According to a Facebook poll by British Nightwear brand Pour Moi, for the best night’s sleep you should be on the right hand side of the bed and you should wear a full matching pyjama set. But there are still a fifth of us that simply prefer to sleep in the buff!
Over 1,000 of their Facebook fans chipped in with their thoughts on the best bedtime routine, with the perfect formula for the UK unveiling as:
1. Sleeping on the right-hand side of the bed
2. Setting just one alarm to get up (no snooze button in sight!)
3. Wearing a matching pyjama set (with no socks!)
4. The last thing before going to sleep is scrolling through your phone
5. Phone goes on the bedside table whilst you sleep
Prudish pyjamas?
True to the prim British stereotype, the most popular thing for the nation to wear to bed came out as a matching pyjama set (29%). The next best sleeping attire was mix-and-match pyjamas, and in third place, at the total opposite end of the spectrum, 20% of Brits said they prefer to sleep naked!
A massive majority of 71% were horrified at the thought of going to sleep with socks on, saying it would ‘make my feet feel trapped!’
Digital fairy tales
Technology is now par for course for British bedtime, with over a third of us (36%) typically scrolling through our phones before falling asleep. And if we’re not glued to Instagram, then we’re opting to watch TV/Netflix whilst we fall asleep instead (30%). While there’s only 15% of us that end up falling asleep whilst reading an actual book!
It seems us Brits can’t be away from our phones for too long though, with nearly 70% of us choosing to sleep with them on the bedside table beside us. One in twenty people even admitted that they sleep with their phone under their pillow. A couple of us are keen for a night-time detox however, with lots of us opting for an audiobook or meditation before we drift off.
Are you a righty or a lefty?
The full results from the poll reveal that everyone has a favourite side of the bed, and it’s pretty much split down the middle – luckily for those that share a bed! However, the right side of the bed had the slight edge as being the preferred choice (45% vs 40%). Roughly one in twenty of us however is guilty of being a cheeky bed-hogger, saying that the ‘side’ of the bed they like to sleep on is ‘the middle’!
Tips for a good night’s sleep…
Our bedtime routine is getting more and more attention as an important part of self-care; Bupa shared nine mental and physical benefits of a good night’s sleep including everything from improving your concentration to helping you maintain a healthy weight and even keeping your immune system strong.
Pour Moi have scoured the web (but not at bedtime on our phones!) to find three of the best bits of advice out there on creating a bedtime routine that works for you:
• Keep it regular: According to the NHS this is one of the best ways to help keep your bed time routine in-check! Schedule the same amount of sleeping time each night – even at weekends! Don’t scrape by on less sleep in the week and try and catch up at weekends (guilty)! Try keep your sleeping times the same, whatever day of the week.
• The perfect habitat: The Sleeping Council say the best temperature should be around 16-18° C (60-65° F); you should keep the space neat and tidy so you’re not distracted or feeling cluttered when you fall asleep and that there should be nice relaxing touches such as photos and plants.
• Only use the bedroom for sleeping: If you don’t sleep well at night, your brain can start associating your bedroom with frustration, sleeplessness and anxiety. Harvard Medical School say you can recondition your brain to associate the bedroom with sleeping by only going to your bed when you’re really sleepy. If you wake up in the night and can’t fall back to sleep, move rooms and only return to your bedroom when you’re feeling sleepy again.
