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Oct. 9, 2024 - Dr. Oz Podcast
40:55
Are Sleeping Pills Solving Sleep Problems or Making Them Worse? | Dr. Oz | S7 | Ep 97 | Full Episode
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Time Text
We're dedicating an entire hour to sleep, starting with sleeping pills.
I'd actually finished an entire bottle in my sleep.
We investigate why it's America's fastest growing obsession.
I had a problem, but I had no idea how bad it would actually get.
What you need to know about sleeping pills before you take them.
Then, we show you how to fall asleep anywhere.
And, should you be sleeping in a different bed from your spouse?
coming up next.
We'll save lives today.
day We are ready to get healthy.
Today, we're taking you inside America's fastest growing pill obsession.
Since prescription sleeping pills were FDA approved, they've become the go-to secret helper for stressed out moms, working women, and anyone whose mind races at night.
Combined with over-the-counter sleep aids and natural sleep supplements, more and more women are turning to pills to get to sleep.
But how do you know if you're becoming dependent on them?
And how can you take them safely?
Today, I'm going to show you.
Plus, a Dr. Oz experiment.
We're looking into how to fall asleep anywhere.
And finally, they're calling it sleep divorce.
Sleep divorce.
More and more couples are opting for separate beds.
But is it a good idea?
You may want to DVR the show for your spouse because we have a plan that will help both of you get a good night's rest.
So, let's start with the most provocative sleep show we have ever done.
The numbers are eye-opening.
Up to 70 million Americans, almost one-quarter of the population, struggling with sleep disorders.
With many more turning to over-the-counter sleep remedies or prescription meds for relief.
And insomnia appears to be on the rise, with a third of American adults experiencing nighttime sleep difficulties each week.
Generating a gold mine for the pharmaceutical and supplement companies catering to those craving sleep.
But some sleep experts now worry that serious risks and side effects are being downplayed to turn to prescription sleep meds.
And because they metabolize the drugs more slowly than men, they're more likely to become dependent upon them.
Emergency room visits involving zolpidem, the active ingredient in many of the most prescribed sleeping pills, nearly doubled in a two-year period alone, with women accounting for two-thirds of those visits.
Women like Rocky, a young working mother.
It started because I couldn't sleep.
I guess it was stress, but the second my head hit the pillow, my thoughts would race.
At first, I tried over-the-counter remedies and supplements like melatonin, but nothing worked.
Out of desperation, I turned to my doctor and got a prescription for Ambien.
At first, it worked great.
But soon, I needed more to get and stay asleep.
So I started taking more pills.
When my doctor refused to up my dosage or refill the prescription early, I found another doctor so I could double my supply.
I once woke up to find I'd actually finished an entire bottle in my sleep.
I had no recollection of taking the pills.
My family started noticing a change in me.
I was slurring during the day.
I couldn't think clearly or get through easy tasks like washing the dishes or laundry.
My work and relationship started to suffer.
I started hiding my pills, stuffing them inside socks in my drawer, and lying to cover my addiction.
I had a problem, but I had no idea how bad it would get or how deep it would eventually drag me down.
So Rocky's pretty scared to see how quickly he can step into addiction.
Yes.
Did you ever think that would happen to you?
Not at all.
I was just a normal working mom.
I had a high-stress job, two kids, and I was getting a prescription for helping me to fall asleep from the doctor.
Is everything pretty ordinary?
Yes.
So can I go through some of these incidents that you've told us about?
You would get up in the middle of the night, drive to Starbucks, eat, and wake up the next day having no idea it happened.
Correct.
That's true?
Yes.
You had three driving accidents.
One where you drove right into a pole and had to go to the hospital.
Right.
And I had no idea I did.
Yeah.
This went on for two years.
Was there an element of denial here?
How could this happen and you not be aware of it?
Yeah, again, I thought I was just taking a normal prescription prescribed by the doctor and I needed the sleep to be able to do my tasks the next day.
And this just kept going on that if I didn't get the sleep I needed, I wouldn't be able to perform the tasks I needed to do the next day.
Well, taking the pills had its own side effects.
How did it influence, for example, your ability to be a mom?
I didn't realize it, but I wasn't engaging well with the kids.
I was just kind of in an altered mind state, and I was not able to fold the laundry, cook for the kids, or clean up after them, and I just kind of lived like that for a while.
So the rock bottom, if I understand correctly, happened when you actually ended up 40 miles from home.
What happened?
