Sleep: Nora Boyd of Hullwinkle On Why You Should Make Getting A Good Night’s Sleep A Major Priority In Your Life, And How You Can Make That Happen

One: hydration. Do you drink enough water and stay hydrated each day?

Dehydration can affect not only your daily life and health but also your sleep quality. One study has found that sleep quality and hydration are linked.5 While the right level of water intake varies person by person, generally healthy people should aim for 4–6 cups according to Harvard Medical School.6 For optimal results, drink enough water throughout the day, kick the afternoon caffeine, and skip the tipple before bed.

Getting a good night’s sleep has so many physical, emotional, and mental benefits. Yet with all of the distractions that demand our attention, going to sleep on time and getting enough rest has become extremely elusive to many of us. Why is sleep so important and how can we make it a priority?

In this interview series called “Sleep: Why You Should Make Getting A Good Night’s Sleep A Major Priority In Your Life, And How You Can Make That Happen” we are talking to medical and wellness professionals, sleep specialists, and business leaders who sell sleep accessories to share insights from their knowledge and experience about how to make getting a good night’s sleep a priority in your life.

As part of this interview series, we had the pleasure to interview Nora Boyd.

Nora Boyd is the Founder of Hullwinkle, a wellness brand born out of her own need for better sleep. Prior to launching Hullwinkle, Nora worked as a management consultant and as a strategy executive in financial services and technology. As a stroke survivor, Nora is an outspoken wellness advocate who is deeply passionate about helping others live healthier.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to ‘get to know you’. Can you tell us a bit about your background and your backstory?

Thanks again for inviting me to share my story on the life-saving importance and beauty of sleep. It wasn’t until I had a stroke that I realized how critical sleep is. I also found myself on an unexpected journey to find the “perfect” pillow to help me sleep better. I tried many, and each time was let down. After months of my own researching, designing, prototyping, and user testing, I launched Hullwinkle in January 2022.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this particular career path?

A couple days before launching Hullwinkle, I was asked a similar question: how would you describe the journey you took to get here, in one sentence? Right before I fell asleep that night, these words popped into my head: when you come face to face with your mortality, you learn to let go of your ego and figure out what really matters.

One afternoon, I was home alone writing an email. Suddenly, my keyboard started swaying from left to right. When I stood up, the room was spinning. Violently. Somehow, I grabbed my phone from my desk before collapsing and dialed for help. I had no idea I was having a stroke.

It was eleven years ago when my husband and I had moved to Switzerland for work. We were 30-something year olds excited for this next chapter in our careers and lives. Shortly after we settled in-country, I hit a wall.

My doctors found I was in “perfect” health at the time with no risk factors. I didn’t have a history of high cholesterol, hypertension, or diabetes; wasn’t overweight; didn’t smoke or drink excessively. Despite all this, I spent weeks in the hospital and months after on my own learning to balance and walk again. My stroke recovery was intense, physically and mentally. And I was so focused on getting my health and life back and determined to return to my “dream career,” that I did just that.

A few years later, I found myself right back in my doctor’s office. He said bluntly, “I see a lot of go-getters like you who push themselves at all hours of the day. My question for you to answer is this: what is YOUR ambition FOR life?” I sat speechless and stared at him, uselessly trying to hold back tears. I thought, “keep compromising my sleep, and I might not get another chance.”

My stroke made me aware of my own mortality and fragility. It was the conversation with my doctor that made it clear my lifestyle urgently needed a makeover, starting with my sleep. I learned I was far from alone too. That’s when I knew I had to do something that could help me and others.

Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the sleep and wellness fields? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?

Many people neither survive a stroke nor return to full function after one. I’m often asked: “how did you recover?”

It’s important for me to note that what I’m sharing is my own experience — not as a clinician, medical scholar, or scientist — rather as a person who survived and am thriving after her stroke. By sharing my perspectives, my hope is that others might find them helpful for what they or their loved ones are going through.

