December 23, 2023 • 21 mins
On this special episode of Rams Revealed, J.B. Long is joined by Rams safety Jordan Fuller as he talks about his recovery from injury and how Sleep Number played a part in that journey. Also, J.B. talks with Sleep Number’s Head of Sleep & Behavioral Sciences, Dr. Mark Aloia as they discuss how sleep has become an integral part of the Rams recovery process during the season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hello, and welcome to a special edition of RAMS revealed
in partnership with Sleep Number. I'm JB. Long, and today
we're going to learn about how the RAMS get that
competitive advantage in the realms of sleep and recovery. We'll
have two guests for you. We'll hear from Sleep Numbers
head of Sleep and Behavioral Sciences, doctor Mark Aloya. But
first we catch up with one of the rams defensive captains,
(00:27):
safety Jordan Fuller. Jordan, We've gotten to know you over
now four years as a member of the Los Angeles Rams.
But for those who might be introduced to you here
for the first time in this conversation, can you go
back in time and give us a sense of how
you came to be a great player at Ohio State
and eventually a member of the Los Angeles Rams.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yep, So, Jordan Fuller McKidd from New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, I ended up getting recruited and went to Ohio State,
played safety there for four years, beat the team up
North four times. I've got to make sure I say that,
I think three Big Ten championships over there.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So we won a whole bunch of games, a bunch
of bowl game wins, two.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So that was fun. Got drafted here in the sixth round.
Let's here my rookie year, well been here this whole time,
but rookie year was able to start for like twelve games.
My second year was blessed enough to be able to
get voted captain. Then I hit a little adversity, got
hurt at the end of my second year, and then
(01:28):
all last year I was kind of had an injury
bug again. But now I'm back healthy, playing well, trying
to make a run with this team.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So that's me.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Well, it's great to see you back to full strength
and playing some of your best football as a professional.
Given the injuries you've gone through in recent years. How
rewarding is that for you?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It's super rewarding. I'm grateful every day.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I just wake up super grateful and motivated to just just.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Keep getting better.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And I'm just like every time I'm able to step
on the field to just I don't take it for
granted at all.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So yeah, it feels good.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Here in twenty twenty three, you're a second time captain.
I know how much that honor means to you. But
the challenge of being in a leadership role for this
particular roster must be a lot different given the size
of the rookie class, all these underclassmen for the Rams.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, no, I think it's fun, to be honest.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
We have a lot of great personalities in that group
and they help us a lot in the football field too.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Just super talented like individuals and really cool people too.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I love what they brought in so so yeah, it
has been fun this whole experience.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
At this stage of the season. Are they even rookies anymore?
It feels like they've really grown up in your defense.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
No, for sure, and a lot of them were basically
just kind of like thrown in the fire, like I mean,
you're the guy, so like, let's go.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And I think they've handled it really really well.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I mean, you saw Kobe Turner making a bunch of plays,
but I can name so many, but but yeah, they've
been doing really well.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I also want to congratulate you on being nominated for
the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award. It's given to the player
who best displays on field sportsmanship including fair play, respect
for the game and opponents, and integrity and competition. Even
going back to your college days at Ohio State, those
are attributes that I know that you're known for. How
much pride you take in a nomination like.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
That, It means a lot, you know, don't.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I don't approach my work to get certain accolades and
stuff like that, but kind of you're rewarded for being
a good person is a cool thing to get rewarded for.
So I'm definitely thankful for the nomination and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
As you know. You're here in partnership with our friends
at Sleep Number, and we do want to dig into
how you work, how you sleep, how you recover. What
did you learn about yourself through the injury recovery process
in particular?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Oh I knew this, but I guess I just learned
a little more just how resilient I am. If I
put my mind to something, I could really get it done.
I just I just thank God every day. He's he's
definitely had his hand on me and through everything. When
it was moments where I kind of just felt like myself,
he he definitely uh pushed me and giving me a
(04:17):
little scigns here and there just to you know, keep
going and stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
But yeah, I would say what I learned about.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Myself is just I'm resilient and I could I could
get over a lot of hurdles.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Being a starter on defense for the Los Angeles Rams
leads to off the field opportunities. And I wonder what
your experience was like working on sleep numbers numbers game feature.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, that was awesome. Honestly, when I showed showed up,
I was I was pretty wild. I was like, is
this this all for me? Like for real? Like, but yeah,
it was. It was amazing. Just everybody's sleep number, just
from top down, just was amazing to work with. Super cool,
(04:57):
genuine Aaron Rolo, the guy that produced the whole thing
and put it together, is super cool dude and super talented.