Yeah, so apparently what had happened was I woke up having no idea.
I was at my sister's apartment on her sofa and she was looking at me crying like, do you have any idea how you ended up here?
And apparently I took my prescription for Ambien and I got on the train and I had my cell phone in my hand and she had spoken to a stranger.
I was passed out on the train to tell them to get her Off of the train onto a taxi and got me onto a taxi to her apartment from New Jersey to New York.
And I had no idea that I even did that.
So I'm sorry, you're on the train and how did they know that, so she called your sister from the train?
Yeah, like I had my cell phone in my hand and my sister was able to speak to somebody that, you know, my cell phone, I had my phone on me to get me onto a taxi.
So not surprisingly, I think, after hearing all this, you lost your job.
Your husband left the marriage, tried to take the children with him.
You must have been panicked that you'd never overcome this addiction.
Yeah, it was really, you know, at that point, it was, you know, I had a choice.
If I wanted to have my kids and have a relation, I had to stop with the sleeping pills because it had affected my life so much.
And That's when I realized I have a problem and I needed to seek help.
So I consulted with my family and friends and decided to get professional help and went away to a rehab in California for 30 days.
So you went to sleeping pill rehab, basically?
Yeah.
I did.
Right.
So that's amazing.
That's two years ago?
Yeah.
And you've been free of your sleeping pills since then?
Mm-hmm.
Well, good for you.
That's a big step to take.
Thank you.
I'm startled.
That one would have to go to traditional rehab to get off sleeping pills.
Is that powerful?
How has your life changed since you finally got off the pills?
You know, it's become so much better.
I'm able to function normally.
I didn't realize how bad it was back then.
I was thinking I was functioning normal, but I really wasn't.
I'm productive in my job.
I have a great relationship with my children.
I'm, you know, just able to do things that I never realized I wasn't functioning normally back then.
So are you willing to stick around?
This is our biggest sleep show ever.
I'm going to take our viewers on a little bit of a journey, but I want to come back to you at the end.
I want you to actually share with them the real tactics you used to not have to use sleeping pills anymore.
If you can do it, they can do it.
Yes.
Up next, whether you've taken over-the-counter sleeping pill or to fall asleep or you've got a prescription, it doesn't matter to me.
I want you to find out how you can tell if your sleeping pill is out of control in your life.
Is it playing too big of a role?
Plus, some of the stranger side effects that these meds can have.
And here's an example.
Here's a gentleman who's eating, and I tell you, he's asleep.
He's actually asleep, although you can't tell because his eyes look open.
We'll be right back.
They seem like innocent little helpers, but have you become dependent on sleeping pills?
How often are you taking them?
We have all the latest information on this widespread problem.
The dangerous side effects that can be putting you at risk.
Next.
A little nervous?
I'm very nervous.
A live exam in this studio.
Let me actually see what's going inside you.
Unfiltered.
Do you get pain with it?
I do all the time.
You do.
Unscripted.
I am hearing sounds.
Uncensored.
We obviously got a lot of tests on you.
The diagnosis no one was expecting.
All new Oz.
I've got all the results.
And they're right here.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Today, the most provocative sleep show we have ever done.
We're taking you inside America's fast-growing sleeping pill obsession.
Now, they seem like innocent little helpers, and more and more people are turning to them, but are they using them correctly?
Joining me is Consumer Reports Deputy Editor Lisa Gill, whose team just completed a national research project to find all the latest data on sleeping pills.
So, from your research, how widespread a problem is this?
It's an enormous problem.
We did a national telephone survey, and we found out that one out of every three Americans told us just in the last year alone they've taken at least one kind of sleeping pill, whether it's prescription, over-the-counter, or even melatonin, to help with their insomnia.
It's pretty widespread.
So let's break it down.
You asked all these folks, and you sort of organized into three major categories, three things that sort of surprised you.
The first is how often people take the pills.
What did you find here?
This was one of the first really incredible findings that I was wowed by.
Most of these medications are not meant to be taken every day.
I thought we would see people who said, I took it once or twice, maybe three times, but nearly half told us they were taking them every single day, and that is not how they were originally intended.
Again, people get comfortable and they get scared at the same time.
Second big issue, how long did they take them?
You have years.
This is definitely not what you are supposed to do.
These medications are not approved to take even for a year at a time.
But I was astounded by how many people told us they took them year after year.
And the problem with that is that these medications were not studied, in most cases, longer than six weeks at a time.
