Beat insomnia in just 4 weeks

Lack of sleep takes a terrible toll on our mental and physical health. But, as he launches his first MoS Life Plan, our new expert columnist shares the secrets that prove you CAN...

IUSED to be one of those lucky people who could sleep any time or place they wanted. I was such a good sleeper that I would nod off on trains and planes. On one occasion, I slept overnight in a telephone box. I had missed the last train home, didn’t have enough money for a hotel and the police wouldn’t let me sleep on the train platform.

But then I had kids and my sleep became more erratic and broken. I found it harder to drift off and would often find myself awake at 3am, fretting. I would start every day tired and irritable and dread bedtime.

And I know I’m not alone. According to a 2013 study by the Sleep Council, the average Briton gets six-and-a-half hours’ sleep at night, and most of us, rightly, don’t feel that’s enough. Sleeping-pill prescriptions are in the millions, and rising – and from my own research I have discovered that lack of sleep not only makes you feel awful but also puts you at risk of weight gain and a host of illnesses from heart disease to dementia.

Starting today, only in The Mail on Sunday, you can read my Life Plan – with the help of the latest scientific research, I’ll be revealing how you can get into the best shape of your life, both physically and mentally.

Over the coming months in my weekly column and in one-off specials, we’ll look at sure-fire ways to slim down, stay stressfree and tackle a range of health problems from joint pain to heart disease.

And, here in the first Life Plan instalment, we will focus on sleep: whether, as I was, you are plagued by insomnia,

MY TIPS WILL SET YOU ON THE WAY TO THE BEST NIGHT’S SLEEP OF YOUR LIFE

simply feel tired all the time, or just want to sleep better, this four-week programme is for you.

Over these pages you’ll find a range of small tweaks, mental – and physical – exercises, and tips that you can do this week, which I hope will help set you on the way to the best night’s sleep of your life.

Since food plays such a big part in our mental and physical health, over the page there are recipes packed with ingredients that have been shown to help improve sleep quality.

And in the coming three weeks, in my column I will be revealing more of the Plan: methods that will help to break down the vicious cycle of insomnia and poor health and improve not just your sleep but other aspects of your life too.

To make it easier to track all the lifestyle changes you’ll need to make, I’d like you to fill in the Sleep Tracker that you will find with this copy of The Mail on Sunday. I also want you to write to me and tell me how you are getting on.

You see, I believe there are four main elements to a healthy life: keeping to a reasonable weight, being active, reducing stress and getting decent amounts of sleep. And they all interact. After a bad night, you will find your blood sugar levels soar, which in turn will make you hungry and stressed. You react by eating more comfort food, which will make you fatter and more stressed. This, in turn, will affect your sleep.

With all this in mind, let’s get started with the Plan…