"My favorite species is the human species." ----- Lucinda Sykes, retired MD

Did you know that new science links prescribed sleeping pills to an increase in your chances of dementia and Alzheimers?

Sleeping pills don't put you to sleep; they sedate the brain and prevent it from giving itself a power wash that gets rid of material ultimately connected to disease.

This episode's guest is Lucida Sykes, retired MD and current sleep coach. You may have listened to an earlier episode with Lucinda. This is a Command Performance.

"Millions of older women are being taken from their families," Lucinda says. Her grandmother is a case in point. Every night, Lucinda went to the drugstore

to pick up her grandmother's sleeping pills. She died in her 60s from complications now understood to be partially due to sleeping pills.

When we can't fall asleep, our mind tends to catastrophize. We think of the worst possibilities and ruminate about them over and over again.

So, what are some useful ideas when we can't fall asleep?

*Get out of bed

*Do something that relaxes you, and engages you (puzzles, needlework, reading, etc.)

*Dim the lights - avoid blue lights; instead, surround yourself with amber and pinkish tones

*& More

The key is to avoid stimulation when you sleep and create an uncluttered space outside of the bedroom that calms and relaxes you. Maybe the room is full of fragrances like lavender or maybe there is a sound system that plays calm music.

There is so much more research packed into what is an informative, fast-paced episode of "Older Women & Friends."

https://lucindasykesmd.com/

https://www.joyfulafter50.com/about

https://lucindasykesmd.com/my-story/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucinda-sykes-md-71a25651/?originalSubdomain=ca