That Neuroscience Guy - 21 Tips to Improve Sleep

Episode Date: April 4, 2024

We frequently tell you that getting better sleep improves your brain health - but how can you get better sleep? In today's episode of That Neuroscience Guy, we discuss 21 tips informed by neuroscience that you can use to improve your sleep. 

Hi, my name is Olof Kregolsen, and I'm a neuroscientist at the University of Victoria. And in my spare time, I'm that neuroscience guy. Welcome to the podcast. I've talked a lot about sleep. You know, research from my own lab demonstrates that sleep might be the single biggest predictor of mental health. And we've talked about stages of sleep and the neuroscience behind sleep. We've talked about sleep deficits. We've talked about dreaming.

And we still get requests for more about sleep. Now, I've covered some of this before, but I thought I'd put it together in just one useful chunk because I recently gave a talk to a group for a friend of mine, John Buxey, and it was to a group called Get Healthier. And they found that these tips that I'm about to give you were the most useful part of the talk. So on today's podcast, 21 tips to improve your sleep quality and thereby your mental health. Number one, make sleep a priority. Don't sacrifice sleep for other things. Even if you've got something that's due the next day or you're preparing for a presentation, get sleep. Sleep has to be your number one priority. And the reason why is your brain will perform better if you sleep. So what's the point of giving a presentation or

writing a test if your brain isn't ready to go? Two, my students don't like this one, but go to bed at the same time every night. Your circadian rhythm or your melatonin cycle does a lot better when you go to bed at the same time every night. I know a lot of us like to stay up on the weekends. I do myself, but it's a no-no. If you go to bed at the same time every night, your melatonin cycle will be aligned and it's not pushed the way it gets pushed if you go to bed at different times. Now, interestingly enough, there's some seasonal variation here. So generally in the summer, we go to bed a bit later. In the winter, we go to bed a bit earlier.

And that's because the melatonin cycle is tied to daylight. Along with going to bed at the same time every night, number three, wake up at the same time every morning. Yes, you need to wake up at the same time every day, even on the weekends. It's actually a big myth that sleeping in is a fix for staying up late. Sleeping in actually makes things worse. So if you do happen to stay up late on purpose or for reasons that you can't avoid like travel or work, try to get up at the same time that you normally do because the best way to sort out the sleep deficit you've accrued is to just get back on track again as quickly as you can. Number four, now this one's going to upset some people, but avoid caffeine after lunch.

Now this would include other forms of stimulants that will cause you to be more awake. So dessert. Everyone loves dessert. I love dessert. But the problem with dessert is all of that sugar is going to make you more alert. The plus side to this that someone pointed out to me recently is dessert after breakfast. Have your dessert after breakfast. Now, maybe that's a bit ridiculous, but you get the idea. Don't try to have a lot of stimulants after lunch and particularly after dinner.

Number five, reduce alcohol intake. There's a lot of belief that a drink might help you fall asleep and it does, but it disrupts sleep quality and sleep patterns, leading to a sleep that isn't healthy for you, and you won't feel as rested the next day. So avoid alcohol or reduce alcohol intake. Number six, avoid eating too late in the day. A heavy meal late in the day means you have to digest it, and digesting that meal disrupts your sleep pattern. So you're better to eat equally sized meals spread throughout the day.

And I'm not a dietician, so I'm not going to argue the three versus five or any of these things. But what we do know is eating large meals late in the day disrupts sleep quality. Number seven, the same is true for liquids. Avoid liquids late in the day. Although liquids are a lot easier to process, the problem is if you have a lot of liquids, especially after dinner, you might want to wake up to use the bathroom. And every time you wake up to use the bathroom, you're disrupting your sleep pattern. Now, it's quite normal to get up once or twice a night. But if you're getting up, you know, three or four or five or more times per night,

your sleep pattern is definitely disrupted. Exercise regularly. Exercise helps prepare the body for sleep. It tires you out. But there's a caveat to this. Don't exercise at least at high intensity in the evenings or close when you go to sleep. The problem with that is, let's say you go to a spin class at 10 o'clock at night, you're going to elevate your heart rate and you're going to have trouble sleeping. Your brain's not going to be in a place where you're able to sleep. Now, it's okay to go for

a walk after dinner. I do it all the time, but you want to avoid that high intensity exercise late in the day and you want to exercise regularly during the day. Now, you've all heard this one and I've talked a bit about blue light but number nine, avoid screens for at least an hour before you go to bed. And it's actually the refresh rate of modern devices. It's how they draw information on the screen and it causes your brain to be more alert. So you basically, you want to avoid sticking your phone or your iPad in front of your face or your laptop right before you go to bed, at least an hour before you want to avoid sticking your phone or your ipad in front of your face your laptop right before you go to bed at least an hour before you go to bed funnily enough kindles are okay and the reason is the way kindles draw is is very different so if you like to read before you go to bed and you're not a fan of the old school traditional books and

you want to use a kindle that's fine but the But the Kindle app on your iPad, no, because the way it draws the information is going to cause your brain to be more alert. Number 10, avoid having electronics in the bedroom. If you have a sleep tracking device like an Apple Watch or a Google Watch, put it in airplane mode. Get a simple alarm clock. The reason for this is actually twofold. One, if you look at

your electronics, it goes back to number nine. But two, it's just this tendency we have in the modern society. We feel the need to check our messages and see if anything's happened. Take electronics out of the bedroom. Put yourself in a mindset where sleep is a priority. put yourself in a mindset where sleep is a priority, not checking your email. Number 11, ensure good noise quality in your sleeping space. If you can, it's best to sleep in a quiet environment. If you can't, white noise is a good fill-in, right? You can get all sorts of soundtracks and playlists now that are white noise. And white noise is this nice background static, if you will, that basically allows you to fall asleep.

