Innholdsfortegnelse for Sleep Well i Sleep Well

Have you ever noticed that your dreams contain memories? Some scientists suggest that dreams may actually be indicative of the memory replay that takes place when we’re asleep and is important for memory consolidation. They hypothesise that only some elements of a replayed memory, the tip of the iceberg, make it into consciousness and that these manifest as dreams. Skill consolidation Evidence supporting the link between dreams and memory includes the observation that people tend to improve at new skills more if they dream about them. Dr Erin Wamsley, Associate Professor Bob Stickgold and colleagues at Harvard Medical School found that undergraduate students who had dreamed of a computer game maze they had earlier been challenged to learn improved more than those who had slept but didn’t dream of the…

1 Bathtime – a splash in the tub helps us wash away the busyness of our day. Add some Epsom salts or chamomile-scented bath foam for extra relaxation. 2 Pop on pyjames that you love to build that happy association with bedtime. 3 Stretch out your body with some yoga poses. Seated, all fours and lying down shapes are best for quietening the mind. Avoid standing poses for little ones; these are too invigorating. Child’s pose, downward dog or lying down twist can work a treat. 4 Read a book, listen to an audio book or try some guided meditation. 5 For older kids, mindful colouring, drawing or journalling can help settle the mind. 6 Use scent to prime your body for sleep. Make a ‘happy dream spray’ with lavender.…

Why do adolescents find an early start such a big deal? Well, in short, it’s because it is a big deal for them. If you ask an adolescent to get up at 6am, whether it’s to deliver papers or get to school on time, you’re putting the same pressure on their bodies as if you asked a younger child, or adult, to rise much earlier – at, say, 4am. Their bodies are better suited to being fast asleep. We know this from studies of melatonin levels. Melatonin is the darkness hormone that the body makes most profusely during the middle of the night. When you compare melatonin levels in adolescents with those in people of other ages, the peak of this hormone occurs later in adolescents. This effectively suggests that…

As well as Sleep Stories, the Calm app hosts a range of other relaxing soundtracks such as waves, rainfall and specially composed music, all designed to send you to sleep. While the wrong sort of noise can keep you awake (see page 126 for more on this, and how to combat it), relaxing sounds can create a more peaceful atmosphere in your bedroom, helping you drift off. The popularity of watery soundtracks could be due to the steady, uninterrupted rhythm of crashing waves or pattering raindrops – there are no sudden breaks or changes to disrupt a meditative state of mind. While a 2017 study at the University of Sussex showed that natural sounds triggered greater relaxation than artificial noises. Getting out into nature has been well documented as being…

Falling asleep has always taken me a while. But during my late teens I started to stay awake longer and longer. I’d lie in bed worrying about something I said, or dreading something I had to do at school the next day. One week, as part of my psychology course, my class watched a video about a man with an incredibly rare medical condition. He became physically unable to fall asleep, went mad and died. That night, I became convinced this was happening to me. ONE I am a rational person. I can see two sides to an argument and stay calm under pressure. But over the years, lying in the dark next to my snoring partner, I transformed into somebody else entirely as the night-time hours ticked past; someone…

Relax without leaving your desk 1 Sit upright and identify any areas of physical tension. Repeat the words ‘I release what I no longer need’ or ‘I let go of what no longer serves me’. 2 Now practise some gentle head turns, gazing right and then left. Gently drop your right ear towards you right shoulder, then your left ear towards your left shoulder. Repeat a few times on each side. 3 Drop your chin towards your chest, then take your chin over towards your right shoulder, back down to your chest and over to the left. Repeat a few times on each side. 4 Roll your shoulders. As you breathe in, lift your shoulders up; as you breathe out, roll them back and down. Now circle your wrists and…

1 SEATED NECK RELEASE Release built-up tension in the neck and jaw. Sit in a comfortable position and tilt your ear towards your shoulder. Don’t go to your maximum stretch – you’re just aiming for a gentle release. Relax your jaw and both shoulders and take three to five breaths before moving to the other side. 2 RECLINED BUTTERFLY This pose lets you connect with your breath and feel grounded. Lie down on your back, bend your knees and, with the soles of your feet together, let your knees drop out to the side (you can support them with cushions). Place your hands on your belly and feel the breath move in and out for one to three minutes. 3 RECLINED EASY TWIST 3 Unwind your spine with a gentle…

Dailygreatness Yoga Journal Struggling to keep to a daily practice? Created especially for the female yogi, the pages of this journal will help you create empowering and life-enriching routines, guiding you through meditation, yoga, intentions, gratitude, self-inquiry and inspiration. If you’re planning to start regular yoga to help you sleep, this journal will keep you on track. £39.95, www.dailygreatness.co.uk Find What Feels Good You may already be familiar with YouTube yoga expert Adriene Mishler – her chilled-out approach and free videos have won her more than 4 million subscribers. And now you can take her with you wherever you go, thanks to the Find What Feels Good app, which also features morning yoga practices to get you off the mat and out the door with a bounce in your step.…

