WEBVTT - News Has to Sleep, too 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:05.800 In order to be able to cover news twenty four 0:00:05.800 --> 0:00:08.760 to seven. It means people have to work at all 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:11.200 strange hours of the night. And even if you think 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:15.560 about a program like Good Morning America, everyone who works 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:19.840 on that show is waking up at two, three, four, 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:23.040 maybe five in the morning if they're lucky. 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:28.320 Diane Mercedo is a journalist, author, and news anchor who 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.720 co hosts ABC News Live. From the anchor chair of 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:35.600 early morning news shows to field reporting for overnight news coverage, 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:39.239 Diane has done it all. We rely on journalists like 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.600 her to be there to deliver the stories and information 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.559 that we need to know, and Diane is one of 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.760 the most trusted voices in the industry. On an average day, 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:53.240 she's reporting the news to roughly eight point one million viewers. 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.560 The ultimate reward is relaying this information that I think 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.560 is really important, and I do you consider news of 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:05.679 public service. And I'm a very sort of principled, idealistic person. 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:06.960 Even still in my career. 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.880 Things don't stop happening just because the sun goes down. 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:13.800 Reporting the news is a twenty four to seven job. 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:19.360 I've had shifts where I went in at noon, i 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:21.840 went in at three thirty in the morning. I went 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:26.040 in at one thirty in the morning, camera ready. I've 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:30.199 gone in at ten or eleven pm and come out 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.319 of work at nine am, And then you try to sleep. 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:36.800 If the news never sleeps, what does that mean for 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:39.680 the journalists to report it and how do they disconnect 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.280 from the intensity and severity of current events to onewine 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:49.080 for healthy sleep. I'm Anahad O'Connor and this is Chasing 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:58.360 Sleep and iHeartRadio production in partnership with Mattress Firm. As 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:00.640 a best selling author and a health call with the 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.520 background in psychology, I've spent a lot of my time 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:07.120 studying and writing about sleep. Sleep is so essential to 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.800 our overall health, but often it's something we overlook and 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:13.480 it's the first thing we tend to neglect. And each 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:18.040 episode we'll meet people living and working in extraordinary circumstances. 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:20.800 I want to learn how they rest and recharge their 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.920 bodies and minds to perform at their very best. In 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:27.240 this episode, we'll uncover what working through the night to 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:29.919 bring you the news does to the brain and how 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:31.800 to slow things down to be able to get some 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.840 much needed rest. 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:44.160 Breaking news is the most challenging part of my job. Now, 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:46.560 But it's the part that I love the most. It's 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.400 when there's no prompter to rely on, there's no script 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:53.320 to rely on, sometimes very little information to rely on, 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:55.560 and you kind of just have to go with your gut. 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:59.880 It's you and the audience and nothing in between. 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.760 As you're actively getting in this new information, how do 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:08.080 I best relay this to the audience in a way 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:12.359 that everyone's gonna understand and be able to take in 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:14.680 and to be able to capture. 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:17.359 What the important parts of this story really are. 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.040 There's something deeply exciting about the world of reporting and 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.399 fitting in all the pieces of a story to give 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:25.840 the public a full picture. 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.520 I think I've just always had this intense curiosity about 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.040 wanting to know what was going on in the world 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.160 and wanting to figure it out, like everything was a 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:38.480 giant puzzle, and the more information I could get, the 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:40.480 more I could figure out how it all comes together. 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.240 There's no shortage of difficult moments in journalism. Sometimes the 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.240 bigger the story, the bigger the emotional toll it can 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:52.240 have on the public and the journalists delivering the story. 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:54.800 I wondered about some of those bigger moments in Diane's 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.720 career and how she's learned to process the weight of 0:03:57.760 --> 0:03:58.960 the news she's reporting. 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.480 One big one for me was working on the Eric 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:09.480 Garner case. I was in Staten Island talking to his friends, 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:13.200 people who were there, who witnessed the police put him 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.120 in a chokehold. They were all telling me, you know, 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:18.920 they're saying he died at the hospital. As far as 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:21.560 we could tell, he died in front of us. And 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:26.359 being able to talk to people like that firsthand, see 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:30.680 additional videos that they took. Regardless of your opinion on 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:35.480 the case, when you see how any serious news story 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:39.799 actually touches the people who are directly involved, it affects 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.880 you differently. And that's one of those stories that you 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:45.159 know even now, I go home sometimes and I find 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:49.279 myself at midnight watching the video again, listening to the 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:50.000 audio again. 