LIFESTYLE FEATURES

How to sleep well: 5 top tips for a peaceful night

Watch our reflexology workshop, hosted by Becky Barnes, and get hands on with Reflex East’s Katy Ewen

Tuesday 21 June 2022 12:15 EDT
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Katy Ewen’s How To Sleep Well reflexology workshop
Katy Ewen’s How To Sleep Well reflexology workshop (The Independent)

Five top tips for a good night’s sleep, from limiting caffeine consumption to optimising sleep environment, were shared by reflexologist Katy Ewen at a wellbeing workshop for Independent readers.

Katy, also known as Reflex East, a reproductive reflexologist and fertility awareness coach, shared some practical tips, before demonstrating how people can practise reflexology on themselves at the interactive session held on Zoom on Monday.

“Sleep is obviously something we all do and we all need and it’s so common to have problems with it or to have difficulties or to wake up not feeling full of beans and that’s exactly what you want after a good night’s sleep,” said Katy.

She added sleep always comes up with her clients whatever they come in for and often they report sleeping really well after a reflexology treatment.

She said good sleep hygeine can improve the quantity and quality of sleep, while reflexology, using pressure points on hands or feet, can help people unwind and relax before going to bed.

Watch back the full event in the video below

Wellbeing workshop: How to sleep well

Here are Katy’s 5 top tips on sleep hygiene

Limit screen time before you go to bed

“Using your screens late into the night and scrolling on your phone in bed - the blue light from our screens really plays havoc with our natural rhythms. It’s the blue light in our eyes that make us go ‘it’s time to be awake’, so ideally no phones, no laptops in your bedroom.

“By doing that you’re helping to disconnect from your day as well, and you’re not scrolling through your emails as the last thing you do at night. Allowing yourself to unwind before you get into bed is a really top tip.”

Calm your caffeine consumption after 12pm

“Calming your caffeine consumption is really important. Caffeine actually stays in your system for such a long time after you consume it - up to 12 hours - if not more sometimes. If you’re having caffeine way into the day and you wake up in the night or can’t sleep very well, just have a think about how much caffeine you’re consuming. If you’re going to calm down on the caffeine, do it gradually, just so you don’t feel horrible. It can really have a big impact on your sleep.”

Get outside first thing in the morning

“Getting that natural light into your eyes really does wonders for your nervous system but also for your hormonal system to know ‘OK now we’re getting up, the day is starting’.”

Make your bedroom dark and cool

“Keep your room nice and cool and also really, really dark. In an ideal world, you don’t want to see your hand in front of your face. Your skin actually has light receptors in so eye masks are great but trying to create as dark an environment as you possibly can is going to help you to have a much deeper and better quality of sleep as well.”

Don’t hit snooze

“Try not to snooze your alarm. When you wake up if you’re kind of going in and out of different states of sleep, it can actually leave you feeling way more groggy than if you got out of bed on the first one, so try your best not to snooze.”

As the video above of the event shows, Katy then gave an introduction to reflexology before demonstrating how people can practise reflexology on themselves. If you’re planning to follow along, you may want oil or moisturisor, a towel and cushions.

In the last 15 minutes, Katy answered questions from readers, including how to stop a mind racing into the small hours, what to do about foxes howling in the night and how to sleep well when you have hayfever.

For more information on Katy visit her Instagram @Reflex_East or website reflexeast.com

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