Sleep Smarter!
Key Objectives
- Understand some key statistics and facts about poor sleep
- Build self-awareness around sleep habits
- Suggest tools and techniques for optimising sleep
World Sleep Day
World Sleep Day 2026, organised by the World Sleep Society, is taking place on 13th March. This year’s theme is ‘Sleep Well, Live Better’.
The scientific evidence is clear: your sleep is essential to health and wellbeing. Good sleep promotes wellness and resilience while poor sleep negatively impacts almost all aspects of your body and mind. Your sleep is just as important as nutrition and exercise!
It’s time to make your sleep health a priority. Here is how to start:
- Maintain a regular sleep schedule.
- Create a relaxing environment for sleep.
- Reflect during your day: do you feel rested?
How sleepy are you?
Have a think about your own sleep habits and consider what changes you could implement to sleep smarter. We know intuitively that when we’ve had a good nights’ sleep everything feels better, life is easier and we have more energy and creativity.
Sleep is integral to all aspects of our health and wellbeing. Sleep expert Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep says:
“Sleep is the single most effective thing you can do to reset your brain and body health each and every day”.
Did you know…
- Poor sleep is linked to increased levels of anxiety, depression and stress (and it’s a vicious cycle as sleep is more likely to be impacted negatively by these conditions)
- 75% of adults with depression experience insomnia
- Only 28% of adults in the UK achieve the recommended hours of sleep a night*
- 24 hours without sleep is equivalent to being above the legal limit for drinking alcohol in terms of cognitive impairment
- Consistently sleeping for 6 hours of less can double the chances of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease
[stats from Matthew Walker’s research, Aviva and Direct Line insurance research]
*Note: we often hear that we need 7-9 hours a night but in actual fact this varies according to our age, and is, of course completely individual. Research shows that those between the ages of 19-45 generally need 7 hours and those over 46 generally need between 5-7 hours.
The good news is that we can all do something to sleep smarter! The first step in this process is to build some self-awareness about around your own sleep habits. We’d like to invite you to think about the questions in this short assessment.
Do you…?
- Sleep 7-9 hours with no interruptions
- Go to bed and wake up at a consistent time
- Wake in the middle of the night and not get back to sleep
- Struggle to get to sleep with thoughts rushing around your head
- Look at your phone 1 hour before bed
- Consume caffeine after 3pm
We’ll then look at tools and techniques for how we can help you to sleep smarter in 2026 and beyond.
Top tips for sleeping smarter!
Once you have completed your sleep assessment and identified some areas to work on (we all have them!), here are some top tips for sleeping smarter – pick one of these and see if it makes a difference over the next week or two:
- Cut the caffeine after noon: Caffeine stays in our system a long time after consuming it – so if you have a coffee at midday, you’ll still have caffeine in your system at 6pm.
- Ban the blue light: Give yourself at least 1 hour of device free time before bed. Screens suppress the release of the sleep hormone melatonin.
- Embrace the morning light: Research shows that 30 minutes of exposure to natural light helps to aid natural sleep.
- Stick to a sleep routine: As much as you can try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day – the more routine we are the more aligned our circadian rhythms will be.
- Get out of bed if you can’t sleep: If you can’t sleep for more than 20 minutes get out of bed and read, listen to music or do something else (not on a screen) and then try to sleep again once you feel tired – repeat until you eventually fall asleep.
- Exercise in the day but not too close to bed: Movement helps the body become naturally tired. However, too much high intensity in the evening can act as a stimulant.
- Avoid alcohol and heavy meals right before bed: The body will be working hard to digest food and process alcohol rather than resting which can interrupt sleep.
- Create a relaxing bedroom: Make sure your sleep environment is comfortable, dark, quiet, and the right temperature (use sleep aids if necessary – ear plugs and eye masks)
- Have a bath: The drop in body temperature after a bath can make us sleepy.
- Wind down in the evening: Do relaxing things in the evening and activities that make you feel
Continue to think about what the main interruptions are for you and how you can make small tweaks to optimise your sleep.
Happy sleeping!
Further support & resources:
Reset & Renew: The Healthy Habits Masterclass for Body & Mind
Visit the Sleep Wellbeing webpage for useful resources about sleep and support services.
The Sleep Charity is a national charity, based in South Yorkshire which provides advice and support to empower the nation to sleep better. Their website includes a wide range of useful information about sleep for professionals, adults and children including guides, advice sheets and podcasts. They also run a national sleep helpline (03303 530 541).