The 2022 Tour de France Femmes was decided in the Vosges mountains, during a brutal seventh stage with three category-one climbs. Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten attacked on the second climb, then opened up a four-minute gap on the final push of the day, a grueling 3,163-foot ascent of the Grand Ballon. It was the hardest day of the Tour, and with another mountain stage coming the next day, recovery was crucial. But with their legs fried, their cortisol levels soaring, and their nervous systems cranked in fight-or-flight mode, would the riders actually be able to sleep properly?

Surprisingly, the answer was yes—or at least, mostly. Nine of the Women’s Tour riders were wearing Whoop bands on their wrists; their data, which was published earlier this year in Sports Medicine—Open, showed that the riders got an average of 7.6 hours of sleep that night, compared with an overall average of 7.7 hours both before and after the Tour. They did, however, spend a little more time than usual in light sleep and less in restorative REM sleep. Whether that matters in any practical sense is the fundamental question confronting athletes, coaches, and sports scientists as they enter a new era of sleep tracking. The technology is better than ever; we just have to figure out what to do with it.

Tracking Sleep Stages Is Still a Challenge

Sleep is hardly a new biohack, but it has been a hot topic in performance circles ever since neuroscientist Matthew Walker’s 2017 book Why We Sleep. The problem with first-generation sleep trackers, though, was that they relied on accelerometers and basically assumed that if you weren’t moving, you were asleep. The latest generation of devices is more sophisticated, adding heart-rate measurements and other physiological cues like breathing rate and skin temperature to refine their algorithms, and able to tell the differences between distinct sleep stages. As a result, says Charli Sargent, a sleep scientist at Central Queensland University in Australia and lead author of the Tour de France study, “The whole world is becoming a sleep laboratory.”

Companies like Apple, Garmin, Oura, Polar, and Whoop have gotten very good at detecting sleep. Compared with sleep-lab studies, where subjects are wired up to record brain and muscle activity, the latest consumer wearables were typically 86 to 89 percent accurate at determining whether a wearer was asleep or awake, Sargent and her colleagues found. Detecting individual sleep stages, on the other hand, is still a work in progress: the wearables only got it right 50 to 61 percent of the time.

The picture for athletes is more complex. Many of the new sleep-stage algorithms rely on heart-rate variability, or HRV, the subtle fluctuations in timing from one beat to the next. HRV changes with sleep stage, but it’s also influenced by vigorous exercise. Indeed, Sargent found that HRV was systematically lower after mountain stages in male Tour de France riders. Another new study, led by Marc Poulin of the University of Calgary, had a group of healthy volunteers do a hard interval workout in the early evening, then tracked their sleep with an HRV-based Polar watch as well as collecting gold-standard sleep-lab data. The good news: the accuracy of the sleep tracker was undiminished by the workout.

What Can Athletes Do with the Data?

Overall, then, wearable sleep trackers are already pretty good, and they will likely continue to improve. The next question—the really hard one—is what we should do with the data. If cyclists are getting less REM sleep after mountain stages, what should they do differently? “Ride easier” isn’t useful advice; and it hardly seems like we need a fancy algorithm to give us the usual sleep-hygiene advice about bedtimes, alcohol, and electronics before bed.

For some people, simply having objective data about when to hit the hay and when to wake up might function as a useful reminder to cover these bases, in the same way a step tracker spurs you to get your 10,000 steps. Athletes might also be interested in seeing how their sleep changes at altitude, as an indicator of whether they’ve acclimatized and are ready for hard workouts. And there may eventually be subtler insights: for example, preliminary data from Poulin’s lab in older adults suggests that those who don’t get enough deep sleep are more likely to develop cognitive problems years later. For now, the best approach is to establish a baseline and then look for changes, Sargent says. If you usually get 15 to 20 percent deep sleep and that changes to 10 to 15 percent, you should probably figure out why.

Against these putative benefits, you have to weigh the risks. Poor sleep is not always a problem that can be solved by trying harder and worrying more about it—or by collecting sleep-tracking data. “Anxiety related to sleep can be both a symptom and a cause of some types of sleep problems,” Sargent acknowledges. The study that sticks in my mind, from Oxford University in 2018, involved giving subjects bogus feedback about whether they’d slept well or poorly. Those who were told that they’d slept poorly the night before reported feeling scattered, fatigued, and cranky. A little bit of data can be a dangerous thing, especially if its accuracy is questionable.

As for the mystery behind the surprising finding that Tour cyclists sleep just fine, thank you very much, even after the physiological disruption of brutal mountain stages, Sargent and her colleagues propose a disarmingly simple explanation. The cyclists prioritized sleep: they went to bed early and consistently, and gave themselves plenty of time there; ergo, they slept well. Earlier studies found that super-intense endurance exercise, especially when repeated day after day, led to diminished sleep—but the new generation of athletes are on top of it. There will be plenty to learn in years to come from the new sleep-measurement techniques, combined with robust analytical approaches like machine learning and AI. “I consider sleep to be the next frontier in physiology,” Poulin says. But none of it matters if you’re not putting in your time in the sack.

For more Sweat Science, join me onÌęÌęČčČÔ»ćÌę, sign up for theÌę, and check out my bookÌę.

The post The Problem with Tracking Sleep Data appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

We all know that, in theory, we’re supposed to sleep a lot. After all, it , protects against injury, , , and all sorts of other wonderful things. But sometimes there’s a gap between theory and practice. Are champion athletes also champion sleepers? Or is good sleep in the “nice to have” rather than “need to have” category for ascending the heights of athletic prowess?

A , from sports scientists at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee led by Travis Anderson, dives into the real-world sleep habits of more than 1,600 Olympic and Paralympic athletes. In the lead-up to the Tokyo Games in 2021, they filled out a questionnaire called the . The results offer insights into the typical sleep patterns for male versus female athletes, summer versus winter Olympians, and team versus individual sports. They also suggest that a surprising number of athletes aren’t sleeping as much or as well as they’d like.

