Debunking sleep myths

There are a lot of misconceptions about sleep. Sleep scientist Rebecca Robbins and her colleagues looked into common myths about sleep to help everyone get a better night's rest. This episode originally published Janaury 9, 2024. Want better sleep? Sign up Life Kit's Guide to Better Sleep, our special newsletter series. When you sign up, you'll receive a series of emails over one week with tips you can try that very night to prioritize and improve your sleep. Sign up at npr.org/sleepweek. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekitSign up for our newsletter here. Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at [email protected] the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekitLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:16Marielle Segarra?

  You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

• 0:24Marielle Segarra?

  Hey, everybody. It's Marielle.

• 0:27Marielle Segarra?

  How are you sleeping these days? You getting enough shut eye? Yeah. I mean, I guess we could all be sleeping a little better, right? I feel like I do it to myself. I know you're not supposed to read the phone in bed. It's just so hard. I mean, sleep has a huge impact on our health. It helps our brains function. It supports our immune system, protects against heart disease and diabetes. And without it, we would die. Though for something so important, we're never formally taught how to do it right.

• 0:56Speaker 02

  In America, you learn about nutrition or sex ed in school growing up, but really never about sleep. And so a lot of the information that we have and the knowledge that we have is passed down through our parents, our caregivers, and it might not be evidence-based.

• 1:12Marielle Segarra?

  Rebecca Robbins is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a sleep scientist at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. She and some colleagues have published research on common sleep myths, and there are a lot of them. On this episode of Life Kit, we'll walk through some of those myths and give you tips on how to get better sleep.

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• 3:11Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, Rebecca, let's get into some of the myths. One that stuck out to us is that it doesn't matter what time of day you sleep.

• 3:20Speaker 02

  Now, this is a myth because unfortunately, it does matter. The circadian rhythm, this internal circuitry that guides the secretion of the essential sleep hormone, melatonin, that circuitry is significantly influenced by natural sunlight in our environment. We are, as human beings, built to respond to the light in our environment. And when the sun comes up, that sunshine that we're able to get by going outside stops the floodgates of melatonin, the sleep hormone, and switches the on phase of our circadian rhythm. And then conversely, going into a cool, ideally cool, dark environment is what allows for the secretion of melatonin.

• 4:03Speaker 02

  So light plays a really integral role in our ability to sleep in a very fundamental way. And because of the importance of light, individuals who are working on maybe overnight schedules or shift schedules that are outside the typical nine to five P M. window that would allow us to align our sleep with the patterns of light and darkness in our environment. Unless they are very diligent and very careful about the exposure they get to natural sunlight, those individuals unfortunately face a marked increase for concerning health outcomes.

• 4:38Marielle Segarra?

  What kinds of health outcomes are we talking about?

• 4:41Speaker 02

  Unfortunately, some of the research has shown in physicians and in nurses who are commonly working on such schedules, there is an increase for outcomes such as diabetes and breast cancer and others that are concerning. And sleep is implicated in that equation is one of the factors that contributes to that increased risk. So unfortunately, those individuals really struggle to get good sleep and consistent and consolidated sleep that supports their health and well being.

• 5:11Marielle Segarra?

  So it sounds like it's not enough if you're, you know, on that schedule to have blackout curtains or something like that when you're trying to sleep in the middle of the day because you've just been exposed to light and your body still knows that it's the daytime.

• 5:27Speaker 02

  If you're very diligent, if you have very thick blackout curtains and are very careful, some of the recommendations we give shift workers are to, for instance, a nurse working in the hospital on the drive home, wear sunglasses to kind of trick your brain that it's not sunrise around you. Trying to avoid light in your work environment as you approach the end of your shift, avoiding food also in those early morning hours before the sun rises, trying to get home and get consolidated sleep. But there are a host of other challenges because if you're a shift worker and maybe have a family, you likely are having to constantly shift your schedule back and forth between their work schedule and their personal schedule.

• 6:07Marielle Segarra?

  It's so hard because it can feel like when you're on one of those jobs, like there is no, there is no escape from it. What about this one? Being able to fall asleep anytime, anywhere is a good thing.

• 6:22Speaker 02

  We hear this often. People say, you know, oh, so and so is able to fall right asleep. I'm so jealous. They're such a good sleeper. But this is a myth because it takes a well-rested, healthy person, even about 15 or 20 minutes, or maybe a little bit longer, to fall asleep. It's a myth that a good sleeper would be able to hit the pillow and fall asleep right away. And this is because sleep really is a process. And falling asleep does take a little bit of time. But it is a myth that falling asleep is a good thing when it's immediate, because that's instead really a sign that you were starved for sleep. And so same thing, if you were starved for food,

• 7:04Speaker 02

  and you sat down at any opportunity and had a huge meal and ate voraciously, then that would probably be a sign that you're not getting enough nutrition. So the same thing with sleep.