So I love being around people who are really really
talented but not exactly like in my field, you know,
and just learning a bunch of different things about what
they do, how they got into it, and stuff like that.
So so yeah, I'll probably be talking to him in
(05:19):
the future and stuff, just because it's really cool just
being able to get around people that are experts in
different different things.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
As you know, so much goes into game day and
preparing you to play your best and to step on
to that stage. But you're saying even more so, you
were impressed by stepping onto a different stage this offseason.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, I say so, Yeah, it was really really cool
expanding my horizon.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
So, Jordan, how did your sleep number bed help in
your recovery from your most recent injury?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
It helped a lot, especially just studying my sleep number
score sleep by Q score every night and tracking my
heart rate, very ability and stuff like that kind of
fine tune the details of my sleep, whereas usually I
would try to go to sleep around a certain time,
try to have like a little routine in that way,
(06:12):
but really doving into like those minor details and figuring
out like, Okay, if I ate maybe an hour before bed,
how do I sleep compared to like if I give
myself a little bit more time, this little stuff like
that where I feel like it could really really help
with your recovery and it has for me.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
How about when you wake up that next day? In
what ways does a good night's sleep prepare you for
that next practice or that next week's opponent.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Oh, it's great. It's way easier to get out out
the bed that morning.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
It's it's way easier to have that that motivation that
you want to have. You know, sometimes it's it can't
do this. Work can be a grind, and not every
day you're not going to be excited to wake up
and maybe go to go to meetings. You want to
sleep a little more and stuff like that. But after
a great night's sleep, I feel like just way more energized,
(07:05):
way more motivated, and the day's a whole lot more
pleasant when you're recovered.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So Jordan, as you know, being a West Coast team,
it's often perceived to be a disadvantage traveling to the
Eastern time zone and playing in those early NFL windows.
Teams historically from the West Coast have not done well,
but the Los Angeles Rams have really thrived. How much
do you think sleep science prepares you to be at
your best when you are on the road.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, I think especially for West Coast teams trying to
go play on the East Coast and you're playing at
basically ten am over here, waking up maybe around six am,
none of us are like used to it. But yeah,
being with the Rams, they definitely have helped with just
educating us on how to really like find a routine
(07:53):
on those road games, and whether it's getting to sleep
at a certain time or making sure when you wake up,
you open your blinds, you take maybe like a sleep
sleep pack before the night before the game, little stuff
like that. Just so many resources here, so yeah, they're
real helpful.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
It sounds like what you're saying is now as a
fourth year professional, you've become much more attuned to your
sleep and how important that is to go in about
your business and how much has Residue Scott and then
the staff here with the RAMS helped you improve that knowledge.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, they've helped so much. You know.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
They have these little like three minute like quick hitters
sometimes before like a lift or maybe before a team
meeting and stuff like that. And I listen to all
the things that they say because you know wherever you
can get it as you want one.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
So I'm all ears when it comes to that.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Jordan, you've mentioned your sleep number smart bed. What are
some of your favorite features about it? And why.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Something that's mandatory for me is the cooling feature.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah, because just lea throughout the night, I'll probably like
wake up sweating, but with that cooling feature, it just
makes it so much better, like a way better experience sleeping.
I don't wake up sweating at all, just like great
body temperature at all times. The footwarmer is amazing too.
One of my favorite things is the zero gravity setting
(09:18):
on there where it sits you up and also brings
your legs up and it takes pressure off your back
and takes pressure off your legs, and you know it's
needed as an athlete, So I enjoy that too.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Not just the settings, but the data that you get
after a good night's sleep with your sleep number app.
