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Summary
On episode 439 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Kim Jones, a freelance journalist specializing in health and well being, a member of the Guild of Health Writers, and a contributor to national UK women’s magazines and newspapers including the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Express Magazine.
Kim wrote Trick Yourself to Sleep after realizing most people only know a handful of the many small changes that can improve sleep, and that many of them happen well before bedtime, not just in the final minutes before lights out.
The conversation covers rocking and stretching to calm the nervous system, journaling techniques to clear a busy mind, how to challenge anxious thoughts about sleep itself, and how to get the most out of a nap.
Links
- https://theexperimentpublishing.com
- https://kimjoneswrites.co.uk
Key Takeaways
- Rocking motion can help synchronize your brain toward sleep. A University of Geneva study found adults napping in a rocking hammock fell asleep faster and showed more of the brainwave activity associated with deep sleep. You can recreate the effect by slowly rocking heel to toe for a few minutes before bed, which also stimulates acupressure points in the feet.
- The yoga pose legs up the wall triggers the parasympathetic nervous system. Lying with your legs resting against a wall (or headboard) slows the heart rate and lowers blood pressure, and it requires no flexibility to do.
- Head-below-heart poses like child’s pose and the rag doll fold calm the body quickly. Any inversion where your head drops below your heart is thought to relax the nervous system, and letting out a deliberate sigh while holding the pose has been shown in research to help release muscle tension.
- Regular stretching measurably improves sleep. Studies cited in the book found women who kept up a regular stretching routine for a few months reported better sleep, and stretching tight legs can ease restless leg syndrome and nighttime cramps.
- A scheduled “worry time” keeps anxious thoughts out of bed. Setting aside 15 minutes hours before bedtime to write down worries and possible solutions gives you permission to tell yourself, “that’s for worry time tomorrow,” if the thought resurfaces at night.
- Writing a detailed to-do list before bed helps you fall asleep faster. In the studies Kim references, people who wrote out a detailed to-do list fell asleep quicker than people who wrote a list of tasks they had already completed, because it offloads responsibility from the mind onto paper.
- Nap length and timing both matter. Keep naps to 10 to 20 minutes, no longer than 30, so you avoid waking from deep sleep groggy; timing a nap around 2 p.m. works with the body’s natural afternoon dip in core temperature. A full 90-minute nap lets you complete an entire sleep cycle, but most people don’t have that kind of time available.
- Kim’s three strategies to get and stay well: get enough exercise and move more throughout the day, since sitting for hours makes it harder for the body to feel tired enough to sleep well; get a daily dose of the outdoors, since natural light and dusk patterns keep the body clock and melatonin timing on track; and take a few minutes to meditate, even something as simple as mentally walking down a hundred steps, to slow the heart rate and quiet the mind before sleep.
“There’s just so much out there you can do to help yourself sleep.”
Kim Jones