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EP640: Dr. Tony Martin - Sleep - Your Underappreciated Superpower
75 Plays15 days ago
“The best investment for your business? It’s not stocks—it’s sleep, because you’re the engine driving everything.”
What if the key to unlocking your business success isn’t found in the boardroom, the stock market, or your grind—but in your bedroom? Entrepreneurs and business leaders know the hustle: long hours, endless decisions, and a relentless drive to succeed. But too often, sleep takes a backseat, treated as a luxury rather than the game-changer it truly is.
Uncover why sleep is the ultimate productivity hack for entrepreneurs and business leaders. Learn how quality sleep enhances cognitive performance, emotional resilience, and decision-making power—turning it into your unfair advantage. Explore the science of restorative sleep versus sedation, practical strategies to improve your nightly routine, and lifestyle changes that optimize your brain and body for peak performance.
Dr. Tony Martin is a clinical nutrition expert, retired practitioner, and the host of The Doctor Is In, one of the most influential health podcasts worldwide. With over 50 years of experience and as the best-selling author of Sun, Steak, Steel, and Sleep, Dr. Martin is on a mission to help people harness natural health solutions to fuel their success.
Links Mentioned:
- Dr. Tony Martin’s book: Sun, Steak, Steel, and Sleep
- Podcast: The Doctor Is In
- Supplements: Oil of Oregano, Probiotics
Visit eCircleAcademy.com and book a success call with Nicky to take your practice to the next level.
Recommended
Transcript
The Importance of Sleep for Health
00:00:02
Speaker
Sleeping is putting your body, Nicky, into airplane mode so that you're not getting any data. You want to repair that body, you better get sleepy. Your body knows exactly what to do. You produce a lot of melatonin. When you're sleeping, you get into the five stages of sleep and your body repairs itself. It lowers inflammation, lowers your blood sugar. Every biomarker that you have is health.
Introduction to The Thought Leader Revolution
00:00:31
Speaker
Buy a good night's sleep.
00:00:36
Speaker
Welcome to the Thought Leader Revolution with Nikki Ballou. Join the revolution. There's never been a better time in history to speak your truth, find your freedom, and make your fortune. Each week, we interview the world's top thought leaders and learn the secrets of how they built a six to seven figure practice.
Guest Introduction: Dr. Tony Martin
00:00:54
Speaker
This episode has been brought to you by eCircleAcademy.com, the proven system to add six to seven figures a year to your thought leader practice.
00:01:03
Speaker
Welcome to another exciting episode of the podcast, The Thought Leader Revolution. I'm your host, Nicky Baloo. And boy, do we have an exciting guest lined up for you today. Today's guest is a repeat guest. It's the third time he's on the show and he's one of my favorite all time guests. He's a fellow believer. He is a fellow champion for human beings and humanity and health.
00:01:28
Speaker
Dr. Tony Martin of the Doctor Is In podcast, one of the most popular podcasts on health and fitness for the common man and woman. Welcome, Tony.
00:01:40
Speaker
Hey, Nikki, it's ah good to be with you, my friend. It's always a pleasure. I count it as a privilege to know you, and I appreciate your ah your goals. I appreciate the way you talk, and I appreciate you big time as a friend and as a brother in the Lord.
00:01:59
Speaker
God bless you, man. Thank you so much. So Tony, you recently did a podcast episode on the Doctor Is In podcast, which I listened to, that took a deep dive into a topic that you and I believe is... the underappreciated superpower of health. I am talking of course about what? I'm talking about sleep. I'm talking about the importance of sleep.
00:02:30
Speaker
you know and You were talking, I think the name of the episode is ah Mind Matters, Five Common Meds That Hurt Memory. This is episode 1479 on the Doctor Who Is In podcast. It was released on December 27th of last year. Really, really great episode. So Tony, take it away. Let's talk about sleep. Let's talk about why it's so important.
Sleep Disorders and Health Impacts
00:02:52
Speaker
And I really would like you to dive deeply into distinction between sedation versus sleep.
00:02:59
Speaker
Okay, Nicky, and let me let me give you a little bit of background because I've been looking at sleep. ah you know My background is clinical nutrition, but in natural medicine, clinical nutrition, we we um you know I was always interested in obviously ah people's health, but there was a huge phenomenon, and maybe you remember this, Nicky, you're a little young, but maybe you'll remember a little bit of this,
00:03:29
Speaker
In the late 1980s and 1990s, early 90s, there was a huge phenomenon called chronic fatigue syndrome fibromyalgia. And ah believe it or not, before that, nobody ever talked. I mean, people were tired, but never exhausted like this. And it it it occurred mostly in women. And the main symptoms of fibro chronic fatigue, I believe there were just a double edged, you know, ah two sides of a coin. And that is exhaustion. that And then you're exhausted, but you couldn't sleep.
00:04:10
Speaker
You never really got into a deep sleep and cognitive issues, brain fog, pain, they had a major inflammation pain. And it was a phenomenon because I actually wrote a book about it. i One of the first books I ever wrote was chronic fatigue syndrome, the modern woman's curse. And it usually happened in women and it was a big hormonal thing.
