Five things you should NEVER do before bed – or risk more sleepless nights

A sleep expert who works with some of the world’s top athletes has shared a slew of vital tips to ensuring that you get the best snooze at night – and shared the things she would never do before going to bed.

Dr. Cheri Mah, a sleep physician from Sunnyvale, California, recently sat down with Steve Bartlett on his Diary of a CEO podcast to discuss an activity that was vital in everyone’s lives but usually overlooked: getting a good night’s rest.

So often people stay up late scrolling on their phone or binge watching Netflix; or they spend hours struggling to fall asleep and continuously wake up throughout the night.

Whether you purposely choose to stay up late or can’t figure out what’s disrupting your sleep, not getting enough shut-eye may leave you feeling grumpy, impact your ability to make decisions, and ultimately result in you being less productive during the day.

Thankfully, Dr. Mah – who has helped sports stars from MLB’s San Francisco Giants, NBA’s Golden State Warriors and NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles improve their sleep – has shared the simple changes that you can implement that would help you get into a deeper slumber.

She has revealed simple changes that you can implement that will help you get into a deeper slumber during an appearance on Steve Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast

‘It’s sometimes hard to grasp how much of a difference [sleep] can make in your life,’ she explained during her appearance on the podcast.

‘It is one of the foundations that will impact everything about how you function, your mood, how you feel and ultimately perform the following day.’ 

She said everyone should be getting at least eight to 10 hours of sleep per night if they wanted to feel their best.

She recommended sleeping in a ‘dark, quiet, and cool’ environment that embodies a ‘cave,’ and implementing a ‘wind-down routine’ before bed to help ‘prepare your brain to sleep.’

She also advised against showering or eating a hearty meal before you hit the hay, and suggested that you only get in bed when it was time to actually sleep.

Take a look at Dr. Mah’s full list of tips to making sure you get the best slumber at night.

Make sure your sleep environment embodies a ‘cave’ because you get your best slumber in a dark, quiet, and cool setting

Dr. Mah said it was important to make sure your sleep environment embodied a ‘cave’ because you got your best slumber in a dark, quiet, and cool setting

The first step to ensuring you get a good night’s sleep, according to Dr. Mah, is to ensure your ‘sleep environment’ is the best it can be.

She explained that your room should embody a ‘cave’ at night, which meant it was ‘dark, quiet, and cool.’ 

She recommended using blackout curtains or sleeping with an eye mask to ensure light didn’t creep in when morning hit and disrupted your slumber.

She also suggested putting on a noise machine or sleeping with earplugs to avoid being woken by loud sounds. 

‘We want to make your sleep environment like a cave – really dark, quiet, cool, and comfortable,’ she shared. 

‘Blackout curtains and eye masks are some of the easiest tools you can grab and they are incredibly helpful and great investments. 

‘It should be quiet, so earplugs or white noise machines [can help]. Sometimes there’s a garbage truck [outside] or construction that you’re not always able to control.’

In addition, she said it was important to focus on the temperature of your room, which should always be between 60 to 67 degrees. 

‘From a temperature standpoint, you want it to be cool. 60 to 67 degrees has been shown to help individuals stay asleep and fall asleep,’ she added.

Avoid showering and eating hearty meals before going to bed – but healthy ‘pre-sleep snacks’ are recommended so you don’t go to sleep hungry

She said to avoid showering and eating hearty meals before going to bed – but recommended you have a healthy ‘pre-sleep snack’ so you don’t go to sleep hungry

According to Dr. Mah, taking a shower or eating a hearty meal right before you go to bed can make it harder for you to fall asleep.

‘I would encourage you to shift [your shower] to earlier in the night. An hour and a half before you’re planning to go to bed [is ideal],’ she dished. 

‘When you are taking a hot bath or hot shower it increases your core temperature, but when you fall asleep your core temperature drops – so you don’t want that competing signal to happen right before bedtime.’

She also advised against going to bed with ‘something really heavy sitting in your stomach.’

She said those looking to sleep well should avoid alcohol, caffeine, heavy meals, fried foods, sugary carbs, and ‘tomato-based products’ because they tend to cause ‘acid reflux’ in the final hour before they fall asleep.

Instead, she said you should consume healthy ‘pre-sleep snacks’ like ‘whole grain cereal,’ ‘cottage cheese and fruit,’ or ‘whole wheat crackers and peanut butter’ – because going to bed hungry can be just as detrimental.