In this age of ubiquitous self-tracking, you may wonder why they’re using a questionnaire rather than some form of objective sleep tracking. The simple answer is logistics: proper sleep studies are complicated and invasive. Even wearable tech devices would have been difficult to administer to 1,600 athletes scattered around the country, and their accuracy is questionable anyway. Moreover, imposing sleep tracking on athletes is a delicate proposition, and there’s a risk it can create anxiety and interfere with the sleep it’s supposed to measure. A few years ago, Charles Samuels, the sleep doctor who works with Canada’s Olympic teams, told me that the best way to assess how someone is sleeping is to ask them, “How are you sleeping?”

The biggest result is that roughly 40 percent of the athletes were rated as having poor sleep based on their PSQI scores. The scores take into account factors like how long you typically sleep, how long it takes you to drift off, how often your sleep is disturbed, whether you take sleep medications, and so on. The results are in line with of Dutch Olympic athletes, which found that 41 percent were poor sleepers. Similarly, in 2021 pegged 52 percent of Olympians as poor sleepers.

One of the goals of the study was to provide normative values—that is, to offer some context on what’s normal for hard-training athletes, as opposed to for the general population on whom the PSQI was first tested. The PSQI is scored out of 21, with higher scores indicating a greater number or greater severity of sleep problems. You’re classified as a poor sleeper if you score 5 or more. The average among U.S. Olympics was 4.3; a quarter scored above 6; 10 percent scored above 8; and 5 percent scored above 10. The highest single value was 16. (The lowest was zero, and boy do I envy those people!)

There are plenty of reasons athletes might have trouble sleeping. If you have a 6:00 A.M. training session, you’re going to have trouble getting all the sleep you might like. If you’re traveling frequently across time zones to get to races or training camps, that will cost you. If your legs are aching from hard training, or your mind is racing before or after a competition, you won’t sleep well. The survey results don’t tell us exactly what’s happening, but they suggest that someone who scores 5 or 6 on the PSQI, while officially classified as a “poor sleeper,” is pretty typical for a serious athlete.

The main difference between this study and previous ones is that it has way more athletes, which makes it possible to slice and dice the data into subcategories. Most notably, despite typically going to bed a few minutes earlier, women had worse sleep quality: an average of 4.7 on the PSQI compared to 3.9 for men. That’s a pattern that has shown up in some but not all previous studies. Among the specific differences were that women were less likely to report falling asleep right away after going to bed, and more likely to report using sleep medications. is that the variation in sex hormones across the menstrual cycle might interfere with sleep, but this study doesn’t tell us anything about the mechanisms, and the authors point out that it’s not really clear whether the small differences observed have any practical relevance.

The only difference between summer and winter athletes was that the winter athletes went to bed later and got up later, perhaps because there’s less light in the morning during the winter. There were no differences between Olympic and Paralympic athletes, even though factors like disrupted circadian rhythms in visually impaired athletes might lead us to expect more problems for the Paralympians. Team-sport athletes got up earlier and had poorer sleep than individual-sport athletes, but that pattern clashes with some previous studies. Overall, I’d guess that all these sub-patterns are confounded by the huge variety of sports in the sample. Runners are probably like runners, regardless of sex or Paralympic classification; they’re not like platform divers.

One way of interpreting all this data is that sleep is a great untapped frontier. If 40 percent of athletes are poor sleepers, just imagine your edge if you can master it. The other interpretation is that sleep can’t be that important, if all these Olympians can’t get it right. I’ll take a middle position, as is my wont. I think sleep is important for performance (not to mention for not feeling like crap all day). But I don’t think it’s one of those quantities that rewards relentless self-optimization. “If you get what you need,” Charles Samuels told me, “that’s as good as it gets.” Take your sleep habits seriously, but remember that if you still have some problems, you’re in very good—Olympic-level, to be precise—company.

For more Sweat Science, join me on and , sign up for the , and check out my book .

The post How Do Olympic Athletes Sleep? appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

The post-long run nap—some athletes love it, need it, and swear by it. Others complain it’s a necessary evil, that they actually feel worse after passing out on the couch. So which is it? Is an after-workout snooze optimal for recovery? Or is it only hindering your sleep schedule later in the evening?

We caught up with a few experts to gain clarity on the topic.

The Cause of Post-Run Sleepiness

This might feel like a “duh” moment, but there’s a lot of science behind why your muscles and overall psyche become tired after a long run. When you work out, your muscles are using adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a compound in the body used as a source of energy, to contract and flex. When you deplete ATP levels, your muscles don’t have enough of it to efficiently work and move, therefore bringing about something called “.” This is a type of exhaustion that occurs due to changes in the muscles themselves.

A second type of tiredness you might feel after a long run is “,” which occurs when overexertion changes the brain’s chemical balance. This slows the communication between the central nervous system and muscles, making you not only mentally exhausted, but inhibits your ability to transmit messages to your legs.

There’s also that points to the idea that feeling tired after exercising is the body’s way of protecting itself from burnout and injury. But further studies need to be conducted to prove that undoubtedly.

What the Experts Say

Tag along with marathon champion Hellen Obiri for 24 hours and you’ll find that this Boston Marathon winner and Olympian takes several mandatory naps a day, mostly after her training sessions. But longtime running coach, Katie O’Connor, says post-run nap opportunities aren’t prescribed often for her clients. Most of them are parents or people with hectic work schedules, so taking a couch siesta isn’t exactly realistic, though they wish it was.

“In my opinion, I think it just messes with your sleep schedule later on,” O’Connor says. “So many people don’t get enough sleep at night as it is. The better rested you are before your long run, the less chance you’ll need to have that post-run crash.”

She adds that if someone has a peak run of 20 miles or more, or is exercising through extreme cold or hot weather, a nap might be necessary. After a big race, for example, O’Connor is all for athletes sleeping as much as they can. But otherwise, she feels no one should feel so exhausted that they feel the need to crash. “There are other ways to recover than a nap—compression boots, cold or hot soaks, getting in a protein smoothie,” O’Connor says.

