Dr Rangan ChatterjeeIf You Struggle to Sleep, Start Doing THIS Every Morning
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
20 min read · 4,096 words- 0:00 – 0:41
Why better sleep starts the moment you wake up
- SPSpeaker
As a medical doctor, and literally being Europe's doctor, and the tens of thousands of patients that you've treated, it is really sad and troubling how many people are not getting enough sleep-
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah
- SPSpeaker
... how they're having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, not dropping into deep sleep. And so can you share with us how you say a good night's sleep starts in the morning, and what we need to do to make this easy?
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
When people think about sleep, the first thing they go to is what are they doing before they go to bed?
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm.
- 0:41 – 3:39
Morning light exposure to set your circadian rhythm
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Now, whilst that is important, what we don't realize is that a good night's sleep starts first thing in the morning, how you start your morning off. Now, if you're able to get natural light first thing in the morning, it's fantastic for your overall well-being. It helps set your circadian rhythm. This is your biological clock. Every single cell in your body has a clock, okay? And one of the key drivers of that clock is exposure to light, okay? So if you expose yourself to bright, natural light ideally, but I appreciate also that, you know, depending on where you live in the world, certainly in the UK at the moment, you're not getting bright, natural light in the morning. So yes, you know, put all the lights on at home. Get them as bright as you possibly can. That actually helps you sleep better in the evening. There's some studies which show us that if you meditate or practice mindfulness first thing in the morning, that can also help you sleep better at night, okay? So there's many ways that I want people to think about sleep, but what you do first thing in the morning can absolutely impact, uh, your sleep in the evening. Now, why should people care about sleep?
- SPSpeaker
Yes.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Okay? It's not just about energy. Yes, energy's, of course, something that we all want, right? We want the energy to do the things that we wanna do in life. But here's what happens when you're sleep-deprived. Your mood goes down. You're less empathetic. You're less compassionate. You find it harder to resist temptation. If you sleep five and a half hours each night compared to seven and a half hours each night, one study showed on average you're eating 22% more the following day in terms of calories. Okay, so think about that. Five days of extreme sleep deprivation will lead to a whole extra one day's worth of calories going through your mouth, okay? So I've helped, Mel, some patients lose weight in a sustainable way not by focusing on their diet, by focusing on their sleep.
- SPSpeaker
Hmm.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
This goes back, Mel, to what I said right at the start. Think about these four pillars and ask yourself, "Which one of these four pillars do I need the most work in?" Right? Too often we focus on our favorite pillar.
- SPSpeaker
Hmm.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
If your diet is 85% good, moving it from 85% to 90% whilst you're only sleeping five hours a night ain't gonna move the needle. If you can bring up your sleep from five hours to even five and a half hours, again, it's not about perfection. It's not about either eight hours or nothing. If you can actually get 20 minutes more, 30 minutes more, there will be a physiological difference in your body, Mel, the following day. And so it's important for your physical health, your mental well-being. Life feels different when you've had a good night's sleep, okay? So in terms of what people can do-
- SPSpeaker
Yeah
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
... I mentioned first thing in the morning, okay?
- SPSpeaker
Yep.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Get light exposure.
- 3:39 – 4:07
What if there’s no sun? Practical workarounds for dark mornings
- SPSpeaker
And, and, uh, we have so many people around the world that write in when they hear about light exposure in the morning that say, "Well, I have to leave for work before the sun's even up." So how do you do that if it's raining or you have a job where you're already starting work and the sun hasn't risen?
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah. So it doesn't always have to be the sun, to be clear.
- SPSpeaker
Okay.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
You still get a lot of natural light on an overcast day-
- SPSpeaker
Okay
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
... or on a cloudy day, okay?
- 4:07 – 4:36
Why sleep matters beyond energy: mood, empathy, cravings, and weight
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
But yes, I appreciate we all have different work schedules. So if you can't do that, you know, put the lights on in your house. If you want, you can go on Amazon. You can buy, like, these-
- SPSpeaker
Oh, yeah
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
... bright lux lights. They're not that expensive. You can have those on in your house, right? Do what you can. If you can't do it first thing in the morning, maybe at 10:00 AM when you have a little coffee break at work, can you take your coffee and go to the balcony or go out the front door and
- 4:36 – 5:04
Stop chasing perfection: small sleep gains change physiology
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
be outside and get some of that light into your eyes, okay? There's many ways. And let's be honest, Mel, some days you may not be able to.
