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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is that getting more sleep can solve a

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Speaker 1: lot of problems. If you are feeling distracted or unproductive,

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Speaker 1: getting even a little more sleep could help a lot.

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Speaker 1: I know that is easier said than done, but even

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Speaker 1: in tough situations it might be possible, and facing the

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Speaker 1: day feeling alert and clearheaded is worth making big changes.

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Speaker 1: For this week, we're going to be talking about ways

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Speaker 1: to take care of our brains. If we want to

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Speaker 1: take our days from great to awesome, being on top

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Speaker 1: of our mental games can help a lot. Our brains

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Speaker 1: are the most important productivity tools we have now and

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Speaker 1: in the future too, so we want to keep these

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Speaker 1: tools as sharp as possible. This brings us to today's tip.

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Speaker 1: Sleep is honestly one of the best mind sharpening tools

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Speaker 1: out there. When I was scrolling through Twitter recently, Yes,

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Speaker 1: someone I followed posted this revelation. She had gotten in

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Speaker 1: bed early and slept until a civilized time in the morning.

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Speaker 1: The most miraculous thing had happened. Her distractability had completely disappeared.

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Speaker 1: She was focused. Was this what she had been missing

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Speaker 1: her entire adult life. It is quite possible. While people

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Speaker 1: on the whole are not sleep deprived from a numerical perspective,

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Speaker 1: many adults adopt disorderly sleeping habits that keep us feeling

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Speaker 1: either fatigued or out of control. We stay up too

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Speaker 1: late one night and then crash on the couch in

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Speaker 1: front of the TV. The next night. We get up

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Speaker 1: earlier than we'd like a few days in a row,

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Speaker 1: and then sleep through an alarm and start the day

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Speaker 1: in a panic. A lot of this happens because many

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Speaker 1: of us view sleep as an unfortunate necessity. We have

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Speaker 1: to do it, so we go to bed grudgingly. There

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Speaker 1: are so many things we would rather do with our time.

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Speaker 1: But here's an idea. How about viewing adequate, orderly sleep

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Speaker 1: as a secret weapon. When we are well rested, we

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Speaker 1: can function far better than when we're tired, when we

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Speaker 1: feel like we are in a fog. Getting more sleep

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Speaker 1: can make what seemed challenging feel crystal clear. I see

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Speaker 1: this personally all the time. I was feeling earlier this

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Speaker 1: week like I couldn't get anything done. Then I managed

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Speaker 1: to sleep eight hours two nights in a row, and

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Speaker 1: today I am planning all the courses I want to

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Speaker 1: launch in the new year. For some people, getting more

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Speaker 1: orderly and adequate sleep is straightforward. Give yourself a bedtime.

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Speaker 1: If you need to set your alarm for a certain

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Speaker 1: time in the morning, count back the number of hours

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Speaker 1: you need to sleep. For most adults, this is seven

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Speaker 1: to eight hours per day. Try seven and a half.

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Speaker 1: If you're not sure your bedtime, that is, seven and

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Speaker 1: a half hours before your alarm goes off in the

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Speaker 1: morning is when you need to be going to sleep,

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Speaker 1: So you need to set another alarm for approximately thirty

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Speaker 1: minutes before that bedtime so you can wind down, brush

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Speaker 1: your teeth, and so forth. You can change this time

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Speaker 1: by an hour or so on weekends or holidays, but

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Speaker 1: any more than that is going to put you right

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Speaker 1: back into that fog. It probably isn't worth it. I mean,

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Speaker 1: unless it's really worth it, Like we're talking your own

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Speaker 1: wedding here, not much else. If you're not sure this

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Speaker 1: experiment is going to be worth it of giving yourself

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Speaker 1: a bedtime, just try it for a week or two.

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Speaker 1: You might be so surprised at your level of productivity

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Speaker 1: that you won't believe you skip that feeling just to

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Speaker 1: get an extra hour of scrolling or household puttering at night.

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Speaker 1: Of course, there are many of us for whom this

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Speaker 1: is not so straightforward. Trust me, I wasn't feeling in

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Speaker 1: a fog because I wanted to be up in the

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Speaker 1: middle of the night or at five AM. I would

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Speaker 1: love to get more orderly sleep. However, I have also

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Speaker 1: spent the past fourteen years raising five children who have

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Speaker 1: not been naturally great sleepers during baby and toddlerhood. I

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Speaker 1: am sure many listeners are going through similar rough patches.

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Speaker 1: Some people may have family members with complex medical conditions,

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Speaker 1: and caring for them means more interrupted nights than not.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes our own health problems can interfere with sleep. I

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Speaker 1: absolutely get this, and I know that lectures to get

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Speaker 1: more sleep often just feel like adding insult to injury.

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Speaker 1: For those of us where this is the case, we

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Speaker 1: have to acknowledge that there is much we can't control. However,

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Speaker 1: there are still some things we can control. If my

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Speaker 1: toddler has gone to bed at a reasonable time, I

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Speaker 1: can choose to be in bed at ten instead of

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Speaker 1: ten thirty or eleven, and that extra thirty to sixty

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Speaker 1: minutes of sleep already banked can make a big difference

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Speaker 1: if there is a middle of the night wake up

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Speaker 1: or a very early morning, I can arrange my schedule

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Speaker 1: and work from home days to make sure there's at

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Speaker 1: least sixty minutes of open time in the afternoon. That way,

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Speaker 1: I can take a nap if I need to. If

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Speaker 1: things are really bad, I can go to bed as

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Speaker 1: soon as the tiddler goes to sleep. I can trade

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Speaker 1: off with my husband and de prioritize everything else until

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Speaker 1: I am caught up. Maybe some of these ideas might

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Speaker 1: work for you to try to go to bed as

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Speaker 1: soon as possible. Yes, it is no fun to give

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Speaker 1: up potential free time, but feeling free of the brain

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Speaker 1: fog makes it possible to be much more efficient with

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Speaker 1: the time. We do have, something that would have taken

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Speaker 1: two hours takes one. That time is then paid back

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Speaker 1: to you to do whatever you want. It really is

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Speaker 1: pretty magical. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. At before breakfast pod

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Speaker 1: that's b E the number four, then Breakfast p O D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows yet