What nine sleep researchers do to get their best night’s rest

Sleep researchers dedicate their careers to understanding how and why we sleep – so what do they do to get a better night’s rest?

It might be reassuring to know that even the experts aren’t always able to practise what they preach. “I think you’ll find a lot of sleep researchers are not very good at sleeping,” says Malcolm von Schantz at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

But one thing many of them agree on is that consistency is crucial. Here’s what else they had to say:

MAKE A PLAN

“It is about prioritisation and planning. So I try not to have meetings before 10 o’clock, for example, because I am more of an evening type: I quite like to go to bed late and wake up late. So I’m thinking ahead in terms of what’s best for me with my sleep timing, my circadian timing, how can I try and arrange my schedule to support that?”

Steven Lockley, Timeshifter

CONTROL YOUR LIGHTING

“We dim our lights in our house pretty much when the sun sets, and then, in the mornings, turn the lights on inside as much as possible and certainly open up the window shades to get the sunlight in the house as soon as the sun is coming up. I think those are really important things: minimise light at night, maximise light in the morning.”

Christopher Depner, University of Utah

KEEP COOL

“Sleep science has shown that your body [temperature] should drop a full degree…