The Effects of Sleep Deprivation - Adults

This week we will be looking at how adults can be affected by a lack of sleep - worryingly these effects are the same whether the deprivation is caused by insomnia or just trying to fit too much into your day.

Since the beginning of the last century great leaps in technology have promised us more time for leisure and activities we enjoy. Electricity and light-bulbs promised us that we could do more in the evenings and the early hours of darkness. Time to spend with family and loved ones, time to read and do other hobbies rather than going to bed soon after dusk.

In reality some of the advances have actually impacted the amount of time we spend asleep and the impact is increasing year on year. On average humans now sleep for about an hour less than we did 60 years ago.

Television was a great invention but used to switch off in the evenings, now it is available 24/7 and there is always another programme to watch. As the technology improved, TV's have now expanded into the bedroom and have an even bigger impact on sleep levels.

Now the internet and the sophistication of mobile technology means that we are connected to work all the time. The days of leaving work at 5pm and heading home for an evening with the family are diminishing, with only a few occupations left where this is possible. I remember my father being 'on call' one night a week and one weekend in four. This did impact our lives but for the other nights/weekends he was off duty. Now Doctors can be called all the time and are never off duty. This isn't just for the medical profession though - hands up who checks their emails one last time before going to bed, over the weekend or even when on holiday.

Computers have introduced and updated a new range of hobbies and pastimes. Several clients have reported to me that if they can not sleep they get up and play on-line games during the night. These range from card games and chess through to the latest shoot-em dead epic. The thing is they all stimulate the brain and delay the opportunity for falling back to sleep.

Sometimes we expect our brains and bodies to act like computers and switch on and off automatically. We go to bed, so stimulated - through technology, work, caffeine etc - and expect to fall asleep as soon as we hit the pillow. In fact our brains need time to wind down before being relaxed enough to sleep. In the 'old days' the sunset and darkness would be enough of a trigger but now artifical light (especially the lights on computers and kindles etc) stimulate the retinas at the back of hours and delay the sleep mechanisms of the brain kicking in. Reading your kindle, even on the low light setting, sends light directly to your eyes, whereas reading a book with a sidelight slightly behind you sends only the light reflected off the page to your eyes. A big difference.

In this world of physical perfection some people are getting up ever earlier to fit in a workout or run before they go to work. In fact I often see this being offered as a solution to people who say that they do not have the time to exercise during the day - paraphrasing somewhat it is along the lines of 'Get up an hour early and fit in your exercise as it is important to have a physically fit body.' However, unless done with care, the physical benefits of exercise are diminished -if not negated - by the physical effects of sleep deprivation.

So whether or not you have the classic insomnia and lie awake staring at the ceiling or you are getting less than the recommended 7 to 8 hours as you are burning the candle at both ends - the effects on your body are exactly the same.

Sleep deprivation portrays itself in the body in a variety of ways including -
Lethargy
Poor concentration
Decreased performance in both physical and mental tasks
Increase in appetite
Weight gain
Increased risk of heart problems
Increased risk of diabetes
increased risk of strokes

The problem for most sleep deprived adults is that the effects are accumulated over time. You do not get diabetes after just one night of poor sleep. In fact, after just one night of poor sleep you feel ok, it was not a problem and you feel as if you could do it again.
You may have been slower at work, or felt tired on the way home but these effects are diminished by taking caffeine or other stimulants. So you do it again. Pulling an all nighter to get a report done. Staying out late with your friends. Watching a late night TV programme.

In fact your body has been pulling out all the stops to help you feel normal and ok and it has the resources to do this and it these that are causing the long term damage that one day may show up as a heart problem.

When you are sleep deprived your hormones are affected including leptin - that suppresses your appetite causing you to eat more. (The science bit is here). So you may eat a little more after a bad night's sleep, so what? It is the accumulative effect that causes weight gain and the increased risk of diabeties, heart problems and strokes.

Constantly taking stimulants to keep your performance levels high at work may gradually become a cycle of stimulants to wake you and sedatives to help you sleep.

Also if you start feeling tired, you skip on the exercise, further impacting on the problems for your health.

Without becoming a social recluse - what can you do help get back into a normal, healthy sleep pattern?

Make a sleep a priority in your life
Work out how many hours sleep you need a night and start to work towards getting them
Cut out caffeine after 2pm
Stop drinking alcohol 2 hours before bedtime
Take technology out of the bedroom - computers, smartphones, kindles, TV's etc
Have a 'no screen time' hour before bed
Read proper books at bedtime, not kindles
Use things like a having a bath as a wind down time before going to bed
If needed have strategic naps but not too late in the afternoon
Record and watch favourite late night programs at a later date
Have a time limit on social events on 'school nights'

If you are aware of sleep deprivation and the affect it is having on your body, you are already one step along the path of changing your habits. Good luck in your journey.

Sweet dreams

 If you think you have a problem with sleep deprivation and would like help resolving it and do not know where to begin, then please contact me for a free consultation session. charlotte@charlottewelply.com

Tips for fasting and sleep.

I have recently taken up IF (intermittent fasting) after seeing the BBC documentary Eat, Fast and Live Longer and joined an on-line forum to help me pick up ideas and tips to cope with my 2 'fasting days' per week, where I only consume up to 500 calories a day.

To my surprise I found that on fasting days I found it difficult to sleep. After having overcome the insomnia bug I was upset by this. As it was just on the nights where I was fasting going back and redoing my sleep condensing programme was not going to help me, so I spent a few (sleepless) nights trying to work out the best approach forward. I did not want to give up on the fasting as I was interested in seeing if it helped my health but really did need to sleep. Reading some of the posts on the forum and a conversation with a friend who is also fasting, I realised I was not the only person this happened to.

Some of the usual advice for insomnia is not going to help in this situation - drinking cherry juice has been shown to improve sleep, but for a faster drinking fruit juice is a waste of calories and fruit juice can cause big spikes in sugar/insulin levels which just leave you feeling even hungrier a short while afterwards.

So here are my best tips for fasters.

1 Are you warm enough? 
Being just slightly too cold can prevent sleep - and it was something that I had noticed on the forums that some people felt cold on fasting days. This was not something that I have noticed so far, as it is still quite hot here in France and it is hard to feel cold when the temperature is in the mid 30's. For me this was the problem at night time and once I had worked out what was going on, I now add a layer on my bedclothes on fasting nights and my sleep has improved!
Try placing a lightweight blanket on top of your duvet, or wearing warmer bedclothes and bedsocks to see if this helps your sleep.

