Are you TATT? (Tired all the time)

So you don't have a sleep problem as such, you just feel tired all the time and lacking in energy, what could be the reason? With 1 in 5 people reporting to be feeling like this, it is a real problem and seems to be growing.

The three most common reasons fortunately are the easiest to fix.

1 Diet - constantly reaching for a the caffeine or sugar to get through the day has a detrimental effect on your health as these both cause your blood sugar levels to fluctuate and your body has to work hard to keep these levels stable. A well balanced diet full of healthy whole foods will go a long way to helping you feel more energized.  Also eating healthily will help control your weight as being over-weight can contribute to feelings of tiredness.

2 Sleep - not a surprising factor, but in this fast paced world the time set aside for sleep is being eroded away. Work out how much sleep you really are getting and make time for more. You should be aiming for around 8 hours each night. Please look back on previous posts in this blog for ideas and suggestions to help you make sleep a priority.

3 Exercise - although this appears to be counter-intuitive, (why do you need to do more physical activity if you are feeling tired?) exercise has been shown to increase energy levels. Small amounts of regular exercise will not only improve your health, it will also help you feel more energized and will help you sleep better too. Try and finish your exercise 3 hours before you go to bed to make sure you have time to wind down, or do some gentle yoga before going to bed to help relax and calm you in preparation for sleep. Work your way up to 40 minutes 3 times a week.
However if you feel worse as you are exercising - beyond the usual huff and puff, then please see a doctor as soon as possible.

Take an honest look at your lifestyle and evaluate if you can make some changes as just a few tweaks and adjustments can make a big difference. You do not have to become a vegan, gym bunny overnight, instead aim for being a slightly healthy, gym hamster first! Start with achievable goals - meeting your 5 fruit and vegetable a day target, taking a 20 min walk each evening or going to bed half an hour early do not take much effort and can be the first steps to an energetic, new you. Gradually build on these baby steps and look at how you feel in a few months time to really see the changes.

If despite changes to your lifestyle you see no changes or you feel you already have a relatively balanced lifestyle or have other symptoms on top of a general lack of energy then you should see a doctor as possible. Reasons could include conditions such as anemia, thyroid disorders, diabetes and nutrient deficiencies and would need medical examinations to determine the cause and the solution.

Sweet dreams!

 If you would like more help with your sleep problems then please contact me at charlotte@charlottewelply.com and we can set up a free introductory coaching session.

Getting tough on insomnia

If, like me, when you are suffering from a lack of sleep you are searching continuously for the magic pill that will help you sleep normally'. I tried most things in my quest for a magical night's sleep - acupuncture, over the counter remedies, prescribed pills, aromatherapy, massages, exercise etc. I tried different sleep routines from waking earlier, to trying to reset my bodyclock by going to bed two hours later each day.

Some had a slight effect, improving my sleep a little (bedsocks), some worked during the course of treatment but stopped when I stopped (acupuncture), some had no affect whatsoever - Valerian supplements, some seemed heartily boring - going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, and others seemed a little extreme.

However, one of the extreme ones did actually work and so I will recommend it.

Initially it seems counter-intuitive, you actually sleep less and spend less time in bed. When you stop to think about it, it does make sense. As an insomniac I was spending longer and longer in bed in search of that elusive thing called sleep. At the weekends I could easily spend 10 or more hours in bed - trying to sleep, but actually only getting about 5 or 6 hours. Even on weekdays the amount of time I spent in bed v the amount of time sleeping was quite different.
This leads to a point where the brain stops associating bed with sleep, and instead associates it with lying awake.

In order to stop this and turn it back to the association of bed = sleep, you need to spend less time in bed! A favourite behavioural therapy solution to this is to work out how much time you are actually sleeping and then go to bed for that amount of time.

It works like this -

Keep a sleep diary for a couple of weeks and record each night how much you are sleeping in total. If you sleep in several smaller blocks add these together to get your nightly total.

After two weeks work out your average sleep time. In the this example let's say 5 and half hours.

Work out what time you need to wake up and then count back your sleep time. Again let's say 7am is your wake up time, so in order to get 5 and half hours sleep you need to be in bed at 1.30am.