00:04:35
Speaker
And anyways, I think I was the first guy back in the late 80s talking about this, doing radio interviews, TV interviews, because it was very interesting to people and especially because I wrote a book about it.
Cortisol's Role in Sleep Management
00:04:50
Speaker
And you know what, Nicky, I really got into um the importance of sleep even back then.
00:05:01
Speaker
And, um but we know so much more today than than we used to, and okay? So I always, one of the things that I really did in my practice, Nicky, and I've talked to you about this before, I'm a big guy at looking at deficiencies.
00:05:20
Speaker
OK, so if you come into my office in my days of practice, I'm now retired and I just do education now. But in my practice days, I was looking at deficiencies. And so when women in the 80s, when I say women, mostly women, had sleep problems and let's say they had fibromyalgia, I looked at deficiency. One of the things that I found um was they were usually very low in vitamin D.
00:05:51
Speaker
Very low in B12. We can get into that a little bit more. Very low in magnesium. Very low in, um their cortisol was high.
00:06:06
Speaker
And what's cortisol? you know I just remind people cortisol is a hormone that your adrenals release, adrenal on top of kidneys, and you release that. It's it's the ah fight or flight, Nicky. It's part of your circadian rhythm. It's part of your dayto day to day. Your cortisol should follow a pattern. It gets a little bit higher in the morning and then sort of dims out.
00:06:36
Speaker
as you get ready to go to sleep. But what I was finding back then, even back then, was that was sort of upside down in people. The cortisol was high at night.
00:06:48
Speaker
And you don't want high cortisol at night because cortisol will keep you up. it's ah you know it's It's the fight or flight. It elevates your blood sugar. It elevates your inflammatory markers. I mean, it's on your side except when it's being produced at the wrong time. This is what I found. so and And the other one, and we'll talk about this in a minute too, is they were very low in melatonin.
00:07:15
Speaker
OK, everybody knows that word melatonin and they think it's a supplement, Nicky. It can be. I'm not big on it in terms of a supplement, but your body makes it. So these people, Nicky, were low in melatonin, low in vitamin D.
00:07:33
Speaker
low in B12, low in magnesium, almost invariably. They had all the same deficiencies and they were very low in melatonin. They just couldn't didn't produce melatonin or enough of it.
00:07:48
Speaker
okay so When let me just hit one point that you talked about because let's start with that sedation. Okay, so one of the most popular medications today and it's been popular for a long time are sleeping pills are sleeping aids and I had patients come into my office hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times or more maybe more often than that that
00:08:20
Speaker
use sedation to sleep. They said, well, Doc, if I don't use my sleeping pill, Ambien, or whatever it was called, I don't sleep. I said, well, you're not really sleeping. You're sedated. I said, you ever gone and had even day surgery? Yeah. Well, they sedate you, right? Yeah. Do you feel good after that? Yeah. Well, you weren't sleeping.
00:08:48
Speaker
You were knocked out. That's sedation. Like, I know you, you know, hey, it knocked me out. I know, but a lot of things ah don't happen in your body, ah Nikki, if you're sedated and you're not sleeping.
The Brain's Nightly Maintenance
00:09:04
Speaker
One of the things that I talk about, I didn't even know this when I was in school. Nikki, I was in school in the days of Noah, okay? But just to tell you,
00:09:15
Speaker
You know what we didn't know? We all knew that you have a lymphatic system, okay? Those are your lymph nodes, and hey, they're under your armpits, they're in your groin, they're in your gut, they're everywhere. They drain all your toxins, right? But we didn't know that the brain had its own lymphatic system, and it's called the glymphatic. So your brain, Nicky, has a self-cleaning oven. You know? Right? I think my mother would have loved to have a self-cleaning oven, but those are just part, right? Everybody's got that in their modern stoves today. You just press a button and it cleans itself. You don't have to go clean your oven. It's self-cleaned. Well, your brain has that.
00:10:08
Speaker
And, but here's the caveat. Your brain only goes into self-cleaning mode. Your lymphatics only work when you're sleeping. They don't work when you're not sleeping. They don't work when you're sedated, okay? No.
00:10:27
Speaker
um
00:10:29
Speaker
And that's really important because look at I just want to bring out a study that I quoted in my book, Sun, Steak and Steel and Sleep. The Journal of Nature and out of the Edinburgh University in ah Scotland said this, they followed 8,000 people, Nicky, for 25 years. And the people that slept less than six hours a night Okay? Had 30% increase in Alzheimer's. The connection is there is this. If you don't sleep, your brain doesn't self-repair. Remember, your brain is headquartered, right? twenty five It's like the federal government.
00:11:18
Speaker
25% of all the food that you eat ends up in the brain. Why? Because it's headquarters. It's got, you know, it's it's the boat. It's your your central nervous system comes out of there. Your brain, you you you need energy there. And when you have energy produced, like a manufacturing plant, you're gonna have waste. And your body needs to get rid of that waste. The problem is, if you're not sleeping properly,
00:11:48
Speaker
if you know Not only hours, but the way you sleep. If you're sedated, the self-cleaning oven, Nick, doesn't work. And your body just doesn't get into the, especially your brain, doesn't get into the repair mechanism that needs to happen. So that's a very, very important thing
Sleep Apnea and Metabolic Health
00:12:08
Speaker
about sleep. um you know It's not only the amount of time you're sleeping, but how you get to sleep.
