Moment 112 - Want To Sleep Better? Listen To This: Matthew Walker

Jun 2, 2023 12m 53s 10 insights
This episode provides actionable sleep hygiene tips to improve sleep quantity and quality. It covers maintaining regularity, optimizing bedroom environment, and the significant negative impacts of alcohol, caffeine, and screen use on sleep.
Actionable Insights

1. Maintain Consistent Sleep Schedule

Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, including weekends, as your brain thrives on regularity for better sleep quantity and quality.

2. Create Evening Darkness

In the last hour before bed, dim or switch off half to three-quarters of the lights in your home to signal to your brain that it’s time for sleep and promote sleepiness.

3. Optimize Bedroom Temperature

Aim for a bedroom temperature of 18-18.5 degrees Celsius (65-68 degrees Fahrenheit) to facilitate a necessary drop in core body temperature for falling and staying asleep.

4. Avoid Alcohol Before Bed

Do not use alcohol as a sleep aid because it acts as a sedative that fragments sleep, causes numerous brief awakenings, and blocks critical REM sleep.

5. Limit Evening Caffeine

Avoid consuming coffee or other caffeinated beverages in the evening, as they can interfere with your ability to fall asleep and disrupt sleep quality.

6. Remove Phone from Bedroom

Keep your phone out of the bedroom and don’t look at it until morning to prevent stimulation and blue light exposure that disrupt sleep and melatonin release.

7. Limit Screen Time Before Bed

Avoid using screens like iPads for at least an hour before bed, as blue light delays melatonin release, reduces total sleep, and decreases REM sleep, with effects lasting for days.

8. Address Device Stimulation

Recognize that devices are designed to capture attention and stimulate your brain, leading to sleep procrastination and making it difficult to fall asleep due to cerebral cortex activation.

9. Get Out of Bed If Awake

If you find yourself lying awake in bed for more than 30 minutes, get up and do something different or meditate until you feel sleepy again, rather than staying in bed awake.

10. Use Phone Standing Up (If Necessary)

If you absolutely must bring your phone into the bedroom, only use it while standing up; once you sit or lie down on the bed, put the phone away to limit screen time.