Trouble Sleeping? 12 Expert Tips

This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in August of 2022. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Wx-spTHHI

Bob: Matthew Walker wrote the book, “Why We Sleep.” In it, he gives 12 expert tips on how to sleep.

Brad: Oh, good, I know why we sleep. It’s because we’re tired.

Bob: Yeah, that’s true.

Brad: Anyways, I hope that’s one chapter out of the way, but these 12 tips should be helpful.

Bob: This is the most important tip. He said you must stick to a schedule. That’s hard on the weekends.

Brad: Right.

Bob: I mean, I know.

Brad: Even the strong ends. You have an event coming up, time slips away.

Bob: I vary. Sometimes I’ll go as much as two hours off, but that’s rare. I still get up at like six in the morning.

Brad: Yeah, you can go to bed at three in the morning and you’ll still get up at six.

Bob: Right. It really helps if you stick to a schedule, your body gets used to it and you get that rhythm going.

Brad: It’s probably more because of age, does he say if age affects it?

Bob: Yeah, it does.

Brad: It just seems like when you’re younger you can through things around and not worry about it.

Bob: Right. When you’re old, it’s a problem. Exercise is great, Brad, but don’t do it too close to bedtime. Give yourself two to three hours before. I cut that close.

Brad: It doesn’t matter what kind of exercise whether it’s lifting or aerobic exercise.

Bob: Nope. Number three is our tip, we say get a comfortable bed.

Brad: Ah, the mattress. I have a mattress that I like very much. It happens to be the SleepOvation mattress. When I go to a hotel or whatever, life changes. I wake up at night, my shoulders are sore because I'm sleeping on my shoulder.

Bob: Your back is sore.

Brad: My back is sore, and I just don’t sleep well.

Bob: This mattress has 700 tiny mattresses, and it has airflow tunnels to keep you

cool.

Brad: One way or another get a mattress that you are comfortable with.

Bob: This one is obvious, but you want to avoid caffeine and nicotine. What is not obvious is how long it lasts in your system. They can last like eight hours. If you have a cup of coffee in the early afternoon, it could affect how you sleep.

Brad: As a matter of fact, we have a video of that by Chris the pharmacist. He looked up some scientific data on the half-life of how long it takes.

Bob: Coffee, colas, certain teas, and chocolate.

Brad: That’s a tough one. If I have dark chocolate in the house, I like to eat it.

Bob: Number five, avoid alcoholic drinks right before bed. It does help you relax but then it robs you of REM sleep.

Brad: Oh yeah, you must have the REM.

Bob: It can also impair your breathing, which I know from my brother, when he comes over, he drinks. He snores a lot and normally he doesn’t.

Brad: Then the whole cabin is up.

Bob: Right. Watch those drinks. Number six, avoid large meals and beverages late at night. It can cause indigestion, which interferes with sleep.

Brad: It also makes you fat.

Bob: Yep, that’s right.

Brad: So, win, win situation.

Bob: You’re not going to wear it off. Number seven, there are medications that can interfere with sleep. If you must take them, see if you can take them in the morning or early afternoon. That’s just a scheduling issue.

Brad: Talk to your doctor or pharmacist and you’ll get your information.

Bob: Number eight. Don’t take naps after 3:00 PM. This is a problem for me because I’ll read at like seven o’clock at night and I’m nodding off. I try to stay awake because I do sleep better if I don’t take a nap late.

Brad: That’s the deal. You can’t exercise because that will wake you up and you can’t read because that will put you to sleep. For some of these, you must work with your schedule, don’t you?

Bob: Right. Number nine. Relax before bed. This happened to me, Brad, I was doing intense work right up until I went to bed.

Brad: What were you doing?

Bob: Computer work. I got in bed after and I’m still going.

Brad: Yeah, things are still grinding.

Bob: It was a terrible sleep. Calm down before bed. Number 10, It helps to take a hot bath before bed because after you get out of the bath, your body cools down and it gets ready for sleep.

Brad: What about a hot shower?

Bob: That works, too.

Brad: If I take a hot bath, I might fall asleep in the bathtub. I’d be tired that time of

day.

Bob: Number 11, dark bedroom, cool bedroom, and gadget-free bedroom. So, no computers, no phones, and get off the blue light.

Brad: Right. All those things have that blue light, and it gets your serotonin going.

Bob: Right, everything is fired up.

Brad: However, you can have a fan for white noise.

Bob: Yes, and the temp should be 65 or less. Is that cool?

Brad: Well, I get cold sometimes with the fan going on. You must position things right.

Bob: Number 12. This is amazing to me how important this is, to have the right sunlight exposure. You want to have exposure to sunlight when you first wake up and when you get close to bedtime, you want to avoid lights.

Brad: But you can get sunset light if you walk outside.

Bob: Right, that’s fine. Avoid blue light. You can have red lights.

Brad: Pretty much any light bulb, they all produce blue light. You can get those glasses to wear in the house that will filter out the blue light.

Bob: My daughter wears those and it helps her a lot.

Brad: You must get the good ones. They filter out the proper frequency light. Don’t get the cheap ones at the dollar store.

Bob: All right, that’s it. The dirty dozen. We gave them to dirty and fast and hopefully, you’ll better the sleep.

Brad: Yeah, I’m sure there’s probably two or three of those that you weren’t aware of or you’ll try and you’ll say, “Oh wow. If I knew this years ago...”

Bob: Schedule! One of the important things. Thanks!

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