So we have no idea what the long-term side effects or long-term effect might be of taking them over long periods of time.
Speaking about that, what did you see for side effects?
So, next day drowsiness was one of the very top concerns.
And on top of that, a lot of people told us, even admitted, that they were driving within seven hours of taking the drugs.
Now, there are a couple of prescription drugs where the FDA recommended label says don't drive within 24 hours.
They don't even want you to drive the next day.
They want you to wait a full day.
That's how common this next day drowsiness problem is.
I didn't realize that.
So if a pill says don't dry for 24 hours, I can't imagine anyone would use it.
Right.
Well, they don't always read the label because it's in the fine print.
And really, it's up to the pharmacists and the doctors and the nurses to be sure you're aware, especially how it's going to affect you after you first take it.
Let's talk about why these lessons are so important.
Very specifically, when it comes to prescription sleeping pills, you've got to look at how they're used, if it went correctly, for the side effects.
So these are potentially dangerous issues that might happen.
For example, you could...
Sleepwalk.
This is someone, again, I'm going to attest to this.
These were done by eyewitnesses.
This woman is asleep.
She had no idea that she was doing what she was doing.
And because she can sleepwalk, she could also sleep eat.
Here's a gentleman mentioned earlier.
There's food going into his mouth.
Eyes are pretty much closed.
Not pretending.
Again, this man took Ambien to get him to sleep at the end of the day.
And they ended up sleeping.
No recollection that this happened.
People gain weight.
This is actually an excuse to gain weight, but it's not the only one.
It's without the advice of anybody to go to a pharmacy and pick up stuff.
So, actually, more common than prescription pills, people told us they were taking over-the-counter, different variations, whether it's Tylenol PM or a lot of the PM drugs, which is a chemical called diphenhydramine.
And it's an antihistamine, and the side effect of that can be drowsiness, but not always.
The only problem is that not only does it appear in Tylenol PM, but it appears in dozens of other cold cough medications and other medications, so you can accidentally double up when you're not supposed to.
That's the first problem.
You're taking pain meds or something for another allergy, completely unrelated.
You've got hay fever, and that same chemical found in those overreacts with your body, leading to nausea and overdoses and headaches and dizziness, all the things that we know are complications of what otherwise would be a fairly normal, rational thing to do because you're doubling up and not even realizing it.
Right.
And you know, the other thing is a lot of people told us they were also taking these medications specifically day after day and sometimes years at a time.
Again, not what the drug was originally intended to be used for.
Melatonin is probably one of the most popular supplements in part because it helps people desperate to sleep.
It does.
But at risk to this, concerns you have?
So, actually, a tremendous number of people turn to melatonin because they consider it a natural supplement, but the studies actually show it's really only good for when you have jet lag or when you are a shift worker, if your schedule has suddenly changed.
The problem with melatonin is that it can interact with other medications, specifically the one we're looking at today is high blood pressure.
It can mess with your high blood pressure medications, so it's still an active ingredient, still considered a medication.
And one thing I learned for any of you on birth control pills, guess what?
Birth control pills actually affect the amount of melatonin in your body.
So you actually get more melatonin than you even think just from a sleeping pill plus the birth control pill put together, and that can really mess with the meds that you're taking for your blood pressure.
So again, take the lowest dose possible, one milligram if you're going to take it at all, because it does help.
Lisa, thank you very much.
So when I come back, before you applaud, I'm going to reveal the remarkable truth about sleeping pills that no one's ever told you about.
It's the one thing that may make you think twice before taking them.
Stay with us.
Next, we compare sleep tests with and without medications.
Did the pills make any difference?
Find out how to avoid falling into dependence and addiction.
It made all the difference in getting a good night's sleep.
What you need to know about C-Beam pills before you take one.
Coming up next.
Now I'm gonna show you some stories today that will change your life.
She went from 500 pounds to fabulous.
It's been totally life-changing for me.
How they did it and how you can too.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Wednesday.
I'm about to reveal the surprising truth about CB and pills that no one has ever told you.
It's the one thing that may make you think twice before taking one.
Look at this.
Most prescription sleep meds increase the effectiveness of a chemical in your brain that makes you feel sleepy, which is great in theory.
The promise is it's going to get you to sleep a little bit quicker, and it's going to help you stay a sleepy person a little bit longer.
That's the promise.
So, you're awake, you fall asleep, you sleep a long time, you wake up.
That's the Holy Grail, right?
