REBEL MIND Ep6 – How to Sleep When the World Says You Can’t

🔑Key Points

☕ Try the coffee nap! Where you combine caffeine and a 30-minute nap to then have that boost energy and alertness by the time it kicks in.

💤 Sleep isn’t optional—it’s crucial for memory, mood regulation, and physical recovery. It is fundamentally different from rest

❌ Replacing sleep with caffeine isn’t effective and can have negative health impacts. Make getting enough sleep a priority

🌞 Sunlight exposure is important for maintaining circadian rhythms and sleep quality. This applies even if you work as a nocturnist

💡 Creating a personalized sleep system enhances quality and consistency. It gives you back control of a schedule that you may feel like is out of your hands.

🧩 If you’ve tried these strategies and you’re still struggling, consider true sleep pathology (insomnia, shift work disorder, sleep apnea) and get help—this is not a “be tougher” problem.

🩺 Better sleep isn’t just about feeling good; it’s directly tied to error reduction, patient safety, and longevity in EM/ICU careers.

👀Previously Covered and Related Content:

• REBEL Core Cast: Sleep Hygiene
• REBEL MIND: Rest Is Not Sleep: The Seven Dimensions of True Recovery
• Rebellion in EM: Care For Yourself – Sleep Hygiene
• First10EM: Some Evidence For Working Night Shifts
• REBEL MIND: Dunning Kruger Effect

 

📝 Introduction

Welcome to this episode of REBEL MIND, where MIND stands for Mastering Internal Negativity during Difficulty. Here we sharpen the person behind the practitioner by focusing on things that improve our performance, optimizing team dynamics and the human behavior that embodies the hidden curriculum of medicine.

Today we are exploring the imperative topic of rest and why it’s not just about sleeping. The second of a two part series, hosted by Dr. Mark Ramzy with guests Dr. Maureen Aiad and Dr. Amil Badoolah, continue our discussion but this time on the multifaceted nature of sleep, how it serves as medicine and how we can use our tools deliberately to get more of it!

🤔Cognitive Question

How would your clinical performance, patience with families, and long-term career sustainability change if you treated sleep as a non-negotiable clinical intervention rather than a flexible “nice-to-have”?

💤How is Sleep Different From Rest?

1. Rest reduces load; sleep repairs systems

• • We previously talked about the 7 types of rest and you can check that out here
  • Examples of physical rest include: pausing tasks, stepping away from the monitor, taking a walk, stretching, breathing, journaling, connecting with a colleague. This lightens your cognitive/emotional burden.
  • Sleep is fundamentally different in that it’s an active biologic process that helps:
    
    • • Consolidates memory and learning (yes, including the tough cases from last night).
      • Regulates mood, impulse control, and emotional reactivity.
      • Supports immunity, metabolic health, and cardiovascular function.
      • Repairs tissue, replenishes neurotransmitters, and fine-tunes neural networks.
  • You can have “rested but underslept” days (you took breaks but got 4 hours in bed), and “slept but unrested” days (you got hours, but all junk sleep). Both matter, but they are not interchangeable.

2. Sleep architecture vs. “knocking out”

• • True restorative sleep cycles through NREM and REM in predictable patterns.
  • Alcohol, late caffeine, and fragmented nights may help you fall asleep faster but:
    
    • Suppress REM.
    • Shorten deep sleep.
    • Increase awakenings and light sleep.
  • The result: you technically slept, but your brain didn’t get the “software updates” it needed.

Biology isn’t built for your schedule

• • Circadian rhythms were designed for light-day / dark-night cycles, not:
    • 10 pm–7 am ED shifts.
    • 24-hour calls.
    • 6 nights in a row followed by days.
  • Your body can adapt partially, but not instantly and not perfectly. That’s why:
    • You can feel “jet-lagged” even when you haven’t traveled.
    • Sleep before and after nights feels odd and fragile.
• Recognizing that “this is biologically unnatural” is key: you’re not weak; you’re fighting physiology.

🏥How This Applies to the Emergency Department or ICU?

