Happy weekend gang,
While Jo has some time off with her family, Zoe was joined by the wonderful Alex Jones this week. The summer holidays have officially kicked off and Zoe and Alex were full of recommendations for books, music and TV to accompany you abroad or in your garden. Find everything they’ve been enjoying, plus sleep tips from our sleep special with Dr Lindsay Browning, in the newsletter below.
Enjoy!
Team Dig It x
On Monday… We were joined by sleep expert Dr Lindsay Browning - a chartered psychologist, neuroscientist and author. She also holds a doctorate in insomnia from the University of Oxford, so it's fair to say she knows her stuff. Dr Lindsay shared her unparalleled knowledge and advice to help you get a better night's sleep – covering everything from sleep and hormones, how our sleep changes with age and whether nighttime scrolling is really as bad as we think.
On Wednesday… Alex and Zoe gave their no holds barred take on Marie-France Van Heel – the Prime Minister’s wife – hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons. They also shared the juggle of being a working mum during the school holidays, Zoe recommended the perfect summer reads, and Alex revealed why she – in her own words – is frittata’d up to her eyeballs. For all that and more…
🪴 Watch on YouTube 🪴 Listen on Apple 🪴 Watch/Listen on Spotify
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From 3am wake-ups to menopausal night-sweats, it can feel like our sleep changes a lot as we get older - often for the worse. That’s why we wanted bring you the very best advice on how to worry less and sleep more. On Monday’s episode, Jo and Zoe spoke to sleep expert Dr Lindsay Browning. Here are some of her top tips for a better night’s sleep:
Get outside in natural daylight every day. Morning or daytime light helps regulate your body’s internal clock, making it easier to feel alert during the day and sleep better at night.
Don’t panic if you wake up during the night. Brief awakenings between sleep cycles are completely normal, we just notice them more as we get older. Your sleep quality is probably not declining as much as you might think, so try not to be too anxious about it if you wake up in the night.
If you can’t sleep, get out of bed for a while. Read a book, do a puzzle or another relaxing activity until you feel sleepy again, instead of lying in bed becoming frustrated.
Keep clocks out of sight at night. Looking at the time encourages mental calculations about how much sleep you’ve lost, increasing anxiety and making it more difficult to drift back to sleep.
Build a calming bedtime routine that works for you. Whether it’s a cup of herbal tea, a podcast, reading or even TV, consistency helps your brain associate those activities with sleep - there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
For more tips and explanations about what’s really going on when you wake up in the night, watch the full episode on YouTube. You can also follow Dr Lindsay Browning on Instagram @drbrowningsleep and find more information on her website, Trouble Sleeping.
Thank you for joining us Lindsay!
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout - Recommended by both Alex and Zoe, Strout’s novel follows Artie Dam, a Massachusetts teacher who already feels disconnected from his ostentatious wife and grieving son when a fresh secret upends his life. Strout masterfully portrays how even the most ordinary moments of our present can be influenced by the memories of our past. The perfect short summer read.
Flesh by David Szalay - This Booker Prize-winning novel delineates the life of Hungarian István, from youth to midlife, exploring masculinity, sex, trauma and migration. Recommended by both Alex and Zoe, Flesh is a book that instantly sucks you in and pulls you along, however uneasy the content makes you feel.
Rivals - Alex’s latest TV obsession is the second season of Rivals. An ensemble cast, including Aiden Turner, David Tennant, Danny Dyer and Katherine Parkinson, make this salacious comedy-drama a must-watch. Set in the Cotswolds in the 1980s, a power-hungry media-mogul seeks to destroy a womanising MP in a battle that threatens to throw their entire affluent community into chaos. Packed with scandal, plot-twists and captivating characters, this is an excellent summer watch. Available on Disney+
Dig It is sponsored by Panda London
Hot-Night Survival with Panda London
There’s hot, and then there’s lying awake at four in the morning considering whether booking a hotel room purely for the air conditioning is a reasonable life choice. Zoe has been there, while Jo knows the routine: one leg out of the duvet, windows open and endless pillow flipping.
That’s why Panda London’s bamboo bedding feels so well timed. Bamboo is beautifully soft, breathable and thermoregulating, helping you feel fresh and comfortable through warm nights. It’s also hypoallergenic, naturally antibacterial and gentle on the skin.
Panda offers three ranges: 100% Bamboo, Bamboo and French Linen, and Signature+™ Bamboo Lyocell, so there’s something for every kind of bedroom.
Even better, bamboo is one of the world’s most eco-friendly resources.
Head to pandalondon.com and spend over £50 to receive a free Bamboo Eye Mask with your order using code DIGIT. And they’re currently having an up to 25% sitewide sale!
We’re hoping for dreamier, less dramatic nights ahead for everyone this summer!
Jo and Zoe x
Zoe: I found my dream shop when I was in Majorca last week! It’s called Lavinioteca, and it’s a wine shop where you can also buy and listen to records. I might have to open one in Brighton! I ended up getting Aretha Franklin's album, ¡Ahora! and a record by Brazilian artist, Antônio Carlos Jobim, called Terra Brasilis. He’s one of the fathers of bossa nova music which combines samba and jazz - fantastic music to have on at a summer dinner party.
👉 Don’t forget - you can listen to all of our picks on Spotify
On Monday’s Dig In … Alex joins Zoe for Dig In to answer your burning questions, including… Are you always the ‘bad cop’ parent? How do you avoid getting overwhelmed by perimenopause? And what’s your biggest household annoyance?
If you want to hear Monday’s episode right now, you can listen and watch by becoming a member of The Potting Shed.
👉 Sign up to The Potting Shed here
The more of you, the more we can do! If you think a friend would love this newsletter or the podcast, why not forward this on? The more the merrier!
Chat next week,
Jo + Zoe
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