Are you among the many who believe sacrificing sleep might be the key to increased productivity? Let me, Mikita, alongside sleep expert Dr. Catherine Darley, unravel this misconception for you. In a culture where burning the midnight oil is often celebrated, we expose the truth behind the sleep-productivity myth and advocate for the counterintuitive approach that more sleep can mean better performance. We share personal experiences and the societal pressures that skew our perception of rest, making a compelling case for why your early bedtime might just be your secret weapon for success.
Dr. Darley and I delve into the revelatory impact that proper sleep can have on every facet of your life. With two decades of experience in sleep medicine, Dr. Darley provides invaluable insights into the transformative power of a good night's sleep on our relationships, emotional intelligence, and work output. We dissect the potential hazards of becoming too fixated on sleep metrics from wearable technology and discuss how a balanced view on sleep can prevent us from getting trapped in an unproductive cycle of sleep obsession and poor rest.
As we wrap up our conversation, we highlight the critical role sleep plays in self-care, emphasizing the necessity of consistent sleep patterns to harness the full spectrum of its benefits. Discover how aligning your sleep routine with your natural circadian rhythm can unlock a world of creativity, mental clarity, and patience. We debunk common sleep myths and stress the importance of waking up at the same time every day. Let this discussion guide you towards nurturing a healthier relationship with sleep and adopting the self-compassion necessary for a balanced and fulfilling life.
#selfdevelopment #Wellness
#thym4teawithmikita #manifest #purposefulliving #liveunapplogectically #freedom #podcast #womeninpodcast #podcastlife #empoweringwomen
Are you among the many who believe sacrificing sleep might be the key to increased productivity? Let me, Mikita, alongside sleep expert Dr. Catherine Darley, unravel this misconception for you. In a culture where burning the midnight oil is often celebrated, we expose the truth behind the sleep-productivity myth and advocate for the counterintuitive approach that more sleep can mean better performance. We share personal experiences and the societal pressures that skew our perception of rest, making a compelling case for why your early bedtime might just be your secret weapon for success.
Dr. Darley and I delve into the revelatory impact that proper sleep can have on every facet of your life. With two decades of experience in sleep medicine, Dr. Darley provides invaluable insights into the transformative power of a good night's sleep on our relationships, emotional intelligence, and work output. We dissect the potential hazards of becoming too fixated on sleep metrics from wearable technology and discuss how a balanced view on sleep can prevent us from getting trapped in an unproductive cycle of sleep obsession and poor rest.
As we wrap up our conversation, we highlight the critical role sleep plays in self-care, emphasizing the necessity of consistent sleep patterns to harness the full spectrum of its benefits. Discover how aligning your sleep routine with your natural circadian rhythm can unlock a world of creativity, mental clarity, and patience. We debunk common sleep myths and stress the importance of waking up at the same time every day. Let this discussion guide you towards nurturing a healthier relationship with sleep and adopting the self-compassion necessary for a balanced and fulfilling life.
#selfdevelopment #Wellness
#thym4teawithmikita #manifest #purposefulliving #liveunapplogectically #freedom #podcast #womeninpodcast #podcastlife #empoweringwomen
The idea that the longer you're on the job, the more you'll get done is really not true, and people are taking from their sleep to add on to their day, thinking they're going to get more done. And you're just not going to get more done, and I think many people are making this decision of I'm going to have a longer day, but my performance is going to be worse, and my performance is going to be worse and my mood is going to be worse and my regulation is going to be worse versus a shorter day when you're at the top of your game. I have this worksheet called the optimal sleep plan and I like people to do it for 10 days. Try 10 days of really getting all of the sleep that you do best with and see what your experience is.
Speaker 2:Hey there, I'm Makita, a small town girl with dreams who started a podcast with an old headset and a laptop at my kitchen table and made my dreams come true. On my podcast, time for Tea with Makita, we chat about living life unapologetically, on your terms, from career advice, entrepreneurship, relationships and everything in between. This is your one-stop shop for real conversations and inspiration. If you're looking for connection, then you've found it here. Join me every Tuesday as we dive into those sometimes hard to have conversations. Tuesday, as we dive into those sometimes hard to have conversations. So, grab your cup of tea or coffee and get comfy, because this is time for Tea with Makita, and the tea is definitely hot. Ever feel like you need a superpower boost of motivation with exclusive tips and tools with your goals in mind? Well, say hello to your new inspiration hotspot the Tuesday Tea Newsletter, your weekly infusion of big thinking energy that will propel you to chase your wildest dreams and never shy away from using the power of your voice. Sign up for the Tuesday Tea Newsletter today at beautifullyunbalancedcom and elevate your goals to the next level. Welcome back. It's definitely time for some tea. I'm Makita. I want to thank you for sharing your time, space and energy with me today.
