Do you struggle with sleep or feel like rest is always just out of reach? This episode dives into the essential role that quality sleep plays in our health, energy, and productivity. Join Dr. Wendy Bazilian to explore the science of sleep, how it impacts everything from our metabolism to mood, and why sleep is a powerful investment in ourselves. You’ll discover simple, practical tips for better sleep hygiene, such as creating a sleep-friendly environment and enjoying foods that support a healthy circadian rhythm, and take part in a mindful minute exercise to release stress from the day. Together, let’s embrace small, intentional changes that can make a significant impact on how we feel in our waking minutes because when we reclaim our rest, we thrive.

FROM THE EPISODE

Have there been times when you have had less sleep, less sleep than you need and actually started craving things and sort of curious later, like why am I gravitating toward that food? It has to do with sleep and our hormones.

WE DISCUSS:

(10:31) Why sleep is the ‘golden chain’ that ties health and our bodies together’

(15:56) Science-backed ROI: How sleep impacts appetite hormones, weight management, blood sugar, metabolism, longevity, and more

(24:51) Foods that can help promote a healthy sleep cycle

(27:49) Storytime: The ‘worry tree’ and letting go of stress

(30:36) A mindful minute inspired by the 'worry tree' and creating space for rest and renewal

(33:45) Practical tips for better sleep hygiene with a three-step approach for better sleep 

(44:57) A question to ponder and reflect on

(45:40) Closing remarks and gratitude to my incredible team and you!

CONNECT WITH WENDY:

Follow on Instagram: @1000WakingMinutes

Visit the website: wendybazilian.com

Email me: 1KWM@wendybazilian.com

PLEASE SUPPORT:

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Join the conversation! Share your thoughts or questions by visiting wendybazilian.com or connecting on social media.

Thank you for tuning in to 1,000 Waking Minutes and being part of this journey—together. A huge thank you to our amazing collaborators including our production and marketing teams, and Gabriela Escalante in particular. To the ultra-talented Beza for my theme music, my lifelong friend and artist Pearl Preis Photography and Design, to Danielle Ballantyne, Jen Nguyen, Joanna Powell, and of course, my family and everyone working tirelessly behind the scenes.

HEALTH DISCLAIMER:

The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be considered individual medical or health advice. Always consult with your trusted healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or medical treatment.

REFERENCES:

Please write me if you're interested in any of the studies mentioned in the episode. 1KWM@wendybazilian.com

Welcome to 1,000 Waking Minutes.

This weekend, we spring forward

for Daylight Savings Time, which

means we set the clocks

ahead.

And for most of us,

that unfortunately means losing an

hour of sleep.

While the wonderful return to

later sunsets, I do love

that.

And it's something that most

of us enjoy.

In fact, two-thirds of

Americans would prefer to eliminate

daylight savings altogether.

But the fact is, here

we are again.

And though it's just one

hour, research has shown it's

enough to throw us off

in very real ways.

There's more car accidents and

workplace mistakes reported at this

time.

And even increased heart-related

events occur, like heart attack

and stroke.

And many of us just

feel a little more sluggish

or off-balance for days.

And some even report weeks

after this change.

If you're already someone who

struggles with getting enough sleep,

whether through a demanding schedule,

a restless mind, or just

the natural shifts and changing

seasons of life, this seemingly

small change can feel like

an even bigger challenge.

So today I wanted to

bring back one of the

most popular episodes of 1,000

Waking Minutes in my still

relatively short tenure here as

your podcast host.

But it's an episode all

about the power of sleep.

Because sleep isn't just about

rest.

It's about how we think,

feel, perform, and thrive in

our waking minutes.

So we will look into

why rest is so essential

to our waking minutes.

And how sleep impacts everything

from mood and memory to

metabolism and heart health.

And of course, I sprinkle

in some practical ways to

set yourself up for better

sleep, even in our productive

and busy and meaningful lives.

And on this important topic

of sleep, an interesting study

came across my desk in

just the past two weeks

that I thought I'd share.

It was published in the

Journal of the American Heart

Association.

And it looked at what

happens when people eat one

avocado every day for 26

weeks or half a year.

Using the tool from the

American Heart Association called the

Life's Essential Eight, a tool

of eight factors, the researchers

tracked several key health markers

like diet quality, blood lipids,

and interestingly, sleep health.

They found that there was

a statistically significant improvement in

the sleep score, something that

measures both sleep quality and

duration, in the participants who

ate an avocado daily.

So we've seen studies before

linking certain foods like tart

cherries and kiwi, which I

mentioned in the episode today,

to better sleep, primarily because

they're sources of melatonin.