00:12:16
Speaker
And if you need sedation, you're you're you're in trouble. you're People don't realize that I know, i i li it I'm very sympathetic with people that don't sleep. But I'm telling you, one of the worst medications that people take are these sleeping pills. And they have a short term. Yeah. Hey, it works, man. I'm knocked out.
00:12:39
Speaker
But you really are headed for disaster ah using those type of things. So that's like i I have been looking at sleep for many, many, many years. It's a big part of a component of being healthy. And people today, do you know that 70, 80 percent of the population that you have trouble sleeping?
00:13:01
Speaker
They were so wound up, and and it's the world we live in. I mean, you think about it, we live, we're surrounded by a stimulus. You know, like life is complicated, life is fast, and you know, um we're getting bombarded with information 24 hours a day, there's 24-hour news cycles, it just never ends, and and you know, our bodies We really weren't made for that. and you know if But the best thing that one can do, probably the most important thing, is to get a good night's sleep. because that really you know I'll tell you, Nikki, a little story. I was flying one time, this is probably, not that, you know maybe five, seven years ago.
00:13:49
Speaker
And you know, Nicky, you know when they tell you to turn your phone off? don Well, I was being a bad boy on the airplane and I had my phone on and I was texting with someone and the the stewardess came by and she said, hey, turn your phone off. And I said, OK, OK. And she said, look, you can still keep it on. She said, put it into airplane mode.
00:14:13
Speaker
And I gave it to her. I said, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm um'm a senior citizen. Airplane mode, what's that? So I gave my phone to the stewardess and she went doot doot doot. And she said, you see, you can still use your phone, but you're not getting any data.
00:14:32
Speaker
And sleeping is putting your body, Nikki, into airplane mode so that you're not getting any data. You know what I mean? Your brain rests, your liver rests, your body goes into airplane mode, especially your brain when you're sleeping. So you want to repair your body. You know, Nikki, I'm a big admirer here. You're a guy that got into tremendous shape and you built muscle and I was so proud of you and I really appreciated that because you I talk a lot about muscle, right? But you know what, Nicky, one of the things that we find out even about muscle, you want to repair that body because you need to repair. You better get sleep.
00:15:21
Speaker
You better get sleepy. Your body knows exactly what to do. You produce a lot of melatonin when you're sleeping and you can you get into the five stages of sleep and your body repairs itself. It lowers inflammation, lowers your blood sugar. it it in Every marker, every biomarker that you have is helped by a good night's sleep. So I'm really, really big on it. Yeah. I really like the analogy of sleeping is like putting your body into airplane mode because you don't get any data. That's a really good analogy, Tony. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, i listen,
00:16:09
Speaker
um I talk a lot about sleep and its effect, okay? So, um you know, another thing started happening in my office. So the first thing that sort of was a paradigm shift was all this chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. It really got me started into looking into sleep disorders.
00:16:34
Speaker
But then in the year, I'm going to say 2000, there was another paradigm shift in my office. I was starting to see a lot of people with sleep apnea. Now, Nicky, don't you wish you had a crystal ball? And if you were an investor and you you know someone came to you in the late 90s and said, look, we're going to invent a machine.
00:17:00
Speaker
And I want you, you're going to come in on the first public offering of the sleep apnea machines. Nicky, we'd be living on an island somewhere beside each other, right?
Diet and Sleep Quality
00:17:13
Speaker
I mean, think of, Nicky, I never heard of sleep apnea till the year 2000. And then all of a sudden, every second person that came into my office,
00:17:26
Speaker
were diagnosed with sleep apnea. They had to go to bed with them, not with their wives, but with a machine. you but and nice Like, what's happening? But you see, Nicky, I'm a why guy, okay? Why is this happening? Why is it was when I was in school in the 1970s, we never even heard of sleep apnea. What's sleep apnea? but you know there There was no such thing as far as I was concerned. And if anybody had it, we didn't hear about it. Anyway, I'm a why guy. Why are we seeing so much sleep apnea?
00:18:07
Speaker
So, I was a Y guy with chronic fatigue syndrome. Why is that happening? High cortisol, okay? Now, here's what I discovered with sleep apnea. 90-something percent of the people that have sleep apnea have a condition, Nicky, called insulin resistance. Guess what? They had a food problem.
00:18:33
Speaker
And they were insulin resistance. It created inflammation. And you know what I called it, Nicky? You know what I call sleep apnea? Fatty tongue. You know, because it's, why would you have a lack of, ah why do you have to have a machine that pump in oxygen up to your brain when you're sleeping? Well, you got a fatty tongue. How do you get a fatty tongue? The same way you get a fatty liver.
00:19:04
Speaker
Sugar, my friend. Crappy carbs. Insulin. Insulin is your friend till it becomes your enemy. And I wrote a book in 2011 called Serial Killers, Two Hormones That Want You Dead. Cortisol and insulin. And so we had a double-edged sword. And one was affecting, cortisol was affecting your sleep.
00:19:33
Speaker
And insulin was affecting your sleep through sleep apnea. And people found when we got their insulin down, we got their insulin resistance down. You know what? A lot of them didn't even have sleep apnea anymore. They were able to correct it. Why? They corrected fatty tongue. Fatty tongue, fatty liver.
