Tag: sleep

A Night Owl And Morning Lark Swapped Sleep Routines – Here’s What Happened

In our daily morning meeting, the HuffPost Life team is split into two camps: those who have stayed up late and are struggling to get going, and the people who’ve been awake for hours and ticked off half their to-do lists.

But is there any hope for those who want to swap sides?

HuffPosters Sophie and Nancy – who live at extreme ends of the sleep routine spectrum – tried to find out.

[Read more from HuffPost Life: The Sleep Edition here]

Nancy (left) and Sophie (right) pose for a rather unconventional work photo.

Sophie: ‘I live for an early bedtime and 8 hours sleep’

Sophie: As a child I thought one of the best things about adulthood would be staying up late; with no parents to stop me, it would be all midnight feasts and late night Donkey Kong on the Nintendo. Turns out, I was an idiot. One of the best things about being an adult is, in fact, an early bedtime and eight delightful hours of uninterrupted sleep. Especially when your alarm clock is set for six o’clock.

I wouldn’t entirely describe myself as a ‘morning lark’ – I don’t leap out of bed, fresh with enthusiasm when my alarm goes at six. I definitely need a strong tea to get me started before I reach my desk at 7.45am, but I am certainly more productive, more alert before lunchtime. For some time, I presumed that was the case for everyone – energy levels gradually depleting as the day progresses, resulting in a 4pm slump and forage for a Hobnob.

But it appears not. For some people, the optimum time for productivity is during the antisocial hours, late at night (you can tell I’m still getting to grips with this). And the idea is that I try to become one of them.

[Read More: When to exercise (and how) for a better night’s sleep]

Nancy: ‘At 1am I could conquer the world’

Nancy: I have never been a morning person – not even as a tiny baby, says my mum, who was the first to negotiate my ‘just woken’ grumps (and nappies to match). As a teen, the moods got so stormy I was ‘gently’ encouraged to eat breakfast up in my bedroom to spare the rest of the family my thunder. 

Oh, but the evening hours. So rich in potential, so live with possibility: 11pm is when my mojo kicks in; 1am, and I could conquer the world. Truly, I love nothing more than pottering round my flat after midnight. Reading and writing, snacking and scrolling, messaging fellow night owls – and all to a soundtrack of late night radio. Sailing By, Shipping Forecast, God Save The Queen, Bed.

This routine flew just fine when my job started at 10am. It’s less workable now my alarm goes off at the same time as Sophie’s and I have to face our daily 8.30am ideas meeting on five hours sleep. So I’m swapping my late finishes for her 10pm bedtime – and we’re starting on a school night. 

[Read More: How many hours sleep do you really need? And what happens if you don’t get them?]

Evening one: ‘Where does Love Island fit into this routine?’

Sophie: First obstacle to navigate: my bed partner who looks at me like I’ve asked him to eat a wasp when I mention I won’t be retiring with him at 10pm. I’ve got at least another two hours before I can justify hitting the hay. But what to do with my time? I’ve already been out for dinner with friends (coming home just before nine), had a shower including leg shave and hair wash, put away the washing and watched two 20-minute episodes of The Office. Yes it’s been pretty productive but I normally achieve all that and still make it into bed by 10.

Now comes the post-bedtime hours. I’m not enjoying them because I’m so focused on counting how many minutes of sleep are slipping away – diminishing by the second and to what end? It feels like a bizarre form of self punishment that I’ll pay for all day tomorrow, and is making me feel very anxious. (It’s at this point, I acknowledge the cult of ‘sleep wellness’ might have more influence on my sleeping habits than I previously thought.)

I end up binging a Netflix series to try and keep myself awake. I also eat a lot of biscuits. At one point, I may even have nodded off briefly on the sofa. By the time I drag myself to bed I fall asleep straight away and wake up very bleary-eyed the next day. Is it possible to feel hungover with no alcohol? 

[Read More: These are the most sleep deprived cities in the UK]

Nancy: It helps that I’m just back from holiday and well-rested, for the first night of our experiment. I’m home from work by 7 – early for me – and I’m all ready to put my holiday washing on, just as soon as I’ve uploaded my Instagram snaps (and checked out everyone else’s). I look down at my phone, then up at the clock and, shit, it’s almost 9pm. I HAVE TO BE IN BED IN AN HOUR – and I still have supper to cook and Love Island to watch. 

