1 Hypnotic wallpaper
Aid your chances of a good night’s sleep with wallpaper patterned with ever decreasing green circles. That’s what Manchester City opted for when they fitted bedrooms for their players in their new £200m training complex.
2 Blackout curtains
Make sure you have the right curtains to help you sleep. “Ideally you want complete darkness,” says sleep coach Nick Littlehales, who has advised Real Madrid and Manchester United.
3 Dawn-simulating alarm clock
Total darkness is great for sleep but terrible for waking up, so get yourself a special alarm clock that simulates dawn using an LED bulb. “If you set the alarm for 6.30am, in the 30 minutes before that it will slowly bring daylight into the room, stimulating hormones,” explains Littlehales.
4 High-efficiency particle filter
Use a portable high-efficiency particulate arrestance (HEPA) filter to improve air quality, allowing you to sleep uninterrupted all night. “The air can be full of things that make it more difficult to breathe through your nose while you are asleep,” says Littlehales. “That can lead to snoring and even mild cases of sleep apnoea, when you stop breathing for a short period.”
5 Wooden floor
Carpets retain pollutants and allergens that affect air quality and can damage your health. Install a wooden floor, which is easier to mop. “When you are talking marginal gains, if you keep the place clean it can make a big difference,” says Littlehales.
6 White-noise app
Still struggling to sleep? If noise is keeping you awake, hang blankets against windows and put a rolled-up towel under the door. As a last resort, get the White Noise Free Sleep Sounds phone app, which pumps ambient sound into the room. “It’s a low thrum that you’d get from air conditioning,” says Littlehales. “It’s womb-like.”
7 Symmetrical bedside tables
Keep the room balanced to meet feng shui requirements. Have two bedside tables, one on each side of the bed. Ideally the tables should have round rather than square edges – otherwise known as ‘poison arrows’ – so as not to prevent chi energy from being focused towards you. Crikey.
8 TRX trainer
Want to do a little exercise? Hang a TRX suspension trainer from the wall or door. It’s unobtrusive when you don’t need it but provides an easy exercise tool when you need it. Try these TRX workouts.
For more tips see:
Snooze you win
Five top tips to help you doze
Foods that help you get to sleep
How to sleep yourself sharp
