#123 – Episode 123 – How to Sleep with Christine Hansen

VeronicaValli

People often use alcohol to help them sleep. When we get sober, sleep (or lack of) can sometimes be a real challenge. In this episode, Veronica interviews sleep expert, Christine Hansen. There is much more to sleep than we think. Christine talks about stress and diet and sleep hygiene as all being factors of not getting enough sleep.

Listen to the episode now:

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What This Episode Is About

There’s a whole WORLD of sleep I was totally unaware of going into my conversation with our guest this week, Christine Hansen.

I went in knowing the things we all know, like don’t use your phone before bed – I didn’t know exactly why not, but learned in this episode – and you need to be getting 8 hours a night.

And I knew from a sobriety standpoint, drinking to fall asleep at night doesn’t mean you’re having high-quality sleep throughout the night.

But I didn’t know just how much is under the surface of sleep. How preparing for sleep has as much to do with what you do in the day, as what you do before bed.

That your physiology, emotions, and mental state play a serious role in sleep. More serious than you think.

Christine Hansen is a sleep expert to CEOs, Executives, athletes, and high achievers, who want to sleep but can’t. She was a wealth of facts and studies on sleep in this episode.

So if you’re having trouble falling asleep, or staying asleep, here’s what you can do – of course, talk to Christine because everyone’s sleep is different and she goes a lot more in-depth:

Process your emotions of the day.

We tend to compartmentalize the things that happen to us throughout the day, good and bad. But they never really go away. they’re just shelved until we have a quiet time to deal with them…. and… when is that quiet time? When we’re about to sleep. And that can cause our brains to keep firing when it should be slowing down instead. So instead of compartmentalizing in the moment, maybe give yourself room to feel and process.

Eat the right foods.

High sugar meals spike insulin, which is a hormonal process in the body that deals with digestion and absorption of sugar into your bloodstream. If you’re eating high sugar foods on a consistent basis, you’re going to be training your body for those sugar spikes and crashes… and when you’re ready to sleep, your body will keep going through those spikes and crashes instead of settling down. Choose the low glycemic foods which don’t spark such a hormonal response and that i’ll help your sleep dramatically.

Speaking of processes, drinking interrupts most of your sleep processes.

Your body goes through 4-5 sleep processes a night, each of varying times, which is why you need 8 hours for quality sleep. Though alcohol does dull you and make it easier to sleep, it wreaks havoc on those processes, so you’re not getting restful sleep anyway.

We talk a lot more about sleep in this episode, including what more you can do to improve your sleep quality. Plus, Christine shares some really compelling sleep studies that you need to know about.

About Christine Hansen

Christine Hansen is a sleep expert to CEOs, Executives, athletes, and high achievers, who want to sleep but can’t. She has helped CEOs in the biggest organizations and most influential experts in Europe including Deloitte and Accenture. She is a TEDx speaker and her expertise has been featured in numerous international publications, such as Forbes, National Geographic, The Independent, The Guardian, Business Insider, Entrepreneur on Fire, and many more.

She is the creator of the “Sleep Like A Boss Method”© focusing on sleep foundations, gut health, thyroid issues, nutrition, and hormones that helps people to fall and stay asleep without having to rely on sleeping pills. Together with her own team, Christine now combines emotional, lifestyle, and biochemical stress management in bespoke programs for her clients all over the world to transform their sleep forever. Christine is also a business mentor for coaches in the health sector.