Something’s got to give and it’s not going to be Tommy Fury. Still, I feel a bit panicked. Forget eight hours of sleep: when I work a long day, sandwiched by a not inconsiderable cross-London commute, I feel constricted if I have anything less than six waking hours to myself in the evenings. (Neither Sophie nor I currently have kids to deal with, and I wonder how they’d affect things).

I tweet my editor in an attempt to hold myself accountable and, by some miracle (or the fact I essentially hate breaking rules), I’m in bed with the light off by 10.01pm. Never mind that I’m not asleep for another two hours. Sigh. 

Evening two: ‘I’m struggling to focus through a cloud of fog’

Sophie: Night two, and I’ve been for a run, cooked dinner, cleaned up, hoovered the flat, watched two episodes of Killing Eve and packed my bag for tomorrow. I’ve even booked a bloody smear test. I’ve definitely filled the time before bed, but it still feels like I’m just generating admin to fill the time before I’m allowed to sleep. Night owls like Nancy tell me about their late night creativity bursts – but that definitely isn’t happening to me. I’m just tired and have no motivation to do anything apart from stay on the sofa. 

The next day, I’m knackered again. Whether it’s the placebo effect (possibly) or genuine physical tiredness, I’m not sure – all I know is I’ve struggled to focus through the cloud of fog, been reliant on coffee, and have had several (fairly bad) arguments with my partner. Would I have been as irritable and, frankly, irrational had I been well rested? Who knows. Sorry to my partner for making him my sleep guinea pig.

[Read More: Wearing this eye mask to bed every night has transformed my sleep]

Nancy: I meet a friend after work, but as she has spent the entire afternoon standing in the driving rain at her daughter’s primary school sports day, she’s as ready for an early night as I am. And oddly, I actually am – it’s only been a day, but I’m – yawn – starting to feel the attraction of an enforced bedtime.

We cover off the holiday gossip at Olympian speed, keep it to one glass of rosé each (hard!) and call time on our catch-up a full two hours earlier than usual. By 9.20pm, I’m on a train across London that gets me home soon after 10, whereupon I immediately flop on to my bed.

Fatal error: that’s on, not in. Once again, I fall into the triple vortex of Whatsapp, Instagram and the Twitter meme-stream from Westminster and Majorca. By the time I get off the bed to brush my teeth and make a cup of sleepy tea, it’s half 11. It’s not that I don’t like my bed, I’m just not very good at putting myself in it. 

Evening three: ‘I’m delusional to think I’ll write my magnus opus this way’ 

Sophie: Finally, it’s the weekend – when I can enjoy staying up late without having to deal with the following morning. If I’m out, I usually start to flag by about 2am – but tonight I have more energy. Perhaps those late nights have trained me up? Maybe I’ve experienced the much-sought-after switch between morning lark and night owl? Or maybe it’s just the alcohol.

After my later night, on Sunday morning I sleep till about 9am but that is a totally normal weekend rising time for me. What I’ve never worked out is whether this propensity for a sneaky weekend lie-in is tapping into my natural body clock (and the time I’d always wake up then if I didn’t have a job to go to) or whether I’m always just making up for my early hours in the week. 

[Read More: I said I wouldn’t co-sleep – and then I did it with both my children]

Nancy: My sleep routine is actually better at weekends than during the working week: I’m often up and out for a swim by 9am and go to bed earlier than on a school night. (Underlining, perhaps, that I stay up late not because of some crazy disco body-clock, but because I simply want to fit in more me-time). However, as someone who suffers from Sunday blues in a big way, Sunday night often proves problematic. I’ll wind down around 10 with a book in the bath, only to lie for hours in bed unable to sleep.

Tonight, however, it’s different. It’s 8.22pm, and I’m doing the washing up and picking out a work outfit so I can be in bed by nine with ITV2. Even after watching Aftersun (yes, really), my light is out at 11pm – and I’m asleep before midnight for the first Sunday in weeks. This makes Monday morning manageable, rather than the achey-headed endurance test I’m used to.

[Read More: How to make your bedroom a relaxing sleep haven]

Time for an (alarm clock) reset?