How does that help you in your preparation week in
and week out.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
It kind of just helps me track where I am
and how I've been sleeping, And I think that's really
like a It can be a big edge for you
and like a superpower for you if you sleep really
really well and you're recovered and you're able to attack
that next day with the right amount of juice and
stuff like that rather than like kind of fighting through
(10:02):
the day in a certain sense. So that's why I
like my sleep number and why I take my sleep
so seriously.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Jordan. I know we all sleep better after wins. So
we wish you many more down the home stretch here
for the twenty twenty three Los Angeles Rams, and thank
you for sharing your experience with the Sleep Number smart.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Bed definitely, yeah, my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
And we continue now by bringing in our next guest,
doctor Markoloya, Sleep Numbers, head of Sleep and Behavioral Sciences,
for more on how the Rams use sleep and recovery
to gain a competitive edge. So, doctor, if you wouldn't
mind to start, please give us a little background on
your role with Sleep Number and how you help teams
like the Rams gain that competitive edge through their sleep
(10:41):
and recovery.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Sure thing, JB. And thanks for having me. So I'm
a clinical psychologist by training. I'm a sleep expert of
almost three decades. I've been doing research in sleep and
helping people attain better sleep through individual sessions, therapy, stuff
like that for many many years, though I've been involved
in industry and more recently, although I've been a Sleep
(11:03):
Number bed owner for twenty two years, I've only been
with a company for about a year and a half
and I've taken over a lot of the work that
they do with the NFL in terms of educating teams
and players and even staff in some instances about sleep
and the benefits of good sleep. And then I also
do individual work with some of the players to help
(11:23):
them see how their sleep overlays with their on field performance.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, I think we all agree how sleep is very
important to our day to day lives, but that doesn't
mean that everyone prioritizes it like NFL athletes do. Would
you share with us how sleep helps NFL players to
get the most out of their diet and their exercise.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Yeah, it's a great question, JB. And you know, one
of the things that we focus on really is our
reaction time and recovery. Those are two of the things
we focus on. And you know, when I talk to
people in the community and I talk about sleep and
reaction time, which, by the way, there's a ton of
data on sleep improving reaction time. People in the general
community don't really care about reaction time, but when you
(12:05):
talk to elite athletes, a quarter or half of a
second means a career in some cases, so they are
pretty much in line when I start to talk about
sleeping the benefits on field, but there's also benefits off field,
and that includes things like quicker recovery, even from injury
or just from the workout that you have. You know,
there's some data to show that if you increase that
(12:28):
an elite athlete undertakes in a given day, their sleep
is going to go down the tubes that night and
it takes a couple of nights for them to recover
from that. So just by educating these guys how important
that is to get back on the field at their
peak performance, I think they take that in and that
means something to them.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
What about how sleep benefits athletes from a mental standpoint,
We know how much of the National Football League is
driven by mental stamina and acuity.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Yeah, it's you know that is a critical part of sleep.
And we know all of us have had a bad
night that affects us on crabby, you know, irritable, I
don't pay as much attention. So all of those are
mental functions that get involved with poor night's sleep, and
certainly things like depression and poor relationships and stuff can result.
(13:15):
But on field, we also think about decision making, and
we've looked at our data at sleep number. We looked
at some of the data from some of the teams
in the NFL, and you can tell that the people
who sleep less are more at risk. So things like
mental errors, which can lead a team in the wrong
direction and even affect the outcome of the game, may
(13:36):
be mediated by sleep.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Okay, So then on that point, what is sleep iq
technology and how does sleep signs benefit players both on
and off the field.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Yeah, so we have you may have heard the commercials.
Eighty percent of NFL players or own Sleep Number beds.
They can monitor things like motion, breath rate, heart rate,
and from that we can calculate things like heart rate variability,
which are measures can be measures associated with recovery. Sleep
by Q is a technology that we have that gives
(14:06):
people essentially an overall score of how well they're sleeping.
It incorporates many of these factors, and then they can
drill down into looking at what's keeping them back, what's
lowering their sleep by Q. Is it the amount of
time they're sleeping, maybe they're irregular with their sleep cycle,
which can affect your performance as well, or is it
things like part rate recovery. So giving these athletes these
(14:28):
tools helps them monitor things and creates the context for
them to create insights about why sleep might be important
for them and what they might do even in manipulating
the bed to get better sleep.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Doctor Loya Sleep Number has done so much great work
with the rams over the years, and you even reference
down to the one on one level that you have
with players, how do you compare their nightly sleep with
their performance throughout the season.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yeah, so, first of all, I have to say that
many of the players, where we look at data together,
they're sleeping pretty well. I mean, I think do take
it seriously and they have a really nice structured setup
to their season, you know, so that they are supposed
to be doing things at certain times and that keeps
them regular. But we also do work individually where we
(15:13):
overlay their next gen stats on any given week with
their sleep that previous week, and we see some correlations.
And when I do one on ones with players sometimes
I'll just show them those grapts. We'll talk about what's
important to them, what they're carrying through this season or
into the next season if we're talking off season, and
(15:34):
we'll look at the graphs and they'll say they'll see
the insights that one of them actually said to me, clearly,
I need to get more eight hour nights.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
That's really interesting. Now, the Rams are unique being a
West Coast team because they travel across more time zones
to play their games during the season than just about
any other franchise. Can you tell us a bit about
how sleep number helps the team minimize jet lag and
be prepared for those early kickoffs so that they can
be at their best.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Yeah, you know, leg is an important part of the
game for the Rams, and especially traveling east is harder
than traveling west. So you know, we try to help
the team set up their schedules so with regard to
meal times, sun exposure, travel times, practice times. You know.
