Dr. Matt Walker

That type of high fidelity detail

allows you to do what we said earlier, which is get your mind off itself.

And when you do that, again, typically you fall asleep faster.

And that's what she found.

It was a great, great study.

I really enjoyed that.

They should.

And I think it's certainly possible that when you're incorporating some aspects of the scene and the information is more sort of veridical and maybe sort of episodic declarative memory.

But when you're taking yourself for a mental walk, what is the fundamental premise of that?

It's a walk, it's motion, it's procedural memory.

And so maybe it's something to do about with being more attentive to becoming embodied.

Because when you're out walking and you're moving, it is a more embodied experience than just sitting there at your desk, which is mostly your head and very little your body.

So I think it's an intriguing idea and interesting.

I think another tip that I now think of, which also comes from the work of Dr. Alison Harvey, when individuals come up to me after sort of public events or they see me at the airport, they'll say, look, every night for some strange reason at 2.45 a.m.

I wake up and it happens three or four nights a week.

My first question to them is, how do you know it's 2.45?

and they say well i look at the clock or i look at my phone best piece of advice next remove all clock faces from the bedroom no matter how bad your sleep is going to be that night knowing what time it is is only going to make matters worse it is not going to make matters any better

And that can create an anxiety trigger that you think it's 2.45 and then you're tossing and turning.

You look back at the clock and now it's 3.14 AM.

And you think I've got to be awake at six.