Hi packlings,
Have you heard of the napuccino? ☕️ 💤 Is light exercise or Netflix better for you right before bed? And how are west coast colleges tackling sleep challenges from conference realignment? There’s plenty to cover in this week’s edition of Sleep & Fitness News - let’s get into it!
☕️ The Napuccino Trend: Caffeine Before You Nap
Caffeine and sleep may seem like polar opposites — but there may be a benefit to combining them. There’s a new trend gaining steam (get it?) in which someone would have a coffee during the day and then try and take a 20-30 minute nap right away - so when they wake up they feel the full effect of the caffeine, which usually takes hold about 15 minutes after consumption, and the nap together. In a recent episode of the podcast "The Diary of a CEO" with Steven Bartlett, sleep expert Dr. Cheri Mah introduced the napuccino as a "useful tool if you’re trying to have a temperate boost in alertness and performance." Research has shown that the energy from both the caffeine and the power nap is "more effective for alertness and performance improvement for a couple of hours," compared to only drinking caffeine or napping alone, Mah said. What do you think - is the napuccino worth a try?
🙆♀️ Light Exercise > Netflix & Chill Before Bed for Quality Sleep
You may have heard that it’s prudent to monitor the proximity of when you’re working out at night relative to your bedtime; however, a recent study shows that working out is better for your sleep than sitting on the couch. Specifically, participants took part in two different four-hour evening sessions starting around 5 PM. In one session, they remained seated for the entire time. In the other, they interrupted their sitting every 30 minutes with three-minute bursts of bodyweight exercises including squats, calf raises, and knee raises. The findings showed that participants who included the regular bouts of exercise slept almost half an hour longer. These findings suggest that breaking up your sofa time with simple bodyweight exercises could be a game-changer. And the good news - the exercises used in the study were pretty hassle-free – they didn’t require any equipment (like squats and calf raises), took up minimal space, and can even be done without distracting you (too much) from your latest Netflix binge.
✈️ West Coast College Athletes Tackle Conference Realignment Sleep Challenges
Major college conference realignments taking effect this year will see Stanford and Cal Berkley traveling east frequently as new members of the Atlantic Coast Conference; while UCLA, USC, Washington and Oregon are in a similar boat in joining the Big Ten. What this means for athletic departments and their student athletes is that they’ll need to be a lot more cognizant of their sleep and recovery routines given the added cross-country travel. Fortunately, schedules for Olympic sports are being structured so that west coast schools can compete on Saturday and early Sunday morning - giving them time to be home to sleep in their own beds on Pacific Time on Sunday nights. Stanford Volleyball Coach Kevin Hambly said he’s emphasizing the need for sunlight to his players while they’re on the road; while Stanford’s director of operations for soccer said they’ll be utilizing the buddy system to help athletes stay awake on flights going east, so they’re ready to sleep when they land. It’s awesome to see all the thought going into the new challenging schedule, which will be sure to pay dividends for these college athletes.
🌡️ EightSleep CEO Talks Benefits of Thermoregulation
Recently Eight Sleep’s Matteo Franceschetti sat down with Athletech News to share his perspective on how the company is helping people achieve more optimal sleep with their sleep technology. Specifically, EightSleep excels in two areas: thermoregulation - helping people regulate their body temperature to achieve better sleep; and sleep analytics - capturing a better picture of the quality and stages of sleep that an individual is achieving. EightSleep’s newest model the Pod 4 Ultra adds another wrinkle, by adjusting the height of the bed frame to help prevent snoring and sleep apnea. Their “autopilot” mode is intended to adjust the temperature of their heating/cooling mattress pad automatically in response to an individual’s feedback and the environment. While the cost of an EightSleep mattress pad or mattress may be cost-prohibitive for most ($2,500+), the company has done an outstanding job shedding light on the importance of optimal sleep and developing products to help consumers improve their sleep.
📱SleepScore App Partners with Insurer for Employee
Leading sleep tracking app SleepScore has partnered with a leading insurer in the US to offer their application as a part of the insurer’s incentive program designed to promote healthy behaviors. SleepScore has been able to show that adoption of their app has led to improvement in at least one key sleep statistic for 73% of users, and 43% of the regular trackers have seen statistically significant sleep improvement. The fact that insurers are recognizing the value in tracking and improving sleep as a part of better health and lower risk of insurance claims and costs is a really positive development. The more people that are working to improve their sleep will ultimately lead to a much healthier population here in the US.
That’s it for this week’s Sleep & Fitness news. Be sure to follow us on Instagram for all the latest sleep & fitness news and hot takes.