Go to bed at this new time until you are sleeping through from 1.30 - 7am. This needs to be done 7 nights a week with no lie-ins or naps!  these times can adjusted to your body clock, if going to bed in the early hours of the morning feels alien to you then go to bed earlier but wake up (and get up) 5 and a half hours later!
If your average sleep time is less than 5 hours then set your sleep time for 5 hours - his is the absolute minimum amount of time to be aiming for.

After you have been sleeping through for a week, then go to bed 15 minutes earlier at 1.15am. Then when you are sleeping through again, slowly build up the amount of time you spend in bed in 15 minute increments.

If this process is done correctly then within a couple of months you wall be sleeping through, night after night and with in a few months you will have a normal sleeping pattern of 7 to 8 solid hours of sleep a night.

I call this techniques sleep condensing, as it retrains the brain from a fragmented sleeping pattern into a solid sleeping pattern. It needs to be done slowly and built up over time, so that you remain in a state of solid sleeping.

The efforts are worth the rewards and after a few months it is possible to then re-instate a couple of sneaky lie-ins and the occasional afternoon nap. It does need to be closely monitored and if night time waking starts becoming a regular feature of your sleep again, then you may need to cut back a little of your time in bed to re-establish a solid night of sleep again - just as someone who watches their weight may cut back on their calories after an over indulgent holiday!

Sleep condensing may also have to be combined with other sleep essentials (such as reducing caffeine, switching off electronic equipment an hour before bed
etc) in order to work well.

If you want to try this, then good luck and let me know how you go!

Sweet dreams.

If you would like more help with achieving overcoming insomnia and other sleep problems then please contact me at charlotte@charlottewelply.com and we can set up a free introductory coaching session.

To nap or not to nap....

I love my sleep and I especially love naps.

I enjoy sneaking into bed when I'm not supposed too, it is probably to do with the fact I should be doing something instead of sleeping! It's even better when I'm on holiday and dozing by the pool, hearing life go on around me and not either being awake or asleep, but comfortable in the warm sun and restoring my energy levels.
However it is something I need to keep an eye on as it could quite easily become a habit and start disrupting my nighttime sleeping patterns again.

During my insomniac days napping was very much a coping strategy and was the only way I survived after a run of really bad nights of sleep.

The conventional wisdom for insomniacs is not to have a nap, but I am sure that there are many like me who needed them. One thing I did notice was that a well timed nap could actually break an insomniac spell and make it easier to sleep that night. Counter-intuitive but true. It is a piece of advice that I have given to many people if they have not slept properly for several nights and they too have reported back positive results.

If this is the case for you then I recommend that it is done early afternoon and for no longer than 90 minutes (that is usually an entire sleep cycle) and go to bed that evening when you are feeling tired. Naps after 4pm or are for several hours are more likely to affect that night's sleep and should be avoided.

I am sometimes asked if napping should be part of your daily sleep needs.

There are certain well know figures who always napped and felt better for it - Winston Churchill comes to mind. These naps should only last between 20 and 30 minutes, any longer and they become a sleep and part of your sleep needs.
There are a lot of proven benefits for taking a quick afternoon '40 winks' including improved alertness and mental clarity, so the concept of someone taking a nap as being 'lazy' is diminishing. Some large organisations are catching up with this idea and provide sleep rooms and napping areas for their employees, however we have a long way to go until this becomes the norm for everyone.

For some people it is a lifestyle choice. Often a night owl who has to wake early for work reasons will partake in a little examination of their eyelids to help them through the day.
For a few of my clients and the work they do, it is easier for them to break their sleep into two sections and they have a long nap each afternoon and a shorter sleep during the night. This may well be useful to you if you are a shift worker or work unsociable hours, or in the case of one of my clients, have a small but global business that means he needs to be up early to work in Australian times and up late to work in US time zones. If this helps you the important thing is to keep an eye on your total number of sleep hours to make sure you are getting enough or, on the other hand, not too many!


So should you nap or not?

The answer really is down to you and your individual sleep needs. Some people report feeling groggy and disorientated after a nap and so for those people the answer would quite simply be a no.
However if you feel you benefit from it then why not? My advice would be to keep them short and of a restricted time. Either around 20 minutes, so you do not fall into a deep sleep, or a longer one lasting 90 minutes to allow you time for a deep sleep and then return to a lighter sleep - making it easier to wake up.

BTW - If you are on your holidays I don't think anyone will begrudge you a little shut eye on the beach!

Sweet dreams!