WEBVTT

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(gentle guitar music)

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- Hello, I'm Lynn Edwards.

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I'm here today to talk to you about sleep

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as a key to a healthy life.

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As adults, we all need seven

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to nine hours of sleep a night.

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No matter what we think, our body

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never gets used to less than that.

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The effects of poor sleep include things

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like thinking impairment, poor judgment,

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a hard time to focus
making good decisions.

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Additionally, there are
the health concerns,

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such as obesity and high blood pressure,

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which come from sleep deprivation.

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We all know snoring can be a problem.

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You may need to get that checked out

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because with snoring,
we have connected that

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with cardiovascular
disease and also diabetes.

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Let's focus on how we can
get a good night's sleep.

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Sleep hygiene, it's kind of a fancy term

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for a sleep routine, such
as when we were little

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and our moms would say, brush your teeth,

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get your pajamas on, ready
your book and lights out.

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Time for bed, no naps.

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A 20 minute power nap
in the afternoon is okay

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but no more than 20 minutes one time a day

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in the early afternoon.

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You need to avoid caffeine
for four or more hours

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before you're going to bed.

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That way, your brain will
shut off when you go to sleep.

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Alcohol, alcohol after
dinner or four to six hours

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before you're going to sleep.

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When we do this, the alcohol may help us

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get to sleep initially but it
will cause sleep disturbance

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as it metabolizes during our sleep phases.

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So now we need to start
time for our sleep routine.

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If we're going to bed at say 10 o'clock,

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we need at least an hour and a half

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of no screen time before.

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The blue light from the
screen does not allow

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our brain to shut off for almost an hour

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after we've closed our eyes.

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The good news is, you can have a snack

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before you're going to bed
but you need to avoid things

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like raw vegetables, raw
fruit and high fatty foods.

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Those are not good before
we're going to bed.

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To relax, a hot bath before we go to bed

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and climbing into cool sheets,

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it's the hibernation effect, they say.

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A dark, quiet room with
a moderate temperature

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is always best for sleep.

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The last thing is limit your time in bed.

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So if you spend 15 to 20 minutes in bed

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and you're awake, get up and
go do something relaxing,

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like reading a book or
listening to soft music.

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Then when you're starting
to doze, go back to bed.

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Bed is only for sleep.

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A good app to help you is the Dream EZ

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and a podcast which is called,

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"A Better Night's Sleep"

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through the military health podcast.

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If none of these things really
help you with your sleep,

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you need to see the doctor,

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because the bottom line
is, sleep is that important

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for our physical and our mental health.

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I hope some of these
things helped you today.

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Have a good day.

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(air whooshes)