Speaker 2:Today, I am excited to have Dr Catherine Darley with us. She is an expert in sleep skills as well as advocating for the profound impact of quality sleep on our daily lives, which is something I'm sure we all need. Dr Dolly is challenging the myth that less sleep equals more productivity and in today's world, we are letting go of less is more and moving into the more is better when it comes to sleep. I know I definitely am moving into that direction. One quote that comes to mind when I think of this topic is by Arianna Huffington. She says the way to a more productivity, more inspired, more joyful life is getting enough sleep, and I don't know about you, but I definitely am letting go of that less is more and really trying to come into more quality sleep is definitely much better. So, with that being said, welcome, my friend. I am so happy to have you here with me today. So how are you?
Speaker 1:Thank you. I'm so glad to be here as we're recording this. It is the holiday season, and so I went to a party on Saturday night and fell asleep probably two hours later than I typically do. And here I am with a little caffeinated tea instead of herbal tea this morning.
Speaker 2:Well, my daughter had a home. What was it? A housewarming brunch party that we were a little late getting to, so for us it started like at like almost. It was supposed to start at like one. We got there almost at two, so we stayed a lot later, and then later on today we also have another engagement to go to, so I will definitely be drinking more caffeinated tea as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the small ways that poor sleep adds up and influences your life. Everything from a little extra caffeine which in some ways caffeine can be helpful, but it's also not a good strategy long-term right and the ripple effects of even one poor night of sleep can really shape your life and your experience.
Speaker 2:Definitely, and I've had this love and hate relationship with sleep for a very long time. One, because I get really obsessed with the amount of sleep I want to have. And then the second thing is I don't like the fact that all of my siblings, even my mom, think that I'm in the bed every night at 8.30 or 9 pm. So they're always like, oh, we don't really invite you or we didn't call you because we know you were probably asleep and I'm like, is it that bad? Like I don't go to bed that early, but you know, it's just over the past two years I actually stay up a lot later, which actually makes me wonder, like, how did you get started in your career path into sleep?
Speaker 1:Well, thanks for asking that. I've been interested in sleep really since college and you know I feel like each person is here for a purpose. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what that purpose is. For me, I think doing sleep medicine is why I'm here on this earth now. And so my interest in sleep in college resulted in working for a research lab doing research looking at children's sleep as they go through puberty.
Speaker 1:And then when I was there, I was thinking well, I want to be a professional, a doctor or researcher, what's going to be the right fit? And I had this epiphany one day. It was really one of those light bulb moments and I could tell you the whole story about it. But the epiphany I had is that, since sleep is so fundamental for each one of us it is an essential part of our physiology that we cannot get away from that it didn't make sense to treat it with a bunch of us. It is an essential part of our physiology that we cannot get away from that. It didn't make sense to treat it with a bunch of pills.
Speaker 1:And so I went to school to be a naturopathic physician, which is a four-year medical school program and focused on sleep, and I knew as I was going through the program, I am going to be doing naturopathic sleep medicine and since then I've had my own clinic in the Seattle area for 20 years and now I'm really working to talk more publicly about sleep because I want to have a another 12 or 15 years and when you're working with people one-on-one it can be really profound, but it's still one-on-one, and so I'm trying to talk more broadly and I'm so glad to have this opportunity on Time for Tea, because you know you can't make a huge impact if you're only one by one, by one. You need to like talk about it and insert sleep into the health conversation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like the one that pebble and seeing that ripple effect. When you, you know, can reach more people at once, the impact is felt stronger and more people can talk about it. So I definitely this is a great opportunity for people to learn more. But I'm just interested because you were talking about going through medical school and then really getting you know into sleep. Did you start to like really focus on looking at the amount of sleep you were getting while you were going through medical school? Was that ever like something you had to like rearrange to make sure like you were actually getting the adequate amount?
