Love Your Sleep

Sleep is the single most important health behaviour we have. In 2011, "how to sleep" was the sixth most common "how to" search on Google, and when it comes to falling asleep, modern day stresses mean we're all struggling to get a good night's rest. With new research revealing that six out of ten people in Britain are sleep deprived, leading sleep physicians have proven sleep deprivation doesn't discriminate. No matter who you are, whether you are young or old, male, female, healthy or ailing, you can't cheat sleep and expect to be all that you can be (or need to be) for yourself and your loved ones.

Scientific literature is extremely clear about the dangers of sleep loss. Poor sleep damages health. With computers, smart phones, and 1,000-station HDTVs, our sleep-crisis might be at an all-time high - creating a multitude of health hazards, including depression and obesity. When you get adequate rest, your levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, go down, meaning you'll eat less without trying. Experts estimate that compared to getting seven-to-eight hours of sleep per night, the risk of developing obesity rises by 23 percent with just six hours of sleep, 50 percent with only five hours, and 7 percent with just four hours of Zs each night.

Thus excessive sleeplessness can result in higher rates of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease and increased cholesterol and depression. Other than these debilitating to literally deadly symptoms, there are also the aching muscles, headaches, irritability, ADD/ADHD symptoms, memory loss, lack of creativity and resourcefulness, as well as compromised problem solving abilities.

Driving while drowsy, for instance, is as dangerous as drink driving, and there has already been research linking changes in sleep patterns to a decline in thinking skills, and that disrupted sleep may also be a warning sign of Alzheimer's disease, while nightmares can reveal a lot about your health. Sleeplessness can also stimulate sugar cravings for refined, carb-loaded foods, which in turn scientists believe damage your self-control and change your behaviour making you less prepared to eat healthy foods.

Other studies point out that as important as exercise is for creating energy and maintaining our recommended body weight; it doesn't stack up to the health benefits of proper sleep. Just one poor night's sleep has been proven to be more harmful to our health than missing up to two workouts within a week - all of which suggests the importance of a good night's rest.

Click here for everything you need to know about sleep.

Experts say popping a pill won't correct sleep issues. The real problem, rather, is our over-active minds racing to solve problems that sometimes don't even exist. Increasing numbers of people are asking for help with sleep disorders and some of them are doing rather strange things during the night. Assuming it isn't something we ate or drank, and aren't in some kind of pain, sleeplessness is most generally a symptom of stress. Here's how it works: Stress-induced anxiety causes our bodies to release small doses of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenalin, which are primitive fight or flight hormones - obviously not at all conducive to relaxation or sleeping.

The secret to falling asleep quickly and staying asleep lies within calming our minds. Even if we do have a legitimate and concerning problem, logically we know we're better off getting a good night's sleep so we can solve the problem the following day from a resourceful, rather than an exhausted, state. Moreover, scientific opinion suggests that dreaming helps with multiple tasks, including helping the brain reboot and helping us solve problems. In short, you can improve your days, by improving your nights.

Heal your body as you sleep

Do you meditate? If you answered no, guess again! Experts in Chinese medicine say every night you go to sleep you engage in the most natural form of meditation your body can experience. Sleeping is a natural form of meditation, it's the perfect way to balance yin and yang energy in the body.

Traditional Chinese medicine says too much yang energy or too much yin energy can cause blockages in the body's energy channels and lead to health problems. Sleeping helps to balance your energy. It's believed that during sleep, the energies of the heart, mind, body, and spirit unite.

To help you sleep like a baby - and fine-tune your energy while you do it - consider these tips from the experts:

• Exercise daily to detoxify acidic energy in the body. Walking, slow running, weight lifting, yoga, or tai chi can all help you go deeper into sleep so the body can balance more quickly.

Stretching can also relax and prepare you for sleep. Lie on the floor on your right side with your right arm bent underneath your head for support. Bend both legs so you're comfortable. Imagine that you're lying on a big clock. Extend your left arm in front of you on the floor as if it's a clock hand pointing to 9 o'clock. Slowly rotate your arm toward 12 o'clock. As you hit 1 o'clock, you'll start to roll onto your back, but keep your hips and legs where they are. Keeping your arm on the floor, rotate it through all the numbers on the clock (your palm will flip up momentarily as it moves behind you), over your hips, and back to the starting position. (Where you'll feel it: shoulders and upper back, then chest and middle back, and finally hips and lower back.) This exercise is said to be good for shoulder pain, too.

• Eat a light meal in the evening, and stop eating two hours before bed. Consider eating a small baked potato as part of your evening meal. This calms the energy of the brain and pancreas, helps balance hormone energy, and helps the body relax.
• Don't drink any teas, coffee, or alcohol at least two hours before bed. Some suggest taking caffeine before an afternoon nap to wake refreshed, but not for night time sleep.

  Coffee v smoothies: Which is better for you?