00:19:54
Speaker
The same, we have ah a major crisis in our country in what North America. It's called fatty liver. I never even learned to fatty liver when I was in school. we you You had cirrhosis of the liver if you were an alcoholic, but we didn't. Fatty liver, what's fatty liver? Well, guess what? 50% of the population have fatty liver. And guess what? You got fatty liver? You got a fatty tongue. And you got a fatty, not from talking too much like me.
00:20:23
Speaker
But from insulin, insulin is a growth hormone. It makes everything grow. So that's another thing that we used to do, Nicky, in our office. Get people's insulin down. And you do that by changing your diet. Cutting out, not going no-carb, but very low-carb and very high. I'm very high on protein and fat, Nicky, as you know. Sun steak.
00:20:50
Speaker
and steal and sleep, right? So we looked at the the body's repair mode, the self-cleaning oven. We looked at cortisol, the big, big problem that keeps you awake, that gives you a like a buzz. You don't want to buzz while you're sleeping.
00:21:11
Speaker
Cortisol sort of gets you, Nicky, like, you know, it' it keeps you alert. Well, that's all right, but you don't want to be alert when you're sleeping. You want you want to get into that recuperative, regenerative sleep. And that won't happen if your cortisol is high. That's a big problem in society today. Let me tell you, people's cortisol is through the roof.
00:21:37
Speaker
and The other thing too, if you want, we can, you know, like we talked about the brain and Alzheimer's and how important sleep is for that, but we can also talk, like in practical terms, the eating and the brain. Now we talked about insulin, but let me tell you something too that's really important for a good night's sleep. Stop eating.
00:22:04
Speaker
Give, before you go to bed, Nicky, it's really important.
Sleep's Role in Immunity
00:22:08
Speaker
That's the sweet spot. All research is showing this, by the way. And I knew this in my office practically. I used to tell my patients, look, try and aim for about six to eight hours of sleep and make sure you don't, um try and keep your sleep patterns pretty regular every day. Not always possible, I understand that. But,
00:22:32
Speaker
to stop eating three hours at least before you go to bed. That's really important because your body has two modes. We talked about the airplane mode and that's rest and digest. okay You want to be able to rest and digest. It takes you about five hours to digest your food.
00:22:56
Speaker
And it's all right if you're you go to bed and you still got two hours left, because most of your digestion is taking place. But if you really want to get repair and get into that deep sleep, you need to stop eating. Try three hours before. That's sort of the sweet spot. And you're going into a fasting, right? And people talk today about intermittent fasting, and I like that. I i like eating in windows.
00:23:26
Speaker
OK, because, you know, a lot of times nutritionists and dieticians, well, you know, stop the fire, keep eating. na i'm I like if you're eating the right fuel.
00:23:41
Speaker
You know, you don't need to eat frequently, you know, unless you're working out Nicky like Nicky Baloo. You might want to eat a little bit more frequently. But you know, most people don't need to eat if they go into a like I really like intermittent fasting.
00:23:59
Speaker
stopping to eat about six o'clock at night and going till about eight o'clock, 10 o'clock the next morning. Well, now you're into 14, 16 hours, Nicky.
00:24:12
Speaker
um even 18 hours of not eating. That is so good for yours. That is so good for sleep and so good for repair of the body. So those are practical things um that that you can do. And by the way, just coming back to insulin and food, remember Alzheimer's.
00:24:37
Speaker
In 2005, they won a Nobel Prize in medicine for naming Alzheimer's type 3 diabetes. People forget that the brain and Alzheimer's is is type 3, it's sugar, diabetes of the brain. And you know, people all you need to eat in moderation, you need to have some sugar, no you don't.
00:25:02
Speaker
No, you don't. I mean, look, I'm not telling you you can never have sugar, but you don't need sugar. If your brain needs sugar, Nikki, it'll take a steak and turn it into sugar. Your body knows the exact fuel. And the best fuel in the world is ketones. And when you're eating the right fuel, your brain will get into a much, much better sleep. So those are like, those are important things.
00:25:30
Speaker
ah When it comes to sleeping, the other thing too, I just cause i got so much going through my head. I had a good night's sleep last night, Nicky. You know the immune system? I remember this is a study that was done probably 40 years ago.
00:25:49
Speaker
You know what happens, Nicky, when people go on a trip in the wintertime, like, you know, when you go down south and, you know, people like to go to the Caribbean or whatever and take a cruise or whatever, OK? And I don't blame them. They want to get in the sun. But you know what happens? They usually got to get up early in the morning to catch a flight. They don't sleep the night before. You know what that does? That hammers your immune system.
00:26:15
Speaker
And then they get a stinkin' bug when they should be on a holiday. They got a bad cold and they're on the beach, you know? And they go, why did that happen? I mean, I'm in Dr. Martin's son, son's steak and steel. Yeah, the problem was you didn't sleep. you got You got less than your six hours.
00:26:36
Speaker
You had to get up to catch a flight or you were, you were you know, did I pack this? Did I forget that? Did I got my passport or whatever? And your brain was active. You weren't sleeping now. You know what happens? Your T-cells.