Speaker 1:You know, actually I, um, I know sometimes those stories of overcoming hardship are so compelling. I wouldn't say that I have overcome hardship in terms of I've always been a good sleeper and really valued my sleep, and, and so I wouldn't say that I have gone through a period of being severely sleep deprived or having insomnia or whatnot. But because I do get the amount of sleep that I do best with, almost every night I really noticed the difference. And there's actually research studies that show that if you take someone who's well-rested the first night, the second night of being sleep deprived, they say I'm feeling the effects, my performance is not so good, I'm not feeling as well, et cetera. But then after that third night of sleep deprivation, people say oh, you know what, I think I'm doing. Okay, I think I got used to getting less sleep.
Speaker 1:You measure their performance. It's still on the downward slide, but they somehow have adjusted their baseline to this new normal. And because I get enough sleep every night, I really do feel it. On those nights, like last night, you know, got six hours of sleep instead of my typical eight, and I can tell. But it's, you know, sadly it's about 35% of people who aren't getting adequate sleep night by night, and they're probably not aware of what they're missing out on in terms of performance, relationships, emotional regulation, all of that that sleep does for us.
Speaker 2:That is true, and, like you, I've never really had an issue with sleep. I've always been an early riser, so in turn I would go to sleep earlier, as even as a kid, but I don't know, I think it was like middle school I read something about you should get eight hours of sleep, and after that I started really like, oh, I need this amount of sleep. So really focusing on making sure I get the right amount of sleep. And then when I got into my 20s I'm not going to lie I got a little over obsessed, because then I started like counting the hours If I go to bed at this time and I get up at this time, will I get my eight hours? And then it became like this whole thing where I was just like really taking it, you know, out of proportion. Yeah, it got a little little overboard and I had to kind of bring myself back.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, uh-huh. Yeah, I think we can see that with the wearable technology you know all these wearables that people have on their wrists or mattress pads or whatnot, monitoring sleep. Sometimes that feeds into people being I call it hypervigilant about their sleep. Just like every health behavior. It's good to just kind of take it in stride, have it be part of your routine. But you know, am I upset about missing two hours of sleep for this party last night? You know I'm not. I'm like, oh, it was a fun party and I'll sleep well tonight and I'll be just 100% tomorrow. That's a better attitude than being hypervigilant about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know it's funny because I've had my Fitbit for like a very long time but I just started, within the last year actually, every now and again, looking at it to see like my so-called grade on sleep. And it's always good. And at one point I was like how can I get it to be great Like? Can it ever be great?
Speaker 2:You know, but you know it, it it actually is measuring like where I'm at in my rest period. So I'm like I mean, I don't know, I feel good and that's the biggest thing. I'm like measuring that or just listening to my body and saying you woke up this morning, you feel really good. And I know, you know, for a lot of us it is different, especially for as a busy professional, as a mom, you know we are always busy. So can you share like how improved sleep has like can really impact people lives, because we talked a little bit about that better performance. You know people sometimes thinking that working off of less sleep, they're getting more done because they're up, but not really Like there are a lot of challenges that go into that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm glad that you asked that, makita, because that go into that. Yeah, I'm glad that you asked that, makita, because you know people do talk about how much sleep they need, right, whether they say they need six or seven or eight or nine. They talk about that number. But the other number, the other half of the equation that doesn't come up is if I need eight hours of sleep, then how long is my day? I've got 16 hours, right, and so if you're trying to do 18 hours of stuff, you're not going to have time for that six, that eight hours of sleep that you do best with. So it's both how much sleep you do best with allows you X amount of hours in your day, and you know I think people try to take on too much. Basically, I mean you have your day length of, you know, 16 hours.
Speaker 1:If you need eight hours of sleep, minus commute time, personal hygiene, household tasks, rest, you know, wind down time, I try to always have at least three hours of leisure, which means it's not and, honestly, sometimes it's a struggle to get more than two. But that means I am not responsible for anything, I am not parenting, I am not like active parenting. I might be hanging out with my loved ones, which is a joy, but I'm not actively parenting them, homework or anything of that nature. I'm not cooking, I'm not thinking of my to-do list, you know nothing, it's just like hobbies TV, sit on the porch, you know really actually rest time and you know by the time you have all of those other tasks or other chunks of time out of the 16 hours you only have a limited amount to actually be on task, and so that limits how many tasks you can take.
