Welcome back to Stylist’s Sleep Diaries, where we take a deep dive into one of the most important (and elusive) factors in our day-to-day lives: sleep. To help us understand more about it, we invite women to share their habits with our sleep expert Dr Nerina Ramlakhan for analysis.  

Age: 24

Occupation: Writer

How much water do you drink on average per day? Around four pint-sized glasses.

How much caffeine do you drink on average per day? I only really have a mug of green tea in the morning (sorry, I know how worthy that sounds but I can’t get into normal tea or coffee).

What time do you go to bed at night? 11pm

What time do you wake up in the morning? 7am on days when I’m working from home, but 6am when I’m in the office.

How often do you exercise? I run three or four times a week.

Do you eat breakfast within 60 minutes of rising? Yes – I wake up hungry so making breakfast is usually the first thing I do. 

“If I could describe my current sleep in three words, they would simply be: could be better. I’m not struggling to sleep every night, but occasionally I find that can’t fall asleep when I’m feeling tired (usually following a disruption to my routine), and I deal with chronic tooth grinding, which probably affects the quality of my sleep.

“I try to follow a healthy lifestyle where possible – I exercise regularly, avoid caffeine besides a cup of green tea in the morning and drink plenty of water. I’ve also given up alcohol at the moment too. However, I feel like my energy levels could be improved, which is why I’m concerned about my sleep.”

“The area of my life I think could be to blame is my bedtime routine. I usually eat dinner sometime between 6.30pm and 8pm, and then spend the evening reading or watching an episode of something on TV. I then listen to music or a podcast or watch a YouTube video while I’m brushing my teeth and washing my face, so my brain doesn’t really get time to switch off.

“I also scroll on my phone in bed just before I go to sleep, which I know is a terrible idea, but it’s become part of my routine and I feel like it helps me to wind down (maybe I’m just lying to myself). Ultimately, I’d love to know if my phone usage is the issue here, and how I can wean myself off scrolling on my phone in the long term. I know it’s probably very bad, but what can I do instead that serves the same mindless purpose?” 

“You’re a keen runner and have some very healthy habits including minimal caffeine, excellent hydration and eating breakfast as soon as you get up,” says sleep expert and physiologist Dr Ramlakhan. 

“You’re also usually hungry as soon as you get up as well, which is a sign of a healthy metabolism. All good news so far.

“You’re aware of your scrolling ‘addiction’ and want to change this, and I think doing so would really help you to fall asleep more easily and peacefully. When our brains are bombarded with (usually useless) information at nighttime, we end up taking that junk information into our sleep and processing it throughout the night. In other words, we’re simply giving our brains more unnecessary work to do.”

“In your case, this could be exacerbating your bruxism or tooth grinding. Being a writer, you don’t need this additional mental stimulation as you’re probably dealing with words all day long. However, it’s not surprising that you want a mindless activity to do in the evenings to help you switch off. 

“I’m wondering if colouring or even knitting might hit the spot? Or maybe you could check out some Yoga with Adriene – this would complement your running schedule nicely, too.” 

Images: Ami O’Callaghan, Dr Nerina Ramlakhan