• 7:16Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, next myth, that one night of sleep deprivation will have lasting negative effects.

• 7:23Speaker 02

  This is a myth because it's not going to be perfect every night. And so every now and then, we might struggle. And that's because sleep is a consequence of the human condition. So if we experience some stress during the day, and you know, our sleep suffers that night, the key message here is that that can happen from time to time, but not to beat yourself up too much. And instead, try to get back on track as fast as possible.

• 7:50Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, well, what about this one? Many adults need only five or few hours of sleep for general health. I've heard a lot of people say this, like, oh, I just don't need to sleep that much. It's fine. I sleep, I sleep four hours a night and I feel great.

• 8:05Speaker 02

  Mm hmm. And unfortunately, in our society, people often brag about that. So I think we have a long way to go to really position sleep, you know, in our society as a part of daytime performance and success. Unfortunately, it has a little bit of a bad rap that people who are maybe meeting their sleep need, or, you know, look well-rested or lazy. But indeed, this is a myth. We do have a couple anecdotal reports. Thomas Edison, for instance, would brag about only needing four hours of sleep. What he forgot to mention is that he had a bed in his office. And he would often, there are reports of him taking very extended naps in the afternoon.

• 8:44Marielle Segarra?

  Wow, that stinker.

• 8:48Speaker 02

  And so one of the things that is often not talked about is the compensatory naps that individuals who are not getting enough sleep will likely be relying on naps. If we look at the heart health outcomes and we look at how long people are sleeping, there is a sweet spot, and that is seven to nine hours. And that's where we see the most optimal health and wellbeing, improved heart health, cardiometabolic outcomes, longevity, brain health into our older years are all in those that are sleeping as much as they can, as many nights of the week as possible, in that range of seven to nine hours and hitting that need, again, as many nights of the week as possible.

• 9:32Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, well, if you are looking at this range of seven to nine hours, how do you know where you fall? What like, what is your sweet spot?

• 9:41Speaker 02

  Depending on where you are today, if you were maybe sleeping six hours, the best way to try to get into the recommended range and then figure out where you are when it comes to your personal sleep need is to start tonight, add just 15 minutes to your overall sleep routine, starting the process to bed a little bit earlier, unplugging from screens, starting your bedtime routine, and making sure that you're in bed in between the sheets about 15 minutes earlier than usual. And then see how you feel the next day. If that brings you to six hours and 15 minutes, wonderful. And if you're able to wake up and really feel refreshed and also have energy through the day and not really be reaching for coffee or energy drinks in the afternoon, then you're

• 10:26Speaker 02

  inching closer to your sleep need. And then if that's not quite enough, however, the next night, add another 15 minutes.

• 10:34Marielle Segarra?

  Well, along the lines of sleep hygiene, here's another myth that watching TV in bed is a good way to relax before you go to sleep.

• 10:46Speaker 02

  Now, here's the thing with this myth. Yes, it is a myth. It is not something we're going to recommend. Because what's happening is you're in bed, you're starting to associate your bed with things other than sleep, which is actually contrary to some of our key recommendations. We often say keeps bed for sleep. So that's the first thing that we're doing, things in bed that are non-sleep related. But then you're also maybe looking at a television screen, or worse, a laptop screen. If you have, if that's the only screen you have to watch a show on, then maybe that's on your lap. And that might be something that's emitting heat, which isn't ideal. We really want to keep the body cool as we approach bedtime. And then if what you're watching is stressful, that could also cause your cortisol to spike

• 11:31Speaker 02

  and hinder your ability to fall asleep. So watching TV is not something that we would recommend before bed. There might be, you know, one exception here. And that is, we hear often that some people have routines. They fall asleep to, maybe they have an episode of Friends or Seinfeld, and it's on a timer, and it will go off after 20 or 30 minutes. But there's something about the characters in a certain show that is soothing to some people. So the only exception to this myth is if it's not broken, don't worry about fixing it. So if you find falling asleep to a soothing show is relaxing, wonderful, God bless you, carry on.

• 12:14Speaker 02

  But if you find that you're watching the nightly news, and it's stressful, and you're struggling to power down, then this might be something to cut out.

• 12:24Marielle Segarra?

  Well, what about as an alternative, just like laying up, sort of staring at the ceiling, mentally flipping through the highlight reel of every mistake you've ever made?

• 12:36Speaker 02

  Unfortunately, this is common before bedtime. It's wild. I feel like in our-

• 12:40Marielle Segarra?

  That's my personal fave.

• 12:41Speaker 02

  Right? Well, I think you're not alone. I think this happens to a lot of people. Because in our modern lives, we're consuming content and we're responding to emails. And you get into this mode in our workday. And then suddenly that all comes to a screeching halt at night. And we're supposed to crawl into bed and go right to sleep. So I think one very simple strategy that we could all do and really benefit from is really focusing on one or two really good things that happened in your day. Whether that was something that a colleague said, or someone that passed you on the metro that helped you with a bag, something that was really positive and focusing on that.

