Difficulties with sleeping
What is sleep?
Getting a good night's sleep is important for physical and mental health, but we all go through periods where we have trouble either getting to sleep or staying asleep.
Sleep allows our bodies and minds to relax. It consists of 5 main stages:
- Drowsiness - drift in and out of sleep. Easily awakened. May twitch as our muscles start to relax.
- Light sleep - takes up more than half our total sleeping time. Have fragmented thoughts and dreams. Awakened by medium levels of noise.
- Deep sleep - fast asleep. Completely relaxed but with some movements. Awakened only by a loud noise. Dreams seldom recalled. Heart beats more slowly. Breathing slow and regular. Blood pressure drops.
- Deeper sleep - a state of relatively dreamless oblivion. Very difficult to raise the sleeper. Body restored, muscles, cells, repaired.
- REM - rapid eye movement. Eyelids move rapidly. Heart beat and breathing rates increase, blood pressure rises, move about in bed. Dreaming vividly. Deeply asleep, difficult to awaken. Restores mind and clears away worries.
Difficulty sleeping
Most people need between 7-8 hours sleep a night, although some people can manage on as little as 3 (it's believed that Margaret Thatcher, Napoleon and Hitler all survived on 3 hours sleep as adults....hmmmm), while others need 10.
If you are having problems with sleeping, you will find yourself becoming tried, irritable and tense the following day. If you suffer from lack of sleep over a long period of time, it can severely affect your quality of life.
What causes it?
- States of mind - anxious, depressed, stressed, worried, angry, guilty.
- Bereavement
- Waiting for something unpleasant to happen e.g. taking an exam
- Fear of dying
- Fear of being useless
- Boredom
Your environment
- Noise
- Discomfort
- Time-zone changes
- Shift work
- Snoring
Other causes
- Pain
- Sleeping pills and tranquillisers
- Medical conditions
- Drugs - nicotine, caffeine, slimming pills, some prescribed drugs, heroin, cocaine, cannabis, LSD, amphetamines, ecstasy.
What helps sleep?
Try not to worry about being unable to get to sleep. This will only make you more anxious and sleep less likely.
Try the following to help with sleeping
- Go to bed and get up at the same time. Even after a "bad" night don't lie in.
- Avoid daytime naps. If you sleep during the day you will need less at night
- Keep physically active. Exercise in the day helps you sleep better at night.
- Keep mentally active. Boredom causes sleep problems
- Avoid stimulants such as tea, coffee, and cocoa for at least two hours before you go to bed or they will keep you awake. If you do smoke, avoid having that last cigarette within an hour of going to bed! Nicotine is a stimulant and can keep you awake. And certainly don't smoke in bed for OBVIOUS reasons!
- Avoid alcohol. It may help you to go to sleep but the sleep tends to be broken
- Begin unwinding about an hour before bedtime. Do things you find relaxing (e.g. having a warm bath, reading, watching TV etc.).
- Ensure your bed and bedroom is warm and comfortable. Don't have an illuminated or ticking clock, or anything that disturbs you in the room.
- Only go to bed when you start to feel tired.
- If you still can't sleep, get up and do something else for a while. Return to bed when you feel tired.
- Try not to worry about not sleeping. The more you worry about it, the more difficult you will find getting to sleep.