  Many people swear by an alcoholic drink to unwind at the end of the day, but alcohol before bed can actually disrupt your sleep. You'll be more likely to wake up more often in the early-morning hours, wake up and not be to fall back to sleep or have disturbing dreams. As alcohol is metabolised by the liver, it has a disruptive effect. It takes a few hours to metabolise, so a drink with dinner shouldn't be a problem, but anything too close to bedtime can be counter-productive. Opt for herbal drinks with calming properties instead.

• Avoid watching violent films or TV shows before sleep. It's believed that as you sleep, those images are still processing in your brain, in every cell in your body which can prevent you from having a peaceful sleep.
• Before bed, take a hot bath filled with a handful of sea salt, or soak your feet in a basin of hot water with three tablespoons of sea salt.
• Getting out of bed if you can't sleep may sound crazy - how will you ever get to sleep if you're not even in bed? - but it works, say experts. When a person stays in bed and they can't sleep, the bedroom can induce a certain level of anxiety. Experts recommend after 15 or 20 minutes, to get out of bed, sit in another part of the house until you feel a little groggy, then go back to sleep. Staying in bed can condition you to become anxious in bed. A small 2011 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that among the adults studied who reported trouble sleeping, those who spent less time in bed had better sleeping habits.
• Go to sleep and wake up the same time every day to allow your body to align with its natural body clock.
• Sleep on your right or left side or on your back. Some experts suggest when sleeping on your side bend your knees, in the foetal position - like a baby in the womb. Avoid sleeping on your stomach, which can cause your neck to twist and energy blockages to develop gradually in your body.
• Put a smile on your face as you close your eyes. Smiling causes your brain to send out endorphins that help you feel good.
• Calm your mind from the day's thoughts by visualising yourself somewhere far away, e.g., visualise you are sleeping in the cradle of the moon. Relax your body from head to toe, breathing slowly, deeply, and gently. Focus your attention on your navel as you breathe. Imagine bright, loving energy there. Send unconditional love energy to your lungs and to any part of your body where you have pain (if you have any). Allow your body to feel the love.

  Focusing on the breath, whether it's as part of a pre-bed yoga sequence or just a tuned-in awareness, can also have meditation-like effects in preparing for bed, like lowering the heart rate.

• Some experts suggest that you send a message to your body. For example, say to yourself, "Tonight I will sleep in eight hours of meditation. Tomorrow when I wake, all my channels are open. All the blockages in my body are gone. I am completely healed, and I feel happy and healthy".
• When you wake in the morning, don't spring out of bed right away. Lie still as you take three deep breaths. Then rub your hands and massage your face. Massage your ears. Then get up and enjoy your day.

When you sleep well and feel peace in your body, every cell has time to rejuvenate. It is said to develop your mental concentration and help clear your body's energy channels to promote healing. More practically, a good night's rest means the next morning you wake up with good energy and are ready to face the day ahead.

Advice on sleeping better

The importance of getting to the bottom of a person's sleep problems before it takes its toll on their health cannot be emphasised enough. As with proper nutrition and exercise, sleep fulfils a vital role in keeping us healthy and happy. Scientists are only beginning to understand what lack of sleep does to us.

For example, a team of researchers from the University of Surrey claims that a run of poor sleep can alter the internal workings of our body. The experts analysed the blood of one group of people after they had had plenty of sleep, and compared the results with those of another group who had been restricted to less than six hours. The results showed that 700 genes had been altered by the change in sleeping patterns, meaning our basic chemistry had been tampered with.

Can people get by on four hours' sleep?

As mentioned before, the fact that lack of sleep is bad for us is long established, and it has previously been linked to obesity, heart disease and diabetes. This University of Surrey study is merely yet more proof that getting enough sleep is a vital part of staying healthy. And it's not just the physical risk you have to worry about - lack of sleep also affects our mental well-being.

Research has also shown it impacts on attention and memory in most people. Lack of sleep diminishes levels of concentration and makes you liable to mood swings and depression. Sleep affects our learning and problem solving capabilities. We need a good night's sleep to ensure we're feeling fit, thinking sharply and generally give us the appetite and enthusiasm to make the most of everyday living.

Read how to get the perfect night's sleep.

Scientists say to get the perfect night's sleep we need to control three factors: behavioural, environmental and dietary. Before providing some simple tricks experts recommend for you to use to awaken to a brighter tomorrow, first here are a couple of things not to do:

• Counting sheep to fall asleep is believed to be counter-productive. Some experts say that counting anything actually hinders sleep because rather than easing the mind, it engages it.
• Lying in bed for a long period of time is also counter-productive - it just increases anxiety. Once you've lain in bed for 20 minutes with no sleepy symptoms, get up, relocate to a relaxing area and try reading or listening to music in low light.
• Clock watching is really taboo. It not only creates anxiety, but it activates the portion of the mind used for calculation and analysis. You may think, "Okay, it's 12:05 now, the alarm goes off at 6:15 - only 6 hours and 10 minutes of sleep. And that's if I fell asleep this second! That's not enough!" And this will bring on the fight or flight hormones.