Clinical psychologist Shelby Harris not only specializes in behavioral sleep medicine, but she is a marathon runner herself. When asked if she participated in the ceremonial post-run nap, she says, “I used to [nap] when I was a newer runner and had a long run of more than two hours. Now I’m more conditioned to it that I don’t feel the need to.”

However, she’s not against taking a siesta after an afternoon out on the trails, confirming that a post-run nap can be a useful way for your body to recover and repair muscles, as well as boost energy.

Sleep specialist Chris Winter, host of the podcast, is more focused on differentiating between feeling sleepy and feeling fatigued. For example, he can’t ever remember a time where he worked with a marathon runner who couldn’t keep their eyes open at mile 18 because they were so tired.

“Another question is to ask yourself: Why do I feel the need to sleep after a run versus just resting?” Winter says. “Lack of hydration, overtraining, age, illness—there are a lot of things that can impact the fatigue severity scale.”

Sure, there’s a certain amount of exhaustion that’s expected after a tough workout, but sleep experts like Winter watch out for red flags like excessive lethargy, which can hinder an athlete’s performance. That’s when it’s important to look into potential chronic illness, nutritional deficiencies, depression, or something else.

Pros of the Post-Run Nap

Muscle recovery: Sleep triggers the , which are essential in stimulating protein synthesis, a process in which proteins are used to repair the tiny tears in muscles that accumulate during exercise.

Replenish glycogen: One of the best ways to restore glycogen is by eating enough carbs after exercising, but it’s also during sleep. The body constantly and naturally produces glycogen (as long as you’re properly fueled), so when you’re asleep and not expending energy, it has time to catch up on what it’s lost during the day.

Increased mental alertness: This one seems obvious, but while you sleep, your body both mentally and physically recharges by repairing muscle and tissue, strengthening memory consolidation, from the brain (thanks to the glymphatic system), and more.

Cons of the Post-Run Nap

Grogginess: Sometimes you feel less rested after your nap, and that’s due to something called “,” the transitional period from sleep to waking up. The brain produces while you’re sleeping, and when you wake up abruptly from a nap, it might not have time to stop sending those waves. This leads to grogginess, sleepiness, and confusion.

Disrupted sleep schedule: Napping can be a vicious cycle. You nap because you’re tired, but then you’re not tired later so you don’t sleep very well overnight. The next morning, you’re tired again, so you nap again, and the cycle continues. If you’re prone to insomnia, you might want to avoid naps for this reason.

Poor nap quality: show that the benefits of sleep are most noticeable when you are in a deep sleep, which isn’t always the case with a post-run nap. More likely than not, you’re crashing on a couch (which is usually less comfortable than a bed), and your core temperature and heart rate are high, making it difficult to relax into sleep.

To Snooze or Not to Snooze?

The answer to whether or not you’ll want to partake in post-run shuteye is highly personal, but most sleep experts advise following a few nap guidelines:

1. Keep it consistent. Nap everyday at the same time for the same amount of time so your body becomes accustomed to it. This will reduce sleep inertia.
2. Don’t let it become a domino effect. If you sleep during the day, you’ll most likely go to bed later than usual. This can often cause people to want to sleep late the next day, disrupting their whole schedule. No matter what, keep your morning wake-up time the same.
3. Hydrate and refuel beforehand. Don’t crash without first getting sufficient electrolytes, carbs, and protein. You may even find that you don’t feel so exhausted after drinking and eating.

Here’s the bottom line: With great naps come great responsibility. You don’t necessarily need to fight sleep after a long run, but be smart about it. If you finish up late in the afternoon, it might not make a ton of sense to take a nap since you’re so close to bedtime. In that case, you can grab a cup of coffee or take a cold plunge to stay awake. But in another scenario, where you have the afternoon to spend at your leisure, a 20-minute nap isn’t a big deal. Most importantly, if you feel like your exhaustion is out of control, seek out medical advice. Don’t sleep on taking care of your Zzzzs!

The post Post-Run Naps Are the Best, but Are They Good for Us? appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

If you’re looking for the shortest path to better sleep, Patrick McKeown suggests starting at your nose. The sleep and breathing expert has authored four books, including bestseller The Oxygen Advantage, which shows the link between good breathing, good sleep, and good performance. His new Oxygen Advantage app functions as a virtual breathing instructor, with hundreds of tips and exercises designed to help you take control of your breathing and sleep better.Ìę

“Getting good sleep is important in every aspect of our lives,” McKeown says. “It affects cognition, mood, productivity, recovery from exercise, and more.”

Here are McKeown’s first sleep-strengthening steps to improve your waking performance. From there, check out a full 30 days of new tips for training well, eating well, living well, and feeling great. Lean into the daily guidance and grab a to provide your body with delicious fuel to crush your goals. Each week adds up to a unique routine according to a different expert, with advice on improving everything from muscles and mobility to your mental state.

Breathe Through Your NoseÌę

Multiple studies show a link between mouth breathing and poor sleep.

Nasal breathing enables you to spend more time in slow-wave deep sleep and less time in light sleep, but roughly half of the population breathes through their mouth while sleeping, according to McKeown. “How did you feel when you woke up this morning?” McKeown asks. “Did you feel totally refreshed? Did you have energy throughout the day? That’s what it’s all about.”

Create good nighttime habits by breathing through your nose during the day; how you breathe during wakefulness can affect how you breathe during sleep. Starting the path toward nasal breathing is as simple as paying attention to your breathing during the day and actively trying to breathe more often through your nose.

Don’t Sleep In on Weekends

This sounds like tough love, but sleeping an extra four hours on Saturday disrupts your sleep patterns and establishes bad sleep hygiene. “It’s like jet lag,” McKeown says. “It throws off your schedule.” You’ll actually feel more refreshed if you skip your weekend slumberfest.

