How to get through World Cup-induced sleep deprivation

Sleep deprivation can impact appetite hormones, which means tired people crave carbs.

One day of inhaling chips and ice cream might not have long-term impacts for most people without health conditions, but it is best to stick to a balanced, healthy diet to get a better sleep tonight, said sleep scientist Prof Russell Foster, from the University of Oxford.

Eating too close to your bedtime could also be an issue, with your body overworking to deal with the glucose spike.

“Also, you’re generating heat in the process of digestion, so particularly in the hot weather it’s going to be more difficult to get to sleep because your core body temperature will increase,” Foster added.

For adults, nightcaps could also have an adverse impact. While it acts as a sedative, alcohol, “can actually take away some of the important things that we experience during sleep… the processing of information and the retention of memory”, according to Foster.