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:51.760 Can I do anything about it? 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:56.320 No. But in the instances like that, your brain doesn't 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.520 always let you sleep because it's so consumed by something else. 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.760 And then you hit a story that just consumes you 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.440 to the point where you can't fall asleep as easily 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:06.120 as you would like to. 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.240 Journalism requires those in the field to be able to 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.680 manage high levels of emotional stress along with the intense 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:16.039 pressure of being the first to break the news, no 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.480 matter the hour. At a certain point, that all starts 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.719 to take a toll. And when you're pushing through on 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.520 high levels of adrenaline, how do you come down from 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:25.400 the reporting high? 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.520 Little by little, I just saw my sleep deteriorate more 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:31.359 and more and more and more. And I think I 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:33.800 did what most people do, which is you just assume 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:34.880 you can. 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:35.800 Power through it. 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:40.120 And one of the perks of having a job like 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.479 this is that you love it and when you're doing it, 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.080 your adrenaline is pumping and you kind of find a 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:50.679 way to perform. Your body just goes into showtime mode 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.280 and you dig deep and you do it. I think 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:57.719 the problem comes around after. It's when you get home 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:01.520 and now you're trying to un plug from showtime mode, 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:03.440 and you're trying to tell your body work time is 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:05.680 over and now it's time to relax and unwind and 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:09.240 go to sleep. I think, for myself and for a 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.279 lot of journalists who are used to that kind of quick, 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:16.440 fast paced, fast thinking life, it's when you try to 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:19.080 step back from that that then you start to have 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.280 a problem because you lay down in bed and you're 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:23.640 trying to tell your body it's time to go to sleep, 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.640 and your body's still in go mode. 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.000 We all know at this point that stress can really 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.279 do a number on our bodies. But I wanted to 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:34.039 talk to an expert to learn more about how stress 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.200 and anxiety impact our sleep. So I decided to catch 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.640 up with doctor Jade Wu. She's a Board certified sleep psychologist, researcher, 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.960 and author of the book Hello Sleep, The Science and 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:50.159 Art of Overcoming Insomnia Without Medications. And so, with the 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:54.039 high stress environment of working in a newsroom like Dianda's, 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:58.640 could you walk us through how stress affects sleep. We 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.120 know that not getting enough sleep can be stressful, but 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.719 how does having high levels of stress effect your sleep? 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:09.680 Yeah, stress and sleep are not good friends. So when 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.240 we experience a lot of stress, especially chronic stress, hour 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.680 after hour, day after day kind of stress, the message 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:19.920 that's sending to our bodies is there must be a 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.960 predator on our tail, because otherwise, why are you so 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.559 high octane all the time, Why are you going, going, going, 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.080 Why is your heart rate up and your cortisol levels 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:31.240 are up? You know, all of this is telling our 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:34.440 bodies there must be a predator. So if there is 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:36.840 a predator, obviously the last thing you want to do 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:39.840 is sleep. So it's really hard to turn on and 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.000 off that switch to say, Okay, now I'm on, i 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.520 am reporting breaking news, I am you know, chasing down leads, 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:48.200 I am in front of the camera in front of 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:51.400 millions of people, and then switch it off like Okay, 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:53.320 I'm alone in my quiet room and I want to 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:56.280 sleep now. It's really hard to just, you know, switch 0:07:56.320 --> 0:08:00.080 on and off like that and get into sleepy mode. 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.680 So, if we're going about our days and tackling the 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.280 challenges that life throws at us, how can we tell 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:08.240 when stress is reaching a point where it's actively impacting 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:08.760 our sleep. 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:13.080 So one of the most common things I hear is 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:20.160 tired but wired. So someone is exhausted, they're dragging, they 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.960 can't concentrate, they don't feel well. They just want to 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:25.560 crawl into bed like everything in their body is screaming 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:29.320 for rest. But when they get into bed, they can't sleep. 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.720 They have insodom. Yet they're staring at the ceiling, They're 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.000 tossing and turning, their mind is racing, you know, and 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.680 sometimes they even feel like panicky feelings in their body. 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:43.160 That racing mind needs some sort of release. You know, 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.160 you can't just keep kicking the can down the road. 