2 When are you eating?
Having a growling stomach is not conducive to sleep. I save up my calories during the day and have an evening meal and a bedtime snack, which really does help.
If you are new to fasting, see if you can reduce the meals you eat to allow for more food in the evening. Fasting is an individual process and if this does not work for you relax and try one of the other approaches. More experienced fasters may find this easier, as many people find that eating earlier in the day makes you feel hungrier throughout the day, but not waking the stomach with food helps keep the hunger pangs at bay.

3 What are you eating? 
Although restricted to 500 calories there are some foods that we can eat on a fasting day that will help promote sleep. These include bananas, turkey, dairy products, sweet potatoes, lettuce, oatmeal and almonds.
Turkey is a lean, low calorie meat that can easily be part of your 500 calories, along with a small portion of sweet potatoes. Or maybe a turkey salad?
For a bedtime snack - how about a small bowl of porridge (with low fat milk), a low fat yoghurt, or a small portion of almonds.
My favourite bedtime snack is to blitz a banana with low fat yoghurt (and a splash of water) to make a banana smoothie. If I have enough calories left over then I might add a few berries as well. Depending on exactly the quantities and brands used, this comes in at between 130/150 calories.

4 What are you drinking? 
This is a tricky one as the recommendation for fasters is to drink plenty of water, as this helps with weight loss and with stopping hunger pangs. the downside is needing to go to the toilet in the night. Experiment with when to stop drinking water - maybe an hour or so before bed.
Green tea is also recommended for its weight loss benefits but green tea does contain caffeine. Caffeine can stay in your system for several hours and the general advice is to stop consuming caffeine after 2pm to allow you a good night's sleep. Maybe you are not normally sensitive to caffeine but the affect of restricted calories may change this balance in your diet.
Also remember that caffeine is present in coke and some other soft drinks - maybe you are glugging back the diet coke to help curb your hunger? Again try stopping in the early afternoon to help improve your chances of sleep.
Try drinking other herbal teas instead, they provide warmth and comfort and are generally caffeine free. Also chamomile and valerian tea are both known for their sleep inducing properties! Valerian is also available as a supplement.
Diet soft drinks such as lemonade do not contain caffeine, or try flavoured fizzy water to keep hunger at bay.
Some posts on the forum recommend a low fat calorie hot chocolate as a bedtime drink (40 cals) I have been unable to try this out as they are not available here. My only warning would be to avoid this if you find you are more sensitive to caffeine.


For me it was the combination of an extra blanket and a bedtime banana smoothie that helped and now I sleep normally on a fast night.
Please feel free to comment below about any sleep tips you may have to help fasters sleep better!

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.

Disclaimer - please talk to your doctor before undertaking any type of fasting or calorie restricted diet. The intention of this blog post is to give advice around sleep and not whether you should fast or not. 

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!

Summer sleeping

Ah Summer - long hot, sunny days and the time we all wished we had aircon!

Here are a few ideas on how to 'sleep cool' as the weather gets hotter if you have no air conditioning.

Cool Your Bedroom

- Close curtains or shutters during the day to keep the heat out of the room. External shutters are preferable as this will prevent the glass from warming up. Also try and keep the windows closed during the hottest part of the day. Open the windows in the evening when the air has cooled, try and get a breeze flowing through the house and use fans to help with this.

- Fill a spray bottle with water and squirt a few times into the air and this will help bring down the temperature.

- Freeze a plastic bottle of water during the day and at night time place it in front of a fan to blow cool air around the room.

- Is it possible to move to another room to sleep? Hot air rises, so if possible sleep on a lower floor or in a north facing room that will not heat up so much during the day

Cool Your Bed

- Use sheets made from natural fibres cotton or cotton mix and with a higher thread count. Sheets with a sateen finish or made of silk will also feel cooler.

- Lightly spray a top sheet with water so that as the water evaporates it will help cool you down. Please note the word 'lightly'!

- Turn your pillow during the night to keep your head cool.

Cool Yourself

- Wear light nightwear rather than noting as the fabric will allow perspiration to wick away.

- Keep a bottle of spray mineral water next to the bed to use on your arms and legs during the night.

- Avoid caffeine and alcohol in the evenings as these will raise your body temperatures by increasing your blood pressure.

- Stay well hydrated during the day to help stop you waking up because of thirst. However try to stop drinking fluids an hour before bed to help prevent night time toilet runs!

- Use an ice pack (the 1st aid ones) wrapped in flannel/washcloth, placed on your neck or forehead to help cool you down. Do not place directly on your skin or use for more than 10 minutes to avoid ice burn.

Hope this helps and the heatwave diminishes soon!

Sweet dreams.

To share or not to share?

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After last week's slightly tongue in cheek post about duvet stealing, this post is about ways to share a bed in comfort.

Historically people have always shared beds as beds, bedding and even extra bedrooms were expensive and prohibitive. It was only the super rich that could afford to have separate bedrooms. In the past if you were a single traveler you may well have shared a hotel bed with a total stranger. Siblings, if not whole families, would sleep together in the same bed.

There is also the simple fact is that as a general rule, humans do sleep better on their own. Everyone seems to have slightly different needs in terms of warmth, bed softness, space etc. Against this is the need to balance the need for intimacy in a relationship and studies have shown that sleeping separately can impact negatively on relationships.

So what to do if you do want to sleep in the same bed but have different needs?


Respect different body clocks
A night owl married to a morning lark is a nightmare combination for bedtimes, the good news is that the majority of the population are hummingbirds and can adapt to either. However some people do prefer early bedtimes while others would like to stay up an hour or so more. If this is your situation then have a discussion with your partner. Maybe they are not being lazy in the mornings but genuinely getting some restorative sleep? Perhaps it's not the lure of another TV show that is stopping them coming to bed with you but a real feeling that they are not tired. If you do opt for different bedtimes then make sure you have some shared bedtimes, perhaps at the weekend, to keep a level of intimacy within the relationship, as this allows for and respects different sleep needs.


Buy as large a bed as possible 
Though falling asleep wrapped in each other's arms seems the romantic thing, we actually need a lot of space when sleeping and a larger bed will help with this.
If you both like different levels of support from a mattress then it is possible to buy two different mattresses that zip together.
Although buying a new bed may seem like a huge investment, it is the place where you will spend a third of your life and can help reduce stress levels in a relationship. Is that not worth paying for?

Have two different duvets
Although I joked about this last week this is a very easy and practical solution if one person prefers warmer bedding and the other throws of heat (and the covers) during the night. It is also possible to buy different duvet weights that again zip together.

