Sleep

The Importance of Sleep

You may have been directed to this page because you, or someone you know, has difficulty sleeping, or you are looking to improve your general wellbeing. Matthew Walker tells us "sleep is not an optional luxury - it is mother nature's life support system!" While this can help us to prioritise sleep as part of a healthy life, it isn't necessarily helpful when you are struggling to sleep (insomnia). We hope this page highlights that you are not alone. Hopefully there are some ideas on this page which may be supportive in improving your sleep patterns. If you are really struggling, despite trying some things discussed here, it can be helpful to discuss this with your GP team.

We do know that quality of sleep has a significant impact on our general wellbeing. Sleep deprivation can affect concentration, mood and memory the next day. It can give us cravings for sugary foods. In the long term, these are thought to contribute to the development of different mental and physical health diagnoses e.g. depression, anxiety, dementia, metabolic syndrome.

During sleep the immune cell function is improved, which helps our bodies to fight infection (including COVID-19) and kill possible cancer cells. Sleep can upregulate genes to promote the immune system, where as limited sleep is associated with upregulation of genes that are associated with promotion of tumours, inflammation and cardiovascular disease.

There are some medical conditions that can contribute to altered sleep patterns and behaviour too.

This Sleepstation resource discusses the different states of sleep. Sleepstation is not NHS funded but there are some useful resources on their website.

Insomnia

Insomnia is difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, waking up too early or needing a medication to sleep. Insomnia tends to be given as a diagnosis when it is interfering with your ability to function. However, we all have good and bad days of sleep and no matter where you sit on that sliding scale, things could perhaps always improve!

Dr Spielman talks about factors as:

Predisposing: Genetics or life experiences affecting circadian rhythm or hormones

Precipitating: A positive or negative event that triggers difficulty sleeping

Perpetuating: Examples include napping in the day to catch up, staying time in bed awake, irregular sleep patterns/shift work, using substances or sleeping tablets

Top Tips To Improve Sleep

Reset your body's natural clock - are you a lark or a night owl?
Sort your sleep rhythm with regular timings - go to bed and wake up at the same time, regardless of weekday or weekend. Weekend lie ins might be a bad idea.
Establish a regular wind down routine, e.g. warm bath, lavender oils on pillow, dimming the lights
Make your bedroom a haven away from computers, TV, phones, blue light. Social media late at night can disturb our sleep.
Try Mindfulness activities, meditation or Breathing exercises before bed (see the mental wellbeing resources)
Keep it cool - our bodies needs a cool room to fall asleep or stay asleep - aim about 16-18 degrees celsius. Optimise your sleep environment.
Nutrition: Eat ‘real food’, avoid processed foods, lower sugary foods and starchy carbohydrates. Include essential 'healthy' natural fats. Our real food/lower carbohydrate page gives some helpful information on different aspects of healthy eating and drinking. There are links to some alternative switches too.
Avoid alcohol after 7pm - it acts as a stimulant and then a depressant - it disturbs your normal sleep architecture (sleeping tablets also disturb normal sleep)
Exercise during the day (morning is best, avoid late night high intensity)
Avoid late night snacks (they can cause a drop in your glucose levels later on and affect your sleep)
Avoid caffeine after midday (coffee, tea, coke, chocolate and some pain killers)
Try writing down a list of your worries and any ideas on how you might solve them before you go to bed

Check out the mental wellbeing pages for additional resources and the Sleepstation articles for more information on how sleep works.

Medications (hypnotics) are sometimes prescribed for just 2-4 weeks if insomnia is severe, disabling or causing extreme distress. There is limited evidence for the effectiveness of long term medications in the treatment of insomnia and there are concerns about their safety including drowsiness. They can lead to tolerence, dependence, rebound insomnia and increased risks in older people such as cognitive impairment and falls. CBTi, on the other hand, is a well validated, effective and safe method of treating insomnia.

CBTi (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Insomnia)

This is a powerful tool designed to be used by anyone needing help with poor sleep. You are likely to have had difficulties sleeping for some time and this isn't a quick fix. It may take some time and effort to re-train your brain. CBTi is designed to take at least 6-8 weeks.

CBTi includes: