Actress Krysten Ritter Gets Advice from Dr. Lisa

Actress Krysten Ritter loves her sleep.  As with nearly all busy people, however, it can sometimes be a challenge for her to get a full night’s rest.  In addition to her partnership with us on the Great American Pillow Toss event in Detroit, Ms. Ritter has a starring role in ABC’s Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, is producing a pilot for MTVand has two feature films coming out in the next year.

Krysten recently spoke with SleepBetter’s medical sleep expert, Dr. Lisa Shives,  about how to get a better night’s sleep.

Learn more:

• Learn about the Great American Pillow Toss event in Detroit on July 17, 2012
• View pictures from the event
• Submit photos and videos of you tossing your own pillow
• Take the Pillow Toss Pledge and be entered to win prizes worth $4,000
• 5 Reasons You Should Toss Your Old Bedding
• How does your city rank among the sleepiest the U.S.?

Dr. Shives says Krysten is already on the right track.  Krysten says she likes to keep her bedroom extremely dark when she sleeps … so dark, in fact, that her friends call her a vampire (appropriate, perhaps, since one of her two upcoming movies is a vampire comedy!)  Dr. Shives says the darkened room is a great idea — the darker the better, in fact. Krysten also says she also has a problem of frequently waking in the middle of the night.   Dr. Shives says these nighttime wakings are extremely common and are nothing to worry about.

Krysten and Dr. Shives also talked about eliminating all bright screens, such as those from computers, TVs, smartphones, and tablets before and during sleep time.  Here are three tips from Dr. Shives that Krysten says she’s going to try to follow:

• Turn off the screens (television, computer, tablet, and smartphone) before you go to bed.  If you are able, turn them off it an hour before bedtime.
• Try listening to an audio book before bed.  You can listen through your smartphone or tablet, but keep the face down while listening.  Make it a book that is predictable so it doesn’t overstimulate you.
• Keep the ban on smartphones, tablets, and computers throughout the night by making sure the devices are turned off.

Be sure to sign our Great American Pillow Toss Pledge to replace your old, worn out pillows.  When you sign the pledge, you’ll be entered in a contest to win prizes totaling $4,000!  To read more advice from Dr. Lisa Shives, read her Ask Dr. Lisa articles.