The Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce on Thursday hosted its inaugural summit, “Work Well: The Business and Wellness Summit,” with the topic discussing how to get good sleep, some tips and tricks on how to integrate better sleep into daily life, and what to avoid before going to bed.
Darren Himeles, a doctor at Kaiser Permanente in the SCV, was the keynote speaker at the event held at the Henry Mayo Center in Valencia, and gave a presentation on bad sleep habits versus good sleep habits, what different sleeping aid pills do, studies on various topics involving sleep, and more.
“So, it’s necessary for every organ system in your body, your nervous system, your cardiovascular system, your immune system, everything. When you’re not getting good sleep, all those systems start to perform poorly, you start to crash, and life is not good. Life sucks,” Himeles said during the presentation.
He said that most people need about seven to eight hours of sleep, some could be fine on six hours (like him, he said) and some need 10 hours of sleep.
Himeles said one of the most important things people could do is work on their sleep hygiene.
“But if you’re trying to maximize your sleep in the evening, yeah, don’t nap during the day. Next is the sleep location, so I want you to always sleep in the same place. Probably inyour bed, in your bedroom, and that’s it,” Himeles said.
He added that drinking water or eating should be done two hours before going to bed.
Other things he mentioned were that the climate in the room someone is sleeping in is important and that having clocks are not great for sleep.
“In other words, you set your alarm, and then you turn away. So, no phone, no clocks on the wall, no watch, no Apple Watch, whatever. If you, if it’s, if you’re sleeping in bed, and you open your eyes, and it’s dark … you’re alarmed. Your alarm clock is knocked off,” Himeles said. “Maybe you’re going to get up and go pee? Maybe you’re going to get up and drink some water. Sure. But you’re not going to look at what time it is, because you don’t care.”
After the presentation, attendees were able to participate in a panel with three different doctors and ask them questions.
Phyllis Grekin, an attendee, said she learned a lot of things during the presentation.
“No (watching) TV (before bed), and I do that. I love to watch TV, then it puts me to sleep. He says, ‘No TV,’” Grekin said.
Grekin added that her job as a real estate agent keeps her up sometimes at night, and that coming to the presentation helped give tips and insight on a lot of different things.
When asked what she would tell a friend what she learned, she said not to drink water before bed.
“Basically, don’t drink water before you go to bed. And try not to be anxious over a real estate deal,” Grekin said with a laugh.