But what makes this study

stand out is that it

looked at a whole food,

avocado in this case, not

just for heart health, but

for its impact on sleep

and within the bigger picture

of cardiovascular well-being.

So if you love your

avocado toast or guacamole, I

certainly do, or even an

avocado chocolate mousse, which by

the way, I have a

great recipe.

I'm happy to send you.

Maybe just don't eat it

right before bed.

Not because of the avocado,

but because the chocolate.

But this sort of further

validates and adds another layer

to the conversation about how

our food choices influence our

overall health.

And in this case, our

sleep.

And it's really cool and

perhaps ways that are beyond

what we typically think.

So before we get into

this episode, I want you

to be considering all along,

how is your sleep really?

Do you wake up feeling

refreshed or are you running

on empty most days?

So as you listen to

it, you know, think about

what's one small shift you

could make to create more

restful nights and more energized,

fulfilling days, your waking minutes,

making those more impactful.

So I wish you a

smooth transition into our longer

days and daylight and into

better health.

I'm so appreciative for you

listening to this, but most

importantly for us pursuing our

health journeys here together as

a community.

Enjoy the episode.

I'm so glad you're here.

We experience 1,000 waking minutes

on average every day.

How are you spending yours?

I'm Dr. Wendy Bazilian and

you're listening to 1,000 Waking

Minutes.

I can't wait to connect

with you here with practical

ways to eat well, move

daily and be healthy to

optimize every waking minute you

live for a happier, healthier

life.

Thank you for sharing some

of your waking minutes with

me today.

Let's get started.

To better days, yes.

I'm on my way, yes.

It's gonna be okay, yeah.

Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum,

bum, bum, bum, bum, bum,

bum, bum.

Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum,

bum, bum, bum, bum, bum,

bum, bum.

Mr. Sandman, bring me a

dream.

Do you remember that song?

It rolls out of my

head, just those notes up

the cord getting started.

And if that's any indication

of what we're talking about

today, then you are right.

Welcome back to 1,000 Waking

Minutes.

I'm Dr. Wendy Bazilian, your

host.

And if you're new here,

I'm so glad you found

us.

And for those of you

who've been with me for

a while now, thank you

for sticking around.

Because guess what?

We're already on episode eight

today.

And I have heard, as

I was planning and thinking

about starting a podcast, that

many podcasters apparently quit after

episode seven.

So guess what?

We're just getting started.

I'm so excited.

Anyway, today we're talking about

something that doesn't always get

the credit it deserves.

And that is sleep.

This podcast is called 1,000

Waking Minutes.

But in a 24-hour

period, we have 1,440

minutes in a day.

440 of those minutes, or

about seven to eight hours,

are meant for rest.

And the rest of our

1,000 waking minutes will feel

a whole lot better if

you make time for rest.

So this topic is always

important, given that we spend

nearly a third of our

lives sleeping.

But particularly now, as daylight

savings ends, it's a perfect

time to chat about sleep.

Shifting the clocks, we call

it falling back, as we

might say, it might give

us the extra hour of

day time because of the

nature of what we do

to the clock.

But it also throws off

our rhythm.

And I know I'm not

the only one who feels

a little off balance for

a couple days after that

time change.

This time of year is

also busy for a lot

of us, as we start

to feel the strain of

that fourth quarter.

We're heading into the holidays.

We're balancing our work deadlines.

We're juggling family life and

family gatherings.

And it can get overwhelming

if we're not careful.

That's why today's episode isn't

about perfect sleep.

It's about small real-life

changes to get better sleep,

a little bit better, and

things we can do right

now to help us feel

more rested, more productive, more

connected, and more energized during

our 1,000 waking minutes

we have every day.

So here's something funny.

Thomas Edison, the man who

gave us electric light and

literally changed how we spend

our nights, enlightened, thought that

sleep was a waste of

time.

He thought it was a

relic from our cave days.

He bragged about getting only

three to four hours of

sleep a night.

But here's the thing.

Edison napped all the time.

His assistants and students apparently

outed him on this.

He couldn't even out-invent

biology, and neither can we.

And that's the truth about

sleep.

You can't out-work or

out-think it.

Believe me, I've tried.

You've probably tried at times.

For years, we took the

red eye on the West

Coast at the end of

a work day, overnight, and

tried to get off and

running, fresh start.

No one would miss us

because, you know, everyone in

the United States was sleeping

during that time and get

off and running, trying to

juggle work and life and

everything in between.

