SUSANNA’S SEVEN SLUMBER STRATEGIES
Don’t get frustrated about being awake
I never get up if I can’t sleep. I lie still and tell myself that my body is resting and even though I’m not asleep, it’s still good quality rest. I’m not sure the science would agree with me but it’s like a mind trick. Once I’ve told myself it’s OK to lie there awake, I relax and am more likely to fall asleep.
Get outside
Daylight is important for regulating your sleep schedule. I like Gretchen Rubin’s podcast, Happier, and she has a challenge for this year: ‘Go Outside 23 in 23’; 23 minutes outdoors each day. It doesn’t sound a lot but sometimes you can find yourself indoors, under artificial lights all day. I’m making sure I go for a walk every day now.
Try visualisation
When I did Strictly [in 2013], I was so nervous about dancing live I used a visualisation technique to relax, which can also work when you can’t sleep because you’re worrying about something. I imagined my nerves as wiggly things I crammed into a box. I put the lid on and put it outside the studio door. So the nerves are no longer in you, they’re outside.
Don’t look at your phone
That sense of heightened awareness you have that something might be happening on your phone is no good when you’re trying to sleep. I have mine in the bedroom for emergencies but I have it on silent and do not look at it.
Allocate worry time If you’re worrying about something and it’s keeping you awake, think, ‘I’ll worry about this at 4pm tomorrow.’ It is very likely that come the hour you’ll forget to do it because it wasn’t that important after all. I got that from brilliant therapist Owen O’Kane, a regular guest on GMB.
Head-to-toe relaxation
In bed I relax every part of my body in turn. Start at the top of your head, then your forehead, eyes, cheeks and so on, moving downwards. By the time I’ve got to my neck, I’m always asleep.
Salts and sprays
I put lavender spray on my pillow and have a bath with Epsom salts before bed. I used to think they were an old lady thing. Maybe I’m an old lady now!