So when they get there, what do they do. Many
(16:20):
people will say, well, when I go travel, you know,
over two or more time zones, I take a nap
when I get there. My advice is not to do that.
It's to get moving, get sunlight, start to acclimate. And
you know, we work with the RAMS very closely with that.
There are times when I've gotten phone calls saying, hey,
we've got two East Coast games a week apart. Should
we stay or should we come back? And we go
(16:41):
back and we look at the data and we can
tell that teams that go two or more time zones
come usually two time zones come back and they recover
within two or so days, sometimes three. So you know,
my advice to them was come back, recover practice in
your home, you know, in the comfort of your own
home and then go back to the East Coast to
play that next game. So we do one on one
(17:04):
counseling with them. I will say that some of the
coaches are pretty rigid with Okay, here's the schedule we have.
Within that schedule, tell us what to do with meals
and light and help them accommodate.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah. I appreciate what you said about the modern player
taking this all so seriously, but they don't all arrive
as professionals that way. So when new college players join
the RAMS, how do you educate them on the things
that can have them put together the best career possible.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Yeah, well, you know, more and more college players are
getting some of this information in college, but you're right,
they often come with maybe less a little less appreciation
than some of the veterans. And so what we do
is we do rookie talks. So I'll go talk to
the rookies. I'll spend twenty minutes giving them a talk
on why sleep is important, some things to consider, But
then we often spend like forty or forty five minutes
(17:55):
answering questions. And I think just simply educating those rookie
plays on why sleep should be important to them, because
think about it, JB. These guys are elite athletes, and
they're young, and they're somewhat invincible. But we need to,
I think sometimes raise the point that sleep could help
them throughout their career now and later. And I'll mention that,
(18:18):
you know, many of the guys have excellent questions when
we talk to them about it. And you know, one
of the things that's particular to the rookies is that
they often have a delayed sleep phase. So in our adolescence,
it's biologically natural for us to want to go to
bed later and wake up later, and so that's different
between the rookies and the veterans. And we address that
(18:39):
too in some of our questions and answers with the team.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
I like that, Yeah, the twenty one year olds, you
probably have to convince the forty one year olds not
so much. Tell us a little bit more about the
partnership and how it all ties together. When you put
the rams in sleep number together over the course of
a season, How does that really translate into a competitive advantage.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Yeah, well, you know, it's really hard for me to
say exactly how it translates into competitive advantage, but I
can tell you that when you when you're a team
that prioritizes sleep enough to have a relationship like this,
When you're a team that prior when you're an individual
that prioritize is enough to have a relationship like this,
chances are you're taking your job pretty seriously and you're
trying to get the best out of your athletes and
(19:22):
give the best back to them. So, you know, I
think that this advantage, the advantage that we that we
have with this relationship is not it goes beyond the bed.
The bed is an important part to it, but we're
giving these talks and educating these folks. We're there to
answer questions on a phone call away for questions around
travel like we talked about, and I talked with Reggie
(19:43):
not infrequently about stuff like that. And you know, just
giving these folks the opportunity to get the best sleep
they can brings them their best to the to the
weight room, to the practice field, and to the competition.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Well, we appreciate the word that you and Sleep Number
are doing to keep the Rams at their best, but
let's face it, Mark, you and I, our playing days
are behind us, and probably most of our audience is
never going to play it down in the National Football
League either, but it seems like there could be some
significant takeaways from our conversation that could benefit them as
well in their own daily lives.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Absolutely, JB. And you know, I think we sleep is
a relatively new field. The people who discover dreaming sleep
or rem sleep are just now passing, right, So this
is a pretty new field in medicine. And I think
we're gaining dramatic awareness across the population globally too, like
not just in the United States. So I think it
(20:38):
behooves us all to take sleep importantly, to really put
it at its most importance. And I'll tell you that
it affects our immune function. We talked about mental activity
and performance, It affects our relationships, It affects most aspects
of our life, and even as related to things like
cardiovascular disease. So I'd encourage everyone to to look into
(21:00):
it and take it seriously.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Doctor Micheloya, thank you very much for all that inside
and your time and the partnership that you and Sleep
number have with the Los Angeles Rams.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Thank you, JB.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
For doctor Mark Aloya and for RAM Safety. Jordan Fuller,
I'm JB.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Long.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Thank you for joining us for this special edition of
Rams Revealed, brought to you in partnership with Sleep Number
Hello, and welcome to a special edition of RAMS revealed
in partnership with Sleep Number. I'm JB. Long, and today
we're going to learn about how the RAMS get that
competitive advantage in the realms of sleep and recovery. We'll
have two guests for you. We'll hear from Sleep Numbers
head of Sleep and Behavioral Sciences, doctor Mark Aloya. But
first we catch up with one of the rams defensive captains,
(00:27):
safety Jordan Fuller. Jordan, We've gotten to know you over
now four years as a member of the Los Angeles Rams.
