Sleep Well Sampler

SLEEP WELL

WAKE UP REFRESHED REVEALED! THE LATEST RESEARCH INTO A RESTFUL NIGHT

EXPERT ADVICE

Your sleep problems solved tonight TO NAP OR NOT?

DREAM DIET

SLEEP SANCTUARY

Find the right routine to stay alert all day

Discover the foods that can help you sleep

A practical guide to the perfect bedroom

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E! RY D DIA

SI LEEP INAY S -D 28

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP

SLEEP WELL

DIARY 82 Better sleep Track your slumber for four weeks to discover what’s keeping you awake – and then find the right solution

SLEEP FACTS 09 Fall in love with sleep again Matt Haig explores the value of switching off and falling in love with sleep again

12 What happens while we sleep Anna Black takes us through each stage of the sleep cycle to reveal what happens while we slumber

19 Surprising sleep facts Psychologist Alice Gregory explains why night-time behaviour isn’t always what it seems

MIND

22 The new science of sleep

46 Look at sleep in a new light

We take a look at some enlightening facts about the phenomenon of sleep

How incorporating mindfulness into our daily lives can help us sleep better

28 Your life in sleep

54 Calm bedtime stories

From newborn to senior, discover how much sleep we need at each stage in our life

Meet the writer behind the stories that will help you drift off

36 Family matters

58 The 10 best audio apps

A toolkit for mums and dads to help with the long nights of parenthood

Music, meditation and musings for sleep

60 Say goodnight to insomnia

42 Are teens actually lazy?

Sarah Plater on how she beat sleeplessness

Professor Alice Gregory dispels the myths

64 Microsleeps and office naps Dr Nerina Ramlakhan looks at how modern life has affected our sleep

COMPETITION

The information in Sleep Well magazine is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice. If you’re concerned about your sleep or wellbeing, please speak to your GP.

111 Win a Mammoth mattress!

Your chance to win a fantastic new mattress, worth £799

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CONTENTS

BODY

BEDROOM

68 Create a bedtime routine Suzy Reading’s tips for a restful 24 hours

106 The perfect bedroom

72 Yoga to help you sleep Basic postures to relax body and mind

Make sure your bedroom is all set up for a blissful night of sleep

76 Wake-up routines

112 The 10 best sleep scents

Simple ways to ease into the day

Essential oils to help you rest and wake

80 The 10 best yoga apps

114 Look on the light side

Tools to help you get into a yoga routine

Chronobiologist Dr Vikki Revell explains how light and dark affect your body clock

83 Breathe your way to bliss

120 Screen control

Restore balance at bedtime with the help of The Breath Guy

Take charge of your screen time

88 Eat well, sleep well

123 Time zone trouble

Foods to help you snooze

Get your head around jetlag and shift work

95 A matter of balance

126 Dealing with noise

The role hormones play in sleep

How to cope with noisy neighbours and other stressful sounds at night time

100 Can natural remedies help?

130 Sleep myths busted

Alternative ways to relax

From nightcaps to sleepwalking

COMPETITION 119 Lumie Bodyclock & Lightbox You could win a Vitamin L Lightbox and Bodyclock Shine 300 from Lumie, to help you wake up brighter

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SLEEP FACTS

RECOMMENDED HOURS OF SLEEP PER 24 HOURS MAY BE APPROPRIATE HOURS OF SLEEP PER 24 HOURS

20 19

18-19

18 17

14 -17

16

16 -18 15 -16

HOURS PER DAY/NIGHT

15

12 -15

14

11 -14

HOURS PER DAY/NIGHT

13

11-13

12 11

HOURS PER DAY/NIGHT

10 -13 HOURS PER DAY/NIGHT

10 -11

10

14

9 -10

9 8

8 -9

7 6 5 HOURS OF SLEEP

4 3

0-3 MONTHS NEWBORN

28

4-11 MONTHS

1-2 YEARS

INFANT

TODDLER

28

3-5 YEARS PRE-SCHOOL

AGES OF SLEEP

YOUR LIFE IN SLEEP The way we sleep changes as we grow, with new issues to face at every stage. Colette Earley finds out more…

F

rom naps to big blocks of sleep, the way we snooze changes with age. But how do we know what’s normal? Should an infant be sleeping through the night? Is waking before sunrise a problem? Can you sleep for eight hours

20 19

but still feel tired the next day? These are just a few concerns regarding our sleeping habits. With the help of sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley we look at the sleep patterns for each age to assess what counts as ‘normal’ when we hit the hay.

18 17 16 15 14 13

9 -11 HOURS PER NIGHT

12

11

10 -11

8 -10

7-9

HOURS PER NIGHT

7 -8

6-13 YEARS SCHOOL AGE

HOURS PER NIGHT

7

6

14-17 YEARS

18-64 YEARS

ADOLESCENT

ADULT

29

11

9

10

7-8

9 8

HOURS PER NIGHT

7

5 -6

6

YEARS 65+

4

5

SENIOR

29

HOURS OF SLEEP

12

3

SLEEP FACTS

ARE TEENS ACTUALLY LAZY? Understanding the facts behind teenage lie-ins might help you be more empathetic with your offspring, says Professor Alice Gregory

42

TEENAGE SLEEP

hy do adolescents fnd 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 efectively suggests that the biological clock delays, or shifts later, at this stage of life compared with others – and it would help explain why adolescents go to bed late and struggle to get up in the morning.