Establish a sleep/rise schedule and stick to it daily.

Skip the Midnight Snack
and Beer

Do you have a treat-sneaking routine before bed? Or maybe you like a beer after dinner? If you’re having trouble sleeping, it’s time to refine the timing of your snacks. Grab a protein bar earlier in the evening to stave off those late-night munchies. Eating late at night affects sleep quality, says McKeown, and alcohol has been proven to make people more restless at night.Ìę

“A lot of people, including myself, experience restless sleep if they eat too late, in theory because the body is metabolizing the food, which may affect sleep quality,” McKeown says. “We should wake up feeling hungry in the morning. After all, the word ‘breakfast’ literally means ‘break the fast.’”

As bedtimes and dinner times vary, there’s no hard-and-fast rule about when you should stop eating, so spend some time experimenting on your own. Try not snacking after dinner and see if that improves your sleep quality.

Breathe to Relax

Calming down after a hectic day can be difficult, but slow, deep exhalations have been proven to activate the vagus nerve, which signals the brain to relax, enabling you to fall asleep easier. Try this simple breathing sequence to calm down before bedtime.

Slowly breathe in through your nose for several seconds, then exhale through your nose for several more seconds, slow and relaxed to the point where you begin to feel light air hunger—that stimulates the vagus nerve, slows the heart rate, and activates the rest response. Repeat the process for 10 minutes.

______________________________________________________________________

Products is a high-protein nutrition brand, recognized for outstanding taste, premium ingredients and smart snacking offerings. think! Products are packed with protein, gluten free and made with thoughtful ingredients. Products include high protein bars, high protein crisp and plant-based and keto protein bars.

The post Daily Habits for Better Sleep appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

The internet is awash with anecdotes about high-powered CEOs touting their incredibly scant sleep schedules and early rise times. Pepsi’s former leader Indra Nooyi reportedly logs four hours of sleep a night. claim to need just six.

The thought of thriving on such little sleep—and freeing up so many more hours of your day— may sound tempting. But the reality is that the vast majority of us cannot function that way. Nor can you train yourself to need less shut-eye. A lot of people underestimate the amount of sleep their body ideally needs. And finding out how much you need may require some attention and experimentation.

How Much Sleep Do Humans Need?

Sleep scientists are in about adults needing at least seven hours of sleep per night for the best health outcomes. More specifically, adults aged 18 to 64 should get of sleep, and adults aged 65 and over should get seven to eight. published in Communications Biology found that older adults tended to make better and faster decisions, as well as have better working memory, when they got seven hours a night.

Despite all this evidence, there are plenty of people who claim to need or want fewer than seven hours of sleep. But often they confuse how much sleep they need for optimal functioning with how much sleep they just happen to be getting, says , an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University.

There are, of course, exceptions. “There are some individuals who can operate at a very high level on only a handful of hours of sleep,” says Scullin. Research shows there are a that cause people to be “short sleepers,” meaning they are highly functioning on just six hours of sleep a night.

Why You May Struggle to Find the Hours to Sleep

If your bedroom is too bright, loud, uncomfortable, warm, cold, or crowded, it’s going to be difficult to get quality sleep, says , an applied economist who studies sleep. Sure, you might be waking up early. But that might be because your body just can’t stay asleep, not because you’re well-rested.

Schofield studies the behavioral economics of sleep, focusing in particular on working communities in India. In her work, she found that when it comes to sleep and productivity, there are factors beyond the need for rest that can change people’s perception of how much sleep they need, especially when it comes to time.

“When you use time to sleep, you can’t use that time to do something else,” Schofield says. And so for some, their perceived “optimal” amount of sleep might be a shorter duration than what’s best for their health, simply because they can get more stuff done. It’s a cost-value trade-off that every population, regardless of nationality or socioeconomic status, has to consider, she says.

Calculating Your Optimal Amount of Sleep to Be Productive

To find out how much sleep your body requires for optimal focus and energy, Scullin says to make sure your sleep environment is comfortable, quiet, dark, and cool. Then, give yourself a lot of time to be in bed. Put your electronics away and don’t set an alarm. Simply lie down—and let yourself fall asleep and wake up at a natural time. “If you do that across one week, or maybe two weeks, then you’re eventually going to hone in on how much sleep your personal body actually needs,” Scullin says.

From there, it’s time to adjust your habits for the better. “The great news is, if you do increase your sleep, it’s pretty immediately rewarding,” he says. Sure, you may feel a little drowsy as your body adjusts to all those extra hours, “but as you get into a healthier sleep pattern, you’ll find your mood improves,” he says. “You’re probably even going to experience a happier outlook on life—and that’s really fulfilling.”

The post How Many Hours of Sleep Do You Need to Be Productive? appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

It’s no secret: Getting consistent, quality sleep is a challenge. But according to published in Healthcare, the key to better rest could be as simple as kicking off your shoes thanks to the benefits of grounding.

In the study, researchers in Taiwan tested the effects of grounding—a practice of having direct contact with the earth by lying on the ground or walking barefoot—on a small group of adults with mild Alzheimer’s disease. They found that 30 minutes of grounding five times a week significantly improved the sleep quality of participants.

But it goes beyond sleep. Other studies cited grounding as a potential tool to reduce inflammation, improve your mood—and even heal wounds. Why is the simple act of going barefoot outside so powerful?

The Benefits of Grounding

Our planet’s electrical charges interact with our own electrical systems when we come in contact with the ground, says GaĂ©tan Chevalier, the director of The Earthing Institute. This exchange of electrons neutralizes the acids in our bodies, which can cause inflammation, osteoporosis, and even mood swings if left unneutralized, he says. Better sleep is just the result of a more efficient system.

