Sandi Grunwaldt: Greetings. My name is Sandy Grunwaldt, and I am honored to be your Wellbeing and Engagement Manager at San Juan Regional Medical Center. Today, I'd love to talk to you about a topic inspired by our wellness champions, and that is your quality and quantity of sleep.

As a proud employee of San Juan Regional, whether you're a clinician or not, a parent or a person of a certain age, you may relate to this thought that life is a delicate balance of trying to stay awake and trying to fall asleep while slowly getting worse at both. If that's how you feel sometimes, I may have some helpful information and tips to inspire you to try in order to help you improve the quality and quantity of sleep that you are getting.

My goal for you today is to provide several recommended and research-based tips and quick facts to help you achieve optimal rest so you can feel your best and function at your highest capacity.

First of all, think about how much sleep do you really need and how do you know? There's a couple bits of information that can help answer this question. First of all, it's exceptionally personal. Also, the amount of sleep you get and you wake up feeling refreshed without an alarm clock is one of the most ideal ways to know that you've had optimal and plenty of sleep. There's also some significant research that says most adults have normal sleep needs. In other words, they function best with seven to nine hours of sleep, but only about two-thirds of Americans regularly get that many hours of sleep. Children on average do best with eight to 12 hours, and elderly people may only need five to seven hours. So, thinking about where you are, how many hours of sleep do you typically get and how restful are those hours are why we're together today.

There's some term that's called the wannabe short sleepers. In other words, one-third of Americans, research shows, are actually sleep deprived, regularly getting less than seven hours of sleep per night. This places them at higher risk of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and other health problems. So, thinking about you, if you're getting less than seven hours and you're not waking up feeling refreshed without an alarm clock, this is some bits of information that may be exceptionally helpful to you.

There is an interesting stat that says about 1-3% percent, very very few of us, actually function well on less than six hours of sleep without being tired during the day. They tend to be unusually energetic and outgoing, but it's highly, highly rare. So if you are not getting the seven to nine, feeling refreshed, functioning at your best, I want you to think about some of these tips inspired by our wellness champions, shared in the Harvard Sleep Study, and other bits of fascinating research.

One thing to try and think about is if you are a ruminator, in other words, if you lay in bed at night and your thoughts continue to ruminate, repeat over and over and over and over, and that is prohibiting you from getting good rest or even falling asleep initially, I want you to think about one visualization that has been shown to be effective. Think about yourself on the bank of a river and each of your problems or ruminations is on a leaf and they're floating down the river. Is there anything you can do about those problems at 3:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m. when you're trying to sleep? Think about them floating down the river. That may help.

Try avoiding screen time within two hours of when you typically plan to sleep. Do you get enough exercise during your day? People who are fit or exercise regularly typically do not struggle as often with sleep. It can be aerobic, resistance, flexibility, stretching, yoga, whatever works for you, can you get a little bit more of that added to your day to help any sleep challenges you may be having? It's also said you should avoid heavy meals close to bedtime. If you're hungry, opt for a light snack if it's late. Can you avoid or limit caffeine close to bedtime? Caffeine is a half life and stays in our system much longer than most people realize. Also, think about the fact that chocolate has caffeine.

Can you communicate your schedule better with family and friends to minimize interruptions? And again, stay active. Regular physical activity can help you fall asleep faster and enjoy deeper sleep. On the same tone, can you think about avoiding vigorous exercise too close to bedtime and avoiding exercise for most within two hours of planned sleep. There's lots of information that says your body is revved, your brain is revved after those exercise bouts, and it can interrupt and challenge you in falling asleep too quickly if you're trying to go to bed right after a workout.

Consider melatonin, but avoid taking too much. And always consult with a health care provider before using. If you work the night shift, limit light exposure the best you can by wearing sunglasses on your way home. and using dim lighting for that transition. Think about engaging in more relaxing activities before bedtime, whether it's reading a book, meditating, taking a warm bath or shower, very personal. Think about the number of different breathing exercises available that one of our respiratory therapists used to share how well it can actually lower your blood pressure and slow your heart rate and help you fall asleep faster. There's three-part breathing. There's something called box breathing where you inhale and exhale and visualize a box as you do that. The 7-11 breathing and then that deep breathing from the diaphragm, how effective that can be in just helping you relax so you can fall asleep quicker.

Do you prioritize sleep on your days off? There is some research that shows that banking extra sleep before a series of night shifts and catching up on rest during off days is effective. Are you able to take any kind of strategic naps at all, whether it's during a shift or on your off time? But limit that to 20 to 30 minutes. So, it doesn't interfere with sleep later on. And then, there's all kinds of apps that you can utilize white, pink, or brown noise. There's MyNoise, Atmosphere, BetterSleep, Calm, so many of those to give a try if you're struggling.

And what about using some online sleep resources? There's Bedtime Stories, Mindful Meditations, Healing Frequencies, all kinds of opportunities to give a try. And then, just think about your environment. Is it sleep-enhancing, conducive? Do you need a new pillow? Do you need some new PJs? Does the person with you snore and maybe they need an appointment with their doc to look at that? And really think about the lighting in your room. Do you need different sheets? Do you need, different night light? Is your phone too close to your bed? All of these things can make a difference.

So with that, I say a big thank you to our wellness champions, and thank you to all the hard work that you do that can keep your brain going long after your work hours. And I wish you all sweet dreams.