Worth a try?

EAT A KIWI

Scientists from Taiwan found that eating two kiwis an hour before bed helps people nod off faster and sleep better. The researchers measured the sleep quality of 24 volunteers with sleep problems, before and after a month of eating kiwis every night, and found that every aspect of their sleep improved. People fell asleep more quickly, slept more soundly, their overall sleep time increased and their sleep efficiency (the amount of time spent sleeping compared with the total time spent in bed) improved. HAVE A HOT BATH Studies show that warming your body with a hot bath or shower two hours before bed can help induce sleep – as long as there’s enough time to cool off afterwards. Body temperature plays an important role in regulating circadian rhythms, and heating your body up actually helps it cool down more quickly, preparing you for sleep.

PUT LAVENDER ON YOUR PILLOW

There are no guarantees but, when researchers monitored the brainwaves of sleepers exposed to lavender through sleep, they found they had more deep sleep and felt more energetic in the morning than those who weren’t.

TWEAK YOUR DIET

More fibre and less saturated fat and sugar could help. A study at New York’s Columbia University found that people who ate more fibre spent longer in deep sleep, while higher intakes of fat were associated with less restorative sleep. A high sugar intake was also associated with more interrupted sleep. Volunteers who ate low-fat, high-protein meals provided by a nutritionist fell asleep after just 17 minutes, compared with those who fed themselves taking, on average, 29 minutes to drop off. There’s mounting evidence that your gut health may affect your sleep. Sleep hormone melatonin is found in the gut as well as the pineal gland in the brain, and gut bacteria play a role in producing melatonin and serotonin (which is also involved in sleep). It may be that eating for a healthy gut could also improve your sleep.