I’m currently in a hotel room up in Aberdeen, and there are a few things that I do to hack the hotel room and to try and guarantee myself the best night’s sleep. Because one of the things that can be disruptive about travel is the implication on sleep – you’re in a strange bed, in a hotel, preparing for something the next day or just unwinding from the day.

Here are a few things I do…

I carry a little bag around with me which contains my eye mask so I can always eliminate most of the light in a room by covering my eyes. I’ve got some very funky blue light blocking glasses. These are the ones you would wear for the last hour of bedtime (probably in your hotel room and not walking around the hotel!). That’s blocking 90% of all the light in the room. The issue with light is that it suppresses melatonin, and it prevents that sleepy hormone from kicking in.

I have a different pair of glasses that I’ll wear from about 7:00pm onwards if I’m in the room – though I would consider wearing them out! They block out around 40% to 50% of the light that I’m being subjected to. In hotel rooms, lighting can often be really harsh – so whilst they may not be particularly attractive, wearing the blue light blocking glasses is going to have a positive impact on sleep – especially if you twin that with the eye mask.

I also bring tea bags with me, or non-caffeinated beverages because usually in a hotel room, and it’s definitely the case in this hotel room, it’s just caffeinated beverages that are on offer.

In this hotel room there is a little red light on the television, which I will cover with some black tape or electric tape, whatever I decide to bring. Another little tip is, if the curtains in your room have that little gap between them that light leaks through, the clips that you find on the trouser hangers, can be used to clip curtains together so you can eliminate all the light that’s coming through.

There’s several things that you can do when you’re in a hotel room to hack it, to make it a little bit more conducive to sleep.

So my recommendations are to have a little bit of a pack with you, have some tea bags in there, get some glasses, get an eye mask, and get some crocodile clips that you can clip curtains together.

I hope you found that helpful, especially for any of you that frequently spend time in hotel rooms.

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Author(s)

  • Leanne is an award-winning entrepreneur and the founder of Bodyshot Performance Limited. She delivered a TEDx talk on 'Why fitness is more important than weight', is the author of bestselling books 'Remove the Guesswork' and 'Rise and Shine', and hosts a podcast called ’Remove the Guesswork‘. Leanne is the founder of Bodyshot Performance, an award-winning health and wellbeing company. Bodyshot Performance work with businesses of up to 500 people who want to create a culture of energy, vitality and performance through the business and position wellbeing as a competitive advantage. Bodyshot intersect the latest science and technology to provide unique solutions to the challenge of wellbeing in the workplace that have a direct impact on the bottom line. Our clients have won awards for wellbeing and recognise it directly improves employee engagement and retention and attracts talent into the business.  We also work with chronically stressed or burned out professionals to get you back in control of your health and able to do the things you want to do in life. My expertise is around health, fitness and wellbeing, specifically focusing on sleep, mental health, energy, body composition, digestion and fitness. I host a popular podcast on iTunes called ’Remove the Guesswork ‘, and in November 2016 I delivered a TEDx talk on 'Why fitness is more important than weight'. I’m the author of the bestselling books 'Remove the Guesswork' and 'Rise and Shine' and I regularly speak to corporates on health and wellbeing. My personal values are to live truthfully, considerately and to "suck all the marrow out of life" as Thoreau said. I support the charity Diversity Role Models which works to combat homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. I recently completed the world’s toughest ski race to raise £10,125 for Alzheimer's Research as my father-in-law was profoundly ill with Alzheimers, and I am on a constant mission to find ways to live in a way that is sustainable and environmentally friendly. I love sport, fitness, reading, gardening, business, podcasting, and being with my cat and our scampish little rescue dog, Kami from Romania.