In this episode, Hallie Bulkin dives into a topic we all need to hear as we navigate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the rest of the holiday season: how our festive food and drink habits directly impact our sleep and breathing.
It’s about more than just your waistline, what you eat and drink this time of year directly affects your airway health and daily function. Hallie connects the dots between common holiday culprits like sugar and alcohol, and poor sleep quality, snoring, and overall well-being. She emphasizes the importance of moderation, modeling good habits for your kids, and creating simple strategies to thrive through the season.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
✔️Why sugar contributes to inflammation throughout the body, which can cause swelling and restrict an already tight airway.
✔️How consuming too much sugar can lead to sleep-disordered breathing, disrupted sleep, and snoring.
✔️The signs of sugar impact in children (hyperness followed by a hard crash, restless sleep) and adults (frequent nighttime waking, morning exhaustion, or a “low-level cloud” feeling).
✔️Why alcohol acts as a muscle relaxer, which can cause airway muscles to be more easily collapsible, leading to more snoring and potentially more apnic events.
✔️The benefit of balancing carbohydrates (sugar) with protein, fiber, and fat to help your body process food with greater ease.
✔️Simple strategies for both adults and families to focus on airway health during the holidays.
RELATED EPISODES YOU MIGHT LOVE
- Ep 332: The Interconnectedness of Oral and Systemic Health with Amber White RDH, HHP
- Ep 333: Transforming airway health & smiles with MARPE featuring Dr. Svitlana Koval, DMD, MSc, BDS
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