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Make Sleep Your New Year Resolution

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If you’re thinking about a healthier start to the new year, then make sleep your new year’s resolution. Scientists and doctors agree that it’s one of the keys to good mental and physical health. If you’re wanting to lose weight it can also help with that too.

The post-Christmas sleep hangover

Many of us have fallen into bad habits over Christmas and New Year. We’re not just talking about eating and drinking too much. Socialising and binging on holiday TV means we stay up later and have a nice lie in. While we all need a rest, changing our sleeping patterns by a few hours has the same effect as jet lag. This results in tiredness, poor concentration and motivation, and disrupted eating habits. This is because you’ve disrupted your own internal clock – your circadian rhythm.

If this sounds like you then you need to read our blog on The Good Sleep Habit. With a great, and free, downloadable bedtime routine we’re here to help get your body back in synch.

Does getting good sleep help you lose weight?

Yes, according to the scientists. So if having a trimmer figure is one of your resolutions, ensure you are sleeping well. Research suggests that there is a positive link between good sleep and healthy body weight. One of the reasons involves how our body transmits the message that it’s hungry. Some studies suggest that lack of sleep increases your appetite, and that it also makes you crave foods that are higher in calories and carbohydrates.  Other studies indicate that sleep disorders impact your metabolism, the rate at which you burn calories, and can lead to weight gain. Less sleep might also simply mean that you’re awake and able to consume more food. If you can’t get to sleep late at night, or are waking in the early hours, you might turn to comfort food.

Finally, some research also indicates that if you are on a diet, insufficient sleep can restrict the diet’s effectiveness to lose fat. Having an unhealthy lifestyle, staying up late, being inactive and eating lots of comfort food means poor sleep and diet go hand in hand. But there’s clear evidence to suggest that if you sleep well and keep to a regular bedtime routine it can help battle the bulge and prevent obesity.

Download: Get The Good Sleep Habit

How do good sleep habits make you healthier?

Apart from your weight, getting good sleep has plenty of other health benefits. It keeps your immune system active for one thing, which we all need during a pandemic. During sleep your body repairs itself and produces what it needs to keep healthy. Poor sleep is also linked to an increased likelihood of getting dementia. A Harvard Medical School study found that getting less than five hours’ sleep at night made you twice as likely to develop dementia. While another study in Europe concluded that less than six hours sleep gave you a 30% increase in dementia risk. Other studies also suggest it increases the risk of diabetes and heart problems.

Sleep and its impact on motivation and mental health

The post-Christmas winter months are tough enough at the best of times, without the added stress and restrictions from Covid. Many people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder due to the lack of sunlight, which in turn disrupts sleep. Ensuring you have a regular bedtime routine and adequate sleep will help you with your mental and physical state. A recent John Hopkins study found healthy men and women whose sleep was interrupted throughout the night had a 31% reduction in positive moods the next day.

There’s no doubt that depression and insomnia go hand in hand. But it’s not clear which one comes first. What the doctors do recommend is that you should treat both symptoms if you want to be well. There’s no point trying to treat your depression if you continue to have poor sleep.

Practical ways to make sleep your new year resolution

If you do the same thing every day for 30 days, then it soon becomes a habit. You can download our bedtime routine now to help you improve your sleep in 2022.

Bedtime routine top tips include:

  • Sticking to the same bedtime hours
  • Getting ready for the next day the night before to reduce stress
  • Switching off tech an hour before bedtime
  • Having a warm milky drink – especially if it’s got natural sleep enhancing herbs like Sleep Well milk
  • Write a journal to calm your mind
  • Make your room as dark as possible.

We also have a downloadable 30 tips for getting ready for bed. Download it today for the best chance to make sleep your new year resolution.

All the Sleep Well team wish you a good, healthy sleeping 2022

Sleep Well hot chocolate

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Enjoy our delicious Sleep Well hot chocolate recipe, easy to make and perfect to wind down with at the end of a long day.

Sleep Well Hot Chocolate
Make your own Sleep Well hot chocolate

Sleep Well Hot Chocolate

So rich and creamy, just perfect for cold winter nights as part of a healthy bedtime routine. 😴

And best of all, it’s so easy to make! 😌

What you need

  • 1 x 200 ml carton of Sleep Well chocolate milk
  • 1 tbsp of whipped or squirty cream
  • 1 tbsp mini marshmallows
  • 1 tbsp chocolate sprinkles
  • A pinch of cinnamon powder (optional)

STEP 1

Heat the Chocolate Sleep Well milk in a small pan over a medium heat. Transfer to your favourite hot chocolate mug.