That's what we all want.
My friends, here's the cold, hard truth.
In studies, people who took a sleeping pill compared to people who took a placebo pill with no sleep medication at all in it, only slept for 15 minutes longer.
And you report drowsiness the next day with that pill a lot of times because of side effects.
So you gotta ask yourself, is it really worth it for 15 minutes?
Now, there are situations you're going to want to take a sleeping pill.
I get that.
So, I'm going to give you my do's and my don'ts.
But I want you to always remember that 15-minute number.
That's the back-of-the-mind number you should be thinking about before you take that pill out of the bottle and put it in your mouth.
So, here's how you're going to take a sleeping pill if you need them.
First, do it for short-term problems.
Like, for example, being jet-lagged or being a shift worker.
Don't take a sleeping pill for more than two weeks.
That's what they're designed for.
Do tell your doctor about other medications you're taking because they can have side effects.
We talked about blood pressure medications.
It's a pretty common one.
And don't take an extra dose if you wake up in the middle of the night unless someone tells you to do that.
This is a real problem for the next day.
It's going to help you avoid falling into this dependence and addiction cycle we talked about earlier.
Now, we've dealt a lot with chemicals and pills.
And listen, pills are the crutch.
This is a big wake-up call, everybody.
Your sleep solution is not in a bottle.
The pill might get you through the night, but it's not gonna get you through life.
So Lisa, now we've talked a little bit about the side effects of your massive survey.
What does seem to work long-term to get people to sleep in a sustainable way?
So the studies that we've looked at, including a brand new government-funded study out just this year, shows us that sleep therapy is what works.
It is as effective, if not more effective, than prescription pain medications or even over-the-counter medications.
And it lasts longer.
And that's one of the most important things.
And sleep therapy is what?
Sleep therapy is where a therapist sits down with you and has, over the course of eight or nine different sessions, talks with you about how you approach sleep.
They may ask you to keep a sleep diary, for example.
But it's not a sleep coach.
It's not somebody who comes into your bedroom and says, well, it's too bright and your thread count on your sheets is too low.
It's not that.
It's really about how you approach sleep, and that's what's so important about it.
And the great thing is, your doctor prescribes it, and most insurance covers all of it or part of it.
Rocky, let me come back to you.
You were very kind and brave to share your story.
And as painful as it was, you learned a lot.
Share with us your biggest takeaway.
How do you actually get past this addictive mindset?
Definitely to seek help, because it's not something you can do on your own and stop on your own.
And if you confront, I think, a family or friend, they would be more than willing to help, I've realized.
Because once I confronted family and friends, I found they were more than willing to help me get through it.
And then the sleep therapy we spoke of earlier, did it work?
Yes, definitely.
Because the way I approached it made all the difference in getting a good night's sleep.
Well, good luck for you.
I'm very proud of you as well.
We'll be right back.
Do you feel guilty about having a nap or struggle taking one?
My experiment to prove that you can follow Steve anywhere.
Find out how different nap lengths can deliver amazing benefits.
Our insider secrets to napping.
Next.
A little nervous?
I'm very nervous.
A live exam in the studio.
You get pain with this.
I do all the time.
You do.
The diagnosis no one was expecting.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
You all know how much I love nappings.
And I want you to love it as much as I do.
And that's why I'm doing an experiment to prove that you can fall asleep anywhere.
And to convince all of you skeptics out there, I've asked a former bad napper to help.
What made you so curious about napping?
When we asked viewers what they wanted us to cover on the second season of our show, how to take a nap was the number one response, along with how to make toast.
Toast?
Toasting and napping.
That's what America wants to learn how to do.
And I have always loved...
Taking good naps, but I've never been able to do them whenever I want.
And I also feel that in our culture, there's a lot of shame about napping.
And sometimes people think that if you feel tired and you take a nap, you're not a productive member of society.
The sign of weakness.
Yeah, exactly.
Whereas we don't feel bad if we're hungry.
We notice our body's telling us we're hungry to go eat something.
So I didn't understand why it was that if our body's telling us we're tired, we should feel bad about refreshing ourselves with a nap.
So share with everybody this research you did.
You actually correlated the time, the amount of time you nap, with specific health benefits.
Right.
So I met with a professor, a specialist of napping, Dr. Rebecca Spencer, and she studies...
She's really a specialist of napping?
Yeah.
She is one of the world's great authorities on napping.
She's an extremely, extremely mellow person.