00:26:50
Speaker
your Navy SEALs of your immune system. They go on a siesta. They're not fighting viruses and bacteria like they should. And so, Nikki, even one night miss sleep will affect your ah immune system, it will minimize the the effect of your T-cells, your navy seals, those white blood cells that are your navy seals, the first responders in when you get an infection, they go to sleep. they They make up for the sleep that you didn't have, and now they're not guarding you against a virus or a bacteria or a bug like
Natural Melatonin and Sleep Environment
00:27:34
Speaker
that. Interesting, isn't it?
00:27:40
Speaker
Sleep is very underappreciated, as you have stated, in terms of its importance to health, in terms of its importance to functioning properly day to day. I mean, the whole issue of brain cognition ah and brain fog is something everyone should be concerned about, but especially folks who are over the age of 50, like myself, because sleep can repair a lot of the damage that I've done to myself and that other folks over 50 have done to themselves and they just don't get it. They don't sleep enough. They don't try to sleep enough. They go to bed with their goddamn phone and you know, when I go to sleep,
00:28:26
Speaker
I put my phone away. I should probably put it away even sooner than I go to bed. But when I'm, when I'm like tired enough to go to bed, I'm okay. Get the phone out of the damn room, yeah put it somewhere else. And you know, um,
00:28:40
Speaker
create the I mean put it into like red light mode so there's no blue light um and I put it in the bathroom the alarm is on the phone and it's in the bathroom so I don't have my phone in my bedroom with me yeah it's just it's just really really important and there's way too many people especially those over the age of 50 who don't get this don't pay attention to it and their sleep sucks bottom line their sleep sucks Yeah. and And you know what, Nikki, you're you're you're absolutely right. And it's it's a matter of, you know, it's like when you you get educated.
00:29:15
Speaker
on on your diet, Nikki. You've been through this and you and you listen and you you know you you you do your own research and you listen to podcasts. You listen to guys like me and others and you go, man, that makes sense and I'm going to implement that in my life. right And it's the same thing with sleep. It's it's a just It's just saying, you know what, I got to focus in on getting a better sleep. and And you know, like one of the things you can do, Nicky, and this is really important too. And I talk about this on a lot of podcasts. I was alluding earlier to melatonin because melatonin became famous about, oh, I'm gonna say, oh, it's over 25 years ago, probably 30 years ago.
00:30:07
Speaker
It's still one of the leading ah supplements in terms of sleep aids. I never liked it, Nicky, as a sleep aid. I really didn't because when I took physiology and you know studied the human body, you make melatonin. Your body makes it. It's not like you got to take it as a supplement. okay Now, here's the important thing about melatonin.
00:30:33
Speaker
Melatonin, um when you see the sun, Nicky, okay? Because everybody anybody that knows me, i'm the number one vitamin in the world is vitamin D. Not vitamin C, vitamin D. Although I've renamed vitamin C coffee, and I guess that's pretty close, Nicky, okay? But vitamin D,
00:30:57
Speaker
is good for everything, from from your brain to your toes. Every cell in your body has a receptor for vitamin D. Now, when you don't need vitamin D to make melatonin, you need the sun. So what do I mean by that? Even in the wintertime, if it's 40 below and the sun is out, and you don't put your sunglasses on,
00:31:21
Speaker
Okay, that's a good thing. Don't put your sunglasses on right away. Or like I'm used to, I don't use sunglasses, okay? But anyway, Nikki, you get your melatonin with the sunlight.
00:31:35
Speaker
Okay, so you're if it's sunny, even if it's 40 below, you're not getting vitamin D, but you're getting melatonin. It's storing up in your pineal gland, your third eye, it's storing up melatonin levels. And then, Nicky, okay, let me talk about the mass. There's three mass, okay? I'm gonna piss some people off, but I don't care, okay?
00:32:03
Speaker
There's three masks. There's the COVID masks. People, I was flying flew last week down to Florida, Nicky, okay? People are still wearing their masks. It drives me crazy. They don't work. They never work. It's stupid. it's no I mean, it's so stupid. I can't even get over it that people are still doing it, but they're still doing it. Anyway, I feel like saying something to them and saying, you got the wrong mask on. okay Now, the second mask is vitamin A. okay What is vitamin A? Vitamin A is when you eat eggs, meat, and cheese. Vitamin A is only found in the animal kingdom. okay so When you eat eggs, meat, or cheese, or all three, you get vitamin A, Nicky. You know what that does? it It's an invisible mask.
00:33:00
Speaker
it It protects you from viruses and bacteria in your eyes. yeah could People wear their mask, right? They don't wear it over there no their eyes. They wear it up to their nose. You know what that does, Nicky? Nothing. Because the second you touch your eyes, what have you done? What did you wear a mask for? How stupid is that?
00:33:21
Speaker
and But vitamin A gives you an invisible mask. It protects your the entry of where viruses and bacteria enter the body. Your eyes, your nose, your mouth, okay? That's the invisible mask and you only get vitamin A, not by eating carrots.