But for those who might be introduced to you here
for the first time in this conversation, can you go
back in time and give us a sense of how
you came to be a great player at Ohio State
and eventually a member of the Los Angeles Rams.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yep, So, Jordan Fuller McKidd from New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, I ended up getting recruited and went to Ohio State,
played safety there for four years, beat the team up
North four times. I've got to make sure I say that,
I think three Big Ten championships over there.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So we won a whole bunch of games, a bunch
of bowl game wins, two.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So that was fun. Got drafted here in the sixth round.
Let's here my rookie year, well been here this whole time,
but rookie year was able to start for like twelve games.
My second year was blessed enough to be able to
get voted captain. Then I hit a little adversity, got
hurt at the end of my second year, and then
(01:28):
all last year I was kind of had an injury
bug again. But now I'm back healthy, playing well, trying
to make a run with this team.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So that's me.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Well, it's great to see you back to full strength
and playing some of your best football as a professional.
Given the injuries you've gone through in recent years. How
rewarding is that for you?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It's super rewarding. I'm grateful every day.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I just wake up super grateful and motivated to just just.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Keep getting better.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And I'm just like every time I'm able to step
on the field to just I don't take it for
granted at all.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So yeah, it feels good.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Here in twenty twenty three, you're a second time captain.
I know how much that honor means to you. But
the challenge of being in a leadership role for this
particular roster must be a lot different given the size
of the rookie class, all these underclassmen for the Rams.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, no, I think it's fun, to be honest.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
We have a lot of great personalities in that group
and they help us a lot in the football field too.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Just super talented like individuals and really cool people too.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I love what they brought in so so yeah, it
has been fun this whole experience.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
At this stage of the season. Are they even rookies anymore?
It feels like they've really grown up in your defense.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
No, for sure, and a lot of them were basically
just kind of like thrown in the fire, like I mean,
you're the guy, so like, let's go.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And I think they've handled it really really well.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I mean, you saw Kobe Turner making a bunch of plays,
but I can name so many, but but yeah, they've
been doing really well.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I also want to congratulate you on being nominated for
the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award. It's given to the player
who best displays on field sportsmanship including fair play, respect
for the game and opponents, and integrity and competition. Even
going back to your college days at Ohio State, those
are attributes that I know that you're known for. How
much pride you take in a nomination like.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
That, It means a lot, you know, don't.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I don't approach my work to get certain accolades and
stuff like that, but kind of you're rewarded for being
a good person is a cool thing to get rewarded for.
So I'm definitely thankful for the nomination and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
As you know. You're here in partnership with our friends
at Sleep Number, and we do want to dig into
how you work, how you sleep, how you recover. What
did you learn about yourself through the injury recovery process
in particular?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Oh I knew this, but I guess I just learned
a little more just how resilient I am. If I
put my mind to something, I could really get it done.
I just I just thank God every day. He's he's
definitely had his hand on me and through everything. When
it was moments where I kind of just felt like myself,
he he definitely uh pushed me and giving me a
(04:17):
little scigns here and there just to you know, keep
going and stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
But yeah, I would say what I learned about.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Myself is just I'm resilient and I could I could
get over a lot of hurdles.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Being a starter on defense for the Los Angeles Rams
leads to off the field opportunities. And I wonder what
your experience was like working on sleep numbers numbers game feature.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, that was awesome. Honestly, when I showed showed up,
I was I was pretty wild. I was like, is
this this all for me? Like for real? Like, but yeah,
it was. It was amazing. Just everybody's sleep number, just
from top down, just was amazing to work with. Super cool,
(04:57):
genuine Aaron Rolo, the guy that produced the whole thing
and put it together, is super cool dude and super talented.
So I love being around people who are really really
talented but not exactly like in my field, you know,
and just learning a bunch of different things about what
they do, how they got into it, and stuff like that.