Technology
What to do if one person likes watching TV to fall asleep and the other prefers peace and quiet? As a general rule technology in the bedroom disturbs sleep rather than enhances it, so I do recommend taking out TV's and computers. How about listening to a podcast with earphones, or investing in a 'speaker pillow' that you can plug your mp3 player into. A little light than you can clip onto a book is less intrusive than a bedside light. Likewise eye masks and earplugs can help too. Discuss and compromise, one person should not be making all the sacrifices as this will cause resentment.

Pets
An area that needs discussion and agreement however pets have no understanding of respecting bed space and if they are disturbing your sleep, then they should not be allowed to sleep on the bed, hygiene issues aside, they simply take up to much space. If necessary then they can be trained to sleep on their own bed in your room.

These are just a few suggestions, I would love to hear from you any thing that you have found useful, please comment below.

Sweet dreams. 

Lessons in advanced duvet stealing

This is more than a master class in duvet hogging - achieving this level will put you in the top rank of worldwide duvet hoggers with a swift, no-nonsense move that will ensure that you have all the duvet to yourself.

Please note - before taking this class you must have achieved pass marks in all former classes -

The 'One good turn takes most of the duvet' lesson
The 'Inch by inch through the night' lesson
The 'Turning the duvet 45°' lesson

Equipment needed -

One double bed
Two occupants
Two single duvets
Three pillows (minimum)

1 - During the night quietly drop your own duvet on the floor

2 - While lying on your side (facing away from your partner adds insult to their 'injury') reach behind you with your top arm and completely remove the duvet in one swift movement

3 - Quickly wrap it around yourself and refuse to give back when they pull on it and complain about suddenly being cold

4 - If your partner persists in complaining and pointing out that it is 'their' duvet - reach behind you again, take a spare pillow and place it on the top of their back

5 - (this is the genius move) Pat the pillow reassuring while murmuring nonsense in a quiet but loving voice, as if you are letting them know everything is ok

Once you have achieved this ultimate duvet hogging move, you will have life long status as an extreme duvet hogger! Good luck and practice hard!

Additional note - in theory it is possible to achieve this with one double duvet and requires the combination of the 'Inch by inch through the night' followed at the appropriate moment by a swift 'One good turn' manoeuver. Skill is needed in the judgment of how much duvet you have acquired during the 'Inch by inch' manoeuver before commencing the 'One good turn'.

Disclaimer -
The author is providing this lesson for information only and readers undertake practicing this lesson at their own risk. The author is not responsible for any results from following this lesson such as black eyes, bruised shins, being kicked out of bed, being made to sleep on the sofa or the termination of any relationships (this list is not exhaustive)

Sweet dreams!

Pamper yourself to sleep

I don't know about you but I hate rules and guidelines, I find them very restrictive even if they are trying to help me. When it comes to getting a good night's sleep there seem to be loads of them and they can seem quite strict and very forbidding! Take these for example

- stop drinking caffeine in the afternoons
- set up a bedtime routine
-switch off technology an hour before bed time


One of the tricks that I learnt about sleeping well was to change these round in my head, so that they seemed as if I was pampering myself. And I was, because a good night's sleep is an affordable luxury in this fast paced world!

Mentally rephrasing the above statements I came to these conclusions

Why not try drinking herbal teas instead of tea or coffee? When my doctor told me to come off caffeine I found it really hard and felt deprived, and still allowed myself a morning cup of tea. I explored the world of 'decaffeinated' but just felt as if I was being let down as it didn't taste quite right. After a while I came to realize that as herbal teas tasted nothing like real tea it was just a different taste and not a substitute, this helped me a lot. I then discovered that herbal teas did actually have a lot of health benefits and help my body in more ways than just caffeine elimination. Check this page for more information.  Now when people start to make sympathetic faces when I say 'I don't do caffeine', I have to stop them as I genuinely do not feel deprived but feel as if I am making healthy choices for my body.

How about having a bath before you go to bed? This is a lovely bit of pampering, I add some bath salts or oils, dim the lights/use candles, play soothing music to really help me relax and unwind. Then using lovely creams and oils to moisturise my skin and body afterwards and slipping into clean, fresh smelling pj's all adds to the luxurious, pampering feeling. It also means that I have an easily enforced no screen time before bed too! I have a bath whenever I have to get up really early the next morning and see it as a treat not part of a strict routine.

If you are a couple or family why not start having 'Family Time' together each evening? Yes, this means turning off computers, ipads etc so that you interact together in the the last couple of hours before bedtime. Play games, read books aloud, watch a film together (the TV screen is less stimulating for your eyes and brain than a computer/phone screen.) Quality time with your family or partner is always a great feel good session and this way has so many added health benefits as well.

I hope these ideas have given you food for thought on how to pamper yourself a little each day to enable yourself to relax and unwind before bedtime!

Sweet dreams. 

Oxygen Masks

In the safety briefing on the aeroplanes (you know that bit at the beginning of a flight that no-one really listens too) we are informed that in the case of having to use an oxygen mask that we should put one on ourselves first and then help those around us to put on theirs.
It makes sense because the drop in oxygen can happen so quickly that if you were to spend those seconds helping a child put on their mask, that you would be unconscious before you would be able to put on your own.
I find that our instinct as women is to put others first, especially if we have children and families. We are able to put so much pressure on ourselves, running a business and a household that we burn ourselves out.
In order to make more time in the day for others we sacrifice the very thing that would help us perform better in the first place. Sleep.

In this modern fast-paced world sleep is the essential that we think we can do without. Sleep seems to take up so much time. It seems easier to go to bed just half an hour later so that we can finish a work assignment, make a cake for the cake sale, check the emails one last time, stay longer at an after hours work function, catch a TV programme etc. It doesn't appear to have any major affect, so we repeat it another night, telling ourselves that we will catch up at the weekend.

Then the weekend is busy too, and so is the following week and before we fully realise, bedtime is creeping slowly but surely to a later and later time and we are failing to get a regular 7-9 hours sleep we need each night and are regularly surviving on 6 hours or less. Although you may feel tired or sleepy and believe there to be no immediate short term affects, the research shows otherwise.

There will be immediate affects on your performance and alertness, so staying up late to finish your work will impact on your ability to be efficient at work the following day. Sleep deprivation also can affect your alertness when driving or operating machinery, your effectiveness at making decisions, as well as causing stress in relationships - both personal and professional.

Long term sleep deprivation starts affecting your health including blood pressure, weight control, mental impairment and contribute towards the development of diabetes and strokes.

