Following last night’s exhausting but exhilarating England win over DR Congo, fans will need to find a sleep strategy to cope with the Three Lions’ next game – against Mexico at 1am BST on Monday morning. With a possible finish closer to 4am BST if it goes all the way to penalties, new advice from tech and fitness wearables brand Honor could be vital if we’re to function at work come Monday morning. It’s certainly going to take more than the best protein powder to aid our recovery.
Honor has partnered with The Sleep Scientist Dr Sophie Bostock to create the ‘Fan Cool Down’ – a four-step post-match recovery routine that helps fans manage the physiological impact of late-night football and get to sleep before work the next morning. The routine is rooted in the same principles athletes use to recover after competition, adapted for fans watching from the sofa.
World Cup watchers struggling to sleep
The need for it is clear. New research from Honor reveals more than half of Brits expect to struggle to sleep after late-night knockout matches, with fans spending nearly 40 minutes lying awake on average after the final whistle. The reason, according to Dr Bostock, is adrenaline: when fans are emotionally invested, heart rate rises, the nervous system fires up, and the brain can stay in a heightened state long after the game has ended.
The routine tackles this directly – using breathing, movement, environmental changes and real-time heart rate tracking to guide fans from wired to asleep in just 10 minutes.
Dr Bostock says: “As a nation, we massively underestimate the physiological impact of watching a tense football match late at night. If you passionately care about the outcome, your body reacts in a similar way to being on the pitch – your adrenaline spikes, heart rate elevates, and you become fired up and ready for action. If you try to fall asleep when you’re in this state, it will take a long time to fall asleep, and you’re more likely to wake up during the night.
“Without a deliberate cool-down, fans may simply lie in bed replaying the match rather than recovering from it – with real consequences for how they perform the next day. The good news is that with a few simple adjustments, you can fall asleep faster and stay asleep for longer. The Fan Cool Down is designed to promote your body’s natural recovery process and gives fans similar help players get from a post-match cool down.”
How to do the Fan Cool Down
The final whistle doesn’t mean your body has switched off – here’s how to help it do exactly that:
Firstly cue tunes
Switch off the TV and switch on some relaxing music as the soundtrack for your wind down. Whether it’s lo-fi beats, classical or nature sounds, aim for a low tempo. All that really matters is that you choose something you enjoy listening to, which creates a calming ambiance.
1. Gentle stretching (5 mins)
If it’s been a nail-biting end to the game, some gentle stretching can ease tension and improve circulation before you get into bed. To compensate for sitting, try each exercise for about one minute:
- On all fours, a ‘cat-cow’ spinal stretch: ground your hands and knees, breathe slowly in and arch your back, breathe out and round your back. Repeat
- Lying on your back, hug one knee at a time into your chest, releasing any tension in your hips
- Hug both knees into the chest, and then lower them to the ground on one side, turning your head over the other shoulder to create a twist. This is great for relieving tension in your lower back
- Finish with your legs up against the wall. This can improve circulation and calm the nervous system
2. Slow breathing (3 mins)
Slow, controlled breathing is one of the most effective ways to lower your heart rate and dial down the stress response after a high-adrenaline evening. Lie on your back in a comfortable position, letting your hands rest comfortably, and breathe into the belly.
3. Mental download (4 mins)
If your mind is still churning, grab a pen and download some of those thoughts from your mind onto the page. Write it down, and then let it all go until tomorrow. Finish by reflecting on three things from your day that you’re genuinely grateful for – and try to think beyond the match. You could share your three with a partner or family member. Gratitude is a simple but well-researched way to defuse stress and quieten an overactive mind before bed.
4. Cognitive shuffling (1 min)
Once the light is off, if sleep doesn’t come straight away, try this. Think of a random word – say, CELEBRATE – and slowly visualise a scene or image for each letter: Celebrate, Elephant, Laughter… The idea is to gently shift your brain out of the focused, analytical mode it’s been in all evening and into the loose, imaginative state that precedes sleep. Let the images drift in and out of your consciousness and see what happens.