- SPSpeaker
Correct.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
And that's okay.
- SPSpeaker
Yes.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Right? Fine. There are other ways to improve your sleep. You know, we can talk about five or 10 different tips. You're probably not gonna be able to do them all.
- SPSpeaker
Well, let's talk about that. How can someone create an evening routine that leads to better sleep if they're doing this stuff in the morning that's easy?
- 5:04 – 5:51
Evening routine fundamentals: adults need wind-down cues too
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah. The most important thing about an evening routine when it comes to sleep is the fact that you need a routine.
- SPSpeaker
[laughs]
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Right? You have kids, Mel, right?
- SPSpeaker
Yeah.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
They're older than mine. I have kids, right?
- SPSpeaker
Yep.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
I'm guessing, and again, I don't know this, I've not met your children, right? But I'm guessing when your kids were younger, what you didn't do before bed was put all the lights up as loud as possible, get the music blaring, give them loads of sugar, and then try and get them to sleep.
- SPSpeaker
No, we did not do that. We had a whole routine.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Right. We as adults are no different, right? With children, what do we do? We dim the lights. We lower our tone. Um, we might read them a story. We create the environment that is conducive to winding down.
- SPSpeaker
Yes.
- 5:51 – 7:16
Protect the last hour: boundaries with work, stress, and family logistics
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
One of the most toxic things about the modern world is this separation between work life and home life has vanished. With emails, with social media, with whatever it is, we can still be working in our bedroom in bed and then somehow wonder why we can't fall asleep 10 minutes later when we've just had a stressful work email.I think the most important thing for many people, and certainly it has been for me, is one hour before bed, I make a mental switch in my heads. I'm now on wind-down time. Okay? So for me, and again, I wanna be clear, Mel, everyone's got a unique life, right? So what works for me may not work for someone else, but what I do one hour before bed is I make sure my laptop's closed. I will not do a work email in the one hour before bed, barring an exceptional situation. Okay? Let's be honest. Sometimes stuff is going on-
- SPSpeaker
Yep
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
... that you wanna handle.
- SPSpeaker
Yep.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
But by and large, I won't do that. I have educated my family over the last few years, and it was hard at first, but everyone understands now that in the evening, past, you know, one hour before bed, I don't wanna talk about finances. I don't wanna talk about household items. My mom, my brother who live nearby, they now know if it's something to do with Mom's care, unless it's urgent, I don't want to know about it in the one hour before bed. Okay?
- 7:16 – 9:25
Make the right choice easy: keep phones out of the bedroom
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
So by educating the world around me, I have a wind-down for that one hour. What do I do? I'll try to be off my screens. I'm usually pretty good. I'm not perfect. You know, for me, if I bring my phone into my bedroom, I'll look at it.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
So I live in a house, so what my wife and I try and do is we make a commitment to each other that we're gonna leave our phones in the kitchen to charge. That's-
- SPSpeaker
This is just like food. You basically said, "I, if I don't wanna eat it, I don't have it in the house." If you don't wanna look at your phone in the bedroom, then you don't have it in the bedroom.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah, I'm not, I'm not-
- SPSpeaker
You're just making it easy
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
... I'm not superhuman.
- SPSpeaker
You're following your pr- well, you're following your principles. You make it easy.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah, just 'cause I write about this stuff and talk about it on my podcast each week doesn't mean I'm any less human than anyone else. I, I can't resist looking at that phone.
- SPSpeaker
Well, you know, I'll tell you something, as I'm sitting here listening to you-
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
My family and I have been wearing VIVO barefoot shoes for over 12 years, and there is no way that I would go back to wearing cushioned shoes. The human foot is a masterpiece, but modern footwear has disconnected us from our natural movement, and barefoot shoes are a tool to restore that primal link. VIVO Barefoot strips away the unnecessary. No thick foam, no elevated heels, just thin, flexible protection that lets your feet move in the way that nature intended. When your feet can feel the ground, your body naturally moves better. Now, VIVO offer a fantastic range of shoes, office shoes, athletic shoes, but also amazing winter boots like the Tracker Forest, my current favorite, which is super comfortable, warm, and also has amazing grip. I can't recommend them enough. And if you want to give them a try, please do use VIVO's online sizing tools to ensure that you find your own perfect fit. To get 15% off your first order and enjoy a 100-day money back guarantee, visit vivobarefoot.com/livemore. Step into better health today.
