- (FBE) We've brought four reactors in
and gave them tips and tricks to get better sleep.
Did the information change their lives?
This is 5 Sleep Hacks You Need To Know.
So do you wanna know some secrets
to get better sleep? - Always.
I have terrible insomnia.
- Yes please, 'cause my sleep schedule sucks,
and I cannot fall asleep if it's before 5 AM.
- (FBE) We have compiled a list of sleep hacks for you to try,
and let us know if they work!
- Okay, cool!
Falling asleep is my hardest, because I toss and turn a lot.
So even if I'm like kinda sleeping, I'm still tossing and turning.
- (FBE) We'll have you test them out now,
and then tonight you'll use each of the hacks that you've learned,
and report back to us.
- Okay, I think it could make me a more productive person
that doesn't get up at noon or 2 o'clock, and (laughs)
somebody who can start their day at a normal time.
- (FBE) Our first round is all about what you eat before bed.
Do you tend to eat a lot of food late at night?
- Yeah, kind of, especially now. (laughs)
I used to be better.
- (FBE) We're gonna start the first video.
- Okay.
- (narrator) There's hardly a person who doesn't know
that eating a lot before going to bed
can cause nightmares, but actually,
it's not only about the size of the meals,
but also the time when you have them.
- I've heard that, but I don't listen.
- (narrator) It's also a bad idea to eat right before going to bed.
- That's what mom always said.
- (narrator) Even if your dinner is light.
Your body will still struggle to digest whatever you fed it.
- That makes a lot of sense.
- (narrator) Two to three hours before bedtime,
and if the gnawing feeling of hunger doesn't let you fall asleep...
- Huh. - (narrator) Choose to eat fruit.
- Fruit's like never really a snack I've like thought to have before bed.
That's like a morning/afternoon snack, I feel like, you know?
- (laughs) I think just in general eating a piece of fruit
instead of something else is probably the best alternative.
- I think I can, I think I should definitely test it out,
and then hopefully be like, this is way better.
- (FBE) Let us know how it goes.
- Okay, alright, I will. I'll definitely give it a shot.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
Last night, I made sure that I didn't eat
three hours before going to sleep, and I do think that
not eating did help. (bell rings)
- The one thing that I kinda felt like did help,
was eating a fruit before falling asleep.
I ate an apple.
I actually noticed that I fell asleep even quicker than usual.
Oh, I also made sure I didn't eat
several hours before bed,
so I think a bunch of those factors helped.
- (narrator) You might be waking up with a sore back, red eyes,
and a painful neck. - Mm-hmm, okay, not red eyes.
- (narrator) Just because you haven't found
the proper sleeping position yet.
By the way, experts recommend not sleeping on your stomach.
- How could anybody do that?
- (narrator) The best sleeping positions are on your back
with a small pillow supporting your knees.
- Oh, interesting.
- (narrator) On your side, with a pillow between your knees.
- (laughs) That's me. - (narrator) In the fetal position.
- (laughs) That's basically me, how I sleep.
- That sounds really comfy,
with like the pillow between your knees,
and then like cuddling.
- I'm a side sleeper, or sometimes if I fell back asleep,
I'll fall back asleep on my stomach,
so maybe I need to stop doing that.
- I can only fall asleep on my left side.
I can maybe fall asleep facing up, but not really well,
and not at all on my right side.
- I used to actually sleep with like three pillows,
so I'm used to like having my head elevated a bit.
So it'd be a little weird, but I'm willing to give it a shot
if it like makes me wake up without my back and stuff hurting.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
- Try sleeping on your back, with one pillow under your head,
I could not do that. (buzzer rings)
I, my pillows aren't super fluffy, so I don't think it made
like a huge difference, I did use a blanket,
and put it between my knees, and that was super comfy.
- I did only sleep with one pillow last night.
I tried sleeping with one pillow in between my legs,
and that lasted for like maybe half an hour,
and then I was like I can't do this. (buzzer rings)
I do think that using the one pillow did make a difference,
because it did seem like my spine was kind of like more even
than like my head being kind of tilted up.
So I was surprised with that one.
- (narrator) The majority of people can't avoid thinking about
work-related problems, to do lists, and bills to pay
before falling asleep. - Yep, that's very true.
- (narrator) Unfortunately, these thoughts...
- Yeah. - (narrator) Usually cause anxiety,
which makes the quality... - Yeah.
- (narrator) ...of sleep way worse.
By all means, avoid stress at bedtime by concentrating on pleasant thoughts
and dealing with work-related concerns earlier in the day.
- My brain doesn't let me do that. I'm contantly,
like, I could have the most random thought pop into my head
and then I just dwell on it forever.
It doesn't matter what time of the day it is,
so if that happens before bed, then I'm screwed.
- (FBE) We're gonna have you listen to the following clip
while you meditate for 15 minutes tonight before bed.
- Okay, alright, I'm not much for meditating, but alright.
No, I'll try it out.
- (FBE) For right now, I'll just play you
a little bit of the clip that you'll be listening to.
- Okay, I'm gonna zone in.
(water splashes) - That's nice. (laughs)
- I'm a really big sound person, like, I love ASMR for this reason.
