Hollywood actresses Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts are to contribute their unique Aussie drawls to a new series of audio books dedicated to aiding sleep, according to recent reports.

Reading before bed is a tried-and-tested method of encouraging sleep on restless nights, and in an article by The Sydney Morning Herald published today (October 4th), it is revealed that a star-studded line-up of celebrities will offer their trademark voices to do the reading for you.

Kidman, 44, is to read Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse, which is based in early twentieth century Isle of Skye, Scotland. Meanwhile, King Kong star Watts, 43, will offer her talents in the reading of Summer by Edith Wharton; another popular classic that depicts early upper-class New York society.

These Audible.com releases will host an impressive array of celebrities including Samuel L Jackson, Kate Winslet, Anne Hathaway, Colin Firth, Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon and Kim Basinger.

People often struggle to get the most out of the space in their bedroom, though with a few easy tips, it’s easy to stay on top of things and keep your sleeping space feeling open, fresh and relaxing.

Firstly, remove as much clutter as possible. The more items that are in your bedroom, the more cramped it feels. If you look around the room and can’t see the floor, you have too much furniture or personal belongings. Try to use any unnecessary furniture in another room of the house and remove large collections of personal belongings to create the illusion of space.

Buy furniture that instead maximises wall space; small bedrooms are more suited to shelves, flatter wardrobes and other items that allow you to have floor space in front of them. From here, it is important to scale decor by the size of a bed, which will likely be the focal point of the room. If you have a large bed, get table lamps and decorations that are in proportion to it.

Finally, choose colour schemes wisely. Dark shades in a small room can make bedrooms feel closer and more oppressive; try to keep them to accessories like pillows, rugs and accents in drapery or bed linen. Lighter colours on walls will give a greater illusion of space.

Young children who are exposed to violent images on TV and computer games can experience serious sleep disruption, according to a new study.

Research conducted by the Seattle Children’s Research Institute in Seattle, which is published in the July issue of Pediatrics, suggests that children sleep poorly if exposed to this kind of screen time.

What’s more, the study which used 612 sleep and media diaries prepared by parents to assess sleep and media viewing, found that any sort of viewing time in the evening had a detrimental effect on sleep.

“The bottom line is that we see violent media use [in the daytime] and any screen time at all in the evening is associated with a negative impact on sleep in kids of this age,” said Michelle Garrison, PhD, and colleagues at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute in Seattle.

The diaries showed that children were viewing a TV screen or a computer for around 73 minutes on average every day.

We all love the convenience of modern gadgets, but our use of technology could be preventing us from getting enough sleep according to research.

A poll conducted on behalf of the US National Sleep Foundation found that 95 per cent of Americans use at least one kind of electronic item before bed, with six in ten admitting that they use their laptops or computers within the hour before they hit the sack at least a few nights per week.

Experts fear these late night sessions could be detrimental to sleep levels, with 24 per cent of Americans reporting that they rarely or never get enough sleep on weeknights.

Charles Czeisler, PhD, MD, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital said: “Artificial light exposure between dusk and the time we go to bed at night suppresses release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, enhances alertness and shifts circadian rhythms to a later hour — making it more difficult to fall asleep”.

Research conducted to coincide with World Book Day last week has revealed that two-thirds of adults drift off to sleep after reading six and a half pages of a standard-sized paperback.

A poll of 3,000 Brits carried out by the publisher Routledge found that the average Brit reads 2,134 words before sloping off to slumberland – perhaps a tad more than the term ‘light bedtime reading’ suggests.

Intellectual books such as autobiographies were said to be the preferred option for promoting sleep and helping people to drop off.

A spokesman for Routledge said:  ”A good book is the ideal form of escapism, and is the perfect antidote to a long, hard and stressful day at the office.

”Reading also exercises the grey matter, which may explain its soporific effects  – especially at bedtime.”