Sleep guru’s hot tips for a top kip

Coach to the stars reveals best way to beat January blues is a snooze!

IT started with him asking Sir Alex Ferguson if he could pop in and make his Manchester United players better through a good kip.

That led to sleep coach Nick Littlehales working with some of the world’s top footballers and then helping our athletes on their way to Olympic glory.

Now, after ensuring everyone from David Beckham to Cristiano Ronaldo snoozes easier, he’s sharing his tips as we all struggle through the most depressing month of the year.

“I was frustrated that sleep was always taken for granted and its impact on performance was never evaluated,” said Nick, who used to work for a major bedding company and was a founder member of the UK Sleep Council.

“I wrote to Sir Alex in the late 1990s and he came back to say the club did nothing about sleep, but he was intrigued.

“I worked with one of their star players, Gary Pallister, who had severe back problems, changed his bedding and they saw an immediate improvement.

“So I started working regularly with players such as Ryan Giggs, visiting his home to look at his sleeping patterns.

“We set up special sleeping rooms at the training ground to have a nap between sessions and it all took off from there.”

Nick began working with Arsenal superstars like Thierry Henry and also set up all the sleeping arrangements for England’s international players at the European Championships. Everything from bedding to heating came under Nick’s control and he was then hired to aid Britain’s elite cyclists and then the GB team at London 2012 including Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton.

Nick’s “sleep kits” – where entire personalised bedding packs would be dropped

in to hotels and accommodation – became invaluable in ensuring the elite athletes got that vital edge.

But he says getting the best possible sleep makes a crucial difference to the day-to-day performance of us all.

“Our lives have changed so much with the 24-hour world we live in,” says Nick.

“It’s information overload and being able to recover properly has become much more of an issue.

“There are lots of red flags for all age groups with higher levels of insomnia, wide use of non-prescription sleeping tablets and so much over-stimulation.

“It is a major issue that’s really getting out of hand.

“From the moment we wake up we’re overloaded with social media, texts, internet and that goes on 24 hours a day.

“Right from the start that will dictate how you go through the day and, whether it’s good or bad news, it’s too much information for the human brain.”

In his new book Sleep (Penguin Random House) he dispels the myth that we all need eight hours sleep a night and breaks down the dos and don’ts of making the most of our vital recovery time.

Here, he tells us the essentials.