Get Better Sleep: Beyond “Sleep Hygiene”

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Better Sleep, Better Life!

This is Arianna Huffington. Yes, that Huffington, of the Huffington Post. But! She’s also the CEO of Thrive Global, a behavior change tech company with the mission of changing the way we work and live—in particular, by challenging the idea that burnout is the required price of success.

The power of better sleep

Sleep is a very important, but most often neglected, part of good health. Here are some of Huffington’s top insights from her tech company Thrive, and as per her “Sleep Revolution” initiative.

Follow your circadian rhythm

Are you a night owl or a morning lark? Whichever it is, roll with it, and plan around that if your lifestyle allows for such. While it is possible to change from one to the other, we do have a predisposition towards one or the other, and will generally function best when not fighting it.

This came about, by the way, because we evolved to have half of us awake in the mornings and half in the evenings, to keep us all safe. Socially we’ve marched onwards from that point in evolutionary history, but our bodies are about a hundred generations behind the times, and that’s just what we have to work with!

Don’t be afraid (or ashamed!) to take naps

Naps, done right, can be very good for the health—especially if we had a bad night’s sleep the previous night.

Thrive found that workers are more productive when they have nap rooms, and (following on a little from the previous point) are allowed to sleep in or work from home.

See also: How To Nap Like A Pro (No More “Sleep Hangovers”!)

Make sure you have personal space available in bed

The correlation between relationship satisfaction and sleeping close to one’s partner has been found to be so high that it’s even proportional: the further away a couple sleeps from each other, the less happy they are. But…

Partners who got good sleep the previous night, will be more likely to want intimacy on any given night—at a rate of an extra 14% per extra hour of sleep the previous night. So, there’s a trade-off, as having more room in bed tends to result in better sleep. Time to get a bigger bed?

What gets measured, gets done

This goes for sleep, too! Not only does dream-journaling in the morning cue your subconscious to prepare to dream well the following night, but also, sleep trackers and sleep monitoring apps go a very long way to improving sleep quality, even if no extra steps are consciously taken to “score better”.

We’ve previously reviewed some of the most popular sleep apps; you can check out for yourself how they measured up:

Time For Some Pillow Talk: The Head-To-Head Of Google and Apple’s Top Apps For Getting Your Head Down

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  • Superfood Soba Noodle Salad

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    This Japanese dish is packed with nutrients and takes very little preparation time, involving only one cooked ingredient, and a healthy one at that!

    You will need

    • 8 oz dried soba noodles
    • ½ bulb garlic, finely chopped
    • 2 tbsp avocado oil
    • 2 tsp soy sauce
    • ¼ cucumber, cut into thin batons (don’t peel it first)
    • ½ carrot, grated (don’t peel it first)
    • 6 cherry tomatoes, halved (you wouldn’t peel these, right? Please don’t)
    • ½ red onion, finely sliced (ok, this one you can peel first! Please do)
    • 1 tbsp chia seeds
    • 1 tsp crushed red chili flakes
    • Garnish: fresh parsley, chopped

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Cook the soba noodles (boil in water for 10 mins or until soft). Rinse with cold water (which lowers the glycemic index further, and also we want them cold anyway) and set aside.

    2) Make the dressing by blending the garlic, avocado oil, and soy cauce. Set it aside.

    3) Assemble the salad by thoroughly but gently mixing the noodles with the cucumber, carrot, tomatoes, and onion. Add the dressing, the chia seeds, and the chili flakes, and toss gently to combine.

    4) Serve, adding the parsley garnish.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

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  • Vital Aspects of Holistic Wellness

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    It’s Q&A Day!

    Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

    This newsletter has been growing a lot lately, and so have the questions/requests, and we love that! In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

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  • Mung Beans vs Red Lentils – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing mung beans to red lentils, we picked the lentils.

    Why?

    Both are great! But the lentils win on overall nutritional density.

    In terms of macros, they have approximately the same carbs and fiber, and are both low glycemic index foods. The deciding factor is that the lentils have slightly more protein—but it’s not a huge difference; both are very good sources of protein.

    In the category of vitamins, mung beans have more of vitamins A, E, and K, while red lentils have more of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, C, and choline. An easy win for lentils.

    When it comes to minerals, again both are great, but mung beans have more calcium and magnesium (hence the green color) while red lentils have more copper, iron, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc. Another clear win for lentils.

    Polyphenols are also a worthy category to note here; both have plenty, but red lentils have more, especially flavonols, anthocyanidins, proanthocyanidins, and anthocyanins (whence the red color).

    In short: enjoy both, because diversity is almost always best. But if you’re picking one, red lentils are the most nutritious of the two.