OR

Pour the Chocolate Sleep Well into your mug and heat for 30 seconds on high in the microwave. Give it a good stir to remove any hot spots.

STEP 2

Squirt the cream on top of the Sleep Well and add your favourite toppings. We love mini marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles. Why not add a little cinnamon for a final aromatic touch?

Download and print yours here 👇🏻

sw-hot-chocolate-print-recipe-2Download

Wishing you a happy sleepy bedtime from the Sleep Well team. 🌟 🎄

Would you like to get more tips and exclusive Sleep Well discounts? Sign up to our newsletter for more sleep tips. 👇🏻

UNDERSTAND YOUR SLEEP CYCLE BETTER

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Did you know? Sleep researchers divide sleep into four stages—stages 1, 2, 3, which are NON-REM and stage 4 which is REM. During the course of an eight-hour sleep period, a healthy sleeper should cycle through the various sleep stages roughly every 90 minutes. 

Here we’ve given you an overview of the different stages of sleep. It’s fascinating to understand what your body goes through and the changes it experiences during these vital eight hours.

LIGHT SLEEP

Stage 1

The sleep cycle begins here. This is the lighter stage of sleep. It’s when you’ve just drifted off to sleep, you’re still hearing things and have a sense of awareness so you can still be easily woken. During stage 1, your brain produces alpha and theta waves and your eye movements slow down. This stage usually only lasts around 7 – 10 minutes.

Fun fact: It’s common for people to experience sudden jerks or a sensation of falling during this stage.
 
Stage 2

during this stage, you are in a slightly deeper sleep which means you are less likely to awaken. It is during stage 2 where your body temperature drops and your heartbeat slows down.  The brain produces sudden increases in brain wave frequency known as sleep spindles. Following a spindle, the brain waves slow down again. Typically, we spend roughly 50% of our sleep time in stage 2.

Fun fact: If you were to schedule a “power nap” you’d want to wake up after this stage, before you head into a deeper sleep.

DEEP SLEEP 

Stage 3

This is the restorative stage. Stage 3 is the beginning of deep sleep, when the body repairs muscles and tissues, stimulates growth and development, boosts your immune function, and builds up energy to set you up for the day ahead.

Fact: it is during this stage when parasomnias like sleepwalking, talking or night terrors happen.
 
REM: 

This is the deepest of the four stages. It is during this stage when most dreaming happens, usually vivid ones too.Your eyes move rapidly in different directions (Rapid Eye Movement), your heart rate increases and breathing becomes more irregular. REM sleep helps the brain consolidate and process information it has gathered from the previous day, storing and filing it away into long-term memory. You tend to enter REM sleep about 90 minutes after falling asleep and it can last up to an hour. 

Fun fact: we often have customers saying they experienced more dreams than usual when they have had Sleep Well before bed. We take this as Sleep Well doing the trick at getting our happy sleepers into a deep sleep.

Switch Off and Sleep Well

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The world is a crazy place right now, so it’s no surprise that many of us are feeling overwhelmed. With constant news updates and government announcements, it’s hard to think about anything else. 

With stress and worry, comes a bad night’s sleep. And with bad sleep, comes more stress and worry! If you’re struggling to get your 8-a-night at the moment, here are some top tips to help you:

SLEEP SCHEDULE 
It may be tempting to go a little slack on your sleep routine while you’re working from home. It’s important not to swap the morning commute for a lie in as this will disrupt your circadian rhythm. Don’t use the fact that you’re working from your living room to stay up later either. Keep your sleep schedule consistent; your mind and body will thank you. 
 
STRETCH IT OUT
Take a moment to soothe your body and mind before bed with some yoga or gentle stretching. Not only will it improve your core strength and flexibility, it will also help reduce stress levels and boost relaxation. Namaste and sleep well!
 
SWITCH OFF
Whether it’s your laptop, smartphone or TV, you should avoid exposure to ‘blue light’ before bed. Blue light screens suppress the production of melatonin, which is the hormone your body produces to help you get to sleep. Plus, checking news headlines and social media updates just before bed will likely unsettle you. 
 
HEALTHY HABIT
A consistent bedtime routine is key for a good night’s sleep as it signals to the brain and body that it’s time for sleep. Whether it’s curling up with a good book, taking a warm bath or enjoying a mug of Sleep Well, doing the same, relaxing thing every night will help your mind and body settle. 

Wake up and face facts

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CNN recently published a brilliant article debunking common sleep myths. To read the full article click here. Which one are you guilty of believing?