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:49.160 Your thoughts, your mind really do need your attention. So 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:53.319 if all day long you're saying, Okay, I'm busy, I'm distracted, 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:56.200 and I don't have time to process my thoughts or emotions. 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.280 If the first time in your day that you have 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:02.040 a chance to us your thoughts your emotions is at bedtime, 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:04.320 when you lay down and it's finally quite and dark, 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:06.480 then of course your racing mind is going to come 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:09.120 out to play. It's like been waiting patiently all day, 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.079 like a child talking at your sleep. Okay, now I've 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.440 got your full attention. Let me tell you all of 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:17.480 the things. This is the tired, bit wired phenomenon that 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:21.079 a lot of high stress jobs will bring, because then 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:25.120 your body and mind are really confused about what is day, 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:27.360 what is night? You know what is on time, what 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.320 is off time, so it has a hard time keeping 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:33.000 up that. You know biological rhythm to help you up 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.480 regulate when you should be awake, down, regulate when you 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.760 should be asleep. We really should set aside time during 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:43.800 the day to process our thoughts, to review what we're feeling, 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:47.720 what we're doing. Let your mind stretch its wings so 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:50.920 that your mind isn't like jonesing to go at bedtime. 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:54.520 So this tired but wired feeling is definitely a telltale. 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:58.960 Sign stress plus crazy hours. Diane was feeling the weight 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:01.720 of her job and I was impacting her sleep, and 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:04.560 the little sleep she was getting was starting to impact 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.120 other aspects of her health as well. 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:11.800 When I first started experiencing issues, I didn't realize that 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.400 they were tied to my sleep. But the first thing 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.640 I noticed was I had horrible acid reflux almost as 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.320 soon as I started working in early morning news. So 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:22.880 I saw all these doctors about my acid reflux. They 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.800 put me on all this different medication. I started making 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:31.319 all these dietary changes. Nothing helped, and in fact, I 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:35.760 started pushing my dinner time earlier and earlier and earlier, 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.520 because I kept reading that you have to have a 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.080 big space between your last meal and the time that 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:44.079 you go to sleep in order to prevent acid reflux. 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.440 What I didn't know, and what no one ever talks about, 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:49.679 is that for some people, it's really hard to go 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:53.720 to bed when you're hungry, and lack of sleep can 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:55.240 cause acid reflux. 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.040 The other symptom I noticed was dry eyes. 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.680 I started feeling just this, this is comfort in my 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:05.000 eyes that I had never felt before, and I didn't 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.160 know what was causing it. I started feeling foggy at times, 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.239 mentally foggy, like I couldn't focus, and I felt exhausted, 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.640 but not sleepy. I think the breaking point for me 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:17.840 ended up being when I developed a tolerance to ambient 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.880 So I called my doctor and her advice to me was, 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:27.120 you know, you're only taking half of the lowest dose, 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:28.560 so just take. 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:30.199 A full pill. 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:32.360 And I kind of decided right then and there that 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:35.520 this is not going to be the way forward for me. 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.520 So that was kind of my big Eureka moment of 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:40.000 I need to find a better solution. 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.160 Doctor Wu has seen many struggle with sleep the same 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:47.120 way Diane has, and she recognizes that when you get 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.480 to this breaking point, it can be hard to see 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:50.640 the path out of poor sleep. 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:55.360 To see patients who are really struggling and who really 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:58.839 feel like they've tried everything then feeling kind of hopeless, 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.320 to be able to turn that around for them, to 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.720 give them optimism and to really help them to re 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.000 connect with their sleep really kind of changes their whole life. 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:11.920 You know, there's a famous saying among really busy people, 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:13.520 I'll sleep when I'm dead. 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:15.360 Yep, I heard that. 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:17.600 Yeah, I'm sure you get that a lot. What are 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.199 some of your big highlights for why sleep is so important? Ted? 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:21.800 Do you what do you say to people who say, 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:24.680 you know, I can skimp on sleep and focus on 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:25.240 other things. 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:29.079 Well, to me, sleep is not just the empty space 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:31.600 in between your days, right. Sometimes we think of it 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.760 as like, oh, it's just filler. It's just like quiet time, 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.079 and if I can squeeze more into my day, how 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:40.240 awesome would that be. But the problem is that if 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.839 you don't sleep well, then you don't have that nourishment, 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:46.040 you don't have that basic foundation for health and well being. 