So putting this all into perspective - cutting back on your sleep to do more is actually making people less effective.
Here are some ideas that can help us ensure that we put on our own oxygen masks first and make sure we get enough sleep to for our own health and to help others in a more productive and effective way.

- Is it possible to take a power nap during the day? Join the ranks of the famous who nap - Churchill, Edison, Da Vinci and even Bill Clinton. A quick 20 minute power nap can help restore your energy levels and help in increasing productivity. Many companies are working with this idea and providing 'snooze' areas for their employees!

- Working all evening does not give the brain a chance to relax and wind down and sleep quality is improved by setting a time to switch off work related activities and spend time with your family and friends in the evening. This also has the added benefit of making you more productive the next day.

- Prioritising household tasks and delegating at home can also free up time to help you relax and sleep more effectively.

- Have a set bedtime and stick to it. Numerous studies have shown that regular sleep patterns not only  improve the quality of sleep but also helps your body prepare for sleep so that you are able to fall asleep more quickly and once asleep, stay asleep.

During life there will be times when you need to put others needs before your own sleep (when having young babies or caring for someone who is ill) but for the majority of the time the simple fact of putting ourselves first and ensuring that we get a great night's sleep means that we are able to be more productive, efficient and ultimately help those around us.

Sweet dreams!

Sleep Gadgets

I'm not sure what you're like, but I know that in my quest for a perfect night's sleep I tied out a few gadgets and gimmicks in the hope that they worked.
Most of them did not.

It's a minefield out there, trying to distinguish the hype from the truth and the fact that, as more and more people are reporting that they are sleep deprived, it is becoming a big business sector with many brands jumping on the bandwagon.

These are a few things that I have tried over the years, the list is not exhaustive and are only my feelings, but it would be good to start a discussion. I have not included herbal or alternative medication in this post.

Mattress - There is now a plethora of mattress types out there, all proclaiming to help you get a good night's sleep. They are a huge investment so which one do you choose?
The general advice is to replace them every 10 years and I would support this. In my backpacking days I slept on many a poor quality mattress and had a poor night's sleep. Sagging springs do not support the body and therefore will decrease the quality of your sleep.
As for the style of mattress - this is more a personal choice. A good bed showroom will let you lie on the mattresses and try them out. What is comfortable for one is not for another. If you are a couple that prefer different mattresses then look into getting the style where two different types can be zipped together. I personally find the foam mattresses very hot yet others swear by them. Take your time and try different shops and styles till you find one you like, do not be rushed into buying the first you come across.
Be wary of internet bargains - you can not try them out, what may seem like a good price may result in a low quality mattress. Also be wary of second hand, not only do you not know how old they are, they will have been 'shaped' by someone else's sleeping style. Also there are reports of bed bug infestations spreading through the use of second hand beds and furniture.
I have had a good quality orthopedic mattresses for a long while, it cost more than the basic mattress but was not overly expensive.

Pillows - again this is very much an area defined by personal preferences. I have been converted to the contoured pillows that give you neck support. I started using one because of a lot of tension in my upper back, I found it a little odd at first but now find it difficult to sleep with out one and end up bunching a 'normal' pillow under my neck to recreate the feeling of support.
Fortunately pillows are not as expensive as mattresses so a little trial and error will not cost the earth. Good bed shops will also have different pillows that you can try.

Magnets - A few years ago there was some hype around using magnets in pillows and on undersheets to help improve your sleep. I invested in a small sheet to try it out. I could feel a difference in my circulation (it improved that) but it did not really improve the quality of my sleep.
Magnetic therapy is also claimed to help those with arthritic and joint pain, and of course pain can stop you sleeping well and is a well know cause of insomnia. If you were in this category and wanted to try magnetic therapy, perhaps try a wristband to see if there is any improvement before making larger investments. Also look out for money back guarantees.

Massage machines - again there are certain types of massage machines on the market that claim t help improve sleep quality. The benefits they offer can be debateable. If you are stressed then yes, having a massage can help you relax and then sleep better, so they can help in the treatment of sleep problems rather than effectively cure them.

Sleep monitors - there has often been a huge difference in the amount of sleep that people think they get and the amount of sleep they do get. Traditional methods to show this have mainly revolved around keeping a sleep diary or going to a sleep centre and being 'wired up' for the night. Recently, with the improvement in technology there are some sleep monitors that you can buy and use at home. These, however do not always give accurate results with people reporting that the monitor bands slip off during the night, or register periods of inactivity as sleep, when the users report they were awake but just not moving. Also these monitors just record the amount of sleep you get, they do not improve the quality or length of sleep.

White noise/sound machines - these play background noises and music to either block out other noises or to provide a constant noise to help you fall asleep. I have to say that sometimes I have listened to music or meditations before going to sleep as this helps switch of a racing brain, though have not needed a special machine to help me do this. If you are sharing your bed then it is possible to buy headbands with inbuilt speakers and pillows that you can plug your ipod into so that your partner is not disturbed. If listening to music helps you sleep, it maybe worth checking these out.
If you want to see if white noise could help you sleep, then try running a small electric fan in your room to see if that helps before investing in a special machine.

After many years of trying different approaches, and finding some that helped a little or not at all, the only one that worked long term was following a structured behavioural therapy approach to actually retrain my body in the art of falling asleep and staying sleep. It was an effort at first but it was only for a few weeks and the benefits have been longer lasting than anything else I have tried. 

You know you're an insomniac when.......

I've just finished doing a series of free coaching sessions for people with sleep problems and not only has it has been really great to help people, but it was also fascinating how different and yet how similar their problems were.

So inspired by this, I thought I'd start a list of insomniac traits!

You know you're an insomniac when -

You celebrate getting 4 hours sleep.

It isn't a 2pm 'slump', it's a 2pm tsunami of exhaustion.

You have no idea what a 'sugar rush' is, you've been spoonfeeding yourself all afternoon and still want to sleep.

You laugh like a drain when someone complains they woke early at 5.30am and couldn't get back to sleep.

Your eyebags have bags of their own.

You can't remember the last time you had white eyes.

You tell everyone how amazing the moon looked at 2am this morning and they ask if you're an astronomer.

You've given up counting sheep and have moved onto grains of sand on the beach, but it still doesn't work.

You try your hardest not to snap when someone suggests you try Nytol

Or lavender oil....

You have 7 different shades of concealer in your make up bag, but none of them hide the grey under your eyes.

You can read a whole book in one night.

You are not going to be responsible for your actions towards the next person who says "It must be great to have those extra hours!'

