By Stephanie Barnes June 24, 2022
Despite knowing we shouldn’t, it’s just so hard to resist reaching for a phone, iPad or laptop while in bed. However, Dr. Alex Dimitriu, a physician double board-certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine, urges people to try. Dimitriu explained that screens are both bright with blue light and interactive, which is wake-promoting.
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June 24, 2022 — Dr. Alex Dimitriu, Founder of the Menlo Park Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine clinic, was interviewed by Insider for the article, “5 ways to stimulate your vagus nerve and regain control from stress faster.”
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By Nicole McDermott, June 23, 2022
Xanax (also called alprazolam) is one of the most well-known anti-anxiety medications, says Alex Dimitriu, M.D., a double board-certified physician in psychiatry and sleep medicine and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine and BrainfoodMD. “It’s in the class of drugs called benzodiazepines, also known as muscle relaxants or anxiolytics,” he says. Other common benzodiazepines include Valium and Klonopin.
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By Morgan Mandriota, June 15, 2022
“Adults with ADHD show an increase in violent or angry outbursts and even an increase in criminal behavior,” says Alex Dimitriu, MD, a board certified psychiatrist and sleep medicine doctor and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine in California.
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By George Citroner on June 6, 2022
“Because distance learning isolates students from each other and reduces sensory input from social interactions, adolescents can have more trouble learning not just from their teachers, but from their peers,” Board-certified psychiatrist and trained psychotherapist Dr. Thomas Adams at Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine, told Healthline.
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By Tessa Flores, Jun 6, 2022
“Sleep trackers work by monitoring some of our basic biology to try and determine two things,” explained Dr. Alex Dimitriu, a double board-certified psychiatrist of sleep medicine and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine and BrainfoodMD. “One, if the person is asleep; two, what stage of sleep they are in.” This data is what you or a medical professional can use to decipher the lifestyle habits or environmental factors that could be impacting your sleep hygiene.
Dimitriu agrees that gathering information about the quality and quantity of your sleep can be a helpful first step towards reclaiming better rest. “[Sleep trackers] can provide feedback and reward for positive behaviors, such as reminders to start winding down, and to get to bed at an earlier time,“ Dimitriu said. “By heart-rate monitoring throughout the night, it also can be beneficial to see the effects of alcohol, a late exercise or a late dinner on sleep depth. I’m always surprised to see how disruptive a late dinner can be to my sleep.”
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By Virginia Pelley, June 2, 2022
A self-improvement journey has a positive impact on relationships because it conveys a sense of self-awareness and an ability to grow and evolve, says Alex Dimitriu, MD, who is double board-certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine. Ideally, these goals are mutual, and appreciated as furthering the needs of both people in the relationship, he adds.
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By Sarah Bradley, May 24, 2022
“In choosing an OTC product, it helps to understand if nasal congestion is a problem—people with nasal congestion are often congested by day, and worse at night,” says sleep specialist Alex Dimitriu, MD, founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine. “They also mouth breathe, and sometimes wake up in the night with a really dry mouth, which is a sign of mouth breathing by night.”
Dr. Dimitriu explains that since mouth breathing at night, in particular, can worsen snoring, you need to find a way to open up your nasal passages if you want to snore less. As long as you don’t care about appearances, the Snorepin can do just that—and it’s a good alternative to nasal strips if you have sensitive skin or find that most nasal strips fall off or don’t fit correctly.
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By Helen Massy, May 23, 2022
Alex Dimitriu, M.D., board-certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine, and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine in California and BrainfoodMD supplements, explained the main challenge in diagnosis is teasing apart IED from anxiety, stress, depression or sleep deprivation, as these conditions are far more common. “People act explosively with temper tantrums and rage when they are at their wit’s end, exhausted or overworked, and the smallest thing will make them snap,” Dimitriu said. “Sleep deprivation is a common reason people can become more impulsive and short-tempered. Being overworked, stressed, depressed or anxious and reactive can also make people react suddenly and intensely.”
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By Kaitlin Vogel on May 19, 2022
Trauma can certainly induce enough stress to set off a bipolar disorder episode, but only in someone predisposed to bipolar disorder, explains Dr. Alex Dimitriu, founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine in California and BrainfoodMD.
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By Madeleine H. Burry, May 13, 2022
“The ability to travel faster (with jet engines) has resulted in people being able to fly to a place faster than their biology can adjust to the new local time,” says Alex Dimitriu, MD, who is double board-certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine and the founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine and BrainfoodMD. “When we walked, or ran, we could not cover so many time zones in so little time,” he notes. Flying across time zones sends your circadian rhythm — aka the clock within your body that helps you know when it’s time to wake up and go to sleep, among other important physiological tasks — off-kilter. The result: You’ll feel groggy and maybe even out of sorts once you arrive at your destination.
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By Lo Styx, May 13, 2022
To determine the best medication fit for his patients, psychiatrist Alex Dimitriu, MD, groups symptoms of anxiety into two categories. “I always ask my patients if they feel anxiety more in the mind—rumination, catastrophic thoughts, worry—or the body—racing heart, tight chest, shortness of breath, tremor,” Dimitriu says. “More globally it should be recognized that either beta blockers or other medication such as Xanax or Klonopin are patches. If someone needs a patch too often, it might be better to take something that works all the time, usually SSRI’s.”
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By Eileen Bailey, May 11, 2022
“It is important to note that the people in this study had severe enough infections to require hospitalization,” Dr. Alex Dimitriu, a psychiatrist with expertise in sleep medicine, told Healthline. “Hospitalization often means things got clinically bad enough to require a hospital stay – and this often means hypoxia, sepsis, or other illness symptoms that became severe. When the body is that sick, there are certainly impacts on the brain – from infection, inflammation, or low oxygen, and these can be damaging to brain tissue.”
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By George Citroner on May 11, 2022
Dr. Alex Dimitriu, double board certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine and BrainfoodMD, said people ages 18 to 25 face specific stressors that may make them more likely to be depressed. “As teenagers leave their homes and effectively start their lives,” Dimitriu said. “The impact of social media and the internet may be particularly stifling to this important period of coming of age.” He explained that the 18 to 25 age group is a time of significant socialization.
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By George Citroner, May 9, 2022
Dr. Alex Dimitriu, double board-certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine and BrainfoodMD, noted that parents need to focus on themselves first. “Self-care is the first priority,” he said. “It is mandatory for the parent or caregiver to assure that their own basic biological needs are met – besides work and parenting.” Dimitriu advises caregivers to focus on their basic needs. He recommends that parents follow ‘SEMM,’ which stands for sleep, exercise, Mediterranean or another healthy diet, and meditation, or at least make sure they regularly get some quiet and “alone time.”
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