Sophie: I am so glad this experiment is over – in fact I celebrated by getting into bed a whole hour earlier than normal to read my book. I know my colleagues mock me and think I basically have the routine of a toddler, but with a full-on job I don’t want to be waking up feeling exhausted every day. Yes, sleep is for when you’re dead, but I feel only half alive when I don’t get eight hours. And no, I don’t feel like I’m missing out – I still go out and socialise during the week, I just make sure I leave before nine o’clock, which seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Nancy: What have I learned? That I’m even more addicted to my phone than I feared. That I’m delusional to think I’ll get my magnum opus written by staying up late into the night (I could just pen a novel in the time I’m watching Love Island). That 11pm is still a magical hour – and Sophie and I have fundamentally different experiences of time. But that sometimes putting yourself to bed at a nice, normal time is actually the grown up thing to do.

Struggling With Hay Fever? 5 Ways To Sleep Better During The ‘Pollen Bomb’

With a heatwave on the horizon, the warmer weather brings a fresh set of challenges for the estimated one in five of us living with hay fever.

This week and running into the weekend, the Met Office has warned of “very high” grass pollen levels across England and Wales, with Northern Ireland and Scotland seeing high counts, too.

It means major discomfort for a lot of people, including disrupted sleep – over half of adults (57%) and up to 88% of children with hay fever suffer from sleep problems, which can lead to daytime fatigue and an inability to think clearly.

Not ideal if you’ve got to work. Or just want to enjoy your weekend.

To give yourself the best chance of catching some shut-eye despite this week’s dreaded pollen bomb, we asked experts for their advice.

[Read more: Why people with asthma should have inhalers on hand this week]

1. Wash Your Sheets More

Sadly, washing your sheets once a fortnight just won’t cut the mustard in the weeks to come. “In hay fever season, consider washing your sheets once a week to keep sheets free of pollen, as well as dust and other particles that might make symptoms worse,” says Neil Robinson, chief sleep officer at Sealy UK.

A hot wash should do the trick. A study found that washing items at hotter temperatures was more effective at removing traces of tree pollen, so when you wash your sheets, make sure it’s at a temperature of 40C or above – ideally at least 60C.

2. Banish Pets From The Bedroom

Yes you might love having your cat or dog curled up at the end of the bed, but they’re actually a nightmare for allergy sufferers. “Their fur can be a magnet for pollen, dust and other allergens,” says Robinson, “meaning you’ll be the one to suffer when they climb into your bed late at night.

“With 10% of people banishing their partner from the bedroom to make room for their furry friend, it might be time to evict your pet and invite your partner back in during the summer months if you don’t want your allergy symptoms to flare up.”

[Read more: Hay fever getting you down? Here are 22 doctor-approved tips to keep symptoms at bay]

3. Shower Before Bed

If you find your allergy symptoms worsen at night, try jumping in the shower. At the end of a long day, your hair, skin and clothes will be covered in micro-particles of dust and pollen, especially if you’ve spent long periods outside enjoying the sunshine.

“A quick shower before settling down for the night can help remove these allergens before you sleep, reducing night time symptoms,” says Robinson.

4. Close Your Windows

Make sure you keep your windows closed in the morning and evening when pollen counts are highest. Tree pollen tends to peak in the early afternoon, while grass tends to be worse in the morning before 11am and again in the late afternoon and early evening from about 4.30pm.

Natalie Masters, hay fever and summer allergies expert at Boots, previously told HuffPost UK: “Towards the end of the day, the temperature drops causing the pollen that has risen in the atmosphere during the day to fall back to the ground. This explains why hay fever sufferers may experience a worsening of symptoms at night which can impact how they feel the next day.”

5. Switch Up Your Medication

If you take medication to relieve your symptoms, consider when you are suffering the most and make sure you’re taking them at the appropriate time.

Keep a diary of symptoms and notice the times of day you have flare ups. If night time is when you suffer the most, Robinson suggests taking any medication before bed so you reap the full benefits.

But make sure to consult your doctor before making any changes.

Professor Green Shares The One Sleep Habit That Helps His Anxiety

In ‘What Works For Me’ – a series of articles considering how we can find balance in our lives – we talk to people about their self-care strategies. 

Professor Green sleeps with his bedroom curtains wide open, but it’s not because fame has turned him into an exhibitionist. The rapper and documentary-maker says being woken up by the sun each morning helps reduce his anxiety – forcing him out of bed and into a routine. 

