Drew Ackerman’s popular podcast ‘Sleep with Me’ receives 3 millions downloads per week, and currently puts 150,000 Australians to sleep each day. Suffering from sleeplessness for many years, Drew shares his insights into creating a ‘formula’ for sleep, encouraging Aussies to get the most out of their bedtime routine.
You have always struggled with sleep – What keeps you awake at night?
What keeps me awake at night a lot is thinking and overthinking – like thinking about the past or the future and things out of my control. I guess you could call it worrying, sometimes I call it brainbots, which is different parts of my personality that can only have one function, so they say ‘hey, what are you going to do about that bill due next month?’ or ‘hey, remember when we embarrassed ourselves in grammar school?’ and what I find is that I’m kind of telling myself a story about the past or about the future instead of just being in the moment and relaxing.
What happens when you can’t sleep? What does being sleep deprived feel like?
When I can’t sleep straight away I start to get frustrated, I start to get tense, I toss and turn more, it becomes harder to sleep. I’m more tired, I’m not as present in the moment during the day, spending time with my daughter and my family, even getting my work done becomes more difficult and I just don’t feel good. It’s kind of like a sleepless zombie – wandering through the day and then worrying how am I going to get to the end of the day, and how much coffee I need to get through the day.
Do you follow a lifestyle routine and if so what advice do you have for your audience on fixing a broken sleep cycle? E.g. Diet, lifestyle, relationships, travel, exercise, supplementation, etc
I try to have a healthy diet—eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and not eating a lot of sugar. I try not to have caffeine after 12pm, I try to take some time in the morning and sometime in the evening for reflection and journaling and just checking in with myself. During the day I try to take some breaks to either mediate or be mindful and be in the moment and I find all these things actually do help me get a better night sleep. Another part is exercise and working with your doctor to take a look at your overall health, to see other things you can do and then setting aside time to come up with a consistent bedtime routine. That’s really why I’m trying to get this message out and I’m so happy to be working with Flordis ReDormin Forte to deliver a smart formula for sleep, that can include a nice wind down routine, with whatever it is a book or a sleep podcast, or some quiet time or some journaling and a wonderful option like Flordis ReDormin Forte for relief of sleeplessness.
What is your advice or top tips on how to help reset your sleep cycle?
This is a tough one, I think having a dark room is nice and not using your phone or your tablet before bed – you can glance at it, but using it and scrolling through Instagram and the news and avoid anything else that might be stimulating. You’re looking to ease into bedtime – I think one thing people forget is that when you wake up – try to expose yourself to the sun, whether it is opening up your curtains or going for a morning walk or having a cup of coffee outside. Another great option for helping to reset your sleep cycle is Flordis Redormin Forte, that’s why I’ve been so proud to work with them on this very special episode we have. It helps to restore a healthy circadian rhythm to help you get your sleep cycle back on track. It also uses a fixed combination of extracts of Valerian and Hops which has been clinically researched to help improve sleep quality and restore healthy sleep patterns over two weeks. So it’s looking for solutions like that, that have been clinically researched –. This is especially so because 39.8% of Australian adults experience some form inadequate sleep currently and as I’ve been saying sleep is essential for your health and wellbeing and it’s something that you deserve – that’s what always comes up in the podcast.
What would you say are some natural ways to fall asleep? Do you have any advice for people who are trying to avoid the morning drowsiness that can come with other methods?
Some natural ways to fall asleep would be having a wind down routine and that could be anything from meditating, breathing, yoga, journaling, reading, for some people it is listening to the television, watching a TV show a little bit. It is your wind down routine, it’s even stuff like getting ready for bed, brushing your teeth, maybe you have a skincare routine that helps get you into a space, ready to relax and they kind of make you feel good. I think that’s an important part of it, that you look forward to it, that you have a positive association with going to bed.
I mean one thing is making sure you get some sunlight in the morning right away, just to reset your body clock if that is possible, but it’s not possible for everybody –like shift workers, people travelling or times of the year – so just thinking about other things that could be part of a formula sleep, because you want something that’s going to help restore a healthy sleep pattern and get your circadian rhythm, get your sleep cycle back on track. Another option is trying something like Flordis Redormin Forte, which has be shown to help people fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer and awake refreshed the next day. It helps restore the circadian rhythm by using a fixed combination of extracts of Valerian and Hops which has been clinically researched to help sleep quality and help restore healthy patterns over two weeks.
What is your formula for sleep?
My formula for sleep is having a wind down routine that’s flexible, especially when I’m travelling. For me, it also means starting to relax an hour before I go to sleep – so no using my phone or any other devices, doing some stretching or some journaling, or even some quiet sitting and meditation. It’s also about just really taking time to get comfortable or slow down. Maybe I’ll have some nighttime tea or some bedtime tea and spend some time reading. I just love reading a good book, particularly fiction, as it helps relax me and carry me off into dreamland.
