Bedside lights should be bright enough to read, but kept as low as possible to reduce alertness.

Most of us should get as much morning natural light as possible.

but it is really important to avoid any discussion or consideration of stressful topics immediately before bed. The acute elevation of cortisol and adrenaline will increase alertness and delay sleep

In general, our muscle strength and muscle respiration peak in the late afternoon and early evening.

There is a real problem for those individuals who are ‘natural long sleepers’, needing nine hours or more of sleep each night.

Sleep is a period of physical inactivity during which time an individual avoids movement within an environment to which it is poorly adapted, while using this time to undertake a range of essential biological activities that allow optimum performance during activity.64

A relaxing behaviour, such as a bath or shower, or warming the hands and feet,308 can be very useful before bed. Again, it can be part of your routine of ‘sleep preparation’,

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, whether you like it or not. Thomas Henry Huxley

Those individuals who exercised between morning and mid-afternoon (7 a.m. to around 3 p.m.) woke earlier, whereas those exercising later (7–10 p.m.) woke later, with little impact on sleep timing when exercise was undertaken between 4 p.m. and 2 a.m.