“If I’m in an anxious place in the morning and I’ve got a bit of a knot in my stomach, rather than feeding it, I nourish myself instead – I get out of bed and walk the dogs,” he tells HuffPost. “I just find that getting up and out and getting my day started, irrespective of what my sleep was like, makes me feel better.”

Starting his day earlier – and switching his phone off at 9pm to avoid distractions – also helps him “chip away” at his to-do list, which he used to find overwhelming. 

“The longer you leave things the more they manifest, the more you have to do and the more difficult it seems to take that first step,” he says. “But I think the first step is the most important thing when it comes to mental health.”

The 35-year-old, whose real name is Stephen Manderson, has long been open about the mental health problems he’s had since childhood. Alongside anxiety, he’s experienced bouts of depression and continues to be affected by OCD. 

“I used to count a lot when I was a kid, I’d twitch my leg muscle for every word that someone spoke,” he recalls. “[Now] my OCD often presents itself as hypochondria if everything starts to feel like it’s getting out of control, but I’ve got much better at recognising it.”

He describes his mental health as being in “a really good place” at the moment, and tells me he stopped taking the antidepressants he was prescribed last year.

“In the time when I was on them it did help break a negative thought cycle,” he says, adding that it changed some of his own preconceptions about medication. “But there’s a stigma that comes with it. I didn’t want it to define me, like ‘oh he’s on antidepressants’ and I’m quite stubborn. I like to try to fix things other ways if possible.”

Coming off them was tough, he admits: “I had terrible side effects. I was in bed for 17 hours a day when I was getting on them and it was a much similar thing while I was getting off them.” 

This year marks 10 years since Manderson landed his first record deal. In that time, he’s witnessed how the music business is “one of the only industries where certain bad behaviours are celebrated”. But the decade has also taught him it’s unrealistic to aim for a consistently happy place – instead, he’s managed to find contentment. 

“I think happiness is something that you feel – like sadness is, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a constant,” he muses. “If there’s any baseline, it’s really just [being] content, and being in a place where you’re able to experience the highs and the lows.”

A key part to finding this balance has been learning to say no, even when that means turning down work. Having been brought up by his ‘Nanny Pat’ in a working-class, Hackney household, it’s something that took years to get used to. “When you’re from a background like mine, there is no safety net, there is no plan B and I think: ‘I have to make this work’” he says. 

But 10 years in the business has afforded him the confidence (and money) to know that turning down one job won’t cause the world to implode. 

“There’s something really important in understanding what is good for you and not just doing what everyone else wants you to do,” he says. “Because if all you ever do is say yes to people, you’re never really being yourself, you’re just being who everyone else wants you to be.” 

The hardest opportunities to turn down are often the charity gigs, he says, that have continued to flood in since the release of his 2015 documentary ‘Suicide and Me’. The documentary followed Manderson as he sought to understand the factors that may have contributed to his father’s suicide, and the reasons why men still account for three-quarters of suicides in the UK. 

It came at a time when discussion around mental heath and toxic masculinity were still in their infancy, and Manderson wasn’t sure how the film would be received. “I was worried about people seeing me crying, people seeing me upset – even down to things like me being booked for work and stuff,” he recalls. “I worried it was going to affect that, and that people would pass judgement.”

But the response was overwhelmingly positive, teaching Manderson a valuable lesson: it’s okay to be vulnerable. 

“All anyone commended me for was my strength,” he says. “That made me realise there is a strength in vulnerability if you own it and if you’re honest with yourself about what your vulnerabilities are. You run into problems when you try to deny those vulnerabilities and that’s when you become unstuck.”

The documentary catapulted Manderson from rapper to role model and – in a new Gillette campaign – he talks about the role models that have had the greatest impact on his own life.

There’s Nanny Pat, for example, who became his legal guardian as a child after his mum left when he was one. His dad had become a father at 18 and was an intermittent presence in his life. Manderson saw his dad for the last time on his 18th birthday – and was told that he had taken his own life six years later. 

He “hates to think where [he’d] be” without his beloved Nanny Pat, he says. “If I didn’t have her I would have been in care,” he tells me, adding that she taught him hard work while juggling three jobs. “Everything that was thrown at her, she bounced back.” 