You've forgotten what caffeine tastes like.

You can identify with zombies.

You can't survive without your weekend lie-ins.

When told that exercise will help you sleep and your first thought is "But I haven't got the energy to exercise!"

You could never be described as bright eyed and bushy tailed.

These are a few for a starters, I am sure there are many more and would love to hear your suggestions! 

 

The drugs don't work.... (well, not in the long term)

Ok, so I have shamelessly taken the title from The Verve classic - please forgive me.

I've know for ages that sleeping tablets don't cure insomnia, at best they help you get some sleep, but will leave you feeling drowsy, foggy, lethargic and not exactly raring to go. After a while your body becomes used to them and they lose their potency, so higher and higher doses are needed, or to change types.

I have used sleeping tablets in the past. Living in the UK these were difficult to get hold of. I'd be lucky to get a fortnight's supply 'to get back into a sleep pattern', however this never seemed to work. After a few years I had this system going with my doctor where he would prescribe me a pack about twice a year, and I would use half a tablet at a time, normally when I'd had a bad run of nights or had something important to do the next day. This didn't really help change my sleep patterns but was enough to stop me going over the edge. This worked well enough for another few years until one day I was in the doctor's surgery, crying my eyes out, absolutely exhausted from sleeping about 2 hours a night for nights on end and being told that he couldn't give me any more tablets as it was against the new Trust policies.
Then, when asking if there was a sleep centre he could refer me to, being told there wasn't and being presented with some leaflets about reducing caffeine and having a bath before going to bed. At this point I hadn't drunk caffeine for about 15 years. I was so angry that my one source of help, the tablets, were being denied me.

Now, when I look at some of the insomnia forums on the web and see people writing up what combinations and doses of drugs they use to go to sleep, I am quite glad that I was never given the option to go down the taking ever increasing amounts of drugs route. It forced me to look into alternative methods to change my sleep patterns.

Last night I was interviewing a friend and colleague of mine, Warren Broad, who is a clinical hypnotherapist, for my upcoming Sleep Summit and he told me why the drugs don't work long term, it was really interesting.

So here comes the science bit -

When going to sleep, your brain slips from being fully conscious into a state of trance, and then into sleep. We often slip into a state of trance during the day without realising it, normally when we are doing something that is repetitive or part of our routine. It is so familiar to us that we don't have to concentrate fully. The example he gave was driving into work. How many times have you got to work and can recall nothing about your journey?

Being in a state of trance is an important part of drifting off to sleep. You have probably been jolted out of this state by a loud noise etc, just as you are drifting off to sleep and have to then take the time to get into that state.

Sleeping tablets work by taking you directly from a state of waking into a state of being comatose, missing out the state of trance. Being comotosed also means that you are unable to dream, which is an important part of sleep. It is the not dreaming that leaves you with this feeling of drowsiness in the mornings, because despite actually sleeping, it has not been a fully restorative sleep. There are also the unpleasant side effects of the drugs themselves such as a dry mouth to contend with as well.

So sleeping tablets can not help long term, as they do not allow the brain to go through the stages needed to drift off to sleep. For most people insomnia is a long term problem and the ability to turn off and drift off has been lost. It is a common complaint for those with sleep problems say they cannot switch of the mental chatter in their brains, and it is the ability to stop this chatter that allows you to go into trance and then into sleep. This is why methods that help you retrain your brain (such as hypnosis and behaviour therapy) have proven to be more effective at helping with long term sleep problems than using sleeping tablets.

If you are interested in learning about methods to help you improve your sleep, then please check out the Sleep Summit here.

At this point I would like to say that there are of course situations where sleeping tablets are the most effective and helpful course of treatment and should be used when prescribed by a doctor. As stated I have used them in the past and been grateful for the sleep they gave me. This article is not intended to replace any medical advice and you must discuss with your doctor first any changes you may wish to make to your prescription. 

Ticking bomb

Sorry to be dramatic, but I want to get serious about sleep.

There is yet another story in the press today about how sleep deprivation can affect health. It has been known that lack of sleep can cause heart disease, diabetes, obesity and poor brain function but the mechanics of how this happened had not been clear. The study found that less sleep alterers the genes thus causing the damage (don't worry, I'm not going into a science lesson here.)

However what I found shocking was the amount of sleep deprivation it took to cause these changes. Not because it was a big number, quite the opposite, but because it was such a small number and the changes happened very quickly.

The study examined the results of less than 6 hours sleep for a week. Let's look at that again - less than 6 hours for a week.

How many hours sleep do you get a night? There are many, many people out there who are getting less than 6 hours sleep, night after night. Even if you are in bed for 6 hours, you'll be getting less when you factor in the time it takes to get to sleep.
Had a hard week? Either staying up late to finish a project or partying hard and not catching up on your sleep, then you could be starting the chain of events.

Fortunately it is possible to easily and quickly improve the quality and length of your sleep. Here are some ideas.

1 - set your alarm clock to remind you to go to bed! Use the alarm function on your phone to set a time to stop working and start going to bed.

2 - switch of computers and work phones early in the evenings. Not only do the display screens stimulate your retinas and keep you awake longer, you also need to take a rest from work. Studies have shown that quality not quantity counts when working hard and that your work is more productive if are refreshed and well rested rather than sleep deprived.

3 - make your bedroom a calm and relaxing place to be, rather than a junk room. Ban computers and any other work associations. You will sleep better and more effectively if your bedroom is associated with sleep and sex only.

4 - stop drinking caffeine after 2pm, so that it has time to leave your body before bedtime and therefore will not affect your sleep.

5 - if you are an insomniac or have another sleep problem then ask about behavior therapy programmes as these have proven to be the most effective, long term way to improve your sleep. The medical world is waking up to the importance of sleep and there is a lot more support and help available than ever before.

Wishing you a great nights sleep!

Lucid Dreams

One of things I love about sleep is dreaming. I've been interested in my dreams since I was a teenager and in fact started learning how to recall them and interpret them at that time. It is a skill that can be easily picked up - just like learning a new language, in fact dream interpretation books are often called 'dictionaries'! I talked about it in this previous post.

As I became better at recalling and recording my dreams, the dreams themselves became more vivid and more real. They no longer are a hazy, shadowy image but clear and bright in my mind. I began to fix things that were anomalies in the dream. Maybe I would be in a boat and the river dried up, so I would create a dam upstream that was holding more water, so that the boat would float again. I often liked to go flying. At first it would be short leaps from tree to tree and as I became more confident I could fly longer distances.Flying over the sea at sunset is a favourite dream, flying up to the clouds and feeling them on my face, or skimming over the top of the waves.

