Today I'm bringing you a slightly different post, in collaboration with Drift Sleep. But this is something I've been meaning to write for some time now because it's a topic I feel very passionately about and that is; the importance of a good night's sleep. A solid 8 hours of sleep has been one of my beauty secrets for as long as I can remember. Aside from the fact that I'm just a horrid person if I don't achieve those 8 hours I really do believe that this keeps my skin in tip top condition. I'm also not one for late nights, I religiously go to bed at 10pm, and already by that time I'm fighting the urge to fall asleep on the sofa. I'm very much a morning person, getting up and out of bed at 6am, although I allow myself a little lie in and breakfast in bed on a Sunday. Early mornings don't bother me at all, and having 5 dogs to tend to doesn't really allow me to think otherwise. I like to get a good head start on the day and feeling refreshing after a good nights sleep gives me the 'oomph' to do this.

I've got some of my own tips for achieving a good night's sleep below but what it all boils down to at the end of the day is a comfortable bed. For years I never bothered investing in a really good mattress, we just bought cheap and cheerful ones without ever realising the benefits of a 'real' mattress. However after my first night sleeping on this Drift Sleep mattress I soon realised the benefits! I woke up after a completely uninterrupted sleep, as we share our bed with 2 of our 5 chihuahuas I would often stir when they start fidgeting around, but not any more. I'm so deep in sleep that there have been several occasions where Bella (pictured) has actually sat on my face to wake me up so I can let her in the garden. And my backache which I put down to now being in my 30's has disappeared, turns out it's not a 30's thing after all, it's a mattress thing!

10 Tips for Better Sleep

1. A good mattress - like this one from Drift Sleep.

2. Sleep spray - I used to think this was a myth, in fact I actually LOL'ed at people that used sleep spray until I actually tried some myself and now I'm hooked and I won't even travel without it. I use this one by Mio.

3. No Caffeine after 5pm - I don't drink coffee but I am completely hooked on diet coke so I make sure that I don't have any caffeine after the 5pm mark so that my body can relax completely in the run up to bedtime.

4. Tea - I unwind with a cup of Camomile tea at least half an hour before bedtime, it warms me up in Winter and I drift off pretty quickly.

5. Stretch - yep I have a few stretch exercises that I do before hopping into bed and I actually found them on Pinterest, give some a try, you'll soon notice a difference in your sleep patterns.

6. Quality bedding - bedding is never something I spent money on until I went on a trip earlier on this summer. Me and my hubby stayed in a beautiful Marriott hotel in San Diego (see the full post here) and the bed in our suite was the most incredible bed ever, the sheets were Egyptian cotton with a thread count higher than I care to imagine, and the duvet and pillows were feather filled and made us feel like we were sleeping on a cloud. When we came home our bed just didn't quite cut it so we did plenty of research and invested in this Egyptian cotton bed set and this feather duvet and feather pillows. It really makes all the difference and as we spend a third of our lives in bed, I say it's worth investing in.

7. Put down the phone - I often find this impossible to do but I do try my hardest to avoid using my phone once I get into bed. If I look at my phone to Check Instagram, that turns into a whole routine of checking my various other apps, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, email. Then my brain becomes flooded with 'work stuff' and it's tricky to switch off.

8. Have a shower - I'm more of a shower-in-the-morning kind of person but during winter I often pop on my shower cap and just hop in for a few minutes of steaming hot water before slipping into my pjs. Ahhhh heaven!

9. Turn down the heating - Our body temperature tends to rise when we sleep so to avoid getting too hot I make sure I adjust the level of heat on the radiator in our bedroom. I like it nice and toasty throughout the day but when we have a blast of heat during the night I often wake up because I'm too hot. Now that it's heating-on season again I'm getting myself in the routine of turning down that thermostat before bedtime.

10. Routine - It's all about establishing a bedtime routine. At around 9:45pm I head to the bathroom to carry out the many beauty rituals that must be done to keep my skin in tip top condition. Then I brush my teeth, get changed into my pjs and do a few minutes of stretches. I head downstairs to kiss my other 3 dogs goodnight and then the last tasks in my routine; turn down the heating and spritz my pillow with my Sleep Spray. I enjoy this little routine and maybe it's because I'm incredibly organised but it really helps me drift off.