Now, here are some science-based tips that experts recommend will work for you:

• Banish the blues: Avoid using computers, smartphones or tablets in the two hours before going to bed. The blue light stimulates the brain and keeps you awake.
• The list: Make a list of all of the things you have to do the next day or that are playing on your mind. This helps prevent you poring over these issues in bed.
• Tire your brain: If you are struggling to sleep, make your brain tired by thinking of an animal for each letter of the alphabet (A is for Ant, B is for Bear, etc).
• Move your bed: You have evolved to feel safe when you can spot danger early and have time to run away. This means you will feel most relaxed when your bed faces the door and is far away from it.
• Reach for a banana: Eat a banana before you head to bed. They are rich in carbohydrates, which help relax your body and brain.
• Employ reverse psychology: Actively trying to stay awake actually makes you feel tired, so try keeping your eyes open and focus on not falling asleep.
• Wear socks: If you have bad circulation, your feet will get cold and cause sleeplessness. To avoid the problem, wear a pair of warm socks in bed.
• Avoid nightcaps: Although a small amount of alcohol puts you to sleep quicker, it also causes a more disturbed night and disrupts dreaming.
• Do a jigsaw: If you lie awake for more than 20 minutes, get up and do something non-stimulating for a few minutes, such as working on a jigsaw.
• Engage the power of association: Ensure the same piece of soporific music is quietly playing each time you fall asleep. Over time, you will associate the music with sleep, and listening to it will help you to nod off.
• Keep a personalised bed routine: About two hours before bedtime try a hot shower to raise - then lower - the body temperature. This phenomenon triggers the body to prepare for rest.

  Follow it up with a relaxing herbal drink with calming properties, and a relaxation CD that includes guided imagery techniques and/or progressive muscle relaxation.

  Then, when you finally hit the sack, try to have some white noise, like a fan, in the background to cancel out any sounds that may cause thought.

  Turning problems over to the subconscious and forgetting about them consciously does away with worry and a racing mind. This actually primes the mind for brilliance by simply programming it to find solutions, which will be accessible the following day.

  After the problem has been delegated and is no longer a worry consciously, breathe deeply with eyes closed while wearing a smile. Lightly concentrate on the good things and simple pleasures in life and then slowly let even those thoughts go while focusing more and more on the breath as you drop off to sleep.

Sleep experts claim these tips will start you on a higher energy path. Once that energy is reached, couple it with some regular exercise for that truly super-charged feeling. Religiously nourish your body with proper nutrition, exercise, recreation, sleep and relaxation techniques. Being tired, hungry, and cranky can ruin your day, decrease your performance, and have a big impact on how you deal with others around you.

Fortunately, it's easy to solve the hunger problem. Just grab a quick snack. But you can't instantly fix being tired, at least not in a way that doesn't come without repercussions. Power naps are great, but you need to train your body to be able to fall off to sleep quickly. For starters, keeping regular hours, going to bed and getting up at roughly the same time, all the time, will programme your body to sleep better.

Secondly, it's essential that you get your sleeping set-up just right by creating a restful sleeping environment. This means your bedroom should be kept for rest and sleep and it should be neither too hot, nor too cold, and as quiet and dark as possible. Make sure your bed is comfortable. It's difficult to get deep, restful sleep on one that's too soft, too hard, too small or too old - and avoid stimulants (especially alcohol and cigarettes) that interfere with falling asleep and prevent deep sleep. So wind down with a warm bath, soothing music or gentle yoga, switch off your phone, and have a hot milky drink or herbal tea, while taking care not to over indulge in food.

Read how to get a better night's sleep.

Surprisingly, there is no magic number when it comes to how many hours of sleep we need per night, though it is thought you would struggle to function on less than six. Everyone's requirements are different; some of us cope far better on less than others, but there is a fairly general consensus that around seven to nine hours is the average needed to feel refreshed and function well, both mentally and physically. If you're getting a little less, there's probably no need to worry, but a lot less is a problem.

Research has found that those who frequently get fewer than six hours a night are at significantly increased risk of stroke and heart disease, with evidence that not sleeping enough may ramp up the "fight or flight" response to stress, releasing hormones that speed up heart rate and raise blood pressure. There is also research that says dividing night time into two segments, with a midnight interval might also be beneficial. Sex is also a great stress buster, and something to have in between your first and second sleeps.

It's simple stuff, what we all know we should do it, but somehow most of us seem to think we can beat our sleep requirement. If you're one of them, then you need to deal with the root of the problem. It will make a big difference in your life. Prioritise sleep, the experts say, and before you know it, you'll go from pooped to passionate and progressive.

Early wake-up call to more sleep remedies

We could all do with some great advice on how to sleep better - and have more daytime energy because of it. The best tip experts converge on is that getting up earlier is the answer to almost any problem in life - because it gives you more time, and often your best energy, to devote to the BIG challenges you're facing.

