Ep013: Dr. Chris Winter—“I am a poor sleeper”, let’s break it.

deepintosleep.co — Dr. Chris Winter

with Dr. Yishan Xu

TODAY’S GUEST

Dubbed "The Sleep Whisperer" by Arianna Huffington, Dr. Winter has been involved in the field of sleep medicine for twenty five years. A fully board certified neurologist and double board certified sleep specialist, Dr. Winter has been helping individuals sleep better through his private clinic, group consultations, work with professional athletes, and dynamic media presence. His first book, The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How To Fix It has received high praise both in the United States and internationally as a fresh and effective approach to a growing problem.

WHAT WILL WE LEARN

Sleep is closely related to health and performance among athletes.

How to deal with anxiety and insomnia among young athletes?

Fact 1: Your body is able to get some sleep, even if the sleep is not as great as we want.
Fact 2: There are a variety of sleep hours each of us need, just like we all have different heights.
We cannot force sleep, but we can encourage “Rest“, which reduces pressure and empower our control over our body.
For goal-driven high achievers: “It is OK to fail at sleep sometimes, you are really not.“

When children cannot sleep, don’t pass anxiety to them. When parents are calm about sleep, children will be calm about sleep.

E.g., tell them they can stay awake if they cannot fall asleep.
E.g., wake up them gently at the same time each morning, no matter how poorly they slept the night before.

Some of us may be so “fused“ with the identity of having insomnia. Actually, the problem may be different than what we think it is.

The best pathway for treating insomnia is CBTI (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia), not medication.
If you stuck in the idea that “I am a poor sleeper,“ remember “Sleep is a skill, not a trait.” If you have a good coach, you can get it better.

We cannot control our sleep, but we can change ourselves.