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Nicole Draper says she had no trouble getting a great night of sleep when she was a teenager, but that all changed in adulthood. “Once I hit my twenties, my sleep started to suffer. I would stay up until midnight or 1 a.m. and then wake up at 6 or 7 in the morning. It was broken sleep. I would wake up a lot and I didn’t feel refreshed afterward,” she says. During that time she was living in New Jersey and working as a cosmetologist.
Draper suspects that drinking too much and “a really terrible diet” that included fast food and takeout were partly to blame for her nightly tossing and turning. Fast-forward to the present, and the 38-year-old Asheville, North Carolina, marketing executive and mother of four logs seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep a night and wakes up recharged and ready to go without an alarm.
“I really need my sleep. If I don’t get enough sleep, I get really cranky,” Draper says.
How does she do it? Read on as we draw back the curtains (black-out ones, naturally) and reveal Draper’s super-sleeper secrets — and what a sleep medicine doctor has to say about them.
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1. Coffee (Yes, Really!)
“I typically get up between 7 and 8 a.m. without an alarm after sleeping seven to nine hours,” says Draper. She starts her day with breakfast and coffee soon after she wakes. She loves her morning joe, but Draper typically stops drinking coffee after noon. Occasionally, however, she says she indulges in an afternoon java when she feels the urge.
What the sleep doctor says Although some people are more sensitive to caffeine and may need to limit its use, it’s okay for most people to drink coffee in the morning and even into early afternoon, says Clark W. Pinyan, MD, MPH, a clinical associate professor of neurology who is board certified in sleep medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
“I recommend avoiding caffeine at least five hours before bedtime,” says Dr. Pinyan.
RELATED: How to Brew the Healthiest Cup of Coffee
2. Lots of Physical Activity
After breakfast, Draper typically heads to the local gym for an hour workout that includes weightlifting, agility training, obstacle training, bag carries, and rope climbing. “Most days I follow that up with a 30 to 40-minute run or ride on my Peloton,” she says. After a shower, she begins her workday.
What the sleep doctor says Daily moderate exercise has been shown to improve sleep. A meta-analysis published in the Journal of Evidence Based Medicine in February 2017 found that exercise helped improve some aspects of sleep, especially sleep quality.
Light, moderate, and more strenuous exercise have all been found to help with sleep, says Pinyan. So even if you’re not pumping quite as much iron as Draper (who reports making time for a lot of physical activity), know that it’s still good for your sleep. “Just make sure the exercise isn’t too close to bedtime, when it may backfire on you. You want to make sure you finish your workout a couple of hours before you plan to sleep so you have plenty of time to cool down,” he says.
RELATED: 10 Ways to Fit More Exercise Into Your Day
3. No Naps
Draper doesn’t take naps. She says there’s no need to because she isn’t sleepy during the day. “I find that I only nap when I’m really sick. If I try to nap I just feel like garbage when I wake up,” she says.
What the sleep doctor says Pinyan isn’t anti or pro nap, but he does suggest examining your sleep habits if you feel the need to nap frequently. “In that case you may want to ask yourself if there’s something that’s disrupting your nighttime sleep. Most people take naps because they’re tired from the night before, either from a sleep disorder (like sleep apnea) or general sleep deprivation,” he says.
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4. A Vegan Diet
After work, Draper’s evenings are filled with trips to the park, the neighborhood pool, or just hanging out cooking dinner. Draper and her family have eaten a vegan diet ever since her father-in-law died of cancer. “That was a turning point for me. Soon after, I began to exercise regularly and drink less, and my sleep improved dramatically,” she says.
What the sleep doctor says Although eating for overall health could certainly provide benefits that could improve sleep, there really isn’t a ton evidence that directly ties veganism or any other special diet to better sleep, says Pinyan. There is some evidence associating the Mediterranean-style diet (one that focuses on plant foods, like vegetables, fruits, legumes, and seeds, as well as fish, whole grains, olive oil, and dairy, which has been linked to numerous other health benefits) with better sleep quality. But research to date has been observational and isn’t conclusive.
“We do think that eating a big meal close to bedtime can hurt sleep. There is a hormone called leptin that you produce when you eat and when you’re hungry that can inhibit your sleep,” he says.
Overall, eating a healthy diet to attain or stay at a healthy weight may help sleep for a couple of reasons, he says. “If you are overweight you have a greater risk of sleep apnea, and you have a higher tendency toward reflux in your sleep. Both those factors will cause more disrupted sleep,” he says.
RELATED: What Are the Scientific Benefits of Following a Plant-Based Diet?
