sleep smarter
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HEAD HITS THE PILLOW BUT YOUR
MIND IS RACING? Try making your
bedroom a blue-light free zone – that
means no TVs, laptops or mobile devices.
Any distractions that make sounds or flash
in the night will disturb your sleep.
WORRIED ABOUT FALLING ASLEEP
BEFORE YOU EVEN PULL BACK THE
COVERS? Avoid stimulants such as
alcohol and nicotine before bed. To help
calm a racing mind, try one of the
breathing exercises recommended by
our fitness expert Rachel Hubbard. Visit
thisworks.com to
learn more about
our experts.
SPEND YOUR
NIGHT TOSSING
AND TURNING?
On waking, try to
‘deactivate’ your
brain by entering
into a
monotonous
activity, for
example by
focusing on a
specific point of a
‘virtual’ picture or
replaying in your
mind part of a
film or
documentary, or
even the classic
“counting sheep”.
REPEATEDLY WAKING DURING THE
NIGHT? Spikes in your blood’s glucose
levels can impact your sleep, causing you
to be a chronic 4am waker. To help
maintain your blood glucose longer
through the night, try having a glass of
milk before bedtime.
SLEEP AND TEMPERATURE CONTROL
The environment in which you sleep greatly
affects the quality of your sleep and wake cycles.
Since both cold and heat affect your quality of
sleep, creating your own perfect micro-climate
in your bedroom yields important results when it
comes to how you look and feel on waking.
Heat exposure increases wakefulness so avoid
increasing your body temperature in the evening
before bed as this will inhibit the melatonin
release that sends you off – avoid late gym
sessions, long hot baths and excessive central
heating. Try to keep your room temperature at
around 18 – 20 degrees Celsius.
WE RECOMMEND
Body exposure to heat during sleep
increases wakefulness and decreases
deep and REM sleep. However
warming the hands and feet allows
heat evaporation – resulting in a
cooling of the body.
Keep your bedroom well ventilated
with doors ajar and a window open.
The best sleep wear for
thermo-regulation is loose-fitted and
allows your sweat to evaporate easily.
As you move into the wake-up period
your body temperature begins to rise again along
with cortisol levels.
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