Sleep Secrets REVEALED: Dr. Shelby Harris on Women's Insomnia

In this episode of SHE MD, host Mary Alice Haney delves into the world of sleep and female insomnia with Dr. Shelby Harris, author of "The Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia." Dr. Harris shares her expertise on behavioral sleep medicine, addressing common sleep issues faced by women across different life stages. The discussion covers everything from pregnancy-related sleep disturbances to the challenges of perimenopause and menopause.

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Dr. Shelby Harris’ 5 Key Takeaways:

1. Establish a Sleep Schedule: Aim to go to bed and wake up within a consistent 1.5-hour window each day, even on weekends. This helps regulate your body's natural sleep-wake cycle.
2. Prepare for Rest: Just as many women embrace evening rituals like skincare, preparing for sleep is a crucial step in combating insomnia. Indulge in a warm bath approximately two hours before your intended bedtime. This allows your body temperature to drop naturally, signaling that it's time to sleep.
3. Mind Your Intake: Be mindful of your consumption of alcohol and caffeine. It's best to avoid them within 3 to 8 hours of bedtime to prevent interference with your sleep quality.
4. Optimize Your Sleep Environment: Transform your bedroom into a sleep sanctuary by keeping it cool, ideally in the mid-60s Fahrenheit, and ensuring it is as dark as possible.
5. Focus on Feeling, Not Just Numbers: If you're tracking your sleep, pay more attention to how rested and functional you feel during the day rather than fixating solely on the data. Remember, the effort to sleep is often counterproductive; allow rest to come naturally.

In This Episode:

(00:00) Introduction

(03:05) Explaining the behavioral sleep medicine specialty

(08:16) Insomnia vs. normal sleep disturbances

(11:14) Treating female insomnia without medication

(27:18) When to prescribe medications and which ones

(36:44) Sleep needs across different age groups

(49:45) Sleep challenges during pregnancy and postpartum

(54:38) Perimenopause: A perfect storm for sleep

(1:02:16) Non-negotiables for better sleep habits

RESOURCES:

Accuracy of Three Commercial Wearable Devices for Sleep Tracking in Healthy Adults - NIH Study

GUEST BIOGRAPHY:

Dr. Shelby Harris is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in White Plains, New York who specializes in behavioral sleep medicine (BSM), working to improve the sleep of everyone from babies through older adults using evidence-based methods.

She is also a specialist in Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for anxiety and depression in adolescents and adults. Her unique expertise is frequently sought out by colleagues and well-respected medical institutions world-wide.

She is one of the very few board-certified BSM specialists in the northeast, with less than 160 clinicians worldwide who hold this distinction.

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