Clearing Clutter to help create the perfect bedroom!

This is a previously published post that I would like to share again to coincide with my Clearing the Clutter for Sleep Event that I'm holding on Saturday. If you would like to join this free event then please sign up by clicking here!  Looking forward to seeing you there! 

In the last post, I encouraged you to look at your bedrooms and see if they could be made more sleep friendly by taking things out. This time, it's about putting things in!!

Doing these things is not going to cure insomnia overnight, but will definitely help. A lot of insomniacs dread going to bed as it brings up associations with not sleeping, with lying in bed awake, tossing and turning, in fact bed is associated with everything but sleep.
In order to start changing this mindset, it helps to make your bedroom somewhere where you want to go, a place that you want to spend time in.

In my London flat, the bedroom was the last place I decorated. My logic went along the lines of the other rooms - where I would be spending most of my waking time and where I would entertain, seemed to be the most important to get looking good. So by the time I got round to my bedroom, it had already become a dumping ground and the thought of moving all the stuff out seemed too daunting, so I kept delaying and delaying! Then when I did get round to painting - I painted it a bright and cheery yellow.

In hindsight all these things were big mistakes and I was not creating a calm, relaxing place to sleep.

Since then I have done a lot more research into sleep and especially (the horribly clinical sounding) 'sleep hygine'. It all makes sense!

Your bedroom should be a calm, relaxing place to be and my bright yellow walls were more stimulating than calming. So think about your colour scheme - is it calming or stimulating?

What is your bed like? Does your mattress need replacing? It is recommended to replace them every 10 years. It is also worth spending quite a lot on a good quality mattress that supports your back. It can seem a waste to spend a lot of money on something as simple as a mattress, but you do spend a 3rd of your life in bed, might as well be comfortable when you're there! Take your time buying a mattress, spend an afternoon or two trying out different ones, go on, lie on all the beds in Ikea!! I like a good quality sprung mattress, but if anyone has tried the tempura ones, please comment below and let us know what they are like.

How about the bedding? I like pure cotton, it feels so good! I also prefer white sheets, this may be something to do with Feng Shui that I learnt in Hong Kong, but it could be just because I like the look, the reasons are lost in the mists of time. I also have one of the 4 seasons type duvets and even in the winter have them in two separate duvet covers as I like to be able to adjust the temperature. I also have a feather duvet as I was going for luxury and the feel good factor, but again, this is a personal preference. I also sleep on an anatomical pillow. At first it was strange but now I really like it and don't feel as if I have the same support from a traditional pillow. I also have a feather pillow that I hug!

The bedroom should also be slightly cooler than the other rooms, as again this helps sleep. I know that I find it difficult to sleep in a heated room and like to have the window open.

I know some people swear by blackout blinds. I did have one when the bedroom window was East facing and the sun would come in early in the morning, but apart from that one place have not felt the need for one. What about your bedroom window, would one help you?

So look through the list and think about the different areas and if there are things you could change. You may say to yourself - but I need to have 3 pillows, but if you are not sleeping with 3, is it worth trying something different? You could be saying - I need to warm whan I sleep, but again, could this be something to change to see if you sleep better?

I used to read these articles and ignore them, but the reality has been that changing things, little by little, has improved my quality of sleep. I love going to bed, I know I'll be cosy and comfortable and that helps a lot when I'm going to sleep. Let me know what works for you - it could really helpful for another reader too.

Sweet dreams!

Caffeine - the acceptable addiction?

The other day I tripped when walking down the street and landed on my knees - very hard! After a weekend of constant pain and lack of sleep, I went to the doctor's (and as is typical in France) came away with a long prescription of various drugs to 'help' the pain and recovery.

To my interest one of the drugs proudly stated it was a mixture of paracetamol, opium and caffeine. (I'm presuming the caffeine is to counteract the opium.)
Normally when caffeine is present in medications, it is hidden away in small letters on the info sheet and you have to use a magnifying glass to find its listing! So to find it in large letters on the front of the bow was very unusual.

Now, I've not properly drunk caffeine for years (since I was about 18) as the doctor thought that my 6-cans-of-diet-cola a day habit might possibly be a cause of my insomnia, and there was I thinking I was being healthy because it was 'diet'.
Fortunately I did not really like coffee anyway, and the cola was surprisingly easy to give up. It was the tea that was difficult. I really love tea, still do in fact. If I'm up really early - maybe because I have a flight to catch, I may still sneak in a cup of tea but these are very rare occasions.

Nowadays I don't really think about caffeine. Sometimes the question will raise its head, such as when I moved to France, where it seems that everybody drinks coffee. Fortunately there are plenty of other options available. When I first gave it up there were only a few herbal teas available and decaff coffee, now there is a whole range of flavours and tastes to choose from Rooibus is one of my favourites, followed by fennel tea.

People ask me if I miss it, I do not really, and one lady spontaneously threw her arms round me and gave me a hug as she felt so sorry for me that I could not enjoy a morning cup of coffee.

So here's the rub - people need a morning fix of coffee because they are , heartburn addicted to it. Caffeine causes a little high immediately after consumption and then as its affect wears off it causes a slump, so reaching for another cup of caffeine restores the feeling of a high. If you were to completely come off caffeine your body would not need a morning 'fix' anymore.

Caffeine in moderate quantities has been shown to have positive health benefits such as protection from coronary disease, Parkinson's, diabetes and some cancers however an excess causes stress to the body such as osteoporosis, stress, heartburn and other stomach disorders. Caffeine's biggest downfall is that excessive consumption leads to insomnia which, in turn, leads to many other health problems such as diabetes, heart problems, weight gain etc. As well as triggering insomnia which in turn adds further stress.