We've all been there, and we all know the effects of a sleepless night. Simply getting through the next day can be miserable, and you're guaranteed to be less productive. At worst, a lack of sleep can cause us to fall short of work and personal expectations. Without rest, we can't be the same leaders, parents, spouses, and friends.

Before modern medicine, doctors dismissed the problems of those who couldn't sleep. Today, however, if a person tells their physician they often feel uncommonly tired, doctors are quick to test for sleep disorders. Waking up tired may sound like no more than an annoyance, but it can be a sign of more serious, even potentially fatal, disorders. For instance, studies have shown that due to sleep irregularities, shift workers more at risk of having a heart attack or stroke than day workers, because of the disruption to the body clock and adverse effect on lifestyle.

The consequences of restless sleep aren't just in your head. A lack of sleep has been proven to lead to higher rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression. While you should be aware of the potential for these long term problems, you will certainly feel the short term side-effects when you wake up after a night of poor sleep.

Click here to zap your stress levels.

As mentioned already, these short term effects include aching muscles, headaches, irritability, ADD/ADHD symptoms, memory loss and the general sense of not being up to par. After a sleepless night, the quality of your work will suffer, especially when it comes to problem solving, resourcefulness and creativity. So it's important to monitor your stress levels - and your diet, too.

Foods not to eat before bed

Some foods are actually quite healthy, even acting as stealthy muscle builders or sleep promoters, when eaten right before bed. So, if you like a little snack to "tide you over" while you sleep, you're in luck.

Others, as you're probably aware, are not such a good choice and may interfere with your sleep or make you gain weight. How can you differentiate between a good bedtime snack and a bad one?

There's no hard and fast rule, but it is generally recommended to avoid protein three hours before bed, and to increase carb intake. Experts have provided a cheat sheet for you to use when it's late and you're ready to raid the fridge. It includes five foods not to eat before bed, and three believed to benefit your sleep.

Suggested foods not to eat before bed are:

1. Ice cream, cookies, cake, and anything with lots of sugar (including breakfast cereal): If you've got a sweet tooth, resist the urge to splurge right before bed. The extra sugar will cause a spike in your blood sugar, making your energy levels jump and then plummet. This wacky energy roller-coaster is the last thing you need to help you fall asleep.
2. Spicy foods: Bedtime is not the time to break out your favourite hot sauce, experts say, as spicy foods can interfere with your sleep. One reason for this is indigestion, but there's more to it than that. They may also raise your body temperature, which can lead to poor sleep quality. Research shows, too, that when men ate Tabasco sauce and mustard right before bed, they spent more time awake during the night and took longer to fall asleep.
3. Steak: A big juicy steak right before bed might sound tempting, but red meat takes a long time to digest. This means that when you should be sleeping, your body will have to be hard at work digesting this fatty, protein-laden meal. Not exactly a recipe for restful slumber. Experts suggest you try a turkey sandwich with peanut butter or almond butter (see further below), instead.
4. Dark chocolate: Ordinarily, dark chocolate is one of the best desserts to try, as it's got the highest level of antioxidants of all types of chocolate. However, it's also got the most caffeine, and if you eat it right before bed, well, you might as well just drink a cup of strong coffee along with it.
5. Citrus fruits: Because citrus fruits are so acidic, they're notorious for causing indigestion and heartburn - especially if you eat them and then go and lie down. Save your grapefruit and oranges for earlier in the day, and if you want fruit before bed, opt for cherries or a banana (see below).

And the recommended three best foods to eat before bed if you're feeling hungry are:

1. Bananas: Some food experts give bananas a bad rap over its radiation levels and there is some debate over weight loss issues, but bananas are an often-overlooked but excellent source of tryptophan - an amino acid your body converts into serotonin - which boosts your mood and promotes restful sleep. Bananas also contain magnesium and potassium, which help your muscles relax, and even have a bit of melatonin, a hormone your body produces when it's time to go to sleep.

   The benefits of bananas.

2. Tart cherry juice: Cherries are another natural source of the "sleep hormone" melatonin, and research shows that levels are elevated in people who drink tart cherry juice regularly. Plus, one study found that drinking tart cherry juice improved sleep quality, increased total sleep time by about 25 minutes and boost "sleep efficiency", a measure of sleep quality, by up to 6 percent.
3. Almond butter: Spread a tablespoon or two of almond butter on apple or banana slices, or even eat it straight from the jar. Almonds are a good source of sleep-promoting, muscle-relaxing magnesium, and they contain just enough protein to help keep your blood sugar levels steady while you sleep (without weighing you down like heavier protein sources).

While some of your sleep issues may come from acute stress and your diet, a chronic inability to sleep may have more serious-and urgent-origins. Fortunately, in addition to natural remedies for sleep disturbances, there are technological innovations and solutions for the more serious ailments affecting our sleep.