MATT HAIG Matt is the bestselling author of Reasons To Stay Alive, and wants us to fall in love with sleep again.  Find Matt on page 9 SUZY READING A psychologist, yoga teacher and author, Suzy’s books include The Self-Care Revolution.  Find Suzy on page 36 DR NEIL STANLEY Sleep expert Neil has 37 years’ experience, and has written a book, How To Sleep Well.  Find Neil on page 28 ANNA BLACK Anna Black teaches mindfulness workshops and is the author of five books on mindfulness. Find Anna on page 46 PROF. ALICE GREGORY Alice is a Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, where she is co-head of the Goldsmiths Sleep Lab.  Find Alice on page 19 DR NERINA RAMLAKHAN Nerina runs sleep programmes at Nightingale Hospital, and is the sleep…

What makes sleep such an interesting subject to research? As a psychologist I’m interested in the science of mind and behaviour. How we spend a third of our lives is important for how we experience the other two thirds. Our ability to learn, remember, the way we look, our weight, attractiveness, our ability to regulate emotions or fight off illness are all linked to our sleep. I don’t want to go too far and suggest that sleep is a cure-all, but it can help with a lot of different things. There’s also still a huge amount to learn about this topic, so as a sleep researcher I never run out of ideas for new projects. Each piece of research results in many more questions. You’ve put a lot of your…

1 Lie on your back with your legs outstretched and arms by your side. Your eyes can be open or closed. Take a moment to notice the different parts of your body in contact with the bed or floor. Perhaps take a deep breath and then exhale loudly, letting your body soften into the surface. 2 Take your attention to the breath in your belly. You can place one hand on your belly to help connect with the sensations of breathing: the rise and fall of your belly. This is your home base. At any point in the practice, if you lose your place or things feel a bit tricky, just bring your attention back to the breath in your belly and stay there for as long as you wish.…

You’ll smell it before you even see it. That unmistakable aroma that fills your nose and seeps into your senses, instantly mellowing into a smooth and soothing scent. You breathe deeply. Inhaling and exhaling this floral cloud and, as you do, something unexplained washes over you. Slowly at first you feel your body begin to release its pent-up tension. Your breath becomes deeper, deliberate, calm. Inexplicably those deep lines in your furrowed brow one by one unfurl as you slowly, and gently, begin to relax. The scent is lavender. Here, in the south-eastern corner of France, between the foothills of Mont Ventoux and the village of Sault, you are in deepest Provence – home to perhaps the most famous lavender fields in the entire world. And, every year, between mid-June…

The ideal sleeping environment Eliminate as much light as possible. Lower the wattage of your bedroom light bulb, switch off your electronic devices, and try blackout blinds or eye masks. Also, it helps to have bed linen that you can’t wait to slide into and decor that you find soothing, and make sure you have a clean and clutter-free environment. Your bedroom temperature should be around 18˚C. Creating your pre-bedtime ritual 1 Keep it consistent Aim for the same bedtime and rise time each day. While many sleep experts advocate getting to bed by around 10pm, we need to take into consideration our own body clock and daily commitments. See what works best with the demands of your current circumstances and experiment with the windows of time that help you…

Stretch 1 Sit on your bed and dim the lights. To warm up your wrist joints, circle both hands outwards five times, and then inwards five times. Stretch 2 Interlock your fingers and stretch your arms out in front of you, palms away from you. Take three or four really deep breaths. Unlock your fingers. Stretch 3 With your right arm straight and palm facing up, stretch your fingers back with your left hand to stretch the inside of your wrist and forearm. Massage 1 Place a few drops of massage oil in your left palm and work it into your hand using stroking movements. Apply a light pressure in a circular motion. Massage 2 With your left palm facing down, hold your left wrist with your right hand. Use…

TAP HERE FOR YOUR SLEEP DIARY…

METHOD 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Remove the halibut fillets from the fridge to allow them to come to room temperature before cooking. 2 Heat the oil in a sauté pan and fry the celery, garlic, onion and bacon for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently until the bacon is golden brown and lightly crisp. Remove from the heat and tip in the haricot/cannellini beans, tarragon and lemon zest. 3 Meanwhile blanch the green beans in salted boiling water for 1 minute, then drain well. 4 Season the fish well with salt and heat some coconut oil in an oven-proof pan on the hob. Add the fillets and cook for 2 minutes until lightly golden. 5 Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 5 minutes. After this…

