even more. I mean, I see 10 year olds with phase one degenerative changes in their spine.

[Host]

Damn.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

It's horrible. It's really, really bad.

[Host]

I have scoliosis, actually.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Well, I can see tilt and that hip goes that way.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So in the middle is the, is the spine. So your scoliosis is caused from forward head posture. So you have damage in your neck. That damage in your neck is at C5, C6, which is causing your head to come forward and tilt. You're reacting with a psoas major muscle spasm, which is down here, which I had. It's the only muscle in the human body, attaches directly to a disc, which is shifting your hip. Now that all the way up is affecting the vagus nerve. So you have digestion issues, heart palpitations, and you're too young now, but you will have hormonal imbalances with low testosterone levels if you don't address that stuff. Now all three of those is a, is a symptom of low parasympathetic tone.

[Host]

Damn. Yeah. I've always had a thing where I lean on one hip, to be honest, even when I'm standing.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

It's all. So it's a writing reflex body posture. Adjust to head position. Now you cross dominant ambidextrous. No, make a circle. Look at me through that circle. Real small. Much smaller than that.

[Host]

Like this?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah, real small. Bring it back to your eye. Yeah. And then bring it back to your eye.

[Host]

Oh, like here?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah, real small. Okay, good. And then you're right footed.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

And you're right handed.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

All right, good. So you're fully lateralized, which is good. So when you're fully lateralized, what you want to do based on this structure, you want to work on your balance. So your balance as far as like on a wobble board. When you stand up on a wobble board, we can predict when our kids are going to have scoliosis because they stand up on two bilateral scales. You put one foot on one side, one foot on the other side. If they're 100 pounds, they should put 50 pounds on one scale, 50 pounds on the other. If they're off by more than 10% of their body weight, let's say they put 60, 40, then their spine's going to curve because everything's riding because of the eyes. So what people think happens is everything is like building a house. If you want a house to stand straight or a skyscraper to be straight, you need to build a strong foundation and work your way up. Body works completely opposite with that. Neurostructurally, it's. Your posture is a battle between neurology and gravity. So it works from the top down. It's trying to level your eyes. And so when you tilt your head, the whole spine is going to curve and contort to adapt to that. That is why sleeping position is so critically important, because your body posture is adjusting to your head position. So your head tilting over here like this is because you're, you know, you sleep. Sleep on your side.

[Host]

Yeah, I sleep on my side. Yeah. On my left side like this? Yeah. Damn. So I need to fix that immediately.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah, yeah.

[Host]

They told me I had it growing up, and I never really thought of it, but it's probably due to sleep posture, right?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah.

[Host]

And I slouch a lot.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yep. Well, yeah, that head comes forward.

[Host]

Yeah. But a lot of people are on their phone all day, so they probably have that head forward thing. Right.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So that's called technic, Right?

[Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

And that's what is causing our children's spines to be destroyed. It's first off, sleeping curled up because they need to feel safe. Right. Our parent, like my father. My parents. Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep. Never taught me how to sleep, because nobody knows. Just go to sleep. As long as I fell asleep, I was fine. Curled up in a ball to feel safe. Stuffed animals all around me. So when my daughter, she slept in the bed with us, getting her to her own room was a little bit of a challenge. So I went in there and this is what I did. I said, all right, I don't want you sleeping on your back, but we're going to give every stuffed animal that you have a superpower. So a turtle was like a shield. Nothing could get through the turtle. Then we put the lions on the end of her bed, and anything that came in, the lions would attack. So we gave all the stuffed animals this imaginary powers. And what was I doing? Creating safety. And then by creating a safe environment for her to live in, she was able to fall asleep because she was coming into our bed for safety. So we. That's. That's the fundamental thing with sleep. It's neurological. It's the subconscious brain wants to feel safe.

[Host]

Right.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

The conscious brain it screws everything up. Right. I can't. It's my airway. Oh, my God. I have sleep apnea. I have this. I have that. All of those we can address because our whole way better sleep system is all about falling asleep one way. That's it. I only want to control the 15 minutes on how you fall asleep. Even if you think you're a great sleeper. I don't care about how you sleep. I want to fix your structure in bed. I want you to do more with your time in bed.

[Host]

Yeah. I love how simple you keep it because some people are hooked up to machines, all this fancy technology, you know.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

So I'm a, I'm a very simple add mind. Right. I need analogies. I need to keep things simple because in the. Well, in the, in the absence of simplicity, you'll just confuse somebody. Right. I can, I mean, I can dive into the neurology on how this affects this through the ears and through the vermis and how it builds the prefrontal cortex, but that makes no difference. I'm a how guy. We already have a book on why we sleep. I'm writing a book on how to sleep. Two very, very different things.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

I'm an expert on. On real life things to do to get to sleep.

