What Do You Do Wrong Every Night According To Science? | DEBUNKED

it's the end of a long day of being a productive member of society and now you can't wait to take a load off and relax for a few hours before eventually turning in but hang on you might be going about it all wrong because according to science there's a whole range of things you might be doing that can cause you more harm than good and hey who doesn't want a scientifically optimized knight i know i do i'm stu this is debunked and we're here to sort the truths on the myths and the facts from the misconceptions this video was made possible by fabulous wearing yourself out before bed while it is generally true that exercise is good for you many people underestimate the extent to which a lack of physical activity can prevent a good night's sleep and around 48 of you say you do not exercise if you find you're suffering from poor sleep this could be the answer numerous studies and investigations have shown that exercise during the day helps you to fall asleep faster and improves the quality of your sleep in his best-selling book author david k randall notes studies which demonstrate that those who exercised reported a better quality of sleep than those who remained sedentary while charlene gemaldo md medical director of john hopkins center for sleep at howard county general hospital states we have solid evidence that exercise does in fact help you fall asleep more quickly and improve sleep quality indeed it has even been shown that engaging in just 10 minutes of exercise helps to prevent some common sleeping complaints like sleep apnea but if you're like me and appreciate the idea of exercise but often don't find the time to do it you might try to squeeze in that 10 minute bout of exercise just before you head off to the land of nod around a third of you who do partake in exercise are doing this and unfortunately this turns out to be a big no-no you see if you work out in the couple of hours leading up to bed you fill yourself with stimulating endorphins and raise your body temperature neither of which are things you want just before you settle down for some shut eye it's worth pointing out however that the reason why exercise improves your sleep isn't as obvious as you may have assumed in 2010 swiss researchers surveyed hundreds of college students about their sleeping habits and fitness level asking them to record not only how much they exercised and how well they slept but also to state how physically fit they believed themselves to be interestingly the researchers found no correlation between the actual amount of exercise the subjects did and how well they slept rather what did appear to be linked to high-quality shut-eye was actually one's perceived fitness level and degree of activity indeed many of those who engaged lots of exercise yet considered themselves to be physically unfit reported having poor sleep as such the researchers concluded that what affected sleep quality the most was not whether these students were actually particularly physically fit or active but the extent to which they believed they were participants who felt fit and active reported better sleep while those who felt more sedentary reported poor sleep prompting the lead researcher to state sagely what people think is more important than what they do so yeah it is generally a good idea to work out if you want better sleep but not too late and make sure you also believe in your workout too turns out that's pretty crucial eating and drinking before bed another huge contributor to subpar sleep is everyone's favorite oral activity that's right eating and drinking as it turns out ingesting copious amounts of food and drink in the late evening isn't particularly conducive to restful sleep my apologies to those habitual late diners over in spain but science is not on your side yep gorging on your evening meal too close to bedtime means increasing your metabolism and forcing your body to work on breaking down food when it should really be focusing on relaxing trying to fall asleep and manifesting vivid nighttime hallucinations that you'll struggle to recall upon waking up this is especially true of foods that are high in carbs and sugar which are extra tough to digest food in your stomach also triggers the release of insulin which suppresses the effects of the body's sleep hormone melatonin further impairing your sleep not only that eating too much before bed also increases the risk of acid reflux and indigestion which as you can imagine are not particularly soothing now perhaps some of you so-and-so's think you're off the hook since the only thing you consume around bedtime is good old booze just as god intended alcohol actually helps you get to sleep anyways doesn't it ah not really while alcoholic beverages may indeed help you to drop off sooner as your body begins to break down the delicious pre-slumber gnt the alcohol in your bloodstream makes you more likely to briefly wake up once again impending your sleep cycle and making your sleep less restorative frankly even drinking too much water can be sleep disruptive not for any specific chemical reason but purely because it fills up your bladder and makes you need to get up and go drain the tank as a result medical professionals sleep experts and dietitians generally recommend not eating or drinking up to three hours before you go to bed hey don't shoot the messenger when should you shower another hidden consideration in the fight against substandard slumber involves hygiene specifically showers the general consensus on showering appears to be heavily biased in favor of pro-morning showers but what if i told you that showering at night might be best for honing your sleep quality as it happens temperature is one of the biggest factors in play when it comes to first rate snoozing having a chill bod is very important in this regard as body temperature is critical to the smooth operation of your sleep cycle towards the end of the day in the hours immediately before bedtime your core body temperature dips making you drowsy and signaling that it's time to turn in as you sleep your body slowly cools even further reaching its nadir around five o'clock in the morning at this point your body temperature rises again encouraging mental alertness and physical activity upon waking up so cooling yourself down pre-bedtime is actually a grand way to encourage good sleep and a great way to do this is to take a warm shower this might sound counterintuitive but as long as your shower isn't too hot and you aren't in for too long when you leave the shower water will then evaporate from your skin working under the same principle as sweat transferring heat away from your body this relative cooling effect will get your body in the mood to snooze hormonally the after shower cooldown encourages melatonin production which works with your natural circadian rhythm rather than against it the trick is having time to cool down enough before bed so make sure you give yourself an hour and a half between showering in bed to reap the benefits of a nighttime shower showering pre rather than post sleep also has the added benefit of washing all the day's dirt and grime as well as allergens like pollen off of your body before you get into bed leading to cleaner and more comfortable bedding yep a