“We’re like a rechargeable battery,” says Chevalier, who holds a PhD in engineering physics. “When we ground regularly, we build a reserve of electrons that our body can use. When the body lacks electrons, it’ll try to get them from another source that’ll cause the least amount of damage possible, such as our bones.”

published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine pointed toward reduced cortisol levels as a possible explanation for this unexpected correlation. Cortisol, known as the “stress hormone,” can cause insomnia and poor sleep. After sleeping for eight weeks on a grounding mattress pad—a mat made of conductive material that transfers electrons directly from the ground via a wire—the cortisol levels of participants were more in alignment with their circadian rhythm, the body’s natural sleep-wake clock.

However, there are some limitations to this research. Chevalier says that while grounding mats provide similar benefits, it’s not the same as making direct contact with the earth. And like the first study, the sample size was small, and the results weren’t enough to draw any major conclusions.

The Importance of Going Barefoot

Katy Bowman, a biomechanist and the author of the book Whole Body Barefoot, says going barefoot is critical for both our mental and physical health. Our evolution into daily footwear has resulted in sedentary, untrained feet, she says. While we may not think much of this complex network of muscles and tendons, our feet are actually meant to be as dexterous as our hands. Not regularly working this intricate system can lead to foot pain, as well as issues with our ankles, knees, hips, and back, she says.

When we walk sans shoes outside, we’re exerting more effort—in a good way. Our feet aren’t used to feeling what she calls “vitamin texture” through sharp rocks, squishy grass, and rugged tree roots.

That doesn’t mean doing so is simple. There’s often a mental block to barefootedness. “Being outside is harder than being inside,” Bowman says. “We have a natural resistance to take our shoes off. Because when you do, you have to engage with the entire world. Attentional awareness ramps way up when you’re barefoot. It’s like an instant drop down into mindful behavior.”

The Mindful Connection

Just like yoga, meditation, and journaling, grounding is a mindful practice. Ronda Holman, a dental assistant, says she got into grounding as a way to release stress. According to both her Apple Watch (via the Pillow app) and her Oura Ring, there was a significant shift in her resting heart rate on the days she practiced grounding. While she’s hesitant to give it the credit for her newfound calm, she believes there’s something to it.

“It could just be the not doing anything,” she says “Taking yourself out of a stressful environment, making you sit on the ground, and distracting you with the sounds of birds and leaves and wind.”

How to Practice Grounding for Sleep

The most alluring aspect of this practice is its simplicity. Unlike the usual strict rules for getting quality sleep, grounding requires little more than your bare feet and a willingness to expose them to the elements.

Currently, there isn’t any guidance on how long you need to spend touching the earth—or what kind of ground you need to be on. Grass, dirt, sand, and other natural surfaces are all acceptable choices. Clinton Ober’s claims that even unpainted concrete is also conductive enough for free electrons to pass through. (However, he says that asphalt, wood, and vinyl are not.)

If you live in a climate that doesn’t allow for a lot of shoeless outdoor time, an indoor option may be the next best thing. Grounding socks, mats, and even bedding sets are designed with conductive materials that can give you some similar benefits as walking outside, just for a higher price. While they’re a good alternative, always opt for direct earth contact when you can.

We still have a lot to learn about the benefits of grounding and the earth’s potential to put us to sleep. But at the very least, grounding is just another reason to get outside.

The post Can Going Barefoot Improve Your Sleep? appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

Despite the fact that advice on how to sleep better is everywhere, it’s becoming more and more challenging—not to mention frustrating—to find reliable information.

Social media, exaggerated product claims by brands, even doctors who lack education can perpetuate myths around sleep, says Pedram Navab, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, neurologist, sleep medicine specialist, and author of .

The alternative to falling for false assertions is familiarizing yourself with advice from experts who understand the science of sleep. The following insights will help ensure you don’t lose another night’s rest.

8 Sleep Myths (and the Science That Debunks Them)

1. You Shouldn’t Exercise Before You Go to Bed

Research has long supported the fact that exercise can improve your sleep quality. Although a single workout can bring positive results, the more regularly you work out, the more likely you are to sleep better.

Until recently, experts cautioned against exercising close to when you turn in for the night. Not anymore. “For most people, exercising at night won’t get in the way of sleep,” says Michael Grandner, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and lead scientific advisor to Sleep Reset, a personalized sleep program.

Proof lies in a that concluded evening exercise didn’t adversely affect quality of sleep in subjects. In fact, it seems to have improved it. The only exception were those who practiced high-intensity exercise, such as running or cycling, within an hour of trying to fall asleep. Many of these subjects reported experiencing difficulty falling asleep and poorer quality sleep.

If you’re a late-night exerciser and suspect exercise is messing with your rest, try working out earlier or lowering the intensity of your nighttime routine. You could even try or , or a hybrid yoga class that begins with a fast-paced sequence and slowly settles into long-held stretches known as .

2. It’s Only What You Do At Night That Matters

Yes, everyone knows that consuming caffeine and taking long naps can stifle sleepiness hours after the fact. But there are less obvious daytime behaviors that can influence your ability to fall asleep. Notably, stress. has shown us again and again that stress and sleep engage in a complicated relationship.

“We think ‘I’m going to be up all day working and then I’m going to turn my life off,” says , PsyD, a behavioral sleep medicine provider and sleep expert with Calm, the sleep and meditation app and mental health brand. “But as sleep informs the day, the day informs sleep.” Harris suggests that you think of sleep on a 24-hour continuum as a reminder to “pay attention to all the ways you manage your physical and emotional health throughout the day, which in turn influences your ability to sleep.”

She suggests getting outside to ensure adequate exposure to natural light, which can reset your circadian rhythm. Also, Harris says, taking brain breaks as needed or whatever else helps you be at a better baseline. One thing she regularly recommends is meditation.

“When you meditate during the day, you cultivate a life of mindfulness and notice when your brain is talking so much, and you learn to bring it back,” says Harris. “It makes it easier for them to use meditation at night when the stakes seem higher. You can say, ‘Nope, not now, back on track.’”

3. Lying in Bed With Your Eyes Closed Counts

Technically, yes, lying in bed awake with your eyes closed constitutes rest. But it’s no substitute for sleep. Ironically, that well-intentioned behavior could actually set you up for continued sleep disruption.