[Host]

Absolutely. When's that book coming out?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Writing it right now, actually. So hopefully by the end of 2025.

[Host]

Nice. That's going to change some lives, man.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

It's going to change an industry because it's a. It's about getting way better sleep. So our mission is awakening the full potential of a well rested, aligned you. I want people to understand that there's more, way more to sleep. Right. That's a well rested and aligned you. There's way more to sleep than just closing your eyes and waking up eight hours later. And there's way more to the positioning that people even know and how it can impact their health.

[Host]

Yeah. You never get taught any of this.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Nothing.

[Host]

Like people don't even know what dreams are.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

No.

[Host]

You know, that's a whole nother podcast.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah, that's. That's somebody else.

[Host]

What about cannabis before bed? Some people like to do that.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah, people like the thc because it, it, it does the same thing. Melatonin, alcohol, a lot of REM rebound with that stuff because it drops you out, it knocks you out. And so think about this. If, if we're not taught good habits. Right. Just like I was a soccer coach for my kids.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Go over here and do like this. What I'll do with My private clients, go do a drill. Go do a drill. Go do a drill. Go do a drill. And then all those drills come together on the field. I have my clients work on balance. Then I'll have them, you know, connect their subconscious brain to ascent through meditation. I have them do all of these things, building that parasympathetic muscle so it's able to turn on. We can't use crutches in our culture that have one lateral, one vertical because there's an unlimited amount. That's a. That's a very Newtonian way to think about things. So Newtonian physics defines a circle of each point is equal distance from the center. That's medicine. Right? It's a very Newtonian way to think about it. Now, there's something that's called epigenetics, which comes from quantum physics. Quantum physics would say. Hold on one second, all right, forget it. So what's the purpose of the circle? Well, let's say the purpose of the circle is to make a car drive straight. That blew a tire. Well, the perfect circle would need to be shaved down perfectly to align to that car so it can drive straight. Because if you put the Newtonian perfect circle on here, it will translate to one side. So you can't treat everybody the same. Is what I'm trying to get at is everybody's different and they're not just this perfect circle, ignoring all the unlimited parallels that go along with that. Yeah, we are different. We are, we are a. An epigenetic lifestyle based being that everything affects everything else. So to take one thing to get an effect. Well, what are the side effects? Those are also effects. They might be undesired effects, but they're all effects. Right, Right. So you can't take something to ignore something. We need to look at the science. What is sleep? Sleep is when we recharge. When do we recharge? We recharge within our parasympathetic nervous system. What are things that we can do? High heat stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. Stimulate the immune system. Stimulate the reproductive system. Have sex. Have sex a lot? No, because if you stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is, which is reproductive system, you're going to calm down. Right. So there are specific things that we can do to hack in to the system that allow us to flex this muscle. And sleep isn't just about closing your eyes and waking up. It's about the healing that happens at night when you sleep.

[Host]

Right. I love that. Yeah, you definitely sleep better after sex, though. Right.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

You do, because you're able to. You know, it just calms you down. It hacks that parasympathetic tone. And what we're finding, this is something that I just recently started looking into, is women that are really dysfunctional. They have dysfunctional hormones, their body is a mess when they get pregnant. They feel better during pregnancy than any other time their life. But then when they give birth, they go into a deep, deep, deep depression or they have postpartum. Well, what is it about being pregnant that makes a lot of those symptomatology go away? Well, it's like a hose. You're stepping on the garden hose, which is affecting that parasympathetic flow all the time. But what pregnancy does is it's like turns on the hose full blast. So even though the compression's there, they're still getting that increased tone for nine months, which makes them feel better. And then. And then it crashes. And then the embarrassment.

[Host]

I have heard that a lot of pregnant women are depressed after they give birth.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah. And I've been thinking about, thinking about it, thinking about it in that. And so now I. It's almost like being pulled out of the matrix. Now that I have these blinders off and I look at everything neurologically, you start to see things so much differently.

[Host]

Yeah. So a warm shower before bed's probably good too, then.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Warm shower. Yep. Because then as your body cools, your body follows the circadian rhythm.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

And as your body cools it, it stimulates somber.

[Host]

Love it. Dr. Marton, I've learned a lot, man. I can't wait to work more with you. If people watching this are interested in learning from you, where can they find you?

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Yeah, they can go to Dr. Sleepwrite.com Dr. S L E E P R I G H T. You can find out more about the neck nest. Take the animal sleep Free animal sleep avatar test. Find out what animal you are and then what you can do to transform your sleep.

[Host]

Boom. We'll link it below. Thanks for coming on, man.

[Dr. Peter Martone]

Bye, man.

[Host]

Yep. Click the links below, guys. See you next time.