Sleep is essential for the body to function at any level, let alone as a well-tuned machine. Sleep is vital for your health and well-being. When you’re sleeping your body continues to work, both supporting how your brain functions and maintaining your physical condition. Regular good sleep keeps your memory sharp, gives you energy, boosts creativity and focuses your attention.

Poor sleep affects hormones that regulate appetite. It is extremely difficult to fight junk food cravings when you are low on energy and sleep. Studies show that sleep deprived individuals have a bigger appetite and eat more calories. Those who get adequate sleep tend to eat less than those who don’t. Lack of sleep can cause your body to release cortisol, a stress hormone that triggers your heart to work harder. Heightened cortisol prompts the body to store more fat and be more inclined to use other soft tissue, such as muscle, as energy. As a result, sleep-deprived dieters lose more muscle and gain more fat than do those who are well rested.

According to Dr Nerina Ramlakhan, a sleep expert and author of Tired But Wired: How to Overcome Your Sleep Problems: The Essential Sleep Toolkit, the sleep that occurs before the clock strikes midnight is one of the most powerful phases we can get, because it’s the period where the body is replenished. She explains that there is a synchronicity to the movements of the moon and the cells in our body.

Sleep problems include having a difficult time falling asleep, struggling to stay asleep, waking up several times during the sleep cycle or waking up too early and being unable to go back to sleep.

Our immune system relies on sleep to stay strong. Ongoing sleep deficiency can mean you’ll struggle to fight infections and will be more susceptible to colds and flu. When your body gets the sleep it needs, your immune cells and proteins get the rest they need to fight off whatever comes their way.

Anyone who works shift work or nights will be familiar with the term ‘the graveyard shift’. It is aptly named, as you can end up like the walking dead. In 2007 the World Health Organisation classified night shift work as a probable carcinogen due to circadian disruption. Our bodies are programmed to run on cycles known as circadian rhythms, from the Latin meaning ‘around’ or ‘approximately’ (circa) ‘a day’ (diem). The circadian rhythm, the name given to your body’s 24-hour internal clock, controls your body’s sleep-wake cycle, and changes in your routine disrupt those rhythms. There are other influences on your body’s internal clock, including melatonin (a hormone released in your brain that plays a role in sleep), physical activity and social behaviours. Your age can also influence your sensitivity to the sleep-wake cycle.

During periods of prolonged training my daily routine includes taking a magnesium supplement and getting to bed by 10 p.m. Not only does magnesium promote sleep, it’s also excellent for muscle recovery after exercise and is essential for calcium absorption. I take Mag365 Bone Formula in powder form about an hour before bed. This process converts it to ionic magnesium citrate, one of the most bioavailable forms to take. It combines magnesium citrate with calcium and vitamins C, D3 and K2, together with boron, all essential for bone health.

Consistency in both rising times and bed times are part of maintaining a strong immune system. I start my day at 5am so I try to be in bed between 9pm and 10pm. I always turn off screens at least an hour before bed. I almost never eat a heavy meal in the evening and avoid anything that may be hard for me to digest. I try to exercise daily and I stay away from stimulants like coffee from 4pm. This sleep routine works for me. I do break it for nights out, but on the whole this is my routine. If I can’t sleep, or I wake during the night, I get up or read until I get sleepy.