I then read about lucid dreaming, how you could control your dreams and use them for your benefit and advantage - to overcome fears and anxieties, to learn new skills, to become more creative. I thought that sounded great and tried to learn to achieve a state of lucidity. I read up on how to do it and set about applying it to my dreams.

To start controlling your dreams and to achieve lucidity you have to be aware that you are dreaming. The recommended way to achieve this is to have a dream symbol - something unusual that if you see it in your dream then your brain trigger tells you that you are dreaming. A classic example of this is in the film 'Inception' where Leonardo DiCaprio's character has a small spinning top. If it stays spinning then he knows he is in a dream (as in real life it would stop spinning and fall).
I tried this method and a couple of others but none of them appeared in my dreams. I was confused. Then when I was listening to the radio one day, a guest was talking about lucid dreaming and perfectly described my learning to fly story, I realised that I was already lucid dreaming. That I was able to control my dreams. That I was already doing these things, so trying to add dream symbols into the equation was just making something I could already do more complicated.

I have to admit that I haven't done that much with my lucid dreaming. I am very impressed when people talk about creating whole new fantasy worlds and filling them with characters and people. It all sounds a little tiring to me, I guess I'm just lazy. I have used them to play out scenarios, trying to see what the outcomes of certain courses of action would be and that has been useful. I have used them to meet people and have a conversation with them, which has been amusing, mind you I haven't told my friends that I've arranged to meet them in my dreams, it sounds a little creepy. Guess they'll find out now though!  I'm not a great painter or artist but have heard that dreams can be a great source of inspiration for new pieces of work or story plot lines.

I have heard of lucid dreams being used to overcome fear and anixiety, apparently it is really successful at helping people who suffer from nightmares - as having control over your dream takes away the horror.
You can also use your dreams to solve difficult problems and find solutions for things that are bugging you. Simply asking your dream to show you a way to deal with something can provide unusual and creative answers.

If you would like to know more about lucid dreaming and how to start controlling and using your sleep 'down time' then why not join me on a new short, 4 week course that I'm running. The details are here.

Don't think that I spend every minute of my dream life solving problems, overcoming fears and learning new skills. Most of the time I like the unexpectedness of dreams and the bizarreness of things that can only happen in dreams. Yep, the lazy part of me showing up, even in my sleep!

Exercise and sleep.

It's an established fact that exercise can help improve your sleep. It makes sense. You feel tired after exercise, you have worked your muscles and your heart but do you sometimes have a great workout, feel exhausted yet find yourself staring at the ceiling and unable to sleep? The truth is that your body needs time to rest and recover after exercise.

So the really question is not - what is the best exercise for sleep? But - when is the best time to exercise to help sleep?

The answer depends on the type of exercise you have chosen.

Vigorous workouts within 3 hours of going to bed can actually hamper your efforts to sleep - you will have a raised heart rate and higher body temperature, both of which hinder sleep.
While exercising in the morning can help reduce stress and if this is combined with spending time in daylight it can help set your bodyclock naturally.

Cardio type workouts that raise your heart rate such as running, aerobics and weight training should be done earlier in the day to give your body time to relax and wind down before going to bed. It is possible to time this to perfection and working out in the mid-afternoon to early evening can really help you sleep better as your body will naturally be cooling down at the time you are getting ready to sleep.

This may be difficult for most people due to work and family commitments, so follow the general guidelines of exercising 3 to 4 times a week and at least three hours before bedtime. If you hit the gym after work, make sure it is straight after work and you allow time to wind down, or chose a gentler class or programme.

It is possible to do a workout later in the evening, but these need to be calming exercises such as gentle yoga, pilates and stretches which all help your body relax and unwind before sleep. Care needs to be taken with choosing these exercises as some types of yoga can actually be dynamic and quite aerobic, so discuss this with your gym instructor or trainer in to how appropriate your chosen activity is for aiding sleep.

I have seen an improvement in my sleep since joining a gym over a year ago. I prefer to go during the daytime and the only evening time class I do is a yoga based one, which though I feel slightly invigorated immediately after the class, I also feel relaxed and sleep well a couple of hours later.

As with any type of exercise, please consult your doctor before taking up any exercise if you haven't exercised in a while or are over weight.

Sweet dreams.

Teenagers and sleep

The other night I did an overnight babysit and the apartment had the heating programmed to be on all night. I found it way to hot to sleep and seemed to spend the entire night adjusting the radiator and opening/closing the window.

I did only get about 2 hours sleep - and it was in two different blocks. I got the children up and took them to school and returned home and straight to bed.
I have not slept that badly for years and when thinking about it I remembered that this was my norm when I was a teenager. In those days I would sleep for about 2 hours one night and then the next night about 5 hours, and kept repeating this two night pattern until I went to the doctor about my sleep.

Seeing how tired I felt the other morning, and how I was incapable of doing anything other than going to bed made me reflect on how this must have affected my studies at school and college. Nowadays if I do an IQ test I'm up around 140, yet my school teachers thought I wasn't coping with the work. Some of this was due my dyslexia (which is fortunately much better understood these days) but I now think that my insomnia severely affected my studies.
When revising for my A levels I would spread all my books around my room, and because my Mum would leave me alone 'to study', I would end up with droopy eyelids and falling asleep. I ended up with average results.

So, what to yo do if you are a teenager, or a parent of a teenager with sleep problems?

Firstly teenagers sleep is naturally different from an adults and they become Night Owls and naturally go to bed later, finding it hard to sleep before 11pm. They need at least 9 hours sleep and some need more. School and college hours mean that they are not getting enough sleep.

In order to help try and establish a good evening routine that means homework is finished earlier in the evening, allowing time to unwind before bed.
Encourage having a shower or bath before bed, to send sleep triggers to the brain.
Have a no screen time guideline for the last hour before bed, this includes ipads, laptops, smart phones etc.
Reduce the amount of caffeine in the diet  remember a lot of soda drinks contain caffeine.
Encourage regular sleeping hours to train the body to sleep but do allow for a small lie-ins at the weekend/holidays for catch up.
Strategic napping can help - as long as it is not for too long nor too close to bedtime.
Make the bedrooms as sleep inducing as possible.
Encourage plenty of exercise - again earlier in the day and at least 3 hours before bedtime.