It was really relaxing to be with her.
But obviously the brain goes through different phases and cycles during sleep, and napping is no different.
So she said that if you just want a quick pick-me-up, A nap in the middle of the day, you should try 20 minutes.
If you want an aid in your memory, if you're trying to remember certain facts or learning how to do things, motor skills, you want something that's closer to an hour.
So you won't forget your to-do list if you get an hour, that's the promise?
Yeah, exactly.
Or if you're learning new skills, something like that.
Maybe you want to play the piano or something.
If I could ever do that.
And then 90 minutes is a complete sleep cycle.
And that means that you get to REM sleep, rapid eye movement, which is where your dreams take place.
And dreams are a byproduct of the mind incorporating old memories and new memories, right?
And that leads to some of the surreal experiences in dreams.
So she says that if you're searching for inspiration, if you want to undertake something artistic or invent something, 90 minutes is a good length for a nap.
You used to struggle with napping a lot.
I'm curious how you actually figured out these insider secrets.
You studied all kinds of Different animals, the manatees.
Why the manatees, Bob?
Okay.
First of all, I just never seen manatees and I wanted a free trip to Florida.
The official reason was because I was intrigued by people who were able to nap in public, and I wanted to be able to nap in public anywhere I wanted, you know, but I wanted to feel safe, so I wanted to know if I could literally nap with one eye open.
And there are certain animals, birds and certain marine mammals, that do unihemispheric sleep, which means that one half of their brain is asleep, the other half is awake.
That's how birds are able to keep flying over super long distances or not fall out of tree branches.
So I thought, I wonder if manatees do that, because a lot of marine mammals have to be half awake so that they remember to rise to the surface to breathe.
So it turns out that humans cannot sleep unihemispherically.
So my recommendation is, if you're napping in public, get an eye mask and draw two huge eyes on it, because that is so scary looking and intimidating.
Everyone will just stay away from you.
They will pick your pocket.
All right.
Take a look at what David says.
Are there steps to taking a successful nap?
Very well done, David.
Thank you.
So we decided to put David's steps to the test in a nap experiment.
Dr. Oz exclusive.
Let's see how it went.
Honestly, I don't remember the last time I took a nap.
I haven't been able to successfully take a nap since like kindergarten.
I just have a ton of things on my mind all the time and I have this guy who I love dearly but sometimes he wakes up in the middle of mommy's nap and so that's the end of that.
It's two o'clock in the afternoon and that's halfway between the time that I wake up and I go to sleep.
This is supposed to be the The perfect window for napping.
Except, I'm not sleepy one bit.
Are you sleepy?
Grandma said the best way to do it is with your legs elevated and your back on the floor.
So I just put on my comfy robe, I turned off the TV, turned off my computer, and soon I'm gonna turn this phone off.
Gonna get in my comfy bed and here we go again.
Let's see if I can take a nap.
Our nap experimenters are here in person.
So, honestly, you have little placards there.
Who was able to nap?
Show me your answers.
You all got naps?
Yes.
Yes.
It worked.
It worked.
Who would have thought?
How long did it take you to fall asleep?
Well, let's just say I never take a nap because I'm a busy mom and I feel bad if I take a nap.
So, you know, it took me about five or ten minutes to fall asleep.
I was in a nice calm environment, turned off electronics.
Five, ten minutes, I was out like a light.
When I woke up, I felt great and I was nice and refreshed.
It was awesome.
That was awesome.
How did it work for you, Thea?
You know, the 90-minute nap felt like a vacation.
I felt like I was pampered.
I think I'm a better person because of that nap.
You are a better person.
I can tell.
Listen to him.
You can tell.
And Talia, you actually used to struggle with napping, like my collaborator over here, David.
Yes.
How did it work for you?
How did you finally manage to fall asleep?
Well, I did the 20-minute power nap, and I took my grandma's advice, elevated my legs, laid on the floor with my back on the floor, and it was amazing.
I'm a busy mom like this woman.
I run a private practice in mental health.
I am just so going, going, going, going in my brain.
Shutting off my brain has been the hardest thing, but the 20-minute power nap was amazing.
Amazing.
I felt great.
It knocks out the bewitching period later in the afternoon when you have to eat to get through the problems.
Thank you for trying the experiment.
Thank you.
Wonderful advice.
Thank you.
We'll be right back, everybody.
Be right back.
Next, should you be sleeping in a different bed than your spouse?
Are two master bedrooms better than one?