00:33:42
Speaker
Carrots give you better carotene. That's a precursor to vitamin A. It's not vitamin A. Vitamin A is eggs, meat, and cheese, especially steak. Okay, now, the third mask is a mask that I recommend for sleeping. And that's one, Nicky, that you cover your eyes when you sleep, okay? The darker it is in a room,
00:34:09
Speaker
And the best way to find to do that is sleep with a mask. That mask, well, you know what happens? Sun during the day you get melatonin, darkness at night you get melatonin, okay? So melatonin, the pineal gland secretes melatonin in complete darkness.
00:34:31
Speaker
Okay, you can't even see your hand in front of your eyes. And the best thing to do is wear a stinking mask. That's when you wear a mask, Nicky, but not over your mouth and nose. You put it over your eyes. Anyway, I told you, I'm controversial, but that's the truth about sleeping. I've helped tens of thousands of people for almost 50 years by telling them, would you sleep with a mask? Sleep with your eyes covered.
00:35:01
Speaker
you know Have you ever gone, Nikki, across the pond and you know you're you're you're sleeping, you know ah flying across, going to Europe or whatever, and you'll see people wearing a mask over their eyes and you know to keep the light out and they're doing the right thing. That's what you ought to do. But you should do it
Health Investment: Sleep as a Pillar
00:35:21
Speaker
every night. That's how you'll get a bet. That's how you secrete the most melatonin to put you to sleep. And that's better than taking any supplement of melatonin. I can tell you that by experience. That that makes sense. That makes sense, Tony. ah All the things we need to be healthy are available in nature. They really are.
00:35:45
Speaker
Yep, they really are. And you know, it's it's not that complicated. You know, like I tell people, look, I mean, every step you take towards taking responsibility yourself for your own body and your own health, every step you take is going to pay dividends. I mean, people today, Nikki, you know them. I know them.
00:36:11
Speaker
They got money in the bank. They got money in there coming out their ears. But if you don't have your health, Nikki, if you don't have your health, what do you got? You know, yeah yeah you know you now you're ah really a poor man if you don't have your health. So I tell people, look, it's like you make an investment, finances or whatever, good for you, smart. Listen to Nicky Baloo, he'll help you do with that. But I'll tell you something, Nicky, if you don't take care of your body, if you don't take care of your health, if you don't take care of your sleep, it's going to come back and bite you. And your quality of life,
00:36:50
Speaker
i You know, I don't talk Nicky as much. When I talk anti-aging, I don't talk so much about ah the length of days. You know what I mean? like People want to live till they're 120. I don't know. I'm sort of a guy. I want you to be healthy as long as you can, because I don't want you to live to 100 and you've got Alzheimer's.
00:37:15
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like if you got Alzheimer's and oh, I live to 100, but you don't even know anybody's name. I don't want that, Nicky. That's not my goal. My goal is to be as healthy, right? Be as healthy as you can, as long as you can. And I mean, that's ah it's a tremendous goal, but there are things you need to understand if you don't sleep.
00:37:40
Speaker
You're in trouble, man. Your brain just will not repair itself. You're asking for, you know, big time problems. You're going to shorten your lifespan. In my opinion, your immune system doesn't work. Your repair system doesn't work. Your inflammation markers are going up and, you know,
00:38:02
Speaker
So, I mean, how do you get a good night's sleep, Nicky? What do you do? Well, dark room. Get in the sun, like the sun's shining. Just don't look at the sun, but look at the sunlight. Get sun, especially in the morning. That's the best time to store melatonin. But any sunlight is good.
00:38:26
Speaker
Cold room, keep your ah room cold. I mean, this is proven, okay? Like people don't realize that. They, oh doc, I like to be warm. Well, you know what? Put on more blankets, but you should be able to just about see your breath at night. That's when your body goes into a better sleep mode. You'll get into a deeper sleep yeah um if you're if the room is cool. So do everything you can for a cool room.
00:38:56
Speaker
ah Time, like I said, give yourself time before, after you've eaten to go to bed and try and go to bed if you can at the same time every night as much as that is possible.
Nutritional Support for Restful Sleep
00:39:09
Speaker
That's really important, the pattern. And then, you know, think of the deficiencies that I mentioned earlier at the top of the program.
00:39:20
Speaker
Have your vitamin D levels checked, because most people are very low in vitamin D. You will not get a good night's sleep if your if your vitamin D is low. So vitamin D is important, the sun, but vitamin D. So if you're not going to see the sun, get your vitamin D levels. I recommend about eight to 10,000 IUs of vitamin D3.
00:39:43
Speaker
a day, especially in the winter season, you know, starting, you know, early fall and then go right through till spring if you live in the northern hemisphere. And, you know, so get your vitamin D, B12. You know that your brain will not rest properly if you're low in B12. People are very low in B12 today, Nicky. And the reason is because they don't eat enough red meat.
00:40:08
Speaker
They're scared of steak. They, oh, I heard it. It's a acidic. I heard it's gonna give you colon cancer. I heard, I heard this, I heard that. I said, well, look, the best food in the world is steak, okay? Well, liver may be a little bit better, Nicky, but I don't like liver. I like steak. So oh look, steak has got every nutrient, vitamin A, vitamin D, all your B vitamins. All your amino acids, all your, oh, I mean, it's so bioavailable. Why do people avoid steak? I just can't get over it. You want a good night's sleep, you need B12. And B12 is only found in red meat.