- 9:25 – 10:07
When life gets chaotic: adapt routines instead of judging yourself
- SPSpeaker
And I'm nodding along, and I'm thinking, "I have to do this five-minute thing. I have to do this five-minute thing," because I have completely fallen off the entire category of movement because I have been in the middle of this crazy book launch-
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah
- SPSpeaker
... and all this travel, and I've been too tired, and things have been so chaotic, and I ha- and I, I haven't been able to do my normal thing. And you're reminding me that there is still always five minutes. There is still always something you can do, and you're also reminding me that this very important principle, I'm not failing. The routine that I do in my normal schedule-
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah
- 10:07 – 12:11
Why the ‘relax’ pillar matters: stress as a core driver of illness
- SPSpeaker
... is failing me right now, and that's a liberating way to look at this. Why do you need the fourth pillar, relax, if we've already got the third pillar of sleep?
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Because it's subtly different. Relax is speaking to the issue of stress.
- SPSpeaker
Hmm.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Okay? So we know that 80 to 90% of what comes in to, to a doctor these days is in some way related to stress.
- SPSpeaker
So 80 to 90% of the health issues, the ailments, the symptoms that people are struggling with is related to stress?
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah. And a few years ago, the World Health Organization had on their homepage that stress is the health epidemic of the 21st century.
- SPSpeaker
Well, and we actually had Dr. Aditi Nerurkar-
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah
- SPSpeaker
... on the show, and she said that sh- in her research, that stress is the single consistent cause of illness as well. Like, if you look at the clustering-
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
100%
- SPSpeaker
... of things that cause it, it's always present, and it's the one thing that is in your control in terms of your ability to mitigate against it. So when you say relaxation, you're also talking about the importance of de-stressing and f- finding times to rela- like, what do you mean by that?
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah. I, I do. And, and also these four pillars, they all feed each other, right?
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
You know, because a lack of sleep is a stressor on the body.
- SPSpeaker
Yes.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Eating lots of junk food that's causing inflammation in your body is a stressor on the body. Not moving at all is a stressor on the body. But what y- people will find is when you start looking at your life through this framework of these four pillars, you can start wherever you want. It will start to make a difference in the others. They all start to feed each other. Now, when I'm talking about stress, and when I talk to my patients about stress, I help them understand what stress actually is.
- SPSpeaker
Dr. Chatterjee, what is stress?
- 12:11 – 14:27
What stress is for—and why it backfires in modern life
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Stress is basically your body's response when it wants to keep you safeOkay? When it thinks you're in danger, in essence. So I always explain this to my patients, Mel. I say, "Listen, what is the stress response? Imagine it's 100,000 years ago and you're in your hunter-gatherer community, in your tribe, doing your thing, okay? And then whilst you're doing your thing, you notice a wild predator approaching the camp. In an instant, your stress response kicks into gear. Now, several things happen in your body when that happens. Okay, what happens? Your blood sugar starts to go up so it can deliver more glucose to your brain. Your blood pressure starts to go up so more oxygen can go around your body and get to your brain, okay? Your blood becomes more prone to clotting. Why? Oh, if that lion or that predator was to cut you, instead of bleeding to death, your blood's gonna clot, which is gonna save your life, okay? Your amygdala, right, your emotional brain, goes onto high alert. Why? Because you want it to be on high alert. You wanna be vigilant. You wanna hear every pin prick. These are all appropriate responses when you really are in physical danger. The problem today, Mel, is that so many of us are having our stress responses activated, not to wild predators-
- SPSpeaker
[laughs] By email
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
... but to the state of our daily lives.
- SPSpeaker
Yes
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Our email inboxes, our to-do lists, the three social media accounts we're trying to keep up to date with, the news headlines. In a very similar way, our stress response is being activated. So those four things I mentioned, helpful in the short term, problematic in the long term. So blood glucose going up to help you run away, brilliant. If that's happening day in, day out, that will cause weight gain, fatigue, and Type 2 diabetes.
