Oxford professor reveals three secrets to healthy sleep

Colin Espy, professor of sleep medicine at the University of Oxford, gave three tips to help you fall asleep faster and get better sleep. He is quoted by Eat This, Not That!.

First of all, you need to choose the right sleep pattern. “Take time to experiment and understand the natural rhythms of your body,” says the scientist. “If you force yourself to go to bed too early or stay in bed when you don’t feel like it, the result will be the opposite. This can cause stress and exacerbate sleep problems.”

To increase the efficiency of sleep, allowing you not to suffer from insomnia, Colin Espy advises not to lie in bed if you can’t fall asleep. Instead, get up and do something relaxing, like reading or meditating, and then try to sleep again.

In addition, the observance of certain evening rituals helps to fall asleep with a healthy sleep. These include breathing exercises, turning off the blue light emitted by phone screens and televisions, relaxing or listening to soothing music.

“If you spend ten minutes in the evening to sum up the day, for example, making a list of everything that needs to be done tomorrow, you can calm the thoughts rushing through your head and fall asleep faster,” advises Colin Espy. “This is a great example of a CBT approach to sleep hygiene that has been scientifically proven to work.”