How Can You Sleep Better?

Waking up tired? Can't seem to concentrate? Here are four ways you can improve your sleeping patterns.

Transcript

00:00One of the difficulties with most sleep trackers that are on the market is that they don't

00:13actually record sleep, they work primarily by recording movement. Sleep trackers give

00:20you an approximate measure of how much sleep you're getting, but if you're already stressed

00:24about your sleep and a device is telling you that you're getting poor quality sleep or

00:29not enough sleep, that may actually have the opposite effect. It may raise your anxiety

00:34further about sleep and make sleep more difficult. If you don't have difficulty sleeping and

00:44you're waking up feeling refreshed, then you've got nothing to worry about. There's no point

00:48tracking your sleep. Your body is telling you that you've got enough sleep. The right

00:53number of hours that an adult should be getting is highly variable. Between roughly seven

00:59and eight hours is the optimal amount within a population, but it's really important to

01:04understand that there is a great deal of individuality. A key thing to bear in mind is that if you're

01:10going to bed at roughly the same time every night and you're waking up at roughly the

01:14same time every morning and you wake up feeling refreshed and you're not sleepy during the

01:19day, then you're probably getting the right amount of hours for you.

01:28If you are having difficulties with sleep, then think about the behaviours that you're

01:33undertaking during the day that may influence your sleep. Drinking coffee or tea later to

01:39the night, exposing yourself to bright light in the evening, and blue light in particular,

01:45suppresses melatonin, which is a very important chemical in the brain that is the signal to

01:50go to sleep. If you are having difficulty going off to sleep, avoid gadgets, avoid TV,

01:57avoid anything that shines bright light directly into your face.

02:04You appreciate the importance of sleep. Sleep is absolutely crucial for every aspect of

02:09your waking life. Sleep should be prioritised and there are always going to be other things

02:15that get in the way, but you need to try and concentrate on trying to get an adequate night's sleep.