A good night’s sleep.

On World Sleep Day and before the weekend, I thought I would share a few simple tips to improve your sleep and make you feel more energetic and productive during the day.

The pandemic, and in particular lockdowns, triggered a sharp increase in anxiety-related sleeping problems. The number of Britons suffering sleep loss caused by worrying rose from 1 in 6 to 1 in 4 as a direct result of the huge disruption to people’s social and working lives after the restrictions began on 23 March 2020. The overall incidence of worry-related sleep loss rose from 15.7% to 24.7%*.

Sleeping well directly affects our mental and physical health, and not getting enough quality sleep can take a serious toll on our daytime energy, productivity, emotional balance, and even your weight.

For a long time, I thought that getting enough sleep was enough (I am a 8-9 hour kind of girl) and assumed that my constant feeling of tiredness was because I did not get enough shut eye…

It turns out that sleep quality, and not just quantity, does also impact on the way you feel when you wake up – 6 hours of sound sleep might actually be better than 8 hours of broken or restless sleep.

A 2007 Finnish study also found that the effects of sleep deprivation are cumulative. One bad night will do little harm but 3 or 4 consecutive ones will lead to increases in cortisol, the stress hormone, and raise our blood pressure, creating a ‘sleep debt’.

So if you are tired of tossing and turning at night or if you still feel tired after an 8-hour night sleep (most adults between 26 and 64 years need 7-9 hours, but might be fine on as little as 6 or as much as 10 hours sleep), here are a few things to try on.

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1. Keep in sync with your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle – Keep a regular sleep-wake schedule; avoid sleeping in (even on weekends); limit naps to 15-20 mins in the early afternoon to make up for lost sleep, but only if you don’t have trouble falling or staying asleep at night.

2. Control your exposure to light – Melatonin, the sleep hormone is controlled by light exposure so during the day, get as much bright sunlight - you can the earliest the better; get outside during daylight; try and let as much natural light into your home or workplace as possible. At night, avoid bright screens 1-2 hours before bedtime and make sure your bedroom is dark (as well as cool and quiet).

3. Control your sleeping environment - temperature, light, bedding, the quality of your mattress, all can impact negatively the quality of your sleep. Don’t hesitate to invest to ensure optimum conditions for your resting time.

4. Exercise during the day – Regular exercise impacts sleep positively but time it right. Vigorous exercise speeds up metabolism, elevates your body temperature and stimulates hormones such as cortisol so is best kept to the morning or afternoon (try and finish workouts at least 3 hours before bedtime).

5. Be smart about what you eat and drink – Limit caffeine (do some tests to see how long you are still affected by caffeine for - my cut off time is 2pm if I want to have a good night sleep), avoid big meals at night and alcohol before bed. Cut back on sugary foods and refined carbs.

6. Wind down – Manage your overall stress, learn to curb your worry habits and clear your head using breathing exercises or meditation (try body scan exercises). Try relaxing, low-impact exercises such as yoga or gentle stretching in the evening to help promote sleep.
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And remember that: “The future is shaped by your dreams, so stop wasting time and go to sleep!" (source unknown).

* Research study by the Economic and Social Research Council-funded Centre for Population Change at Southampton University