Hello at last to the sunshine! Now we’ve entered at time with a loosening on the boundaries imposed on us by lockdown, the weather has decided to play ball and change along with us.

The days are long, the temperatures high and Brits everywhere are switching from complaining about it being too cold and wet to being too hot and humid!

This does pose a dilemma for our sleep patterns as our bodies need to quickly adapt to a vast change in night-time temperature, an early rising sun, and the prospect of a later dinner-time BBQ. There are so many factors that can affect our sleep when the seasons change so let’s dive into a few ways to protect that much needed sleep and get the most out of your ZZZs this summer!

While it is true that most of us do not actually need as much sleep during the summer as we do during the winter, getting good quality sleep is paramount to our bodies regenerating, rebuilding, and healing while we rest.

As with most things, each of us have different sleep needs and very few people can thrive on three
to four hours sleep. The vast majority of us need between seven and eight hours of sleep to thrive. Notice I didn’t say ‘survive’.

Surviving and thriving are two quite different ways of looking at the world. We want every person who walks into our clinic to leave believing they are going to reach a ‘thriving’ level; mere ‘survival’

is good if you have started at ‘struggle’, but to reach ‘thriving’ we need to address the things that prevent us from living our lives fully.

So here are 5 simple and easy ways that you can ensure a better quality and quantity of sleep this summer.

A REGULAR WAKE UP TIME

Having a regular wake up time will teach your mind and body that it gets up at a similar time each day and gets ready to start that day. Over time you will wake up easier, more alert and with more energy. This wake-up time should be within a one-hour window regardless of if it is a weekday or weekend.