Expert advice to help you find the sleep ‘sweet spot’
Getting to sleep between 10pm and 11pm could be the sweet spot, at least when it comes to heart health, according to a new study.
The research, which used UK Biobank data from 88,026 people, found there was a 12% higher risk of cardiovascular disease among those with a 11-11.59pm bedtime, 25% higher for those who sleep at midnight or later, and 24% higher for pre-10pm sleepers, compared with those whose bedtime was from 10-11pm. So how do you get the perfect night’s sleep?
TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF
“If you take a ‘normal’ person’s sleep, it’s not perfect all the time,” says Dr Guy Meadows of Sleep School (sleepschool.org).
He adds that “the reality is that normal sleep is disturbed for a multitude of reasons, whether that’s a stressful day, aches and pains, whatever it is”.
Being told things like ‘just relax’ and ‘you’re over-thinking this’ can be frustrating. But the harder we try to sleep and the more we worry about it, the further away peaceful slumber can seem.
TAKE THE FOCUS OFF BEDTIME
“When someone starts to struggle with sleep, they often begin to worry about it during the daytime and dread night-time coming, [and] the increased anxiety makes the problem worse,” says Dr Lindsay Browning, psychologist, neuroscientist and sleep expert for And So To Bed (andsotobed. co.uk/dr-lindsay-browning).
There are lifestyle adjustments that can be genuinely useful such as reducing caffeine intake or only having it before lunch, and doing something relaxing before bed, like a warm bath. Increasing your daytime exercise could help too.
“Exercise directly impacts your need for ‘deep sleep’ at night,” says Dr Browning.
“The more you exercise, the more deep sleep you will have.”
TIME TO ACT
The Sleep School pros are pioneers of a system called
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
“It’s about taking the struggle out of sleep. Putting your effort into the things you care about in your life, rather than putting it into the struggle [to sleep],” explains Dr Meadows.
There’s a Sleep School app where users can tap into this.
Dr Meadows says one of the key components of ACT is “present moment awareness”, so noticing and accepting what’s happening in that specific point in time. This doesn’t mean we’ll find it pleasant noticing we’re having a bad night’s sleep, but it does help us move away from catastrophising that we’re ‘never’ going to sleep again and the next day will be a disaster.
Dr Meadows says self-kindness/ compassion are very powerful tools when it comes to breaking any sort of anxiety cycle.
Little acts of self-kindness during the day – like a 10-minute walk, making a nourishing lunch or watching a movie – “might seem relatively mundane and small, [but] they actually help to promote a better mental environment from which sleep can emerge”, he says.
PUT PHONES AWAY (OR TRY TO)
“Instead of simply saying, ‘Don’t touch your phone’, start by taking small steps to become less dependent on it at night,” suggests Dr Browning.
“Turn on ‘do not disturb’ and make sure that’s set to come on at the same time each evening an hour or so before bedtime.
“If you’re nervous about family not being able to contact about emergencies, most phones allow for this to be set to allow certain contacts through.
“Invest in an alarm clock, so the phone can be placed somewhere else, rather than next to the bed.
“Lastly, break the habit of your phone being the last thing you look at before bed and get into the habit of reading a book or magazine instead.”