Fast Health - How to Sleep Better

I need your uh coming coming .

Mhm There's nothing more important than a good night's sleep , but it's something that many people don't get to help , get us out of our sleep deprived stupor .

We're going to talk to Dr Colleen Kearney , a leading expert in the psychological treatment of insomnia .

Today , we're gonna learn to sleep better .

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It'd be impossible to fall asleep behind the wheel of this thing .

And with an aerodynamic design that made it an instant classic .

It will make you think you're in a waking dream every time you drive to work .

So tell me what it is .

You do .

I'm a professor .

So I teach and I train people in how to do a kind of therapy called cognitive behavior therapy .

What is that ?

That is a way of treating problems without medication .

I like to treat people with sleep disorders like insomnia .

It's about 30% of the population at a point which is a lot , they're losing time with work .

And it's actually an independent predictor of suicide .

So , it's like a really big deal .

Yeah .

So , what is , what's the ideal sleep from people ?

We're , we're made to think that it's the number of hours that we get .

It really isn't .

It really is about a quality sleep .

Right .

So , and you want to wake up feeling pretty much restored and for most people that's gonna be somewhere between six and nine hours .

So , is there any way you can like bank sleep or use sleep to your advantage ?

Kimberly bank sleeps .

I think what people do is they have a crappy sleep and they're tired and they're like , oh , well , I'll make up for it .

So I'll go to bed early .

Well , if you go to bed early , that means you're less active in the 24 hour period , it actually sends a message to produce less deep sleep .

So it's like , all right , last night was sucked .

So , now let me make sure that tonight sucks and I don't make up for it .

That's actually what happens with insomnia .

Right .

So , the way you want to do this is you actually want a little later tonight to extend those waking actives .

Exactly .

If you're going to go bed early , you would be more prone to waking up in the middle of the night .

So you want , you want to leverage that system , you want to send the message that you need more deep sleep , not less .

Right ?

The problem with insomnia is people are exhausted .

Yeah .

Right .

So , that makes sense .

They go to bed early or they try and nap or they lay in in the morning or they cut down .

Exactly .

It's really hard to be active .

So , the other thing is , is that people use a strategy .

Like they're like , well , I'll just cast this really wide net of opportunity .

I'll go to bed really early and I'll stay in bed , I'll sleep in .

And it's kind of like going to a shoe store and saying , well , I mean , I know I'm a size six but give me a size 10 because I'm on bigger feet .

I mean , it's , it might look bigger , right ?

But the thing is , it's not gonna be functional , it's gonna flop around work for you when people talk about insomnia or not be able to get to sleep , it's gonna make them not fall asleep .

Is that true ?

Um Yeah , that people worry about it .

Well , I mean , I mean , that is true , but I mean , is that a valid concern ?

Um I wouldn't say it's not a valid concern , but insomnia becomes a fear , right ?

It's a bit of a fear .

It's a fear of sleeplessness , but honestly , it's a fear of the next day .

So what's gonna happen tomorrow ?

And so people have developed all these , um almost , they look like superstition .

It's like let's not talk about the sleep we don't want to hear because then it's gonna throw everything off .

Insomnia is a disorder of sleep preoccupation and anxiety .

And it's understandable because most people have this problem chronically for , like , even 10 years before they actually get treatment .

Right .

Right .

You know , it , it makes good sense that they're nervous about sleep , but that actually becomes part of the problem .

What about alarm clocks ?

I personally think they're evil because I'll set my alarm like this morning , I set my alarm for 6 30 .

I'm awake at like 5 30 worried that the alarm clock is going to go off .

You know , one thing you could do is , you know that there's alarm clocks that have light in them that will do like a gradual transition and it won't be until like pretty close to when the alarm is going to go off that you get like a pre alarm , which is kind of like this weird ambient , like , you know , kind of thing and it's just gonna be much gentler for you .

So if you're concerned about this , I mean , some , some people need like , need the whole , um , in order to really get them awake , but for people , um , who's just gonna , they're just gonna wake up a little bit earlier , you might want to consider a transitional kind of warm clock .