His manager Ged, who he’s had since he was 20, has become another parental figure. “Occasionally when I do really well at something, he’ll send me a message and say how proud he is of me,” Manderson says. “Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have had that from my dad, but me and Ged, we’re as much friends and brothers as he is any kind of parental figure.” 

Despite finding ways to manage his mental wellbeing, through his music and these role models, Manderson maintains he’s still a “work in progress”.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen one day from the next,” he says. “I just hope this period where I’m at continues, because it makes life a hell of a lot easier and a hell of a lot more enjoyable.”

This Father’s Day, Gillette is celebrating all the role models that help you be your best. Join Gillette in thanking the people who’ve made a difference in your life. #MyRoleModel

Tired This Morning? How Night Owls Can Retrain Their Body Clocks In 4 Simple Steps

‘Night owls’ who struggle to wake up in the morning could benefit from a few tweaks to their sleeping patterns, according to researchers.

A small study found that, over a three-week period, it was possible to shift the circadian rhythm of so-called night owls using four simple interventions – and there wasn’t a sleeping pill in sight.

The tweaks could lead to significant improvements in sleep/wake timings, better performance in the mornings, improved eating habits and a decrease in depression and stress, say researchers. 

So what’s the secret?

[Read More: 9 relaxing bedroom accessories to help you create a calming oasis]

In this study, 22 healthy individuals – who had an average bedtime of 2.30am and wake-up time of 10.15am – were asked to make four changes to their sleep routine. 

Firstly, they were told to wake up 2-3 hours before regular wake-up time and maximise outdoor light during the mornings. They were also told to go to bed 2-3 hours before their usual bedtime and limit light exposure in the evening.

Another rule was that they had to keep sleep/wake times fixed on both work days and free days (such as the weekend). They also had to have set food times: eat breakfast as soon as possible after waking up, eat lunch at the same time each day, and refrain from eating dinner after 7pm.

The study, conducted by the Universities of Birmingham and Surrey in the UK and Monash University in Australia, showed participants were able to bring forward their sleep/wake timings by two hours, while having no negative effect on sleep duration.

Overall, participants reported a decrease in feelings of depression and stress, as well as in daytime sleepiness – according to the researchers. 

Lead researcher Dr Elise Facer-Childs, from Monash University’s Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, said the findings reveal simple interventions can change the sleep habits of night owls and, in turn, reduce negative elements of mental health and sleepiness, and improve performance.

Study co-author Dr Andrew Bagshaw, from the University of Birmingham, said: “We now need to understand how habitual sleep patterns are related to the brain, how this links with mental wellbeing and whether the interventions lead to long-term changes.”

Dr Facer-Childs added that night owls, compared to morning larks, tended to be more compromised in our society, due to having to fit to schedules that are out of sync with their preferred patterns. “By acknowledging these differences and providing tools to improve outcomes, we can go a long way to achieve optimal productivity and performance,” she concluded.

It’s Not Just Kids Who Need Naps In The Day – Us Parents Do, Too

Children are happier, have fewer behavioural problems and excel academically when they take a nap in the afternoon, a new study suggests. And I can totally believe it. 

The research from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California revealed a connection between midday napping and greater happiness and self control, as well as a higher IQ – the latter particularly evident in older kids.

Nearly 3,000 children aged 9-12 were involved in the study over several years. Their napping frequency and duration were analysed – along with how they behaved and performed at school.

“Children who napped three or more times per week benefit from a 7.6% increase in academic performance,” co-author Adrian Raine concluded.

“How many kids at school would not want their scores to go up by 7.6 points out of 100?” The report also showed that sleep deficiency and daytime drowsiness is widespread, affecting up to 20% of all children. 

[Read More: When to exercise (and how) for a better night’s sleep]

Sleep researcher Sara Mednick called it “the first comprehensive study of its kind”, adding: “The more students sleep during the day, the greater the benefit of naps on many of these measures.”

Now, this study seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me. Anyone with kids will readily admit that the afternoon nap can change a child’s temperament with almost immediate effect. It’s like recharging their batteries – especially when they’re young – and if they don’t have one, you’re left with a grizzly, easily agitated child, who will be miserable until bedtime. Oh, the joys. 

[Read More: 9 relaxing bedroom accessories to help you create a calming oasis]

My grandson might be younger than the children tested in the study, but nap time is an essential part of his daily routine. Heading to the land of nod every afternoon practically guarantees us a couple of virtually stress-free hours in the evening.