1 DEAL WITH UNWANTED LIGHT Invest in thick curtains or blinds to keep the light out so you’re not woken by streetlights or an early dawn. 2 NOT TOO BRIGHT Keep the lighting in your home at a low level during the evening. Use lamps or uplighters rather than bright ceiling lights. 3 CUT OUT THE TECH Cut down on using screens before bedtime. If you can’t, use the built-in settings on your phone and tablet to reduce the amount of blue light in the display in the evening. For Apple users, the ‘Night Shift’ function takes care of this, and there are a variety of similar options for Android devices. Computer users can also try the f.lux software (justgetflux.com) that automatically changes the light balance of the screen depending…

There’s nothing like a car alarm at 2am to drive a person to distraction. Night is the time when we’re most disturbed by sirens, creaking floorboards or noisy neighbours. But what is it about noise that creates such a problem for sleep? “Before we drift off, the nervous system needs to settle – we need to assure our brains that we are in a safe place,” explains sleep expert Dr Nerina Ramlakhan. “Jarring noise, particularly intermittent noise that varies in volume and pitch, puts the nervous system on red alert, which will wake you up and prevent you going back to sleep.” The noise tells your body that you’re not safe. Your heart rate increases, your nerves feel jangly, your stress level shoots through the roof. This makes sense to…

1 SLEEPING ON YOUR FRONT IS BAD FOR YOU Blamed for enhancing facial wrinkles and contributing to neck aches, stomach-sleeping gets a bad rep. According to research, there’s no significant difference between sleeping on your back, front or side. Sleeping on your side is, however, recommended for snorers. 2 SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE SLEEP LESS While some people can manage quite well on as little as five hours’ sleep a night, the fact is chronic sleep deprivation is linked to many kinds of diseases, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. So if you want have the best chance of succeeding in anything, a good night’s sleep will set you up better than burning the midnight oil. 3 THE OLDER YOU GET, THE LESS SLEEP YOU NEED While sleep patterns change as we…

Throughout Sleep Well magazine there are plenty of ideas for solving your sleep problems, whether they relate to your mind, body or bedroom. Hopefully by using our sleep diary you’ve been able to identify what might be keeping you awake, so how can you fix it? If you’re finding it hard to switch off your brain – either when you’re first getting to sleep or if you’ve woken in the small hours and can’t get back to sleep – you could benefit from listening to restful sounds, a guided meditation or a calming story. Cutting out social media, frenetic videogames or high-tension movies and shows before bedtime can also help. Keep lights low in the evening and try to get into a pre-bedtime routine so that your brain gets the…

1 MINDSET AND ACCEPTANCE Cultivate a love of sleep but keep perspective. We can drive ourselves mad wishing for things to be different, and it’s helpful to acknowledge that parenting inevitably results in disturbed sleep. It’s normal for our children to need us at night – we can find it hard to soothe ourselves to sleep, so we need to be patient as our children develop this capacity too. Accepting this is better than going to bed expecting uninterrupted sleep and seething in resentment when that hope is dashed. Remember that it will change. It really won’t be like this forever. It is truly amazing what we can still accomplish on so little sleep. 2 CREATE A SOOTHING SLEEP ENVIRONMENT Create an environment conducive to sleep by keeping bedrooms dark,…

The traditional suggestion for getting to sleep when you’re struggling was to try counting sheep. This practice of counting breaths works in a similar way – if the mind is particularly busy, we can count our breathing as a way of steadying our attention and moving it out of our head (thinking) and into our body. In this practice, we count up to ten and then start again. When you find yourself going beyond ten, simply start again at one. You can do this practice lying in bed or sitting. The practice Whether sitting or lying down, check your posture. Begin 1 to tune into your breathing. Notice how your breath comprises an in-breath and an out-breath. For counting purposes, both of these make up one whole breath. Every time…

Most authors would probably be offended if you told them that something they’d written had sent you to sleep after five minutes. But this isn’t the case for Phoebe Smith. Branching out from her career as a journalist and broadcaster, Phoebe has been appointed ‘sleep storyteller in residence’ at the Calm sleep app, with her tales helping millions of people gently drift off to sleep every night. The idea of ‘a book at bedtime’ as a precursor to a good night’s sleep is hardly a new concept. For generations, people have read for relaxation in the evening. And from being read nursery stories as children to enjoying a quiet five minutes in bed with a book as an adult, those moments of escapism can help us unwind at the end…

Sleep Stories by Calm Now you can nod off to a bedtime story read by velvet-voiced Matthew McConaughey, Joanna Lumley or Stephen Fry, thanks to Sleep Stories from the meditation and sleep app Calm. New stories are added every week, and there are also guided meditations, music and soundscapes. iOS and Android £35.99 per year after free 7-day trial Lullabies by Jackie Oates Not just for babies, this gorgeous collection by the British singer brings together traditional lullabies and folk songs, including two Icelandic sleep songs and a beautifully arranged Beatles cover. Jackie’s gentle, lilting voice is wonderfully relaxing, and ideal for listening to while tucked up in bed with a warm mug of cocoa. www.jackieoates.co.uk £7 (digital) or £12 (signed CD) Sleep by Headspace The helpful team at Headspace…

