{"id":263729,"date":"2026-01-02T17:08:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/263729\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T17:08:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:08:19","slug":"8-easy-ways-to-reset-your-sleep-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/263729\/","title":{"rendered":"8 easy ways to reset your sleep in January"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the days and weeks over Christmas, many of us lose track of what day it is and fall out of our usual routines. As a result, our sleep often takes a hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time of year, people have often had far too much alcohol, they\u2019re tired and have accumulated a sleep debt, so good sleep is at an all-time low,\u201d reflects Dr Marion Sloan, GP partner of Sloan Medical Centre in Sheffield and chair of the Primary Care Society for Gastroenterology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When trying to improve sleep, we often focus on what we can change during the evening and nighttime. However, Dr David Garley, GP and director of The Better Sleep Clinic<\/a>, says this approach misses an important part of the picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you aren\u2019t sleeping well, it\u2019s quite natural to focus on the night, but actually by shifting your focus to the day and carrying out activities that reinforce the wake phase of your circadian rhythm can help the sleep phase arrive a bit more naturally at night,\u201d explains Garley.<\/p>\n

If your sleep has gone off track after Christmas, you are not alone. Here are eight ways to help reset your sleep this January\u2026<\/p>\n

1. Get out in the daylight<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly January is a really good time to look for a fresh start and to try and re-establish some healthy rhythms, and one of the most natural ways to do that is to get out in that early-morning sunshine,\u201d recommends Sloan.<\/p>\n

Garley agrees and explains: \u201cLight is one of the main things that our circadian rhythm is set up in response to. It can be tricky at this time of year because it gets light later, but even just setting some time aside at lunch to get out for a quick walk around the block can really help with your sleep at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Move your body during the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Exercising during the day can help prepare your body and mind for sleep during the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sleep to charge our batteries back up again, so in an ideal world you would be physically tired to get into a decent night\u2019s sleep,\u201d says Sloan. \u201cDifferent people have different levels of exercise and different optimums of what they\u2019re able to achieve, but 10,000 steps per day is a good sweet spot to aim for.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Try to stick to a consistent wake time<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to be the boss of your own sleep, so have a fixed wake-up time and try not to vary it by too much more than an hour at the weekend,\u201d advises Garley.<\/p>\n

4. Create a wind-down routine<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to have a bit of wind-down time before you try to go to sleep,\u201d says Sloan. \u201cFor example, reading a book for half an hour can be a good way to wind down at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether your wind-down routine is floating through Facebook to see what\u2019s happening, or reading a book or just laying quietly, it can help you fall off into a natural sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Try journaling<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are really struggling with your sleep, it can be good to try and explore what it is about your sleep that you\u2019re worried about, so journaling can be a really good way to understand that,\u201d suggests Garley. \u201cDon\u2019t do it right before bed, but maybe two or three hours before bed, sit down with a piece of paper or book and just write down what\u2019s on your mind about sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen thoughts are in your head, they have this habit of being quite formless and vague, whereas if you write them down they become defined, and a defined thought is much easier to think about in a constructive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

6. Resist the urge to lie in<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you lie in, it tends to blur the boundaries between sleep happening in the bed and wake happening out of the bed and it\u2019s actually that association between the bed and sleep that tends to trigger sleep,\u201d explains Garley. \u201cSo, you want to keep that nicely divided by getting out of bed straight away in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

7. Consider getting a daylight alarm clock<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are a constant alarm snoozer, consider getting a daylight alarm clock.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can get these daylight alarm clocks that just set off a bit of light before the alarm goes off,\u201d says Garley. \u201cYou can get a physical clock or can just get the backlit display to come on on your phone for five or 10 minutes before your alarm goes off.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis helps draw you up from these deeper states of sleep to lighter states, so that when the alarm does go off it\u2019s not such a rude awakening. That can help you wake up feeling a bit fresher and can help make it easier to get out of bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

8. Don\u2019t force it<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSleep is one of these quite unusual things that the more you try to do it, the less likely it is to happen,\u201d highlights Garley. \u201cIf you\u2019re not asleep within 15 to 20 minutes, get out of bed and find a relaxing and distracting activity such as reading a book or even watching TV and wait for that urge to sleep to come back \u2013 then go back to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the days and weeks over Christmas, many of us lose track of what day it is and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[3500,18,90904,23695,135,19,17,8735,84521,543,3795],"class_list":{"0":"post-263729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-advice","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-gp","11":"tag-habits","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-january","16":"tag-new-year","17":"tag-sleep","18":"tag-wellbeing"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115826609710065595","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}