Check your dinner time

“Give your microbiome a break,” Antram recommends. “Digestive rest is important as it allows your body to focus on preparing your body for sleep. If you eat a heavy meal late at night, with high thermic effect foods, which are harder to digest and absorb such as processed food, then your body will focus on digestion rather than sleep, impacting the quality and quantity of your night’s kip.

“Choosing your last meal of the day carefully and ideally eating no later than 8pm to allow sufficient time for digestion will really help maximise the quality of your sleep, improving your energy for the following day. A 12-hour digestive break from the moment you eat your last meal to breakfast the next day is ideal.”

Tune into the natural light

Exposure to sunlight helps your body clock figure out what’s going on. When you wake up, open the curtains and let the light flood in. Try to have a walk outside during the day. Keep your blinds up while you work, rather than relying entirely on artificial light. And in the evening, wind things down, light-wise. Limit screen time, swap to cosy lamps, and if you absolutely have to use your phone, turn it to night mode.

Clear your mind pre-bed

Always find your mind racing when it’s time to snooze? Doing a brain dump can help.

“Try to declutter your mind before bed by noting down any of the day’s frustrations, worries or actions,” Antram suggests. “What can you forget about, what can you action quickly now and what do you need to focus on tomorrow?”

Get your sleep hygiene in shape

“Focus on developing really good sleep hygiene habits,” Antram says. It’s not only about how much you sleep or when you rest, the quality of your sleep matters, too.

Make sure your bed is super comfy, that your bedroom is quiet (or you’re using something like pink noise to block out any outside sounds), that you wind-down before bed, and that you’re limiting disruptions by putting your phone in a drawer or turning it off.

Energy levels a bit off? It might be a clock dysfunction – these are the signs (and how to fix it)