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Sleep

Did you know we spend approximately a third of our lives asleep?

Sleep is as essential to our bodies as eating, drinking and breathing, and is crucial for good mental and physical health. Sleeping helps to repair and restore our brains, not just our bodies.

Did you know?

The Beatles’ song ‘Yesterday’ came to Paul McCartney in a dream. It was only when no one he spoke to recognised the tune that he realised he had written it!

Why is sleep important?

Our mind and body actually does a lot of work while we sleep to make sure we are our best selves the next day. Sleep gives our mind and body time for growth, making sense of emotions and helping our muscles rest and mend.

Without sleep, our body, mind and emotions struggle to work to their best.

The body and sleep

Our body follows a cycle that is 24 hours long every day - this cycle acts like a clock inside of our brain and body that tells us what time it is. When our ‘clock’ is set up properly we sleep well and notice all the helpful things about sleeping well. When the clock isn’t set up right, we can; struggle to fall asleep, have trouble staying asleep and wake up too early. To keep our ‘clock’ working well we need to boost serotonin in the morning and melatonin in the evening.

What doesn't help us sleep?

Sugar

Sugar can make it really hard for us to sleep! Sugary drinks can also contain lots of caffeine. Both sugar and caffeine give us bursts of energy.

Blue light

The blue light that shines from our phones and screens can stop us from sleeping well. Try to avoid screens at least 1 hour before bed!

Exercise

Exercise can be good to help burn our energy and make us feel tired but not just before bed.

What helps us sleep?

Routine

Keeping a good routine throughout the day is very helpful for our body clock. This might be playing, eating and sleeping at the same time every day. Try not to eat a big meal just before bed.

Winding down

Choosing a calming activity before bed can help our minds to ‘switch off’. Reading can help our mind and our body to relax. If reading is not your thing, what about trying meditation?

Morning light

Even 4 minutes of sunlight a day (ideally in the morning) can help you sleep better at night and wake up more awake. Try a morning walk or opening a window first thing in the morning!

Warm bath

Having a warm (not too hot) bath can help us to get our bodies to a good temperature for sleep - and can make us feel sleepy too!

Sleep well guide

Paying attention to sleep hygiene is one of the most straightforward ways that you can set yourself up for better sleep. Take a look at our guide above for more information.

Sound colours

Are you sick of tossing and turning at night? Sound colours might help. 'White noise' is often used generally to refer to all sorts of background noise but there's lots of different options that you can try!

Top tips

For our Sleeptember 2023 campaign we asked Travelodge colleagues to share some of their top tips for better sleep. Click the image above to find out more.

How do you feel if you don't get enough sleep?

When we haven’t had enough sleep - our mood and our body can do strange things.

It’s helpful to learn to notice ALL the signs of tiredness - even if they might look different to what you would first think.

Sleep deprivation has short and long term impacts on our health.