- Maybe meditating and listening to that, or even just like,
laying down and trying to fall asleep to that might help a lot.
- I don't think I've ever fully committed to meditating before.
I feel like it's gonna take a lot of effort
to like keep my mind empty, but I'll certainly try it.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
- Last night I tried the meditation, and that honestly,
kinda helped me like just relax a lot.
- Meditating was okay-ish.
I don't really feel like it did a whole lot for me.
- The meditation, I do think really helped to calm me down.
But then when I actually like turned off the light,
put my comforter on and stuff, my mind was like
did you know that Mandy Moore was Rapunzel, remember that?
Like, you know, just all of the random facts
started coming up in my mind.
- (narrator) Avoid gimmicky alarm clocks
that shine bright like a diamond in the sky.
Oh boy. (Ashly laughs)
- Okay, that's all good to know.
- (narrator) Your brain needs darkness to reboot completely.
That's why you should... - It's true! (laughs)
- (narrator) Regular, simple, alarm clocks.
- Yeah, that makes sense.
Just like the light alone is very distracting,
and when they're like glowing numbers, you can't help put to look at the time
if you wake up in the middle of the night,
and then you're more awake.
- (FBE) Now, I know you said
that you don't use a bright alarm clock,
but that's just one of many elements in your room that affect your sleep.
According to SleepFoundation.org, you should also consider
how dark your room is, and whether you need blackout curtains
earplugs, eye shades, humidifier stands
white noise machines, and other devices.
At this point, do you have any distracting things in your room
that you can remove or adjust in your nearby environment?
- I would say closing my cat out of the room,
but that's not an option. (laughs)
We don't have any curtains, so maybe the curtain thing.
It would be easier to wake up in the morning,
not being blinded by a bright light.
- I don't think I really have
anything like distracting while I'm sleeping.
I mean, my TV's a distraction 'cause it will keep me up
for watching the next Netflix episode,
but I can turn that off. (laughs)
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
- White noise was just super, super helpful.
I can't stress it enough how helpful it was for me.
At least for somebody who's grown up in the city,
it helps me.
- I can attest that this works, because I've been using it for years
of having a pitch black room, having like a constant noise on.
That's always how I've slept my best, so I can attest that these facts work.
I didn't need to know them though, because I've already been
using them for years.
- (narrator) Try to exercise at least four hours before going to bed.
- Okay, four hours before bed.
- (narrator) Cut down on your screen time
before falling asleep. - That's so hard!
So hard! - (narrator) Making it restless.
But their screens also emit that infamous blue light.
This light suppresses your body's sleep hormone, melatonin,
and alters your internal clock.
As a result, your brain doesn't believe it's time to go to bed.
- Hmm. - (narrator) Hello, insomnia.
When it comes to sleep, it's crucial to have a routine,
and even more importantly, stick to it.
- Yep.
- (narrator) Keep in mind that you're supposed to
not only go to bed, but also to wake up,
at the same times every day. - Oof, yeah. (laughs)
Definitely something I need to work on.
- I've heard about the blue light from my mom
for like so many years, and I've just been llike eh.
- When you get a good night's sleep,
it totally makes your day so much better,
and just, but it's so hard to like sit in bed,
and not be like time to look at my phone,
'cause you're relaxing, and that's what you do
when you relax, so it's just kinda breaking those habits,
it feels like.
- (FBE) So along with those suggestions,
it's also recommended that you keep naps during the day
to a maximum of 10 minutes actually.
- 10 minutes, Jesus. - (FBE) Yeah.
- How are you even supposed to like sleep?
You just have your eyes closed sitting there for 10 minutes.
- I also can't fall asleep in 10 minutes.
I don't know if anybody else has that problem,
but it takes me forever to fall asleep so I don't think the nap thing
is gonna work out for me, so I won't try to nap. (laughs)
- (FBE) Let's see how you do with these hacks tonight.
Let us know if it actually does improve your sleep.
- Hopefully, fingers crossed. (laughs)
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
- I probably put my phone away like a half hour beforehand,
so my brain was already like kinda calming down.
If anything I feel like I need to just get in a better routine
moving forward, but, honestly, I think those things
would help a lot, so I think I'm gonna keep trying it.
- So the hardest one for me
was not looking at my phone right before bed, so,
I was doing a little bit of picking up my room
and then when I was ready to go to sleep,
I just looked at my phone to turn my alarm on.
But I woke up today feeling pretty refreshed.
- I recommend those tips to you guys, and excuse the bed head.
- I think everybody should know all of these hacks,
and maybe try all of them out to see what works for you.
- Honestly, I've gotta say I'm pretty well rested.
I haven't been this well rested, pretty much the entire quarantine,
'cause if anything, I've been oversleeping, restless sleeping,
I've been having crazy dreams, all that stuff,
and I don't feel like I woke up at all in the middle of the night,
which was nice, 'cause normally,
I wake up around like three every night
and I'm like what time is it? (laughs)
- Thanks to everyone, especially our SuperFam
for watching Sleeping Hacks on the REACT Channel.
- Would you try any of these hacks? Let us know in the comments.
- Goodnight guys! Bye!
- Hey there, this is React Producer Lindsey.
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