The document provides simple tips for improving sleep, including changing the color temperature of computer screens using f.lux, blacking out the sleeping room using curtains, and applying cold to the forehead to lower brain temperature and induce sleep. The tips are described as simple and inexpensive changes designed to positively impact sleep quality. Feedback is requested on which tips were effective.

1. simple
steps
to
better
sleep

2. guide for better sleep
simple changes to better sleep
Pamela Day, @ZibbyZ 16 Oct 2012

3. better sleep: how?
These two changes will impact the quality of your
sleep. Designed to be simple and inexpensive
 First: change the color temperature of your
computer
 Second: blackout your sleeping room
Pamela Day, @ZibbyZ 16 Oct 2012

4. better sleep: f.lux
Change the color temperature to more closely
reflect nature’s (adjusting brightness is ineffective)
 F.lux (I have no vested interest)
 Google it
 Download it (it is FREE)
 Install it
 Input geographic location
 Important that you are not using other bright
lights late at night, otherwise this is pointless
Pamela Day, @ZibbyZ 16 Oct 2012

5. better sleep: blackout
 Cover windows completely blocking out light
 ‘Blackout’ curtains ready made at JC Penny, Bed
& Bath, etc.
 On a tight budget?
 Cardboard/Old foam core and duck tape
 Don’t forget to measure your windows
 Tape over all device lights
 Use painters tape – gentle on surfaces
 Do a test run during the day – don’t wait till you
are tired
Pamela Day, @ZibbyZ 16 Oct 2012

6. better sleep: bonus
Not a zombie cocktail

7. better sleep: brain freeze
 A simple, effective solution for insomnia
 Use an ice pack or wrap on your
forehead
 Put ice packs/wraps in your pillow
 Take a very cold shower before bed –
focused on your head
Cooling your prefrontal cortex lowers the metabolic rate of the
area (this happens naturally to most people) communicating it is
time to sleep. It called cerebral hypothermia

8. better sleep: report back
did you try any of these changes?
what worked for you?/what didn’t?
find me on twitter
@ZibbyZ
or leave comments below
thank you
for your
attention
Pamela Day, @ZibbyZ 16 Oct 2012

9. nerd notes: not required reading
 my observations
 fl.ux light my entertaining attempt to illustrate
 what a room looks like with blackout curtains
 cerebral hypothermia for sleep
 poor sleep = not optimized you

10. sleep: my observations
 f.lux results
 effective: fell asleep at my laptop 3 out of 4 nights
 would never happen without the color temperature
adjustment
 wish I could ‘adjust’ the f.lux clock
 blackout curtains
 don’t find myself waking and trying to figure out what
time it is
 has a calming effect when going to sleep
 brain freeze
 I fall asleep much faster, and my agitated brain quiets
 recommendations: all three
Pamela Day, @ZibbyZ 16 Oct 2012

11. f.lux: can you tell?
blue/pink 6500K
yellow/orange 2000k tungsten 
Pamela Day, @ZibbyZ 16 Oct 2012

12. blackout curtains
it worked
Pamela Day, @ZibbyZ 16 Oct 2012

13. cerebral hypothermia?
 People who suffer from insomnia have an active
prefrontal cortex at bedtime
 Healthy sleepers have a lower rate of activity in their
prefrontal cortex at bedtime
 Chilling the prefrontal cortex lowers the
metabolic rate of the area
 This chilling results in falling asleep faster, and
achieving restorative sleep

14. little/poor sleep = not epic
 The ‘edge’ you get from not sleeping?
 Yeah, no.
 Getting less than 6 hours a night is a kind of chronic stress that
impairs how the body/brain functions.
 Frontal lobe functioning suffers:
 speech (word choice)
 novel/creative thinking
 reaction time to unpredicted change
 Prefrontal cortex (part of the frontal lobe) suffers:
 judgment
 logical decision making
 impulse control
 attention
 ability to comprehend non-verbal social signals

15. guide for better sleep
simple changes to your environment
Pamela Day, @ZibbyZ 16 Oct 2012