So so yeah, I'll probably be talking to him in
(05:19):
the future and stuff, just because it's really cool just
being able to get around people that are experts in
different different things.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
As you know, so much goes into game day and
preparing you to play your best and to step on
to that stage. But you're saying even more so, you
were impressed by stepping onto a different stage this offseason.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, I say so, Yeah, it was really really cool
expanding my horizon.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
So, Jordan, how did your sleep number bed help in
your recovery from your most recent injury?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
It helped a lot, especially just studying my sleep number
score sleep by Q score every night and tracking my
heart rate, very ability and stuff like that kind of
fine tune the details of my sleep, whereas usually I
would try to go to sleep around a certain time,
try to have like a little routine in that way,
(06:12):
but really doving into like those minor details and figuring
out like, Okay, if I ate maybe an hour before bed,
how do I sleep compared to like if I give
myself a little bit more time, this little stuff like
that where I feel like it could really really help
with your recovery and it has for me.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
How about when you wake up that next day? In
what ways does a good night's sleep prepare you for
that next practice or that next week's opponent.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Oh, it's great. It's way easier to get out out
the bed that morning.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
It's it's way easier to have that that motivation that
you want to have. You know, sometimes it's it can't
do this. Work can be a grind, and not every
day you're not going to be excited to wake up
and maybe go to go to meetings. You want to
sleep a little more and stuff like that. But after
a great night's sleep, I feel like just way more energized,
(07:05):
way more motivated, and the day's a whole lot more
pleasant when you're recovered.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So Jordan, as you know, being a West Coast team,
it's often perceived to be a disadvantage traveling to the
Eastern time zone and playing in those early NFL windows.
Teams historically from the West Coast have not done well,
but the Los Angeles Rams have really thrived. How much
do you think sleep science prepares you to be at
your best when you are on the road.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, I think especially for West Coast teams trying to
go play on the East Coast and you're playing at
basically ten am over here, waking up maybe around six am,
none of us are like used to it. But yeah,
being with the Rams, they definitely have helped with just
educating us on how to really like find a routine
(07:53):
on those road games, and whether it's getting to sleep
at a certain time or making sure when you wake up,
you open your blinds, you take maybe like a sleep
sleep pack before the night before the game, little stuff
like that. Just so many resources here, so yeah, they're
real helpful.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
It sounds like what you're saying is now as a
fourth year professional, you've become much more attuned to your
sleep and how important that is to go in about
your business and how much has Residue Scott and then
the staff here with the RAMS helped you improve that knowledge.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, they've helped so much. You know.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
They have these little like three minute like quick hitters
sometimes before like a lift or maybe before a team
meeting and stuff like that. And I listen to all
the things that they say because you know wherever you
can get it as you want one.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
So I'm all ears when it comes to that.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Jordan, you've mentioned your sleep number smart bed. What are
some of your favorite features about it? And why.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Something that's mandatory for me is the cooling feature.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah, because just lea throughout the night, I'll probably like
wake up sweating, but with that cooling feature, it just
makes it so much better, like a way better experience sleeping.
I don't wake up sweating at all, just like great
body temperature at all times. The footwarmer is amazing too.
One of my favorite things is the zero gravity setting
(09:18):
on there where it sits you up and also brings
your legs up and it takes pressure off your back
and takes pressure off your legs, and you know it's
needed as an athlete, So I enjoy that too.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Not just the settings, but the data that you get
after a good night's sleep with your sleep number app.