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.040 I don't think of it as empty space. I think 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:51.319 of it as water in between continents. You know, it's 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:54.679 the very thing that makes life possible. So we do 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.240 need to fill our oceans and make sure that, you know, 0:12:57.320 --> 0:12:59.440 we have the rest that we need, we have the 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:00.320 sleep that we need. 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.480 It's amazing how interconnected all of these pieces are within 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.840 our brains. It's like a car engine. When everything is 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:10.520 going well, you can just cruise on down the street. 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.040 But if you have a bad radiator or one of 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:15.720 your spark plugs is out of whack, well you might 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:17.640 still get the car from point A to point B, 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.160 but it will be a struggle and one that can 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.080 become dangerous. So how do you solve a serious sleep 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.079 problem like a journalist, Well, you report on it. 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:31.160 I sat down with my producers at World News Now, 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:35.920 and given we were an overnight show, I knew our audience, 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.960 many of them, presumably were struggling with a lot of 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.800 the same issues. I knew a lot of my coworkers 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.560 were two for that matter, and so I said, you know, 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.400 I want to set out on this mission to fix 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:50.040 my sleep. Do you guys want me to document it? 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.959 And I will find doctors and do whatever they ask 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.400 me to do, and we can put together the story 0:13:57.440 --> 0:13:59.880 of the things that I try and what works and 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.880 what doesn't, and then we'll bring it to our viewers 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:04.240 and so they can learn from it. 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.120 We'll be right back after a brief message from our 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:19.600 partners at Mattress Firm, and now back to chasing sleep. 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:25.080 In my quest to find a doctor to work with 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.720 me to do this whole news story and document my adventure. 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.200 I had learned that cognitive behavioral therapy is the gold 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:36.280 standard treatment for insomnia. Once we finally got this test done, 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.800 I got the official insomnia diagnosis. So I started reading 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.120 more and more about CBTI because I knew that that's 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:45.000 what was going to be coming next for me, and 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:47.880 in the effort to be a very prepared journalist, I 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:50.040 wanted to get ahead of the game as much as 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.280 I could and understand what it is that I was 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:53.720 going to be covering and talking about. 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:55.240 And part of the reason we. 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.960 Experienced insomnia over and over and over again is because 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.160 we spend so much time awake and frustrated in bed 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.160 that your brain starts to learn that bed is not 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:09.040 a calm, safe space where we go to be sleepy. 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:11.760 Your brain starts to learn, oh, bed is a stressful 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:14.800 place where we have to be alert. And so going 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.560 to bed triggers this arousal that keeps you awake. It's 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:21.040 why you feel like you're dozing off on the couch 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:22.480 one second, and then all of a sudden you go 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:24.680 to go to sleep and boom, you're wide awake and 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:26.520 your brain is going a mile a minute. That's something 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:27.760 called conditioned arousal. 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:30.640 You don't need to be a news anchor to have 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:34.240 experienced this feeling. Your muscles are sore, your body is 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:36.760 begging for sleep, but you just lie on the bed 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:40.040 and stare at the ceiling. More often than not, this 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.600 is the manifestation of the effects of stress on your 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.880 sleeping cycle. So now the question is how do we 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.240 fix this? Is there anything we can do from our 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:51.680 otherwise comfortable beds to get our minds into sleep mode. 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.240 Actually, most of what we can do about this is 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.960 what we do outside of bed. So for example, leading 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.600 up to bedtime, we really need to have a nice 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:05.040 wind down routine, a buffer zone between the day and 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.400 the night, or for people who are working nights between 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:10.960 you know, they're on time versus off time. That might 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.440 be the best way to describe it. So leading up 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:16.320 to bedtime, we need to be switching from doing mode 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:21.520 to being mode. So doing mode is like getting our 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.760 chores done, crossing off to do lists, getting the kids 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:28.560 ready for bed, preparing for work, checking emails, you know, 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.600 doing all of these things that are goal oriented and 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.640 very active. We want to be switching from that mode 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.480 to being mode, which is more like getting in touch 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.680 with our body, getting in touch with our emotions, kind 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:44.240 of winding down from the day and putting a way 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.960 to do lists, putting away sort of goal oriented activities 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:52.480 and really switching more to a grounded, centered kind of mode. 