BODY & SOUL GOOD NIGHTS NEW YEAR ROUTINE NEW SLEEP SLEEP EASY WORDS ALICE GREGORY Ensure that the New Year's resolution bound to make all others a success is on your list... getting a good night's sleep! T he New Year has begun and many of us will be contemplating how to achieve greater balance and wellbeing in 2020. We may be considering how to reduce our stress levels, improve our health, stabilise our weight or feel less exhausted. As described in my popular-science book Nodding Off (Bloomsbury, paperback £10.99), research suggests that getting a good night's sleep can help to improve all of these issues. Sleep helps us to recalibrate our emotions and supports the immune system. It also affects the hormones that control appetite - ghrelin, which is involved in the sensation of hunger, and leptin, which is associated with feeling full. That's why a lack of sleep can lead to overeating and weight gain. A good night's sleep not only involves getting enough sleep (most adults need between seven and nine hours to function at their best), but getting good quality sleep. As we get older, we want to avoid lying in bed unable to nod off and also waking up during the night or early in the morning and being unable to get back to sleep. 39