Neuroscientist Dr Lindsay Browning explains to Emily Brooks the best ways to feel rested despite the hectic festive season.

December brings with it so many ways to interfere with a good night’s sleep. Late nights, too much food and drink and a break in routine that might see you at a party one night, sleeping at your mother-in-law’s the next and staying up late to watch a Christmas classic like It’s A Wonderful Life the night after. They can all take their toll.

No one wants tiredness to be the defining memory of their Christmas break, but with some tweaks you can still feel rested, relaxed and full of energy in the run-up to the big day and beyond.

“Our circadian rhythm – or internal 24-hour clock – loves regularity, and over the festive period that can really go out of the window,” explains neuroscientist, psychologist and the founder of Trouble Sleeping Dr Lindsay Browning. “Going to bed at different times and staying up late for Christmas parties isn’t going to be great for our sleep – and to a certain extent we just have to accept that.”

But it’s a good idea not to let your bedtime and waking-up time slide out of your control. Do you really need to have that lie-in every day between Christmas and new year? Dr Browning likens this time-shift to jet lag, which might take a while to reverse when you need to get back to the nine-to-five.

She says her clients don’t come to her with concerns about not sleeping over the festive period per se, but they do worry about staying at other people’s houses: “You might be in an unfamiliar environment, sharing a room or not able to stick to your routine.” In these circumstances she suggests trying to take as much familiarity as possible with you, whether that’s your favourite pillow spray or reading a few pages of a book before the lights go off. All these things act as triggers, preparing your body for the slumber it expects. “I always take my pillow when I go away with me, because it gives me a sense of consistency,” Dr Browning adds. “When I lay down in bed, my brain goes: ‘Yes, I know this.’”

Your environment is critical for a good night’s sleep, so use this time of year to assess whether your own bedroom contains all the right ingredients for blissful slumber.

“We don’t sleep well if it’s too hot or too cold; your bedroom should ideally be 19°C–16°C,” says Dr Browning – and if you and your partner tolerate temperature differently, she recommends separate single duvets with different togs, as is popular in many European countries.

For bed linen (and whatever you choose to wear): “Natural fibres, such as cotton, linen and silk, tend to be better because they allow airflow around the body, and they also wick away moisture and sweat,” says Dr Browning. And for pillows, finding something that works for you is “mainly trial and error, depending on your sleeping style,” she continues. Generally, though, if you sleep on your back, opt for a single medium or soft pillow, as raising your head too high can lead to neck pain or breathing issues; side sleepers can go for two, with firmness a more important factor to ensure that the pillows support the spine correctly.

“Food and alcohol can obviously hugely affect sleep, too,” Dr Browning says. “Alcohol is a sedative, but it also changes the structure of our sleep, so we might sleep for two to three hours but then the rest of the night it will be quite fragmented, with a lot more awakenings.” Try to stay awake after a big Christmas lunch: a good walk will improve digestion, regulate spikes in blood sugar and set you up for a better night’s sleep later on.

Eating too late at night could also be a cause of insomnia: high-fat treats like that tempting late-night cheeseboard are difficult to digest, leaving your body still working hard when it should be preparing for rest. Aim to finish eating at least three hours before you plan to go to bed to help aid a restorative slumber.

This content was first published as part of a partnership with Telegraph Media Group and published on telegraph.co.uk.