Discuss sleep with your teenager like an adult. Telling them they need to sleep more and enforcing strict rules may well end in resentment and a lack of co-operation. Give them the facts about sleep and how important it is and what the benefits are. Also point out that getting enough sleep helps with weight control and skin conditions such as acne. Let them come to realise the impotence of sleep themselves. Ask if they want to keep a sleep diary to track the amount that they are getting.

Remember - if you treat sleep and sleep issues with respect, encourage discussion and ask them what they would like to do to improve their sleep, they are far more likely to take it on.

Keep an eye on their sleep patterns and if you suspect that their lack of sleep goes beyond normal teenage patterns then get an appointment with their doctor and discuss the possibility of other sleep problems such as insomnia or sleep apnea.

If you have any concerns and want to discuss them further then please contact me for a free consultation.

Too hot or too cold to sleep?

A sudden dip in the temperatures across Europe and a snowfall last night and it seems like the right time to write this post.

I woke up in the middle of the night the other night and couldn't get back to sleep for a while. I then realised that I was slightly cold. I didn't feel cold in that I was shivering, or my hands and feet were like ice blocks, but just slightly cold. I pulled a blanket on top of my duvet and was asleep within 10 minutes, just that little bit of extra warmth making the difference.

There is a very narrow range for an optimum temperature in the sleep environment for humans, which is between 18 and 22°c (65 - 72°F). The body temperature dips at night to allow sleep and so being in a cooler environment helps the body achieve this. However if it is too cold, then your body is working to warm you up and therefore makes it difficult to sleep.
I was brought up in a home were central heating was sparsely used, so prefer a cooler sleep environment. I find it difficult sleeping in houses were there is 24 hour heating (which happens a lot in Europe with communal heating for a block of flats).
Of course if you were brought up or live in a warmer environment/climate you become used to higher temperatures, but when temperatures fluctuate over the year, you need to try and keep the bedroom temperature as steady as possible.

Here are some good sleep hygiene practices for the different seasons -

In Winter
- keep the thermostat cooler in the bedrooms (radiator thermostats help with this) or turn the temperature down half an hour before going to bed.
- try experimenting with layering - using different tog duvets and blankets as well as warmer bedclothes, pyjamas and bedsocks!
- when your partner has different needs, try using separate duvets or perhaps sharing a duvet and one partner having a light blanket over them as well.

In Summer
- keep the room as cool as possible during the day, closing the curtains to keep out the sun, blackout blinds etc.
- use a fan to keep the air circulating and put a container of frozen water in front of a fan
- avoid memory foam pillows as these can heat up the body.
- turn off or remove all unnecessary equipment, as these can heat up a room, even incandescent lightbulbs can heat up a room!
- if you use it, check the air-con is not too low, as too much of a drop can make it too cold to sleep.

Here in France the temperature can fluctuate between overnight lows of -12°C to overnight highs of 35°C, so over the year I employ many different techniques to try and maintain the best sleeping environment, in winter I have a fleecy undersheet, high tog duvet, blanket and sometimes a hot water bottle. This all gradually reduces to a sheet and fan in the high Summer.

If you're not sleeping too well then take a look at the temperature in your sleep environment and see if there anything you can change to get a better night's sleep.

Sweet dreams!

Night time activities

What do you do when you wake in the night?

Seems like a strange question and I am guessing that most people would say that they lie in bed, tossing and turning and trying to get back to sleep - all the while stressing about not sleeping.

I had a new client recently and she wanted to find the final piece of the puzzle to help her sleep through the night. She had had insomnia for years and done a lot of work in improving it, but would still wake in the night. During this time she would play on-line games and work with clients on the other side of the world. that combined with exercising late at night meant that she was doing 3 activities that were stimulating her brain and not helping herself to get into a relaxed state in which to fall asleep.

My initial reaction was to encourage her to stop these activities and go through new ideas to help her relax and start sleeping through the night. However the more I listened to her, the more I realised that actually she had worked out a lifestyle that suited her.

I have mentioned in a previous post that in the past we had segmented sleep and this idea is still a big talking point in the sleep community and are we going against nature to try and sleep through the night? While we know it is possible to sleep in 8 hours blocks, most people actually do wake in the night and then fall straight back to sleep again and have no recollection of waking, therefore believe they have slept through. For some people, waking in the night means waking in the night and staying awake a while (for some a long while!)

What this girl had done was to build a lifestyle round segmented sleep. She would sleep for a while, then wake - do some work, play games etc then go back to sleep again - her second sleep. Luckily for her, she is self employed and has international clients, so actually this lifestyle works well for her.

I have also found that a some barworkers and 'graveyard' shift workers have insomnia and difficulty going to sleep - now this could be a reflection on their lifestyle, but could it also be that they have found a lifestyle that suits their sleeping patterns. When I have talked with them, they often say that they had poor sleeping habits before they started their work and again, when you talk to them of ways to change it, they don't really want to as it doesn't really bother them that much; they know that if they go to sleep late that they can sleep in during the morning.

In the end I only had a couple of sessions with this client and she left feeling more confident that actually her seep pattern, though strange, did actually work. When totaling up her sleep hours she was getting enough sleep and was not feeling tired or exhausted (common complaints of insomnia). By allowing her to have this pattern also meant that she stopped worrying about sleep and therefore slept better, she also allowed herself to sleep later in the mornings and restructured her day slightly to allow herself enough time to sleep in these two blocks.

So what do you get up to in the night? Are you like my client and can use your insomnia constructively? Or do you prefer to be able to sleep through the night? Rest assured that whatever your sleep style preferences there are ways available to help you achieve them!

Sweet dreams.

New year, more sleep?

I never usually make New Year resolutions, mainly because my birthday is at the beginning of January and it's no fun starting a diet on the 1st of Jan when you know that you're going out celebrating in a few days time!
Yep, I was the person who gave up smoking on the 10th January 2000, I still get weird looks from people when asked about that.

However having this slightly more realistic time frame works and makes me far less likely to give up on my new plans after a few days.

The other thing that I have found works well is to have positive resolutions rather than negative one or at least to phrase them in a positive way. Wordplay helps a lot in making it more likely to be a successful resolution.

Telling yourself that you are going on a diet immediately fills your head with images of boring food, no treats, a strict regime etc. Telling yourself that you are going to make healthy food choices gives you a wide range of foods to choose from and more options to think about.

Likewise telling yourself that you are going to get fit, or have a slim body feels so much better than telling yourself you are going to lose weight or go jogging every day.

You can also try positive resolutions such as making 2013 the year you complete a 10k run, or go skydiving, write a book or a blog. It needn't be a big (or even expensive choice) you can resolve to say 'Yes' more often and see where that takes you, or start writing a gratitude diary every evening and see how that puts you in a more positive frame of mind. You could try smiling at passers-by in the street - it makes both you and them feel good, or giving out more compliments.