Speaker 1:And I think about it in five domains that you've got your physical performance, like driving safety, and for those of us who do physical work, you know that's going to increase your risk of injury if you're not getting adequate sleep. So it's physical performance, cognitive performance, you know being mentally snappy, and that's everything from my remembering your name because we've newly met, to simple memory tasks to really complex problem solving, taking the world of sleep medicine and giving a three minute answer right. And then physical health diabetes, obesity, weight control, hypertension, obesity, weight control, hypertension all of those health concerns are impacted by sleep. And then mental health, anxiety, depression. You know, after in the pandemic and after the pandemic we've had a lot more discussion, and I think it's really healthy a lot more discussion about mental health in our culture. And then there's also emotional intelligence. Are you able to relate well to others? Are you able to understand your own emotional state? Are you lonely? All of those things are going to be impacted by how much sleep we get, and if we have healthy sleep.
Speaker 2:And it really shows I can definitely not just with me when you talk about emotional intelligence and understanding other people, even with my kids, who are adult teenagers now, but I can tell, when they have not gotten enough sleep, just how emotional they are about different situations or things that come up or that happen, and normally they would not react this way. But just being aware and having that emotional intelligence piece and recognizing and understanding hey, how did you sleep last night? How have you been sleeping? What's been up, what's been going on in your life, having the conversation around sleep and I think we don't talk about sleep as part of our mental health and our regular things that keep us regulated enough- yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And the impact of sleep can be really profound pretty quickly, like if you're partially sleep deprived for one night and you're prone to panic attacks, you're much more likely to had a panic attack ever. They are not fun, they are. That's a hard thing to go through, you know. And and there's just so many examples I could give of different you know anxiety, depression, ptsd. You know, for our veterans, our law enforcement, et cetera, people who have PTSD, sleep is disrupted, but sleep is also protective for them to minimize some of the symptoms of PTSD. So, yeah, and then there's also loneliness In the pandemic that became much more well-acknowledged. And if you're not sleeping well, you're going to feel more lonely, and if you're lonely you're not going to sleep as well. So it gets into this negative feedback circle actually.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and also our work schedules. You know, everyone works different hours of the day and I've noticed just from the people that I talk to, I've heard more people talk about using melatonin more than I've ever heard people talk about using different things to help them sleep. I will say one thing that I love to do that if I am having a bad like I'm feeling really anxious or I just can't go to sleep, I have a weighted blanket. I love it. It's one of the most common things that I like to use. That like gives me this feeling of calm. I don't know what it is about it, but I know they say like the pressure and you know it hits the pressure points for the weight, but it's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I hear that a lot. And um, there the data, the research data. I looked at this a couple years ago, maybe two years ago. The research data on the weighted blankets is stronger and there's more of it for that feeling of calm than there is for sleep. But yes, we need to feel calm in order to sleep, so the connection makes sense asleep.
Speaker 2:So the connection makes sense and I feel like I don't know. I think we all have some type of routine, whether we recognize our routines or not, but I do know that when I am watching, like at night, I love to, and my husband loved to watch X-Files.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:But reruns. But I know at the same time I cannot watch that right before I go to bed because it's like a lot of suspense and drama and my heart rate's elevated and I'm really into it and it takes a long period for me to come down off of this rollercoaster of emotions. The emotions are just like riding these waves. So I will watch an episode but then, like the TV has to come down, like everything has to kind of zone out and kind of relax to help bring everything down, because I can't have that stimulation and then immediately close my eyes and go to sleep. And I don't think sometimes we recognize that some of our patterns of watching shows or strolling through social media and things like that can affect how we go to sleep. And then you know, like people are like well, I have a hard time going to sleep and they never look at some of the things that they're doing in their routine that actually don't get them ready to close down, to go to sleep.
Speaker 1:Right, I think about it like a car on a freeway. Right, you're going 70 miles per hour and there's the off ramp, the like sleep zone over there. Is it going to be better, if you like slowly, you know slow down and so you're ready. Or do you like slam on the brakes? Slamming on the brakes is not an effective way to go from 70 to zero and think about the wind down time as part of that One strategy.
