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World Sleep Day 2024: Discover these five simple yet effective tips to achieve quality sleep on Audible
Mumbai This World Sleep Day, let’s acknowledge the profound influence that quality sleep has on our overall health and well-being aiding stress management, mood regulation, and bodily rejuvenation. To mark this significant occasion, Nicole Moshfegh’s audiobook “The Book of Sleep offers tons of quick, easy and research-based strategies that are effective and sustainable to foster healthier ways for restful sleep. Here are five easy-to-follow tips from her audiobook which will help you dream better!
Curate A Perfect Sleep Sanctuary
In pursuit of creating the perfect sleep sanctuary, Dr Nicole Moshfegh introduces a refreshing guidebook to follow for a good night’s sleep. She highlights the influence of a positive sleep environment on one’s sleep cycle and says, “Too many negative or arousing experiences can cause us to associate the bedroom with stress instead of sleep. Fortunately, we can counteract these effects by creating an environment more conducive to rest and relaxation.” She advised
1 Keep your bedroom cool, dark and quiet. Consider making the bedroom a device-free zone. If leaving your phone outside the room causes you stress, at least place it somewhere where it can’t be accessed from your bed
2 Move any workstations out of the bedroom. If this is not possible, try creating some sort of visual separation between your bed and your work area by experimenting with moving furniture or using room dividers
3 Reduce clutter and keep things clean and tidy. Add a few key items that spark, joy and relaxation like your favourite art, piece, photos or memorabilia
4 Try to avoid having intense conversations in your bedroom and remember to get out of your bed and bedroom if you can’t fall asleep
Exercise Progressive Muscle Relaxation for Relaxed Sleep
To overcome anxiety and stress daily, Dr. Nicole Moshfegh provides a step-by-step guide to practising muscle relaxation which in turn can help relieve stress and provide a sense of calmness. She says, “Anxiety and stress can activate our fight or flight response. When we experience chronic stress, our brain’s ability to reduce this response weakens over time which can make it harder for us to fall asleep and stay asleep. Through a technique called Progressive Muscle Relaxation, PMR, you can relieve the tension in your body by tensing and releasing different muscle groups one at a time.” Here is how you can practise PMR –
1 Comfortably lie down on your back, not on a bed. It may be helpful for you to practise PMR by starting at one end of your body either your feet or your shoulders.
2 Close your eyes if you’re comfortable doing so. Breathe in and tense the first muscle group hard but not to the point of pain for five seconds.
3 Breathe out and immediately relax the muscle group all at once.
4 Take a few deep breaths for 10 to 15 seconds before moving on to the next muscle group. During this time pay attention to how the muscles feel when they are tense versus relaxed.
5 Repeat steps 1,2,3 with each muscle group. When you are finished with all of the muscle groups, take the deepest breath you’ve taken in all day and let it out when you are ready. Bring your focus back to the present.
Identify the Right Food Choices to Beat Midnight Cravings
Tired of tossing and turning? Say goodbye to bedtime hunger games with Dr. Nicole’s suggestions! We’re here to unravel the secrets to a nourished yet restful night’s sleep wherein she urges everyone to avoid heavy meals before bedtime. Furthermore, she points out that, “Being hungry won’t help us either. Therefore it’s best to maintain a balance of not eating too much too late but also making sure our stomach is full enough that it will not keep us awake throughout the night. If you notice you are hungry before bedtime try consuming a small snack with protein in it as protein contains tryptophan, which will stimulate melatonin production in our brain, the hormone responsible for our sleep drive. Just remember to avoid foods containing caffeine like chocolate and spicy, acidic, high fat and sugary foods especially 3 to 4 hours before bedtime. Try to incorporate food containing tryptophan into your diet. Examples include nuts and seeds, legumes, fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products, poultry, and seafood, every day for two weeks. Keep track of what, when and how much you consume in conjunction with your sleep” she said.
Slash Your Caffeine Intake for a Dreamier Sleep
Ever questioned why that evening coffee tends to disturb your sleep around 2 am? Dr. Nicole unveils the drawbacks of caffeine for maintaining a healthy sleep routine. She says, “If you have caffeine around 7 pm, half of it will still be in your system at 2 am. Not only will that cup of coffee you have at 7 pm prevent you from getting adequate sleep but by the time you start your day around 9 am, your sleep signals will be even stronger due to lack of sleep and all the adenosine that couldn’t be released. This leads to a never-ending cycle. If you don’t want to constantly time how much caffeine will still be in your body at bedtime it’s better to cut back.”
1 Start by trying to avoid caffeine after lunch. Limit yourself to not more than 200 to 300 mg of caffeine per day which is roughly equivalent to 28-ounce cups of coffee depending on the route
2 Remember that decaf coffee, dark chocolate and some pain relievers also contain caffeine and must be avoided
Seek Professional Help If You Need
Shedding light on the role sleeping pills play, Dr. Nicole discusses the adverse effects they can have on one’s sleep schedule. Stressing the importance of discontinuing their use, she advocates for an effective alternative of—Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) which one must take into account to improve their sleep health and overall well-being. She says, “Sleeping pills use is correlated to an increased risk for car accidents, higher rates of heart disease, stroke and increased risk of cancer. When you discontinue sleeping pills, you experience rebound insomnia, which can make it more likely that you start taking them again leading to a never-ending cycle, all the more reason that treating your insomnia the natural way is better for you in the long run.” She suggests:
1 CBT-I is proven to be just as effective for those currently on sleep medication
2 One must identify and get a better hold on their symptoms before consulting a doctor
3 When you are ready, speak with your doctor about tapering off your medication. It can also be helpful to have a trained CBT-I therapist to guide you through this process
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VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
