The expert: W. Christopher Winter, the medical director of the Martha Jefferson Hospital Sleep Medicine Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The sleep secret: "I like to take a lunchtime nap to make up for those unavoidable late nights. As a sleep consultant for a number of sports teams, I often travel on weekends, but I need to see patients early Monday morning. So I'll block out 1–1:30 p.m., always the same time. Naps work best if they're on a schedule because your body learns to anticipate the rest. I follow the same routine: dim the lights, turn on a sound machine and recline 180 degrees in my chair. It's very important not to sleep longer than 30 minutes to avoid the post-nap funk. I set an alarm and also ask my assistant to check on me. I have a Zeo sleep-management device—a
Jawbone UP does this, too—that shows me how much time I spent in light and deep stages of sleep. If I fall quickly into deep sleep during a nap, I know I'm really sleep deprived and should plan another nap the next day."
Sleep disappointment: "Although I counsel those who struggle with sleep to exercise in the morning, that doesn't work for me. I do better with squeezing in a workout later, sometimes at 10 or 11 p.m."