As a parent, and if

you're a caregiver for younger

or older individuals, you can

understand how hard it is

to fit sleep in at

times.

And if you're ambitious and

you've got goals, you probably,

you know, get excited, and

it can be hard to

sleep for a variety of

reasons.

It's certainly tough.

But I also know how

crucial it is to make

time for it.

Good thing is I have

always loved a good, productive

nap.

That and some other practices

have helped keep me energized

and healthy over time.

So this episode of

1,000 Waking Minutes is about

reclaiming some of those 440

minutes that we devote to

sleep so we can feel

sharper and healthier and find

our days more fulfilling and

our choices easier to make,

frankly.

There's a beautiful quote by

Thomas Decker, the 17th century

playwright, that sort of sums

up what we're talking about.

And I'm going to come

back to him and a

poem that he wrote later

in the episode.

But he said, "Sleep is

the golden chain that ties

health and our bodies together."

So one thing I want

to get fully entrenched in

you by the end of

this episode is just how

critical sleep is to our

productive life, particularly our health.

And sleep isn't a waste

of time.

In fact, we've been talking

about its connection for centuries.

But modern science just in

the last few decades has

really started to emerge to

show us how and why

it's so critical to our

biological health and how well

we age.

This is an investment that

helps everything else run smoother

during our restful and our

waking minutes of the day.

So let's dive into some

of the science-backed reasons

why these 440 minutes of

sleep are essential and how

reclaiming them can make all

the difference.

And this is what I

call the ROI, the returns

on investment or benefits of

getting adequate sleep.

So I've got a little

story about a good friend

of mine and a mentor,

a member of my doctoral

advisory committee actually for my

dissertation, a brilliant nutrition researcher

who's published hundreds of important

papers about nutrition and health,

one particularly notable, a landmark

study connecting nuts, particularly walnuts,

and cardiovascular health.

Well, he would tell a

story, and this is my

version of his story, that

when he first moved from

Spain, where he hails from,

to California many years ago,

he was already in a

pattern, a cultural pattern of

siestas, and he felt an

important part of his life.

But he found pretty quickly

that his siesta ritual, his

cherished midday rest, wasn't exactly

welcomed with open arms here

in the U.S. And

I'm adding a little bit

of my own embellishments to

this story, but I have

a pretty good recollection having

heard him tell me it

a couple different times over

the years.

And because I totally already

valued the power of a

power nap and how clear

and productive I felt after

taking one.

But not everyone understood, and

there wasn't sort of the

science and the growing support,

and I would say that

in some areas, there still

isn't sort of the understanding

and value of how important

sleep is, which I'm hoping

to convince you of today.

Well, as I recall, his

colleague's response ranged from funny

looks to curiosity to quiet

judgment on this idea of

a siesta.

Being very clever as an

individual and always sort of

being able to read the

room, I would say he

would muse that he would

call it something different.

He started calling his siestas

his zen yoga or zen

meditation and said sort of

just like that, no one

hardly even batted an eye

moving forward.

I always got such a

kick out of this idea

of sort of reframing something

that you wanted to do.

He was super highly productive,

had a massive teaching schedule,

was publishing day over day

and involved in leading primary

investigations on diet and health,

and still he had to

sort of find a way

to communicate his desire, his

need for that time, that

midday siesta.

Us being Southern California, we

were a little bit more

open.

It's already part of the

language, yoga and meditation.

It's become part of our

terminology, and so it worked.

But I want to underscore

here and ahead, sleep and

rest is never a sign

of weakness or being unproductive.

Sleep is a universal need.

It's a basic need.

It's not only about turning

down our temperature, putting our

bodies to rest.

It's about restoration.

It's about health, as you

will see.

The idea that we should

somehow be proud about lost

sleep, maybe you've run into

individuals who said, sort of

proudly stated, almost like competitively,

how little sleep they've gotten.

Well, I think it's a

bit of nonsense, and it's

sort of gotten us buried

in this cultural language of

success and competition being measured

by how much we can

suffer to live.

And when we sleep well,

we actually live better.

That's the reality.

So perhaps we can think

of it as powering down

to power back up, to

getting those recharges, whether it's

through a nap or working

toward getting more efficient, effective,

and restful sleep at night.

All right, so let's get

into the science, because sleep

isn't just the downtime.

It's essential maintenance and restoration

for everything from your metabolism

to your memory.

First, one benefit, weight management

and appetite, hormone control and

regulation.

In a study out of

the University of Chicago, researchers

found that people who missed

out on sleep craved snacks

with twice the fat content

as those who got eight

hours of rest.