It's the rising trend of couples sleeping in separate spaces.
See what our steep specialist has to say when she uncovers some of the biggest reasons behind this.
Coming up next.
Whoever said a doctor's visit isn't fun has obviously never been to the Dr. Oz show.
Is that right?
Make your appointment today.
Go to DrOz.com slash tickets and sign up for free tickets.
Woo!
Now I'm gonna show you some stories today that will change your life.
She went from 500 pounds to fabulous.
It's been totally life-changing for me.
How they did it and how you can too.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Wednesday.
It just shows you how you can fall asleep anywhere, but more and more couples are choosing to fall asleep anywhere their spouse isn't.
It is called sleep divorce.
Couples choosing to sleep in separate bedrooms, and it's a growing trend.
In fact, we checked, and the U.S. National Association of Home Builders are now seeing more requests for houses with two master bedrooms than for houses with just one.
Think about that.
It reflects a steeply rising trend of couples sleeping in separate bedrooms.
So today we are asking the question, should you be sleeping in a different bed than your spouse?
I've got sleep specialist Dr. Carol Ash here to answer the question about whether in fact there's a trend like you saw on that TV show.
Dr. Oz, it is really common.
30 to 40% of couples, and I see it all the time, say they're not sleeping together.
They're sleeping in separate bedrooms.
It is a thing.
And you know, it's amazing.
You know, sometimes it's hard to tell why.
It could be our own sleep issues, or it could be sleep issues with your partner.
The list is long.
You have patients that will tell me they're having difficulty tossing and turning, temperature, you know, should I cuddle or not, the alarms going off, snoring, teeth grinding, and on and on.
So it's a problem.
So I've heard some myths, I don't know if they're true or not, about couples wanting to sleep in separate beds.
They say, for example, that it helps them actually be a little healthier because they sleep more.
They say they're actually happier because they don't have to deal with their spouse's issues, as you pointed out.
This is what caught me off guard.
Better sex lives.
I would think it's the opposite, right?
You're in a different bedroom.
How do you have sex?
But they actually say that makes it more exciting when they are together.
That maybe absence helps the heart grow fonder.
And there are theories, I don't know if they're true, but that's maybe one of the reasons that more and more couples are sleeping separately in a different bed than their spouse.
So I wanted to actually ask a couple to join us to talk about this a little bit.
Like many of you at home, Levon is with us.
She's dealing with disruptive sleep patterns, and she's considering sleeping in a different bed, maybe even room, than her husband, Julian.
Thank you for being here.
So, Levon, how bad is it?
Oh, Dr. Oz, it's terrible.
It's like an episode of the Flintstones at my house when my husband falls asleep.
That's how terrible it is.
He's just hitting you and striking at you.
He does.
And it's very frustrating because I want to wake up the next morning feeling refreshed.
I am a med student and I'm also a mom.
I have so much going on and I need to be refreshed when I get up in the morning.
And it's just so frustrating not to have a good night's rest.
Julian, you're resistant.
You don't want to be in separate beds.
Why is that?
Because doctors, if you look how beautiful my wife look, even though she don't come to bed looking this beautiful, but I want to sleep next to my wife.
All right, so we did a little homework here.
We actually started to evaluate you guys.
Just to be firm, were you aware of how much of a problem there was between the two of you?
Julian, you're unaware of how challenged the mom was asleep?
As I tell my wife, when I fall asleep, I have no clue on what's going on with her, so...
Well, let me clue you in.
We actually put up cameras.
They weren't hidden cameras, thankfully.
They were cameras you knew about.
Here's a picture of the two of them getting in the bed together, right?
This little video.
There they are, very lovey-dovey, all right?
And we actually put a sleep tracker device in the rooms as well.
And the first night, they stepped together, and we tracked them both.
And they were kicking around a lot.
If you pay attention to that video, there's a lot of striking.
Flintstones is not a bad thought here.
Legs are always racing forward.
And the second night, we put you in separate rooms.
Right.
And we noticed something interesting.
When you're in separate rooms, LaVon, you're still moving around a lot.
Julia's not next to you, but you're still moving around.
But I wanted to actually put some numbers behind this.
So we had one of these devices that looks at how you're moving around and assesses the quality of your sleep.
So Dr. Ash, you have the results, right?
So let's start off with LaVon's result, her sleep test result, when she stepped together with her husband, Julian.
And it was...
Well, LeVon, you didn't do that bad, actually.