Nap, play, dinner, wind-down, bath, bed. That’s how it goes. When that routine is broken, I’m left with a grandson who falls asleep at the wrong time, usually early evening, then wakes up out of sync and raring to go – at 9pm. 

But who doesn’t feel revitalised if they’re lucky enough to take 40 winks in the afternoon on the sofa? Here’s my two scents: nap time should be made mandatory for everyone – parents included. The UK should seriously consider an afternoon napping culture, for kids and adults. 

After all, if it works for adults in China, surely we can make it work here?

Mum Shares Simple Hack To Help Babies Sleep – All You Need Is One Household Item

If you curse spring and the clocks going forward for the knock-on effects it has on your child’s sleep, you’re not alone. 

I actively look forward to winter, with its dark, early skies and bleak mornings, and that’s because young children – my young children – are like birds. 

They’re up every morning at 6am with the dawn chorus, and when it starts getting light earlier on, so do they. I’ve tried everything, from a portable black-out blind to curtains lined with black-out material, to sticking pieces of black card over the window panes – but light always seems to find a way in. 

Thankfully, a mum in Northern Ireland thinks she has discovered how to end early wake-ups, with a simple – yet achingly effective – solution. And you don’t need to spend a ton of money, or shop somewhere obscure, to get one. 

All that you need…. is a bin bag. 

[Read more: ‘He Uses My Face As A Footrest’: How Long Should We Let Our Kids Sleep In Our Beds?]

Yes. You heard that right. The 31-year-old mum was so tired of her 10-month-old daughter waking up at 4.30 or 5am each day, that she came up with a cunning plan. 

She told Belfast Live: “I was losing my mind trying to figure out what was waking her up every morning. I thought it was hunger but she wasn’t overly fussed on her bottle when she did wake up.

“I tried everything but nothing seemed to work and I had resigned myself to the fact she would forever wake before 5am.”

The unnamed mum said she was inspired by a friend who asked if her daughter’s room was dark enough – because babies sleep better in those conditions due to the ‘sleep hormone’, melatonin.

[Read more: Pokémon Sleep: Is This Every Parent’s Dream Invention?]

“We had blackout curtains in her nursery but I did notice there was still light getting in through the top above the curtain,” the mum explained. 

“I didn’t really want to spend a fortune on new blinds and curtains in case they made absolutely no difference to her sleep so I decided to think outside the box and look for an alternative, and there it was right in my cupboard.”

And in the end, it was simple: she put bin liners up over the edges of the nursery room window where the light was getting in. She said she “didn’t even care what the neighbours must have thought”, as she was so desperate to get more sleep.

“I couldn’t believe it, the first night she slept until 8am, she had never done that before,” she revealed. “I thought it might have been a fluke but she’s sleeping to at least 7.30am every morning now, it’s amazing.”

I think we all know what’s at the top of my shopping list…

Pokémon Sleep: Is This Every Parent’s Dream Invention?

There are some things in life children are just better at than grown-ups – and one of those things is getting up early. They go from horizontal to full of beans in a heartbeat, suddenly requiring you – their hard-working, exhausted parent – to provide them with things like breakfast. 

It’s particularly galling when they later get grumpy, having sprung up before they’d had enough sleep (particularly as this tends to lead to Tantrum City).

Salvation may be on its way, though, in the unlikely but charming form of Pokémon. The gaming company has promised it will soon do for sleeping what they did for walking with Pokémon Go – gamifying it and making it newly exciting for children who would rather do almost anything else.

Introducing: Pokémon Sleep. 

Announcement 3⃣

What if you could continue training your Pokémon…even in your sleep? 💤

In 2016, Pokémon GO turned the simple act of walking into entertainment, making the entire world into a game. We’re about to do it again, Trainers—this time, for sleeping.

— Pokémon (@Pokemon) May 29, 2019

We’re pleased to announce the development of Pokémon Sleep, a new app from @Pokemon_cojp that tracks a user’s time sleeping and brings a gameplay experience unlike any other!