So think about it.

Have there been times when

you have had less sleep

than you need and actually

started craving things and sort

of curious later, like, why

am I gravitating toward that

food?

It has to do with

sleep and our hormones.

It's not just that we're

looking for energy.

We have two important hormones

that are playing tug of

war commonly in our body.

And when we're low on

sleep, these two hormones are

called ghrelin and leptin.

They sort of get sluggish.

They get crisscrossed.

They don't operate properly.

Ghrelin is which tells you

to eat.

It goes up when you're

low on sleep.

It says eat more.

Why?

Probably because our ancestors probably

had to keep going and

stay awake to move to

find more food or to

get where they need to

go or outrun.

They probably needed it for

that reason.

But now the result is

that when we're low on

sleep, our ghrelin still goes

up, but it commands us

during our waking hours to

eat more.

Leptin is another hormone which

tells your body that you're

full, you're satisfied.

And it just doesn't show

up for the job the

same when you're low on

sleep.

It goes down when you're

awake and are low on

sleep.

So those late night munchies

you get or wondering why

you crave cookies at midnight

or after a rough day

or rough night or midday

even the next day is

likely associated at least in

part with the quality of

your sleep.

It's not just in your

head.

It's literally your body trying

to fuel up, trying to

make sense of this little

bit of deprivation that's incremental

over time.

Poor sleep also makes it

easier to store the food

that you eat as fat,

unfortunately.

And research has supported that.

So it's sort of like

a double whammy.

Not only are you getting

all signals to eat more,

you're not getting the signal

to stop and your body

set up to go store

those extra calories easier than

it would otherwise as fat.

Benefit number two, better blood

sugar regulation and impact on

diabetes risk.

In fact, better sleep, lower

diabetes risk.

Poorer sleep increases diabetes risk.

So sleep plays a big

role in blood sugar control.

In fact, they're sort of

besties, this idea of blood

sugar and sleep for our

body.

One affects the other.

When one is off, the

other literally struggles.

A 2020 study published in

the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology

and Metabolism found that even

a few nights of poor

sleep raises your hemoglobin A1C

levels.

That's a marker of your

blood sugar and how it

is running over the course

of a three-month or

approximately 90-day span.

Without quality sleep, your insulin

regulation goes haywire for the

next day and ongoing, and

it makes you also feel

tired and cranky.

You're not putting the sugar

where it needs to go

to make the energy.

Plus, your blood sugar goes

up, your regulation goes down,

and it sets us up

for a lot of problems,

not to mention increased risk

if you're at risk for

diabetes, more increased risk of

prediabetes and diabetes.

So think of it like

this.

If you're not getting enough

sleep, your body struggles to

process the sugar efficiently during

the day for energy, leading

then to a dreaded sugar

crash.

So again, it becomes this

big, messy cycle.

Another very recently published study

of more than 84,000

participants conducted by the Brigham

and Women's Hospital found that

even minor inconsistencies in your

sleep pattern, like shifting your

bedtime by an hour, can

contribute to health risks.

Now, this is something that

a lot of us are

likely to do at times.

It found that individuals with

the most irregular sleep durations

faced a 34% higher

risk of developing type 2

diabetes.

This is another reason why

you may have heard before,

but having consistent sleep routines,

including the weekends, may be

more beneficial to health.

This research highlights the metabolic

consequences of inconsistent sleep durations

and schedules.

This was published in Diabetes

Care just recently, several months

ago.

So this study reinforces the

ROIs and the importance of

maintaining consistent sleep for all

the other benefits I'm going

to say.

Even small shifts in your

bedtime can have longer-term

effects, making regular and quality

sleep super important for how

you will live your

1,000 waking minutes day after

day.

The third benefit is improvements

on cognitive performance and decision

-making.

Have you ever felt like

you're absolutely running on empty

after a bad night of

sleep?

I have.

That's not just your imagination,

for sure.

And here's the kicker.

Harvard Medical School researchers found

that being sleep-deprived slows

down your reaction time as

much, if not more, than

being legally intoxicated.

Let me say that again.

Being sleep-deprived slows down

your reaction time as much,

if not more, than being

legally intoxicated.

So this isn't just about

feeling groggy.

It's about how you show

up in life, really.

And fatigue itself has been

shown to impair motor function,

affects our sense of timing,

whether you're an athlete looking

for a performance edge or

someone trying to excel at

a project at work or

maybe just getting through the

day without another cup of

coffee to try to stimulate

you.

And I've been there, too.