How does that help you in your preparation week in
and week out.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
It kind of just helps me track where I am
and how I've been sleeping, And I think that's really
like a It can be a big edge for you
and like a superpower for you if you sleep really
really well and you're recovered and you're able to attack
that next day with the right amount of juice and
stuff like that rather than like kind of fighting through
(10:02):
the day in a certain sense. So that's why I
like my sleep number and why I take my sleep
so seriously.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Jordan. I know we all sleep better after wins. So
we wish you many more down the home stretch here
for the twenty twenty three Los Angeles Rams, and thank
you for sharing your experience with the Sleep Number smart.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Bed definitely, yeah, my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
And we continue now by bringing in our next guest,
doctor Markoloya, Sleep Numbers, head of Sleep and Behavioral Sciences,
for more on how the Rams use sleep and recovery
to gain a competitive edge. So, doctor, if you wouldn't
mind to start, please give us a little background on
your role with Sleep Number and how you help teams
like the Rams gain that competitive edge through their sleep
(10:41):
and recovery.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Sure thing, JB. And thanks for having me. So I'm
a clinical psychologist by training. I'm a sleep expert of
almost three decades. I've been doing research in sleep and
helping people attain better sleep through individual sessions, therapy, stuff
like that for many many years, though I've been involved
in industry and more recently, although I've been a Sleep
(11:03):
Number bed owner for twenty two years, I've only been
with a company for about a year and a half
and I've taken over a lot of the work that
they do with the NFL in terms of educating teams
and players and even staff in some instances about sleep
and the benefits of good sleep. And then I also
do individual work with some of the players to help
(11:23):
them see how their sleep overlays with their on field performance.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, I think we all agree how sleep is very
important to our day to day lives, but that doesn't
mean that everyone prioritizes it like NFL athletes do. Would
you share with us how sleep helps NFL players to
get the most out of their diet and their exercise.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Yeah, it's a great question, JB. And you know, one
of the things that we focus on really is our
reaction time and recovery. Those are two of the things
we focus on. And you know, when I talk to
people in the community and I talk about sleep and
reaction time, which, by the way, there's a ton of
data on sleep improving reaction time. People in the general
community don't really care about reaction time, but when you
(12:05):
talk to elite athletes, a quarter or half of a
second means a career in some cases, so they are
pretty much in line when I start to talk about
sleeping the benefits on field, but there's also benefits off field,
and that includes things like quicker recovery, even from injury
or just from the workout that you have. You know,
there's some data to show that if you increase that
(12:28):
an elite athlete undertakes in a given day, their sleep
is going to go down the tubes that night and
it takes a couple of nights for them to recover
from that. So just by educating these guys how important
that is to get back on the field at their
peak performance, I think they take that in and that
means something to them.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
What about how sleep benefits athletes from a mental standpoint,
We know how much of the National Football League is
driven by mental stamina and acuity.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Yeah, it's you know that is a critical part of sleep.
And we know all of us have had a bad
night that affects us on crabby, you know, irritable, I
don't pay as much attention. So all of those are
mental functions that get involved with poor night's sleep, and
certainly things like depression and poor relationships and stuff can result.
(13:15):
But on field, we also think about decision making, and
we've looked at our data at sleep number. We looked
at some of the data from some of the teams
in the NFL, and you can tell that the people
who sleep less are more at risk. So things like
mental errors, which can lead a team in the wrong
direction and even affect the outcome of the game, may
(13:36):
be mediated by sleep.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Okay, So then on that point, what is sleep iq
technology and how does sleep signs benefit players both on
and off the field.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Yeah, so we have you may have heard the commercials.
Eighty percent of NFL players or own Sleep Number beds.
They can monitor things like motion, breath rate, heart rate,
and from that we can calculate things like heart rate variability,
which are measures can be measures associated with recovery. Sleep
by Q is a technology that we have that gives
(14:06):
people essentially an overall score of how well they're sleeping.
It incorporates many of these factors, and then they can
drill down into looking at what's keeping them back, what's
lowering their sleep by Q. Is it the amount of
time they're sleeping, maybe they're irregular with their sleep cycle,
which can affect your performance as well, or is it
things like part rate recovery. So giving these athletes these
(14:28):
tools helps them monitor things and creates the context for
them to create insights about why sleep might be important
for them and what they might do even in manipulating
the bed to get better sleep.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Doctor Loya Sleep Number has done so much great work
with the rams over the years, and you even reference
down to the one on one level that you have
with players, how do you compare their nightly sleep with
their performance throughout the season.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yeah, so, first of all, I have to say that
many of the players, where we look at data together,
they're sleeping pretty well. I mean, I think do take
it seriously and they have a really nice structured setup
to their season, you know, so that they are supposed
to be doing things at certain times and that keeps
them regular. But we also do work individually where we
(15:13):
overlay their next gen stats on any given week with
their sleep that previous week, and we see some correlations.
And when I do one on ones with players sometimes
I'll just show them those grapts. We'll talk about what's
important to them, what they're carrying through this season or
into the next season if we're talking off season, and
(15:34):
we'll look at the graphs and they'll say they'll see
the insights that one of them actually said to me, clearly,
I need to get more eight hour nights.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
That's really interesting. Now, the Rams are unique being a
West Coast team because they travel across more time zones
to play their games during the season than just about
any other franchise. Can you tell us a bit about
how sleep number helps the team minimize jet lag and
be prepared for those early kickoffs so that they can
be at their best.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Yeah, you know, leg is an important part of the
game for the Rams, and especially traveling east is harder
than traveling west. So you know, we try to help
the team set up their schedules so with regard to
meal times, sun exposure, travel times, practice times. You know.