One of the most interesting and rapidly growing subsections of the medical industry involves a powerful sleep aid, the CPAP machine (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure). If you're unfamiliar, the CPAP machine is a small air compressor connected to tubing which channels air through a mask worn while sleeping. The principle behind the technology is to open airways by forcing air through them and into the lungs.

If you have problems with restricted airways (due to genetics or being overweight), you may want to look into a CPAP machine. Heavy snoring may be a sign of obstructed airways. The vibrations of snoring cause swelling of the airways, which worsens the snoring; it can turn into a destructive, self-perpetuating cycle. If you don't take measures against this effect, it may eventually cause apnoea, when breathing actually stops for short periods.

However, most of us miss sleep or otherwise sleep poorly due to the stress of everyday life. We find ourselves contemplating all of the things we failed to accomplish that day, worrying about office politics or family obligations, stressing about the future. Instead, we should be anticipating the comfort of our cosy beds and the total relaxation and rejuvenation which accompanies a good night's sleep.

No need for alarm with a calm mind

When your mind's racing and you can't sleep, what's happening - assuming you didn't just down a 5-hour energy drink - is hormonal response to anxiety. Remember stress causes our bodies to release small doses of the hormones cortisol and adrenalin that are primitive fight or flight aids.

Read about fuel for the body.

While your body thinks it's doing you a favour by releasing hormones to keep you up (because, for the primitive human, sleeping at the wrong time meant you might get eaten by a lion), your lack of sleep makes you even more anxious. Your thoughts race faster and faster as you think about how little sleep you'll get. With every minute, you get more stressed - and more awake. How can you break this cycle and get some much needed sleep?

There are thousands of books, medications and products on the market to help remedy sleeplessness. However, very few cut to the core of the problem's source. Despite what the advertisers on late night TV would have you believe, the problem is not that we have a sleeping pill deficiency. Rather, the real problem is our over-active minds, and their pursuit to solve problems which don't even exist yet.

If we don't consciously guide our minds, they frequently come up with their own agenda of minor issues to stress over. And they have no problem working overtime to make sure this gets done. The cause of much of our sleeplessness is our own thoughts. Knowing that, we can treat the source.

The secret to falling asleep quickly and staying asleep is calming your mind. Keep in mind the tips provided above - close your eyes, breathe deeply and smile. Concentrate lightly on the simple pleasures in life. Slowly, let your thoughts go and begin to focus more and more on your breath. As you inhale and exhale, focus your mind on the sound, feeling, and experience of your own breath. Feel the calmness come rushing into your mind.

Even if you do have a legitimate problem worthy of concern, you know, logically, that you're better off getting a good night's sleep. That way, you can attack the problem tomorrow from a resourceful, creative mindset instead of an exhausted one. So, the next time you're squinting at your alarm clock in the middle of the night, tossing and turning, just remember one thing: clear your mind.

Click here to banish fatigue.

When you can relax and sleep easier, you will be able to wake up earlier and make your day more productive. You'll rise each morning with vigour and purpose. Soon, you'll see the benefits of peaceful sleep in all corners of your life. Your productivity at work will improve and so will your relationships with family, friends, and your spouse. Let calmness replace your worried thoughts, and you'll wake up refreshed and ready.

A few surprising sleep facts

• Evidence is mounting that taking a power nap during the day appears to enhance information processing and learning. New experiments by Alan Hobson M.D., Robert Stickgold Ph.D., and colleagues at Harvard University show that a midday sleep reverses information overload and shows a 20 percent improvement in learning a motor skill Researchers say super-achievers have discovered a much more effective "pause that refreshes" than energy drinks - the power nap. However as a side note, some also say you can boost the effectiveness of a power nap by drinking a cup of coffee just before a nap, as you'll wake up feel refreshed and better with the caffeine "hit" kicking in as you wake.
• Cornell psychologist Dr. James Maas, writes that a 20 minute nap in the afternoon actually provides more rest than sleeping an extra 20 minutes in the morning. He also writes that napping should be considered a part of one's "daily exercise routine".
• The Mediterranean habit of a siesta (or a catnap) is an especially good idea - as an hour of sleep between 2pm and 4pm can be very energising. If you've had a disturbed night, even catnapping for a few minutes can help to keep you going.
• Top-notch scientist Albert Einstein liked to give his brain plenty of rest. He used to sleep for 12 hours every day.
• Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was famous for needing only 4 hours sleep each night - though she also used to take a nap during the day. Another prime minister, Winston Churchill, got into bed for a sleep every afternoon.
• Lullabies and soothing music before bedtime can really do the trick to get you off to sleep. A 2005 study found that older people who listened to 45 minutes of soft tunes before hitting the hay reported a 35 percent improvement in their sleep problems. But it doesn't have to be Brahms, if that's not your style. As long as the music was soft and slow - around 60 to 80 beats per minute - it can spur physical changes known to promote sleep, like a slower heart rate and breathing, the BBC reported. Experts say that when a person closes their eyes they induce a certain frequency of brainwaves. Slow music may have a similar effect, they surmise, leading to sleep onset.
• Experts say studies show that taking a warm bath before bed can help induce sleep. Your body temp dips about two hours before bedtime, Health magazine reported, a natural change that triggers our brain for sleep onset. Soaking in a warm bath beforehand boosts your temperature temporarily, but results in a dramatic, rapid cool down after you get out that relaxes you and eases you into sleep. It's not necessarily the bath that lulls you to sleep, it's that resulting cooling of your body temperature, experts emphasise. Research shows that people who take a warm bath before bed not only fall asleep more quickly, but also report better quality of sleep, they say.
• Counting imaginary sheep (or counting backwards by multiples of three or any of a number of other counting-related mind-numbers) is said to be a useless way of trying to get to sleep (unless your goal is to bore yourself to sleep), though possibly not as bad as sixteenth century Elizabethans who would rub dormouse fat on the soles of their feet when they couldn't sleep (this wouldn't work). Imagining a relaxing scene is said to be a much better technique that works (and less smelly, too), a 2002 study found.