And some people actually need some form of white noise to fall asleep. You know, the classic example is listening to the ocean. If you can open your window and hear the ocean, it's supposed to be soothing and relaxing. And I know for me it is, but try to make sure you have good noise quality in your sleeping space if possible. Number 12, reduce the temperature. I live in the Northern hemisphere. It's cold in the winter. We like to bundle up and crank up our heaters, but the reality is people sleep better when they're cooler. So try to reduce the temperature in your sleeping space if at all possible. Number 13, this is a big one, fresh air. Again, you might be tempted to close all the windows because of bugs or because of temperature issues.

But people sleep better and your brain sleeps better when you have fresh air. So if possible, make sure you do have a window open near your bed so you've got fresh air. You'll breathe better and you'll sleep better. Number 14, if possible, and I say if possible because not everyone can do this, spend money on your bed. Get a bed that you really like that's comfortable. This is not an advertisement. We have no sponsors, but a couple of years ago, I got an ND mattress and all of a sudden I was sleeping better. I had no clue just how uncomfortable my bed was. I just, I made it work. And I went out and got a decent mattress. And next thing you know, I was sleeping considerably better. So if possible, spend money

on your bed. Fifteen, try reading or a similar relaxing activity as a preparation for sleep. So reading is a great one. Sit in a chair, turn on a light, read your favorite neuroscience book or anything else. And it's a great way to calm your brain down before you sleep. Number sixteen that parallels this, try mindfulness exercises before bed. Try something that calms the brain. Reading is one way to do it, but another would be breathing exercises or meditation. Try something that's going to calm your brain down so your brain is ready for sleep. Number 17, increase natural bright light outdoors. All right, get outside during the day. The more time you spend outside in bright light, the more your brain can get its clock sorted out

so the melatonin cycle can start when it's supposed to start. If you spend your whole life indoors, you're actually impairing your brain's ability to judge accurately what time of day it is and what body functions should be controlled. In this case, the release of melatonin. So try to get as much natural bright light as you can during the day. Number 18, speaking of melatonin, you can take melatonin if you have sleep problems but i'd strongly consider talking to a doctor before you rely on melatonin especially if you're going to take it every day your body releases melatonin naturally and in principle that should be enough for you now some people with sleep disorders have melatonin deficits and you might need extra melatonin. But be careful with melatonin because if you take too much,

it might lead to grogginess the next day. Number 19, napping. Everyone always asks about napping. Napping is perfectly okay. There's nothing wrong with napping as long as it's not replacing sleep. If you're napping because you're exhausted and you're actually sleeping, so more than 20 to 30 minutes and it's deep sleep, that's not good. You need to avoid those naps and you need to try to sleep at night when you're supposed to be sleeping. However, if you have a quick power nap,

15, 20 minutes or so, and it's not replacing sleep, and you'll have to be the judge of that, the napping is perfectly fine. Now, I thought I'd throw this one in. This one is more extreme. Number 20, make your bedroom a place for sleep. Okay, take out TVs, take out electronics, for sleep. Okay. Take out TVs, take out electronics, take out your clothing. Now I can't even afford to do this. I live in a two bedroom house, one bedroom for my son, one bedroom for me. I don't have another room, but the idea would be to create a room that's just for sleep. All right. So if you have that luxury, create a sleep space, a space that's dedicated for sleep. And the logic is that your brain will just build that association so that when you go into that space, you're in a sleep mode. You're preparing yourself for sleep and your brain is in that state.

Number 21, see a doctor. If you are still having sleep problems after trying all of this, see a doctor. Sleep apnea is a real thing. I have friends that are on CPAP machines. Basically that pushes oxygen in that allows you to sleep better. Sometimes sleep apnea and other sleep disorders can be treated very simply. But if you do have disrupted sleep and you've tried everything or you think you've tried everything, do have disrupted sleep and you've tried everything or you think you've tried everything, see a doctor. Sleep is the single biggest predictor of mental health. So anything you can do to improve sleep quality

is good for you. And I'll leave you with this. I mentioned this on the sleep episode, but the gold standard, a friend of mine who's a neuroscientist at Stanford shared this with me. He basically said, here's the deal. If you can wake up approximately the same time every day without an alarm clock and not need caffeine to get going,

then you're sleeping well. Another one that I've thought of myself, which I'll throw in, which is the gold standard part two is dreaming. Generally, if you're dreaming, it means that you've done your deep sleep and your two is dreaming. Generally, if you're dreaming, it means that you've done your deep sleep and your body is rested. So dreams are a sign that you're asleep. Most of the time, dreams are a sign that your sleep quality is decent. All right, there's 21 tips on how to

improve your sleep quality. Not a ton of neuroscience there, but it is all based on neuroscience. All of those tips stem from lessons that we've learned from research. Don't forget the website, thatneuroscienceguy.com. There's links to Etsy, all right, where we sell shirts. I've been promising new designs for over two years now, and one of these days we'll get to it, assuming the podcast keeps going that much longer. Of course it's going to, don't worry about that. There's links to Patreon where you can support graduate students in my lab and specifically Matt Hammerstrom

who does all the sound editing is the producer of that neuroscience guy. All of the money goes to help him pay tuition so he can further his studies in neuroscience. Send us ideas. We want to know what you want to know about the neuroscience of daily life you can email us thatneuroscienceguy at gmail.com or on x or threads it's at that neuro side guy

and last but not least thank you so much for listening to the podcast please subscribe if you can my name is oliv krigolson and i'm that neuroscience guy i'll see you soon for another episode of the podcast