Few things are as personal as sleep.

We all have our own rituals and methods for getting the best night’s snooze possible, and yet there are some blanket rules we’ll still adhere to – even if they’re actually not true.

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Whether it’s your nan telling you cheese before bed will give you nightmares, or the idea that you can just ‘catch up’ on sleep on the weekend, we still hold many of these myths as fact.

Luckily, sleep ambassador at Furniture Village Dr Ranj Singh is here to bust some of the common myths around your nightly slumber…

1. A glass of wine will help you drift off

Beautiful mixed race woman sitting on bed, drinking wine, eating popcorn and watching television

This is definitely one of the more disappointing myths on the list. “While a glass of wine in the evening may help you feel more relaxed, drinking alcohol before bed directly interferes with sleep quality,” explains Singh.

How much you drink will have a different impact – a little “can reduce the amount of sleep hormone melatonin that the body produces which then makes it harder to drift off,” Singh says, and drinking a lot “reduces the amount of restorative REM – rapid eye movement – sleep that you get”.

This can have a knock-on effect to areas other than just your sleep. He says: “The REM sleep stage is really important as it is believed to benefit memory, mood and learning.”

In fact, drinking before bed can disrupt your whole night’s sleep. “Later in the night, when more of the alcohol is processed by the body, it causes a rebound wakefulness effect making your sleep lighter.”

Singh’s advice? “If you’re struggling with your slumber, it might be a good idea to avoid any alcohol too close to bedtime.”

2. Eating cheese late at night will give you nightmares

Whose grandma hasn’t warned them not to eat cheese before bedtime? Luckily, this fear mongering tale is just that: a tale.

“There’s actually no good evidence to suggest that eating cheese before bed gives you nightmares,” says Singh. In fact, he says there is some “logic in the thinking that cheese may help you sleep, but the research results are mixed”.

This is because cheese contains tryptophan, “an amino acid which helps the body produce serotonin and this is associated with regulating sleep”. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean you should start reaching for the midnight brie – it doesn’t work for everyone, plus having a fatty meal right before bed could potentially disrupt your sleep as your body is still digesting.

3. You can ‘catch up on sleep’ by sleeping in on the weekends

Shot of a young woman sleeping peacefully in her bed at home

Thanks to the demands of modern working life, most of us jolt ourselves awake early during the weekdays and use the weekends to lie in. Surely catching up on sleep on the weekends would balance you out overall? Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.

“While most of us will certainly benefit from getting between seven and nine hours of sleep at the weekend, a longer lie-in isn’t going to make up for poor sleep during the week,” explains Singh.

In fact, it might actually have a negative effect by messing up your sleep pattern. “It’s all about consistency when it comes to sleep so it’s better to focus on getting the right amount of sleep as regularly as you possibly can, and if you need to catch up try to get a little more each night rather than a lot in one go,” he says.

4. Eight hours of sleep is the perfect amount for everyone

“In much the same way that no two people are the same, no two people will need exactly the same amount of sleep,” explains Singh. While the recommendation for a optimal sleep is seven to nine hours a night, bear in mind it’s just a suggestion and everyone’s needs are different.

So how can you tell if you’re getting enough sleep? Singh says it’s all about how you feel in the morning – “If you feel tired and poorly rested, you probably need to be getting more!”

Discover more about getting a good night’s sleep in our insomnia guide.

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