Our evening routines have changed in recent years. It used to be that we left work, maybe watched an hour of TV, then went to bed with a good book. But now we’re replying to emails at any hour, scrolling on social media and letting just one more episode of that gripping crime drama automatically play. Technology and its advancements have made it easy for us to get our fill of entertainment, but it’s having the opposite effect on our ability to get a good night’s sleep. Redress the stress An unexpected email or a notification can trigger your stress response. It’s natural – the brain receives new information that requires immediate action, and so your stress hormones are released to help deal with the situation. The same is true…

1 PREPARE FOR YOUR DAY THE While some of us can jump out of bed in the morning full of zest for life, for others waking up can be the worst part of the day. Even if you’ve had a good night’s sleep, the idea of leaving the comfort of a warm duvet to face the weather, work or the walk to school can feel like the last thing you want to do. But by moving our bodies just a little when we wake up, we can help ourselves feel both physically and mentally ready for the morning ahead. The first step is to make sure you’ve set your alarm to wake you up so you’ve got enough time to ease into the day rather than rushing. 2 YAWN IN…

“UNDERSTANDING AND USING THE BREATH PURPOSEFULLY IS A MAJOR SKILL” You’ve had a crazy day at work and you feel exhausted – it’s time to hit the hay. You get into bed but your mind is still racing. You toss and turn as the incessant chatter in your head reminds you about everything that happened today or all the things you need to do tomorrow. Even though your body feels tired, for some reason your mind just won’t shut off. Does this sound like a familiar story? If it does, you have your autonomic nervous system (ANS) to thank. The ANS regulates many of our unconscious bodily functions such as heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, urination and hormone production. It’s also responsible for what’s commonly referred to as the ‘fight…

METHOD 1 Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2. 2 In a saucepan, heat the milk with the cardamom, ginger and xylitol. Remove from the heat and add the grated zest of the orange and lemon. 3 Pour the milk mixture into a baking dish and stir in the rice. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 1 hour 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. After the cooking time, remove the foil, stir in the rose water then return the dish to the oven for a further 30 minutes. 4 To make the compote, place the apricots, apple juice and cinnamon stick in a pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add the nuts. 5 Spoon the rice pudding into bowls and top with a spoonful of the compote to…

Plant Apothecary Wake Up Organic Body Wash If you find it hard to get going when your alarm goes off, a squeeze of this body wash should give you the boost you need. Made from only eight natural ingredients, the gentle formula is lightly scented with reviving rosemary and lemongrass. Lather up from a refreshing, revitalising body wash or soap bar. £20, www.plantapothecary.com Moa Dreamy Mineral Soak Scatter this Himalayan and sea-salt soak into your bath and you’ll soon feel the soothing effects. Magnesium eases muscle aches, while lavender oil promotes relaxation, and spicy cardamom oil offers relief from emotional stress – the perfect recipe for deep, uninterrupted sleep. £25, moa.co.uk Scentered Sleep Well Travel Candle Deep, restorative sleep isn’t always a given when you’re on the move, so slip…

When talking about your natural sleep/wake cycle – your body clock – it’s important to understand the concept of circadian rhythms. Named from the Latin term ‘circa diem’, meaning ‘approximately a day’, a circadian rhythm is a biological process that takes roughly 24 hours to complete. Various aspects of your body and behaviour have their own rhythms, and these are controlled from deep within your brain. Within the hypothalamus (an almond-sized part of your brain that controls responses such as hunger and thirst) there’s something called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which acts as a sort of master clock and drives all the rhythms in your body. “It’s like a conductor and all the cells in your body are part of an orchestra,” says chronobiologist Dr Vikki Revell. “They’re able to drive…

Snoring isn’t normally caused by anything serious, though it’s worth raising with your GP if it’s persistent. And while your snoring might not be a problem for your sleep, it can be for your relationship: a study of 3,000 people by the National Sleep Foundation revealed that one in ten people split up with their partner over sleep issues. After all, snores typically hit about 70 decibels, which is the noise of a vacuum cleaner in the bedroom, or a plane going overhead. Hard to sleep through! If it’s not you who’s snoring but you’re partner, what can you do? While you can encourage healthier habits, you can’t force them to act. “It’s okay to put physical space between you and a snorer when you really need to sleep,” says…

YOUR SLEEP RESOLUTIONS Make a note of the changes you’d like to make – and record how you get on! MIND WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO CHANGE TO HELP YOU REST AND RELAX IN THE EVENING? ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ BODY DO YOU NEED MORE EXERCISE, OR TO AVOID CERTAIN FOODS? LIST YOUR CHANGES HERE… ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ BEDROOM BANISHING THE TV OR BUYING A NEW DUVET? WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO? ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................…