Sleep is the latest health habit to get the travel treatment, as hotels recruit the help of neuroscientists, yoga instructors and nutritionists with your REM in mind. Check in – then conk out
Champneys Henlow Grange, Bedfordshire
What: R&R meets CBT for insomniacs
Where: Champneys Henlow Grange, Bedfordshire How much: £604pp, including two nights’ accommodation, breakfast, lunch and three-course dinner, and all sleep retreat sessions and consultations.
The zzz factor: A neuroscientist walks into a spa. Not the start of a bad joke, but the premise of a new sleep retreat from Champneys. The health and fitness franchise has joined forces with an NHStrained neuroscientist and insomnia specialist to run a series of twonight retreats that are designed with insomniacs in mind.
Tired and tested: Forget a massage and squirt of lavender oil on your pillow (although we’re here for that, too). Instead, expect a raft of evidence-based techniques designed to identify and solve your sleep issues. Dr Michelle Ni Raghallaigh’s approach aims to reprogramme your habits using cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBTI) – atreatment that’s considered to be the gold standard for persistent sleeplessness, regardless of what has triggered it. During four 60-minute sessions over the two days, Dr Ni Raghallaigh will help you identify the thoughts, feelings and actions that are contributing to the symptoms of insomnia (no, attempting to scroll to the end of the internet from your bed does not a good sleeper make). Then, through cognitive intervention, she’ll help you try to change those inaccurate or unhelpful thoughts and behaviour patterns. The goal? To provide you with blissful nights of sleep long after checkout.
02 Shanti Maurice, Mauritius
What: East meets west for luxurious R&R
Where: Shanti Maurice, Mauritius
How much: Shanti sleep and recovery programme, £765; seven nights at the Shanti Maurice from £1,732pp, including flights, transfers and accommodation (kenwoodtravel.co.uk).
The zzz factor: If the idea of flying to a small island in the
Indian Ocean in search of a good night’s sleep sounds like a storyline from The White Lotus, we hear you. But stay with us while we tell you why we’re backing a long-haul sleep retreat. This is a seriously impressive five-day programme that’s designed to restore your kip to normal levels via an east-meetswest combination of medical science and ayurveda. If the goal of a long-haul trip is to return rested and rejuvenated, you’re getting bang for your buck (and annual leave) with this one.
Tired and tested: You begin with a lifestyle consultation to find out why your sleep is ghosting you, after which you’ll receive a prescription for chill featuring both evidence-based techniques and more alternative