According to Grandner, remaining in bed when you can’t sleep is the most common behavior that can turn short-term sleep issues into long-term insomnia. “You’re creating a wake association with the bed,” says Grandner. This means your body and mind get used to not sleeping in bed, which can make falling asleep more stressful and keep you awake.

If you’ve been lying awake for more than 20 minutes or are getting frustrated, get out of bed and do something relaxing, says Grandner. For instance, meditate or read a non-stimulating book in a dimly lit room. As soon as you start feeling tired, head back to bed. Resist the urge to look at any digital device while you’re up. The device could stimulate your mind too much to fall back asleep and the blue light could mess up your production of melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone, according to the .

4. You Need 8 Hours of Sleep

For years, we were told that we needed eight hours of sleep. While it’s possible eight hours is what you need, not everybody requires that amount. Some may need a little more, some a little less, Harris says.

The confusion arose, says Harris, when the National Sleep Foundation recommended that adults log between seven and nine hours of sleep. But somehow that was misunderstood as a single-digit average that applied to everyone.

In fact, in terms of cognitive performance, less may actually be okay. A revealed that somewhere between 5.5 and 7.5 hours could do the trick, the sweet spot being 6.5 hours, Navab says.

5. There’s Nothing Wrong With Hitting the Snooze Button

You know the scenario. You hear the alarm clock go off in the morning and you slap the snooze button
not just once, but twice, thrice, sometimes more. Although some of us might think it’s helpful to gradually awaken, science suggests that relying on the snooze button could mess up your sleep patterns in several ways.

First, relying on the snooze function interrupts your sleep cycle, only to start a new one that’s interrupted again. “This can lead to sleep fragmentation, which may leave you feeling groggy and less refreshed after waking up,” Navab says. This is known as , a state of grogginess and cognitive impairment that can linger after waking. Translation? Less productivity.

Plus, if you’re not consistent with your wake-up times, you could disrupt your body’s internal clock. As a result, you may have trouble falling asleep at night, Navab says. It could even lead to long-term sleep disorders.

Instead, set your alarm for the exact time that you want to get out of bed. Then—this demands some discipline—resist the urge to snooze. If necessary, place your alarm several feet from your bed so you have to actually get out of bed to turn it off.

6. You Can Make Up For Lost Sleep

Everyone knows someone who insists that when they skimp on sleep during the week, they can easily catch up on the weekend. If only this were true.

Sleep consists of different stages. Each fulfills a critical role. It’s the deep, or restorative, stage that is often sacrificed with diminished sleep. During this stage, your body literally restores itself at the cellular level by repairing damage to tissues, bolstering the immune system, and engaging in neural reorganization.

“When you consistently deprive yourself of sleep, your body and brain experience a deficit in the amount of restorative sleep that’s required for optimal performance,” says Navab. Those deficits accrue over time and can’t be reclaimed.

What’s more, when you try to make up for that sleep, you could make things worse. Your internal clock, also known as your circadian rhythm, is regulated by consistency in your sleep patterns. “Attempting to regain lost sleep can disrupt this rhythm and make it more difficult to attain the benefits,” says Navab.

So what do you do after a crappy night or two of tossing and turning? Take a nap. Navab considers daytime sleep to be productive and beneficial as long as you follow two rules: Schedule it for no later than 1 pm and nap for no longer than 30 minutes. Otherwise, you could disrupt your sleep later that night. If you’re a shift worker, take a nap before leaving for work.

7. You Can Train Your Body To Get By With (A Lot) Less Sleep

You can train your body to do incredible things. Climb a fourteener in Colorado. Hit a PR in a 10k. Nail in yoga class. But train it to get less sleep? In your dreams.

When researchers study sleep deprivation, they find that people feel like they’re adjusting to less sleep and report being less impaired, Grandner says. In reality, though, they’re functioning poorly, both physically and psychologically.

According to the , staying awake for 17 hours elicits the same effects as having a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .05 percent (.08 percent BAC is when you’re legally impaired). That rises to .10 percent if you’ve been awake for 24 hours.

“Brain function and other effects of sleep loss continue to increase over time,” says Grandner. “People may not notice anymore, though, because they start getting used to being impaired.”

Also, without proper sleep, you’re more likely to gain weight, lack energy, develop high blood pressure and diabetes, be more prone to getting a cold or the flu as well as take longer to recover. And that’s the short list.

There’s no getting around it: You’ve got to give your body the sleep it needs.

8. Slumbering With Your Four-Pawed Friend is Bad

According to the Center for Sleep Medicine, of pet owners let their cats or dogs bunk with them at night. Although experts have warned against this behavior for years, there may not be any substantiation for it. In fact, recent suggest co-sleeping with your pet may be less disruptive than sleeping alongside another human.

Navab says that for many of us, allowing a furry companion in bed can help relieve anxiety and promote relaxation. “Pets can potentially improve insomnia,” he says, explaining that the nightly routine you create for your pet can help you establish a consistent bedtime routine for yourself, which promotes a “robust homeostatic drive to sleep.”

So permission granted
sort of. The results are highly individual, cautions Navab. If allergies (yours) or noisy and disruptive behavior (theirs) become an issue, you may need to try keeping them out of your sleeping quarters and see if your rest patterns change. As with humans, it seems not everyone will make an ideal nighttime companion.

About Our Contributor

is an award-winning journalist who specializes in health, fitness, nutrition, travel, and animals. She’s been widely published in numerous leading publications, including Better Homes & Gardens, O, Real Simple, Eating Well, Women’s Health, Prevention, and more. She’s also the author of , a certified personal trainer, and Nordic walking world record holder who spends her spare time rescuing and fostering dogs.