Myth #1: Adults can survive on five or fewer hours of sleep

Evidence shows that sleeping five hours or less can massively impact your mental and physical health. Poor sleep is proven to contribute to high blood pressure, a vulnerable immune system and dementia. If your body isn’t rested, it directly affects your ability to pay attention and solve problems and, according to the National Institute of Health, your ability to learn new things drops by 40% when you don’t get enough sleep. So basically, a chronic lack of sleep is highly likely to have a negative effect on your performance and increases your chances of making mistakes.

Myth #2: It’s healthy to be able to fall asleep anywhere, anytime

If you find yourself falling asleep as soon as you get on the train or lie on the couch that isn’t a healthy napping skill. It’s a sure-fire sign that you aren’t getting enough sleep. Your body is so desperate for extra kip that it will take whatever opportunity it can get to play catch up. Want our advice? Go to bed when your body is telling you to, not when you’ve finished watching “just one more” episode of Game of Thrones. 

Myth #3: Drinking alcohol before bed helps you fall asleep

A night cap may put you to sleep faster, but it also reduces the quality of your sleep. Alcohol has negative affects on your REM sleep, which is the stage of sleep that helps boost your memory, concentration and learning. Why not wind down with a cup of Sleep Well instead as your nightcap of choice. A warm cup of milk as part of your healthy bedtime routine really can help you fall asleep and stay asleep and you don’t wake up feeling groggy in the morning.

Myth #4: Watching TV helps you relax before bed

This might be true, but it will also delay you feeling sleepy. Whether it’s your TV, laptop, iPad or smartphone, the blue light that is emitted from these devices suppresses the production of melatonin (the hormone your body produces to signal to your body clock that it’s time for shut eye). No melatonin, no feel sleepy. So try and avoid exposure to blue light from 45 minutes before you head to bead. Cozy up to a good book instead to help your mind settle. In a study from the University of Sussex, cognitive neuropsychologist Dr. David Lewis found that enjoying a book was one of the best ways to help people get to sleep.

Myth #5: Hitting snooze in the morning is fine

Hitting that snooze button does you no favours. You might drift back off to sleep, but those extra few minutes could do more harm than good because it confuses your natural body clock. By drifting back off to sleep, you are entering a new sleep cycle. You’ll then be woken up a few minutes later and waking up at the start of a sleep cycle makes you feel like you’ve had a bad night’s sleep.  So try putting your alarm clock on the other side of the room so you are forced to get out of bed to turn it off. Once you’re up you’re far less likely to hit snooze.

Summer Sleep

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Snoozing through the Solstice

The sun has reached its highest altitude of the year with the summer solstice and we’re celebrating at Sleep Well HQ with more than 16 hours of sunshine a day.  But, with these long, lazy hazy days of summer, many of us will struggle to sleep well.  It’s just too light outside! We wake up earlier because of the lighter mornings and the temptation is to stay up later. It just doesn’t feel right tucking ourselves into bed when the sun’s not yet set.

Melatonin is the naturally occurring hormone in our bodies that helps regulate our sleep and wake cycle. Our brains secrete more melatonin when it’s dark, sending signals to the body that it’s time to start winding down and getting ready for bed.  It’s melatonin that helps make us feel sleepy so it’s important to make your sleep sanctuary as dark as possible.

Darkness is your friend

When it’s time to sleep, make sure your room is as dark as possible. As well as investing in curtains made of thick fabric, buying blackout blinds to block light from the windows can make a huge difference.

Mask up

If you’re travelling or want an extra layer to make it even darker, pop on an eye mask. From cotton and silk to satin or polyester, eye masks are a great investment.  Top Tip: they’re also perfect if you want to have a nap in the day and don’t have time to reapply your makeup!

Let the air in

Sleeping with your window open to keep your room nice and cool is recommended but this can mean that pesky light creeps back in. Secure your blinds in place so they don’t flap and make sure you close your curtains fully; you get the benefit of cooler air without the light creeping in.

Turn it down

Keep the lights down if you get up during the night.If you need some light to move around safely, try installing a dim nightlight in the hall or bathroom or using a small flashlight. This will make it easier for you to fall back to sleep.

Top Posts

Sleep and mental health

Blog

THE RULES OF FLIGHT CLUB
The Good Sleep Habit
Beat Exam Stress
Myths about sleep
The power of dreams
Festive Colouring Fun
Get your Kids to sleep on Christmas Eve
Keep kids calm over Christmas
How to Sleep Well over Christmas
Night owl or early bird?