At the end of June, we hosted our Sleep Wellbeing Day. A great chance for our team to improve their sleep knowledge & pick up some tips from expert, The Sleep Geek.
For those of you who couldn’t attend on the day, below are some of the top takeaways from the Sleep Geek session, also some great pics from the day itself.
The Sleep Geek’s Team Dunsters Takeaways!
- How quickly you fall asleep could hold the key to your sleep deficit… If you fall asleep within 5 minutes this could be a good indication that you are not meeting your sleep needs. The optimum time for falling asleep is between 5 & 30 minutes.
- Remember the 30-minute rule! If it takes over 30 minutes to fall asleep, it means you are suffering from some insomnia or not ready to go to bed yet. Instead of trying to go to sleep at this point, do something to relax you, listen to a podcast, a calm app such as Headspace or some music – this lowers your heart rate and helps you drift off.
- Shift workers – pay attention to light in your room. Light tells your body that it’s daytime, and it should be awake, invest in black-out curtains & potentially a lightbox to help convince your body it’s sleep time.
- Alcohol isn’t sleep’s friend… Alcohol literally knocks you out, which means you’re getting low quality sleep & it’s also a stimulant so can wake you up too early too. Avoid the booze to improve your snooze.
- Wind down with the ‘Golden Hour’, work backwards from your natural bedtime and start your bedtime routine earlier, leaving an hour before bed free without housework, teeth-brushing etc. These activities confuse your mind into thinking it’s wake-up time.
