Daily plan for better sleep

MORNING

Stick to a schedule

A good night’s sleep actually starts when you wake up. “Sunlight activates the brain,” says Dr Frisca Yan-Go, medical director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Centre.

And activating it at the same time every morning synchronises your body’s biological clock. Then your body has a clear direction that at night it’s supposed to be asleep, and at 8am it’s supposed to be awake.

If you wake up at a different time every day – or even just sleep in regularly on weekends – your internal clock is out of sync, which makes it much harder to keep a regular sleep schedule.

MIDDAY

Exercise

Getting physical makes an amazing difference to how well you sleep: on average, exercise reduces the time it takes to drop off by 12 minutes, and increases the total sleep time by a whopping 42 minutes.

The great news is that it doesn’t take much exertion to have an effect. Studies show that, for women, even incidental exercise – such as walking six blocks at a normal pace during the day – significantly improves sleep.

So, try to fit in a walk at lunch with a friend. Apparently, women who have healthy friendships and good, interactive relationships with children also sleep better.