Russ Glass, Chief Executive Officer, Headspace Health
John Legend, Multiplatinum Recording Artist, EGOT Recipient, and Philanthropist
Moderator: Arianna Huffington, Thrive


Brainstorm Health 2022 - Self-Care Starts With Legendary Sleep 

Conferences

Russ Glass, Chief Executive Officer, Headspace Health
John Legend, Multiplatinum Recording Artist, EGOT Recipient, and Philanthropist



Self-Care Starts With Legendary Sleep 


Brainstorm Health 2022 - Self-Care Starts With Legendary Sleep 


thank you so much. My hall and I'm so excited to be here very appropriately for our final session um with rocks glass and john legend. And you know, this is the first time that we've had someone at the conference as a speaker who is an egot winner. Do you know what an ego is? An ego is? Someone who has taken home an Emmy, a Grammy and Oscar and a Tony wow. And if there was a Sleep Academy award, then he would have been a seagull because would no doubt have taken that our two So backstage, I think ross agreed that he's going to give him a Sleep Academy award. I'm going to use whatever influence I have to make that a reality john so john it's so great to have you with us. And I would love to ask you, first of all, what impact does a good night's sleep have on your life, On your music, On your family, On your mood, anything. Okay, this remember this all days with muting, mm hmm. This is where, this is where mindfulness helps conscious breathing talk among yourselves. Mhm Well, we'll make it work otherwise ross is going to channel jobs. Yeah. For us. What do you think he's saying? I think he's talking about how he got, he got winners. I always have sleep as part of their routine. That's a critical part of being successful now. And while they're while they're working on this, I mean, I think that, you know, importance of importance of sleep. It's a foundational element to mental health, right? It's a foundational element to health. And you actually mentioned in your book that um we call just talked about this notion that, you know, we know getting less than six hours of sleep at night is highly correlated with burnout and with mental health issues. And you know, so we've looked at that and said, okay, if we're going to help solve you know mental health and we're going to help the world think about how they can be preventative and their mental health, sleep is going to be a critical part of that. Mindfulness meditation. Thousands of studies now have shown improved sleep because it changes a number of things in your in both your your body as well as in your brain to help lead to better sleep habits and better sleep. It drives blood pressure down, it drives heart rate down, it drives breath rate down, it drives heart rate variability up. And as important as anything else, it changes, it actually literally changes pathways in the brain that allows you to when you're trying to go to sleep, allows you not to think about the things that are making you crazy during the day, it allows you to put work aside. And and so, just a critical part of the toolkit to help us sleep better. And on the other side of the coin, sleep deprivation makes us more reactive less empathetic, altogether less. Nice. I think that's right, I think that's right, and we see it, you know, a third of the US population has asleep disorder. We see, you know, employees are are leaving companies that, you know, unprecedented rates right now. And one of the huge problems there is that the cost of turnover has gone way up, you know, during a pandemic, it's harder to retrain so that people get that institutional knowledge, it's harder to create those connections. And so when people leave now that cost to an organization is far higher than it was pre pandemic. And and so companies have to be thinking about how do we retain people? How do we keep people from getting burned out? Ergo we gotta make sure people are sleeping Well, exactly. Well, first of all, let me just say, how many people do you think would look as good? Just sitting there as john legend is looking, she looks, I don't know, john if you can hear me, but you look amazing. I don't know if you're listening to Headspace meditation, but you seem super cool and you're also a lesson for all of us that that's life things happen. So all we're in control of historic philosophers have said through the ages is how we react to whatever is happening. So ross I have another question for you. I loved your super bowl. I don't know if guys if you've seen it, but if you haven't, where can they go see it and tell us how did it come about? It's it's on on the webs. Uh look up john legend Headspace Super Bowl. And I'm sure, I'm sure you'll find it. And, and yeah, I mean, you know, part of this was, it wasn't designed to be a super bowl ad. Originally it was a valentine's day campaign and uh, you know, Jon and team just did such a great job with it. It was so clever and, and um, you know, cheeky, but like