1. Performance & safety
   • Sleep deprivation:
     • Slows reaction time and increases error rate.
     • Impairs risk assessment and complex decision-making.
     • Drops your frustration tolerance with consultants, families, and staff.
   • In both emergency medicine and critical care, that translates into:
     • Anchoring on the wrong diagnosis.
     • Missing subtle clinical changes.
     • Snapping at a tech, nurse or resident and damaging team culture.
2. Chronic health for chronic shift work
   Long-term sleep disruption is associated with:
   • Hypertension, diabetes, obesity.
   • Depression, anxiety, burnout.
   • Arrhythmias (e.g., AFib) and increased stroke risk.
   • Possibly increased all-cause mortality.

   You’re already in a high-stress, high-exposure specialty. Chronically poor sleep amplifies that risk profile and can end a career early—or make you miserable while you’re still in it.

3. Culture of “heroics” vs. health

   • Skipping sleep to pick up extra shifts, late meetings, or “just one more note” is often praised.
   • We rarely celebrate:
     • The attending who says “no” to a 2 pm meeting post-nights.
     • The resident who defends their blackout-curtains-and-earplugs routine.

🛏️Different Ways to Improve Your Sleep

• • Clarify your “sleep non-negotiables”

    • Decide how many hours you realistically need to function (e.g., 7–9 on off days, realistic blocks on nights).
    • Treat those hours as you would a procedure time—blocked, protected, and respected.

    Use caffeine like a drug, not a reflex

    • Aim for ≤ 2 cups equivalent on most days.
    • Avoid caffeine within 4–6 hours of your planned sleep time (remember: it can hang around up to 12 hours).
    • Consider scheduling caffeine for:
      • Early in the shift for alertness.
      • Strategic “coffee naps” (see below), not late-night chugging.

    Respect alcohol’s impact on sleep

    • Recognize that even small to moderate doses degrade sleep architecture.
    • Avoid using alcohol as a “sleep aid”—you’ll fall asleep faster but sleep worse.
    • If you do drink, separate it from bedtime and keep it modest.

    Optimize food and fluid timing

    • Hydrate consistently on shift, but taper fluids ~4 hours before bed to reduce nocturnal bathroom trips.
    • Avoid heavy, spicy, or large meals within 2–3 hours of sleep to decrease reflux and discomfort.
    • Plan a light, balanced “pre-sleep” snack if going to bed hungry keeps you awake.

    Move your body (but not right before bed)

    • Regular exercise improves sleep depth and latency.
    • Try to avoid intense workouts within 2 hours of bedtime.
    • On shift: micro-movement (stairs, brisk walks between pods, quick stretch sessions) can help alertness without wrecking sleep later.

    Control light exposure

    • Maximize sunlight or bright light after waking (even if that’s 3–4 pm after a night).
    • Minimize bright light and screens before sleep:
      • Dim lights.
      • Use night mode/blue-light filters if you must scroll.
    • For daytime sleep:
      • Use blackout curtains, tinfoil, cardboard, or sleep masks.
        • Yes seriously use tinfoil if you have to, we talk about it on the podcast episode!
      • Aim for “I might be blind” darkness—so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face.

    Dial in your sleep environment

    • Cool room temperature (fan or AC if possible).
    • White noise or sound machine to mask household/traffic noise.
    • Earplugs and eye masks as needed.
    • Bed used primarily for sleep (and sex)—not for charting, doom scrolling, or email.

    Strategic power naps

    • Keep naps ≤ 20–30 minutes to avoid sleep inertia.
    • Prefer early-afternoon or pre-night-shift naps.
    • Coffee nap strategy:
      • Drink a small coffee.
      • Immediately lie down for a 20–30 min nap.
      • Wake up as the caffeine kicks in, combining nap benefit + stimulant.

    Thoughtful melatonin use

    • Remember melatonin is a hormone, not a vitamin gummy.
    • Lower doses often work as well as (or better than) large OTC doses.
    • Use it intentionally and intermittently, not as a crutch every night.
    • Over-reliance may reduce your own natural production and its effectiveness over time.

    Build pre-sleep rituals

    • Repeated, calming habits signal your body it’s time to downshift:
      • Warm shower, gentle stretching, or yoga.
      • Guided breathing or body scan.
      • Brief journaling or “brain dump” of tasks to get them out of your head and onto paper.

