Sleep like a log

Spend less time locked in mortal combat with your pillow and more of it in snooze town…

Professor Adrian J Williams is a founding member of The British Sleep Foundation and a consultant at The London Sleep Centre, Harley Street. He has been studying sleep for more than 40 years and literally knows more about dozing than you could ever dream of…

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You’re probably an insomniac

“If you’re having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up and still feeling tired, then that’s insomnia.

Obviously it’s quite subjective, but if this is happening four or more nights a week, then you could be an insomniac. Around one in 10 people suffer from the condition and might not even realise. Bad sleep leaves you feeling fatigued and can affect cognition throughout the day.”

Exercise won’t wipe you out

“You might think an evening gym session will burn off lots of energy and wipe you out for a good night’s sleep, but it actually does the opposite. It raises your body temperature, which can throw your body clock, and also generates adrenaline, which will disturb your sleep. Keep your exercises to the morning or late afternoon so you can read just before bed.”

Sleep when you’re tired

“Obviously it’s not always realistic, but you should only go to bed when you’re tired and make sure that you wake at a regular time. Most insomniacs spend too much time in bed: they try to sleep when they’re not tired and just end up lying there. Go to bed when you’re sleepy. If you’re awake tossing and turning, you shouldn’t be in bed. Get up and be productive.”

There’s no magic number

“It’s a myth that everybody should have nine hours of sleep every night. The truth is that that’s an average across society: 50% of people may need more and 50% of people may need less. So the actual range is between four and 10 hours, depending on the person. If you feel great after just four hours’ sleep, then that’s probably all that you need…”

Nod off with your nose in a book

“We live in a 24/7 society where people are constantly exposed to too much light in the evenings from things like computers and smartphones. Using brightly lit objects such as these can delay your body clock. If you find reading helps you relax before bed, try picking up a real book instead of getting out your iPad or Kindle.”

Sex and snooze

“Too many people fill their bedroom with technology such as televisions and computers, or they keep their smartphone at a constant arm’s length. Using your bedroom for things other than sleep and sex distorts the idea of what the bedroom is for, and that hampers your ability to get into the right mindset for sleep.”

Turn off your blue light

“Light exposure automatically switches off your melatonin secretion, which is the substance that you make at night to help you sleep. Blue light is the main stimulus of the body clock. We often prescribe blue-light treatment in the mornings to shift the body clock. But if you’re exposed to blue light in the evening, it will delay it. You can actually get apps now that block out blue light so it affects you less in the evening.”

Famous sleepers

• Winston Churchill Britain’s war-winning PM hit the hay at 5pm every day for a two-hour nap, claiming it allowed him to get 1.5 days’ work done in just 24 hours.
• Leonardo da Vinci Artist, scientist and inventor da Vinci maintained his productivity by sleeping for 20 minutes every four hours.
• Salvador Dalí The artist encouraged sleep-deprived creativity by snoozing with a heavy metal key in his hand, which when dropped, would wake him up.
• Charles Dickens This author carried a compass to ensure he both wrote and slept while facing north. It didn’t cure his insomnia though…

From the April 2015 issue of FHM India.