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Slides from Rancho La Puerta Lectures

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Happy new year! I had the pleasure of ending 2020 at Rancho La Puerta, my favorite health retreat destination.

Going to “the ranch” is one of the ways I practice my own self-care. Taking a full week to devote to hiking, mediation, vegetarian food (cooked by someone else!) and general connection with nature is the best medicine for me! It was lovely, safe, and quite intimate this year, with only about a quarter the normal guests due to Covid precautions.

 

As the featured guest speaker for the week, I had opportunity to share what I love about natural health and medicine in a few lectures. Here are the slides from those presentations. Enjoy, and be in touch!

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Winter Rejuvenation Retreat 2021

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Keep your January resolutions on track with a positive and uplifting webinar with lecture and discussion with Dr. Oberg, followed by a movement & breath session with Jen Snyder. This year, in lieu of an in-person event, we invite you to join us FREE. When:

  • Sunday 1/24 2-3:30pm

What we’ll be focusing on:

  • Toasting a healthy you in 2021 (you’ll get mocktail recipes and ingredients list when you register)

  • Cleansing, re-setting, and recommitting to yourself

  • Tips & tricks for metabolism & weight loss

  • Paths to “getting well” and “getting younger”

  • Why breath & movement are so powerful

  • Experiential mediative movement session (45 min)

What you’ll need:

  • Your laptop to access zoom

  • Yoga mat or blanket

  • Optional: pre-ordered gentle cleanse

  • Optional: pre-made mocktail to enjoy while you listen

What you’ll get:

  • Handouts

  • Recipes

  • Opportunity to ask Dr O and Jen questions

  • Experiential meditative movement class

  • Inspiration and connection!

Register here Order your cleanse kit here

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Slides from Rancho La Puerta

By Events & InterviewsNo Comments

I have had the honor of being a guest speaker at Rancho La Puerta about once a year since 2013. It’s one of my favorite weeks because I get to share my passion for wellness and regenerative medicine while re-charging my own wellness! This year was all the more special for having my mother (a stellar model of wellness!) with me as well.

 

I know my presentations are dense and filled with statistics, science, and citations that can be hard to retain. So that’s why I share copies of my slides with you after we return home. I hope they jog your memory and remind you of key points and concepts. And if they don’t, well, maybe you should reach out to consult with me about your memory and brain health! Joking aside, I hope you find this information valuable. Feel free to share it with your friends and family – everyone needs to know that there is hope and that we don’t need to resign ourselves to declining well-being just because we are getting older!

 

Here are links to download my presentations. Also, remember to join me on Weds 4/13 at 10am PST for a webinar about my 28 day Brain Health program. It is a lovely way to jumpstart some new lifelong healthy habits that will help your keep, or regain, your cognitive clarity. It’s free, but you must register. You can register here. I’m also available for one-on-one consultations. Call my office at 858-215-4935 for more details.

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Interview with PinnacleCare

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blog62I recently met with good friend and colleague, Michael Scott, ND, MSA at PinnacleCare to discuss integrative and natural medicine and how it can prevent, reverse and stave off chronic disease as well as help with neuro-regeneration and anti-aging. He wanted to interview me to hear how I break down my approaches to longevity, anti-aging, and regenerative medicine. PinnacleCare is a private healthcare firm that delivers VIP healthcare services to clients from all over, meeting their members’ highest expectations for health and wellness with leading health experts, world-renowned specialists, and evidence-based treatment options. They frequently send global clients interested in integrative or regenerative medicine to me. To read more about my approaches to anti-aging, click here.

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CIRCADIAN RHYTHM

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Last blog, we discussed sleep apnea, which can have dramatic affects on sleep quality. In this post, I discuss circadian rhythm. Diagnostically, the field of sleep medicine has made huge advances. Less than a decade ago, if you wanted to understand your sleep patterns, it required an overnight stay at the hospital for polysomnography. Now, you can monitor your sleep with a high degree of detail through rings, watches, bedside devices, and more. These devices tells us the proportion of time a person spends in light, deep, or REM sleep. REM is important for memory consolidation and processing. Deep sleep is when  growth hormone is released and repair happens.

Circadian rhythms are set in response to cues from our natural environment. Until very, very recently, our ancestors rose with the dawn and fell asleep soon after dark. There simply weren’t other options! The affect of artificial blue light from devices and screens has been well researched. Melatonin is produced in the pineal gland and is regulated by light-dark cycles perceived by photoreceptors in the retina. Melatonin makes us feel sleepy and keeps us in deep sleep. It is also a powerful antioxidant that plays a role in clearing toxic metabolites out of the brain through the glymphatic system.

Taking melatonin can be part of resetting circadian rhythm, but it isn’t the only strategy. We like sustained release melatonin supplements in fairly small doses – 1-3mg. Research studies have show that achieving deep sleep with melatonin in not dose dependent (at least not in a systematic way). Studies have also shown that regular melatonin use does not block natural production[i]. Ideally, melatonin in taken 2 hours before your desired sleep time, in combination with the practices below.

Resetting internal circadian rhythms starts with increasing (or mimicking) exposure to natural light cues. Melatonin is maximally released in the dark. Studies have show that light exposure between 12am-4am (the normal hours of melatonin production) will inhibit production for the rest of that sleep cycle. (Tip: put your devices in another room so those errant middle of the night disturbances from insomniac friends don’t ruin your sleep!)

