Phones should really be banned from bedtime...
Strictly’s Craig Revel Horwood tells PRUDENCE WADE he only needs five hours sleep a night, and explains how he relaxes his mind before bed
LIKE many high-powered people, Craig Revel Horwood insists he doesn’t need many hours of sleep a night.
“I am quite a good sleeper,” he says. “But I only ever really get five to six hours, which is fine for me. I think probably because I was in the theatre for so long and a dancer, you end up exhausted and then you flop into bed and boom – you sleep. And then five or six hours later, I’m awake and raring to go again.”
However, before the Strictly Come Dancing judge, 56, gets to sleep, he needs to get his mind ready – particularly if he’s just come back from a show “and you’re still quite wired from it”, he says. “Unlike most people, you finish at 11 o’clock at night. So when you come home, you need a couple of hours to calm down,” the dance ace explains.
His evening ritual begins with a hot drink, then he explains he has to “change my mind into something else – I might watch a bit of telly, or listen to radio, or reading always sends me to sleep,” he explains. “If my mind is too active, I need to think of something else. I’ll put on a bit of inane telly where I get bored, or a nature programme. It slows me down and gets me in the mood for sleep.”
Craig isn’t even averse to using a bit of tech to help him drift off – but maybe not in the way you’d think. He’s absolutely against screens at bedtime, something his fiancé Jonathan Myring is guilty of (“I think phones really should be banned from bedtime,” he says), but he uses a device that tells “stories, like a wave machine. You’d hear the sounds of the ocean and they’d be saying, ‘And now you’re entering through another door,’” Craig laughs.
“It sounds mad but it does work, and the lighting gets dimmer – it’s brilliant. It’s something I have next to the bed, which is quite interesting – it’s to induce a really calming night’s sleep. It clears your mind of any worries you’ve had during the day.”
The other thing he suggests is key to a peaceful slumber is getting the right sleeping position – which is why he’s teamed up with Dreams to come up with positions inspired by dance moves.
What he does throughout the day can play a part in helping make sure he gets a good night’s sleep too – while boosting mental and physical health at the same time.
“We have a rowing machine – that’s always good to do half an hour on,” Craig says. “You only need 30 minutes a day – a lot of people think they haven’t got time, but you could do 15 in the morning, and then 15 in the evening. That’s not much is it?”
When he’s doing a panto – and this year, he’s the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella at The Mayflower Theatre Southampton – he doesn’t need to spend as much time in the gym.
As Craig explains: “When I’m doing panto I’m dancing all the time, so I conserve my energy for that. Dancing is a fantastic way of getting exercise without knowing you’re really exercising, because it’s so much fun to do with music, and it gets the heart rate up.”
He has never really had trouble sticking to an exercise regime – as a dancer, he says you need to be “disciplined” – until the first lockdown of 2020.
“I was celebrating that I had some time off,” he shares, admitting he didn’t do as much physical activity as normal.
“But then after three months of that, it becomes tedious, doesn’t it?”
Stress can definitely get in the way of good sleep – and that’s something Craig is trying to avoid
while planning his wedding with Jonathan, but it’s proving tricky.
“We tried to get marquees and everything for next year, but that’s not working as everyone is trying to get married now,” he says with a groan.
“There’s a two-year backlog of people trying, so we decided to do it in 2023.”
Craig is glad it’s not too soon though, because “that gives us another year and a half to plan – because it does take ages”.
The couple want to have it in the garden of the house they’ve just moved into. “We’ve got planting to do and a lot of work to do on the house to get it ready for that particular day,” says Craig.
“At least it’s given us a goal and a good motive. That’s what most people need, isn’t it?”
With Covid I was celebrating that I had some time off – but after three months of that, it becomes tedious, doesn’t it?
■ Craig Revel Horwood has partnered with Dreams and sleep expert Sammy Margo, to co-create a visual guide of sleeping positions inspired by dance moves. Download the guide at dreams.co.uk/ sleeplikelog