It was 78 was the score, and you did get some deep sleep, and you got some REM sleep.
That's really important.
So out of 100, that's like a C+. C+. I mean, you're not going to get through medical school with that, but, you know, you might get into medical school.
Room for improvement, but not so bad.
So the big question is, to answer Julian's biggest fear and his biggest dream, does it make a difference if you guys aren't together?
And so what was the result when LeVon slept separately from Julian the second night?
Well, LaVon, surprisingly, you got a score of 79. So just one point.
Yes.
Wow.
That's it?
That's amazing.
Did that surprise you?
I sure did.
I thought it would be a total discrepancy.
I thought it would be totally different.
Well, it looks like it didn't make that much of a difference.
Wow.
What do you think, Julian?
You happy?
Yes, I'm very happy.
Did I make your day?
Now we've sort of addressed a little bit.
The big question out there is, should you be sleeping in a different bed than your spouse?
We've been asking that.
I think based on these results, and I think my personal experience, because I have to go through this as well, I don't think most people should have to.
I'll weigh in on this.
I've looked at all the research and as a doctor and a husband and all those other factors.
I think it's worth your best shot to sleep in the same bed as your spouse.
That's why, up next, we're going to give you the couple's plan to a better night's sleep in the same bed.
Julian and all the men out there will be celebrating.
We'll be right back with that cool Next do you and your spouse stay in separate bedrooms?
Doctors call it sleep divorce, and it's on the rise.
But how do you improve the quality of your rest without kicking your partner out of bed?
We share some solutions to marry your sleep habits once and for all.
A little nervous?
I'm very nervous.
A live exam in the studio.
Can you actually see what's running inside you?
Unfiltered.
Do you get pain with it?
I do all the time.
You do.
Unscripted.
I am hearing sounds.
Uncensored.
We obviously got a lot of tests on you.
The diagnosis no one was expecting.
All new Oz.
I've got all the results.
And they're right here.
That's coming up tomorrow.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Doctors are calling this sleep divorce, and it's on the rise.
But what if you want to improve your own sleep without kicking your spouse out of the bed?
Sleep specialist Dr. Carol Ash is here with the couple's plan to a better night's sleep in the same bed.
So what are the three things that couples complain about the most?
Dr. Oz, we have body heat, body movement and disruption, and the big one, snoring.
So Levan, look at this here.
Let's talk about Julian a little bit.
Which of these would be your biggest complaint?
I would say the body heat.
Oh my goodness.
It's like being in a furnace.
His temperature just gets so hot.
It just gets so hot in the bed that sometimes I just have to get up.
That's Julian like a piece of coal, isn't he?
All right, come on over.
Let's go through all these issues.
We'll get to the heat one as well.
First off, let's address this issue of how couples sleep together.
Come next to Dr. Ash.
Come next to me.
Every one of these, fine.
All right, so this is how I sleep in my bed.
And Lisa always puts her head on my chest.
And then, you know, I start lying on my back, which is how I've always slept.
How are you and Julian?
Do you ever sleep this way?
It varies.
You guys move it around all the time.
I saw the video.
So Dr. Ash, what do you think about this as a sleep position?
How does this work with couples?
Well, you know, Dr. Oz, sleep positions can really affect your marriage.
You know, what are we talking about?
You know, intimacy, touch.
Those things are all important for your emotions and your physiology.
So this is a good position.
You know, it's nice to cuddle and get close.
But the number one position actually is spooning.
And the reason for spooning is you really can kind of get that nice closeness into every little nook.
And in addition to that, you don't have to smell bad breath.
It's really a good start.
But obviously, you know, if you're going to be close like that, it's going to start to really heat up.
So then you're going to need something to help you really manage that.
And obviously, that's a problem that you're dealing with as many other people are.
So the next thing that you need to do is create a pillow wall.
Oh, wow.
Yep.
Create a pillow wall.
Think about that.
A pillow wall.
Would that be cool?
Keep that furnace away from you?
Yes, definitely.
I've got Julian over here.
He's still mad about that comment.
So, Carol, show us here.
Devon, you can lie down there.
I'm going to demonstrate how to do this.
So if you think about the way you like to cuddle together, you could use your own bed pillows or a pillow like this and just get nice and close.
But this pillow allows you to stay close but maintain the temperature and create your own space.
So it's really a nice solution to let you kind of cuddle but keep the heat down.
Now, we don't have one of these long, cool blue pillows.