pre-bedtime shower might just be what the doctor ordered while habits like these are hard to break fabulous is a tool that helps you brush off the bad habits and usher good healthy ones into your daily life it uses behavioral science to introduce habits to improve your life overall and achieve goals that you would otherwise just put off or delay because of a lack of motivation or importance after researching this video i added habits into my evening routine using fabulous that would counteract everything i was doing wrong and introduce rituals that complement my natural circadian rhythm and aid my sleep i've stopped snacking after 8 pm and have set up a melatonin alarm at 9 00 pm that encourages me to help my body's natural melatonin production like having a nice lukewarm shower my new routine has also helped me break another bad habit that we're all guilty of and i'll talk about that a little bit later start building your ideal daily routine by visiting thefab.com2 the first 500 people who click on the link will get 25 off on fabulous premium now let's see what else you're doing every night that you really shouldn't be doing getting all warm and cozy now that you're actually ready to get into bed temperature is more crucial than ever having already cooled your body to an agreeable level with a lukewarm shower don't undo all that work by having a toasty ambient temperature in your bedroom while you're snuggled under a thick puffy duvet as we've discovered as part of your natural circadian rhythm your body cools down towards the end of the day in order to prepare you for sleep ergo messing with your body's ability to call itself at night can wreak sheer havoc on your sleep so just exactly how hot or cold should your bedroom be at night well while opinions on what constitutes the perfect nighttime temperature do differ slightly from expert to expert generally speaking you want to keep your bedroom somewhere between 15.5 to 19.5 degrees celsius or about 60 to 67 degrees fahrenheit an often quoted sweet spot appears to be a sensible 18.3 degrees celsius or roughly 65 degrees fahrenheit while being too cold can obviously affect sleep quality lower temperatures don't seem to disrupt your sleep cycle to the same extent that higher temperatures do so yeah crack open a window remember to switch the light to bedding during the summer and of course turn down the blooming thermostat positions and pillows now that we've taken away the coziness of a nice warm bed i'm afraid that another supposed creature comfort is next on the list to be struck off so what's so bad about lovely comfy pillows well it's all to do with the density of your pillow and how that aligns with the position you sleep in if your neck is bent in any sort of position for an extended period of time you're likely to experience some neck pain so for example if you sleep on a nice soft pillow but you're a side sleeper then you're not likely to be getting the correct support under your neck meaning your head will need to extend sideways to rest on the pillow if you have a firm pillow and sleep on your back the opposite occurs and the pillow will push your head forward again misaligning your neck if you're a stomach sleeper however you might want to reassess your sleeping position altogether if you're on your stomach with your head to the side you're sleeping in a full rotation position and that can become painful on top of that if you sleep on your stomach with a firm pillow it will push your head back hyper extending your neck so if you find you are only able to sleep on your stomach then get yourself a nice thin soft pillow or even no pillow at all unless you're suffering from any medical conditions then sleeping on your back is considered the best sleep position but a 2012 national sleep survey across the u.s found that most people sleep on their side followed by 16 on their stomach and only 10 percent on their backs but whether you're a back sleeper or a side sleeper expert advice remains the same try to get the spine in a relatively straight position if you're a side sleeper this means using a second pillow between your legs to help naturally align your spine and pelvis this should ideally be a relatively firm pillow placed between your knees that elevates your upper thigh in order to keep your hip neutral research has shown that this can offer a whole host of benefits and can alleviate back and hip pain screens before bed the modern era has normalized near constant use of our smart devices especially phones and surprise surprise it could be messing up your beauty sleep these addictive gadgets disrupt sleep in a number of ways firstly just by engaging your mind and holding your attention when you should be trying to mentally relax using phones and tablets right before bed stimulates your brain which keeps you awake longer and messes up your sleep cycle however the impairing effect of smart devices isn't just a matter of pure distraction turns out that exposing yourself to the light emitted from these devices is yet another suppressor of our old friend the sleep hormone melatonin this is particularly true of light found at the short wavelength portion of the visible spectrum between approximately 445 and 480 nanometers which you and i will recognize simply as blue this is because bright bluish light mimics daylight which falls the brain into thinking you should be up and about and doing stuff when really you should be unconscious not cool blue light not cool now many people perhaps even people currently watching videos about things that wreck your sleep might think they can get around this effect with applications that dim the light on your device's screen or specifically filter out blue light but turns out that's not really that much of a solution according to the sleepy head clinic a sleep disorder organization led by sleep scientist stephanie romisueski although these apps may somewhat reduce the sleep zapping effect of your devices ultimately any amount of light no matter how dim inhibits melatonin production as a result many experts generally recommend that you avoid using phones tablets and laptops entirely for at least an hour before bedtime so that you can properly wind down a little before sleep and you're not inadvertently tricking your own brain into thinking it's the middle of the chuffing day if this video has inspired you to make changes to your daily routine then visit the fab dot co forward slash debunk 2 where you can build your own personal ideal daily routine for free and if you like that you can use our exclusive discount to access features on fabulous premium thanks for watching and we'll see you next time

Channel: Debunked

Views: 440,226

Keywords: tired, things we do everyday, daily life, morning, mistakes we make, debunked, debunk, in a nutshell, explained, myth, fact, mythbusters, science, education, physics, biology, human, health, medical, brain, how to, can you, what if, infographics, urban legend, learn, new, false, true, truth, myths, human body, bad for, sleep, sleeping, things we do wrong, wrong, mistakes, fun science, life, everyday, daily routine, wrong for you, debunking, make change, tiredness, typography, animation, infographic, learn more

Id: MvgrBX70mlg

Length: 13min 43sec (823 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 28 2022