Reading · LIVE YOUNGER, LONGER with Doc Mac

I lie there, arms wrapped around my hugging pillow, knowing the four secrets to living younger, longer.

How do I reveal their beauty?

I listen to the rhythm of Vicky’s breathing and feel the soft rises of Benji’s chest on my calves.

How?

Will they listen?

How do I reach them?

Do I stand atop a soapbox and yell through a megaphone: You don’t have to live a fragile and fading third act of life.

You CAN create the person you always wanted to create.

I know the secrets.

Shh…

I’ve done forty-six years of research, and the easiest stat to motivate you is…

The average American Male lives to be 76.

And the average female lives to be 81.

If I am average, which I have never been in my life, I have another 6 years.

I need more time than that to accomplish everything I still need to accomplish.

I plan on dancing at my grandchildren’s weddings. I have 8 grandchildren under 10.

But to open people's eyes, I must be the example, the mentor.

And to do that, I must get a good night’s sleep.

A good night’s sleep bolsters all four secrets.

At least I know why I am awake.

My wake-me-up hormone woke me up.

Cortisol.

Cortisol is the body’s alarm clock. When it’s low, you can sleep. When it’s high, you can’t.

It’s obvious mine is high this early.

I can also take an educated guess as to why my cortisol elevated.

My blood sugar hit a low point.

That set off an alarm.

Through my years of using my body as an experiment, I have found that my blood sugar doesn’t need to be clinically low, just low for me.

Or it shifts quickly from a higher level to a lower level.

When that happens, an emergency alarm signals the body to correct the problem.

I wear a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM). Its sensor graphs my levels.

Whenever I wake at 2:30 am, I can check an app on my phone to see where my blood sugar is currently or where it was at 2:30 AM.

Most of the time when I wake too early, my blood sugar has hit the floor of my range.

That’s when my body enters emergency mode. Then my body dumps blood sugar reserves.

The alarm stresses the body. It’s just as annoying as a smoke alarm going off in the middle of the night.

I remember when I was a child, and I would wake my Dad—because Mom told me to— otherwise I never would. He would sit up swinging as if he was fighting the devil.

When my blood sugar hits that low mark, which isn’t even low clinically, my body goes into fight mode. It releases adrenaline, cortisol, and other hormones that make me an instant athlete.

I don’t know if I could lift a car, but I am definitely alert.

My body releases its emergency fuel stores to rescue me.

If I need to throw punches or jump out a window, I'll need energy, strength, and quick reflexes. To do that, I need an abundance of fuel readily available.

My blood sugar level bounces upwards like a superball bouncing off the floor.

I’ll check whether this is the cause when I officially wake up.

Last night I didn’t think I needed a Bedtime Bite.

My favorite is almond butter on apple slices just before I go upstairs to prepare for bed.

A small amount of fat and carbs provides me with a slow, steady release of glucose while I sleep, and I avoid the 2:30 emergency call.

I also know that the first few hours of sleep are special.

That’s where we enter deep sleep.

We need deep sleep if we want growth hormone levels to help keep us living younger, longer.

As I age, deep sleep and growth-hormone secretion decline. If I want to dance at my grandchildren’s weddings, I need to bolster both.

I had gone to bed at nine. So when my eyes opened at 2:30 am, I’d at least slept when they needed me to between 10 and 2.

But…

I’d sure like to get to 4 am and get 7 hours.

Vicky was still teetering into a full-blown snore.

She’s a light sleeper but has been doing better with the Sleep Stack I put together for her.

I listen to Vicky’s deep breathing and close my eyes.

Boing.

My eyelids zoom upwards again.

I’m not giving up.

I’ve got to tame my cortisol.

The rest of my emergency hormones will follow its lead.

I turn onto my back, position the knee pillow underneath my knees, and place the hug pillow off the bed.

I do my 3/6 breathing technique.

I inhale through my nose for a count of three and exhale through my mouth for a count of six.

This is the first go-back-to-sleep tool I use.

This works because it pushes my diaphragm downward, physically pressing against and stimulating vagal nerve fibers.

The pressure signals the brain to lower heart rate and blood pressure, effectively counteracting my "fight-or-flight" response that my low blood sugar most likely caused.

After about 13 cycles, I am still wide awake.

I then move into my Five Sense Awareness.

This moves my concentration from whatever is on my mind that may keep me awake to a state of Present Time Awareness.

In the 1980s, I was a motivational speaker who traveled the country and other countries with a seminar group called the Parker School of Professional Success. I taught doctors what I did in my practice.

A short, well-spoken Texan named Jimmy Parker developed this seminar group. We speakers used to sit in his suite; he’d smoke cigars and talk about what made people successful and what held people back.

One of his key principles for success was something he called PTA. He had speakers wear ribbons that said PTA.

I didn't know then how important PTA was to my success. I do now.

I get into the present time with a technique I call Present Time Awareness.

To be transparent, I do these techniques every morning no matter what time I wake.

My mindfulness coach would really dislike that I do it in bed.

I’ve been doing it in bed before I rise for over 10 years.

This is an awesome tool for Living Younger, Longer.

I ask myself five questions.

Dave, what do you hear?
Dave, what do you feel?
Dave, what do you see?
Dave, what do you taste?
Dave, what do you smell?

As I ask myself each question, I first seek the most prominent sound, feeling, sight, taste, and smell. Then I secondarily seek the most subtle sound, feeling, sight, taste, and smell.

When I ask myself what I hear, I hear a train whistle in the distance. Then I listen for the most subtle. I hear Benji and Vicky breathing and birds.

Birds?

I have attended too many rock concerts. I should have worn earplugs. Tell your children and grandchildren to wear earplugs at loud concerts.

Or they will hear things later in life that aren’t there, auditory hallucinations.

Mine sounds like a flock of birds chirping in a tree. I heard this for real as we traveled through Oregon in our RV. And now I hear them nearly every morning as I arise.

Next, I ask myself what I feel; I feel the blanket's weight, then I look for the subtlest. It is the air from the ceiling fan hitting my arm.

When I ask myself what I see, my eyes are closed, so the most obvious is darkness, since I am doing this before the sun rises and no lights are on yet. I have learned how to see different shades of gray as the most obvious sight. As the most subtle, I may see my eye floaties, “Flying Flies,” on the back of my eyelids.

When I ask myself what I taste, I taste my wintergreen organic mouth rinse that I use during nocturnal urination to keep my mouth healthy. We are nothing but tubes, and our tubes' health starts with our mouths.

Sometimes I taste last night’s dinner spices, like garlic, as the most subtle. Yes, garlic can be subtle several hours later.

The most apparent smell when I ask myself what I smell is again my special mouth rinse. As a cheat, I blow my breath into my nostrils, and I may also smell dinner’s spices as the most subtle.

I cycle through my five senses three times.

HEAR-FEEL-SEE-TASTE-SMELL

Then I tell myself, “Dave, welcome to the present time.”

Guess what? When I am in the present time, there isn’t anything—nothing I hear, feel, see, taste, or smell—that I should be afraid of. One hundred percent of the time, and I have been doing this for a long time.

There is never a saber-tooth tiger in the room when you are in the present time. There is just you.

When you place yourself in PTA, you rarely need to be anxious.

To live younger, longer, get into the present time as often as you can throughout the day.

In the next article, I will share more tools to Live Younger, Longer. As I share the tools, the secrets to high-quality longevity in your Third Act will reveal themselves one at a time.

—Doc Mac

PS Vicky here —> Do us a favor, LEAVE A COMMENT about your favorite tool to use to fall back to sleep.

It's 2:30 AM, Why Am I Awake?

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