"When you look at how sleep is usually talked about... sleep is spoken about in the context of illness. But there’s no language to talk about being healthy in your sleep. If we don’t have the language to define that then how can we aspire to it?"
Alexandra Zatarain
Mar 9, 2022
EFR 582: The Powerful Role of Sleep Fitness in Mental Health and Longevity with Alexandra Zatarain
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EFR 582: The Powerful Role of Sleep Fitness in Mental Health and Longevity with Alexandra Zatarain
Alexandra Zatarain is a Co-Founder of Eight Sleep, the world’s first sleep fitness company.
You’ve likely never heard of the term ‘sleep fitness’ because Alexandra and her husband created it. So, what is sleep fitness? Put simply, sleep fitness is a healthy state of sleep.
It’s important that we talk about sleep not the context of illness, but in the context of vitality because sleep not only impacts the way you show up in the world each day, but it impacts your longevity, too. In fact, science shows that sleep is much more important to your health, longevity, and how you feel on a daily basis than anything else you can do for your health, including diet and exercise.
In this discussion, Alexandra and Chase talk about the power of sleep in living a healthier life, why sleep fitness takes a unique mindset approach, and how sleep affects mental health and longevity. Alexandra sheds light on how her sleep has changed throughout her life as well as her top tips for improving your quality of sleep. Plus, she shares her candid thoughts on the potential harmful effects of technology like 5G, EMF, and wifi and what Eight Sleep is doing to mitigate these effects for consumers.
Follow Alexandra on Instagram @alexzatarainj
Follow Chase on Instagram @chase_chewning
Follow him on Twitter @chasechewning
Key Highlights
Eight Sleep is in the business of improving sleep fitness. Sleep fitness is a healthy state of sleep. When you’re healthy in your sleep, you’re sleep fit! Just like physical fitness, sleep fitness a lifestyle and a journey that’s not linear.
Sleep & Mental Health: The quality of your sleep will show up primarily in your mental health. Sleep fitness affects emotional stability, cognition, reactivity, your ability to process stress, etc. Sleep allows your brain to process the day. If you want to be and feel better around your family, coworkers, and friends, you need good sleep.
Menstrual cycles greatly affect the quality of sleep for people with periods. Knowing how it affects you can help you prepare and make any adjustments necessary to get good sleep.
Consistency is key. Alexandra’s #1 rule for sleep is going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time. She also recommends no TV in the bedroom as well as avoiding spending excess time and doing non-sleep activities in bed.
Cutting out or reducing caffeine and alcohol consumption can greatly improve sleep.
Napping is not a substitute for sleep because it’s not the same quality of sleep. If you’re getting enough hours of sleep at night, you shouldn’t need to take a nap. If you find yourself needing naps throughout the day, you may need more sleep at night.
Powerful Quotes by Alexandra Zatarain
We don’t see sleep and good sleep as the end all, it’s a means to an end.
When you look at how sleep is usually talked about in media or just culture, you see that for the most part, sleep is spoken about in the context of illness… but there’s no language to talk about being healthy in your sleep. If we don’t have the language to define that then how can we aspire to it?
We all need to realize the impact that technology can have for the good and just making sure that the products we’re bringing into our lives to do that are offering some level of benefit.
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