00:40:56
Speaker
If you're not eating red meat, you don't get B12. I'm sorry. You know, if you're a vegetarian or a vegan, I don't mean to offend you, but if you're not getting B12, I'm sorry. you just You need to take a supplement. So you should be taking about 4,000 micrograms of B12 a day if um you're low, but you can get those levels checked. Anything under 800,
00:41:24
Speaker
um in your blood work is is deficient vitamin B12. And so people are are very deficient today in B12. Now, the other one is magnesium. Think of magnesium, Nicky, as relax, okay? You know how I used to um get my kids' attention, Nicky, when they were young? i I use this voice with great effectiveness, okay? Deep, loud,
00:41:54
Speaker
And relax, like my kids were crossing the line. Relax. but But every time I think of relax, I think of magnesium. Magnesium helps you re relax. And it's a very, very important mineral. People are very deficient in magnesium. You know why, Nicky? It ain't in the soil. If it's not in the soil, it's not in your food.
00:42:21
Speaker
So I'm a big guy on supplementing with magnesium. I like it. It's good for your heart. It's good for your brain. It's good for your blood sugar. It's really good for your blood vessels, and it's really good for sleep. And most people are deficient in it. So those are the things, Nicky, along with not melatonin as a supplement, but um lower your cortisol.
00:42:48
Speaker
That's why exercise is so good, Nicky. I mean, for a lot of reasons. Exercise is so good because it lowers cortisol. Do you know that you can't have high cortisol and exercise at the same time? So when you go to the gym or when you're walking, like move, man. If you move, especially muscle though, I'm a big guy on muscle, that it's an endocrine organ unto itself. It will help you sleep at night.
00:43:17
Speaker
It will help you sleep at night. So those are things, Nikki, that we can do to help ourselves and to really make it, you know, here we are in 2025, make it a goal. If you're not a good sleeper, if you're not getting, if you're on sleeping pills or whatever, you know, try and make it your goal to get off that stuff.
Educating for Healthy Sleep Habits
00:43:40
Speaker
And, you know, I really, really think those are important things. Yeah.
00:43:45
Speaker
So Tony, I am unlike you. I wanna offend people. I wanna offend all the right people and I wanna attract all the right people as well. So there are people that are gonna hate this message, that are gonna hate what we're all about. I'm not trying to be their panel. I'm just not.
00:44:01
Speaker
I love them, God bless them. But if they get offended, good. And the people that are attracted to this message, I want them to come and say yes. I love this message. I love what you guys are all about. But I had ah a lady on the show. She was a very nice lady, but she was vegan. And everything she had to say about why she was vegan was wrong from my point of view. And I told her that. I said, look, I don't agree with the word you said. I think you're wrong. But hey, good to have you on the show. Good to have this discussion.
00:44:28
Speaker
Yeah. And um you know, but you're dangerous for people because the advice you're giving him is not good for them. It's going to kill them. And the truth of the matter is oh what you have to say is very important. Your understanding of sleep is ah deep. It's comprehensive. It's nuanced. It's layered. And people need to listen to what you have to say. And ah your book,
00:44:55
Speaker
Sun, Steak, Steel, and Sleep is a classic. I've read it myself. It's a fantastic book. I recommend my listener to grab a copy for themselves.
00:45:06
Speaker
ah and um I also recommend that they go and listen to your podcast. The doctor is in podcast and go to your website. I need to order some more oil of oregano. I'm out of that. I'm also out of the probiotics. Uh, so it's time for an order on my part, but I think everybody should come and do business with you because you're a good man and what you have to offer is real solutions to people who have real problems when it comes to their health.
00:45:35
Speaker
and people like you who are sincere care about their fellow man and Offer real solutions should get business should have lots of people following them. So I'm glad you came on the show I'm glad you talked to us about the importance of sleep the distinction you drew between sleep and sedation is powerful and important until I heard you speak about it I didn't really understand and why it mattered to sleep rather than be sedated. Not that I sedate myself because I don't, but it's really important to understand that
00:46:08
Speaker
if your brain is not sleeping, if your body is not sleeping, your glymphatic system is not going to be able to engage in all the self-cleaning activity that
Managing Device Usage Before Bed
00:46:21
Speaker
it does. That is eye-opening from my point of view. That is like, oh my God, make sure you get lots of good quality sleep.
00:46:30
Speaker
and We didn't get into this as much as as you know we perhaps ought to have, but devices are not your friend when it comes to sleep. You should not have your devices with you when you go to bed. You should put your devices away. And honestly, there should be a window in which you allow yourself to have your devices with you and on you. You should have like a, you know, you call intermittent fasting for food. There should be intermittent fasting of devices. You know what I mean? Nicky. Absolutely. they're yeah They're great devices, but they're not your friend if you if you want to get a good night's sleep. no No, they're really not. They're really not. And it's ah it's very important that people understand this.