  The study observed 41 people with insomnia over a number of nights and asked them to try a variety of different sleep-inducing techniques, like counting sheep. On the nights they were told to imagine relaxing scenes like a beach, a massage or a walk in the woods, they fell asleep an average of 20 minutes sooner than on the nights they were told to count sheep or were given no instructions, the study reported.

  Other experts agree that counting sheep in and of itself may not help, but can act as a ritual that prepares us for sleep, making it not unlike meditation. Counting sheep - or more relaxing guided imagery - helps us focus on something other than life's stressors. Thinking about a soothing environment may be more restful than the way you spent the last eight hours.

• One long-standing urban myth is that eating cheese too close to bedtime will give you nightmares. This belief is recorded in the Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol. The miser Scrooge is visited in the night by the disturbing vision of his deceased friend, which he blames on eating 'a crumb of cheese' just before going to bed. Although eating too close to bedtime causes your digestive system to work making it more difficult to get to sleep, an investigation in 2005 discovered that there is a connection between cheese and dreams - but not nightmares. The results of the study showed that people slept well, and remembered their dreams more clearly than usual. People who ate blue cheese had especially vivid dreams.
• It was once thought that a glass of warm milk at bedtime would help send you off to dreamland because of the tryptophan, The New York Times reported, but milk and other protein-rich foods actually block tryptophan's sleepiness-inducing effects. However, there might still be a psychological benefit to that warm milk, the Times concluded, calling it "as soothing as a favourite old blanket."

  Some experts say there have been some studies showing that when infants receive warm milk before bed, they'll dream a little bit more, but the results don't hold true in adults. It may be one of those myths that because it happens in children, adults think it may be true for them, too, however, many adults are actually at least slightly lactose intolerant, experts say, meaning a warm milk at bedtime may just lead to discomfort. Opt for a herbal remedy instead.

• Another myth lots of people will tell you is that you should never wake a sleepwalker, because they will have a heart attack, seizure or fit, or attack you. In actuality it's quite difficult to wake a sleepwalker, but there's no health reason not to do it. The person may be surprised or disorientated, though, so experts suggest it's best to try and gently lead them back to bed without waking them.

Lights out for weight loss

Experts say the light from your alarm clock might also be a contributing factor to the quality of sleep. Studies suggest that a darkened room not only contributes to falling asleep easily, to staying asleep all night and waking up in the morning refreshed and eager to get the day started - it could also help your body to keeping its weight down.

Health journalists often write about the popular subject of how to lose weight, but does how you sleep affect weight loss?

Most elimination diet nutritionists suggest you can eat as much food as you want every day if you follow a strict diet: no gluten, corn, soy or dairy. Most suggest exercise. But a few experts also believe another factor helps - sleeping in a bedroom that's pitch black at night.

We live in a society that produces an endless amount of light. Aside from our electric lights and street lights, we spend much of the day staring into televisions, cellphones and computer monitors. Even our alarm clocks, stoves and microwaves usually have small displays and clocks that throw off light.

Many scientists believe all that artificial light is throwing off our body's natural rhythms, which are attuned to the Earth's natural day-night cycle. In fact, a growing body of research suggests that our exposure to too much artificial light may contribute not only to higher cancer rates, but also to our society-wide weight gain.

Researcher David B. Allison, Ph.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham thinks that human light pollution may be contributing to global weight gain in humans and even animals. He believes that richer food and less exercise doesn't seem to explain why so many animals (as well as people) are getting fatter.

He notes that:

Some of the animals [that have gained weight] might have become less active, but others would have remained at normal activity levels. Yet, they all showed overall weight gain. The consistency of these findings among animals living in different environments, including some where diet is highly controlled and has been constant for decades, suggests the intriguing possibility that increasing body weight may involve some unidentified or poorly understood factors.