very focused on what we're trying to accomplish here. And, and he's, you know, mental health is a hard topic to talk about. Uh, it's hard to get people to like past the friction of thinking about mental health and thinking about good sleep. And, and so using somebody like a john legend, he got winner. He got winner, john legend to bring people in and have them want to attach to something like this and have them want to engage you start habits right? You start getting people uh into it. And that was what it was all about. It was so good. We decided like, hey, let's see if we can get a Super bowl spot out of it. And uh, it worked out, you know, they had a little spare cash, let's say, what do we do with it? Let's spend it on. We got it. We also happen to get a good deal on it. So let me ask you because you're sort of at the heart of sleep technology. So how is sleep technology evolving? I'm wearing my ordering. I'm obsessed with it. I tracked my RAM my deep, my H. R. V. Um, what's the next evolution of sleep? I think, I mean one of our goals is where well testing. I'm here for real. Hello everybody. The good news is that we are even happier to have you with us now, but we overcame all these challenges built up demand I think are a B team is sleep deprived and that's what happened sir, john tell us, what does sleep do for you for your family, for your work, for everything. I think everything you all have said it important and the science around it is so important. It's so proven how important sleep is. But as a singer, I must say I sing better when I sleep. So I, my body is very in tune with my voice. So my voice reflects how my body is feeling. Whether I'm rested, whether I'm hydrated, whether I'm being healthy, not drinking too much, not smoking all those things matter. And when I do not sleep well, when I do not get enough sleep, I know it when I'm trying to think and it's so important for me for my body to be rested to be ready for a performance. I'm in a Vegas residency right now. I have to do two hours of of a lot of singing and a lot of dancing and sweating on stage and if I'm not well rested, I know the difference in my audience. And john how many hours do you need? Because science tells us that there is a tiny percentage of the population, about 1.5% that has a genetic mutation. And they don't need a lot of sleep. I don't know if there are any genetic mutants in the audience. I know they are not on the stage. But what about you? How many hours do you need? The vast majority of people need 7-9 hours? What's your golden number? So I usually sleep from about 12, So seven hours at night, but that's not it on my show days, I get a nap in the afternoon, so like a european siesta. Uh So I will Mhm. Go and take a nap Around 2-4 o'clock and then and get ready for the show. Amazing. You know, Winston Churchill of course, famously called them power naps. And he won the Second World War. So there you go, Vegas residency, Second World War, they were So, tell us about your Children, because putting kids to sleep is sometimes another struggle. So, do you have a ritual? Do you have a, a specific way of putting them to sleep that doesn't involve vodka? That's the main thing. Uh My daughter can read now too, so she'll read the first and then as she starts to calm down and get ready to go to sleep. I'll read to her quietly and she's usually falling asleep by the time I'm in the middle of that second book. And uh she falls asleep pretty easily because we give them a pretty full day. She'll go to like ballet or gymnastics. Um they go to school all day before that. Uh they have a good meal around 6 30 then by eight o'clock she's ready to knock out. So we start the process around 7:30, And then they go to sleep around eight, at the latest. And then they usually want to wake up around 6:37 PM. And I'm always praying that it's closer to seven because they'll try to come in our room. Well of course Goodnight. You know what is interesting about Goodnight Moon, the famous book that we've all read to our Children? Is that exactly because it's really like a very interesting psychological um way to say goodbye to the world and surrender to sleep. And I did an adult version for audible called Goodnight smartphone. So my so my question to you, are you sleeping with your phone? I well it's in the room but I don't have it in my bed with me. Things like that. And I will sometimes listen to sleep, cast or podcast. Anything with kind of a quiet murmur. Uh and and and about the past. We did with headspace. The way I talked. You should have been in the room when I was working on. I talked lower and slower. We have music. It's so calm and calming and uh that kind speech is actually helpful for people as they're trying to fall asleep. And so if you pick the right kind uh used for your phone it can be a help and not a hindrance when you're trying to go to sleep. But don't be in there reading the new york times, we're