The data is in:
Don’t sleep on sleep

By Jessica Goldstein

May , 2022

This week’s issue is about a pastime we all have experience with — and many of us do miserably: sleep. Join writer Jessica Goldstein as she explores just how important sleep is to our health, plus some shockingly simple tips on how we could be doing it better. But first, if you aren't subscribed to The Distance, please sign up here. Now, here's Jessica:

You know when your friend makes one big change to their life, gets obsessed with it, and then cannot stop talking about it? Maybe they cut out dairy; possibly they joined CrossFit. Well I, too, am among the improved and insufferable: A few years ago, I stopped sleeping next to my phone.

I was genuinely amazed at how much better I felt, and how quickly. As in, literally overnight. Now the thought of looking at my phone in bed actively grosses me out, as if in doing so I would be inviting everything that lives inside the phone — work-related emails, multi-level marketing scams on Instagram, the frankly insulting roundup of men with whom Hinge thinks I am “most compatible” — into my bed in the most tender hours of my day.

When I first learned that basically every sleep expert you’ll ever find will tell you to exile your phone from your bedroom, I resisted. I craved connection. (Also, I feared boredom.) But my research on sleep has revealed to me what you’ve likely experienced or sensed in your own life: Spending a little bit of willpower in exchange for quality sleep is a small price to pay for an invaluable benefit.

One of the biggest misconceptions about sleep is that it’s lost time. We’re trained to think that our waking hours are full of self-evident productivity. Sleep feels like an adversary.

The reality is just the opposite. As Dr. Wendy Troxel, a senior behavioral and social scientist at the RAND Corporation and author of Sharing the Covers: Every Couple’s Guide to Better Sleep, told me, “Critically important things that happen in the mind and in the body occur only during sleep.” For example, your brain cleanses itself during deep sleep, via the lymphatic system; sleep deficiency, over time, can increase some people’s risk for Alzheimer’s and dementia. Short sleepers — people getting five or fewer hours each night — are twice as likely as healthy sleepers to develop high blood pressure. Insufficient sleep increases the risk for depression, anxiety, and even suicide.

It’s not only individuals who suffer as a result of poor sleep. As anyone who has been around a sleep-deprived partner knows, our relationships suffer, too. As does our work. The United States economy loses $411 billion a year due to insufficient sleep and its direct impact on productivity and mortality rates. Life under Covid only worsened matters, increasing anxiety and stress, eradicating the boundaries we rely on to structure our days, and bringing on the rise of “revenge bedtime procrastination,” Troxel says, in which overtaxed people, desperate for “me” time, watch more TV or keep scrolling through social media rather than go to bed.

While some of the big factors behind our collective inability to sleep enough are structural, there are still plenty of things you can do to get the sleep you need — seven to nine hours a night.

(And then be smug about it, which is half the fun.)

Make sleep a priority

“Start thinking of sleep as the foundation upon which we are able to be the most effective, optimal human beings we want to be,” Troxel says. If your desired bedtime is 10:00 p.m., she suggests, set an alarm for 9:00 p.m., and use that hour as “a runway to bedtime” when you disconnect from the day and prep for your morning.

Have a bedtime routine and a wakeup routine

Ideally, you want to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day (even weekends). “Our bodies and brains just function better when we have predictable schedules,” Troxel says.

You need to prepare for bed, so your brain gets the message that it’s safe for you to relax enough to lose consciousness. Going from sixty to zero is unlikely to result in the rest you are aiming for. Think about everything you would do for a toddler and then do that for yourself. Step away from hyper-engaging media, listen to soothing music, dim the lights, read something that’s not on a screen.

In the morning, aim to get two things as soon as possible: sunlight and movement. Both will “stimulate your circadian rhythm to cue that this is the time to be alert and awake,” says Troxel. And try not to hit the snooze button; it will only make you feel worse.

Okay, let’s talk about how you’re going to stop sleeping next to your phone

I know. I KNOW. I am obnoxious on this point but only because it costs zero dollars and will change your life forever!

Here’s the deal: The light on your phone tells your brain that it’s daytime. The stimulus of your phone tells your brain to stay engaged. These are exactly the opposite signals you want to be sending to your brain before bed.

We struggle with phone separation because of our need to connect. Try to do all your end-of-the-evening texting and talking from someplace that is not your bed, and once it’s bedtime, put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode.

What may feel anti-social at first will ultimately enrich your relationships, because you’ll be participating in them as a healthier, well-rested individual.

Nancy Rothstein — a professional “sleep ambassador” who consults with Fortune 500 companies, schools, and other organizations on sleep education and prioritization — cautions against keeping your phone at your bedside because none of us is actually strong enough to resist the temptation to check it.