Of course, following the circadian rhythm, darkness at night is followed by bright light exposure in the morning. Exposure to bright (10,000 lux) light in the morning triggers a phase shift in melatonin production, meaning it will begin to release earlier that evening. If you have a bad night’s sleep, one of the best things you can do is to take a morning walk in the bright sunlight for 30 minutes. If that doesn’t work in your schedule, consider a full-spectrum light box that emits at least 10,000 lux. I recall when I lived in Seattle and struggled against seasonal affective disorder myself. I had an elaborate system of self-care that included a full-spectrum light on a “Dawn simulator” timer that could be programmed to gradually brighten over 30 minutes for a gentle, full light awakening. It made a huge difference (at least until I walked into the pitch-dark hallway and remembered reality!) We sometimes forget to talk about light boxes as part of sleep disorders here in sunny San Diego but for many people who work indoors, insufficient exposure to high lux full-spectrum light is an easy problem to fix.

[i] Anderson-Ross, K. Sleep, the emerging science and its clinical applications. NDNR Mar 2018

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GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT OF TIME – STOP SAYING YES!

By Natural Health TipsNo Comments

DECEMBER 15, 2018

 

This may seem like the most appropriate and equally worst time to hear this from me. But we have a holiday bustle that seems to begin early September and escalate in pace as the year comes to a close. The word “YES” becomes an auto-pilot response as activities increase and we begin accepting invitations, coordinating more events and taking on additional commitments.

Here are a couple of consumable tips you’ve heard before, in numerous different ways, and have even put a reminder on your calendar to remember to put these in to practice, right?! But these important pearls bear repeating and maintaining at the top of our minds, all year round.

 

Be mindful and in the moment.  Rushing through the season isn’t fun or healthy! Be mindful of over-scheduling. Prioritize what really matters and make time to enjoy holiday traditions or create new ones. And remember that you may define a priority differently than others – no apologies necessary!

STOP doing something you don’t like.  Over-scheduled, over-obligated, over-committed– our plates are simply too full. If you are struggling with finding time for self-care (and it takes a lot of time!), start with figuring out what you can let go of.  Learn to say no without explanation or apology.  Practice a simple phrase such as “I wish I could, but I can’t. I’ll let you know if something changes.”  Responding like this prevents repeat requests and avoids getting snarled in white lies. And it may just get you out of that holiday party you were guilting yourself in to!

When you take care of yourself and set healthy limits, you will be better able to enjoy quality spare moments even if the quantity isn’t there. You’ll also be better able to give to those who are your priority, more fully, than when you are depleted. And for those of you with little eyes watching, you have an opportunity to model behaviors that can be passed on for generations. 

Be kind to yourself, give yourself some grace….and decide,with intention, what it is you will release

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SLEEP HYGIENE

By Natural Health TipsNo Comments

MAY 16, 2019

Sleep is a surprising complex process, regulated by our thoughts, hormones (such as melatonin), and environment (such as light exposure). There are many reasons behind poor sleep: bedtime habits, medical conditions, emotional states, age, shift-work, and neurotransmitter imbalances, to name just a few!

Sleep difficulties can occur at different phases of the sleep cycle. Some people have difficulty falling asleep or simply don’t get enough hours of rest. Others have difficulty remaining asleep or sleep very lightly. If you don’t spend adequate time during the night in deep sleep, you don’t wake refreshed. Some common sleep-disrupters and ways to change them Caffeine. Avoid caffeine after 2pm. If you are a slow metabolizer, eliminate it entirely. Nicotine. If you smoke, let us help you quit. Nicotine stimulates the brain in ways that make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. Non-smokers have fewer sleep problems than smokers. Alcohol. Although alcohol in the evening may seem like it helps you fall asleep, it actually disrupts your sleep. Alcohol can cause waking, nightmares, and poor quality sleep. Exercise. This is a proven way to increase high quality deep sleep in the elderly. Exercise during the day promotes good sleep; exercising close to bedtime may be too stimulating. Electronic devices & screens: the blue light from our computers, tablets and phones has been proven to disrupt melatonin release. Prevent this by using your device’s night settings, or download f.lux to modify your screen color: https://justgetflux.com/ Environment. The bedroom should be quiet, dark, and soothing. Improve your sleep environment with heavy curtains, cool temperatures, dim lights, and quiet. If the room is too noisy, consider a background white noise generator which plays monotonous soothing sounds such as ocean waves or classical music.

The good news is that there are many things to help get your sleep schedule back on track!

Regular sleep schedules. Try to go to bed at the same time and get out of bed at the same time every day. If you take naps, it to 1 hour in the early afternoon. If possible, avoid shift work. Bedtime Rituals. Doing hectic computer work or watching an exciting movie right before bed makes the transition to sleep more difficult. Adopt a regular pattern of slowing down to help you get ready for bed. Sip chamomile tea and read a quiet book for a few minutes. Take a tepid bath (not too hot or cold). Do some deep breathing exercises or relaxation exercises. THEN get into bed when you are feeling calm and drowsy. Yoga and Yoga Nidra. Do a few restorative poses; forward bends and legs-up-the-wall are especially calming. Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation that leads you through progressive muscle relaxation into the deepest state of meditation while maintaining conscious. You can find many recordings on U-tube & Apps. Take something {temporarily}. Sustained release melatonin replaces deficiencies in the body’s own sleep hormone. It is non-addictive but dosing is very individualized. Kava is a heavy-hitting botanical that relaxes the body and mind. CBD works for many. Magnesium citrate, especially forms buffered with bicarbonate, improves sleep, muscle tension, and bowel movement. Progesterone is calming; if used, it should be taken before bed.