One of the things that I'm adding to my list is to go to bed a little earlier than I do at the moment! On 'school nights' I tend to get around 7 hours sleep but this is not enough for me, so I need to go to bed a little earlier. I know it will help me both physically and mentally (more energy, stamina, reduced appetite etc), but tend to find myself just checking out 'one more thing' on the internet before going to bed. The worst thing is that I know that I'm doing it and still do nothing about it!
In order to make it easier I'm going to set my alarm to remind me to go to bed! It's something I read about and thought 'Hey that's a great idea' but have never done. So 2013 is going to be the year I do it. I'm also going to make it realistic and aim for 15 minutes extra sleep to start with, I know that if I set for an extra hour I'll still think I have plenty of time for sleep and so ignore it and stay up! I feel I will be more successful if I do gradual increments, well I've got a whole year to get there!

Why not make 2013 the year to improve your sleep? It will reduce your stress levels, improve your health, help you lose weight and give you more energy - all pretty good results from one resolution!

Sweet dreams.

Troublesome Thoughts

Let's do a little hand raise here - How many of you have lain awake at night worrying about a situation? It either stops you going to sleep or getting back to sleep if you wake in the night? Though you know there is nothing you can do about it there and then, you still can't switch off your brain and go to sleep.

I still get occasional nights like this and I think that's natural, most people would admit to this, it is a rare and lucky few that can sleep untroubled every single night.

There may be a work presentation, an ill relative, financial worries - in fact a myriad of different things can play on your mind and stop that elusive sleep from happening! If you already have difficulties sleeping this can really add to the problem.

I remember back in my insomnia days when I had been appointed manager at a Children's Centre that I slept badly for months worrying about whether I was good enough for the job. This was crazy - I had gone through an interview process and had already worked for the service, so they knew who I was and what I could do, so they were obviously confident with my abilities. Even the fact that my line manager rarely came to my Centre didn't reassure me, I just thought of a whole heap of reasons why she was avoiding coming to the Centre - none of which included the thought that it was because I was doing a good job of managing it and that she didn't need to spend much time supervising me.

It was easier to slip into my pattern of troublesome thoughts and turn into a worry wort. At this stage in my life I would worry about the strangest of things. I was a worse case scenario type of person and would think about the worse thing that could possibly happen and focus on that instead of taking reassurance about how unlikely that would be.

Things changed when a new friend talked to me about how he was always worrying and if he realised that he was not worrying about something would then think of something to worry about! Though his behaviour seemed extreme I realised that I was guilty of a little bit of this behaviour and that this was not a good place to be living my life and began to change my thought patterns.

So what to do if you have troublesome thoughts that are keeping you awake at night?

Try having a notebook by your bed and before you go to sleep each night write down the things that are bothering you and what you will do about them tomorrow. There is something about writing things down that helps take it out of the mind and breaks the thought cycle. If you do start thinking about it again you can gently tell yourself that you have made a note of it and do not need to think further about it.

Colin Epsie (Director University of Glasgow Sleep Centre) suggests that you repeat a word to block the thought patterns in your head. He recommends the word 'the' as it is a very neutral word. So when you are in bed with a busy mind, just keep repeating the word 'the'.

You can also try some EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) I have put up a video on what to do on my Youtube channel here (sorry that the sound is slightly out f sync).

Good luck on breaking the thought cycle!

Sweet dreams

Clock Watching

A bit of a preamble till I get to the point of this post, but I will get there, I promise!

Last week there was a programme on sleep disorders on the BBC and it took five people with sleep difficulties and diagnosed them, then set about making a plan for them. I found it both fascinating and reassuring. Reassuring as lot of the techniques they use, I use with my clients and in my programmes. Fascinating as some of the volunteers thought they had one problem and actually it was something else!

For example one guy had a 'snoring' problem that was keeping his wife awake and he actually had sleep apnea, which is a very serious condition. The other guy with the snoring problem actually slept very well on his own, it was because his partner kept waking him (due to his snoring) that he was getting poor quality sleep!

There was one lady, called Gwen, who has chronic insomnia and had a very negative mindset about sleeping, which is not surprising when you've not been sleeping for over 30 years.
What I found interesting - and I'm now getting into the main part of this post - was that according to the sleep experts, Gwen had the perfect bedroom for sleep, except for one thing - she had an alarm clock where the time display glowed in the dark.

It may seem unusual to say that an alarm clock is out of place in a bedroom, but it's not the alarm it is the fact you can read the time during the night. Gwen had the perfect bedroom - calm colours, heavy curtains, no clutter, a good supportive bed etc. She also claimed not to clock watch but at the same time was able to tell you how much sleep she thought she got each night.
Now - here's another interesting bit, when she spent a night at the sleep clinic and was wired up to monitors she claimed not have slept at all (and, poor thing, looked like she hadn't slept) but what the monitors showed was that she had slept in short little bursts for a total of 4 hours. Over half her time in bed.

Yes, this was not a refreshing and restorative way to sleep, but she was actually sleeping. The experts then came up with a plan of sleep condensing to help her get a more solid block of sleep, which did eventually work for her.

What I found interesting was this belief that she had not slept at all. How often do we tell ourselves how little we have slept? I used to do this. Then I took the alarm clock out of my room. This stopped my clock watching. I was no longer able to estimate how little or even how much I'd slept. If I woke in the night I had no way of knowing if it was midnight or 3am. Initially I found this strange but in only a few nights I actually found this really liberating and actually began to sleep a little better.
If I woke up instead of going into a panic mode of thinking I only had 4 more hours to get some sleep, 3 and half hours, 3 hours and so on.... I was able to tell myself I had plenty of time to get some sleep. I was no longer able to get into a panic about how little sleep I was getting which would start me off in a cycle of anxiety and further reduce any chance of getting back to sleep.

Now when I wake in the night, I feel relaxed. I know I have already had some sleep (a good thing!) and that I have plenty of time to get some more (another good thing). As I am relaxed and not anxious I am able to get back to sleep more easily.

So my suggestion is that you take all clocks out of your bedroom. If you need the alarm function, then cover up any luminous clock displays or turn them to the wall. If you use a phone as your alarm then experiment with switching the phone off. For most modern mobile phones the alarm will still function even if you turn the phone off.

Why not try this out for a week and see what it does for your sleep and please comment below to let me know!

Sweet dreams.