Have the night of your life

Fed up with catching less than 40 winks? Tap info into the latest slumber science and put an end to anything less than 100% perfect snoozing

You know those nights when you stare at the ceiling, imagining to an outsider your eyes must resemble bloodshot Ren & Stimpy-style balls glowing in your skull? Yeah, those. If you’ve been experiencing more of them lately, don't worry. So has pretty much everyone. New research shows that the number of us struggling with our sleep rose from one in six to one in four last year – with anxiety named as the key culprit (hmm, wonder what could be causing that?), along with financial stress and the pressures of juggling modern life. So how can we ace something that should be so simple, but often isn’t?

How long is a piece of sleep?

We all know the golden rule of eight hours a night, but actually, it turns out one size doesn’t fit all. A review of 320 research papers concluded that seven to nine hours of shut-eye is optimal for over-18s, but one sleeping expert says it can be even less for some. “Individual sleep requirements are like height,” says Dr Neil Stanley, author of How To Sleep Well. “To a large degree, it’s genetically determined and anywhere between four and 11 hours would be considered normal.” He advises listening to your body when trying to figure out your personal magic number. “It’s simply the amount of sleep that allows you to wake up alert and refreshed the following day,” explains Dr Stanley. If you’re nodding off again by mid-afternoon, try tweaking your bedtime and tracking your body’s response in order to identify your sweet spot.

What happens when you’re asleep?

When it comes to your sleep activity, Dr Sophie Bostock says we can identify four main stages. “A sleep cycle is made up of the body passing through

While you sleep, your brain is hard at work, in one of these four stages…

three stages of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep to get to REM sleep (the deeper, dream-inducing kind), before repeating all over again.” Another sleepy term you need to know is “circadian rhythm”. This simply refers to the body’s natural cycle of sleep and wakefulness (changes in sunlight can disrupt it, making us sleepier in the winter than in summer due to more melatonin – “the sleep hormone” – being produced by the brain).

1 Stage one:

“You’re just losing consciousness here – it’s very easy to wake up again,” says Dr Bostock. This period typically lasts for around 10 minutes before moving into stage two.

2 Stage two:

Ooh, this is a good’un – the stage that scientists refer to as “true” sleep. Your heart and breathing rates slow and your body temperature drops until you fully lose consciousness (hello, drool). “It’s where you’ll likely spend most of your time asleep,” says Dr Bostock – between 20 to 30 minutes are often spent in this phase.

3 Stage three:

Up next, the most physically restorative chunk of sleep, referred to as slow-wave sleep (SWS) by those in the know. Here, your body works hard to secrete growth hormones from the brain and helps cells to re-energise and repair.

4 REM Sleep:

So called because your eyes are darting about all over the shop, this phase is normally associated with dreaming and sees your brain being pretty active. And then it’s back to phase one to do the cycle all over again. Easy, eh?