Bed Socks, Bananas and a Great nights sleep!

Would you ever have thought that the key to a good nights sleep is eating a banana at bed time and sleeping in only bed socks?? I kid you not, and no I have not completely lost it….just read on to find out more!

Last week I was invited along by iCrossing to the Ibis Hotel in Shepherds Bush, this is the newest in the Ibis chain and we were invited along with the sole purpose to get a good nights sleep!  Being a very sleep deprived Mummy I was excited at getting a whole night with no baby monitor and no three year old kicking me in the head at 5am. So I hopped on a train first thing Monday morning and off I went, it was the first time in a long time I was counting down the hours till bed time – the one time of the day I usually dread!

We spent the day with the lovely Sammy Margo who talked to us about the importance of sleep and gave us some great tips on getting a good nights sleep.

I am so busy all of the time, always doing something, running round after the kids, working, blogging, cleaning, I could go on but you get my point! I really see sleep as something that gets in the way of my busy schedule. I don’t actually have time for it, Sammy made me see just how important sleep actually is for your well-being.  It can even help you loose weight……YES you did read that correctly, sleeping well can aid weight-loss – amazing I know, I am totally convinced that this is where I have been going wrong all these years!

I learnt that sleep is actually fantastic, and more importantly it is good for you!  Sammy showed me the best position for me to sleep in to ensure a comfortable nights sleep, I am such a wriggler, I never wake up in the position I go to sleep in, and I have to say the position she suggested does work and is very comfortable!

As well as giving me tips on a great sleeping position Sammy also told us about sleep inducing foods.  When my husband works later shifts I always tell him to eat bananas, they are full of energy right ?? Apparently they are a sleep inducing food! Full of something called tryptophan which then produces serotonin in your body and makes you sleepy! No wonder my husband always struggles on his late shifts! Whoops! So every night after tea I am now desperately shovelling bananas into the kids!

Following the session with Sammy we had some free time to explore Westfield Shopping Centre which is AMAZING and I accidentally ended up in a cocktail bar  (totally the fault of Bizzy Mum and Sussex Mummy – I was led astray you see!) it was lovely to have some child free time and talk with other grown ups for a change!  Following this we had a lovely meal at Jamie’s Italian and then headed back to the hotel for some zzzzzzz’s!

My hotel room was a good size and the bed looked so inviting! I could not wait to get to sleep! Ibis have spent a long time working with experts on their newly designed beds to make them super comfortable to ensure all their customers get a great nights sleep and I have to say I was not one bit disappointed!  I donned on my bed socks – did I mention Sammy had advised that the best thing to sleep in is bed socks and pants??! I am a Pyjama girl if I am totally honest, but I did test out the lovely bed socks which kept my feet nice and toasty and snuggled down for a whole night of uninterrupted blissful sleep!

I was woken by my Mum calling me at 9.20am the next day!! I had a great nights sleep, the bed was so comfy I really think if my Mum hadn’t rang I probably would have slept for the whole week day!

A massive big thanks has to go to the lovely Ibis hotel for giving a very sleep deprived Mummy a very much-needed full nights sleep!