Speaker 1:Well, there's a couple of things that came to mind when you were talking about this. One thing that I think many people have heard is that you're not supposed to get screens in that time before bed because the blue light suppresses your melatonin. I think many people have heard that, but they don't necessarily believe it or understand how big of an impact it can have this melatonin. When we're talking about melatonin, it's good to be clear about your endogenous melatonin, what is produced in your body, and then melatonin supplements and thinking about that endogenous melatonin in a natural light environment like camping or something before the electric light, our melatonin would start to rise a little bit before we got into bed. So it would help us feel sleepy and just think about how different, like candlelight, firelight, darkness, starlight is in the natural world when you're camping or out in nature, versus your home, right, your home is just such a different light environment and it really makes a difference Basically, if you can hold your hand out at arm's length and see your fingers wiggling, that's enough light to suppress your melatonin somewhat, which is way. Our system is just way more sensitive than people necessarily know.
Speaker 1:So one strategy people can use if they're on the screen is to use blue blocking glasses. They have red lenses like this and they make everything like sunset colors. That can be a great tip. And the other tip I'd like to give is on your phone, if you have a smartphone, you can download what's called a lux meter, l-u-x meter, and it measures light intensity. Basically, the recommendation is that for three hours before bed you have 10 lux or less. Bed you have 10 lux or less, which one lux is equal to one candle flame, so 10 lux is only 10 candle flames. It's not very realistic, I think, for many people. You know you're still going strong three hours before bed, but just to have that awareness two hours, even one hour before bed of 10 lux is going to be better maybe than what you have now, and the blue blocking glasses can really help with that actually.
Speaker 2:I love those tips. Um, I never realized, like how that really affected like the melatonin and like just you know cause we don't really think about it. You know you're in the house, you got the lights on and, like you said, if you do go camping, like you do, like it's, it's such a relaxing. The lights are different. I can even remember growing up as kids like even like if we watched a family movie or something my mom would always turn the lights out. Like you would turn the lights out and you would kind of relax, and she would always make like this little pallet in the floor and we would all lay there and, before you know it, someone's patting you and saying, hey, go to bed.
Speaker 1:Right, I love that. Yeah, what we do in our home, uh, I don't think I can change, turn the camera to show you, but I have um little twinkle lights around the ceiling and I purposely got ones that are a yellow, a very gentle, naturalistic yellowish hue, not like a bright daffodil yellow, but more of a gentle candle flame yellow, and I turn those on two hours before bed. I turn off all of the other lights and have just those lights, which I have measured with my Lux meter app on the phone and it gives just 10 Lux of light, and so we hang out in that kind of lighting in the evenings and that, I think, helps everyone be ready for sleep.
Speaker 2:I think helps everyone be ready for sleep. That is really good. I like that, and I know we've talked a little bit about how sleep, or lack of it, can affect our emotional regulation and decision-making. In your experience, how has have you seen it show up in both personal and professional settings?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I am a parent, as you can see, and I, you know I totally resonate with what you were saying about. You know you can kind of tell or suspect what your kids' sleep patterns have been when they're dealing with a challenge. So I've certainly seen that and even for myself I know, like you know, last night I only got six hours. I do best with eight. And so I'm just going to be a little bit more gentle on myself, knowing that I don't have all the tools in my toolkit today. And how that's going to shape up for me is that I'm just going to have a little bit gentler pace and I'm going to focus on making sure I've got some of those other fundamentals strongly in place. Like I'm going to have really healthy meals today. There will not be no eating out. I'm going to make sure I'm hydrated, I'm going to make sure that I'm going outside and taking stretch breaks and getting natural light breaks during the day and just overall a little bit more gently because I don't have the sleep aspect in my toolkit to be able to deal well with my day. And then I want to share a story with you.
Speaker 1:Professionally, I work with individuals from infants on up in my practice and a woman came in, very high performing woman works for a tech company in Seattle and then she also had part of her team was in England and she came in because she was having, so she'd have to travel to England every quarter or something and meet with them for a week and she was having fights with her team in England and it turned out it was jet lag and once we were able to get her on a plan to minimize the jet lag, it was all fine and what was happening is she'd be there for a week, have this you know negative interactions, and then she'd come back to Seattle and she'd have, you know, two and a half months of kind of having to repair with the English team and she would. But then, you know, the next trip, all the progress that they've made in like healing their relationship, would be down the drain. And and that really made a big difference for her was just to be able to get the sleep, even with the travel.