Good sleep sharpens your decision

-making, your focus, and your

performance.

And it's measurable.

A fourth benefit is mental

health and mood.

Mental health, something we all

know is tied to how

we sleep already, plays a

huge role in our mood.

Studies show that even mild

sleep deprivation can lead to

irritability, depression, or just being

edgy, you know, that place

where you just can't shake

it.

You feel like you're just

on edge.

That's because sleep is essential

to our well-being and

to regulating, helping us regulate

our emotions and our mood.

In one review in the

journal Sleep Health, researchers noted

that people who improved their

sleep habits saw measurable improvements

in anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Another benefit is immune function

and longevity.

Sleep plays a huge role

in supporting a healthy immune

system.

If you've ever had that,

like, rundown feeling after too

many sleepless nights where you're

just not getting, you know,

enough sleep on a many

-day basis, or if you've

actually pulled an all-nighter,

and then suddenly you get

a terrible cold, it's like

adding insult to injury, and

you're like, why now?

You just made it through,

you thought.

Well, this isn't a coincidence.

There's actually research from the

journal Nature Communications that showed

that people who sleep less

than six hours a night

are four times more likely

to catch a cold than

those getting a full night's

rest, those 440 minutes on

average.

And why is that?

Well, because sleep is more

than rest.

It's more than catching a

few Zs.

It really is what allows

our body to build immunity.

I love the word restorative

because of all the things

that that can connote, all

those things that it can

do.

During sleep, we repair ourselves.

We build tissue, we fight

off infection, we fight off

the stuff of the day

before.

We set ourselves up for

a bright start for tomorrow.

And that's why people who

get consistent sleep not only

tend to feel better, they

tend to live longer, healthier

lives as well.

And finally, I want to

just mention a few foods

that can healthfully impact our

metabolism and our sleep.

A little bit of synergy

here.

I've written a number of

articles, done some television segments.

You know that I love

nutrition because that's my primary

degree in public health nutrition.

But there are actually some

foods that can help promote

a healthy sleep cycle.

The circadian rhythm, the rhythm

of our day, of being

awake when we're awake, winding

down when it's time to

rest, to rest well instead

of being awake when we're

supposed to sleep.

Bananas, pineapples, and oranges can

help your body create melatonin,

the hormone that helps regulate

sleep.

So melatonin does not put

you to sleep, but having

adequate melatonin and melatonin produced

in the body can help

us maintain a healthy sleep

cycle.

Another two foods, tart cherries

that I've talked about before,

and walnuts contain melatonin.

They're natural sources of melatonin.

And along with magnesium that

walnuts contains, magnesium can help

relax our muscles and our

nerves and help make our

sleep time more restful.

Some people with restless leg

syndrome or that get muscle

cramps at night benefit from

having magnesium either as a

supplement but certainly getting it

in their foods.

So thinking about simple snacks

like whole grain crackers with

cheese offers tryptophan, an amino

acid that helps serotonin and

melatonin.

So what you eat during

the day can actually set

you up for better rest

at night.

They won't make you sleepy,

but they'll help your circadian

rhythm, that sleep cycle.

So the takeaway from all

of these benefits is now

you know, sleep is not

just about rest.

It's about our essential maintenance

of the body.

It's for our mind and

our mood and everything in

between.

It provides our body with

what it needs to perform,

to think, and to even

stave off illness.

And we know it can

help our mood.

We just know that inherently.

There's words like moody for

a reason and crabby when

we haven't slept well.

The perks of sleep extend

into our decisions during the

day too.

So it affects everything.

You know, our blood sugar

regulation and even how our

hunger and satiety hormones work

during our 1,000 waking minutes.

And I can't emphasize enough

that sleep, those 440 minutes,

is really about what you

get during the sleep.

But it importantly impacts our

waking minutes so that we

can do all the heavy

lifting that we need to

do during our day to

perform and feel well.

So the good news is

even small changes can make

a big impact.

And that can start tonight.

You know how some stories

just stick with you because

they say something really meaningful

in a simple way?

Well, this is one of

those for me.

It's called The Worry Tree

by an unknown author.

And it's one that always

comes to mind when I

think about letting go of

stress and how important it

is to set things down

at the end of the

day so they don't follow

you into the night and

through the night.

I've shared this with classes

and workshops over the years,

and I think it's such

a beautiful reminder that while

we all carry worries, we

also have the ability to

choose where we put them.

In other words, how we

carry and handle them in

our lives.

Here's the story.

It goes like this.

A carpenter was working to

restore an old farmhouse.

He'd had a terrible, defeating

day.

