The Chase's Darragh Ennis uses 'genius' tip to fall asleep fast and anyone can do it

Improving your sleep could be as simple as making one small tweak to your nightly routine, according to The Chase star Darragh Ennis . Best known for his role as The Menace on the popular ITV quiz show, Dublin native Darragh is also a trained neuroscientist who has written a book exploring the fascinating workings of the human body, titled 'The Body: 10 Things You Should Know' - so he's well placed to offer advice on getting a decent kip. In a clip posted on social media , Darragh shed light on why so many of us struggle to drift off at night, regardless of how exhausted we feel, and offered a straightforward tip to help guarantee a restful night's sleep . It turns out that just one adjustment to our evening routine could make all the difference. The TV personality revealed in a TikTok video that scrolling through your smartphone before bed can seriously hamper your ability to nod off, due to the way our brains react to the light given off by these devices. The solution, it seems, is simply to put them down before hitting the pillow. He said: "Did you ever wonder why it is that looking at your phone at night can make it hard to go to sleep? It's all to do with light. Backlit screens emit a lot of light, and we've evolved to be active during the day. "Our bodies tend to get tired when it's dark outside. Our brain does this by using signals from our eyes about how much light there is, but also what colour light we see. If we take in blue light, a lot of which comes from backlit screens, the production of the hormone melatonin decreases. Melatonin is one of the key things that helps make us sleepy." Numerous contemporary phones and devices now feature blue light filter settings that can be programmed to activate at particular times, designed to block blue light and reduce eye strain during the evening hours. Yet, Darragh notes that these functions might not be as beneficial for sleep as you'd imagine. He shared: "The blue light filters and things don't seem to have much impact either. Lots of studies have shown this because [with] other parts of the light spectrum, particularly yellow light, our brain thinks that it is coming from midday sunlight. This also stops us from getting sleepy." For those battling with nighttime wakefulness and seeking a straightforward solution, Darragh suggests putting your phone away before bedtime. His advice: "If you really want to get better sleep, it has been shown that the best thing you can do is not look at a backlit screen at all. If you want to read or anything, it's better to put your phone down and read a book." Darragh is right, screen time can negatively impact how rested you are. For one, blue‑rich light suppresses melatonin. Evening screen light (especially close to your face) can reduce melatonin and shift circadian rhythm later, so you feel sleepy later. The extra mental stimulation can also wreak havoc on your body clock. Social media, gaming, work emails, or intense videos can raise arousal/stress, making it take longer to wind down. Later bedtimes can be triggered by the time displacement you've spent on your phone instead of resting. Scrolling often just pushes sleep later, reducing total sleep time. What's more, notifications fragment sleep. Pings/vibrations – and even anticipating them – can cause lighter sleep and more awakenings. Finally, it's not good to associate your bedroom with your devices. Using screens in bed can condition your brain to associate the bed with being awake, which can worsen insomnia.