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.040 And to do that, you know, we can really design 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:58.120 our own wind down routines. Often people will have a 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:02.920 nice you know, like bath or shower, skincare routine, get 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.880 into Pj's, cuddle off with the dog, maybe read the 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:08.560 book for a little bit, chat with your partner, but 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:12.719 save you know, big conversations for tomorrow because we're winding 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:16.520 down out. So having that buffer in between your really 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.199 on go, go go kind of day versus your relaxing 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:22.880 and sleepy night is very important. 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.560 The driving forces that push us to calm down and 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:31.040 actually get some rest are so strong, and the unique 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:36.359 stresses of journalism require unique solutions. I was curious, how 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.360 do journalists like Diane take some of the more tragic 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.560 or emotional parts of the job and release them in 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:44.400 order to get the amount of rest that they need. 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.439 So I think I've just sort of naturally, through the 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:52.720 course of doing this job for so long, learned that 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.959 I need to create a separation to be able to function, 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:00.680 But that doesn't mean that you know, there aren't some 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.280 stories that do affect you in that way. And I 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:05.440 think for me, it's been a lot of just about 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:06.240 just acceptance. 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:07.160 Right. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:12.520 It's okay if I'm not shedding tears about every story 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.480 that I report on air, even if they are a tragedy, 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.080 And it's also okay if every now and then there 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.240 is one where I do shed tears on air about it. 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:22.200 And you know, if I was. 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.440 Crying over every story, that would probably be fine too. 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:25.920 I just think a lot of it is just sort 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:30.240 of accepting what your body needs to do to process 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.400 those emotions, and just to make sure you are acknowledging 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.879 them and processing them, which I think I do a technique. 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:38.400 That I have used. 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:43.560 That's not necessarily about separating the sympathy and empathy part 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:48.760 of things, but more about organizing my thoughts and my 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.359 worries and my feeling. Sort of processing all of that 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:56.120 and realizing what I can and can't control. I think 0:18:56.160 --> 0:19:00.119 has been a huge part of my sleep recovery. And 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.679 this is a practice called constructive worry, and I often 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:05.600 just refer to it as a worry list or a 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:08.800 brain dump because it sounds so silly, but you just 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.680 you take a notebook and you divide a page down 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:13.639 the center, and on the left hand side of the 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.080 page you just write down anything that's on your mind, 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:18.400 the kind of thing that would keep you awake at night, 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:20.679 or that might wake you up in the middle of 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:24.080 the night. And now your brain starts racing. Write any 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.720 of that stuff on the page, and then on the 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:28.919 right hand side you write down the very next step 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:33.399 toward resolving that issue. The exercise itself also gets you 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:37.560 focused on solutions instead of problems. And when you're stuck 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.760 in this sort of insomnia cycle where you get into 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:43.520 a pattern of going to bed and suddenly your brain 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:47.680 starts racing, we often at that time are more susceptible 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:52.159 to catastrophic thinking, and so we often will ruminate on 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:55.320 problems and it will feel like there's no way out 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.080 of this. And so by doing this exercise, you sort 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:02.040 of retrain your brain into thinking, Okay, problem, solution, what 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:04.600 are we going to do about that, instead of just problem, problem, 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:06.920 Oh my god, problem. And part of the reason why 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:09.760 we cauldastrophize, at least one of the leading theories on 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:12.879 it is that the areas of our brain that focus 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:17.120 on things like rational thinking turn off while we're sleeping. 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:19.440 They kind of sleep as well, and so if you're 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:21.760 awake in the middle of the night, let's say at 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:25.200 a time that you're normally sleeping, that part of your 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:29.159 brain is still asleep. So now you're thinking about your problems, 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:31.399 but without the part of your brain that controls the 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:34.720 irrational thought. That's why it's so much easier to go 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.679 into that spiral in the middle of the night. And 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:41.080 often I found by writing things down, when I look 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:44.080 at them the next day, it seemed absurd that I 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:46.639 was so worried about this thing. And I think just 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.600 knowing that helps the next time you're in that position 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:51.879 to realize, wow, I think it's the end of the 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:56.840 world that this thing happened, But it's probably just because it's. 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:57.800 Two o'clock in the morning. 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:01.320 And I bet, just like last time, when you know 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:04.040 it's nine am, I'm going to realize that this really 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:06.720 isn't so bad. And sometimes just knowing that can help 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.680 turn the temperature down on that anxiety that's keeping you awake. 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:14.639 Diane's journey to find better sleep took her down a 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:17.960