OHSU’s Dr Andrew McHill Discusses How Best to Optimize Sleep Hygiene Practices

It’s important to make recommendations based on an individual's biological clock, considering also sleep variability and how that affects the circadian system, noted Andrew McHill, PhD, an assistant professor at Oregon Health and Science University.

In this interview from SLEEP 2023, he explains the importance of individualizing sleep hygiene recommendations.

Transcript

Can you discuss how evidence-based behavioral interventions and sleep hygiene practices be optimized to the individual?

What we've tried to do is we've tried to look at each individual's internal biological clock, or their circadian clock, and try to make recommendations based on that clock so we can time certain things relative to that timing, instead of just saying it works for everyone. And I think sleep hygiene practices can really fit into that as well.

Another newer branch of the science is sleep variability. So looking at the timing of sleep and the regularity of that timing of sleep, in addition to the duration, and just timing relative to your circadian system as well. So keeping a very regular schedule may be just as important as getting enough sleep, we think.