Written by Lauren Geall
As Stylist’s digital writer, Lauren Geall writes on topics including mental health, wellbeing and women’s issues. She’s also a big fan of houseplants and likes to dabble in film and TV from time-to-time. You can find her on Twitter at @laurenjanegeall.
Award-winning actor Tom Hiddleston sat down with Stylist to discuss his sleep habits following the release of his new Winnie The Pooh Sleep Story with Calm.
Getting a good night’s sleep can sometimes feel like an unachievable goal, but part of improving your sleep health is all about finding techniques and rituals that work for you.
While some people rely on good nutrition and regular exercise, other people find it helpful to practise meditation or listen to a bedtime story – the latter of which has become increasingly popular over the last couple of years.
With celebrities ranging from Harry Styles to Regé-Jean Page lending their voices to the relaxing soundtracks, there are already plenty of so-called Sleep Stories to choose from. But the latest addition from the Calm app may just be the most soothing (and adorable) yet.
In an exciting collaboration, Disney has teamed up with award-winning actor Tom Hiddleston to release a new Sleep Story about none other than Winnie the Pooh.
The story, which has been taken from Disney’s Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship Treasury, was specially selected to help adults and kids alike sleep more soundly – and felt like a particularly good fit for Hiddleston, who grew up listening to the stories.
“The stories of Winnie the Pooh were a huge part of my childhood,” he tells Stylist. “We used to have an audio cassette tape of the stories, narrated by Alan Bennett, which we’d listen to on long car journeys, and everybody in my family loved it. I actually remember falling asleep to those tapes at some time or another.”
While Hiddleston is no longer falling asleep to his Winnie the Pooh cassette tapes, getting a good night’s rest remains important to the actor – especially when it comes to navigating his busy schedule.
In fact, when we speak, he says he’s been falling asleep at 3am recently due to his filming schedule, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still prioritising good sleep habits.
“Sleep is definitely one of the most important things to me,” he says. “I care a lot about having as much energy as I can during the day, and I’m aware that if I don’t get quite enough sleep, I won’t have as much energy.”
Of course, as we’ve already mentioned, getting a restorative night’s sleep is all about finding a series of habits and techniques that work for you – and Hiddleston is no different.
So, to mark the release of his new Sleep Story, we asked Hiddleston to share three rules he sticks to when it comes to his sleep – and his answers were refreshingly simple.
Tom Hiddleston’s 3 rules for a good night’s sleep
Stick to a routine
While Hiddleston’s busy career sometimes gets in the way of a regular sleep routine, he does his best to follow a loose schedule.
“My relationship with sleep, for me, is just about keeping a routine,” he says. “It’s been proven – I believe – that having a routine is the best way to restore yourself and have the most energy during the day, and because my life can sometimes be – in the best way – very full and very busy and varied, that’s important.”
Read before bed
For Hiddleston, reading a good book is the key to winding down at the end of a busy day. This way, when he turns out the lights, he’s able to fall asleep really quickly.
“I think apart from the very ordinary things such as brushing my teeth, I like reading a book,” he explains. “I love getting into bed and reading a book for however long I can keep my eyes open, really.”
Reserve space for rest
One of the simplest but most effective things Hiddleston says he does when it comes to his sleep is ensuring his bedroom is a relaxing, restful space.
“I try to stay pretty active during the day so when it’s time for bed it’s not difficult for me to wind down, but I try not to work or have a television in my bedroom, and I don’t bring my computer in either,” he says.
“My bedroom is for sleeping, so I try to keep out anything that would activate my brain. I try to separate those spaces in the home, so if I’m working or writing or reading something that requires a lot of energy, I try not to bring that into the bedroom. In that way, it’s just a place for rest and recovery.”
Disney’s Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship Treasury Sleep Story is now available on Calm to all subscribed users, with supporting Winnie the Pooh products best suited to help fans relax, unwind and practise mindfulness available for purchase from leading retailers, nationwide. You can download the Calm app on the App Store and Google Play.
Images: Disney/Calm
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