Help Falling and Staying Asleep

What is standing in your way?

Prioritizing sleep presents unique challenges to each of us. The good news is with the help of science and our team of sleepers; we've created some essential tips to keep you moving forward and get the most out of RISE.

Relaxation Techniques Backed by Science

Relaxation techniques are methods to help reduce stress by focusing on something calming while also helping you become more aware of your body. It matters less which technique you choose, what matters more is that you try to practice relaxation regularly to help you fall asleep. If one method doesn't work for you, try another. Like any training, practice means progress. So don't be dissuaded if it doesn't work the first time.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation is a strong option backed by science. A meta-analysis review in 2008 published in the journal BMC found a high effect size of progressive muscle relaxation to reduce anxiety.

Who is it good for?

• Sleepers who haven't found meditation, or other imagination-based techniques, useful.
• Sleepers who struggle to stay still
• Sleepers who don't have a history of muscle spasm, back problems, or other issues that could be aggravated by tensing muscles
• Sleepers who are willing to practice a technique a few times

Autogenic Training

Autogenic training was first developed in 1932 by German psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich Scultz after he noticed precise physiological descriptions from patients during hypnosis. Since then, the technique has evolved and, while the exact mechanism isn't fully understood, multiple studies have found autogenic training measurably reduces stress.

Who is it good for?

• Sleepers who have found meditation, or other imagination-based techniques, useful but still need a bit more help
• Sleepers who are are willing to practice a technique a few times

Diaphragmatic breathing

An ever-increasing number of studies have shown diaphragmatic breathing helps trigger the body's relaxation response. In essence, deep abdominal breathing encourages full oxygen exchange while also slowing your heartbeat and lowering, or stabilizing, blood pressure. This technique allows it to be an effective non-pharmacological intervention to reduce stress.

Who is it good for?

• Sleepers who want only to spend a few minutes trying a technique
• Sleepers who want to practice anywhere
• Sleepers who have troubling focusing
• Sleepers who don't have health problems that make breathing difficult

Relaxing Sounds

There is disagreement in the literature about the impact of sounds on sleep. There is some research suggesting reducing the difference between background noises and “peak” noise, such as a dog barking, by using constant ambient noise can help improve sleep. Given the mixed research, it’s best to experiment with the sound that works best for you.

Who is it good for?

• Sleepers who prefer consistent or masking sounds as they sleep
• Sleepers who want to choose how long they want their session
• Sleepers who have noisy sleeping environments

RISE can help.

RISE offers in-app relaxation techniques. Just go to the "Energy" tab and add the "Relaxation" habit to your energy schedule. Your relaxation session will be ready to help you end your wind-down and get to sleep each night.

Defend your wind-down time

It's critically important to manage stress in the evening hours before sleep. Pre-sleep stress is associated with sleep disturbances and difficulty falling asleep.

If you find your mind is consistently racing with to-do lists or stress when you're trying to fall asleep or you're always pushing back bedtime for more Netflix, consider changes to your evening 3-5 hours before your bedtime goal.

Use your circadian energy to structure your night

Think of your circadian rhythm as a schedule for how to be productive and prioritize sleep each evening. Follow your evening peaks and dips to give yourself plenty of time to decompress before bedtime.

• Evening peak: you have a second cycle of energy every day in the evening. Think about what requires your highest level of attention and focus each night and get it done during your peak. This energy peak not only helps you be more productive; it also protects your wind-down time by creating a cue to start ending the day.
• Wind-down: during this cycle, your brain is sending signals to your body to begin preparing for sleep. This signal is your cue to end the workday. Avoid activities that take mental energy or cause stress. Instead, reward yourself with a hot shower or some mindless entertainment. Dim the lights and put your devices into “Night Shift” mode to limit blue-light that prohibits your brain from making optimal melatonin.

RISE can help.

RISE offers evening routine reminders. Just go to the "Energy" tab and add the "Evening routine" habit to your energy schedule. Your most common evening activities are organized into your energy peak or wind-down time with reminders to help you stay on rhythm each night.

