The complete guide to a superb sleep

It’s a problem so many of us suffer with – how to get a better night’s sleep? The tossing, the turning. Restless legs. The worrying about the day just gone or the day ahead. There’re so many factors that affect our sleep.

Our friends at hero say, it doesn’t take a PHD to know that a restless night will have an impact on your ability to perform in your job, at the gym, or even just day to day activities. But what does actually help in banishing the problems and catching some z’s?

Recent research by the University of Leeds and bed retailer Silentnight revealed 25% of Brits get only five hours shut-eye a night or less. Mind-blowing.

If you ask Google, you’ll get over a billion results, so we’ve done the hard work for you. Found the best advice and rolled it all into one, so you can sleep soundly tonight.

Bad habits that prevent quality sleep

We all know and ignore the no phone rule before bed. Guilty as charged. What we probably don’t realise is how detrimental it is to our quality of sleep. Sleep expert Ellen Vora, M.D. says: “having electronics open after 9 p.m. is effectively taking a shot of espresso at bedtime. The blue light from computer, phone, and TV screens fools the brain into thinking it’s daytime, basically sending a message to your brain: "Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey."

So, turn off the phone, stop checking emails and say no to social media at least an hour and a half before bedtime. Give your mind chance to switch off and relax.

Blue light isn’t the only culprit – not having the right light (or more importantly, the right level of darkness) in your bedroom isn’t conducive to good sleep either. Jamie Gold, a wellness design consultant, explains: “room-darkening window coverings will enhance your room's style and your sleep”. Whilst it’s not rocket science, having black-out curtains is a real plus to an enhanced sleep, not to mention very helpful for a Sunday morning lie-in!

Sleep-perfecting products

We’re always a fan of something that will help us snooze with ease and so too are the team at Refinery29, who have selected the best products on the market that will get you drifting off in seconds.

Some of our firm favourites include the Glow Lamp from the sleep gurus at Casper. This lamp promotes healthy sleeping patterns by automatically syncing with circadian rhythms to provide calculated bedtime, wake-up, and in-between light levels.

What are circadian rhythms we hear you ask. The National Sleep Foundation explain: “Your circadian rhythm is basically a 24-hour internal clock that is running in the background of your brain and cycles between sleepiness and alertness at regular intervals. It's also known as your sleep/wake cycle.”

Genius. Throw out that old fashioned alarm and say goodbye to digital alerts, that startle you out of your restful slumber! No more pressing that snooze button.

Another product to try are the amazing sleep glasses – yes that’s right, we DO need glasses to get the most out of our sleep! If you spend your working days staring at a computer screen, these really are for you. Quay's Blue Light filtering frames are not only chic, but the specially-crafted lenses provide Blue-Light filtration cutting down digital light headaches, and eye strain for optimal undisturbed slumbers.

The final one we absolutely love is, Lush’s unbelievable Sleepy range. The dreamy lotions are made with a gentle oatmeal infusion, calming lavender flower and comfortingly sweet tonka absolute. Blanket your body in this lotion before stepping into your pyjamas for the ultimate relaxed night.

Insightful interiors

A good night’s sleep is all in the design – interior design that is! Jessica Doyle, design and interiors editor at The Telegraph, explains: “the concept of well-being in the home is… increasingly filtering into interior design, as is the idea of using decor to promote better sleep.”

For our residents, we’ve taken all the advice and research out there on sleep and ensured every element of our bedrooms are designed to get you to the land of nod far more effectively than counting those repetitive sheep. From black-out curtains to keep out that light. To the 1,000 individual pocket sprung mattress, made entirely from natural materials. All to ensure you drift off into a deep, undisturbed sleep.

Try out these tips and prepare for sweet sweet dreams. Let us know how you get on. We’re not yawning, are you?