Try to address your anxiety during the day so it doesn’t keep you up all night

Also according to Rothstein, one of the biggest problems in her field, especially during the pandemic, is “people taking their anxiety to bed with them.”

No matter the source of your anxiety — from personal matters to global politics — Rothstein knows it can be challenging to stop your brain from dwelling on it the minute your head makes contact with your pillow. Her recommendation: “Find ways to process it during your waking hours,” whether through meditation, therapy, exercise, even a conversation with a friend. This way, “when you lay down, it isn’t the first time that everything hits you.”

If you are struggling to quiet your mind (relatable!) Rothstein’s strategy is to “go to gratitude.” Get in bed and think of what you’re thankful for.

Be your own guinea pig

Don’t think about any of these changes as something you need to implement in some extreme fashion, immediately, forever. Give yourself two weeks of tuning out from technology, say, 30 minutes before bed. You could read a book! Remember books? They’re like the internet but no one is yelling at you. Say you can’t get seven hours of sleep. Can you increase your sleep window by 20 minutes?

See what’s possible, and pay attention to how these changes make you feel. Troxel suggests using a sleep tracker or a notebook where you can jot down how you’re feeling each morning. In time, you’ll “see glimmers of the benefit” of these changes.

Despite how it feels, sometimes being disconnected and unconscious isn’t a loss. As any well-rested person knows, a good night’s sleep makes the case for itself.

Also please note: The content here should not be considered medical advice for anyone with serious sleep-related medical conditions, such as insomnia or sleep apnea. If you feel like you might be suffering from such a condition, please speak to a doctor for advice on treatment — because good sleep matters!

Jessica Goldstein (@jessicagolds on Twitter) is a freelance writer based in Washington, DC. She is a contributing editor to Washingtonian and a contributing writer to the Washington Post’s Arts & Style section and Magazine.

Other 21st century discoveries in the world of everyday health habits

Alex writes:

As Jessica explores above, it seems that with each passing year our understanding of the health benefits of sleep improves — and so does my life-long, inner conflict around being a night owl. But sleep isn’t the only aspect of daily health where new discoveries have led to surprising conclusions in recent years. New insights about how our daily habits affect our long-term health are popping up all the time — in some cases, shedding light on habits that you may have practiced since you were a child — think: brushing your teeth, favorite snacks.

Here are a few of the most interesting and surprising developments that we could find.

• Dental cavities can be… contagious?! — For decades, a healthy and vigilant fear of cavities has been a cornerstone of teaching children to brush their teeth. But what if it’s not just your own dental cleanliness you need to look out for? New studies have shown that partners — of the smooching, spit-swapping variety — can actually pass damaging oral conditions from one to another. In other words, “dental decay is actually a communicable disease.” Brushing before a date isn’t just about minty breath anymore.

• Ancient “Blue Zone” societies may be the key to future healthy diets — Studying “Blue Zone” cultures has been somewhat in vogue in recent years; these are societal pockets spread across the globe where people commonly enjoy unusually long lifespans. As researchers have developed better understandings of the practices and habits that link these diverse regions (spread as far apart as spots in Japan, Italy, and Costa Rica), the idiosyncracies of their diets have come into focus. As it turns out, emulating Blue Zone diets is possible in most places, though it means deviating from the meat, dairy, and sugar heavy treats that many of us are used to.

• The “you” you think you are is tied to your stomach — There is a rich, intricate, unique blend of bacteria living inside of our guts, known as our “microbiomes.” Microbiomes can differ significantly from person to person, and while that affects us in ways you might expect — the quality of our digestion, for example — a mounting body of evidence shows that microbiomes influence us in much more subtle, surprising ways. In fact, it appears that the makeup of your microbiome can impact how you feel and how you behave — thereby meaning that your stomach’s bacteria is partially responsible for your personality, even correlating with traits such as sociability and neuroticism.

• Caffeine is complicated — As a thoroughly coffee-saturated individual myself, it makes my typing hands tremble to even suggest that caffeine and its consumption demand inspection. But that’s exactly what writer Michael Pollan explored in a recent book, which reckoned with just how impactful caffeine is on a global scale: “More than 90 percent of people on the planet consume it daily, and we even regularly allow children to have the drug in the form of soda — constant personal caffeination ‘has simply become baseline human consciousness.’” While the bottom line is neither good nor bad, caffeine’s ubiquity is worth acknowledging… plus it really does interfere with sleep (which we now know is a real health concern (thanks, Jessica)).

What are some recent health and science breakthroughs that have impacted your daily routines or habits? Let us know! Write to us at TheDistance@fundrise.com.

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The Distance is supported by Fundrise, edited by Alex Slotnick and Helen Chandler, and produced by Katie Valavanis and Brett Wilson, with help from Motasem Halawani. Our design director is Erin Culliney.