A research paper that Allison co-wrote for the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society observes that studies have shown that subtle changes in the amount of time spent in light or dark environments change eating habits. It is possible that increased light pollution in our industrial society may play a role in making mammals (that includes us) gain weight.

Light's negative effects on sleep

Along with possibly adding pounds to your middle, too much light at night hampers release of the hormone melatonin from the pineal gland. Melatonin influences sexual development and sleep-wake cycles. In addition to its role in regulating the sleep-wake cycle, melatonin has been shown to lower blood pressure and body temperature and has also been explored as a treatment option for insomnia, hypertension and cancer. It is best known for helping with insomnia and jet-lag and, to a lesser extent, anxiety.

In 2007, the European Union approved melatonin as a medication, which means studies have been increasing. A study at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical shows that exposure to light at night significantly restricts melatonin production. Researcher Joshua Gooley, Ph.D. says,

On a daily basis, millions of people choose to keep the lights on prior to bedtime and during the usual hours of sleep. Our study shows that this exposure to indoor light has a strong suppressive effect on the hormone melatonin. This could, in turn, have effects on sleep quality and the body's ability to regulate body temperature, blood pressure and glucose levels.

Given that chronic light suppression of melatonin has been hypothesized to increase relative risk for some types of cancer and that melatonin receptor genes have been linked to type 2 diabetes, our findings could have important health implications for shift workers who are exposed to indoor light at night over the course of many years.

Further research is still needed to both substantiate melatonin suppression as a significant risk factor for breast cancer and determine the mechanisms by which melatonin regulates glucose metabolism.

Experts also suggest to use thick drapes to keep light out of your room at night. Use thick, blackout drapes, for example, over the Venetian blinds on your windows while turning off and unplugging all of your electric devices. Buy a battery powered alarm clock that does not have a lit display. Keep a flash-light by the side of the bed to use if you need to get up at night and have to find your way around.

The sleep solution that can help an ageing brain

Melatonin is the night-time hormone that regulates your sleep cycle. It is deeply embedded in the fabric of the human brain and body—and a new study suggests that it could prevent brain deterioration and even Alzheimer's disease.

The mice involved were in the initial stages of Alzheimer's and showed learning difficulties and behavioural changes, such as anxiety and apathy. Three groups of mice did exercise (the running wheel), took a dose of melatonin equivalent to 10 milligrams per kilogram body weight, or a combination of the two.

Six months later, the mice undergoing treatment were closer to the mice that had no mutations, meaning the Alzheimer's disease had significantly regressed. Results showed improved behaviour, learning, and memory. Melatonin and exercise also protected brain tissue from oxidative stress and helped shield it from certain factors that increase the seriousness of Alzheimer's.

Of course, it should be noted that the study was on mice (poor animals), so transferring data to humans is not always consistent. For instance, a human develops Alzheimer's over several years so when you start losing memory, the brain has already suffered a great deal. Still, studies have found signs of physical and mental benefits in Alzheimer's patients resulting from exercise and melatonin. In the absence of drug treatment, we must turn to lifestyle changes, including fitness, eating right, and taking supplements.

Researchers in Barcelona found that combining exercise with daily melatonin intake worked together in mice to protect the neurological system. Both are known for regulating circadian rhythm and now, based on this study, they might have important anti-ageing effects when combined.

Experts place emphasis on creating a sleep routine: to sleep at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning - to feel refreshed and full of energy for the day ahead.

Embrace the big picture

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Like most biological processes, sleep is complex. Targeting only one area health-wise can be counter-productive, as the body is the unified sum of many functions that are all interdependent and react with one another.

So for best results, it's important to take a holistic approach. Thus embracing the big picture of your life means focusing on the quality of your lifestyle overall, and not just the quality of sleep - because one is not independent of the other.

Start with your diet. Regular eating habits can help to promote a regular sleep schedule. Proper nourishment with a wide variety of whole foods can have a natural calming, effect on the nerves.

Don't let your hectic schedule dictate the quality of your food. Eat regularly scheduled meals of healthy, nutrient-dense foods rather than grabbing whatever you can find on the run. Be sure to incorporate lean protein and leafy green vegetables.

Also, engage in regular exercise. A good workout modulates adrenaline and cortisol levels and helps your body better respond to stress. Exercise can also help to regulate sleep patterns.

How clocks affect sleep patterns

When we see a disruption in zeitgebers, a German word for "time givers," or those little items your body uses to understand where it is in the day - things like light exposure, exercise, bathing, social interaction and eating - this can affect our sleep. Those are the things that really help your body figure out where it is in a 24 hour period.