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    You might like to read:

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    Eat More (Of This) For Lower Blood Pressure

    Heart disease remains the world’s #1 killer. We’d say “and in the US, it’s no different”, but in fact, the US is #1 country for heart disease. So, it’s worse and perhaps some extra care is in order.

    But how?

    What matters the most

    Is it salt? Salt plays a part, but it’s not even close to the top problem:

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    Is it red meat? Red meat is not great for the heart (or for almost anything else, except perhaps anemia):

    The Whys and Hows of Cutting Meats Out Of Your Diet

    …but it’s still not the top dietary factor.

    The thing many don’t eat

    All the above are foodstuffs that a person wanting a healthier heart and cardiovascular system in general might (reasonably and usually correctly) want to cut down, but there’s one thing that most people need more of:

    Why You’re Probably Not Getting Enough Fiber (And How To Fix It)

    And this is especially true for heart health:

    ❝Dietary fiber has emerged as a crucial yet underappreciated part of hypertension management.

    Our comprehensive analysis emphasizes the evidence supporting the effectiveness of dietary fiber in lowering blood pressure and reducing the risk of cardiovascular events.❞

    ~ Dr. Francine Marques

    Specifically, she and her team found:

    • Each additional 5g of fiber per day reduces blood pressure by 2.8/2.1 (systolic/diastolic, in mmHG)
    • Dietary fiber works in several ways to improve cardiovascular health, including via gut bacteria, improved lipids profiles, and anti-inflammatory effects
    • Most people are still only getting a small fraction (¼ to ⅓) of the recommended daily amount of fiber. To realize how bad that is, imagine if you consumed only ¼ of the recommended daily amount of calories every day!

    You can read more about it here:

    Dietary fiber critical in managing hypertension, international study finds

    That’s a pop-science article, but it’s still very informative. If you prefer to read the scientific paper itself (or perhaps as well), you can find it below

    Recommendations for the Use of Dietary Fiber to Improve Blood Pressure Control

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    Here’s yet another way fiber improves cardiometabolic health, hot off the academic press (the study was published just a couple of weeks ago):

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    this pop-science article was based on this scientific paper

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    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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  • The Blue Zones Kitchen – by Dan Buettner

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    We’ve previously reviewed Buettner’s other book, The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons For Living Longer From The People Who’ve Lived The Longest, and with this one, it’s now time to focus on the dietary aspect.

    As the title and subtitle promises, we get 100 recipes, inspired by Blue Zone cuisines. The recipes themselves have been tweaked a little for maximum healthiness, eliminating some ingredients that do crop up in the Blue Zones but are exceptions to their higher average healthiness rather than the rule.

    The recipes are arranged by geographic zone rather than by meal type, so it might take a full read-through before knowing where to find everything, but it makes it a very enjoyable “coffee-table book” to browse, as well as being practical in the kitchen. The ingredients are mostly easy to find globally, and most can be acquired at a large supermarket and/or health food store. In the case of substitutions, most are obvious, e.g. if you don’t have wild fennel where you are, use cultivated, for example.

    In the category of criticism, it appears that Buettner is very unfamiliar with spices, and so has skipped them almost entirely. We at 10almonds could never skip them, and heartily recommend adding your own spices, for their health benefits and flavors. It may take a little experimentation to know what will work with what recipes, but if you’re accustomed to cooking with spices normally, it’s unlikely that you’ll err by going with your heart here.

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    Click here to check out The Blue Zones Kitchen, and get cooking into your own three digits!

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    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    This is a supremely low-effort, high-yield dish. It’s a nutritional tour-de-force, and very pleasing to the tastebuds too. We use flageolet beans in this recipe; they are small immature kidney beans. If they’re not available, using kidney beans or really any other legume is fine.

    You will need

    • 2 large zucchini, sliced
    • 2 red peppers, sliced
    • 1 large eggplant, sliced and cut into semicircles
    • 1 red onion, thinly sliced
    • 2 cans chopped tomatoes
    • 2 cans flageolet beans, drained and rinsed (or 2 cups same, cooked, drained, and rinsed)
    • ½ bulb garlic, crushed
    • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
    • 1 tbsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
    • 1 tbsp red chili pepper flakes (omit or adjust per your heat preferences)
    • ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
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    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Preheat the oven to 350℉ / 180℃.

    2) Mix all the ingredients (except the tomatoes and herbs) in a big mixing bowl, ensuring even distribution.

    2) Add the tomatoes. The reason we didn’t add these before is because it would interfere with the oil being distributed evenly across the vegetables.

    3) Transfer to a deep-walled oven tray or an ovenproof dish, and roast for 30 minutes.

    4) Stir, add the chopped herbs, stir again, and return to the oven for another 30 minutes.

    5) Serve (hot or cold), adding any herb garnish you wish to use.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails: