The secret to a good night's sleep, with Heather Darwall-Smith
The Liz Earle Wellbeing Show
Liz Earle
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 April 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Is it time to hit the refresh button on the way we think about sleep? Psychotherapist Heather Darwall-Smith joins Liz on this podcast to reveal the secrets to getting a good night's sleep.
Heather shares why sleep apps and trackers can be counterintuitive, the small daily habits that can transform our slumber, and how we can properly achieve rest.
They also discuss how neurodivergence may impact sleep as well as our hormones, plus the importance of morning sunlight.
Links mentioned in the episode:
- Follow Heather Darwall-Smith on Instagram
- Visit Heather's website
- Buy How to Be Awake book
- A Better Second Half by Liz Earle
- Email us your questions at [email protected] or leave a voicemail, text, WhatsApp message or WhatsApp voicenote our number – 07518 471846 for the chance to be featured on the show
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sleep is very, very reactive. And what I definitely see a lot of in my work is the more protective we get of it, it can make it worse. |
| 0:08.9 | Insomnia's best friend, if you like, is perfectionism. The first question I'll always ask is, take me through 24 hours in your life. |
| 0:16.7 | If we start working on things from the morning all the way through with that understanding of we're trying to reduce your stress load so that by the time you get to bed, it's easier. |
| 0:26.4 | And then that wind down becomes a time of pleasure rather than a time of... |
| 0:30.2 | Heather Darville Smith is a sleep specialist. |
| 0:35.5 | She says poor sleep is not an isolated problem to fix, but a reflection |
| 0:40.0 | of the way we live. This is the Lizard Well-Being show, the podcast helping us all have a better |
| 0:46.3 | second half. And sleep is, of course, a fundamental part of that. I'm Liz Earle, and I just love |
| 0:52.8 | finding new and interesting ways for all of us to thrive |
| 0:56.3 | in our later life especially by investing in our health and our well-being today. Well, it's April, |
| 1:03.8 | which means nature is full of new beginnings and growth and householder, no doubt, getting a good, |
| 1:09.1 | deep clean, but is it time to have a little spring clean of our own health and well-being routines too? |
| 1:15.2 | So all this month we are going to be looking at ways to slough off the habits that are keeping you stagnant |
| 1:20.2 | and get excited about adding in fresh new ones. |
| 1:24.4 | So coming up in April, how to build new meaningful social connections and how to get more |
| 1:30.9 | delicious protein into your diet. But today, let's begin with a literal fresh start to the day. |
| 1:37.8 | How can we get a good night's sleep so that we wake up bursting, as they say, with the joys of spring? |
| 1:43.9 | Well, Heather Dole-w Smith is a psychotherapist |
| 1:46.2 | and sleep specialist with a private practice in London. She's the author of a great new book |
| 1:51.3 | called How to Be Awake So You Can Sleep Through the Night. Yeah, makes sense. And emphasizes |
| 1:57.7 | that not all sleep challenges are insomnia. In fact, many of her patients experience |
| 2:03.5 | disrupted sleep as a result of things like neurodivergence, anxiety, burnout, obesity or even |
... |
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