How A Precision Medicine Doctor Prioritizes Sleep For The Sake Of Her Metabolism, Mood & More

Missing sleep is a fact of life for many physicians. Doctors are expected to be available at all hours of the day and night, addressing urgent requests from patients and answering texts and emails. That starts during our training as residents where, of course, we get very little sleep. We're working 100 or more hours a week; I remember frequently doing 24- to 48-hour shifts at Yale. Exhausting.

There's a price to surviving on too little sleep. Tracking my biological age revealed more rapid aging over three months with too little sleep back in 2021. Now, I strive for a minimum of six hours every weekday night, more on weekends.

Sleep is paramount for health, with much evidence to that effect in the scientific literature. Too little sleep ages us biologically and undermines our mood and sense of well-being. It even makes depression and anxiety worsen1. It becomes more difficult to rise to the demands of work or even play. Genes that must switch on through the night do not. Many scientific studies demonstrate that diabetes, heart attack, stroke, and other disorders2 associated with aging will kill us earlier in life if we shortchange ourselves on quality sleep.

I've seen sleep even trump food for a healthy mind and body. In my work at the Comite Center for Precision Medicine & Health, I look at a patient as a clinical trial of a single individual, an N-of-1 trial. I'll do a deep dive into an individual's medical history, family health history, lifestyle habits, extensive blood work, and other diagnostics. And the evidence is clear that deep sleep and REM sleep have a profound impact on patient health—starting with improved sugar, or glucose management. A 2019 study found that 62% of people with glucose levels in the prediabetes range are likely to have poor sleep. I have a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism3 (as most, if not all, people do).

Years ago, I started wearing a continuous glucose monitor (a CGM) long before they were available in the United States. Beginning in 2012, I downloaded a sleep app (after fracturing my shoulder skiing, which disrupted my sleep). I continue to monitor the stats and patterns each day to see what happens to my metabolism during the night. Sleep has a powerful impact on my metabolism, especially sugar and insulin control.

Sunset helps me to switch from work into a more Zen mode in the evening. 

7:30 p.m.: Finish dinner. 

8 p.m.: I catch up on work. There's always unfinished business from the busy days working with my team and clients. Several times during the week and every weekend, I get together with family and friends for dinner, to catch up on our lives and laugh together! Laughing is great medicine for me and many others.

10:30 p.m.: Most nights, I take a warm bath and take my supplements and medications. I apply my evening facial skin routine set up by my twin sister, my dermatologist. My skin care practice also includes Prime Facial Magic, a metabolically active cream that has a phenomenal impact on skin and internal function. I use the cream on my face, hands, and arms at night and repeat in the morning. 

11 p.m.: After a bath, my energy will often recharge, and my creativity will kick in. I may catch up on a bit of writing or take time to do what I really love: read. In full transparency, I may jump on email and text one last time. Steven Colbert is a favorite to have on TV in the background. I am in my bed and fast asleep as soon as I close my eyes. I feel fortunate that I have always been able to go to sleep quickly.