Here’s Exactly How To Get Your Body Clock Right After Christmas According To An Expert

It was great fun while it lasted but sadly the Christmas festivities are coming towards an end and it's back to normality.

That's going to be hard enough in itself but the fact that your body clock is now as mixed up as a packet of sweets is not going to help things either.

It's not much fun staring up at the ceiling at half 4 in the morning when you have work in three hours and Dr. Neil Stanley has revealed to Metro that the body craves routine and that timing of sleep is crucial for getting your body clock right.

"Over the Christmas period the routine of bedtime and wake up time that most of us adhere to, however loosely, during the working week pretty much goes out of the window.

"It is essentially a more extreme version of what happens when we have late nights and sleep in ant the weekend, the inevitable result of which is the “Monday Morning feeling”.

You need to get back into your routine as soon as possible. Fair enough, you might not be back to work until Monday but if you try and go to sleep early on Saturday and wake up 'for work' on Sunday morning, there's more chance of getting a proper sleep for work on Sunday night.

Stanley states that warm baths, staying away from any technology and alcohol is key to getting your routine back on track.

These are the effects of poor sleep -

Short term:

Reduction in cognitive performance, memory and problem-solving
Increase risk of accidents
Increase in reaction time
Increase hunger
Increase consumption of ‘junk’ food
Looking tired
Poorer inter-personal relationships and increased irritability.

Long-term:

Shortened life spans
Higher mortality rates
Increased risk of heart disease, stroke and stomach problems
Depression, irritability and mood swings

"Your personal sleep need is essentially the amount of sleep that allows you to feel awake, refreshed, and focused during the following day. Very simply if you feel sleepy during the day then you are probably not, for whatever reason, getting the sleep you need during the night.

"This can be anything between four and eleven hours a night and, given the yawns seen in offices all around the country, for a lot of people it’s more than what they’re currently getting.

"Some people resort to sleeping pills to get them back to their ‘early to bed, early to rise’ routine. However, there can be side effects associated with this, and it’s not recommended for a long period of time. Methods like eating your dinner earlier, keeping your room dark and at a good temperature, or even having sex before bed can get you in the mood for sleep."

All good advice but have the tea and coffee on standby, just as a back-up.