First, I owe my life to the teams of medical experts who cared so well for me. Second, I had to fight to recover. It took 100% grit and:

• Will: it was on me to believe I could and would recover. It was beyond humbling to suddenly find myself weak and struggling to stand, balance, and walk. After the first week, I asked “how long am I going to be like this?” “Well, it can vary. Could be months to a few years.” I told myself I didn’t have years to be this way. My goal was months, tops.
• Visualization: from my hospital bed, I’d dream about doing ordinary things again such as going for a walk in the park with my husband. Visualization inspired me to set mini goals, one of which was to get better at breath control to manage through nausea and balance issues.
• Gratitude: each mini goal I met filled me with so much gratitude and served as positive fuel that recovery was possible.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Yes, it was Dr. Matthew Walker’s book, Why We Sleep. The first time I read it, I felt like someone finally filled the unresolved gaps for me. I was so thankful. At the same time, I wished it was written years earlier and I could have read it when I was lying in a hospital bed and trying to make sense of how a young, healthy, and fit woman like me could have had a stroke. This book will forever be one of my all-time favorites.

Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?

I’ve been an Ashtanga yoga practitioner, on and off, since I was in my 20s. Ashtanga was developed by Pattabhi Jois, my first instructor’s teacher. A quote by Pattabhi Jois that I apply to life and work is: “99% practice, 1% theory.”

A few months after my stroke, I found myself rolling out my yoga mat. For lack of a better description, I slowly and awkwardly rolled around on my back for about five minutes. It was pretty ugly and frustrating. That said, it was my re-starting point. I gradually added in more and did this for weeks until one day, I managed my way through the eleven movements of the opening series, Surya Namasakara A (Sun Salutations A). I could only do it once and wasn’t able to repeat it the five times a regular practitioner would. That was my entire practice that day. To someone watching, you would have thought I won the lottery, I was so happy.

My definition of practice is taking consistent action towards a worthy goal. Without practice, theory on its own won’t result in success: the realization of a worthy goal. Whether recovering from an illness, competing in sports, or building a career or business, we can go for it or we can let it go. The decision to take action is entirely up to us. While outcomes might not go in our favor, the person we discover and what we learn in the process are priceless.

Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. Let’s start with the basics. How much sleep should an adult get? Is there a difference between people who are young, middle-aged, or elderly?

The CDC (Center for Disease Control) recommends that adults obtain 7–9 hours of sleep each night.1 Short sleeping increases the likelihood of cardiovascular disease, stroke, weight gain, dementia, amongst many other physical and mental issues.

From the time we’re born to our youth, we tend to need more sleep than when we become adults. As we age as adults, the quality and continuity of our sleep becomes a greater focus.

Is the amount of hours the main criteria, or the time that you go to bed? For example, if there was a hypothetical choice between getting to bed at 10PM and getting up at 4AM, for a total of 6 hours, or going to bed at 2AM and getting up at 10AM for a total of 8 hours, is one a better choice for your health? Can you explain?

Regularity and consistency are key to high sleep quality over time. When I was flying to the West Coast from NY and back for work every week for about a year, the inconsistent time zones threw my circadian rhythm and everything off for me: eating, sleeping, and general wellness. After this project ended, it took me a while to feel normal again.

Beyond aiming for regularity and consistency, it’s important to understand your chronotype — whether you’re genetically wired to be a morning lark or a night owl — and how that impacts you. Your chronotype drives your 24-hour circadian rhythms and when you feel sleepy and awake.

For a night owl, going to bed at 2am and getting up at 10am with a full 8 hours would likely feel great. If that person traded places with me, a morning lark who consistently goes to bed around 9 or 10pm and wakes up at 5 or 6am, that night owl’s circadian rhythm would be thrown off. He or she would probably feel terrible.

The ideal is that your wake and sleep times are regular and consistent according to your chronograph.

As an expert, this might be obvious to you, but I think it would be instructive to articulate this for our readers. Let’s imagine a hypothetical 35-year-old adult who was not getting enough sleep. After working diligently at it for 6 months he or she began to sleep well and got the requisite hours of sleep. How will this person’s life improve? Can you help articulate some of the benefits this person will see after starting to get enough sleep? Can you explain?

I thank you for this question because it wasn’t until after countless days, nights, and weekends working and traveling for work that it occurred to me that I’d never been asked about my sleep before. To the credit of my doctors and specialists, I was admitted for a stroke, not a sleeping disorder. I’ll speak to the changes I experienced since lifestyles and conditions can vary person by person.

Once I started making a consistent sleep and wake time a priority (particularly in the same time zone!), I found I was able to fall asleep faster and wake up feeling more refreshed. I also lost the acute pangs for caffeine and processed food when you’re exhausted. My mood and happiness dramatically improved, which my friends and family noticed. The dark circles around my eyes disappeared and my skin brightened up with color. I found I had more strength and energy throughout the day and in my workouts.

