Today I thought I would share a few top tips around sleeping well. This is so important to keep your immunity strong, boost your energy and allow your muscles to recover fully. Over the Festive Period especially, sleep hours may be limited. To keep Fit & Energised here are a few top tips based on the learnings I have gained from numerous courses, and from my own reading. Please feel free to share you ideas and suggestions too.  

My Top 10 Tips:  

1. Make sure you get the right amount of sleep for you - on average this is around 6.5 - 8hrs to allow all the benefits outlined above to happen. 
2. Switch off all your laptops, phones, TV's etc by 10.30pm and have a low light to calm your physiology and promote good sleep. 
3. Get an old fashioned alarm clock and leave everything electronic outside the bedroom & then make it really dark, for the best nights rest.
4. Aim to be sleeping by around 11pm to 6am at least 4 nights a week, more if you can.
5. Keep your caffeine intake to before 2pm, and reduce your alcohol & sugars before bedtime. Make sure you have drunk lots of water throughout the day so you are well hydrated. Opt for Camomile Tea and other relaxing drinks to promote sleep. 
6. Have your evening meal at least 2hrs before you go to sleep and make sure you have eaten little and often throughout the day to avoid over eating in the evening.
7. Eat a good quality diet, with enough protein to promote good recovery from training. 
8. If something is going round and round your mind, write down what the problem is and then the solution, and how this would make you feel. This will help to quieten your mind and allow you to sleep  - the key is to write it down. 
9. If you are stressed and uptight practice some meditation, visualisation or just gentle stretching - www.relax7.com is a great site full of easy top tips. 
10. Between 10pm & 2am physically your body will repair, and 2am - 6am emotionally you body will repair. This is all linked with the Circadian Rhythms - to find out more, Paul Chek's Book, Eat, Move and Be Healthy is a great one (and his YOUTube Clips). Really interesting if you are living in a different time zone, work shift patterns or compete abroad. If you would like more in depth info just let us know!  

Try one or two of these helpful little tips and links and let us know how you get on.... If you have any questions please just ask.

Also see: Five Reasons to Take Recovery Seriously.  

I hope you had a great weekend too... I took a group of clients to run the Christmas Weston Cracker 10km, for many it was their first 10km so they were really nervous. The race is so well organised and I am so proud to say that everyone completed the run, and we have raised over £250 for three charities (the Event Organisers raised over £4,000 for charity too, which is great!). I was dressed as a Giant Elf! 

Have any of you been out running Festive Races, or got any Boxing Day/New Year 10km's planned that you would recommend? Weston Athletics have the Hangover 10km on the 1st Jan 2012 .. we might head there! 

Our Daily Advent Blog with Top Fitness Tips, Quotes and Special offers is proving to be really popular, this week has an Intensive Bootcamp Theme to get you ready for Christmas - you are very welcome to join us! Click here! (There is also evidence of the Giant Elf to make you smile).

Next week I thought I would show you some quick strength workouts to do over Christmas and why this could help you running next year....

Quote for the week: "Our Aspirations are our possibilities ..." Browning 

In the meantime, Happy Running and Stay Fit, Well & Energised ...