- SPSpeaker
So are you also saying, though, that if we're eating a ton of processed foods and a ton of sugar, that, or, and we're not getting sleep, and we're not moving our bodies, that the lack of those things also creates that physiological-
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah
- SPSpeaker
... condition in our body?
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah. It's a stressor.
- SPSpeaker
It's not just the email?
- 14:27 – 17:52
You see life through your nervous system: why the same email feels different
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
S- stress is a massive, massive issue that we don't think about enough, and a lot of people don't realize this key, key point, Mel, that I have only realized in the last few years, which is this idea that we see the world through the state of our nervous system.
- SPSpeaker
Hmm.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Right? So if you're chronically stressed, and I would bet, Mel, that a lot of your audience, even if they're on a walk right now and listening to me and you talk, a lot of them would probably identify as being chronically stressed.
- SPSpeaker
Uh, some of the recent studies I've seen is that up to 80% of people in the United States are in a medical state of chronic stress.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah, so think about the point of the stress response, okay? It's when we think there's danger. So what happens? Your focus comes inward. You're not compassionate. You're not looking to cooperate with people. You're looking for threat. You're looking for problems, right? Okay, another way people can often understand this is this idea that if you've had a weekend off where you've properly rested, okay, and you've switched off, and maybe you've gone for a walk in nature, you can read an email on a Monday morning and interpret it a certain way. You could read that same email on a Friday afternoon-
- SPSpeaker
Hmm
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
... when you've had a busy work week, and you are interpreting it completely differently. It's the same email, but you are looking at it differently because of the state of your nervous system.
- SPSpeaker
Wow.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Right? And it's, you know, I thought about this the last few days, Mel. I don't know how this lands for you, but I was thinking about me and, you know, I'm away from home at the moment, so when you're away, you can often think big picture and think, what is it you're doing wrong, you know, with your podcast, with your books? I'm delighted to announce that AG1, the daily health drink that has been in my own life for over six years now, have updated and improved their formulation based upon the latest science, and to celebrate by giving my audience a very special offer. Some of the upgrades include more magnesium, which supports muscle function and improves the ability of your nervous system to relax, and also five strains of bacteria instead of just two to reflect the latest advances in microbiome science. It also contains key nutrients like vitamin C, biotin, niacin, vitamin B6, riboflavin, thiamine, zinc, and folate in bioavailable forms the body can easily and readily utilize, maximizing their potential benefits. Nutrition can often seem really complicated. What diet should we be following? What supplements should we be taking? And I think that's one of the main reasons I really like AG1. They make it really simple for you to be the best version of you. Over 70 ingredients, one scoop, once a day, for less than a cup of coffee. So if you wanna support your health seven mornings a week, get started with AG1, and right now, we have a very special limited time offer. For the month of December only, when you sign up for a monthly subscription, you will receive a signed copy of my latest book, Make Change That Lasts, as well as 20 pounds off your first month of AG1. You'll also get a Welcome Kit with shaker, canister, and scoop to help get you started. And please remember, this is a limited time offer, and only 200
- 17:52 – 20:09
Health as a pathway to compassion, connection, and peace
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
exclusively signed copies of my book are available. So if you wanna take advantage, don't leave it too long. To find out more, go to drinkag1.com/livemore. On the face of it, it seems like what I'm talking about is health. But I've realized that's not my end goal, Mel. Right? Why? Why does health matter?Why does happiness matter? I think what I'm trying to do actually, at its core, is create or contribute to a more compassionate world.
- SPSpeaker
Hmm.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
If you're healthier, if you can lower your stress response, you're a kinder person. You have more empathy. Right? That's a world I wanna be part of creating. I want my children to grow up in a world where there isn't all this division, where actually people are nice to each other. That's who we are as humans. I'm sure of it.
- SPSpeaker
Me too.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
That's what drives me, Mel. This stuff seems like it's about health. I don't think it is. Health is the mechanism to get to compassion for me.
- SPSpeaker
And connection.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
And connection.
