Re-sync your body clock

These easy lifestyle changes can help prepare your body as the seasons change…

✢ GET OUTSIDE

‘Being exposed to evening light puts you at risk of going to bed later and getting up later,’ says Russell. This is why getting outside early in the day is so important – morning light has the opposite effect, making you go to bed earlier and get up earlier. Helping your body clock to become more closely synchronised to sunrise and sunset will encourage regular sleep patterns.

✢ RETHINK MEALTIMES

Russell advises concentrating your meals into the first and middle parts of the day. This is because eating a heavy meal before bedtime can cause an increase in core body temperature, and there needs to be a drop in order for us to fall asleep. Fill up on sleep-boosting foods rich in magnesium – including spinach and avocado – calcium, found in dark leafy greens, and tryptophan which you can get from seeds, nuts and eggs.

✢ LOWER THE LIGHTS

Reduce how much bright light you are exposed to before bed. ‘You may like to dim the lighting in your room, use candles or a lamp instead of the overhead light, and reduce the brightness of screens,’ says Dr Browning. ‘This will help your body to produce the sleep hormone, melatonin, earlier to help you fall asleep earlier.’ If you have poor curtains, invest in blackout blinds.

KEEP A COOL

✢ BEDROOM

This can be more difficult as we head into summer, but it’s important for

achieving that drop in core body temperature, needed for both falling and staying asleep. ‘The ideal room temperature is 18 degrees, certainly no more than 22,’ says Russell. Quality bedding can also help. A seven-tog duvet will keep you cool. If you don’t want to invest in two duvets for the seasons, a 10-tog duvet works all-year round. Cotton and linen will help reduce night-time sweating.

✢ STICK TO A REGIME

Do you use the weekends or Bank Holidays to ‘catch up’ on sleep? It might be doing you more harm than good. ‘You’re never going to be able to catch up on your sleep debt,’ says Russell. ‘Try to get the sleep you need during the week and aim to get up and go to bed at the same time over the weekend.’ Why? If you oversleep on the weekends, then you’re missing out on that important morning light, meaning that you’re going to feel tired on Monday.

✢ SKIP THE NIGHTCAP

Beer garden drinks might be tempting during the warm evenings, but try to avoid overdoing it. While having a nightcap might make you feel sleepy and relaxed, in excess, it can lead to poorer sleep and insomnia. ‘Alcohol reduces REM (rapid-eye-movement), aka deep sleep, during the first part of the night, decreases sleep quality, results in less sleep and causes frequent waking in the night,’ says Russell in his new book Life Time (£10.99, Penguin Books). This can cause day-time sleepiness, which means that you rely on caffeine to stay awake, then alcohol to fall asleep.