Profile

I live in Newcastle, but don’t have the accent as I come from West London. I have two cats that I got from a rescue centre a year ago – Benjamin is 8 years old and is huge but is such a soppy thing. Abigail is 14 years old and only has one eye. Even though she is much older than Benjamin, and only has one eye, she likes to hide behind the kitchen door and jump out at him as he walks past. He then gets upset and needs lots and lots of cuddles….and Dreamies!

My favourite programmes are – the Walking Dead, Ru Paul’s Drag Race and The Good Place.

I have been trying to learn how to play the violin (at 45 years old) but can’t practice at home as it upsets the cats and they shout at me.

The other thing I love to do is cook. If you ever see me come home with bags and bags of food shopping you know I have had a bad day….oh…and socks, I love brightly coloured socks!

There are three main things I do in my work

1. I do research in my laboratory on why some people get sleep problems and other people do not.
2. I teach people all around the world on how to sleep or help other people to sleep without using drugs.
3. I help people who can’t sleep – usually those people have other illnesses as well – sleep better.

I usually get up at 07.00am, needing a cup of tea. I will feed the cats and then play Candy Crush until I have used all my lives, while I have my tea. I will then check my email and diary to see what I have to do and where I need to be. That is where a typical day ends for me…

If I am working in the laboratory, that can be from 09.00am to 09.00am the next day. In the evening I can be found sticking electrodes all over someone’s head, face, chest and legs and then telling that person to go to bed and sleep naturally! I then will spend the night watching how their brain changes, which it does, a lot!

If I am seeing people who have problems sleeping then I will see each one for about an hour. I try to work out what the problem is with their sleep and whether it is something I can help them fix or whether I need to pass them over to someone who can help them better than me.

If I am teaching people how to help other people sleep, which can be anywhere in the world, I will usually start around 08.30am and finish around 17.00pm. I will travel to where I need to be the night before, as I am old(er) and need to get at least one night of good sleep before I start.