REVISITING How to Thrive: Nurture and Getting Splendid Sleep

We’re revisiting our How to Thrive series co-hosted with positive psychotherapist Marie McLeod for Mental Health Month.
This series initially went live in late 2021 - almost 12 months ago - while How to Thrive, the documentary, was still in production. It is now out in the world and showing in cinemas all over the country.

"A good night's sleep starts the moment we wake up."

We're almost at the end of Season 11 with 2 more episodes left. Today, we're back with our second to the last episode of our new weekly podcast series "How To Thrive", a collaboration with positive psychology coach Marie McLeod. We're exploring the last beam of the BEACON model; a model of thriving that Marie has developed to guide us through the simple steps to thriving and flourishing in life.

In this episode, we talk about Nurture - the one and only beam of the BEACON model that is about our physical health and how it interplays with our mental health. Nurture focuses on four aspects: eating, moving, sleeping, and being mindful. All of which revolve around, energy.

Marie and I talk about:

Why maintaining energy is important in helping people thrive
A handy acronym to help us remember how to keep our energy levels sustained
Why do we need sleep
How important is sleep for productivity, performance, and mental health
How sleep deprivation impacts cognitive abilities and emotional regulation
What is sleep hygiene and why we need to think about it
Factors that affect our sleep and some practical tips to improve our sleep quality

Your quest for the week: Nurture yourself by making improvements to your sleep quality. You can check out the cheat sheet to "Seven Steps to Splendid Sleep" in Marie's website or any of the resources listed above for tips on how to improve your sleep hygiene.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Marie's website - needtoseesomeone.com and resources here.

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Dr. Matthew Walker

Fast Asleep by Dr Michael Mosley

Headspace

Don't Blame The Reptilian Brain with Dr. Sarah McKay

Indulge Your Neurobiology TedTalk by Dr. Sarah McKay

Sleeping Well with Dr Kate Sprecher

The National Sleep Foundation

Want to become a Potential Psychology Podcast VIP?

You can now become a special VIP member of the Potential Psychology Podcast community with access to bonus episodes - the first of which is now ready and waiting for you. Dr Mike Rucker, co-host of our most recent podcast series on Fun and Wellbeing, and I are discussing the importance of making time for fun and positive experiences in our workplaces with tips on better email and meeting management and the kind of workplace we need to really thrive.

To join as a subscriber, at the tiny little cost of AU$5.99 a month head to https://anchor.fm/potentialpsychology/subscribe. I’m looking forward to seeing you in our inner sanctum.

Feedback? We want to hear from you. Email [email protected]

Want to hear more? It's all at

To hear more, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com