Showing Revision 5 created 09/02/2020 by Erin Gregory.

1. Title:
   6 tips for better sleep
2. Description:

   Want to not only fall asleep quickly but also stay asleep longer? Sleep scientist Matt Walker explains how your room temperature, lighting and other easy-to-fix factors can set the stage for a better night's rest.

3. Speaker:
   Matt Walker
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   We can all have a bad night of sleep
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   and that's perfectly normal,
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   but how could we try to improve
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   both the quantity
   and the quality of our sleep?
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   [Sleeping with Science]

   ¶

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   (Music)

   ¶

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    Here are six scientifically grounded tips

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    for better sleep.
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    The first tip is regularity.

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    Go to bed at the same time
    and wake up at the same time.
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    Regularity is king,
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    and it will actually anchor your sleep
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    and improve both
    the quantity and the quality,
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    no matter whether
    it's the weekday or the weekend
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    or even if you've had
    a bad night of sleep.
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    And the reason is
    because deep within your brain,
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    you actually have a master 24-hour clock.
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    It expects regularity
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    and works best under
    conditions of regularity,
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    including the control
    of your sleep-wake schedule.
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    Many of us use an alarm to wake up
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    but very few of us use a to-bed alarm,
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    and that's something that can be helpful.
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    The next tip is temperature.

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    Keep it cool.
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    It turns out that your brain and your body
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    need to drop their core temperature
    by about one degree Celsius
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    or around two to three degrees Fahrenheit
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    in order to initiate sleep
    and then to stay asleep.
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    And this is the reason
    that you will always find it easier
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    to fall asleep in a room
    that's too cold than too hot.
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    So, the current recommendation
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    is to aim for a bedroom temperature
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    of around about 65 degrees Fahrenheit,
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    or a little over 18 degrees Celsius.
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    It sounds cold but cold it must be.
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    The next tip is darkness.

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    We are a dark-deprived society
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    and, in fact, we need darkness
    specifically in the evening
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    to trigger the release
    of a hormone called melatonin.
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    And melatonin helps regulate
    the healthy timing of our sleep.
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    In the last hour before bed,
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    try to stay away from all
    of those computer screens
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    and tablets and phones.
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    Dim down half the lights in your house.
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    You'd actually be quite surprised
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    at how sleepy that can make you feel.
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    If you'd like, you can wear an eye mask
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    or you can have blackout shades
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    and that will help best regulate
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    that critical sleep hormone of melatonin.
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    The next tip is walk it out.

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    Don't stay in bed awake
    for long periods of time.
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    And the general rule of thumb
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    is if you've been trying to fall asleep
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    and it's been 25 minutes or so,
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    or you've woken up
    and you can't get back to sleep
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    after 25 minutes,
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    the recommendation is to get out of bed
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    and go and do something different.
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    And the reason is because your brain
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    is an incredibly associative device.
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    The brain has learned the association
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    that the bed is this trigger
    of wakefulness,
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    and we need to break that association.
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    And by getting out of bed,
    you can go and do something else.
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    Only return to bed when you're sleepy.
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    And in that way, gradually,
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    your brain will relearn the association
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    that your bed is this place
    of sound and consistent sleep.
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    The fifth tip is something
    that we've actually

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    already spoken about
    in detail in this series,
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    which is the impact
    of alcohol and caffeine.
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    So, a good rule of thumb here
    is to try to stay away
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    from caffeine in the afternoon
    and in the evening
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    and certainly try
    not to go to bed too tipsy.
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    The final tip: have a wind-down routine.

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    I think many of us in the modern world,
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    we expect to be able
    to dive into bed at night,
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    switch off the light,
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    and we think that sleep
    is also just like a light switch,
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    that we should immediately
    be able to fall asleep.
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    Well, unfortunately,
    sleep isn't quite like that
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    for most of us.
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    Sleep, as a physiological process,
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    is much more similar to landing a plane.
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    It takes time for your brain
    to gradually descend down
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    onto the firm bedrock of good sleep.
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    In the last 20 minutes before bed
    or the last half an hour,
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    even the last hour,
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    disengage from your computer
    and your phone
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    and try to do something relaxing.
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    Find out whatever works for you
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    and when you have found it,
    stick to that routine.
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    The last thing I should note

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    is that if you are suffering
    from a sleep disorder,
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     for example, from insomnia or sleep apnea,
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     then these tips aren't necessarily
     going to help you.
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     If I was your sports coach,
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     I could give you all of these tips
     to improve your performance,
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     but if you have a broken ankle,
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     it's not going to make a difference.
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     We have to treat the broken ankle first
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     before we can get back to improving
     the quality of your performance.
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     And it's the same way with sleep.
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     So, if you think
     you have a sleep disorder,
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     just go and speak with your doctor.
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     That's the best piece of advice.
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     Where do we stand, then,

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     in all of this conversation about sleep?
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     Well, I think the evidence is clear.
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     We can think of sleep
     almost like a life-support system.
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     In fact, some may even
     call sleep a super power.