We just use our regular old pillows.
And we make a little wall down there.
That way she wants to lie on my chest.
She just pretends the pillow's the chest.
It's softer.
And to get all the hair in her mouth.
All that bad stuff.
But this is something families can do.
There are all kinds of very different versions of this.
But I think this is a tool that can save a lot of marriages.
What do you think, Julian?
I'm up for it.
I just wish it would get a little closer to me.
Can we dim the lights, please, for Julian?
I want to get LeVon in the mood.
Come on over here.
Let's talk a little bit about how couples, you move around and the disruption happens a lot when we have to go to sleep at different hours.
So you actually argue we can't afford to go to sleep at different hours.
We have to have a common bedtime.
We really do, Dr. Oz.
You know, this is something that most people will say, this doesn't sound easy.
But if you can get it right, it's really, really beneficial.
You know, people will be familiar with these scenarios.
You know, he wants to be up all night long watching TV. You're an early riser.
Maybe you want to read a book into the late hours, and he wants lights out at 10 a.m.
So you have all these...
10 p.m.
I hope.
10 p.m.
I'm out.
But all these disruptions in your schedule, it makes a difference.
And so what you want to do is, are you going to stand there and just tolerate it and say, I'm moving to a separate bedroom?
Are you going to find a middle ground?
And you can.
You can find a middle ground.
So what you want to do is have him use a DVR and tape that TV show and try and watch it together and set a better bedtime.
You know, read your book a little earlier so you guys can get together.
So same bedtime I get.
Same bedtime.
What about the issue of getting up at different hours?
I have to get up earlier to be here at the studio than Lisa needs to get up in order to get Oliver off to school.
You know, most people think I've got to use the iPhone alarm and things like that that are going to be very disrupted.
But there's devices out there now that can actually get you up without disrupting your bed partner.
And that's one of these little alarms that there's ones that you can put under the pillow, this one you put on your wrist, and it actually vibrates and will get you out of bed without disrupting your bed partner's schedule.
So, they work.
Here, Julian, catch us over there.
You still awake?
Catch that.
You got it.
Nice catch.
Hope it comes in handy, my friend.
All right, up next, Dr. Ash is going to give us the best way to quiet a snoring spouse.
Very important tip.
Stay with us.
Now I'm going to show you some stories today that will change your lives.
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I had absolutely no idea that I was that large.
It's been totally life-changing for me.
Whether you want to lose 10 pounds or 100, this is the show for you.
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How they did it and how you can too.
Plus, the skinny on fat tricks.
Can they help you lose weight by drinking them?
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Wednesday.
Does that sound familiar?
Have you all been there?
If it does, we're dealing with one of the most common couple complaints about sleeping in the same bed, which is snoring.
See, Dr. Carol Ash is back with the best way to quiet a snoring spouse.
It is called the wet and wild method.
Now, we just said this is the most provocative sleep show ever done, and we're going to come through on this.
So explain what this wild and wet method is.
Okay, so first we have wet.
Now one of the common reasons someone will snore is because they have nasal congestion or allergies or their nasal passages could be dry and humidifying the room can really go a long way to decreasing all that nasal congestion, believe it or not, and helping with the snoring and reducing it.
So that's the wet.
And the wild.
Are you ready for this?
Drum roll please.
There's the wild.
What is that?
Okay, so here's what I want you to do.
I want you to tell your partner you have something wild planned for them tonight in the bedroom.
Then you show them this.
Do you throw the ball at them?
No, you're not.
You've got a ball and you've got a t-shirt.
And what this does is it's really kind of a special technique.
Very special.
What you want to do is you want to sew this ball to the back.
There's going to be a pocket.
There it is.
You put this.
So most will have, if it doesn't have a pocket, sew one on.
If you have one, put it in it.
And then what I want you to do...
So you're moving the pocket from the front to the back.
To the back.
That's the wild part.
And then...
Whoa!
Yeah.
Put a ball in there.
You got this all going.
Now you're going to put it on backwards.
So the ball is on the back.
So you're going to now wear that to bed.
And what that does is it stops you from sleeping on your back.
Because one of the positions that's most problematic that contributes to snoring is back sleeping.
So you want to get on the side.
So that's the wet and that's the wild.
Who's got a snoring family member?
Catch!
Catch!
You got it.
I want you to share this tip with all your friends who have a storing spouse.
They will thank you.
The Wild and Wet Meth, thank you very much.
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