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Dr. Daoshing Ni talks with CEO/Founder of EmpowHer, Michelle King Robson about fertility and modern pregnancy. Dr. Daoshing Ni talks about how crucial getting a good night's sleep is. "Sleep is the time when our body goes through repair and maintenance that we aren't able to do when we're awake," says Dr. Daoshing Ni.
Dr. Daoshing Ni – D.O.M, L.Ac., Ph.D, Dipl.C.H.
Todd Hartley:
It's time for the Fertility Journey with Dr. Dao. He is a 38th generation doctor of Chinese medicine here to answer your questions on anything pertaining to fertility. From the EmpowHer.com studios, here is Dr. Daoshing Ni and Michelle King Robson, EmpowHer.com’s Founder & CEO.
Michelle King Robson:
How are you today, Dr. Dao?
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Very well, thank you. I am happy to be on the show.
Michelle King Robson:
Oh, we’re thrilled to have you. So let's talk about sleep, very important subject, and one I think that is just not, it's under served. Particularly when it comes to women and hormones and fertility, and someone like me who has had a complete hysterectomy, how do we get a handle on this?
It seems like we’re given drugs to take, we’re told to meditate, we’re told to turn the TV off, and a lot of those things just don’t seem to help. What can we do? What can we start to do to start changing our sleep patterns and to try and get more rest, and how much rest do we really need?
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Well, I think that first of all is to understand that sleep is crucial. Sleep is the time when our body goes to repair and maintenance, that we are not able when we are awake. This is a time, in fact, some of our hormones are secreted the most and some of our basal metabolic rate slows down, our breath slows down, and our body starts to relax and rest for many different organs, and it includes the heart.
So it's very, very important time and it's well-deserved to really look at and well-deserved to making sure that we have proper sleep. There are a lot of sleep issues, and so right away I think it’s important to set a good sleep hygiene, and what that means is that making sure you have enough sleep and enough deep, REM sleep or sound sleep.
Michelle King Robson:
So how do you know if you’re getting that?
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Well, first of all, I mean you really want to set a time where that every day there’s a certain time when you go to sleep. You want to try to set that time. Let's say that you tell yourself you want to go to sleep by 10 o’clock. Then you should every day get ready about 9:30 and be in bed by 10:00 and no later.
And occasionally you’re going to have that exception. Some of us tend to stay up a little bit later during the weekend, but in the normal regular everyday lifestyle, you should really try to adhere to your sleep time and wake up on a regular basis. I always say with adults, and I mean in that late 20s and higher, you should probably have a minimum of an 8-hour sleep if you can. That would be most important.
Michelle King Robson:
So 8 hours is recommended.
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
When you’re younger you need more as you are still growing and actually need somewhere around 9 to 10 hours of sleep.
Michelle King Robson:
That’s what I always thought. That when you are younger and you are growing, that it's natural for young people to sleep longer.
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
It's natural but also because of a demanding schedule now to our teenagers with all these different activities. Frequently we start to see not enough sleep, and that is detrimental because not enough sleep can actually create all sorts of diseases.
Michelle King Robson:
Really.
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
It can increase the incidents of anxiety; it can increase the incidents of depression, psychiatric problems; it can increase the incidents of poor memory and poor focus; and it can cause increasing learning disabilities. There’s all sorts of stuff that goes with not enough sleep that we should never neglect.
Michelle King Robson:
That sounds like me. You’ve just described me in a nutshell. So what is good for someone who wants to become pregnant? How much sleep should a woman have and how do we get her to where she can sleep?
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Well, a lot of times it has a lot to do with also the sleep hygiene in a sense a few hours before you sleep, you really want to start to slow down your body and try not to do any stimulating activities.
Michelle King Robson:
So what would you recommend for slowing down the system?
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Well, first of all, don’t argue with your husband before you go to sleep.
Michelle King Robson:
Oh darn. You just took my fun away.
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Do it a little earlier. No, but what you really don’t want to do is you don’t want to get into an intense discussion before you go to sleep, you don’t want to get into some kind of intense program on TV, you really want to start to shut down your brain, not shutting down but slowing down your brain, and do something a little bit more relaxing and start to get your body ready to go to sleep, and try not to eat too late at night.
Michelle King Robson:
Okay.
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
So that one hour before you go to bedtime you really, really start to come down.