A flat tire cost him

an hour of work already.

His electric saw quit.

And then his old pickup

truck wouldn't start.

By the end of the

day, he was frustrated and

exhausted.

The farmhouse owner offered to

drive him home.

As he did, something interesting

happened.

Before the carpenter walked through

his door, the farmhouse owner

noticed that he paused beside

a small tree.

The carpenter reached out and

touched the tips of its

branches.

As if by magic, he

underwent an amazing transformation, and

his whole demeanor changed.

He smiled, stood a little

taller, and went inside to

greet his wife and children

with happy hugs and kisses.

Later, when the farmhouse owner

asked him about the tree,

the carpenter explained, Oh, that's

my worry tree.

I know I can't help

having worries on the job,

but my worries don't belong

in the house with my

family.

So I hang them on

the tree every night when

I come home.

He pauses and then adds,

The funny thing is, when

I come out in the

morning, there aren't nearly as

many as I remember hanging

up the night before.

Obviously, that strikes a chord

with me, and I find

it so powerful, and almost

every time I get so

choked up about that story.

I love it because it

reminds us that even though

we can't avoid stress or

control everything, we can decide

not to carry it all

with us everywhere.

And sleep, just like life,

gets a little easier when

we leave some things behind.

Sometimes just setting it down,

even symbolically, can help us

sleep better and live better.

And I'm going to encourage

you to do this as

you cross the threshold into

your bedroom to rest each

night as well.

Now, let's take a moment

to pause with a Mindful

Minute, because small pauses like

this are where good habits

begin.

This is one inspired by

'The Worry Tree' story, and

I invite you to imagine

your own version of a

worry tree.

This exercise will help us

gently set things down so

we can later drift into

a more restful night or

just enjoy a moment of

calm during our busy days.

I'll prepare and guide you

for a moment, and then

I'll leave space for you

to breathe, reflect, and release.

Now, before we begin, close

your eyes, if it's safe

to do so, and take

a slow, deep breath in.

Picture a tree in front

of you.

Maybe it's a tree you

know or one from your

imagination.

Notice its branches swaying lightly

and the way the leaves

move with the breeze.

This is your worry tree.

Now imagine yourself reaching out

and placing today's worries, like

setting down pieces, or maybe

it's one heavy bag on

the tree.

Now let's begin our Mindful

Minute.

Just continue to lighten your

load onto the sturdy tree

branches as you breathe.

Feel your body soften as

you exhale.

Feel lighter.

The load is lifting.

Breathe in slowly, and as

you exhale, feel the relief

of knowing you don't have

to pick those worries back

up, at least not tonight,

or maybe not at all.

On our last breath here,

allow yourself to feel the

space you've created as if

your mind is clearing, making

room for rest.

Okay?

Small moments like this, where

we give ourselves permission to

set things down, are where

good sleep begins.

Just like the carpenter's tree,

this is a practice you

can use anytime, before bed,

after a stressful day, or

whenever you need a moment

to reset.

Sleep comes easier when we

leave a little bit of

the day behind.

Whether it's tonight or another

day, know that you can

always come back to your

own version of a worry

tree.

Thank you for sharing that

Mindful Minute with me.

Now, let's get practical.

You don't have to overhaul

your entire life to sleep

better.

Small tweaks can make a

huge difference.

If you have very poor

sleep, it might take a

few steps in the process,

but small steps, I promise,

you can make enhancements right

away.

Pick one or two things

to try, and build from

there.

And here's where you can

start.

I have three main areas

that I'm going to talk

about.

Three-step approach, let's say.

The environment, the wind-down

routine, and easing into sleep.

So first, the environment.

Make your bedroom a sleep

sanctuary.

Now, I call this going

to the dark side.

Using blackout curtains or covering

small digital lights, I can't

emphasize enough.

Take inventory of how many

little lights you can see

in your room when the

lights are out.

If you wear glasses or

are nearsighted, I wear contact

lenses and glasses, and tiny

little lights become huge lights

in the night if there

are lights in the room.

Even the light from a

phone charger can disrupt melatonin

production.

So block it out like

a sleep ninja that you

are.

There are all kinds of

tricks that you can do

to still keep them functioning

if you have anything with

a remote control.

Next, within the environment, keep

the room cool.

You're better to have some

blankets on you, but keeping

the atmosphere, according to research,

between 60 and 68 degrees

can help trigger melatonin production

in your body and help

you sleep longer.

So you might want to

cuddle down, or if you're

like me, I get colder

when I'm tired, so I

want to really bundle, bundle

up.

