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Episode: Moment 185- The One Thing You Should Never Do Before Bed: Dr Cheri Mah

Author: DOAC
Duration: 00:07:30

Episode Shownotes

In this episode, Dr. Cheri Mah, a renowned sleep physician and performance expert, delves into practical strategies for enhancing sleep quality. She addresses common habits From how you can use sound to help you fall asleep, the ideal room temperature and the potential downsides of evening showers. She even shares

snack ideas that won’t disrupt your sleep but will curb late-night hunger. this conversation is packed with practical advice that will leave you feeling refreshed and recovered. Listen to the full episode here: Spotify- https://g2ul0.app.link//wyJJsGgW9Nb Apple - https://g2ul0.app.link//aiEWOb3v9Nb Watch the Episodes On Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/c/%20TheDiaryOfACEO/videos Cheri Mah: https://www.drcherimah.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Full Transcript

00:00:01 Speaker_00
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00:00:33 Speaker_01
I'm someone that tells myself that I sleep with something playing. I grew up with a radio in my room, so as an adult now, I'm always looking to play something as I fall asleep. Is that going to hurt my sleep quality?

00:00:44 Speaker_02
I would say if you're accustomed to this, I would say that's fine to continue to do so.

00:00:48 Speaker_02
I am not a fan of having the TV on and having the bright light exposed to you in that hour before bedtime, because it also can just be very psychologically stimulating.

00:00:58 Speaker_02
But if, like you said, it's a radio or it's a podcast that you feel is helping you relax, then I'm a fan of it.

00:01:04 Speaker_01
Do you think Diary Overseer will help people relax?

00:01:06 Speaker_02
It might. It might help you at least think about your sleep a bit more and challenge you to do maybe one change tonight.

00:01:14 Speaker_01
We consider that to be a scientific endorsement of the podcast. Okay, so I've got sound down. You are a fan of the white noise machines.

00:01:23 Speaker_02
I am, because sometimes there's external noises like a garbage truck or construction that you're not always able to control.

00:01:30 Speaker_02
So if you can at least mask over it temporarily, that can sometimes be helpful to keep individuals more asleep during the nighttime. And there's even some now that are adaptive.

00:01:39 Speaker_02
So if the door slams, then the volume temporarily increases and then will decrease. So there's almost these smart white noise machines that are coming out on the market. So that's from a noise standpoint.

00:01:50 Speaker_02
And earplugs are going to be helpful if you're traveling. When you're at home, you can obviously use those to dampen down any external noise. From a temperature standpoint, you want it to be cool.

00:02:00 Speaker_02
I think this is an area that a lot of people can benefit from because they often sleep in much warmer temperatures than what we know is probably more conducive to sleep, which is cooler.

00:02:09 Speaker_02
60 to 67 degrees has been shown to help individuals stay asleep and fall asleep. That may be frigidly cold for some, but you have to find the temperature that's right for you. I would say

00:02:21 Speaker_02
decrease your temperature by, say, one degree or two degrees every couple of days, and then you can find the temperature that works well for you.

00:02:28 Speaker_02
And there's even technology now where there's mattress covers that can help you regulate temperature from much cooler to warmer. So if there's differences in bed partners, that's a way that you can actually accommodate both of their preferences.

00:02:42 Speaker_01
So that's about 16 to 20 degrees Celsius. What about when I shower or I bath? Because often I go and have a shower then I get straight into bed after.

00:02:53 Speaker_02
Yes.

00:02:54 Speaker_01
Is that good or bad?

00:02:55 Speaker_02
I would encourage you to shift that timing a little bit earlier into the night. So an hour and a half before you are planning to go to bed.

00:03:04 Speaker_02
I would shift your shower because when you are taking a hot bath or hot shower, it increases your core temperature. But when you fall asleep, your core temperature drops. So you don't want that competing signal to be right before bedtime.

00:03:19 Speaker_02
But if you back that shower up an hour and a half, that should be sufficient time that we think potentially there's an augmentation of helping that drop in temperature.

00:03:29 Speaker_02
And some smaller studies have shown that that can help decrease the time to fall asleep and also enhance deep sleep, which has implications for muscle recovery, regeneration, and you get more of that in the earlier part of your night.

00:03:42 Speaker_02
So it's an easy fix, just to tweak the timing of your shower and your hot bath to be just an hour or two before bedtime, not right before bed.

00:03:50 Speaker_02
So it's a strategy too, if you have difficulties winding down and relaxing, to implement that hot shower, hot bath earlier in the evening.

00:03:59 Speaker_01
One of the problems I also have when I sleep sometimes is I hear people say, you can't eat like three or four hours before bed. However, I sometimes, you know, I sometimes get home at 10 p.m. and I get home hungry as hell at 10 p.m.

00:04:14 Speaker_01
And then sometimes if I order food, for example, it might come at like 11, which means that I end up eating at 11. And then I really see it in my sleep scores. I think, as well, that I'm someone that tends to fall asleep later.

00:04:27 Speaker_01
Again, this might just be me telling BS to myself, but that's what tends to happen. And I know I'm not supposed to eat before bed, but I'm so hungry.

00:04:35 Speaker_01
So is there anything that I can eat before bed that won't disrupt my sleep but will get rid of the hunger?

00:04:40 Speaker_02
Yes, the preference is not to have a huge meal right before bed that's fried, fatty, really heavy sitting in your stomach that hour right before bedtime. So if you're able to time that and be strategic, then that's obviously the preference.

00:04:55 Speaker_02
But I'm OK with you having a pre-sleep snack. A lot of times for my athletes, that means we'll go for something like 50% of a complex carb and like 50% of a lean protein. So for example, cereal and milk is an easy one.

00:05:08 Speaker_01
Cereal?

00:05:08 Speaker_02
Yes, cereal and milk. Of course we want something that's whole grain and not, you know, necessarily a sugary, you know, cereal.

00:05:16 Speaker_02
But cereal and milk is an easy one that many people have access to or cottage cheese and fruit or 100% whole wheat crackers and peanut butter.

00:05:25 Speaker_02
And the reason why is because I don't want you waking up in the middle of the night being hungry or even trying to fall asleep and you feel like you're hungry.

00:05:32 Speaker_02
But we want something that's slow digesting through the night because ideally you're gonna be sleeping seven, eight, nine hours during the night. And we want it to be able to get you to the morning time and then you will fuel when you wake up.

00:05:44 Speaker_02
So a pre-sleep snack can be a great strategy if you're coming home late and you want to obviously be able to fuel before bed or if you have a really early dinner and you're hungry before bedtime.

00:05:54 Speaker_01
Yeah, that happens sometimes as well. Sometimes I'll eat dinner at about 5 p.m. and then I get to about 10, 11 p.m. and I'm still awake and I'm starving.

00:06:02 Speaker_02
Okay, so what's a pre-sleep snack that you think you can grab for?

00:06:06 Speaker_01
Some nuts.

00:06:07 Speaker_02
Okay, yeah.

00:06:07 Speaker_01
Does that work?

00:06:08 Speaker_02
Yeah, yeah, nuts have protein in them. Yeah, you can grab a good nut mix. Maybe you can partner that also with like some yogurt too.

00:06:16 Speaker_01
Raspberries.

00:06:17 Speaker_02
Raspberries, yeah, fruit.

00:06:18 Speaker_01
Blackberries.

00:06:19 Speaker_02
Yeah, and some, yes, a protein and carb in there. And those are good pre-sleep snacks.