We all do it, some of us do it better than others, but if we can’t do it we feel absolutely awful. What am I talking about – well sleep. If we are sleeping well, there’s generally no problem, we don’t think about it and life goes on. If we are sleeping badly, it affects so many other aspects of our lives. If we are tired we can become bad tempered, irritable, ratty – and if we are really tired we cease to function properly and go about our everyday tasks.
25% of the UK population suffer from some sort of sleep disorder that results in excessive daytime sleepiness, and a third of the population suffers from insomnia, in which sufferers can have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up too early. An inability to obtain adequate, uninterrupted sleep can lead to us feeling unrefreshed, as mentioned before irritability and inability to concentrate on simple tasks. Acute insomnia can be treated with CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) involving relaxation and reconditioning.
Stress can lead to insomnia, certain conditions seem to make individuals more prone to it – sufferers are generally female, aged over 60 and prone to depression. Stress is a major contributor. Traumatic events such as acute illness, injury or surgery, the loss of a loved one, exams or trouble at work can all lead to it. In such cases, normal sleep nearly always returns when the individual recovers from the event or becomes acclimitised to the new situation.
How much sleep do we need? Well we are all different but generally between 6 and 9 hours as a rough guide. Try and go to bed at roughly the same time every night, and get up at the same time too.
Some ways we can improve our sleep are as follows: try this relaxation technique. Lie down and take several deep breaths through the nose and sigh the breath out through the mouth. Then focus on your feet, tense them and then release. Next the bottom half of your legs, shins and calves – tense them and then release. Carry on like this until you’ve done your entire body – it should make a difference.
Another good way of winding down before bedtime is to have a hot bath, preferably using an aromatherapy oil such as lavender in it. Try a drink of hot milk, or if you can stomach it, camomile tea – both of these are proven sleep inducers.
Try not to do anything in your bedroom except sleep, don’t watch TV or read. Make sure your bedroom is clean and tidy, a cluttered room can indicate a cluttered mind! Have the room as dark as possible, black out curtains can help. Avoid too much caffeine or stimulants before bedtime. The same goes for alcohol, this can often help us to get to sleep quickly but rarely leads to uninterrupted sleep as one tends to wake up in the middle of the night. Try and avoid spicy or fatty food as this can lead to hearburn. If you do get the munchies before bedtime then carbohydrate food is best, either bread or cereal.
If you are tossing and turning, abandon the bedroom and find something absorbing and enjoyable to do, such as a jigsaw. Don’t go back to bed until you feel sleepy. Regular exercise is very important to induce a good sleep habit but not before bedtime as it can make one feel stimulated.
I'm a married mum of one, living in Wirral. Interested in cooking, growing stuff to eat and fitness. Have Bipolar Disorder but it doesn't stop me leading a full and productive life. 