reading the huffpo uh stimulating your mind in that way because that's not gonna help you falsely. Absolutely. So I asked Russell already but I want to ask you as well, how did your partnership with Headspace Health and the creation of the Super Bowl ad Come about? Well we've been working together for a few years now. So we started excuse me with me as the chief music officer. So what I was doing was helping us pick playlists for our focus playlist. And we did a Youtube series where we excuse me, where we uh explored with Brain scientists the connection between the music we choose and how our brain can focus on things. So we talked about the ways to help you use music to help you memorize things to help you sleep to help you uh function at a higher level with your brain. So we worked on that. We talked to Brain Scientists. We created these beautiful videos where we help to explain that to people. I learned a lot in that process. And then we continue to put out playlists that help people focus and, and be more mindful and, and, and uh, and listen to music. That was helpful for their brains. And then after that we started to focus on sleep. So in the last six months or so we've been focusing on sleep. We recorded the sleep cast, we filmed these cheeky ad, uh, inviting people to sleep with john legend. Um, and uh, it's been so much fun. We love how the ads turned out. And as Rust said, we weren't planning to put them ah out super bowl and the biggest, you know, night of television in America. But we loved how they turned out so much that we decided, uh, well they decided to spend a lot of money and uh, and put it out to the nation. And uh, it went so well. We're so proud of the ad and, and the fact that they attracted people to our sleep cats and our sleep place to really help them with something that they really need, which is to get more sleep and fall asleep more easily. Well as a sleep evangelist. I'm super grateful and that you and Russ and the team are doing so much to create more converts and I'd love to bring May hall back and to take a few questions from the audience. Um, before we say good night and sweet dreams if you're not there, I will take a few questions from the audience, who has that question? I love that. We're the last session so everybody can, you know, get ready. What's your question? Oh, what's on your concert tonight? Are you having a concert tonight? I don't have one tonight. I have one tomorrow night. Our Vegas, she is off until august. We just did our last Vegas show uh for this block and on saturday the night before Mother's Day, we had a wonderful time. I had lots of family in from Ohio and I got my nap before the show and had a great show and and now I'm doing random gigs and about to go on tour in europe uh in late june and july and uh doing a few different things and then I'll go back to Vegas in august wonderful. Alright, I'm here. I'm sorry, my video and audio wasn't working. So um okay, so this has been amazing. I want to ask Arianna quick question and then I think we've got some questions from the audience for for all of you as well. But Ariana, your seminal book on sleep. You wrote it pre pandemic a few years before Covid started. I just want to hear from you if you were to write it again now, Version 2.0, what would be different? What is COVID showed us about our issues with sleep. I think what Covid showed us, as Ray said, is just how foundational sleep is to our immunity because it affects every chronic condition including diabetes and hypertension, which in turn affects the likelihood of being infected or the infection being more dangerous. Um but also a term was coined during the pandemic Coronas insomnia, which just people who have trouble falling asleep because they're anxious about the virus and because they couldn't disconnect from the news and that's why if I drink the book now, I would have emphasized even more the importance of a night ritual. Almost like picking a time at the end of the day that you declare the end of your working day because I'm sure nobody here has a real and to their working day, we could stay up all night handling things. So we have to declare it. And I believe in ritual. So the way I declare the end to my working day is by turning off my phone and charging it outside my bedroom. We've even produced a little dedicated um charging station that looks like a phone bed. I sent one to ross. It has a little blankie. You can put your phone under the blanket, you can tuck it in, you can say good night and in the morning rush kids love it and it's great to teach your kids phone hygiene. If you teach them from the beginning, your phone doesn't sleep with you. It sleeps in this bed, which is outside everybody's bedrooms. It will be easier than fighting with them to take it away. So they don't spend the night, you know, snapping or tick talking or whatever. We actually have some of the phone beds out in the hallway for anybody