Several Snorlax were consulted on this, in case you were wondering. #PokemonSleep is coming in 2020. pic.twitter.com/nJ7mJY09Dl

— Pokémon (@Pokemon) May 29, 2019

When Pokémon Go came out in 2016, it was a phenomenon. Screen-obsessed kids who would previously have balked at the idea of going for a walk were all over it. The walks were inevitably spent staring into a screen, sure, but it was a step forward at least.

From the sounds of it, Pokémon Sleep seems set to work a lot like sleep tracker apps, but instead of using sleep stats to reach conclusions like “Guess that’s why I’m so tired!”, players will use them to train and upgrade their Pokémon. If kids won’t stay in bed past six in the morning for Mummy and Daddy, maybe they’ll do it for Snorlax.

Children in the UK don’t get as much sleep as they should. Last year, it was described as “a hidden health crisis”, as statistics showed sharp rises in children and teenagers being hospitalised for sleep disorders.

While full details on how Pokémon Sleep will work haven’t been released yet – and it seems unlikely to be as simple as “more sleep equals more points” – Pokémon has said its aim is for players to “look forward to waking up every day”, and it will be as much about forming good habits to promote healthy sleep as just running the hours up.

It’s not all good news – while Pokémon Go was a free app, Pokémon Sleep will require a special piece of equipment, Nintendo’s Pokémon Go Plus Plus (yes, two pluses), a Bluetooth-enabled sleep tracker that will transmit the child’s sleep data to a smartphone. The device won’t be released until 2020, and so details are pretty thin on the ground at the moment about things such as price, availability and what will happen to data uploaded about your child.

But who knows? If it takes a bit of competitiveness and encouragement from a weird-ass blob thing to persuade a child to get a healthy night’s sleep – and let their parents get a few more minutes in bed – that’s probably not entirely a bad thing.

What Wedding Night Sex Is Really Like: ‘I Had To Get My Mum To Unhook My Dress’

It was 3am in a seedy hotel in Camberwell, south London. With their drunk wedding guests still happily dancing the night away, Olivia, 40, and her new husband Laurie, 39, returned to their room and jumped into bed together. “It would definitely have been weird for us not to have had sex on our wedding day,” Olivia tells me nine years after the big day. “It’s our favourite thing.” 

In fact, she’d so loved her first day being called ‘Mrs’ that she spent all day looking forward to getting between the sheets. So she chucked her red wine-spattered wedding dress into the sink – and had sex. “Weddings are weird because you don’t get to spend much time together,” she says. “You both look amazing and yet you’re often just appreciating each other from across the room. So we couldn’t wait for the our chance just to be together.”

Historically the wedding night was often the first time a couple shared a bed – so you can understand a willingness to power through the exhaustion, drunkeness and awkward-to-remove wedding attire. It’s the reason wedding night sex attained its near-mythical connotations. 

But now the landscape is very different, with the number of couples who co-habit before marrying far outnumbering those who don’t – and many newlyweds admit that for them, wedding night sex didn’t happen at all. 

Natalie*, 27, was expecting her wedding night to be super romantic, intimate and beautiful “just like in the movies”. In fact, when she got married two years ago, she and her husband were so knackered they were asleep the moment their heads hit the pillows. “When we got in bed we just knew sex was off the cards. We were unbelievably tired,” she says.

Our close friends even asked jokingly how we consummated our marriage…”

But while the reality was giving in to exhaustion, there was still an expectation – not just from each other, but also from friends – that their wedding night would be steamy. “Everyone at our wedding kept joking about how wild our wedding night was going to be and they were definitely expecting sex,” she says.  

“Our close friends even asked the next day jokingly about how we consummated our marriage. They all laughed when we told them we were snoring within one minute.”

Natalie and her partner are not alone in swapping sex for sleep. Faustina, 41, who was married 13 years ago, also found her wedding night expectations were put on ice when she and her husband dozed off in the bath before they got a chance to have sex.

“[Wedding sex] dominated all talks amongst my friends and classmates way before I got married. So I thought it was something that was bound to happen. However, on the night we both were too tired and fell asleep in the bathtub.”

Both women say their husbands felt more disheartened that sex hadn’t happened. Natalie says: “My husband was excited about our first night as a married couple and had been imagining all the things we would be doing that night – bless him!”

Karolina, 29, married her partner in Poland five years ago. Neither she nor her husband were bothered that they slept instead of having sex. “We went to bed at 6am – Polish weddings are really long,” she explains. “After 18 hours of stress, party, all we wanted was to get some sleep. It was just another night we spent together.”

