Expert says cut back one thing to get better sleep – it’s not coffee | Personal Finance | Finance
A sleep expert has shared some tips about how to make sure you get enough sleep (Image: Getty)
A sleep expert has shared some surprising tips for how to make sure you get enough sleep. He warned against cutting back your coffee intake and said trying to stick to a strict routine may actually prevent you from getting enough rest.
You may find it difficult to have a consistent pattern with getting enough sleep or find yourself restless when you do go to bed. Dr David Garley, director at The Better Sleep Clinic, has shared some thoughts on how to get a good night’s kip.
He said the key thing to bear in mind when it comes to getting enough is not to overthink the whole thing. He explained: “Sleep is very unique in that the more you think about it, the less likely it is to happen.”
An unhelpful approach
He warned that people who struggle to get enough shut-eye often try to impose a strict routine but this may not actually be helpful. Dr Garley said: “If for whatever reason you’re struggling with your sleep, one of the first things that people try to do is to fix the problem and they will start doing everything to try and improve their sleep.
“People might start skipping the gym, or might stop seeing friends or might even stop going to work. It means that your world shrinks and shrinks until the only thing that you have left to think about is your sleep, and the more that you think about your sleep, the less likely it is to happen.”
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He warned that cutting coffee may actually make your sleep worse, if you end up putting pressure on yourself to sleep well as a result. Dr Garley said: “For most of the areas of health, if you take quite a meticulous approach, that can lead to improvement.
“Sleep is very different though in that the more you focus on it, the less likely it is to happen easily.” To combat this myth, the clinic has launched its own coffee, Sunrise Coffee, to encourage people to drink coffee again and so take a more relaxed approach to getting enough sleep.
Dr Garley said: “Coffee was always something people gave up if they weren’t sleeping. We felt that by encouraging people to drink coffee again, it helps to loosen that very fixed grip that we place on sleep, and with that looser approach to sleep, people nearly always find that they start sleeping better.”
What can you do to get better sleep
Turning to what practices you can implement to improve your chances of a good night’s sleep, the expert pointed to one key factor. He said: “The most important point initially is to make sure that you’re in bed for enough time.
“The commonest cause for sleep deprivation in the UK is called ‘voluntary sleep deprivation’, which is essentially not spending enough time in bed.” Another good practice is only to head for bed when you genuinely feel sleepy.
Dr Garley explained: “It is often the temptation that if we feel we haven’t slept enough, we bring the bedtime earlier. However, that means you’re getting into bed and you’re just not sleepy and that often works against getting better sleep.”
In fact, if you are struggling to sleep for any reason, you may want to have a break from this activity. The expert said: “Get up out of bed, go to a relaxing spot and find a distracting activity to do until you feel that urge to sleep and come back to bed.”
Regarding timings and how long you should be sleeping, he said again you should take a relaxed approach. He said: “You want to make sure you’re giving yourself enough of a window for sleep, and so it can help to know roughly the number of hours that you need because this is different for everybody.
“On average, it’s somewhere between seven and nine hours but it does vary from night to night. It’s best not to have too fixed a view on when you should be getting into bed, because if you do and you’re not sleepy, as a general rule you’re going to struggle. It’s always good to have flexibility on your bedtime and not get into bed if you’re not sleepy.”
