This simple morning routine is the key to a good night's sleep

Grab the day

Stephanie says the first thing you should do is make sure you – no matter how much you want to sleep long – get up at the same time each day.

« The key to a good sleep is your homeostatic sleep drives and the 24-hour cycle you're on. Whether you like it or not, your sleep works like that. So what can you do? The first thing is to hold on to your 'stand up' time, » she says.

« Staying in bed is actually prolonging the problem because your body doesn't know you're awake. Even if you're not sleeping, but just lying there because you don't bother standing up, you actually reinforce the feeling of fatigue where you think, 'Oh, I just can't start the day'. »

Close the light in

Stephanie says that artificial light – perhaps a little surprising – can actually help to correct disturbed sleep.

« The other thing is the most influential external factor for the 24 -hour cycle – light, » it says.

« Unfortunately, we are now working at times when there is not always natural light. So now you have to think, 'How can I add light to my morning?'. »

Getting lights early in the day is the most important thing you can do to restore your sleep rhythm, Stephanie also adds.

« That light does is reminding your brain that you have to be awake. We are day active creatures – not night -active. So it means that we – like plants – really respond to light, » she says.

Stephanie recommends that you make sure you expose yourself to bright light as soon as you get up on dark winter mornings. Although sunlight is better, artificial light can also do the job.

« It's not as good as natural light, but we can't always do anything about it. Sometimes we have to use artificial light, » she says.

Forget the rules

The idea that we all have to have eight hours of sleep every night is a 'myth', says Stephanie, and often people worry so much about not sleeping that it worsens the problem.

« When you are sick, you sometimes need more sleep. If we are obsessed with the idea that we should have eight hours and it should be every single night, then there would be no room for any variation. In fact, you wouldn't be able to recover very well, » she says.

The rule of 'eight hours a night' is 'almost a myth', she says.

« Even if you are genetically an eight-hour-sleeping, there's absolutely no chance you get it every night. So you don't have to worry about it, » she says.