who wants to get a closer look. Um questions for john Haryana and we've got one over here if you wouldn't mind introducing yourself. Hi Jesse, Ehrenfeld, american Medical Association john curious what do you do when you can't sleep and you ever seen your kids to sleep? Well when I can't sleep? I do like listen to kind of low talking and it helps me just kind of zone out and fall asleep. And what was your second question about my kids? Do you ever sing him to sleep? I do. And uh they like when I sing Beauty and the Beast as a duet with Ariana Grande for the live action version that Disney did uh several years ago. And they, they love that version and I sing that to them when they need me to sing something before they go to bed. Do you ever listen to your own sleep cast if you fall asleep? I do not. I feel like it might be mm hmm. Other questions from the audience. Alright. I'm going to ask you guys all three of you a question. Any other tips? Um Real takeaways? Again, Going back to this era where we're still a lot of us have very little separation between home and work and family. Um, tips for getting better sleep when the world is still a little bit upside down. Why don't we go to raz first then to me and end with john sounds good to me, Russ sounds good. So I mean first of all you get work out of the bedroom, you know, create an environment there that you're, you're putting work away, you're putting the doom scrolling away and it doesn't really matter what, but what brings you peace? What brings you a sense of column? It could be a you know, john legend sleep cast. It could be we just launched our Star Wars sleep cast. It could be something like that. It could be just reading a book. It could be anything that gets you out of that mode of thinking about stressful things before you go to sleep. That's 12 is dark and cool. Uh, you know, cooler temperatures. Light makes a difference when you have too much light, you don't produce the melatonin that helps you to get to sleep. And then the final tip I would give is we still might wake up in the middle of the night and and we know that a lot of people do and then have trouble falling back asleep. One of the tactics that works wonders for that is a breathing exercise called box breathing or square breathing. And so it's a four count hold for four Release for four and hold for four and do that for a couple of minutes. And that actually literally resets your nervous system. It moves you from a sympathetic to a parasympathetic mode. It goes from flight and fright to a relaxation and actually digestion mode. And uh, it's an incredible tactic in the middle of the night. If you need to get back to sleep, we got three tips for the price of one Ariana real quick and we'll go to john. So what is great about box breathing is that it was invented by the navy to reduce stress. So if it's good enough for navy sales, it's good enough for john legend. Um, so for me, um, having a hot bath and a hot shower is key. It's not so much for cleanliness. It's more like to slow down the brain and make it less likely that you wake up in the middle of the night and find it a hard time to sleep. I love reading real physical books in bed and that has nothing to do with work, poetry, philosophy, novel and also and the day with what I'm grateful for because every day is a mixture of things you are grateful for and things would rather not have in our lives. So if we can end the day focusing on what we're grateful for, it has a big impact in being able to surrender to sleep, stay asleep or if we do wake up be able to go back to sleep. Thank you Ariana and john Well I love all these suggestions. I'm taking notes as well. Um And I think we can't emphasize enough how much it's important for us to let work go to sleep too because we all have things we need to do. We have all have plenty of things we can be thinking about and working on and work never ends. So there's no amount of work you can do that day that will make it in. So at some point you have to decide I'm done for today and if you make that decision and have these rituals like Ariana talked about and Russ talked about. Those are the things that are going to make you be able to go to sleep but you have to decide in advance. I'm done, I'm done working. I'm done checking my email, I'm done, do that for yourself, do that for your family, do that for your loved ones and do that for your coworkers because you're gonna be better the next day if you get some sleep tonight. And john actually if I can ask you one favor um you know Jon bon Jovi wrote that song, I'll sleep when I'm dead. And and he used to live in my building in new york so I begged him, I said john can you please change the lyrics re record the song, I'll sleep when I'm tired but he hasn't done it. Can you do it? Okay that's that's my new assignment. Do a cover please. Alright well it is just an honor sharing the stage with you, john we could say that Arianna.