We’ve got sleep all wrong – what we really need is deep rest (and here’s how to get it)
Around now, headlines peddle the best ways to spring out of bed at 6am, boost energy and instigate unrealistic changes. It’s January. It’s dark. It’s cold and it’s not your imagination, you really do feel more tired when you wake up, even when you get a lot of sleep. One in eight of us exists in a state of total exhaustion at this time of year and studies have also shown we’re less productive in the colder, darker months.
But it’s not the perfect night’s sleep that you need. It’s rest. Deep, blissful and refreshing rest. Hibernation might feel tempting, but human biological rhythms are more nuanced than that.
“We’re a diurnal species, which means we don’t hibernate,” says Dr Sophie Bostock, a health psychologist and expert in sleep and circadian neuroscience (thesleepscientist.com). “But, we are affected by the light-dark cycle of the sun. Sunlight is the key cue that tells us to be active, so in any environment where we are not getting sufficient bright light we tend to feel more fatigued.”
