Host: Christopher L. Camp, M.D., Creator & Guide | Mayo Clinic Human Optimization Project
Guest: Timothy I. Morgenthaler, MD, Sleep Medicine Specialist | Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine – Rochester, MN
The benefits of high-quality sleep are nearly limitless as it improves our mood, brains, performance, increases our joy, reduces sickness, and increases longevity. Getting high quality sleep is one of the biggest levers we can pull in order to become our best selves. But many of us are self-sabotaging our sleep without realizing it! There are many small habits and things we get wrong with our sleep environment that can have large detrimental effects on our sleep over time. We must fix this!
To help us with that, our expert guest today is Dr. Tim Morgenthaler, and the three big questions we are going to answer for you are:
- What environmental factors have the biggest impact on sleep & why?
- What are we getting wrong in the bedroom environment when it comes to sleep?
- What are the most impactful changes we can make to our sleep environment to maximize our sleep quality?
How to start a Mayo Clinic Human Optimization Project “Pod-Club”: Step 1: Find 2-30 friends who want to get better Step 2: Choose your episodes (can be focused on specific themes or random) Step 3: Listen to/watch the episodes Step 4: Meet with your group to work through the provided discussion questions for each episode, and feel free to add your own! Step 5: Celebrate the fact that you are turning passive knowledge into action!
Discussion Questions for this Episode:
1) Discuss your overall sleep status with your group.
- How much sleep do you get each night?
- When do you go to bed and when do you get up?
- Is it generally high-quality sleep?
- Do you feel well rested in the AM when you wake up?
- Do you need an alarm clock to wake up?
- How does that vary on your days off when/if you sleep in?
-How much sleep would you want to be your best self (not just, “I can get by on x hours of sleep.”)?
2) How big of an impact does your sleep (or lack of) have on you on a daily basis?
3) Take an inventory of your current sleep environment. Think about the lighting, temperature, and sound. Report back to the group to discuss what your current set up looks like (good and bad).
4) Now, discuss the other elements of your sleep environment such as bed partner, pets, kids, bedding, etc. How big of an impact do these things have on you? Have your group give you potential strategies for improving these things.
5) Discuss your current caffeine usage with your group. How much do you drink, when do you drink it, and when is the last time you consume caffeine during the day? What changes need to be made here?
6) What do the two hours before going to bed look like for you? Do you have a “wind down” routine that you use prior to bed? Have the group analyze your routine to help you spot simple changes you could make to improve it.
7) Tell your group at least one new thing (action step) you are going to do or behavior you are going to adopt to improve your sleep environment. For this, focus on the “quick wins” discussed in section three of this episode.
8) After others list the "one new thing" of "action step" they are going to do, help them refine that to make it more: clear, objective, measurable, and simple. The more we can make our actions clear, objective, measurable, and simple, the more likely we are to do them and enjoy the process!
Learn more about the Human Optimization Project at: https://ce.mayo.edu/optimize X: @MayoHumanOpProj Instagram: @MayoHumanOpProj YouTube:
© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.
