Sleep researchers dedicate their careers to understanding how and why we sleep 鈥� so what do they do to get a better night鈥檚 rest?
It might be reassuring to know that even the experts aren鈥檛 always able to practise what they preach. 鈥淚 think you鈥檒l find a lot of sleep researchers are not very good at sleeping,鈥� says at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
This article is part of special series investigating key questions about sleep. Read more here.
But one thing many of them agree on is that consistency is crucial. Here鈥檚 what else they had to say:
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MAKE A PLAN
鈥淚t is about prioritisation and planning. So I try not to have meetings before 10 o鈥檆lock, for example, because I am more of an evening type: I quite like to go to bed late and wake up late. So I鈥檓 thinking ahead in terms of what鈥檚 best for me with my sleep timing, my circadian timing, how can I try and arrange my schedule to support that?鈥�
, Timeshifter
CONTROL YOUR LIGHTING
鈥淲e dim our lights in our house pretty much when the sun sets, and then, in the mornings, turn the lights on inside as much as possible and certainly open up the window shades to get the sunlight in the house as soon as the sun is coming up. I think those are really important things: minimise light at night, maximise light in the morning.鈥�
, University of Utah
KEEP COOL
鈥淪leep science has shown that your body [temperature] should drop a full degree centigrade while sleeping, and so I do try to keep the room very cold and very dark.鈥�
, US National Institutes of Health
EAT AND DRINK AT THE RIGHT TIME
鈥淚 try to avoid eating after 9 o鈥檆lock at night and having caffeine after 5 o鈥檆lock, though how people metabolise caffeine is highly variable from one person to the next.鈥�
, King鈥檚 College London
SWITCH OFF
鈥淎nything that triggers stress will trigger arousal, a state in which you feel excited or very alert. So you want to avoid stress before bedtime, including checking your emails.鈥�
, Imperial College London
GO DARK
鈥淧ersonally, I love reading in bed, which is bad because of the light. Computers, scrolling on your smartphone, tablets, all that bright screen light, it just tells your brain to stay awake, so you should really try to avoid that as you鈥檙e going to bed. But listening to music, for instance, with your eyes closed, relaxing, something like that can be helpful if you鈥檙e not somebody who can go immediately to sleep.鈥�
, American Academy of Sleep Medicine
TRAVEL SMART
鈥淲hen I arrive in a new time zone, I consider my light exposure to try and help myself adapt as quickly as possible!鈥�
Victoria Revell, University of Surrey, UK
BED IS SACROSANCT
鈥淵ou should use your bed for sleeping and not for lounging in. I鈥檝e become very good at not watching TV in bed, and I think that helps.鈥�
Malcolm von Schantz, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
GO WITH THE FLOW
鈥淟ike many people, I go through different stages of sleep. When I was a new mum, my sleep was terrible, but I鈥檝e gone through that whole patch. So what I would like to say is keep an open mind about your sleep, because sleep does change quite a lot throughout the years.鈥�
, University of Warwick, UK
