Is Your Sleep Routine Due an MOT?
Struggling to drift off? It’s time to read some of Natalie Pennicotte-Collier’s top tips!
At Premier Inn, we’re all about helping the nation rest easy. So, to celebrate National Bed Month in the lead up to World Sleep Day on March 18th, we wanted to conduct some research to find out a little more about people’s sleep habits.
Getting a great night’s sleep is key for your physical and mental wellbeing – it’s just as important for our bodies as eating, drinking, and breathing. Despite this, our research suggested that people could be missing out on 208 hours of sleep per year. It also revealed that the top contributors to a lack of sleep seem to be excessive late night screen time (32%), an irregular sleep routine (27%), and an uncomfortable sleeping environment (14%).
Our survey showed that 72% of people agree that day-to-day life would improve if they got a better night’s sleep, and that the most popular incentives for overhauling quality of sleep are to improve mental wellbeing and mood (47%), have more energy for exercise (32%), and to have more time for self-care (28%). A quarter of those asked believe that an extended period of working from home has made it difficult to switch off in the evenings.
Plus, of the adults under 30 that were surveyed, 56% agreed that they’ve missed out on sleep due to increased time spent socialising and making up for lost time after the pandemic, as part of an issue known as ‘Social Jetlag’.
What’s ‘Social Jetlag’?
Many may be struggling to get their forty winks in thanks to ‘Social Jetlag’. This phenomenon occurs after socialising at the weekends, which means we go to bed – and wake up – later than usual. As a result, our body clocks end up getting confused, resulting in the infamous ‘Monday dread’ many of us feel as we begin the week.
Late nights and changing sleeping patterns trigger stress to your sleep schedule and body clock, in the same way that flying across time zones disturbs your natural sleep-wake rhythm. It’s estimated that two-thirds of the UK experience at least one hour of ‘Social Jetlag’ a week, and a third experience two hours or more – the equivalent to flying from London to the Mediterranean and back each week!
How to overhaul your sleep
To get people resting easy again, our resident Sleep Expert Natalie Pennicotte-Collier has shared some helpful tips and tricks for getting a great night’s sleep – and overcoming the fatigue of ‘Social Jetlag’. Natalie is recognised as the UK’s leading performance wellbeing coach and regarded as a leading human recovery and integrative sleep expert in high performance organisations, such as Formula One and Team GB.
On the importance of sleep, Natalie Pennicotte-Collier said:
“During my ten years of work as a sleep expert and countless more years of research, I’ve found that sleep is one of the most important and pivotal functions of our body, akin to breathing. Mastering it can mean huge benefits in our day-to-day life and even give you an incredible advantage, as I’ve learned with many of the high-performance athlete clients. Despite this, people tend to look at sleep as optional, and something you may even want to put off. I hope that with my ten tips, I’m able to help the public understand the importance of this incredible function.”
Natalie’s top 10 tips for overhauling your quality of sleep in just ten days:
- Quality & Quantity – Focus on quality and quantity and a steady wake-up time where you can by assessing what you CAN DO as opposed to a list of DON’TS
- Understand your individual sleep needs – start by trying to see how you feel with an extra 20 minutes at night, or build in 20-minute windows
- Be patient – Give your body clock and sleep-ability some TLC. It takes time for our internal rhythms to heal after a stressful period or when you’re working to improve sleep quality
- Understand your sleep cycle – we sleep in cycles (on average five 90min sleep cycles a night) and it’s safe and normal to sometimes wake up during these cycles
- Get to know your sleep chronotype – this is a natural inclination your body has to go to sleep at a certain time. Each person can have tiny variations, so getting to know your sleep chronotype and supporting your movement and work habits around this can be really helpful for your sleep system to stay on track
- Get familiar with rest, your way – discover your favourite, tech-free, restful 10-minute chill out methods
- Identify bad habits – acknowledge your sleep disrupters and get sleep-friendly with an alternative habit
- Blackout curtains – dim the lights and draw the blackout curtains to encourage melatonin, helping you transition into a sleepy state
- Invest in rest – your bedroom and sleep environment can sometimes put the handbrake on a good night’s sleep, so make sure your room is clean and tidy and invest in quality bedding if you can
- Nurture your relationship with sleep – resolve to try to take the stress out of your sleep life by following the tips above and rest easy in trusting your sleep capabilities.
A spokesperson for Premier Inn said:
“A great night’s sleep is one of life’s simple pleasures – we help millions of people have a great night’s sleep every year, so we know how important quality sleep is to overall wellbeing and happiness. We want to help as many people as possible rest easy this Bed Month and hope our tips will help people make the most of their sleep.”
As well as trying out some of these sleep hacks, you can also boost your sleep at home with our super-comfy bedding.