What I do and have found that works is:

• Prioritize with consistency: we all get 24 hours a day. I get 7–8 hours of sleep on a consistent schedule. For the other 16–17 hours, I focus on my top priorities for the day. This approach helps me not only wake up at 5 or 6am consistently but also focus on what truly matters.
• Unplug: beyond sleep, we need times during the day to “unplug” from our devices and work. My favorite ways are to exercise, take a walk, golf, and catch up with family and friends. Learning how to golf later in life — besides being incredibly humbling — has actually unlocked a new source of creativity for me.
• Follow a sleep ritual: ever since living in a hospital under cold bright lights, I’ve preferred soft lighting, particularly before bed. This has naturally become part of my sleep ritual. Research suggests that our circadian rhythms take cues from the intensity and timing of light to help us sleep and wake up.2 I also limit device time before sleep. A stack of want-to-read books on my nightstand serves as a reminder.

Many things provide benefits but they aren’t necessarily a priority. Should we make getting a good night’s sleep a major priority in our life? Can you explain what you mean?

Sleep, diet, and exercise are all important and interconnected for our wellness. The foundation is sleep. It was the basic human need I’d overlooked and underestimated. I learned my lesson the hard way.

Don’t just take it from me. According to Dr. Walker, “Sleep, unfortunately, is not an optional lifestyle luxury. Sleep is a non-negotiable biological necessity. It is your life support system.”3

The truth is that most of us know that it’s important to get better sleep. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the 3 main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives? How should we remove those obstacles?

Work culture. In her book, Sharing the Covers, Dr. Wendy Troxel states, “Our culture is steeped in this entrenched belief that more work is always better and that sacrificing sleep is a necessary, even noble feat in the pursuit of personal betterment and success.” This belief is “mortally misinformed,” she states, as insufficient sleep increases the likelihood of heart disease, stroke, weight gain, and depression4 amongst many other physical and mental issues. I agree with her and understand the pressures first-hand.

There’s no simple solution either. I believe all of us need to be part of the solution — both as buyers of goods and services and employees or business owners who produce those goods and services.

Technology: I love technology. I grew up in the 80s and was only allowed to binge watch cartoons for the one to two hours they’d run on Saturdays. Then I’d have to wait an entire week to find out how the stories continued. I also remember going to the library with my parents to borrow books for school assignments, sometimes only to read a book and find out it didn’t have the information I needed.

Technology has made these obstacles obsolete. We can binge watch anything we want for 24 hours a day. Google can offer us the answers to almost anything. Effectively, there’s so much competition for our minds and attention that it’s so easy to get sucked in with a simple tap. One more episode, email, DM, comment. These “one mores” add up. Without even knowing it, our sleep duration and quality have eroded. And over time, we just feel bad.

The most effective way to remove these new obstacles is by sticking with regular and consistent sleep times and leaving all obstacles (TVs, laptops, phones, other tech devices) out of the bedroom before sleep. The benefits can be life-altering. Try it for even just one week and see and how you feel.

Prioritization: Sleep is a basic human need. We simply must prioritize it. Without it, we won’t be around to participate in everything else.

Do you think getting “good sleep” is more difficult today than it was in the past?

I absolutely believe it’s harder. As I mentioned, we have so much information competing for our attention to the point we’re overwhelmed. That’s why I believe we need to prioritize for our own wellness and happiness. It doesn’t mean we need to turn into robots with strict sleep schedules. It simply means we need to make sure we’re investing in the rest, recovery, and renewal we need as human beings.

Ok. Here is the main question of our discussion. Can you please share “5 things you need to know to get the sleep you need and wake up refreshed and energized”? If you can, kindly share a story or example for each.

One: hydration. Do you drink enough water and stay hydrated each day?

Dehydration can affect not only your daily life and health but also your sleep quality. One study has found that sleep quality and hydration are linked.5 While the right level of water intake varies person by person, generally healthy people should aim for 4–6 cups according to Harvard Medical School.6 For optimal results, drink enough water throughout the day, kick the afternoon caffeine, and skip the tipple before bed.

Two: exercise. Do you move your body enough?

For the many people who sit and work at a computer and desk all day, you may find it difficult to doze off at nights. Of the many benefits of exercise and movement, one is better sleep. Even if you’re not able to get a full workout in for the day, don’t stay chained to your desk. Get up regularly to stretch your legs. Set reminders to make your body move. I love what I once heard from a chiropractor, “the best position for your body is the one it’s currently not in.”

Three: pre-sleep rituals. Do you unwind your mind before you go to bed?

Trying to sleep when your brain is stimulated is a real struggle. Have you ever struggled to fall asleep right after sending that last intense work email from your laptop or watching an episode of your new favorite show? A nightly ritual can help train your brain to expect sleep and be as simple as limiting device time and bright lights at least 30 minutes before bed. You also add to your routine by turning down the lights in the house, soaking in a warm bath, meditating, enjoying a cup of non-caffeinated tea.

Four: diet. Do the foods you eat or your diet rob you of sleep?

Some foods can harm and not help sleep: heavy high-fat meals, spicy dishes, and hidden caffeine in your delicious chocolate dessert, “decaf” coffee, and tea. Even some OTC and prescription drugs such as weight loss pills have caffeine in them. It’s worth reading the details to see if what you’re taking could be getting in the way of your sleep.

Five: pillows. Do you get the proper support you need from your pillow?

We spend about a third of our lives sleeping. Sleeping on supportive pillows can make a big difference in your sleep quality. To achieve the best sleep, you should be aligned horizontally with the mattress without having the head titled too much at an angle up, down, or to either side. Pillows that compress too much or are overfilled can cause our head, neck, and / or shoulders to come out of horizontal alignment with the body. This misalignment can lead to interrupted sleep and potentially substantial sleep deficits over time.

If it’s been over a year since you bought your pillow, ask yourself if it’s still working and giving you the support you need. Good diets require good food. Good fitness requires good workouts. Good sleep requires good pillows. Learn more about Hullwinkle and how it can help you sleep, live, and play better.

What would you advise someone who wakes up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back to sleep?

As we’ve been discussing, various factors can impact how we sleep. Stress, alcohol, and caffeine are common factors that can impair our sleep quality and duration.

If you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night and unable to fall back asleep, try not to panic. Take some deep breaths. If after about 15 minutes you’re lying in the dark or tossing and turning wide awake, get out of bed and head into a different room. Turn on a soft light and read a book, write in a journal or notebook, draw, or play some soft and relaxing music. When you start feeling sleepy again, head back to bed.

If your wakeups persist, you may want to speak with a specialist. Before you do, I’d recommend taking a personal audit of the following:

• Coffee: try limiting coffee to the morning only. Even if you’re one of those people who can fall asleep after some coffee or espresso at dinner, caffeine breaks down in the body over many hours. A late cup can impair your sleep, especially deep sleep.
• Alcohol: I’m not here to say stop going to happy hours or omit a lovely wine with dinner. Since alcohol does disrupt sleep and leads to poor sleep quality, drink in moderation and give your body days off.
• Stress: research shows that not getting enough rest7 and having too much stress8 are risk factors for stroke and other forms of heart disease. If you’re not already doing so, carve out some time to exercise or move your body during the day and try implementing one or two pre-sleep rituals before bed.

What are your thoughts about taking a nap during the day? Is that a good idea, or can it affect the ability to sleep well at night?

Lifestyles, ages, wellness, and environmental conditions vary person to person. My view is to listen to your body and do what’s right for you. If your body tells you it needs a tap, take one! I know people who take naps anywhere from 10-minute power naps to hour naps — some regularly, others occasionally. I’d recommend erring on the side of short power naps and not napping too late in the day so you can actually sleep at night.

Wonderful. We are nearly done. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Sara Blakely. Starting up and running a business is filled with highs, lows, and everything in between. I’m simply inspired by her story, impact, and energy. I also love that she uses her voice and influence in such beautiful and positive ways to help so many others.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

I encourage anyone reading to check out Hullwinkle at our site and learn how it might be able to help you or someone you love sleep better. You can also email us at hello@hullwinkle.com with questions. Be sure to mention you learned about Hullwinkle on Authority Magazine so we know you’re friends and family!

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!

Footnotes

1https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0215-enough-sleep.html

2https://health.clevelandclinic.org/light-night-can-interfere-sleep/

3https://www.npr.org/transcripts/964209001

4 https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/sleep.htm

5https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/42/2/zsy210/5155420?login=true

6https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-much-water-should-you-drink

7https://news.heart.org/sleep-important-to-heart-brain-health/

8https://health.clevelandclinic.org/stressed-work-may-higher-risk-stroke/