W

Teenage kicks But what causes this shift in melatonin dynamics, and the associated late bedtime and wake time in adolescents? This phase delay, as it’s called, has long been attributed to adolescents

having far too much going on to go to bed early. They have homework to fnish, jobs to do, parties to attend and now numerous social media sites to monitor for fear of missing out on any social news. They work hard and they play hard. On top of this, parents start giving them greater autonomy in deciding when they go to bed. Together, these factors mean their bedtimes become late, then later, and their body clock and melatonin levels eventually fall into line with their apparent behavioural choices.

But the onrush of puberty seems much more important than chronological age alone. For example, it’s been found that the more physically developed teenagers are, the later they like to go to bed. The research points to changes in sleep patterns being another consequence of the extraordinary hormonal changes that take place during adolescence.

Why did teenage owls evolve?

What sort of evolutionary advantage could there be in allowing adolescents to run out of sync with everyone else in society?

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Photography: Susanne Walsthrom/Getty Images

THE ONRUSH OF PUBERTY SEEMS MORE IMPORTANT THAN CHRONOLOGICAL AGE ALONE. IT’S BEEN FOUND THAT THE MORE PHYSICALLY DEVELOPED TEENAGERS ARE, THE LATER THEY LIKE TO GO TO BED

MIND

MICROSLEEPS & OFFICE SIESTAS

(and why it’s normal to wake up at 2am) Could a catnap at work mean a better night’s sleep?

Dr Nerina Ramlakhan thinks we could all benefit from a break from the routine. Sarah Orme finds out more…

More people than ever are sufering from insomnia. Why are we sleeping so badly?

Insomnia has been around for a very long time but it’s particularly a problem at the moment because the world is going so fast. There are so many demands.

problems for over two and a half decades and I’ve noticed that when people don’t sleep well, and this goes on for too long, they might have physical problems – stomach problems, back problems, headaches, skin problems. And also emotional and mental health problems.

I’ve worked in psychiatry for over ten years, and the biggest part of my remit for that work was to help patients to get good sleep, because it was healing them. It was helping them to recover emotionally.

What happens to our body when we don’t get a good night’s sleep?

Humans are designed to spend roughly a third of their lives sleeping. When we sleep deeply it repairs the body on every level: physically, mentally, emotionally, and I believe spiritually as well. So we wake up in the morning and we feel inspired and passionate and creative, looking forward to the day ahead. When we don’t sleep well, we get the opposite of that. I’ve been working with sleep

In your book The Little Book Of Sleep, you mention the diferent types of sleeper.

Can you explain a bit about these?

If you look at the work of other sleep researchers they’ll talk about sleep chronotypes – the ‘owls’

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Photography: Paula Winkler/Getty Images

MICROSLEEPS

BODY

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EAT WELL, SLEEP WELL What you eat and drink can have a dramatic effect on the quality of your sleep, says nutritionist Christine Bailey.

And just a few simple tweaks could help you have a more restful night

T

he most common sleep disorder is insomnia, afecting one in three people. A bad night’s sleep can leave you struggling to focus and concentrate, not to mention irritable, tearful and lacking in motivation. And even if you don’t sufer with insomnia, just a few nights of broken sleep can signifcantly afect your health.

Poor sleep has been linked to a number of health problems including cardiovascular disease, depression, anxiety and weight gain. Insomnia also triggers the release of chemicals that encourage infammation associated with arthritis, infammatory bowel disease, heart disease and joint pain. Poor sleep can also exacerbate chronic pain conditions due to an increased sensitivity to pain.

But before you reach for the sleeping tablets, there’s a lot you can do to improve your sleep and tackle insomnia through dietary and lifestyle changes, with certain foods actively helping you to get a better night.

Watch out for stimulants Stimulants such as cafeine and nicotine contribute to a bad night’s sleep by making it harder for the brain to wind down.

The efects of cafeine last between three to seven hours in the

89

BEDROOM

CREATING THE PERFECT

BEDROOM For a good night’s sleep you need to make sure your bedroom is a comfortable, stress-free environment.

Kate Faithfull-Williams reveals the easy steps you can take to make your own night-time haven…

N

o matter how relaxed you are before bed, and how stress-free you might be feeling, you’re not going to get that restful sleep you’re longing for if your bedroom isn’t up to scratch. Whether it’s a lumpy mattress, paper-thin curtains or so much clutter you have to gingerly pick your way to the bed, there are various factors that can afect the quality and amount of sleep you get.

PILLOWS Don’t pile them high.

One is usually fne for suitable support.

TECH Keep the bedside table free of smartphones.

Move the TV out, too.

MATTRESS Invest time – then money – in fnding the right mattress for you.

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THE PERFECT BEDROOM

CURTAINS Thick curtains keep out unwanted light and environmental noise.

TEMPERATURE You sleep better in a cool room, so turn the heating down.

LIGHTING Lamps make it easier to keep light levels low for evening relaxation.

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Illustrations: Esther Curtis

BEDDING Natural fbres are key, and layers help with temperature control.

BRAND NEW MAGAZINE Get a great night’s sleep – naturally!

Learn how with this new magazine Expert solutions for tackling your sleep problems…

What’s normal for your age? Can mindfulness improve your rest?

Tackle night time noise How hormones affect your sleep… and more!

INSIDE! SLEEP DIARY TRACK YOUR HABITS TO SOLVE YOUR SLEEP PROBLEMS

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