Michelle King Robson:
Taking a hot bath, maybe, does that help?
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Wonderful, doing some meditation. In my book The Tao of Fertility I actually have mapped out some of the meditation postures and poses that you can do and some breathing exercise you can do that can be really helpful to get you into that sleep sound, but basically any kind of relaxation activities can all help.
Michelle King Robson:
Dr. Dao, is that on your book The Tao of Fertility, A Healing Chinese Medicine Program to Prepare Body, Mind and Spirit for New Life?
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Yes, that’s in the book The Tao of Fertility book.
Michelle King Robson: Okay, okay terrific, such great information.
Todd Hartley:
Dr. Dao, can you share with women some advice or guidance that they could get from the book The Tao of Fertility if they are looking for something to guide them towards greater fertility. What could they uncover if they went out and purchased that book?
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Well, what we did, my co-author Dana Herko, who is wonderful and has helped me tremendously in putting this book together, we wrote it in the sense that is very accessible, very easy to read. It’s not excessively technical so anybody who doesn’t have any scientific knowledge or any medical knowledge can pick it up and actually read it pretty easily. It flows very nicely.
Then it has a lot of different things in there that could be really helpful and that could be wonderful such as we help a woman understand their physiology, we help them to understand different challenges that they might come across trying to get pregnant, and we teach them about diet.
We give them some recipes, and we give them some meditation technique, and we give them some resources and link of resources that they can go to, so there’s quite a bit of information in the book that I think is quite valuable. And there is also some philosophy, and there is also some wonderful, wonderful clinical cases and patient stories, and women’s voices that just fills throughout the whole book that really give me inspiration just by reading some of these stories.
Even though I have seen these patients, sometimes listening to what patient has to say about their journey and their treatment and their feedback, it’s amazing as they’ll get kind of teary, get kind of moved by what I have to say.
Michelle King Robson:
That’s great, and you know, we’ve had Mary who has emailed us and asked us another question about sleep and fertility, and she is six months pregnant. She is finding it hard to sleep at six months, and what can she do because she says she has tried a lot of the, you know, trying to go to bed at the same time every night and she is just, it’s uncomfortable for her.
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Yeah, six months you’re getting big, and the very first thing is you want to take a look at where your discomfort is. My thing that I do with women in that six-month’s time is massage. I think massage helps tremendously, you know, doing some massage, and I usually ask the men to do maybe 5 to 10 minutes massage on their woman.
Michelle King Robson:
Great idea.
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
This is very nice. It brings and builds intimacy, it helps them to come closer, and now it makes the woman to feel really, really soothing. I usually prescribe some essential oils that are very soothing and very calming and such as lavender and different essential oil where they can massage on their lower back and even massage on their tummy and it really helps, and they actually puts them to sleep.
Michelle King Robson:
Oh, I am sure. I think probably just the touch.
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Yes.
Michelle King Robson:
Right, it’s all about the touch.
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Yes, it is.
Michelle King Robson: A
nd what a great…I mean again, I just didn’t even think about that until you just said massage, but it's more about that person that you’re intimate with who is actually touching you and making you feel comfortable and safe, and it does have that calmingness to where you can go to sleep.
Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Yes.
Todd Hartley:
Well, he is Dr. Daoshing Ni. He is the author of The Tao of Fertility, A Healing Chinese Medicine Program to Prepare Body, Mind and Spirit for New Life. If you’ve got questions on how you can bring new life into the world, make sure you go to EmpowHer.com, click on the "Ask" button and we’ll get your question on this list and hopefully get it answered for you.
Well, he is Dr. Daoshing Ni, she is Michelle King Robson, and this is The Fertility Journey.
Announcer:
Your healthy podcast is brought to you by EmpowHer.com, that’s E-M-P-O-W-H-E-R [dot] com.
About Dr. Daoshing Ni:
Dr. Dao is a 38th generation doctor of Chinese Medicine, a Licensed Acupuncturist and is a Diplomat of Chinese Herbology NCCA. Dr. Dao is in general practice at Los Angeles, California’s Tao or Wellness, was an examiner for the California Acupuncture Committee and also participated in the Chinese Herbology Exam development for NCCA. Respected for his special interest in reproductive and gynecological conditions. Dr. Dao is a member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Pacific Coast Fertility Society, and American Association of Oriental Medicine. He’s also the author of The Tao of Fertility.
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