Speaker 2:Wow, you know what? And I don't think you know, we think about that, but I am. When I don't get enough sleep, I'm a whiny baby. I am, I'm very, but I'm a whiny baby I am.
Speaker 2:And the fact that you're reminded to give yourself grace and compassion and to stay hydrated and to not eat out, because that's the thing You're sleep-deprived, you don't feel like cooking, you grab the nearest thing. That makes you feel worse. You lash out at other people because your ability to process information and to control your emotions are not the same. It looks and feels totally different. What you could normally take on, you can't. And just having the awareness to wake up and say, oh my gosh, I didn't get the sleep I was going to get. Today is a day for compassion and recognizing that sometimes I don't think I give myself the grace I need and jet lag is real. It is so, so real. So I love that you were able to help her get to a point where she could find a routine. That would help, because, you know, having those relationships are so important and we always want to show up being the best version of ourselves at all times.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and so I don't know if you've heard or if your community has heard. It's kind of a new concept in sleep. We have this concept called social jet lag, and social jet lag is when you have one schedule on your five work days and then on your days off you sleep later, go to bed later, sleep in. That's called social jet lag and it can cause some of those problems.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of research recently just showing that we need regularity in our sleep patterns. So the recommendations which this might seem surprising to people is that your bedtime and wake time not vary more than 30 minutes across all seven days of the week. So you know, on work nights if you're going to bed at 10, that means on weekends you're not going to bed any later than 1030. Weekdays you're waking up at 730. You got to get up by eight on the weekends and not sleep in too late if you really want to boost your sleep and the same thing for sleep duration, that you're not sleeping more than 60 minutes longer on the weekends than the work days and if you are sleeping more than that, then it would be considered social jet lag which is going to be some of those problems.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, I can see that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'm messing up your circadian rhythm. Oh sorry, makita, go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Well, it gets down to your circadian rhythm that when you shift your, you can't shift your body clock back and forth easily, even work day to weekend, just like you can't shift it from Seattle to England very easily you know that, that I definitely believe that because, uh and I think that's now that you mentioned I'm like I think that's what's been going on with me for the last year.
Speaker 2:I mentioned that like, well, today I'm going to get up at five, 30 and like this week, no, I think I want to sleep in at seven, and it never works. I'm always like, oh, this just it's not working. I don't know which one, I'm still not getting up when I want to to do the things that I want to do, and I'm all over the place.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, I think that you know, if that was one of the if I could give three recommendations that would be. One of them is to just really like figure out, okay, what sleep hours are going to work for me on a routine basis. You know, I think that there in the past was really kind of a cachet or like a cool factor of like sleeping when you're tired, eating when you're hungry, working when you feel inspired. But our bodies just don't work that way. Like our bodies like regularity meals at the same time, bedtime at the same time, getting up at the same time and I'm I'm hoping that that's going to become cool is having like a super regular schedule.
Speaker 2:It makes you feel good. Though I'm not going to lie Like um, as I'm working towards letting go of the less is better with sleep and going towards. You know, more sleep is better, especially for me. I do feel better and one of the things I used to do in the mornings is I would get up early at five and it worked, and I would work out. Me and my husband would go for walks, we'd come back, we'd have talks, we'd drink coffee and, within the pandemic, all of that changed Our whole lives, changed how we did, things changed. We had this now new normal that we are trying to get out of, to re-sync our lives back into the things that worked best for us and made us feel good and have more mental clarity. Because I feel like the better sleep I get, the more creative I am, the more mental clarity, the more patience I have and I just feel good all over. I just feel good like all over, just feel better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally. There's this growing awareness about our circadian system and how it impacts every area of our health and I think about us being really embedded in the earth. Right, human beings live on the earth and the earth is rhythmic in terms of light and darkness, temperature. You know seasonal weather, length changes over the year, but over this week it's only going to vary by maybe 10 minutes or 20 minutes. I mean, it's winter, so we're close to the solstice, but that is not very much variability in the natural light-dark cycle, whereas with my light switch or my thermostat I can have crazy variability and our bodies are just. Our physiology is designed for that really predictably rhythmic world and as much as we can connect with that and go back to that and implement those kinds of patterns in our home environment, the better our health will be, both sleep and other health.