‘I don’t want you waking up in the middle of the night being hungry or even trying to fall asleep if you feel like you’re hungry,’ she shared. 

‘[You want to eat] something that’s slow digesting through the night because ideally, you’re going to be sleeping seven, eight, or nine hours and you want it to be able to get you to the morning time. 

‘A pre-sleep snack can can be a great strategy if you’re coming home late and you want to be able to fuel before bed or if you have a really early dinner and you’re hungry before bedtime.’

Don’t watch TV or use your phone before bed, instead, implement a ‘wind-down routine’ that will ‘prepare your brain to sleep’

In addition to avoiding showers and big meals, Dr. Mah said looking at screens right before you hit the hay was not ideal (stock image)

In addition to avoiding showers and big meals, Dr. Mah said looking at screens right before you hit the hay was not ideal.

She said the ‘bright lights’ from the TV or phone screen could be ‘very psychologically stimulating’ and made it harder to fall asleep.

She said the ‘bright lights’ from the TV or phone screen could be ‘very psychologically stimulating’

Instead, she recommended creating a ‘wind down routine’ that would ‘prepare your brain and body to sleep.’

‘It’s easier to slowly pump your brakes and try to sleep versus going 60 miles an hour on a freeway and then suddenly slamming on the brakes and just jumping into bed,’ the expert said.

She said this could include stretching or breathing exercises, and for those who found their mind ‘racing’ at night, journaling or making a to-do list.

‘Managing a racing mind can be incredibly common for not just the elite athlete, but for all of us,’ she explained.

‘What I’d recommend is spending 10 minutes processing your thoughts outside of bed in dim light every single night.

‘I would recommend you could do stretching, you could do deep breathing exercises.

Instead, she recommended creating a ‘wind-down routine’ that would ‘prepare your brain and body to sleep’

‘If that’s not your thing, I recommend journaling, getting your thoughts down onto paper, or writing a to-do list.’

But your wind down routine shouldn’t occur in bed; it should happen on a couch or at your desk.

She said your bed should only be used for ‘sleeping and having sex’ – or your brain may start to associate it with being awake. 

‘I think so many people make the mistake of being in bed while being on their computer or on their phone,’ she continued.

‘That helps strengthen that connection that when you’re in bed you’re awake. Your brain will start to associate that. 

‘Sleep and sex are all that you want to do in bed, everything else should be outside [of the bed].’

If you like to nap throughout the day, don’t sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time or it could make it harder to rest at night

If you like to nap throughout the day, Dr. Mah said you shouldn’t sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time or it could make it harder to rest at night

Many people love to take naps during the day, but Dr. Mah said they could ultimately make you feel ‘more sluggish’ and make sleeping at night even harder.

She said short naps were key, and that they should never be longer than 30 minutes. 

‘When you take longer naps you’re much more sluggish, much more groggy [when you wake up] and that’s not a good state,’ she dished. 

‘It can also affect your sleep at night and make it harder to sleep so you want to stay in those lighter stages of sleep [when you nap]. Keep those naps very short.’

For those really looking for a ‘boost’ during the day, she said she recommended something called a ‘nappuccino’ to her athlete clients.

It involves drinking their favorite caffeinated beverage and then take a 20-30 minute power nap immediately afterwards.

‘It’s a useful tool if you’re trying to have a temporary boost in alertness and performance,’ she said.

‘When you wake up it’s like bam, both the caffeine kicked in and the power nap kicked in.’ 

When your alarm goes off in the morning make sure to get up right away because hitting the snooze button multiple times leads to you getting less sleep

While it may feel like you’re getting more sleep by snoozing your alarm multiple times in the morning, she added that it actually ended up making your night of rest worse in the long run

While it may feel like you’re getting more sleep by snoozing your alarm multiple times in the morning, Dr. Mah said it actually ended up making your night of rest worse in the long run.

She said it was important to let yourself sleep deeply up until it’s time to get up, and then waking up right away after alarm goes off. 

‘If you’re someone who hits the snooze button five times every five minutes for a half hour, it means that you’re having very interrupted sleep for the last half hour of your night,’ she explained.

‘Versus if you just let yourself sleep consolidated all the way through and then maybe hit the snooze button just one time and get yourself up to start your day, it means you’ve given yourself another 25 minutes of consolidated sleep.’