Category: Features

As part of the Fall Back into Great Sleep campaign I orchestrated for Tom’s Guide, I investigated Shift Work Sleep Disorder.

This refers to the struggle that shift workers face when it comes to getting good rest. In fact, it highlighted a larger inequality between high earners and low earners when it comes to sleep, proving that quality rest is now a luxury not everyone can afford.

‘Shift work aged me faster than stress could alone’ — the real impact fragmented sleep has on our health

What first piqued my interest in this disorder was witnessing how many of my friends and family members sacrifice their sleep for their careers.

After diving deeper and discussing the issue with doctors, lawyers, nurses and experts, I realised the true impact shift work has on our health.

Since I was a teenager, my nights were always occupied with vivid nightmares and night terrors. But the one that has stuck with me well into my adult life is a hallucination of spiders crawling on me.

I wanted to get to the bottom of this phenomenon so I spoke to Dr. Jennifer Acostamadiedo to find out more.

I asked a parasomnias expert what was causing my night terrors – her answer surprised me

So, it turns out what I experience isn’t actually a ‘night terror’, but more a disruption of my REM sleep when I’m in a state between sleeping and waking.

The conversation was fascinating, and Dr. Acostamadiedo was super friendly and interesting. Go and have a read to find out everything you need to know about nightmares and night terrors.

If somebody told me my love of writing would take me to a swanky London hotel where I’d be linked up to brain activity monitors and a lot more… I wouldn’t have believed them. Or, I would have been very, very confused.

But here I am! As the Sleep Features Editor for Tom’s Guide, it’s my job to learn everything there is about sleep, and that includes how the brain works while we rest.

I took part in a gold standard sleep study to find out what happens during a sleep cycle — here are my results

So, while I’m mildly embarrassed that these photos are on the internet, it was such a great experience and I learnt so much. The polysomnography monitored just about everything, from my eye movements and body movements to my brain waves and oxygen levels. At the end, I received a full report showing exactly how I sleep throughout the night (including a video recording??). So, go check it out and learn a bit about your brain!

Currently, the Tom’s Guide Sleep Team is an all-female team, and I’m constantly in awe of the Sleep Editor and the Managing Sleep Editor who both have young children.

Juggling a high-stress, demanding career with parenting means sacrifices have to be made, and often, this means sleep.

“I’m the last to go to bed and the first to wake in the morning” — 9 women on the gender sleep gap and why they’re tired all the time

But it’s not just mothers. The gender sleep gap refers to all of the factors that block women from getting quality sleep. This includes the menopause, period pain, caring responsibilities and the expectation to take on more unpaid labour alongside paid labour, like housework.

I spoke to 9 women from all walks of life to learn about their experience of the gender sleep gap, and it was truly eye-opening. Have a read to find out more: