‘Why We Sleep’ healthy activities
12 Tips for Healthy Sleep — Why We Sleep Appendix summary
Great podcasts featuring Matthew Walker discussing the book
12 Tips for Healthy Sleep — Why We Sleep Appendix
Stick to a sleep schedule
Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day (sleeping later on weekends will not make up for weekdays and will make Monday harder)
Activity: Set an alarm for bedtime (just like wake up) — Ideally 8+ hours before your morning alarm
Limit exercise before bedtime
Shoot for at least 30 min of exercise on most days (for healthy sleep) but try to complete the workout 2 or more hours before bedtime
Activity: End workouts 120 minutes before bedtime alarm
Avoid Caffeine & Nicotine
Coffee, Tea and Chocolate all contain caffeine and can take 8 hours to wear off depending on genetic variants that influence how your body handles caffeine. [1] Nicotine is also a stimulant.
Activity: Start limiting caffeine 8 hours before your scheduled bedtime
Avoid alcohol before bed
May help go to bed but Alcohol robs you of REM sleep. May impair breathing. Tend to wake up when the alcohol wears off in the middle of the night
Activity: Pick 3 nights next week to skip alcohol before bed to test the impact on your sleep
Avoid large meal and liquids before bed
Large meals take energy to digest, going to bed before this may cause indigestion. Liquids may cause you to wake up to urinate in the middle of the night
Activity: Stop eating or drinking 60 minutes before bed as part of your routine
Avoid medicines that delay or impair sleep
Asprin, Over the counter cough and illness medications, can impact the ability to sleep and also the quality of sleep
Activity: Try to sleep without medication 3 times this week
Naps make falling asleep and staying asleep harder
Midday naps can help make up for lost sleep from the night before but naps after 3 pm make it harder to fall and stay asleep
Activity: Pick 3 days this week to skip your nap and potentially go to bed earlier
Take a hot bath before bed
Drop-in body temp after exit bath helps to feel more sleepy. Additionally, a bath can help to relax and unwind the mind.
Activity: Try to take a hot bath after dinner and before bed once
Dark, Cool, gadget-free bedroom
Get rid of anything that might distract you from falling asleep or prevent you from falling back asleep if you wake up in the middle of the night. TVs, Clocks, and most importantly mobile phones are all distracting in the bedroom.
Activity: Try a Screen-free bedroom for 30 minutes before bed 3 times
Sunlight Exposure
Try to get 30 min outdoors w/light each day. Wake up with sun, open windows, go outside, bright lights in the AM, turn downlights in the evening.
Activity: Walk for 15 minutes in the AM twice
Don’t lay awake in bed
If you are still awake after 20 min, get up and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy again.
Activity: After 20 minutes of being awake in the middle of the night, go to the couch and do something calming — Meditate, listen to music or a podcast, read a book.
Tracking Sleep
A great way to track your sleep is to use an app or fitness tracker. Examples include Sleep Cycle App, Apple Watch, Fitbit, Whoop and my favorite sleep tracking device the Oura Ring.
If you want to be part of our Qualitative Health beta and work on improving sleep please apply and use ‘whywesleep’ as the referral and we will let you test out the Oura Ring for 30 days.
Sample Weekly Sleep Activities