• 13:23Speaker 02

  There are also a series of meditation and relaxation strategies. And there are lots of very specific exercises, box breathing, the four seven eight technique. A lot of these are really powerful for helping you find peace in the moment, which is again what we all need before bed. So building in one of those strategies could be a really great way to overcome that challenge before bedtime.

• 13:44Marielle Segarra?

  I like to use the moments before sleep to completely rethink my relationships and, you know-

• 13:49Speaker 02

  Touch base on all the stressful things that happened.

• 13:51Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah, think about what I've done.

• 13:54Speaker 02

  Well, Marilyn, one, I hear you, right? And sometimes you need space for that. But like, one way is to maybe just try to not do that in bed. If you're, if I were to make one small suggestion, because if we're doing that in bed, then we're starting to associate stress and worry and negative things with bed and sleep. And so maybe have a, this is, I know it sounds cheesy, but sometimes we recommend having a concentrated worry time. Give yourself a couple of minutes before bedtime to get it all out. And maybe you're writing it down, or sometimes when it just is lingering in your mind, it just is so much worse. But when you write things down, your worries, it's like, it's not so bad after all.

• 14:30Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah, it occurs to me. I have a chair I never sit in. Maybe I'll make it my worry chair.

• 14:34Speaker 02

  I love it. Rebrand that chair.

• 14:39Marielle Segarra?

  We'll have more Life Kit after the break.

• 14:46Speaker 00

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• 15:32Marielle Segarra?

  OK, one more that we thought was interesting. That exercising within four hours of bedtime will disturb your sleep. And that's a myth.

• 15:43Speaker 02

  This is a myth because we've really said for many, many years in sleep, avoid exercise close to bedtime. But we actually don't have any good data to back that up. And I love this because there's so many benefits of exercise, not only from our health and wellbeing or mental health or physical health, but also our sleep health. Those that exercise get better sleep. They report deeper sleep, more restorative sleep, better sleep quality, less sleep fragmentation. Basically, exercise releases endorphins, which are mood elevators. And that can help with the number one cause of sleep difficulties, which is stress. And so making time for exercise is critical. As many days of the week as possible, breaking a sweat. And so this is a myth because we just don't have good data to say,

• 16:28Speaker 02

  don't exercise close to bedtime. And so if that's the only time that you can get a workout in, then by all means, carry on and go for that. I do like this because it really kind of empowers people that maybe only have time to work out right before bedtime or in the evening hours. It gives them license to do so.

• 16:47Marielle Segarra?

  OK.

• 16:49Marielle Segarra?

  Well, thank you so much. I have some things to try. I'm excited.

• 16:53Speaker 02

  Wonderful.

• 16:56Marielle Segarra?

  All right, time for a recap, sleepyheads. Adults should be getting seven to nine hours of sleep at night. You may think you can function on less, but research shows that's associated with a higher risk of adverse health outcomes. It does matter what time of day you sleep, which is tough news for shift workers, the people who stay up nights making sure we have clean water and medical care. If this is you, there are things you can do to make the situation a little better. Blackout curtains, wearing sunglasses on the way home in the morning. A lot of this has to do with how much light you're exposed to. Being able to fall asleep anywhere, anytime is not necessarily a good thing. It might just be a sign that you're sleep deprived. One night of bad sleep is not going to have long-term negative effects.

• 17:40Marielle Segarra?

  Now, this one surprised me. It is OK to exercise before bed. Maybe don't get too intense about it, but if that's when you can squeeze in your workout, do it. Another tip Robyn shared with me. If you're having trouble sleeping, that may be because your bedroom is too warm. Make sure it's cool, like, under 70 degrees.

• 17:59Speaker 02

  Some people do prefer a warmer environment, but we do have data to show that when we increase temperature, there is more sleep fragmentation, so more tossing and turning, more disruption from sleep, and more nightmares.

• 18:13Marielle Segarra?

  And, as always, try not to look at your phone in bed. I know, it's hard, but that phone will be waiting for you in the morning. Promise.

• 18:25Marielle Segarra?

  For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes. We have one about dealing with insomnia and another about revenge bedtime procrastination. You can find those at npr.org/lifekit. And if you love Life Kit and want even more, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org/lifekitnewsletter. Also, we'd love to hear from you, so if you have episode ideas or feedback you want to share, email us at [email protected]. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Claire Marie Schneider. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan, and our digital editor is Malika Gharib. Megan Cain is our senior supervising editor, and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagle, Margaret Serino, and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support comes from Simon Laszlo Jansen.

• 19:10Marielle Segarra?

  I'm Mariel Segarra. Thanks for listening.

• 19:25Speaker 00

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