So when they get there, what do they do. Many
(16:20):
people will say, well, when I go travel, you know,
over two or more time zones, I take a nap
when I get there. My advice is not to do that.
It's to get moving, get sunlight, start to acclimate. And
you know, we work with the RAMS very closely with that.
There are times when I've gotten phone calls saying, hey,
we've got two East Coast games a week apart. Should
we stay or should we come back? And we go
(16:41):
back and we look at the data and we can
tell that teams that go two or more time zones
come usually two time zones come back and they recover
within two or so days, sometimes three. So you know,
my advice to them was come back, recover practice in
your home, you know, in the comfort of your own
home and then go back to the East Coast to
play that next game. So we do one on one
(17:04):
counseling with them. I will say that some of the
coaches are pretty rigid with Okay, here's the schedule we have.
Within that schedule, tell us what to do with meals
and light and help them accommodate.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah. I appreciate what you said about the modern player
taking this all so seriously, but they don't all arrive
as professionals that way. So when new college players join
the RAMS, how do you educate them on the things
that can have them put together the best career possible.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Yeah, well, you know, more and more college players are
getting some of this information in college, but you're right,
they often come with maybe less a little less appreciation
than some of the veterans. And so what we do
is we do rookie talks. So I'll go talk to
the rookies. I'll spend twenty minutes giving them a talk
on why sleep is important, some things to consider, But
then we often spend like forty or forty five minutes
(17:55):
answering questions. And I think just simply educating those rookie
plays on why sleep should be important to them, because
think about it, JB. These guys are elite athletes, and
they're young, and they're somewhat invincible. But we need to,
I think sometimes raise the point that sleep could help
them throughout their career now and later. And I'll mention that,
(18:18):
you know, many of the guys have excellent questions when
we talk to them about it. And you know, one
of the things that's particular to the rookies is that
they often have a delayed sleep phase. So in our adolescence,
it's biologically natural for us to want to go to
bed later and wake up later, and so that's different
between the rookies and the veterans. And we address that
(18:39):
too in some of our questions and answers with the team.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
I like that, Yeah, the twenty one year olds, you
probably have to convince the forty one year olds not
so much. Tell us a little bit more about the
partnership and how it all ties together. When you put
the rams in sleep number together over the course of
a season, How does that really translate into a competitive advantage.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Yeah, well, you know, it's really hard for me to
say exactly how it translates into competitive advantage, but I
can tell you that when you when you're a team
that prioritizes sleep enough to have a relationship like this,
When you're a team that prior when you're an individual
that prioritize is enough to have a relationship like this,
chances are you're taking your job pretty seriously and you're
trying to get the best out of your athletes and
(19:22):
give the best back to them. So, you know, I
think that this advantage, the advantage that we that we
have with this relationship is not it goes beyond the bed.
The bed is an important part to it, but we're
giving these talks and educating these folks. We're there to
answer questions on a phone call away for questions around
travel like we talked about, and I talked with Reggie
(19:43):
not infrequently about stuff like that. And you know, just
giving these folks the opportunity to get the best sleep
they can brings them their best to the to the
weight room, to the practice field, and to the competition.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Well, we appreciate the word that you and Sleep Number
are doing to keep the Rams at their best, but
let's face it, Mark, you and I, our playing days
are behind us, and probably most of our audience is
never going to play it down in the National Football
League either, but it seems like there could be some
significant takeaways from our conversation that could benefit them as
well in their own daily lives.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Absolutely, JB. And you know, I think we sleep is
a relatively new field. The people who discover dreaming sleep
or rem sleep are just now passing, right, So this
is a pretty new field in medicine. And I think
we're gaining dramatic awareness across the population globally too, like
not just in the United States. So I think it
(20:38):
behooves us all to take sleep importantly, to really put
it at its most importance. And I'll tell you that
it affects our immune function. We talked about mental activity
and performance, It affects our relationships, It affects most aspects
of our life, and even as related to things like
cardiovascular disease. So I'd encourage everyone to to look into
(21:00):
it and take it seriously.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Doctor Micheloya, thank you very much for all that inside
and your time and the partnership that you and Sleep
number have with the Los Angeles Rams.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Thank you, JB.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
For doctor Mark Aloya and for RAM Safety. Jordan Fuller,
I'm JB.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Long.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Thank you for joining us for this special edition of
Rams Revealed, brought to you in partnership with Sleep Number
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