The Benefits of Sleep VALOR Voices Podcast Transcript

Announcer: You are listening to VALOR Voices, a production of the VALOR Program. Funding and programmatic support for the VALOR Program is provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, or BJA. The opinions expressed in this podcast are not necessarily those of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Kurt Bonhamer: Thanks for listening to this episode of VALOR Voices. I'm your host, Kurt Bonhamer. Today, we're going to be looking at the issue of sleep. Sleep is one of those basic, fundamental things that we know we all need. It's good for both our body and our mind, but we honestly probably don't get enough of it.

Today, I'm going to interview Dr. Olivia Johnson. For those of you who may not have heard our previous podcast, Dr. Johnson is a member of the Blue Wall Institute, which is an organization dedicated to both the training and education of first responders in the area of wellness. During the interview, Dr. Johnson is going to share with us ten easy tips for us to implement into our lives to improve our sleep, and she's also going to share with us the effects that a lack of good sleep has on both our body and our mind.

So, I'd like to welcome Dr. Olivia Johnson back to the VALOR Voices podcast.

Well, Dr. Johnson, thanks for joining us again.

Olivia Johnson: Thanks, Kurt.

Kurt: Today, we're going to talk to you a little bit about sleep and the effect it has both on the body and the mind. I know you've recently written an article that was a highlight in PoliceOne that had some great tips for officers. So, if you would just . . . You want to tell us some of those tips?

Olivia: Sure, be happy to. Well, you know, part of the problem with sleep in law enforcement is, you know, the odd shifts that officers work and the long hours at times, and they don't get the adequate rest they need, so I provided ten tips, and we'll go over them briefly, of things that officers can start doing today to get a better night's sleep.

We talk about reducing the chemicals that we put in our bodies, you know, the caffeine, the nicotine, and the alcohol. And, I know, you know, most cops drink caffeine and almost to excess, and that can be in the form of coffee or, you know, the energy drinks that are out there.

The second tip, Kurt, is to reduce activity or stimulation before bed time. So, you know, put the electronics away. Turn off the cell phone. You know, unplug from those things.

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Don't be answering work emails late at night, and don't be exercising too close to bed time either.

In addition to that, this is tip three, is eat smaller meals and consume fewer liquids before bed time. You can have issues with digesting the food, maybe a food allergy or something like that, but in addition, you don't want to be up and down all night using the restroom.

The fourth tip is to make sure that your bedroom is kept strictly for sex and sleep. You know, you don't want to be in there reading a book and watching TV at night. You want your brain and your body to start relaxing and getting ready for bed.

The fifth tip I provide is keeping all forms of light out of the bedroom, meaning, you know, put the blinds down, even use dark, you know, curtains that can cover up the light, in addition to the light that you might find on a TV or a VCR, and, you know, then, in addition to that, we want to keep the temperature in the room cool. You don't want to be up and down all night adjusting the temperature.

So, the sixth tip we look at is the difference between the number of hours of sleep that are required. You know, men and women are somewhat different, but we can have people that, you know, use as little as five hours of sleep to people that need up to ten hours of sleep. The average is anywhere between seven and eight, and you should be making sure that that's good, restful sleep. You're not up and down all night in between.

The seventh tip is just pick a specific bed time, or a time that you're going to start unwinding, and you want to make sure that you're ready to go to sleep at a certain time. Your body starts getting into a method, and the circadian rhythms start getting back in check. So, you're going to start falling asleep at the same time, making it more of a pattern.

The eighth tip, and this is a big one, and I think a lot of people take it for granted, but it's body alignment and comfort. I cannot tell you how many nights I wake up with joint pain or a sore neck, and though it seems like it's a temporary thing, and I can fix it, you know, the next night when I go to sleep, waking up with a sore neck may not be something I can fix right away, so I go to work with that, and I may not be able to do everything I need to do on the job, which can put me in harm's way.

The ninth tip talks about replacing your mattress between every five and seven years, and in between there, we can also flip it and turn it to keep areas from becoming . . . where they sag or they're not supporting our body like they need to.

And then lastly, we talk about washing and replacing things like pillows, comforters, blankets, making sure we get out the dust mites and the things that might collect in there, causing allergies.

