Sleep Interventions: The CALTATA Program

We have developed a 7 step program that is very likely to improve your sleep quality and duration. The program is simple to do but for some of you, it will be harder to stay consistent and really do it. Here are the 6 steps:

1. Caffeine: We recommend complete abstinence from all forms of caffeine for a period of at least 2 weeks. We will discuss caffeine more fully in a different section and why we think this is so important, but for now just try it and see what impact it has on your measured sleep scores. If you are drinking more than 1 cup of coffee per day, you will need to wean it down slowly so as to avoid a withdrawal headache.
   

2. Activity: Stay active during the day and avoid stimulating activities such as computer screens and work in the 2 hours before bedtime.
   

3. Light: It is usually not enough just to get your bedroom to be dark. For most of us, wearing a sleep mask can be a powerful intervention. It is particularly useful for sleep onset because of the surge of melatonin that accompanies complete darkness. We recommend that everyone performing the sleep experiment get a mask and wear it to sleep at night as much as possible.
   

4. Temperature: The optimal temperature for the bedroom is between 60-69 degrees F (15-21 degrees C). This is very important for getting to sleep and staying asleep.
   

5. Alcohol: We recommend complete abstinence during the period of your sleep experiment. Alcohol is far more disruptive to sleep than most people realize. If you feel like you must have a drink during the experimental period, then keep it to 1 only and finish it more than 3 hours before bedtime. We also recommend abstinence from marijuana and any sleeping pills all of the time.
   

6. Timing: The optimal timing for your sleep may involve some trial and error. Our main recommendation is consistency and avoiding naps during the day. We recommend against trying to get in bed before you have begun to feel a bit sleepy and we recommend a very consistent wake time in the morning.
   

7. Action Plan: You need to develop an action plan for what to do if you wake up after your fall asleep. We cover how to create that action plan elsewhere, but the key is that you want to get out of bed if you are struggling to get back to sleep and it is making you anxious or upset.