Blue-light and melatonin

Light plays a vital role in regulating your circadian rhythm. Light detectors in the eyes manage the release of hormones like melatonin. Insufficient daylight and artificial light at night cause the clock in your head to get out of sync. TVs, phone screens, and electric lighting confuse your brain into thinking it's still daytime and block optimal melatonin production. As a result, this light makes it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Managing blue-light

Blue light is everywhere, not just screens. There are several options for managing how much it impacts your sleep.

• Wear blue-light blocking glasses: put on specially designed glasses starting 90 minutes before bed. RISE recommends UVEX Skyper blue light blocking glasses as the most scientifically effective.
• Dim indoor lights: dim or turn-off electric lighting or use candles 90 minutes before bed.
• Wear a sleep mask: at night to help eliminate all light when you can't control the environment where you sleep.

RISE can help.

RISE offers reminders to help you manage blue light. Just go to the "Energy" tab and add the "Wear blue-light glasses," "Wear sleep mask," or "Check your environment" habits to your energy schedule. You'll get a reminder each night to keep you in rhythm.

A bed is not a desk or a couch.

Your brain has a fantastic power to associate things - places, smells, sounds, lights, etc. These days people do many things that aren't sleep in the bedroom and bed - work, TV, games, phone, etc. Research shows a strong association between the use of electronics in bed and insomnia and less energy during the day. So, when you're in bed trying to sleep, your brain is expecting something else. Keep your bed and bedroom for sleep and sleep only. Do other things in other rooms.

RISE can help

RISE offers reminders to help make your bedroom a good environment. Just go to the "Energy" tab and add the "Check your environment" habit to your energy schedule. You'll get a reminder each night to keep you in rhythm.

Cool, dark and quiet

Make sure you have the right environment to fall asleep and stay asleep. The three key factors are temperature, light, and bed associations.

• Cooling: the science recommends between 65-68℉
• Dark: it should be dark enough so that you do not know when the sun has come up. Even with blackout shades, it, therefore, might not be dark enough. We recommend a mask.
• Quiet: Environmental noise disrupts sleep. It doesn't matter if you think you've gotten used to it - your sleep quality is compromised. We recommend earplugs.

RISE can help.

RISE offers reminders to help make a better sleep environment. Just go to the "Energy" tab and add the "Check your environment," "Relaxation," "Wear earplugs", or "Wear sleep mask" habits to your energy schedule. You'll get a reminder each night to keep you in rhythm.

Sleep Schedule Consistency

Many of us compensate for inflexible work schedules during the week by staying up later and sleeping later on the weekends. This behavior creates a phenomenon you feel on Monday morning called social jetlag. The result is a repeated disruption in your circadian rhythm that affects sleep quality and psychological wellbeing. The goal is to maintain consistent sleep and wake times throughout the week and weekend.

Working from home

Not having to commute can give you more flexibility, but it can also make it harder to keep healthy routines. Even if you work from home, irregular sleep-wake patterns negatively impact performance and mood. What's more, distractions working from home, burnout from a lack of boundaries between our professional and personal lives, and the cognitive overload of Zoom all curb our focus and ability to sleep.

• Follow your circadian rhythm: throughout life, the clock in our head is often at odds with our partners, children, friends, jobs, and society's clock. For example, the majority of university students experience a decrease in performance simply because their circadian rhythm is misaligned with their school schedule. The impact is real and can be triggered by a change to your work schedule.
• Be asleep within your melatonin window: RISE uses your sleep times to predict the circadian phase when your brain is producing the optimal amount of melatonin to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Sleeping according to your ideal circadian timing leads to higher quality sleep, better health, and productivity.
• Know your chronotype: Do you consider yourself a morning person or an evening person? It's a little more complicated than that. Your exact chronotype is specific to your genetics, age, and exposure to environmental light. The Center for Environmental Therapeutics provides an online survey to help you find and understand your chronotype.

Taking small steps toward a more consistent sleep schedule is the best thing you can do to start sleeping better and feeling better. Your body is already sending signals; the challenge is to be prepared to sense them. Life happens, It's normal to get misaligned, but by understanding our chronotypes, we can rediscover our natural rhythm to sleep, live, and adapt together.

RISE can help.

RISE predicts circadian rhythm (Energy schedule) each day based on your recent sleep history. Just go to the "Energy" tab.

At RISE

Our entire experience focuses on the indicators that matter most to how you feel and perform - sleep debt and circadian rhythm.

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