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In today’s always-on world, quality sleep has quietly become one of the most underrated superpowers of our longevity. It's only during deep sleep that our body reduces inflammation and repairs tissues, builds muscles, creates long-term memories, and clears metabolic waste from the brain, lowering the risk of Alzheimer’s. What’s most frustrating for many of us is that the recommended 7–8 hours of sleep doesn’t simply mean spending that amount of time in bed. For our body to truly repair itself, sleep must be uninterrupted, last at least 7 hours, and include around 1.5 to 2 hours of REM, and the same amount of deep sleep. Read on to learn how you can track and improve sleep quality, not just quantity, and how I was able to turn things around.

Do you ever wake up tired, even after a full night in bed? Struggle with chronic aches or inflammation that just won’t go away? Feel foggy or unusually irritable? These are common signs that your body isn’t getting enough quality rest at night.​​ Someone might need a nap👶!

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​After decades of research, the medical case is confidently made: low-quality sleep has profound effects on our health. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 1 in 4 Americans take some type of medication to help them sleep. However, sleep specialists do not have any evidence for medications that can cure insomnia. There are around 90 distinct sleep disorders (from National Library of Medicine), most are marked by daytime sleepiness, or difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep. ​

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10 Sleep Facts from National Sleep Foundation:

1😴 More than 50% of Americans lose sleep due to stress or anxiety.
2😴 Around 75% of adults with depression suffer from insomnia. Falling asleep in less than 5 minutes could also signal an unhealthy level of sleepiness.
3😴 More than 90% of people with PTSD have been found to have insomnia.
4😴 For adults over age 40, 69% of men and 76% of women get up to go to the bathroom at least once per night.
5😴 Sleeping pills do not cure insomnia.

6😴 Drinking alcohol has been found to decrease sleep quality by 39.2%

7😴 Poor sleep is one of the major contributing factors to deaths in car accidents.

8😴 Almost half of the adults say they feel sleepy during the day at least 3 days per week (low-quality sleep).

9😴 3 Hours of exercise a week reduces daytime sleepiness and increases concentration.
10😴 Yoga helps with quality sleep by reducing stress and anxiety that cause low-quality sleep.​

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To prevent the dangerous effects of low-quality sleep, please consider these 5 STEPS to improve your sleep naturally, safely, and for life:​​​

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1. GET MEASURED:

Once I knew better - I did better. My spending 7 hours in bed every night did not actually equal 7 hours of quality sleep. If it wasn't for my FitBit - I'd never notice that I was sleeping way less than 7 hours, and worse, that my sleep was shallow, with REM below 1.3h! I definitely don't want to be shallow...  in any way. Aura Ring and Iwatch are also excellent at tracking sleep - I am sure you can borrow one from a friend for a few months.

It's been a year since my low-quality sleep discovery, and, by implementing all the 5 steps I share here, I'm proud to admit that I now get around 1.7h REM and 7.5 hours of average sleep 83% quality out of 100%! To be honest, it requires a lot of daily self-discipline to better my sleep, but it aligns with my values and long-term goals, so I have to suck it up and be an adult. What I've discovered through my experimentation to get 7.5 hours of quality sleep, I need to be in bed for 8.5 hours. My ideal sleep schedule is 10p-6:30a.

While on this subject, I'm in love with my lil FitBit - in addition to tracking details of my sleep, it also shows my weekly movement progress, steps, my temperature, my level of rest/recovery, oxygen, exact amount of calories I burn a day (way less than I thought!). I feel like I was living in the dark ages before my lil tracker.

This week, I read in the last edition of The Atlantic about Sleep that mentioned a waitlist at our UCSF Sleep Center. We have an excellent lab in our town to get measured and treated by the specialists if you have a hard time getting your REM and sleep under control. Please take it seriously - your sleep equals mental health and longevity.

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2. BED-TIME HYGIENE:

A. Take a hot shower or, even better, a long bath before bed. Raising your body temperature with warm water helps trigger a natural cool-down effect afterward, which tells your brain it’s time to relax and recover.

B. Set a calming mood at home with lighting and sound. Dim the lights after sunset and play wordless, spa-like music in the background. This cues your nervous system to wind down.

C. Ditch the screens at least 60 minutes before sleep. Scrolling or watching TV floods our brain with overstimulating moving visuals and sounds. Try getting into bed earlier with a real book instead. The mental focus required to read slows down racing thoughts and helps ease you into deepest sleep.

D. Block out sensory distractions. Earplugs, blackout curtains, and an eye mask can dramatically improve sleep quality by minimizing disruptions from light and noise. I swear by these 3! Here's my favorite silk eye mask.

E. Keep the office out of the bedroom. Using your bed for emails trains your brain to associate bed with thinking, not sleeping. Preserve your sleep sanctuary for rest only.​