How to cope with Sleep Problems
Sleep is an important part of our health, and we all need some amount of sleep in order to feel refreshed and happy. When there is something interrupting our sleep our well-being, mood and energy levels all feel the impact. People who experience persistent sleep problems often complain of feeling moody during the day and feeling ‘slowed down’ mentally. Furthermore, we are not the only ones who suffer, as poor sleeping habits can affect our partners, children, social and working life. This is why it is important for us to maintain a lifestyle consisting of a healthy sleeping pattern.
The first step towards improving your sleep is to understand the reasoning behind your sleeping problems. There are many reasons as to why someone may have sleeping problems, such as pain, stress and anxieties, recurring nightmares or poor sleeping habits. Once this is identified, you can assess this problem and see if there are steps that can be taken to reduce the problem that is causing your sleep disturbance. As a result of combatting this problem, your sleep may improve, which will also have a positive impact on your overall health and well-being. Another way to improve your sleep is to identify your optimal sleep period. The circadian rhythm is a 24-hour pattern that the human body follows. This is influenced by our environment, such as lightness and darkness as well as our genetic make-up. Research has found that most people have an optimal sleep period of 22:00 and 12:00am to 6:00 and 8:00. Finding a 7-8 hour period between 22:00 and 8:00 that would suit your own circadian rhythm could also help reduce your sleeping problems. You can figure this out by seeing what works best for your schedule and also what times of the day you feel most energised.
Some tools and advice to help you to make the most of your sleep are:
Be consistent. Try and aim to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. This will help your body to adjust to your desired sleeping pattern and circadian rhythm. Keeping a consistent sleeping timetable will make you more likely to feel tired around the same time each night, and that should help you to fall asleep.
Prepare for sleep. Some things you can do to prepare yourself for sleep could be to get into bed an hour before you intend to go to bed or avoid using digital screens such as a phone, laptop or television an hour before you go to sleep. A useful alternative to these could be to read a book or listen to a radio/podcast, as not only do these methods avoid the use of digital screens (which can disturb your sleeping patterns) they are likely to distract us, helping those who can’t sleep due to an ‘overactive mind’.
Useful tips:
Keeping a sleep diary is a useful way to track your sleeping habits. Your sleep diary should include:
Recording when you go to sleep and what time you wake up.
How long your sleep lasted for and the quality of sleep you feel you had.
Record any foods or drinks you had before bed.
Record any activities you do before going to bed.
Your feelings and mood before bed.
Any drugs or medication taken before bed, including amount.