Kurt: Thanks for sharing that. You know, we talk about sleep as . . . you know, every so often, you have that night where you only get, you know, four or five hours of sleep. That's something . . . if you sleep more the next night, can you make up for that sleep differential?

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Olivia: Absolutely not, and that's a very big, I'll say, a common thing that people believe, and we need to change that, because one of the areas that we try to take and invest more time in is that area where we need to be sleeping. We think we can just pull from that time, and the truth is, you can't ever replace that, so we need to start plugging in some of these tips right now so that we can start getting a better night's sleep, since we can't make up for it.

Kurt: Yeah. You know, they're all easy to plug in. None of them sound that difficult. It's just a matter of us putting them into practice, you know. Sleep is so important, you know? It affects both the mind and the body and having that power to rejuvenate both. So, can you talk a little bit more about that mind-body connection that sleep has?

Olivia: Sure, yeah. I will tell you that hands down, sleep is probably one of the most important things that you need in life, and it does. It rejuvenates the brain, it rejuvenates the body, and in turn, it rejuvenates how we think about things and how we process things.

You know, if you wake up every night, not sleeping well, you're not going to be in a great mood, and it's going to reflect to other people as well. But physically, you know, we look at things like, you know, your body not being able to keep up with things that might be going on around you. For instance, during flu season, if your immune system is compromised in any way, you might get sicker faster. We have increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.

You know, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services talks about, you know, all these physical ailments, and we also need to understand that physical ailments can lead to accidents on the job, you know, not being able to perform our duties or effect an arrest and getting hurt doing something because we have, you know, an inadequate amount of sleep.

Kurt: And, then there's possible effects mentally as well on a . . . from a lack of sleep. Isn't that right?

Olivia: Sure. You know, in as little as one, two hours a night where you're missing sleep, it can actually, over time, add up to days of missing sleep, so you're like a zombie at work. I mean, even research shows that not having enough sleep is actually worse at times than being under the influence of alcohol or drugs. So, sleep is very, very important.

And, it can lead to, you know, the simple things like maybe making a mistake on a report, you know, dropping something, stumbling here and there, but it can lead to bigger things, you know, having a traffic accident, you know, being involved in a hands-on, you know, use of force situation that you're not able to handle because you're tired and you're sore. So, there's lasting effects here, and even, you know, even beyond that, someone who's not getting adequate sleep, it wears on the body, but when it wears on the mind, it can actually lead to mental health issues such as depression, bipolar, and eventually even suicide, which actually claims more lives, you know, every year of our officers.

Kurt: Yeah, that's a shocking statistic that it can actually have that effect and shocking the number of officers we lose, so we definitely encourage everyone to get enough sleep, and if you see someone who's having those signs, to please get that officer help.

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Olivia: Right, and you know, Kurt, you know, we take it for granted, but someone not getting enough sleep is everyone's concern, especially if that person's your backup or your loved one. You know, we want everyone to go home safe, and we just want to reiterate how important getting a good night's sleep is.

Kurt: Olivia, you know, we mentioned that the ten tips from that PoliceOne article that you wrote. We encourage all of the officers to go there and read that article in its entirety. Are there any other resources that you want to share with officers regarding sleep?

Olivia: Sure. We, you know, besides the Blue Wall Institute, we have the Center for Clinical Interventions, which is available. So, there's Harvard Medical School actually has a sleep section in their school that you can look at. But you can just go online and do a search of, you know, good sleep habits, good sleep hygiene, and pull up some extra ones, but these ten should at least get you started.

Kurt: Olivia, we thank you for stopping by again and participating in this podcast. I think this information is just great for officers to apply and start incorporating into their lives, so thank you for that.

Olivia: Any time.

Kurt: As we close out this episode of VALOR Voices, I just wanted to provide Dr. Johnson's website to everyone. It's www.bw-institute.com, and you can find additional resources and her contact information there. As always, we encourage you to visit the BJA VALOR website, which is www.valorforblue.org. Until our next podcast, we thank you for listening, thank you for your service, and stay safe.

Announcer: The VALOR Program is dedicated to delivering training, developing resources, and conducting research to improve the safety, wellness, and resiliency of law enforcement professionals across the country. For additional information regarding the VALOR Program, please visit valorforblue.org, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/valorforblue, or send us an email at [email protected].

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This project was supported by Grant No. 2016-VI-BX-K003 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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