The post 8 Myths About Sleep That Experts Want You to Stop Believing Right Now appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

Sustainability is becoming trendy—and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Yes, consumers are demanding more eco-friendly products than ever before, and they are willing to pay more for products that do less damage to the environment. In response, some brands are radically shifting supply chains to utilize more sustainable materials and processes. But there’s one big issue: many companies aren’t willing to put in the legwork. Instead, these manufacturers tack eco-friendly buzzwords—organic, green, natural, etc.—onto packaging and charge a premium. The company profits, while consumers are left to sort out the truth behind vague marketing claims. This phenomenon is called greenwashing.

Why Greenwashing Matters

When you buy greenwashed products, you unknowingly support a system that disincentivizes companies from developing truly impactful solutions to the environmental crisis. But the planet isn’t the only one getting the short end of the stick. Greenwashed products can also be harmful to you.Ìę

According to Amy Ziff, founder and executive director of third-party verification company MADE SAFE, government agencies like the FDA and EPA don’t provide much oversight. In fact, they only ban about 14 chemicals known to be toxic to eitherÌę humans or the environment. These same agencies permit companies to use thousands of other substances known to be dangerous. And many do.

The stakes are highest for products you interact with for hours each day, says Ziff. Mattresses are a great example. “We humans spend about one third of our lives sleeping,” she explains. “So, when people begin evaluating their lives for things that could cause [chemical] exposures, I tell them to start by cleaning up their sleep environment.” Many mattresses are coated with chemical flame retardants, which can seep into your skin over time (think: six to eight hours every night). Chemical flame retardants have been linked with , including neurological problems, hair loss, and organ toxicity. So, if you’re in the market for a mattress and want to avoid coming into contact with harsh chemicals, truth in marketing is crucial.

How to Outsmart Greenwashing

How can you tell which brands live up to their claims? These tips will help you shop in ways that align with your values.

1. Check for trusted third-party certifications. Whether you’re shopping for household products, outdoor gear, or furniture, look for seals of approval from independent third parties. These certifications are clear signals that brands are actually raising the bar for environmental and social responsibility—not just talking the talk. Some good certs to look for:

> or denote passing of a rigorous evaluation of each product’s ingredients to ensure they do not contain known harmful substances.

> and verify organic content in products like mattresses and bedding. You’ll also want to check if the whole product is certified or just the materials themselves. This will be listed in the public database.Ìę

> signifies that a business meets high social and environmental standards.

> guarantees low chemical emissions during production.

Some brands are certified in one or two of these categories. Others, like , have earned the sustainability stamp of approval across all four. All Avocado Green mattresses are verified by MADE SAFE, Greenguard Gold,ÌęÌęfor the latex foam, andÌę for the finished product. Plus, Avocado has earned B Corp status (and has a score of 126.2—well over the required minimum).

“Also look for valid certification numbers,” advises George Matthews, Avocado’s vice president of sourcing and certification. “When a company displays a certification logo without their entity’s corresponding number, you can pretty much assume they’re not getting audited annually, or that they’re not complying with the certification standards.” If the brand does show a number, look it up on the certifying body’s website to make sure it’s legit.

2. Seek out specifics. Vague platitudes should be regarded with suspicion. Does a “natural” material mean it’s “certified organic” or lab-tested to be safe for people and the ecosystems? If the product is “toxin-free,” which toxins make the list? Take Avocado’s new as an example. On top of being made with GOTS-certified organic cotton and wool and GOLS-certified latex, it’s made without chemical flame retardants. That’s possible because organic wool is quilted to the top of the mattress, Matthews says, creating a naturally flame-proof barrier. The mattress is also made without fiberglass or fossil-fuel-derived polyurethane foams. It doesn’t get much more specific than that.

3. Prioritize vertically integrated companies. Many brands do their best to prioritize eco-conscious materials, but global supply chains can be pretty murky. Companies that control their supply chains are better able to implement rigorous standards at every level. Avocado, for example, co-owns the farms and factories in India and Guatemala where its materials come from to ensure maximum quality control. “This lets us form strong, long-term relationships at each step of our supply chain,” Matthews says. “That way, we can ensure all of our partners are adequately supported and that they never have to take any shortcuts.” Ìę

4. Demand transparency. Brands worthy of your trust shouldn’t have anything to hide. That’s why Avocado uses to document the source of the materials it utilizes in its products. By 2024, Matthews says, all its wool and latex materials will be blockchain-verified, and Avocado will make that data freely accessible to any certifying body that asks for it.ÌęThe brand also publishes an unflinchingly honest each year.Ìę

5. Look for commitments to zero waste. Materials aren’t the only questionable aspect of greenwashing. Brands that truly care about the environment also work to limit the negative impacts of manufacturing processes. To that end, Avocado diverts 78 percent of its waste from landfills, as verified by third-party certifier Underwriters Laboratories (UL). It accomplishes this through responsible recycling and by upcycling leftover materials into its . These actions have helped Avocado achieve recognition as a climate-neutral business.

Matthews says that, for Avocado, going climate-neutral is simply part of being a good global citizen. “We want to be a beneficial part of every community we work in,” he says. “We believe that when you go about simple things with passion, you really can make the world a better place.”

’s mission is to be one of the world’s most sustainable brands. It crafts certified organic mattresses, pillows, bedding, bath products, handmade furniture, responsible loungewear, and a skin and body line that are all better for people and better for the planet.

The post 5 Ways to Beat the Greenwashing Game appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

There’s a scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy doesn’t know the way to the Emerald City. After the Oz residents sing an eerie, haunting tune, she follows the yellow brick road and—with the help of a few friends—finds the wizard. For those of us with sleep issues, this story may sound familiar. Every night can feel like a Judy Garland-esque adventure. Which “brick road,” or, OK, sleep strategy, will deliver you to dreamland the quickest?

Some people prefer sleep meditations, while others turn to ocean waves, stories, or . But if you rely on podcasts or audiobooks to fall asleep, you may wonder if that practice is expert-approved. What content is best? How long should you listen for? Should you really be throwing on Crime Junkies or the latest from Stephen King before calling it a night?

