“Most human frustration and suffering isn't the result of one's circumstances, but rather of one's response to those circumstances.”
- Bill Harris
Issue #499 – Monday, October 27, 2025
If you’ve ever dragged yourself through the day after a sleepless night of tossing and turning…
…then you already know how quickly fatigue can steal your patience, your focus and your energy.
But what you might not realize is that poor sleep doesn’t just make you feel older.
It can actually make your brain age faster too.
That’s why this week I’m sharing an eye-opening essay with you from Mind Power Managing Editor Ryan Standifird about his struggles with sleep and how he turned it all around.
Ryan dives into fascinating new research showing how your “Brain Age” is affected by the quality of your sleep, and gives some tips on how you can improve your sleep quality and your brain health.
If poor sleep is something that you’ve been grappling with lately, then this is one you won’t want to miss.
Cheers,
MaryEllen Tribby
Centerpointe CEO
P.S.
It’s never been easier to fix your broken sleep cycle, balance your circadian rhythm, harness the power of power naps, and so much more thanks to…
…the Holosync Sleep Suite II: the Complete Sleep Solution!
Scroll down to our Check it Out Section below to learn more.
Can You Avoid This Brain Health Nightmare?
How Poor Sleep Accelerates Brain Aging
By Ryan Standifird
When was the last time you changed your sleep schedule around?
I’ll admit, making a change like that can be tough.
You see, a few weeks back, I started getting up a couple hours earlier than I usually do so that I could have more time during the day to take care of the house and look after my young kids.
But while it was easy enough to set my alarm and make sure that I got out of bed at the right time…
…I struggled going to bed earlier to make up for it.
And as a result, I ended up losing around 5-10 hours of sleep each week while I transitioned to this new routine.
It wasn’t long before my wife noticed that my patience was thinner than it usually was. She caught me zoning out on my phone when I could have been building blocks with the kids or reading them a book.
I also noticed I was reaching for sweets and snacks more often than I usually do - which explains why I gained about 10 lbs recently.
Some minor health problems even popped up during this time - back aches, a lingering stye, digestion problems.
Was my lack of sleep really to blame for all of these problems?
Well according to scientists, it’s probably a major factor.
What the Statistics Tell Us About Our Sleep
My story is not all that rare.
In fact, according to a 2024 study from Flinders University that looked at sleep habits of almost 68,000 people from all around the world…
Only 15% of people get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep at least 5 nights each week!
That’s way lower than I was expecting!
And it’s troubling when you take into account the health risks associated with poor sleep.
For years research has shown that a lack of quality sleep leads to:
Higher risk of heart problems like stroke, hyper-tension and arrhythmias
Impaired glucose tolerance and greater chance of developing diabetes
Decrease in the efficacy of the immune system
Elevated cortisol and stress levels
Delayed reaction times
Memory problems
Low energy
And much more!
Why does bad sleep lead to health problems?
Because as you go through your sleep cycle, it triggers important processes in your brain and body.
You clear out harmful toxins, balance neurochemicals, initiate cellular healing, move memories of the day into long-term storage, and more.
So if you’re not getting enough sleep, these processes get disrupted and your energy doesn’t come back, your memory gets fuzzy, and it’s hard to think straight.
But what happens when your brain doesn’t get enough sleep on a consistent basis?
Sleep and Your “Brain Age”
Do you know what your “Brain Age” is?
It’s how old or young your brain looks in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.
You see, as you age, your brain starts to look different. It starts to shrink in size beginning in your 30s at an average rate of about 0.5% a year - or 5% every 10 years.
But it doesn’t shrink at the same rate for everyone.
That means you might be 50 years old, but your “Brain Age” might actually be closer to 55 or even 45.
Now consider that your brain age is one of the major factors that doctors and scientists look at when it comes to cognitive diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia.
So it’s no surprise that researchers from Karolinska Institutet are looking into what role your sleep plays in your brain age.
Their study looked at MRI scans of 27,500 participants’ brains and compared them to their sleep habits to see if there was any sort of trend.
Here’s what they found:
Those with poor sleep habits had brains that looked older than their chronological age!
How much older?
Based on the study findings, the scientists created a “Sleep Scale” from the participants’ sleep quality, duration, habits, and possible problems.
This is a 5-point scale divided as Healthy (4-5), Intermediate (2-3), or Poor (1 or less).
And according to the study results…
On average, participants’ brain ages were 6 months older than their chronological ages for each point lost on the scale!
That means poor sleep is literally speeding up your brain’s aging, and is likely contributing to issues like dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Turning Your Sleep Around
So if you’re struggling with your own sleep habits, what can you do?
Here are three things that I did to turn my own sleep around.
Take stock of your sleep habits.
You can’t change what you aren’t aware of. If you’ve noticed the negative effects of poor sleep but haven’t yet traced these issues to your sleep habits, hopefully this is your “wake-up call.”
Are you getting at least 7 hours? Are you sleeping through the night? How do you feel when you wake up? Do you supplement with naps during the day?
I realized that I wasn’t going to sleep as early as I should. Even if I physically got in bed earlier, I was still scrolling through my phone for hours.
Make your sleep a priority.
Once I became aware of my sleep habits, I had to ask myself… what’s more important?
Binge watching another episode of this Netflix series or taking care of my health?
Watching silly social media videos or waking up in the morning with energy?
Playing more video games or being at 100% tomorrow?
So I set up a “sleep alarm” that would let me know when it’s time to turn off the tv, set the phone down and prioritize my sleep.
Use sleep tools if needed.
When I started trying to sleep earlier, I realized that my body just wasn’t used to that earlier bedtime. I'd close my eyes, try to sleep… but my mind just wouldn’t slow down.
I’d toss and turn, thinking about what plans I had in the morning or other things on my plate for the week. Before I knew it, I was back to my original bedtime.
So I got out my secret weapon: Restful Night, a Holosync sleep-entrainment soundtrack from Holosync Sleep Suite II.
This track really helped my wife and me fall asleep during those anxious nights in 2020 when the pandemic was at its peak. It’s my go-to solution whenever I struggle with my sleep.
And it worked like a charm!
I was easily able to sleep at the right time and woke up refreshed the next day.
And after listening to Restful Night at the same time over the course of a few days, my brain and body had adjusted. I could get to sleep at my new, earlier bedtime on my own without any trouble.
Your Turn
I was able to turn my sleep around, and you can too.
All you need is some awareness, a plan, and maybe a little technological help.
But no matter how you do it, once you make quality sleep a priority, you’ll get to enjoy more energy, clearer thinking, better health and a younger brain age.
You can’t put a price on that.
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Check It Out!
Holosync Sleep Suite II
This all-in-one solution has everything you need to fix your sleep cycle, balance your circadian rhythm, harness the power of power naps, and so much more!
It literally trains your brain to get that healing, deep sleep every night automatically.
(This is an upgraded version of the original Sleep Suite - you DO NOT need to have the original Sleep Suite to benefit!)
There’s never been an easier way to get the best sleep of your life!
Wise Words
“You can’t change what you aren’t aware of.”
- Ryan Standifird
This Really Happened
I do love the MyHolosync app!! Frequencies make a difference!!! App is easy to use!!!
~Louise T.
MyHolosync App User
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