A young adult male wearing a light blue, relaxed t-shirt with round neckline and short sleeves is seated indoors near dining furniture including chairs and a vase of flowers on a table, with artificial lighting indicating evening or nighttime.

7:23

Doctor Mike 1.9M views Save

How a doctor winds down for bed, big dog and all

Name: How a doctor winds down for bed, big dog and all
Uploaded: 2020-05-03T14:04:15Z
Duration: 7 min 23 s
Description: Bedtime at Doctor Mike's place starts hours before he gets into bed. Near the end comes a yellow pad he calls the real secret of everything.

Bedtime at Doctor Mike's place starts hours before he gets into bed. Near the end comes a yellow pad he calls the real secret of everything. more

He has three goals for the night. He wants the best sleep he can get, less anxiety, and to wake up ready to face tomorrow. So the bedroom gets set up two or three hours early, because tossing in bed only feeds the worry. "Anxiety is the enemy of good sleep," he says.

Doctor Mike, in glasses, sits and gestures as he talks, with art, a plant, a lamp and a statue around him. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — Doctor Mike explains why he sets up his bedroom hours before bed.

He sets the room to 65 degrees, since the body cools itself during sleep and a warm room means sweaty sheets. A humidifier goes on next, because the air conditioner dries the air, and dry air brings a stuffy nose, a scratchy throat and chapped lips. Then the blackout shades come down, since even a small light can make it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep.

In the bathroom, the beard gets a trim. He used to shave it all off, until it made him look too young to be a doctor and patients kept calling him Doogie Howser. Then he brushes, because he says your mouth is tied to the health of your whole body. His own teeth are sensitive, thanks to braces twice and one whitening too many.

Doctor Mike, in glasses and a light shirt, talks into a small microphone clipped to his collar. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — He trims instead of shaving, after patients kept calling him Doogie Howser.

Then it's time to feed the newf. Bear, his huge Newfoundland, gets a walk in the dark, and Doctor Mike calls it his favorite part of the night because it helps him wind down. "It's a ghost town," he says, with nobody out but the dog. And at last, the bear poops.

Back upstairs, he keeps the lights low so his melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy in the dark, can climb. He sips his "sleepy time tea," which is chamomile. He loves green tea, but it has caffeine, and caffeine can break up the stages of sleep even if you do fall asleep.

Next comes the yellow pad. The secret, he admits, has nothing to do with the pad itself. It is just where he writes the next day's to-do list, so he is not lying in bed going over chores. "Get it down on paper, get it out of your mind," he says.

Doctor Mike, in glasses, holds a yellow notepad over his shoulder and looks ahead. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — The "real secret" turns out to be a place to write things down before bed.

On the same pad go three good things from the day, each with a short reason why. His first is that Bear listened to him, thanks to lots of training. Small things count, like someone holding a door at the supermarket or a yummy meal. He says the habit is meant to ease anxiety and depression symptoms for up to six months.

Our minds carry a baseline of worry, he explains, because that's how our ancestors survived. "We're living in homes where there are no natural predators," he says, a line plenty of viewers found funny coming from a man who lives with a dog named Bear.

His last advice is about what not to do in bed. No social media on the phone, no heavy talks with a partner, and no news, which can wait for morning coffee. Then he says good night to the newf again and again, "I love you, good night," and calls him "ol' puppy," though the puppy is about the size of a bear.