Eight Hours Of Sleep Is Not Key To A Decent Kip

There's a lot to distract you from getting a decent night's kip. It doesn't matter if you get to bed early with ambitions of getting a full eight hours - before you know it you're scrolling through YouTube, then suddenly it's 5am and you're sat in your own shit and piss.

It's not ideal, although neither is staring at the ceiling unable to drift off because your mind is still consumed by that awkward thing you said to your crush nine years ago.

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However one sleep consultant, Nick Littlehales, whose most famous client is none other that Cristiano Ronaldo, reckons that the infamous eight-hour aim isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Instead he advises CR7 - and the rest of his clients, presumably - that five 90-minute periods of sleep is best. Sadly, to go with that there's a load of other shit to comply with, which sort of ruins the whole process of just falling into bed and conking out.

For example, he casts aside the traditional massive mattresses that are ridiculously comfy, suggesting that you only need a thin piece of foam.

"All you need is 10 centimetres of foam. Why, when you go camping and start sleeping on a thinner mattress, do you wake up feeling fantastic?" he said to the Independent.

"I've been working with Team Sky for a number of years and during every Tour de France, Giro d'Italia or Vuelta a Espana, we go ahead to the hotels making sure the cyclists sleep on exactly the same mattress every night."

Ronaldo tries to have a nap while his Real Madrid teammates rudely keep him awake.

To get the best results from that, he says that you should sleep in the foetal position in fresh laundry. Littlehales also suggests turning off all electronic devices an hour-and-a-half before going to sleep, too, as they stimulate the mind.

Given that many of us are glued to our phones, that might not sit too well with some people, but his next point is even worse - no sleeping with someone else.

"We are not designed to sleep together," he said. "If we were in our natural state, you would sleep under that tree and your partner would sleep under the one over there."

If you can't afford your own personal sleep consultant, luckily, some geniuses have come up with a 'sleep-calculator' which can work out exactly what time you need to go to bed to ensure the perfect sweet dreams. The calculator on web-blinds.com can help guarantee your beauty sleep with one click.

Credit: web-blinds

It's all to do with sleep patterns and circadian rhythms.

Forcing yourself to go to bed really early or taking in extra hours of sleep might not actually be beneficial - making you feel even more tired.

Interrupting these cycles can leave you tired and grouchy, while waking in-between leaves you refreshed and alert. Or at least less likely to punch a co-worker.

The 'sleep-calculator' website claims: "Getting a good night's sleep is about more than simply going to bed early - it's about waking up at the right time, too.

"Using a formula based on the body's natural rhythms, the Sleep Calculator will work out the best time for you to rise or go to sleep."

Topics: Bed, Sleep, Cristiano Ronaldo

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.