- SPSpeaker
And peace.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
And peace. When you're well-slept, when you understand where stress lives in your life, and you do a few simple things that we can talk about, like a, a breathing practice or a journaling practice, okay? Simple things that don't cost much money. That's what I'm always talking about in my books and my podcast. Most of the things I write about and talk about are free of charge. People say, "Health and wellness, you need money for it." And I push back against that, right? Yes, I get it. For, to buy healthy food in certain parts of the world, yes, your income matters for sure, but there are lots and lots of things that we can do that do not cost any money at all, that will absolutely change our state or lower our stress levels.
- SPSpeaker
So what are some of your favorite simple things that you do or that you recommend to your patients that do help you reset from this-
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah
- SPSpeaker
... I'm in an attack mode state, to, "Ha, I can breathe"?
- 20:09 – 21:27
Daily solitude (not loneliness): reclaiming your mind from constant inputs
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
I think the most important daily practice for anyone in 2025 is a daily practice of solitude. I believe that with all my heart, Mel.
- SPSpeaker
What does that mean, especially given that people feel lonely already?
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah. So solitude is different from loneliness, okay? Solitude is the intentional practice of spending a bit of time with yourself, because what happens today, Mel, is that so many people, they're waking up, their smartphone is their alarm. They're picking up their phone. They're reacting to the world around them. They're consuming emails, toxic content online, social media, news. And what a lot of people don't realize is that, is that their thoughts, their feelings, and their actions are often downstream from the content they're consuming. So what can that solitude be? Okay? It could be a walk for 10 minutes, where you don't have anything in your ears, where you're just allowing your thoughts and feelings to come up. It could be journaling. It could be breathwork. It could be anything you want. I'll give you some of my favorites, okay?
- SPSpeaker
Well, okay, I'll give you one that you have already explained to us. The, I, I would say that the act of making your coffee-
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
100%
- SPSpeaker
... and doing your movement on your own, for yourself, by yourself, is exactly that.
- 21:27 – 24:06
The 3-4-5 breath: a one-minute tool to downshift fast
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Exactly. They all link in with each other. The pillars aren't as separate as we might think. They're a useful framework to look at our life and see where we're gonna make change, but once you start in, in any one of them, you'll realize how they all feed each other, right? Breathwork, the most powerful way and the quickest way to change your internal state, and therefore your stress levels, is through a practice of breathwork. Now, one of my favorite practices is what I call the 3-4-5 breath. I've been using it with my patients for years.
- SPSpeaker
Great. Why don't you walk us through it?
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
And they love it. You breathe in for three.
- SPSpeaker
Okay, let's do it.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Okay, let's do it.
- SPSpeaker
Okay.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Okay. So breathe in for three.
- SPSpeaker
Okay.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Hold for four. One, two, three, four. Now breathe out for five. One, two, three, four, five. Okay, Mel, before we go any further, how do you feel after doing that?
- SPSpeaker
My shoulders dropped. I felt myself settle. I almost felt like there was a downshift.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
Yeah. I felt it. I felt it myself as well. That's just one breath, okay? The 3-4-5 breath, one breath takes 12 seconds. Five of them takes one minute.
- SPSpeaker
Hmm.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
When your out breath is longer than your in breath, you help to switch off the stress part of your nervous system and activates the relaxation part of your nervous system. Okay? So the 3-4-5 breath is just a very simple method I've created to help my patients. There are so many other amazing breathwork practices out there.
- SPSpeaker
Hmm.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
I'm not saying you have to do this one, but the principle is that it will really help you calm, lower your stress, be more present. It shows you how interconnected the body is. So I would say something like the 3-4-5 breath is a really, really simple tool that you can use preemptively in the morning as part of a routine, a morning routine, or when you're getting stressed out in the day, you have a meeting with your boss, in a, let's say, a disagreement with your husband.
- SPSpeaker
Yep.
- RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee
You can actually just take a time-out, do 3-4-5 breathing for just 30 seconds, a minute, and you'll be much better able to engage once you've done it. If you enjoyed that short clip, I think you are really going to enjoy the full conversation, which you can check out here. [upbeat music]
Episode duration: 24:06
Install uListen for AI-powered chat & search across the full episode — Get Full Transcript
Transcript of episode ZuT3KMpxIIY