Dr. Michael Grandner

But everyone should still be washing their hands.

Everyone should still be brushing your teeth.

Even if you can't brush your way out of braces, doesn't mean you shouldn't be brushing your teeth.

So sleep hygiene is all about setting yourself up for success or dealing with some of these more minor problems.

Some unconventional, the stuff, you know, if you Googled, if you Google sleep hygiene, what's some stuff that might not come up on those initial lists that are still be useful?

One of the things that you'll see often on sleep hygiene lists is keep a regular schedule because predictability, the brain loves predictability.

So if you keep a regular schedule, time itself becomes a cue.

So like if you want to eat lunch at noon every day, start eating at noon every day and your body will learn to get hungry at that time.

But what if you can't keep a regular schedule?

Well, an alternative approach I would take is find other ways of building predictability into your sleep.

For example...

So one of the groups I do a lot of work with is Major League Baseball.

And in Major League Baseball, when they're in season, they're constantly moving around and playing in different time zones and sleeping in different hotels.

How do you keep regularity when you're constantly moving around?

And so for people whose lives are like that, what do you do?

Well, I usually say, okay, stop trying to keep a regular schedule and

But find other ways to build predictability.

And so maybe have a nighttime routine that is highly predictable, where you do the same things in the same order, even if you do them in different places, in a different hotel room or whatever.

Especially if you can bring things with you, like bring the pillowcase with you as a conditioned stimulus.

Um, use the same toothbrush that whether it's at home or on the road, if you travel a lot, use, do the same things in the same order.