    Protect from pathologic patterns

    • If despite consistent effort you:
      • Snore heavily, stop breathing, or gasp in sleep.
      • Feel excessively sleepy driving home or at work.
      • Cannot fall asleep or stay asleep for weeks to months.

    Consider evaluation for sleep apnea, insomnia, or shift-work sleep disorder with your physician or sleep specialist.

⏩Immediate Action Steps for Before/During/After Your Next Shift

1. **Before the Shift**: 

• • Plan a 20–90 minute nap before your first night shift (many clinicians find 3–5 hours earlier in the day is ideal).
    • I treat ED and ICU shifts very differently. I always sleep 3-5 hours before my night shifts aiming for the full 5 (sometimes 6 or more) hours for my ED shifts because you always have to be “on”. Depending on the ICU I’m working in, I may have a bit more downtime so 3 to 5 hours is plenty.
  • Set a caffeine plan: decide in advance when your last dose will be (e.g., none after 2–3 am if sleeping at 8–9 am).
  • Tell your household, “This is my sleep block” and agree on a plan for kids, pets, deliveries, etc.
• On my calendar, I completely block off time called “Pre-call sleep” so no meetings can be scheduled and then put my phone in airplane mode

2. **During the Shift**

• •  Hydrate early; taper fluids in the last 3–4 hours of your shift
  •  Eat something light but adequate; avoid “last-minute” heavy meals right before sign-out.
  • Build in micro-breaks and movement: one or two short walks, a few stretches, even a quick stair run if safe.
  • Get outside or near a window for a few minutes of light exposure if possible.

3. **After the Shift**

• • On the way home:
    • Use sunglasses to reduce bright morning light if you’re aiming for sleep soon.
    • Avoid “just checking” email or messages; shift into wind-down mode.
  • At home:
    • Do a brief, calming decompression (shower, light snack, 10–15 minutes of low-stimulation TV or reading).
    • Make your room cold, quiet, and dark (blackout curtains, tinfoil/cardboard, white noise, fan).
    • Put your phone on Do Not Disturb and physically place it away from the bed.
      • On my calendar, I completely block off time called “Post-call sleep” so again no meetings can be scheduled and then I personally don’t just put my phone on Do Not Disturb but rather in airplane mode and WIFI OFF
  •  If you can’t sleep after ~20–30 minutes:
    • Get out of bed, do something calming in dim light (breathing, gentle stretching, journaling).
    • Return to bed when sleepy—this trains your brain to associate bed with sleep, not frustration.

💬 Conclusion

Rest and sleep are both critical—but they’re not interchangeable. Rest helps you step out of the constant “on” of our jobs, while sleep is the biological intervention that restores your ability to show up safely and sustainably. Rest ≠ sleep. Rest reduces load; sleep repairs your brain and body. You need both, on purpose.

As EM and ICU clinicians, we’re trying to perform formula-one-level medicine with engines that often only see half their maintenance. You won’t fix shift work. You can build a sleep system that respects your biology, your schedule, and your life at home.

That system starts with valuing sleep, then prioritizing it, personalizing it, trusting the process when it’s imperfect, and actively protecting both your routine and your mindset.

🚨 Clinical Bottom Line

Sleep is medicine. Shift work is biologically unnatural. Struggling does not mean you’re weak; it means you’re human fighting physiology. Use your tools deliberately. Caffeine, naps, light, food, movement, melatonin, and environment can be leveraged—or can quietly sabotage you. Build and defend a personalized sleep routine. Communicate it, normalize it, and protect it from casual encroachment. You can’t control every trauma, code, or admission—but you can control how seriously you take your own recovery. Your patients, your team, and your future self all benefit when you do.

 

📚 Further Reading

1. Espie CA.
   The ‘5 principles’ of good sleep health. J Sleep Res. 2022 Jun;
   PMID: 34676592

2. Solodar, J

   “Sleep hygiene: Simple practices for better rest.” Harvard Health, 31 January 2025 
   Link is Here

3. Suni, E.

   “Mastering Sleep Hygiene: Your Path to Quality Sleep.” Sleep Foundation, 7 July 2025, 
   Link is Here