But when those routines go are disrupted - for example in a power outage where we are held hostage by the daylight hours and we eat when we can, bathe when we can and exercise when we can (if at all) - so is our sleep. When you add the anxiety of dealing with a disrupted schedule, you have a recipe for a bad night's rest. Stress is the single most important thing that keeps you from sleeping, experts say. And on top of that, research shows that short-changing your sleep can make you more vulnerable to daytime anxieties, creating a vicious cycle.

In such situations experts recommend early afternoon activity to keep you awake, and to stick to your bedtime routine as close as possible, but not to feel pressured about getting off to sleep - as this could end up causing you more anxiety. If some parts of the routine aren't feasible (like taking a bath if you're without power) replace it with another soothing activity. But enforce a regular wake-up time to help re-set healthy patterns.

But while there are things you can do during a disruption to your normal, daily schedule to mitigate the damage to your sleep cycles, the real work comes once the disruption is over. Sticking to a regular wake-up time, along with seeking bright light first thing in the morning (either from a light machine or the sun) and avoiding naps until your body is back on track are some of the behavioural strategies sleep experts recommend to help you re-set your internal body clock, similar to how you would adjust from jet lag or other body clock shifts. It typically takes about one day to adjust for each hour you move your circadian clock.

Moreover, the daylight saving of putting our clocks back in the autumn and springtime transitions when we put our clocks forward in the Northern Hemisphere's northern latitudes can affect our sleep in different ways. Compared to the jet lag-like feeling that comes with turning the clocks forward in the spring, turning the clocks back an hour in the autumn means a precious extra hour of sleep for some.

Experts say the extra hour of sleep can feel like a gift - one that many who say they rarely or never get a good night's sleep can't wait to receive. Getting a chance to catch up on sleep might make us see how good we feel with getting adequate sleep that we may decide that it needs to be a priority in life. Striving for a good night's sleep would be a positive outcome in many of our lives.

How to get a good night's sleep.

Thanks to that extra hour, "falling back" isn't nearly as disruptive to our bodies as "springing forward." Our circadian rhythms, or our bodies' natural clocks, operate on a slightly longer than 24-hour cycle. Being able to extend our day is much easier than it is to shorten our day. The body clock is used to a little bit of extra time.

As such, it can take up to a week to feel back to normal after the beginning of Daylight Saving Time in March, and experts recommend preparing by adjusting bedtime by a few minutes each night leading up to the time change. But in the autumn, all it usually takes is one night. Experts tell people they don't even really need to prepare for the change when we get an extra hour of sleep.

Falling back may even help in prompting us to prioritise sleep. As it gets dark earlier, for some it can provide a much needed push to go to bed just a little bit sooner, especially compared to the long, well-lit summer evenings that encouraged us to stay up past our bedtimes, experts say. It may even remind us to value sleep. And we know chronic sleep deprivation is linked with a host of serious health problems.

In the days after the spring transition, car accidents, heart attacks and injuries on the job all increase. But after we turn the clocks back, we see a decrease in heart attacks and car accidents, a testament to the power of sleep, some believe. It shows the importance of even gaining one hour of sleep. Some experts think that if we can make an effort to get a little more sleep, maybe we can control diseases like heart disease or diabetes or risk of accidents.

However, there is a little bad news in turning the clocks back. The early nightfall could mean workers commuting to work and back in the dark, and it might make it more difficult to stay awake for some people, especially the elderly. It's believed the tendency is to get tired, watch TV in the dark and nap, and then when it's time to go to bed, we don't sleep well and wake up very early in the morning.

The dark evenings and trouble sleeping can make some susceptible to Seasonal Affective Disorder. Talk to your doctor if you're feeling sleepiness paired with a stronger appetite, decreased energy, unhappiness and a loss of interest in work or other activities. Others may experience a simple dip in mood and energy that experts say is preventable with a few simple steps:

• Expose yourself to plenty of light. When it starts to get dark out early, turn on the lights around the house to remind your brain that it's not quite time for bed. Get outside during the day, maybe during your lunch break, for natural light. If it's too cold, open your blinds to at least let some sunshine into your home.
• Exercise late. Typically, some experts don't recommend working out too close to bedtime (while others think it may help tire you out for a snooze), but a late-afternoon or early-evening sweat session can help keep you energised during those dreary evenings.
• Try light therapy. Experts suggest buying a small box to keep on your desk at the office, or for women to turn one on while putting on make-up in the morning. The gadget mimics natural sunlight, so a regular lamp won't do the trick.

Finally, remember to minimise light exposure, both natural and artificial, for a few hours before bed. Dark curtains that block out light are helpful. Turn off electronics. Special low-watt light bulbs are available that can minimize artificial light exposure and may not reduce the production of melatonin by the pineal gland.

Let's face it: Having a hard time sleeping can be very unpleasant and affect numerous areas of life. But, unfortunately, prescription pharmaceuticals for sleep often do more harm than good. Alternately, regular exercise, healthy diet and supplementation with natural solutions can help you regain your innate sense of calm and ease you into restful slumber, to help you love your sleep.

Yours in love,