Speaker 2:I agree. I'm curious, though what are some of the like most common sleep myths that might be misleading, that you may have heard or people say to you or they think is like normal, but they're mostly just misconceptions.
Speaker 1:Well, one of them is that bedtime, having a regular bedtime, is more important than awake time. It's actually your wake time really sets both your sleep drive and your circadian system. So focusing on regularity of your wake time is much more important. There's that. The other thing is the myth of the longer you're awake, the more you'll get done. Basically, the work literature, workplace performance and productivity literature shows that after eight hours our performance tanks. It really tanks, like in the ninth hour of work. People get done something like 15% of what they got done in their first hour of work. So just you know, let that go.
Speaker 1:The idea that the longer you're on the job, the more you'll get done is really not true and people are taking from their sleep to add on to their day, thinking they're going to get more done and you're just not going to get more done.
Speaker 1:And I think many people are making this decision of I'm going to have a longer day, but my performance is going to be worse and my mood is going to be worse and my regulation is going to be worse, versus a shorter day when you're at the top of your game. And that's the choice I would encourage people to make, or try, and I have this worksheet called the Optimal Sleep Plan and I like people to do it for 10 days. I think you know if everybody, as part of their routine in 2024, could try 10 days of really getting all of the sleep that you do best with and see what your experience is, and then you have the information to make a good decision for you. You know, if getting more sleep doesn't translate into a better life, then go for it. Have longer days and shorter sleep, but I think for most people, really optimizing the amount of sleep is going to make them go.
Speaker 2:Wow, I didn't know I could feel this good wow, I didn't know I could feel this good, Definitely Well. I know you've given me a lot to think about, a lot of useful tips, a lot of practical advice that anyone can actually start implementing with ease. Today they can actually just start implementing the small things into their life to get better sleep. But before we wrap things up, what is one way you are redefining self-care in your own life?
Speaker 1:For me, it's really about claiming that I am going to have rest time and recreation time every day, that sometimes there's more of a tone of grace and sometimes there's more of a tone of enough. Already, I just worked hard from 6 am to 6 pm and that's enough, and I'm going to enjoy my time after dinner. And you know, there's always things that are not done. There's always things that are not done. I could, you know, I could work 24 hours a day and probably still feel like there's things that you know. Oh, this club or this, you know, read this book or improve X, Y, Z on my website, you know. But it's like, you know, claiming that three hours before bed to really just enjoy life and I'm winding down and I'm ready for sleep, just makes all the difference and I'm winding down and I'm ready for sleep, just makes all the difference.
Speaker 2:I agree. Well, tell people where they can connect with you, where they can find out more ways that they can start learning more about why sleep is important, and some tips and tools that you can help them with.
Speaker 1:Sure. So I have a free download of a sleep plan, kind of, make your own sleep plan which I'd love to share with people, and hopefully I can give you the link. And then on Instagram I'm at skilled sleeper If you'd like daily tips and inspiration and information to keep you motivated to improve your sleep. And then, if people like longer form, I'm on YouTube, also at Skilled Sleeper, and once a week I give a 10-minute video on a sleep topic and I always end with sleep skills, because I really want people to, yes, have some of the information, of the background information, research and findings and whatnot, but really, where the rubber meets the road is how do I implement this in my life this week and for my family and my friends?
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for that. All right, you guys I know you probably was like oh, I didn't get it, Don't worry If you didn't have your pens and paper out. All of that information will be in the show notes so you can get your downloads, so you can connect. All right, that is all the tea that we have to spill today, but before we leave, I just want to leave you with this simple affirmation I give myself permission to rest fully and peacefully. Each night as I sleep, I trust my body to rejuvenate, allowing me to wake up refreshed and energized for the day ahead.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I love that. It was so beautiful and thank you so much for coming on and sharing with us and just giving us so much information that we can actually use and make sense that actually works with our lives. I love the fact that everything was practical and I could see myself incorporating it.
Speaker 1:Wonderful, thank you, everybody Sleep well.
Speaker 2:Thank you. All right, you guys. That's all the tea. But guess what? You can join me each and every Tuesday for more delicious hot tea. Until next time, namaste.