The Ultimate Guide To Better Sleep

Expert comment provided by Dr Sophie Bostock, founder of The Sleep Scientist.

Want to hear something a little depressing? The average adult only gets three night’s good sleep a week, research from the Mental Health Foundation found.

In fact, 14% of those asked said they don’t get enough sleep to function normally on any day of the week.

But what is good sleep to begin with, and how can we improve ours?

HuffPost UK spoke to sleep expert Dr Sophie Bostock about what great sleep looks like, how to tell if you’re not well-rested, the mistakes too many of us make, and how to make it better.

A “normal” sleep range for healthy adults is anywhere from seven to nine hours a night.

But Dr Bostock said counting the hours isn’t the only way to tell if you’re sleeping well.

“The best measure of how well you’re sleeping is how you feel during the day,” she explained.

“For most adults, healthy sleep means around 7-9 hours of sleep, at a similar time each night, falling asleep within about 15–30 minutes, and waking up feeling reasonably refreshed.

“Good sleepers aren’t perfect sleepers. Brief awakenings during the night are normal – the key is whether your sleep leaves you feeling capable and alert during the day.”

Tiredness is such a common complaint among adults that it can be hard to tell when you’re truly poorly-rested.

But Dr Bostock told me there are signs.

“If you answer yes to two or more of the [below statements I’d suggest you’d benefit from more, or better quality sleep,” she said:

• Do you lie in at weekends or rest days?

• Do you press the snooze button multiple times?

• Do you rely on sugar or caffeine to get you through the day?

• Do you find yourself dozing off during the day in long meetings, on trains, or on the sofa?

• Do you struggle to concentrate or feel irritable for no reason?

The two most common sleep mistakes Dr Bostock sees are from “either ends of the ‘sleep worry’ spectrum,” she said.

The first issue is “not prioritising sleep enough,” or “treating sleep as optional – squeezing it around work, screens and social commitments”.

That can wear on your body and mind fast.

And in the other extreme, some people struggle with “worrying about sleep too much – trying too hard to sleep, which can trigger the stress response and keep the brain alert”.

Some sleep experts have warned against “orthosomnia,” an obsession with sleep that can paradoxically keep you up at night.

Luckily, Dr Bostock said that getting better sleep is usually easier than most of us imagine.

“Sleep thrives on consistency,” she said.

“The most powerful habits are surprisingly simple: keep your wake-up time fairly consistent, get out into natural light during the day, and build a short wind-down buffer before bed.

“Protecting a dark, cool, quiet sleep environment can also make a big difference – even something as simple as a sleep mask can help support deeper rest.”