But try to keep the

overall ambience a little bit

cooler in the room and

use blankets, and then you

can peel some of those

off as the night goes

on for better sleep.

Also try within your environment

to ditch your phone.

Use a non-smartphone digital

or analog clock to avoid

falling into what I call,

not the rabbit hole, but

the scroll hole at night.

Trust me, Instagram will still

be there in the morning,

as we all know, but

really trying to keep that

phone out of the room

unless it's there for emergencies,

and then still keep it

at a distance and use

something else for an alarm.

So the second tip is

creating a wind-down routine,

so it's about the routine.

First and foremost, I say

'close the kitchen' at the

right time.

Finish eating two to three

hours, preferably before bed, so

your body can focus on

restoration, not digestion when it's

sleeping.

Sometimes we forget that there

are actual things going on

when you're sleeping, and digestion

is one of them, especially

if you've got a heavy

load in your system.

It's got to keep working.

In fact, I always picture

it like construction workers pulling

up the bright lights if

you've had a late-night

dinner that's heavy.

It's working all night on

your digestion instead of all

the other great things that

I mentioned before that it

wants to do, like your

immune system and building new

cells and all the good

stuff.

So if you need to

have a little snack within

that two- to three

-hour window, keep it light,

and maybe focus on some

of those foods that I

mentioned before.

A couple crackers with a

little bit of cheese, a

few tart cherries, or yes,

some warm milk might do

the trick.

I have a little recipe

I call chamomilk, which is

a chamomile flour tisane or

tea with some milk, which

can help you ease into

sleep, a part of your

wind-down routine.

Try establishing a practice of

unplugging at a certain time

before you go to bed,

maybe an hour before your

bed, and give your brain

a break from the screens.

If you can't resist a

little bedtime screening, at least

switch the screen image to

be black screen with white

letters instead.

It's easier and it reduces

the blue light that's coming

in and kind of affects

our sleep hormones and can

interfere with sleep.

And as I mentioned before,

you can sip something before

bed.

You can have a little

bit of chamomilk or an

herbal tea, something cozy and

calming, something warm and soothing,

and then take that final

trip to the bathroom so

that you don't wake up

needing to go to the

bathroom in the middle of

the night.

You want to minimize that.

And the third of the

three steps is easing into

sleep and relax your way

into your sleep routine.

So this is about finding

your own sweet spot, making

sure that you find your

right position.

Preferably and optimally, it's sort

of like laying on your

left side can help with

digestion.

Maybe a small pillow between

your knees to help with

alignment.

Investing in a good pillow,

which you may need to

try out, not the one

that looks good on the

bed, that's what the throw

pillows are for, but the

one that actually helps you

rest.

And then establishing what is

your easing into sleep routine

going to look like?

We've wound down and now

we're actually going to sleep.

If you've heard of white

noise, I encourage you to

think about a newer term,

if you haven't heard it,

called pink noise.

You can download apps that

have pink noise, and these

have been found to be

better at sort of blocking

out distractions like snoring and

even sirens and things outside.

Pink noise is a certain

sort of frequency and wavelength,

but think of it like

waves of an ocean or

the gentle rainfall that keeps

you really in that really

meditative sleep state, and it's

called pink noise.

And there are some apps

that are available.

There are some machines that

can do, that can produce

some of these pink noise

sounds.

Try some aromatherapy, either for

a period of time as

you're easing into your sleep

state.

There are some diffusers that

you can get that you

can be on timers that

may bring in a little

bit of a lavender scent

or something that's very soothing

for you, sort of like

you would at a spa.

You can also put a

few drops of lavender oil

on your pillow, put some

at your temples or right

outside your nostrils if you're

not sensitive to that on

your skin that sort of

can help ease you into

sleep and bring those nice

aromas into your head and

your mind and to be

soothing as you go to

sleep.

So those are the three

main steps, establishing an environment

for healthy sleep, the wind

down routine, and things you

do to ease into sleep.

I just wanted to add

a couple more tips briefly.

One is the snacks that

you eat, the sleep foods,

so to speak, during your

day, which can help you

have more restful nights.

So remembering the bananas, pineapples,

and oranges that I mentioned

before that have compounds that

can help produce melatonin and

help with a healthy sleep

cycle.

Tart cherries and walnuts are

sources of melatonin and other

nutrients that can fit in

your day, either tart cherry

juice, there's been some research

on having tart cherry juice

or concentrate before bed, not

immediately before bed, helping with

healthy sleep, actual research.

And there's lots of research

on walnuts that you can

incorporate in a variety of

ways.

