Sleep science for peak performance: A conversation with Dr. Jennifer Goldschmied

Dr. Jennifer Goldschmied is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. A clinical psychologist and sleep researcher, her work primarily focuses on the impact of slow-wave activity – the deepest kind of sleep – on mental and physical health outcomes.

In addition to spending most of her time on research and seeing patients with insomnia and comorbid psychiatric disorders, Dr. Goldschmied heads Optimal Sleep Consulting, which works with businesses and organizations to educate about sleep health and its impact on performance, helping workplaces understand that a well-rested workforce leads to better outcomes.

We recently sat down with Dr. Goldschmied to dive deeper into the science of sleep and how we can make the most of it.

There’s so much information available online about sleep that it can be confusing to know what’s best for us. How do we know if we’re getting the “right” amount?

People are fascinated by and interested in sleep because we all sleep, which means there’s a lot of information out there – some of it true, and some of it not. Instead of getting caught up in headlines about how much sleep we need to avoid Alzheimer’s disease, I like to encourage my clients to consider the real question: Are you tired during the day? If you’re not tired during the day, and if you can function and do all the things you need to do, then you don’t need to worry so much about sleep.

I don’t get bogged down into how many hours people are sleeping unless it’s an extreme. If someone says they only need 5 hours, or on the other hand, can’t function without 11 hours of sleep, I’ll point out that there aren’t many people who truly need those extremes. It’s not impossible, but it’s highly improbable.

If I frequently travel across time zones for work or leisure, what’s the best strategy for maintaining my sleep schedule and minimizing jet lag?

This depends on how long you spend in each time zone. If you’re traveling quickly – let’s say from New York to San Francisco for just a day and a half – your best bet would be to stay on your home sleep schedule. Don’t adjust to the local time.

If you’re going to be somewhere for several days or longer, there are ways to adjust your sleep schedule using timed light exposure. Depending on which way you’re traveling, more light in the morning and less light in the evening, or the other way around, can help you start to adapt. However, it’s important to know that our bodies can really only adjust by about 15 minutes every day, so expecting to shift your sleep pattern several hours in only a few days is unrealistic.

Between early morning commitments, late evening obligations, and varying schedules, how can I maintain quality sleep with inconsistency?

A consistent sleep schedule is the most important thing, even if you’re getting less sleep on some days.

If that’s not possible, the most important thing to do is keep a consistent wake time from day to day. If you can’t go to sleep at the same time every day, that’s OK, but wake up at the same time regardless of how much sleep you get.

You might have one bad night of sleep, but if you wake up at the same time the next day, you’ll be more likely to get better quality sleep the following night because you’ll have a stronger sleep drive. If you go to bed late and then sleep in, that makes your next night’s sleep worse because your sleep drive isn’t strong enough by bedtime.

Should I avoid naps altogether?

Sleep is a drive, like hunger or thirst. The less you get, the more you need. If you want to take a nap on a weekend because you feel like it and you don’t have problems sleeping, that’s fine. But people who have difficulties with sleep or are prone to being anxious about their sleep should not nap. Napping decreases sleep drive, which makes it more difficult to fall asleep at night. If you have insomnia, trying to make up for lost sleep through naps, hitting snooze, or going to bed early – all of which disrupt your natural sleep drive – creates a more problematic cycle.

My mind is always racing with ideas and to-do lists when I try to sleep. What can help quiet an active mind?

There’s a famous phrase, “Nothing good happens after midnight.” This is especially true when it comes to thinking when you’re trying to sleep. When you’re lying in bed, you’re not going to be your best problem solver. You’re not going to do your best thinking, planning, or decision-making in the middle of the night.

The best approach – though not the easiest – is to learn how to compartmentalize. Plan a specific time in the early evening, afternoon, or during your commute when you do your thinking and problem-solving. Review what happened that day, what you could’ve done better, and what you need to do tomorrow.

When thoughts come up at night, tell yourself: “I have a designated time for this kind of thinking. This is not that time.”

It’s similar to meditation – when you notice your thoughts drifting, mindfully bring them back. You acknowledge the thoughts but know this isn’t the right time for that kind of work.

How often do you find that what people think are sleep issues are actually related to deeper underlying problems?

All the time. To me, insomnia is not primarily a sleep disorder – it’s an anxiety disorder. Some people might sleep poorly for a couple of days, but they don’t catastrophize about it. For those who are prone to anxiety, they will start to worry: “What does this mean? Will this impact my health? If I don’t sleep well, I won’t perform well tomorrow.”

One way we can identify people who might be prone to worrying about their sleep is by using a scale called the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes About Sleep Scale as it has items like, “If I don’t get a good night’s sleep tonight, I’m going to be a mess tomorrow.” This kind of thinking prompts panic around sleep.

I usually remind people that they’ve probably had times when they got poor sleep and still did well and times they got good sleep and didn’t perform well. It’s not a one-to-one correlation.

What’s the best way to prepare for important early morning commitments to ensure I’m well-rested?

What’s most helpful is setting yourself up for a good night’s sleep. That means not working until bedtime, which many people do – closing their laptop and then immediately getting into bed. This kind of behavior increases arousal, and we need low physiological arousal to initiate sleep.

I would suggest designating the hour before bed as wind-down time. Dim the lights, which signals to your brain that it’s bedtime. Start doing quieter activities, such as reading or watching something relaxing on TV. For example, choose something calming, and do not watch the news before bed.

You should turn off devices for a couple of reasons. First, phones and tablets emit light much closer to your face than a TV viewed from across the room. And second, social media and apps are designed to be very engaging. You want your mind to slow down before bed, not become more active.

With all the sleep tracking technology available, which metrics should I actually pay attention to?

None of them. Your smartwatch gives you estimates based on movement, sometimes light, and sometimes heart rate, but none of these are actual measurements of what’s happening in your brain during sleep. Yes, you can get a general sense of your sleep patterns, but these devices can sometimes grossly misrepresent your actual sleep quality.

What sleep trackers often do is increase your worry and anxiety about sleep, which is more likely to cause problems if you start catastrophizing. If you wake up feeling refreshed and function well during the day, you are getting sufficient quality sleep – regardless of what your tracker says. Trust your body’s feedback more than technology.

Do sleep gadgets and technology like cooling systems actually help improve sleep?

They’re unnecessary. Every organism sleeps, and they don’t need these gadgets. There’s nothing to suggest that, beyond basics like a comfortable mattress or appropriate bedding for the season, these expensive devices are necessary.

Some practical adjustments do matter; for example, keeping your bedroom cooler (around 65 to 68 degrees) is helpful because our body temperature decreases while we sleep, and sleeping at high temperatures can disrupt this natural cooling process. But we don’t need fancy gadgets to sleep well. If you want one and think it helps, that’s fine, but nobody needs one to sleep.

What motivated you to start your consulting company?

We started the consulting company because we saw how much misinformation about sleep was commonly accessible. Since we all sleep, everybody’s interested in sleep, so extreme claims about sleep easily become clickbait.

I love that people are taking sleep more seriously, but we live in a hustle culture where everyone says, “I’ll sleep when I die.” Some companies have 12- and 14-hour workdays to try to get the most out of their employees, but there’s a rate limit to human performance. At a certain point, you’re not going to get the same performance from somebody if they’re not getting good sleep. Sleep affects everything, and sleep problems are just like any other health problem – if you ignore them, they’re not just going to go away.

Dr. Goldschmied, thank you for such an insightful conversation.