00:47:15
Speaker
Yeah, and 70 percent of North Americans don't sleep properly, right? They have sleep issues. That's an epidemic. It's an epidemic or easy. So we didn't have a COVID epidemic. We had a sleeplessness epidemic. That was a lie. The scam. But sleeplessness is real. Big time. God, God. Anyways, Tony,
00:47:44
Speaker
If people are interested in picking up a copy of the book, where do we send them? Well, you get to, go to martinclinic.com. and martinclinic.com and they can order the book there. And hey, we're into a second print. So we're into ah probably one of the top selling health books in Canada. And we we thank the folks and that you know ah follow us regularly on our Doctors In podcast.
00:48:16
Speaker
You know, Nicky, I just a little wee guy in Sudbury. But because of guys like you ah that have given me good ink, you know, a lot of people follow us and we're much appreciated of that. And that's how they can get the book. Right now, look we don't have it in any stores. we We strictly sell it online, but it's a big seller nonetheless.
00:48:40
Speaker
It's called sun steak steel and sleep And people like it. It's easy to read Nikki. You've read it. Yeah, I'm not a complicated guy. I'm a simple guy I want to get people I I don't aim at doctors. I aim at the layperson I want people to take control of their own bodies. I give them as much information as I can. And I want to make it practical so that they can implement changes in their life. Nikki, that's what works.
00:49:11
Speaker
100%, 100%. So Sun, Steak, Steel and Sleep available at martinclinic dot.com. And the podcast is called The Doctor Is In. It's one of my personal favorite podcasts. So people ask me all the time, what podcasts do you listen to? What books do you read? I'm an avid reader. I read over 100 books a year. i I track all my reading on goodreads dot.com.
00:49:36
Speaker
From 2015 to 2024, which is 10 separate years, I read 1,044 books in that 10 year period. making you know Yeah. And it's really important. And I also listen to podcasts. I follow the smartest people in the world. ah You yourself, you're incredibly bright. You're incredibly brilliant. I think it'd be valuable to have you get connected to Dr. Jordan Peterson for his Peterson University. He's got Max Lugavera on there, but I think it'd be good to have a Canadian ah on Peterson University, Peterson Academy, I'm sorry, it's called, not Peterson University. Well, you let them know. Academy. I don't know him personally, yeah but as soon as I get connected to him, I will. If there's anyone in your own circle who knows him and is connected to him, get them to connect you, because I think this is an important thing ah for for you to be on that particular website.
Episode Wrap-Up
00:50:28
Speaker
And um I tell everybody, listen to the Doctors In podcast.
00:50:32
Speaker
yeah It is chock full of great health information. And you publish podcasts several times a week, right? You don't just do it once in a while. Five days a week. Five days a week. Okay, so there's a lot of good information out there that'll be valuable to you from from the perspective of your health. And Tony, I'm ah am'm excited. I'd love to, I want to chat with you offline because I think it'd be very powerful to have you do some um panel podcast episodes with me. I'd like to get a couple of other people who are like-minded to you and to myself and have a bit of a panel conversation on the subject of of eating steak, of eating in a carnivore fashion. And I also think it would be extremely valuable to have you speak to um
00:51:25
Speaker
some audiences of business owners that I have the opportunity to ah to lead. So I think this would be really, really good, Tony. It could be really, really good. OK, I'm with you, bro.
00:51:38
Speaker
Yeah, beautiful. All right, so listener, Tony Martin is the real deal. Go to martinclinic.com, pick up a copy of Sun, Steak, Steel, and Sleep. Check out the supplements that they offer, the olive oregano and the probiotics in particular. I've used those myself. They're super great, highly recommend them. And um make sure you go to the Doctor Is In podcast. You'll listen to a couple of episodes. Check out what Tony has to say about various topics.
00:52:05
Speaker
If you have specific issues with nutrition, if you have specific issues with sleep, if you've got issues with type 2 diabetes, if you've got issues trying to figure out how to eat, what the best way to eat is for you, if you've got questions about, you know, ah the medicines you're taking, pharmaceuticals, etc. This podcast is chock full of excellent information that will guide you on how to make those decisions in a way that's going to optimize your health. And I can't say enough about the importance of doing that. And Tony's someone you can trust. That's why I've had him on the show several times. That's why he he's one of my men, one of my advisors that I go to when I have questions and I'm looking for advice when it comes to optimizing my own health.
00:52:55
Speaker
And you got to get like, I'm 57 years old. I didn't get to be in top shape in my late 50s by doing things the ordinary way and listening to common advice and ah you you know, common so-called wisdom. I go to the best, to the people who understand how to get top results. The fellow that I work with to get myself in shape from an exercise, ah you know, and follow a diet point of view, am or kind camera, he's the best in the business. Dr. Tony Martin is the best in the business. Make sure you take advantage of him, of all the resources that he has to offer you and get a good night's sleep tonight.
00:53:37
Speaker
Good. ah Okay, Nicky. Thanks, Tony. And that wraps up another exciting episode of the podcast, The Thought Leader Revolution. To find out more about the amazing Tony Martin, go to the show notes at the thoughtleaderrevolution.com or wherever you happen to listen to this episode, be it iTunes, Spotify, Audible, Google Play, or what have you. Make sure you go to MartinClinic dot.com and make sure you go to his podcast and his podcast once again is called The Doctor Is In, featuring Dr. Martin. Until next time, goodbye. This episode has been brought to you by E-CircleAcademy.com, the proven system to add six to seven figures a year to your thought leader practice.