Not everyone succumbs to the lure of sleep over sex. Other couples simply prioritise their stomachs. Cara*, 28, who got married in May 2016, said: “By the time we’d got back to our room, all there was left to do was order a burger and chips on room service, take off the dress that had left me with bruises, and rest my throbbing feet.”

For Charlotte and her new husband, there was dinner then admin: “We went to McDonald’s on the way back home, had a feast, made note of gifts and then packed ready for our honeymoon the next morning,” she recalls. “I think we fell asleep to Family Guy. It didn’t bother us.”

For others, just getting undressed for bed proved the impossible obstacle to christening the marriage in the way they’d imagined. Nigel, 62, and his bride got to the honeymoon suite to find a bottle of champagne and a full decanter of brandy. “We shared both but my biggest challenge was yet to come,” he says. “First to get her to the toilet (as the bridesmaids were nowhere to be seen) and then get the dress off her so she could get to bed. Who knew that would be so tough…”

Zoë, 33, who married her husband Ben in September 2017, also struggled. “He got in the shower and I couldn’t get out of my dress. I had to go and find my mum’s room to get her to unhook me as there were lots of tiny buttons, too small for his hands.” Freed of her frock she returned to her new husband. “When I got back to our room, he was asleep in his wedding trousers face down on the bed.”

Tearing themselves away from guests proved tricky for other couples. When Sam and her husband Paul got married, they stayed up all night drinking with old friends they hadn’t seen in a long time. “We had hired the whole hotel and were all staying there, it was such a great day to catch up. I don’t think it is the big deal it used to be. People have sex before marriage and often live together. Many just want to enjoy their wedding day and party with friends and family.”

When the pair finally climbed the stairs to bed they exchanged a kiss and went to bed – Sam left the bridal nightwear she had bought specifically for another night. “I think many couples enjoy great sex on their honeymoon, as we did,” she says.

That certainly seems the case. But props to the newly-weds who do prioritise sex on their wedding day. (Or at least manage to stay awake long enough to have any). Martin, 41, and his wife Lucy had the “best sex” they’d had in ages on their wedding night in 2007, he says – they’d had a brilliant day, were drunk, really in the mood and keen to get down to it.

For Sarah*, 29, and her partner, who got married in 2012 after two and a half years together, they felt the need to consummate their big day – even though they both felt like going to sleep. “Wedding night? You’ve got to seal the deal, right? We had sex because we thought we had to seal the deal even though we were super tired,” she says.

Which is some commitment to marking a sexual milestone – and more than most people manage. While it was definitely a consideration for many of the people we spoke to, many just couldn’t stay awake long enough to see it through. 

Some names have been changed.

Mo Salah Sleeping On The Plane Floor Is Holiday Goals

We all know the misery of trying to sleep on a plane: the eye mask that lets the light in; the serial seat-recliner in the row in front of you; the near-on impossibility of finding a travel pillow that doesn’t crick your neck; and finally dropping off – only to find your neighbour needs the loo.

Or you could just find a spare bit of floor and lie down there. Well, if it’s good enough for Liverpool FC and Egypt football star, Mohamed Salah…

This year’s Golden Boot winner was on a flight out to the team’s hot weather training camp in Marbella, Spain, ahead of Liverpool’s Champions League final against Tottenham, when he was caught in the act… of napping.

[Read More: How to get your trip off the ground if you’re scared of flying]

Salah was captured on Instagram by his teammate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who panned over the top of his own seat to show the Egyptian midfielder wrapped up in a blanket on the floor – with an airline pillow folded in half (we’ve all been there) – trying to catch some kip on the flight. 

Some of the other Liverpool players, including Virgil Van Dijk and Dejan Lovren, soon gathered around row 20 to witness the sight. As Oxlade-Chamberlain put it: “Egyptian kings need sleep too”.

If only Salah had discovered HuffPost Finds, where we’ve tested a range of sleep aids – from eye masks to sleep sprays and anti-snore pillows. Or when all else fails, our 10 top tips for falling, and staying, asleep on a plane. 

These include staying away from the light (that means your phone and TV screen), listening to white noise, and avoiding sugary snacks. Or, as the cast of TOWIE taught us: no carbs before Marbs, Mo.