“Having a distraction to help calm your brain so that you’re not focusing on thoughts, worries, and to-do lists can be really helpful, and actually allow you to fall asleep more quickly,” says certified pediatric and adult sleep consultant , who adds that a quiet mind is an essential part of falling asleep.

Throwing on a podcast or audiobook when you’re tossing and turning is completely fine, Murray says. Just remember that the content does matter. Some listening materials leave you feeling serene and detached from your worries—and these are the ones you want to cling to. “What’s most important is finding something that’s actually calming and not very suspenseful or disturbing,” she says. “If it’s very suspenseful, then you’re going to want to stay awake and listen.” So, yes, that leaves true crime and politics out of your nighttime routine.

Once you’ve found the listening experience that’s calming (and, OK, a little boring) enough to shepherd you into a good night’s rest, Murray recommends setting a timer for the podcast or audiobook to automatically shut off. Apps like and offer this feature, and Murray says it’s absolutely essential. You don’t want to be sound asleep and suddenly woken up by a podcast host’s laugh, says Murray. This can insight a fight or flight response that will wake you up and potentially bar you from falling back asleep.

Alternative Soundscapes to Help You Fall Asleep

While relying on podcasts and audiobooks to relax at night isn’t necessarily a “bad” thing, that strategy isn’t Murray’s first recommendation. Sleep meditations allow you to connect with your breath, which , or your “rest and digest” state. Murray suggests , but , , and also have similar content.

Sound machines also offer a soothing effect. “I would recommend finding a sound that is at a lower frequency, such as pink or brown noise,” she says. While you may love listening to white noise during your workdays, it’s not the best aid to your sleep. White noise has a high frequency that stimulates, rather than calms, your brain, Murray says. Additionally, nature sounds, such as waves or rain may also . If you always sleep better outside, consider bringing those forest noises into your bedroom. Or at least recreating them through your phone speakers.

Consider which midnight soundtrack makes the most sense for you—and press play. With a little bit of planning, you’ll be following that yellow brick road in no time. And with any luck, the route will be less harrowing for you than it was for Dorothy.

The post Should You Listen to a Podcast to Fall Asleep? Here’s What a Sleep Expert Says. appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

Sam Mewis is a FIFA World Cup winner and professional player for the Kansas City Current. However, when it comes to her recovery, star is just like you and me: She sticks to the basics. That includes a consistent eight-hour sleep schedule, proper nutrition, and a little help from a few beloved products.

Sticking to the Basics of Sleep

You won’t catch Mewis sacrificing her shut-eye. “The older I’ve gotten, sleep has become such a big part of my routine,” Mewis says. “I need eight hours of sleep, or I honestly don’t feel good at all.”

For Mewis, the secret to restful sleep lies in the preparation. Mewis tries to go to bed by 9 PM and wake up at 7 AM every day. She also stays away from screens before hitting the pillow as much as possible. Whether it’s through sipping tart cherry juice (as she often does) or taking some melatonin and reading, for her, the regular wind-down routine is critical.

It’s an ethos , DC, the founder and chief wellness officer of , echoes as well: Adults need sleep routines. When you’re a kid, you’re taught to get ready for bed at a certain time and have an established pattern, he says. Those principles shouldn’t disappear when you become independent. For example, if you’re plugging away on emails at 11:30 PM and expect to fall asleep at 11:32 PM, your brain doesn’t work like that, Wersland says. You have to help nudge your body into the restful state sleep requires. Regular routines—coupled with a lack of screens—help solidify that.

Eating Well

Recovery is about much more than sleep and stretching—it’s also about food. “As women, we’re trained so much by society to watch what we eat,” Mewis says. “But as an athlete and as someone who is trying to heal, recover, and be strong, I need to eat a lot.” To this end, Mewis focuses her attention on what foods can fuel her—and directly benefit her athletic performance on the field.

That doesn’t mean she’s snacking on bland protein bars. It’s actually the opposite case: Her husband is a chef. And while Mewis focuses on her vegetable and protein intake, she says she’ll eat whatever dish he places in front of her. In the mornings, she says she loves to have a frittata. Her husband will prepare it on the weekends, and she’ll eat it throughout the week with toast and vegetables. Because, yes, even professional athletes need meal prep.

Turning to the Tools

There’s a reason why so many athletes turn to massage guns (results!), and Mewis is no exception. While she loves Therabody’s , Mewis often employs the as an on-the-go option.

But she also loves the company’s —and she’s not the only one. Like a massage gun, these small dots stimulate your muscles to relieve pain and improve performance. “You’ll see a lot of people around the locker room with the PowerDots on before we go out and play,” she says.

Mixing Hot and Cold

Following practice, you won’t find Mewis lingering in one place for too long. “I love contrast,” she says. That means mixing temperatures and braving the extreme heat and frigid cold. She often rotates between an ice tub and a hot tub in a single sitting. And when she has the time, she loves to spend 20 minutes jogging and stretching—in the pool. “I think the compression of the pool is super valuable for swelling and soreness.”

Because of Mewis’s current knee injury, she’s intentional with her recovery. “Especially with the injury I’m dealing with, swelling is a big deterrent to me being able to perform and play,” she says. As a result, she spends a lot of time with compression products, including that many stars swear by, as well as the , a therapeutic device.

You may see professional athletes plop bags of ice on their muscles and joints after a game. And while there’s nothing wrong with some icing, it may not be the most effective approach to supporting tired muscles. Wersland explains that when you throw a bag of ice on your legs, your skin may stay cold initially, but over time, the ice starts to melt, making the treatment gradually less effective. However, when you use a temperature-regulated device, like the sleeve Mewis uses, it stays at 46.4 degrees, a therapeutic temperature, for the entire session.

Professional athlete or amateur, we could all stand to take a little something from Mewis’s routine: rest, fuel, and take care of our joints and muscles. Here’s to winning big in the ways that matter.

The post I’m a Professional Soccer Player. Here’s What My Recovery Routine Looks Like. appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.