One of them may help

promote healthy sleep.

I haven't yet mentioned pumpkin

seeds and almonds, which are

sources of magnesium.

Magnesium helps relax our muscles

and may help us with

sleep at night, especially if

you have muscle cramping or

restless legs.

And those are easy to

combine in your day in

different kinds of trail mixes,

in baked goods, on salads,

and other places.

And then finally, a tip

about 3Ms, movement, mood, and

mindset.

Simple actions.

One is power naps.

I mentioned napping very briefly

before in my story about

the 'Zen yoga' meditation.

And if it feels indulgent

to you to nap, I've

met people who are like,

nap?

I've never napped.

Well, maybe you'll call it

one of these things, your

little Zen yoga session.

But a 20-minute nap

has shown to be enough

to recharge your energy without

disrupting your nighttime sleep.

So it's like powering down

to power back up, getting

a recharge.

Use the worry tree.

Hang up your worries.

Use a symbolic worry tree

in your life, whether it's

a little hook that you

hang at your bedroom door,

maybe a little sticker, maybe

a little picture of a

tree.

Touch it at night.

And remember that the worries

get left there.

And as you cross the

threshold into the area that

you sleep and rest, leave

your stress behind.

You might actually find fewer

worries the next day after

a good night's sleep, as

I'm sure has been the

case in your life.

It certainly has been in

mine.

And then a little bit

of movement, not fast movement.

We're not talking exercise here,

but healthy breathing and unwinding

practices like self-massage.

In other episodes, I've talked

about abdominal massage that can

help with digestion that you

can do at sleep.

But there are ways that

you can rub or massage

your body as well to

release tension and help you

ease into sleep.

One area is your temples.

Gently rub on your temples

in a circular pattern.

Also, my husband, who practiced

traditional Chinese medicine, talks about

areas at the base of

the skull where the neck

attaches the skull and it

gets tight and tense that

you can massage that area.

Not only does it feel

really good, but it can

help with the circulation of

the brain and the calming

and soothing as well.

If your feet feel tight

from a whole day on

your feet or just walking

around, maybe rolling your feet

on a golf ball or

if you have other kinds

of tools to do some

foot massage, those are ways

that you can use movement

to your benefit.

There's lots of tips.

I don't expect you to

use them all, but maybe

try one of them.

These tips aren't about perfection.

Life's too unpredictable for that,

and you will have nights

of poor sleep.

But even one or two

small changes can make a

big difference.

Sleep isn't just a break

from the day.

It's the fuel that powers

your 1,000 waking minutes

every day.

The choices we make about

food, rest, movement, and mindset

are all what set us

up to thrive tomorrow.

So which of these tips

are you going to try

tonight?

Take one and give it

a try.

If you've listened before, you

know I always pose a

question as we near the

end of each episode.

Here's today's question, something for

you to reflect upon.

What's one small change you

could make tonight to reclaim

a little more sleep and

feel better during your 1

,000 waking minutes tomorrow?

Take a moment with this

question.

The smallest shifts can make

a big difference.

Again, here's the question.

What's one small change you

could make tonight to reclaim

a little more sleep and

feel a little bit better

during your 1,000 waking

minutes tomorrow?

So we've come a long

way today talking about sleep.

A quick look back on

what we've covered today, we

talked about why these 440

minutes of sleep are so

important to our 1,000

waking minutes, not just for

rest, but our ROI, your

metabolism, your mental clarity, your

performance, and your long-term

health.

We also explored how small

practical tips can make a

big difference, like setting up

your bedroom as a sanctuary,

closing the kitchen a few

hours before bed, and adding

maybe a little lavender to

your pillow or some pink

noise or trying the Zen

meditation power nap during your

day to your routine.

Most importantly, we reminded ourselves

that sleep doesn't have to

be perfect, just intentional.

Even if life feels busy

and overwhelming, one or two

small changes can make all

the difference.

And while modern science has

been showing us just recently

in the last several decades

why sleep is so critically

important to our biology and

our longevity, this is not

a new topic.

This is a poem written

by playwright Thomas Decker of

the quote that I mentioned

at the beginning of the

podcast today, and also the

inspiration of the song Golden

Slumbers that the Beatles recorded

on Abbey Road.

It's called Cradle Song by

Thomas Decker.

"Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,

smiles awake you when you

rise.

Sleep, pretty wantons, do not

cry, and I will sing

a lullaby.

Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

Care is heavy, therefore sleep

you.

You are care, and care

must keep you.

Sleep, pretty wantons, do not