5. Limits on Alcohol
Draper says she limits her alcohol consumption overall. On nights when she chooses to drink, she’ll stick with wine or beer. And she keeps her weekly intake to about 7 to 10 drinks a week. She times her last drink for a few hours before she goes to bed. “I’ve found when I drink more than that or closer to bedtime my sleep suffers, and I don’t feel great in the morning,” she says.
What the sleep doctor says “We recommend people have their last drink right around dinnertime. Although people typically think that a drink relaxes them right before bedtime and helps them sleep, alcohol can disrupt your sleep cycle,” says Pinyan. It may make you feel drowsy shortly after you finish it, but once alcohol levels in the blood drop, that effect goes away and it can be more arousing in the middle of the night, he explains.
Also, large quantities of any liquid right before bedtime, even water, may not be the best practice, as the urge to pee can wake you up in the middle of the night, says Pinyan.
RELATED: 5 Things Drinking Too Much Alcohol May Be Doing to Your Body
6. A 10 O’Clock Notification and ‘Do Not Disturb’ Phone Setting
After dinner, Draper says she likes to relax on the couch with her family and watch TV. To make sure she doesn’t lose track of time, she sets a reminder on her phone to alert her when it’s 10 p.m. “That helps keeps me on schedule, even on weekends.”
Draper also limits phone time in the evenings. About one to two hours prior to bedtime, Draper says she tries to avoid checking or doing activities on her phone. “When I’m on my phone right before bed, I notice I have a harder time falling asleep,” she says.
She keeps her phone on her bedside table while sleeping, but she has it set on “do not disturb” beginning at 9 o’clock. Her setting allows emergency calls from specified contacts to come through, but otherwise her phone doesn’t alert her to new texts or calls.
What the sleep doctor says Keeping a regular schedule is absolutely helpful for sleep, says Pinyan. “If you are able to keep a routine seven days a week you tend to sleep better. The more regular your sleep the better off you are.”
Choosing not to look at your phone — or other screens — for an hour or two prior to bedtime is a great habit, says Pinyan. “It allows your brain to calm down. The light input from phones and screens can have a significant impact before bedtime,” he says.
Although setting your screen to dark mode or using a filtering device may help somewhat, any type of light keeps your brain alert, says Pinyan. “These measures aren’t as effective as just avoiding screens 30 minutes to an hour before bed. Yellow light is the least alerting, so if you need to use light close to bedtime that’s your best bet,” he says.
Anything that keeps you mentally alert in bed, such as playing games on your phone, scrolling through social media, watching television, or even reading a book, can interfere with your ability to fall asleep (though we all have our own thresholds of what’s too much), says Pinyan. “If you’re going to do anything like that, do it somewhere other than in your bed,” he suggests.
RELATED: Do Blue Light Glasses Really Work?
7. Keeping Cool at Night
Draper says she sleeps best when she sets her thermostat to a cool 68 degrees and keeps a ceiling fan on.
What the sleep doctor says That falls within the National Sleep Foundation suggestion to keep your bedroom temperature between 66 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, although that can vary from person to person. “The most important thing is that your bed and bedding is comfortable and at a temperature that suits you. If you feel comfortable and secure, you’ll likely sleep better,” Pinyan says.
Keeping your room dark and quiet can help with sleep, too, he adds.
RELATED: Sleep Remedies That May Not Work (and Could Do Harm)
Draper Stuck to Her Schedule Throughout the Pandemic
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge in some ways, it hasn’t changed Draper’s sleep. “My husband is an early riser, so he keeps the kids entertained or gets them breakfast if they wake up early,” she says.
Draper completed a Spartan race in August 2021 that required participants to run a 5K while completing obstacles that tested strength, balance, and endurance. “Sleep has been a huge part of what I’ve been able to do. There’s no way I could train as hard as I do and complete a race like this without good sleep. Your body needs to rest to be able to perform at a high level,” she says.
The Bottom Line: Your Ideal Sleep Routine May Not Look Like Draper’s, and That’s Okay
Draper’s sleep habits are generally good ones, says Pinyan. But they may not be realistic for everyone. And you may find that other factors help keep you on an ideal sleep schedule for you. Another consideration for keeping sleep on track, says Pinyan: “Sunlight in the morning when you first wake up is helpful.”
Remember that as in many aspects of health, part of your sleep patterns and how much sleep you need is genetic, he says. “Some people do need longer sleep and some people can get away with less, so don’t worry too much if you’re not getting exactly eight hours a day,” he says.
Pinyan advises you to focus on how rested and refreshed you feel when you wake up and throughout the day, and not so much on the exact number of hours you slept. And once you do find a sleep routine that works for you, stick with it.
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