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Willpower to follow through on any new year’s resolutions you might have made relies on good sleep, which allows your mind and body to function at their best. Wednesday evening, Dr. Ashley Mason talks about the science and strategies of better sleep — a restorative tool that enhances both the length and quality of our lives.
Mason is an associate professor at the University of California in San Francisco and a faculty member at the Weill Institute for Neurosciences and the Osher Center for Integrative Health. She’s a clinical psychologist and researcher in the realm of sleep treatment, including addressing insomnia and depression without medications, but rather, with mind-body interventions. She is also advising the new Vail Healthspan program and acts as a key collaborator with the Vail Health Behavioral Health Innovation Center.
Her presentation at the Vilar, which includes a light dinner afterwards, will explore scientific evidence of the role of sleep in health, the definition of insomnia, common myths regarding sleep, harmful habits and immediate steps to take to improve sleep. She focuses on holistic healthcare, as opposed to the “sick care” model often seen in medical practices.
“We will be going over what sleep regularity really is and what to do about it, the temperature factors you can leverage to improve your sleep, what sleep architecture is and how to support it, how to ensure you manage your light exposure to affect sleep and a few surprising changes you can [do to] benefit your sleep,” she said.
“When you’re not sleeping well, it’s a 24-hour-a-day problem that affects many aspects of your life,” she pointed out.
Everything from when people drink alcohol or eat to how they manage stress and structure bedtime environments can affect sleep.
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When people begin sleeping better, they enjoy the day more, relationships improve, they work more productively and they feel healthier overall, she said.
“These outcomes keep me excited about developing treatments and programs to promote sleep health,” she said.