Dr. Shelby Harris, a clinical psychologist and expert in behavioral sleep medicine, shares her insights on improving sleep quality. She debunks common sleep myths and discusses the significant impact of sleep on overall health, including mental well-being and weight management. Dr. Harris offers practical tips for creating a better sleep environment and emphasizes the importance of consistent sleep routines. She explains how sleep can be treated as a learnable skill and highlights the role of mindfulness and habits in enhancing sleep quality.
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insights INSIGHT
REM Sleep
REM sleep, often mistaken for deep sleep, is an active phase crucial for brain processing, memory formation, and emotional regulation.
During REM sleep, the brain is active while the body is paralyzed to prevent acting out dreams.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Sleep Stage Optimization
While you can't specifically increase certain sleep stages, avoid habits that negatively impact them.
Factors like inconsistent sleep patterns, nicotine, alcohol, and certain medications can disrupt sleep stages.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Sleep Apnea
If basic sleep hygiene fails, consult a doctor about potential sleep apnea, even if you don't fit the stereotype.
Symptoms include breathing pauses, nighttime bathroom trips, morning headaches, dry mouth, and non-restorative sleep.
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How can you improve your sleep this month? On this episode of our How To Series, WHOOP SVP Research, Algorithms, and Data, Emily Capodilupo sits down with Sleep Psychologist, Dr. Shelby Harris, PsyD DBSM. Dr. Shelby Harris is a clinical psychologist, specializing in behavioral sleep medicine. Dr. Harris provides expert insights on optimizing sleep through better bedtime routines, adjusting lifestyle factors like screen time and diet, and creating an ideal sleep environment. She discusses how sleep affects immune function, metabolism, mental health, and weight management while offering practical solutions for common disruptions like nighttime awakenings, stress, and irregular schedules.
On this episode, Dr. Shelby Harris is helping WHOOP Podcast listeners learn how to get the best sleep of their life. Emily and Dr. Harris discuss Dr. Harris’s background (00:29), why sleep is important (01:18), misconceptions about sleep hygiene (02:05), how sleep is active (03:20), what habits are bad for sleep (05:58), and the effects of sleep apnea (08:20) and perimenopause (10:05). Dr. Shelby Harris shares the best habits to improve your sleep (12:29), why sleep hygiene involves more than just blocking blue light (15:25), and presents a valuable mental model for measuring normal sleep versus when it's time to seek help from a professional (24:59). Emily and Dr. Harris break down insomnia and how it can be treated (26:26), the importance of sleep during marathon training (30:00), where to start with sleep (35:40), and how WHOOP can help track sleep performance (40:16).
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