Big dinners will make you feel sleepy but they also prolong digestion, which interferes with a good night’s sleep. It’s best to eat your biggest meal before mid afternoon and have a light evening meal two hours before you go to bed.

 

• Dishes seasoned with garlic, chillies, cayenne, or other hot spices can cause nagging heartburn or indigestion and cause problems sleeping. Avoid spicy foods at dinner. Gas-forming foods and hurried eating also cause abdominal discomfort, which in turn interferes with sound sleep. Limit your intake of gas-forming foods to the morning hours, and thoroughly chew food to avoid gulping air.
• An amino acid called tryptophan, found in dairy products, nuts, seeds and soya helps the brain produce serotonin, a chemical that helps you relax. Try drinking some soya milk or eat an oatcake or rye cracker with peanut butter before bedtime. Plus, the warmth may temporarily increase your body temperature and the subsequent drop may hasten sleep.
• Avoid caffeine. Even small amounts of caffeine can affect your sleep. Try eliminating all caffeine-containing beverages, especially after 3pm. If you feel and sleep better after two weeks of being caffeine-free, then avoid caffeine permanently. You can try adding back one or two cups after the two-week trial, but cut back if sleep problems reappear. (A warm herbal tea such as chamomile can soothe and relax you and makes you feel full, which might help facilitate sleep.)
• As for alcohol it might make you sleepy at first, but in the end you’ll sleep less soundly and wake up feeling exhausted. This is because alcohol suppresses a phase of sleep called REM (rapid eye movement) during which most of your dreaming occurs. Less REM is associated with more night awakenings and restless sleep. One glass of wine with dinner is about the limit, but not every night, and avoid drinking any alcohol within three hours of bedtime.

Almost one in three people gets less than five hours’ sleep a night, while half the population gets less than seven hours but people who deprive themselves of sleep may be more likely to die of heart disease, researchers have found.

A new study has identified a link between lack of sleep, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. An analysis of more than 6,500 people also found that women getting less than five hours’ sleep were twice as likely to have hypertension as men. Hypertension – chronically high blood pressure – is a risk factor for heart disease, Britain’s biggest killer. Researchers said the results were “highly suggestive” that sleep deprivation may be also linked to death from cardiovascular disease.

Even if you’ve been burning the midnight oil try not to hit the snooze button in the morning – slot in a 20 minute afternoon nap instead.

Researchers at Cornell University found women who caught up on their sleep with small amounts of sleep in the early afternoon slept better at night and had more energy than women who had a lie in or turned in early. What is more people who nap regularly lower their risk of dying from heart disease by almost 40 % according to research from the University of Athens medical School.