Sleep expert shares simple wrist hack to help you drift off
Today (17 March) marks World Sleep Day, an annual event with the idea of getting us to talk about sleep and ideally, a good night's kip!
I think we've all fallen into that trap of saying we'll only spend ten minutes on our phones before bed, and before you know it, it's 3am.
Or maybe we are reciting everything that has happened in the day and counting how many times we've made a fool of ourselves. Just me?
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All these things usually mean that we are having a poor night's sleep, but what can we do about it?
The NHS recommends that a healthy adult needs anywhere from seven to nine hours asleep every night, with children needing upwards of nine, and newborns more than 12.
However, last year's 'Need for Sleep' study of 4,000 UK adults found that one in seven Brits survive on dangerously low levels of sleep, which is under five hours.
Not only that, but the study found that nearly three quarters of Brits do not have the recommended seven to nine hours kip per night.
Poor sleep can lead to some serious health problems such as cardiac problems, dementia and diabetes.
And for those of you that struggle with sleep, you've probably tried every 'hack' under the sun, from putting down the devices for a few hours before bed to meditating.
While the most common hacks work for some, others are left tearing their hair out.
But fear not, a sleep expert has provided another simple trick that will hopefully help you drift off in no time.
Dr. Katherine Hall is a sleep psychologist at Happy Beds, and she says you should be rubbing the inner part of your wrist to get to sleep in a rapid time.
She said: "If you’re struggling to drift off, try rubbing the inner part of your wrist to help soothe yourself into a slumber more quickly.
"The pressure points on this part of your wrist are known as Heart 4, 5, 6 and 7, and are four acupressure points that help alleviate stress by reducing your cortisol levels (otherwise known as your stress hormones)."
This technique is actually a traditional Chinese medicine practice and is used to treat insomnia and other health and lifestyle problems.
But if that simple trick is not working for you, then Dr. Hall has provided some other sleep hacks to try.
This particular one is great for all you snorers out there - come on, you know who you are.
Dr. Hall says that you should try repeating vowels out, as she explained: "Anti-snoring throat exercises are a great way to strengthen the muscles in your throat and stop them from vibrating as you sleep – the cause of snoring.
"A few times a day, spend a few minutes repeating each of the vowels (a-e-i-o-u) out loud, and over time you’ll strengthen those all-important muscles."
The sleep expert also recommended reading a book, which is actually quite a common sleep hack.
But the trick here is that you should only be reading six pages, as a study found that you only need to read for six minutes for your stress levels to reduce.
The average reading time is one page per minute, hence the six pages required to help you drift off.
Callum Jones