Dr Lindsay Browning

Dr Lindsay Browning 💤 Helping the world sleep better 📚 Best selling author 😴 International speaker 📰 TV Radio 🛌 Navigating Sleeplessness 👩🏼‍⚕️ CBT-i Sleep Therapy

Dr Lindsay Browning runs trouble sleeping offering 1-to-1 sleep therapy, corporate webinars and wellbeing retreats. She is also the author of Navigating Sleeplessness

🎙️ The Dig It with Zoe Ball and Jo Whiley podcast is out today!I had such a lovely chat with Zoe Ball and Jo Whiley on t...
27/07/2026

🎙️ The Dig It with Zoe Ball and Jo Whiley podcast is out today!

I had such a lovely chat with Zoe Ball and Jo Whiley on the Dig It podcast, talking about one of my favourite topics... sleep!

We discussed:
• What normal sleep actually looks like (including why waking in the night isn’t necessarily something to worry about)
• Whether screens in bed really do affect our sleep
• Why getting outside in daylight is one of the simplest, evidence-based ways to support better sleep
• Sleep and menopause, and why it can become so much more challenging
• Plus lots of practical, science-backed tips to help you understand your sleep.
One of the biggest messages from our conversation is that many of the things people worry about are actually completely normal. Understanding how sleep works is often the first step towards sleeping better.

A huge thank you to Zoe, Jo and the Dig It team for inviting me on. I had such a great time.

If you’d like to listen, comment “Sleep” below and I’ll send you the podcast link in a DM.

I’d love to hear what you think of the show!

16/07/2026

Is an afternoon nap a sign of laziness, or could it actually help you do your job better?

revealed she has a one-hour afternoon “snooze clause” written into her TV contract, but is this the sign of laziness?

Absolutely not!!!

I think this is a brilliant example of somebody prioritising their sleep and knowing what’s best for them. However, naps aren’t right for everyone.

Napping isn’t the same for everyone, since age matters and the reason why you are napping is important. An hour-long nap might make sense for one person but not for another.

If you’d like to learn more about the science of napping, including when naps might help and when they may actually make sleep more difficult, you’ll find lots of evidence-based articles over on my website.

16/07/2026

If you’ve been struggling to sleep during this (never ending!) heatwave, you’re certainly not alone.

I was recently on BBC Radio Somerset talking about why hot weather makes it so much harder to sleep and, more importantly, what you can do about it.

I explained why our bodies actually need to cool down before we can fall asleep, why warm nights often lead to more disrupted sleep, and shared some simple, science-backed tips that may help you sleep a little better.

We spoke about things like:
🪟 When to open (and close!) your windows
🚿 Why a lukewarm shower is usually better than a cold one before bed
🏠 Whether sleeping downstairs is worth considering
🧊 And why a cold hot water bottle can sometimes be surprisingly effective!

If you’d like to read more about heatwaves and how they affect sleep, you’ll also find lots of free, evidence-based articles over on my website.

14/07/2026

We’ve spent years hearing that screens before bed are one of the worst things for our sleep.

But a new study by Professor Michael Gradisar and colleagues suggests the story is much more interesting.

The researchers found that getting plenty of bright light during the daytime may substantially reduce the relatively small effects that evening screen light has on how quickly we fall asleep.

When participants were exposed to very dim light during the day (around 90 lux), evening screen light delayed sleep onset by around 14 minutes. But after brighter daytime light exposure (around 500 lux, similar to many bright offices with large windows with natural daylight), that difference was reduced to around 5 minutes.

This doesn’t mean evening light has no effect. It does. But it reminds us not to become so focused on avoiding screens that we overlook one of the biggest influences on our body clock: getting plenty of bright natural daylight.

As I often see in clinic, worrying about creating the “perfect” bedtime routine can sometimes become more disruptive to sleep than the small effects of screen light itself.

If you’d like to read the full study, send me a DM and I’ll happily send you the link.

04/07/2026

The England Game Part 2:

Should children stay up to watch England? And what’s the best way for all of us to recover afterwards?

As I am a sleep expert, people often expect me to say that nobody should stay up for the 1 am kick-off. They expect me to say that sleep is the most important thing of all!

But it’s not.

Life and fun experiences are also part of living a happy and healthy life!!

For most young children, I wouldn’t recommend them simply staying awake until 1 am. However, if this is a special family occasion, an earlier bedtime followed by waking them up for the match is likely to be a better option. Just be aware that some children may be so excited that they struggle to get back to sleep afterwards!

If you’ve stayed up for the game yourself:

Try to go back to bed and sleep as soon as you can after the final whistle. But don’t expect to fall straight to sleep if it’s been a particularly exciting match or a thrilling result. You might need to take a little bit of time to wind down and calm down afterwards.

If you don’t need to get up early on Monday, enjoy a sensible lie-in rather than setting an alarm unnecessarily.

