2020 has been a tough and stressful year with many of us having to spend time apart from friends and family. Hopefully, Christmas will give us the perfect opportunity to come together again and while things may look a little different this year, the season still doesn’t come without its own qualms. From organising Christmas dinner to present buying, card writing to being around excitable little ones, it can be a busy and tiring time of year to say the least!

One thing that you shouldn’t have to worry about is getting a good night’s sleep. By setting healthy habits in place to help you prioritise your sleep, you can make sure that you’ll be well rested and refreshed for the season of giving. Give yourself the gift of sleep by adopting some of the habits in this checklist to put focus on your health and sleep better, longer, deeper.

Set a consistent sleep schedule

At Christmas it can be easy to slip out of your regular sleep routine which means the optimal 8 hours of sleep you should be getting each night often falls by the wayside. To help prioritise your sleep and regulate your internal clock, set a regular bedtime routine to follow each night. Your body will soon get used to it and recognise it as a pre-sleep ritual, sending you to sleep quicker. Though it can be difficult post-Christmas lunch, it is also best to limit naps to a minimum so your body learns that bedtime is for sleep-time only!

Improve your bed quality

One of the key ways to sleep better is to improve your bed quality by updating your bed, mattress or pillows. A mattress has an average lifespan of 8 years so if you’ve kept yours much longer, now is the perfect time to change to a new one. Not only can it help create a relaxing environment, but new and improved bedding can make a world of difference to the quality of your sleep, helping to alleviate aches and pains that only add to daily stresses.

TEMPUR® offer an amazing range of bed solutions that give a unique feeling of uncompromised comfort and support all night long. The TEMPUR® Material used to make their mattresses and pillows evenly distribute weight and pressure, ensuring a comfortable night’s sleep. Its proven pressure relief gives your body total comfort and support, reducing tossing and turning and absorbing motion from your partner so you are less likely to disturb one another.

Find the pillow best suited to your sleep style with a variety of options available for side, back or front sleepers. And with soft, medium and firm TEMPUR® mattresses available, you’re sure to find the best mattress to support you. Test their comfort for yourself this Christmas.

Get regular exercise

The weather might not be ideal but keeping active is a great way of not only improve your health but your sleep too. According to the Sleep Foundation, the rise in core body temperature makes the body become more alert, but the fall back to a normal temperature range after exercise helps trigger feelings of drowsiness. By exercising outside too, you are exposing yourself to natural light which helps your body feel more awake when it should. Try going out for a short walk, or if the weather is too wet or cold,try some simple exercises in the comfort of your home.

Set your bedroom temperature

Being too hot or too cold, especially in the winter, certainly doesn’t help your sleep quality as you wake up throughout the night trying to fix the problem. According to the Sleep Foundation, the best temperature for the most comfortable sleep is just below 20 degrees Celsius, though this can vary from person to person.

To make sure you sleep deeper, experiment to find the best temperature for you. Around Christmas time, take a warm bath an hour or two before bedtime and wear breathable pyjamas to reduce clamminess leading to chills. You can also invest in a TEMPUR® quilt that with built in climate control, regulates and optimises your body temperature for a perfect night’s sleep. The clever technology means you can use the quilt throughout the year – not just for Christmas!

Keep a healthy diet

This is definitely easier said than done over the Christmas period! However, over-filling on festive treats, having big meals or drinking your favourite tipple can disrupt your sleep pattern and make going to sleep an uncomfortable experience. To help with this, try to limit your alcohol consumption and avoid eating your last meal of the day too close to bedtime. By leaving 1-2 hours between, your body will have time to digest and you’ll wake up ready for breakfast after a better night’s sleep. This way you can have your Christmas cake and eat it too!

Optimise your bedroom environment

A great way to ensure your bedroom is at its best for a good night’s sleep is to eliminate clutter, noise and light. While clutter may not ‘interrupt’ your sleep, it creates potential distractions in your room and doesn’t make for a relaxing space. As they say, “a busy space is reflective of a busy mind” so try to limit the clutter to help calm your headspace and lower stress.

A noisy environment can be disruptive and bring you out of your optimal sleep state, distracting your senses and making you restless. You can first work to stop the noise issue – whether this be turning off a bedroom TV or radio before bed or setting your phone to a timer so any audiobooks or sounds turn off after a certain time. However, if the noise isn’t something you can control and is keeping you awake, order a pair of earplugs and see if it helps improve your sleep.

With the nights are drawing in earlier meaning it gets darker quicker, there can still be a glare of light from the outside streetlamps or neighbour’s Christmas lights that can be inadvertently interrupting your sleep. To keep your room dark, invest in some well-lined curtains or use a sleep mask for a simple, more affordable solution.

TEMPUR® sleep masks mould to your face for total darkness, helping you to drift off to sleep undisturbed.

While these might seem obvious, it’s often the most basic things keeping us awake at night.

Relax and unwind in the evenings

To get yourself ready to sleep over Christmas, relax in your evenings to get your mind and body into a space of rest. Put your electronics to one side and instead try reading a good book or listening to a podcast or audio book. While it can be an easy habit to scroll your phone before bed, the blue light emitted from your device can be quite evasive for your eyes and make it difficult for you to sleep. Other things you can do is try a pillow spray or sleep mist to help you settle down into a slumber, or do some gentle stretches to loosen your body and relieve the stresses from the day.

Follow these habits to help boost your sleep this season and go into the New Year feeling refreshed. We’ve worked with TEMPUR® who this year are running their Gift of Sleep campaign to help give you and your loved ones the gift of sleep you deserve this Christmas – to help you sleep better, longer and deeper.

In partnership with TEMPUR®

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