3442: Sleep Better - How To Build A PM Routine by Bret Gornik of Live Better Co on Nighttime Routines

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[00:00:30] This is Optimal Health Daily. Sleep Better. How To Build A PM Routine by Bret Gornik of LiveBetterCo.org. And I'm your host and narrator, Dr. Neal Malik. Hey there, happy middle of the week Wednesday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily, where I read some of the best health and fitness blogs to you, and always with a bit of my commentary at the end. Now, like I do most Wednesdays, I want to provide you with a little bit of inspiration. Now, today's inspirational quote is a bit longer, so bear with me.

[00:01:00] Quote, the distance between repeated failure and enduring successful change is not marked by personal fortitude or determination. It's not a referendum on your personal worth. Even with amazing stamina, you can still fail. Instead, you cover that distance through simple steps that meet your long-term goals. Dr. Wendy Wood, author of Good Habits, Bad Habits, The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick.

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[00:02:01] Sleep Better, How to Build a PM Routine, by Brett Gornick of livebetterco.org. Why is it that we spend all day trying to hype ourselves up for more energy, more productivity, and more life, and then assume when our head hits the pillow, we'll magically drift into a perfect sleep? We're overstimulated, over-caffeinated, and overwhelmed. So it makes perfect sense why we are underslept, right?

[00:02:31] We're not going to toss a magic bullet for better sleep. It's different for everyone. And no, sleeping pills are not a good solution. We want healthy, habit-forming strategies for better sleep. Because after all, sleep is the best performance-enhancing drug there is. There may be no better, more fleeting of feeling than a good night's rest. Waking up on the right side of the bed at the top of a sleep cycle,

[00:02:58] ready to crush the day, is an incredible way to start the day. Setting yourself up for success. First, in order to get more of these mornings that I just described, our goal is to prepare ourselves for sleep by giving ourselves the best opportunity for good sleep to occur. If someone's head hits the pillow at 11 p.m. and you need to wake up at 5 a.m., do they even give themselves the opportunity for ample sleep? No.

[00:03:25] So, if you're the person sitting there listening to this complaining about how you don't have time, you are the one not making time. Similarly, we recommend to look at your calendar and write down your priorities. If it's important, you'll do it. There will be nights where sacrifice is necessary to get something done or an emergency arises. This isn't what we're after.

[00:03:49] We're after long-term, sustainable down-regulation practices to help you prepare for sleep. 5. Better Sleep Strategies For future reference, here are 5 quick but not cliche strategies to hit bedtime better, working backwards from sleep to the first step. 1. Make your bed a place for sleep and nothing else.

[00:04:14] Setting aside the obvious social practices that also may take place in your bed, it should be used for nothing else. Not reading, not watching TV, not checking email, not scrolling social media, not editing photos, not taking a work Zoom call, nothing. Your brain needs to remember what your bed is for. 2. Take 5. Down-regulation Prep Try the following script.

[00:04:42] Next to your bed, throw your legs up the wall at a 70-90 degree angle, depending on your comfort and flexibility, with your back flat on the floor. Place your right hand on your chest and left hand on your belly, and breathe through your nose and into your belly for 5 minutes. Set a timer. Then, get up and hop into bed. The lights should already be off. 3. 5-Minute Brain Dump

[00:05:10] For 5 minutes, write down on a note card all the things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Anything lingering on your mind? Write it down. Don't let it rattle around in your brain while it's horizontal on the pillow. 4. Track Your Caffeine Intake If you consume caffeine, track your daily intake, including the timing of doses. If you drink coffee after 3 or 4 p.m., it's either not doing what you intended to do,

[00:05:39] or you're going to be wired at bedtime. The half-life of caffeine is said to be about 5 hours. So, drink it early and then stop. And 5. Work Backwards for Better Timing When do you need to wake up tomorrow morning? How many hours of sleep, ideally, work for you? Work backwards to find your bedtime, meaning time you fall asleep. Then, track how long it takes you to get to sleep.

[00:06:07] Lastly, set up your evening to enter this time in bed as relaxed and stress-free as possible. Do not expect to hot-dock your entry to bed and get into that deep REM sleep immediately. Good sleep takes preparation. Ultimately, good sleep takes preparation. Changing your sleep habits takes even longer. Do not expect changes in the first week after a lifetime of doing things a different way.

[00:06:34] If checking Instagram in your bed is the only time you can, try moving that practice out to a different room or even on the floor before you get into bed. In short, the goal is control of our stimulation and control of our down-regulation. We decide when to flip the switch on and off. The best day ever starts with a great night's sleep.

[00:07:02] You just listened to the post titled, Sleep Better, How to Build a PM Routine by Brett Gornick of livebetterco.org. And I'll be right back with my commentary. When summer rolls around, I sweat just thinking about how heavy my clothes are. This year, I finally fixed that thanks to Quince. They make high-quality essentials that look and feel amazing with breathable linen and soft organic cotton without the luxury markup. Their European linen pants and shirts are the perfect warm-weather upgrade,

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[00:09:21] Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Dr. Neal Malik here for my commentary. In my experience, something that people struggle with is Brett's first step. Making the bed a place for sleep and nothing else besides the other social practice. The brain can absolutely associate the bed with sleep. I'll give you a non-sleep example that will hopefully prove my point. It's unpleasant, but I think it'll be effective, so bear with me.

[00:09:49] Do you remember the last time you had food poisoning or experienced those kinds of symptoms? Now, do you remember what you ate right before? I'm willing to guess you probably do. I'm also going to guess that if you really think about that last meal, you know, the one you ate before you got sick, it will make you start to feel sick again. The brain has created an association between that meal and those awful feelings you experienced. At some point, the body starts to believe the brain.

[00:10:19] Just thinking of that food can make you experience real physical symptoms like feeling sick. Now, the brain does this with lots of other things too, like our bed and sleep. If we train the brain to associate our beds with sleep and the other thing only, and not surfing the web, watching TV, catching up on work, and so on, it may make it more likely that we'll actually fall asleep and stay asleep when we crawl into bed.

[00:10:49] It's creating that association between the brain and the body. All right, that does it for me for today. I hope you have a great rest of your day, and I'll see you back here for tomorrow's show where your optimal life awaits. All right, let's see you back. Thank you.