If work or other commitments mean you can’t catch up overnight, a 20–30 minute nap during the day may help improve alertness without affecting your sleep too much that night. Perhaps a quick nap in an empty meeting room or in your car might help.

Next, aim to return to your normal bedtime on Monday evening. The quicker you get back into your usual routine, the quicker your body clock will recover.

And finally, don’t panic. One late night won’t ruin your sleep. It’s your sleep habits over weeks and months that have the biggest impact on your health and wellbeing.

Are you staying up to watch the match? Did you enjoy the game? Let me know in the comments!

04/07/2026

England’s 1am World Cup game kick-off

Should you stay awake or try to get some sleep first? If you’re planning to watch the match live, there isn’t just one “right” answer.

There are 2 main options
1) Stay awake and, if possible, have a short 20–30 minute nap during the afternoon.
2) If you’re someone who falls asleep easily, try getting 2-3 hours’ sleep before kick-off, then go back to bed after the match.

☕️ One extra tip: if you might need some caffeine to help you stay up, don’t start drinking it too early in the evening. Save it until you actually begin to feel sleepy, as it’s much more likely to help you stay alert when you need it. However, remember that caffeine can stay in your body for several hours after you drink it, so avoid it towards the end of the match if you’re hoping to get back to sleep soon afterwards!

➡️ In Part 2, I’ll be talking about whether children should stay up for the match, plus the best way to recover afterwards.

Come on England!

04/07/2026

England’s 1am kick-off.

Should you stay awake or try to get some sleep first? If you’re planning to watch the match live, there isn’t just one “right” answer.

You have 2 main options:
1) Stay awake until the game starts. If possible, have a short 20–30 minute nap earlier in the afternoon
2) If you’re someone who falls asleep quite easily earlier in the evening, try getting 2-3 hours’ sleep before kick-off, then go back to bed after the match.

☕️ One extra tip. Caffeine might seem like a good idea to help you to stay up but don’t forget it has a long half-life. If you do need some caffeine to stay up late, try not to overdo it. Wait until you really feel you need some and avoid it towards the end of the match if you’re hoping to get back to sleep soon afterwards!

➡️ In Part 2, I’ll be talking about whether children should stay up for the match, plus the best way to recover afterwards.

Struggling to sleep in the heat?When temperatures rise, like they are this weekend, many people find it harder to fall a...
19/06/2026

Struggling to sleep in the heat?

When temperatures rise, like they are this weekend, many people find it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. That’s because your body temperature naturally needs to drop as you drift off to sleep, and a hot bedroom can make that much more difficult.

In this carousel, I’ve shared 7 practical, evidence-based tips to help you sleep better during a heatwave, including how to keep your bedroom cooler, what to wear in bed, and why worrying about losing sleep can actually make the problem worse.

Remember, most heatwaves are short-lived and a few disrupted nights are unlikely to cause lasting harm.

Save this post for the next hot spell and share it with someone who is struggling to sleep in the heat.

For more sleep advice, follow and visit www.troublesleeping.co.uk which has loads more information.

I’m at the conference in Glasgow today presenting a talk on how clinicians can help breast cancer patients who are stru...
09/06/2026

I’m at the conference in Glasgow today presenting a talk on how clinicians can help breast cancer patients who are struggling with their sleep.

Around half of women report sleeping difficulties around the time of a breast cancer diagnosis. Understandably, worries about the diagnosis and treatment can make it difficult to switch off at night.

Sleep can then become even more disrupted during treatment because of side effects and physical discomfort from surgery.

One of the challenges is that when people are trying to maximise their chances of recovery, they often become focused on getting enough good quality sleep. Unfortunately, the harder someone tries to force sleep, the harder it can become!

This is the insomnia paradox.

Of course, we want to help people achieve the best sleep possible to support their overall health and wellbeing. But we also need to normalise sleeping difficulties during periods of stress, illness and treatment. It’s normal to have disrupted sleep when you’re understandably very anxious about something like cancer. We should ensure that people struggling with persistent insomnia are directed towards evidence-based treatments such as CBT-I, which is the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia.

So far, the conference has been fantastic. I’ve really enjoyed speaking with inspiring surgeons about their experiences and discussing how we can improve support for patients in the future.

I have been tremendously busy recently with a number of huge sleep projects, as well as juggling life in general. Plus, ...
28/04/2026

I have been tremendously busy recently with a number of huge sleep projects, as well as juggling life in general. Plus, I managed a wonderful few days away last week with my sister to Bruge and Zebrugge.

Now, I am spending some time starting to write my new sleep book. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long while, especially since Navigating Sleeplessness came out 5 years ago! There has been a great deal of advance in the world of sleep since then, so I want to update the advice to be the latest and greatest information, as well as expanding it to cover many more topics than I was able to before.

Last time I was writing a book it was during Covid when I was juggling homeschooling children, looking after neighbours and elderly relatives as well as sick family members. I don’t think I’ve ever been so busy in my whole life as I was then. So this time it should be a breeze! 🤪

Wish me luck!

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