The recommendation is that between 200 and 300mg a day is a safe level, over 500mgs can start causing health problems.
The problem with this statistic is that the amounts of caffeine in drinks and food varies widely, so you need to keep an eye on how much you drink. Remember that it is not just in tea and coffee but also in green teas, colas and some other soft drinks, chocolate and of course energy drinks.

So if you are having trouble sleeping, is caffeine dependency your problem? Like any drug, coming off caffeine can cause withdrawal symptoms including headaches, sleepiness, lethargy, flu-like symptoms, muscle aches and depression. Try reducing caffeine bit by bit, cutting out a cup or two of caffeine at each stage or swapping high caffeine drinks for ones lower in caffeine and, best of all, stop drinking it at least 6 hours before bedtime. If you suffer from withdrawal symptoms remind yourself that they are only temporary and will diminish.

If you would like to know how much you are drinking then check out this list.

Good luck and 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.

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.

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. 

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. 

3 things you can do today to improve your sleep tonight!

It's all well and good to 'think' about things to do that will improve your sleep, but when it comes to actually doing them... well that seems to be another story!
Here are a few simple, quick and easy things to do today to help you get a better nights sleep tonight.

Clear some clutter

Is your bedroom a sanctuary or a store cupboard? It is easy to leave things in your room as there is nowhere else to put them. It may start off with one or two objects but before you know it you have boxes of toys, tool kits, ironing boards etc in your room.
Even if your room seems tidy, what is lurking in the cupboards? Under the bed?
I have written before about clearing the clutter in your bedroom - a clear space makes it easier to sleep.
So today take 15 minutes and clear some clutter! You do not have to do the whole room, start with a cupboard or drawer, or tackle what you have stashed beneath the bed. Even just tidying and dusting will help you feel better and give you a nicer sleep environment.

Go for a walk in daylight

In this modern world it is very easy to spend very little time outside in the fresh air and more importantly in daylight. We can drive to work, to the shops, to our friends. Stay indoors at work or when shopping. Go to the gym to work out. have a sandwich at your desk instead of going out for lunch... they all add up to time spent indoors.
Today make the effort to go out for a 20 to 30 minute walk, the earlier in the day the better. Not only will the gentle exercise help you sleep better but exposing your body to daylight will help rest your body clock which re-enforces the daytime/nighttime message that it needs to have in order to sleep properly.
BTW - another benefit of regular walking is weight loss. My sister-in-law successfully dropped two dress sizes before her wedding by walking during her lunch break three times a week!


Write down tomorrow's to do list

I am not a big fan of to do lists - in fact I hate them but when it comes to distrubed sleep trying to remember everything in your head does not help! It can keep your mind racing in the night so that you do not forget them. So the simple act of writing them on a piece of paper before you go to bed can help calm your mind and enable you to sleep more easily. Even if you feel that night time waking has nothing to do with your to do list, try this for a couple of nights and see what happens. You may not be thinking about tomorrows work but subconscious may be keeping you awake anyway in an effort not to forget.
As an example - if I forget to set my alarm (and it's not a weekend) I can not sleep, I will not be thinking about waking up, or work in fact I could be thinking about anything. Eventually, as it has happened a few times now, I'll think through why I'm not sleep and check my alarm to see if I have set it. After I have set it I then find it easy to drift off to sleep. My subconscious refuses to let me sleep until it knows I will be woken in the morning!  Writing things down has worked for many of my clients, some of whom thought it would not, so do try!

There you have three simple things that you can do today to improve your sleep tonight!

Sweet dreams.

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 end of sleep?

This is a really interesting article about whether we can reduce the amount of time we need to sleep by the use of medications and control devices.

I find it an interesting debate.

In some ways spending 8 hours each day being effectively unconscious seems like a waste of time. So if we can reduce that time, then why not?

Then the other part of me kicks in thinking that if this is what has successfully lead human beings through thousands of years of evolution, why tinker with it?

Presently scientists do not fully understand why we sleep. They know we need it and the effects that happen if we don't sleep but not actually why we do it. This seems strange, especially in the modern world where technology and science are teaching us so much about our world and our bodies.

I love sleep, the getting ready for bed, feeling comfy and all tucked up, drifting of to sleep and the bizzare thoughts that go through my mind, the dreams and then waking - still feeling warm and comfortable in bed. As an ex insomniac I also know the side effects of not getting enough sleep - both the physical and the mental ones. It would concern me that if we all started reducing our sleep and relied on medication etc to counter the side effects - what the long term effects on our bodies would be.

After just one night of poor sleep I find myself being grumpy and irritable, taking things out on people when it is not their fault, poor decision making, eating more and exercising less. The long term effects are even more debilitating. It sounds great that the ideas mentioned in the article could help reduce these effects (and it opens the interesting possibility of how could these be put to use to help insomniacs) but how long for?
So far they seem to have useful temporary uses, but what would the long term effect of these be? This is one medical trial that I would be reluctant to put myself forward for. I have spent the last couple of years getting my health, fitness and energy levels back on track and would not want to jeopardize them.

One of the major things I find sad, is this modern belief that by sleeping we are wasting our time, when in fact sleep helps us make the most of the time we have, to live it more fully, be more productive and active each day. The modern lifestyle seems intent on reducing the importance and the time we spend asleep - the initial thoughts that technology would make our lives simpler and easier, allowing for more downtime, has in-fact been shown to be untrue and people are now connected 24/7, checking work emails before bed and when on holiday etc.
My life has been transformed since sleeping properly and maybe it is the people who have poor sleep patterns that fully understand the importance of sleep, rather than those who fall asleep easily and think nothing of it, who feel that we can reduce it or go without it.

It will be interesting to see where the research goes to reduce the need for sleep or to actively encourage it? In the meantime I'll continue to enjoy my sleep all 8 hours of it.

What do you think? 

Routines - how they can liberate you

I've been having thoughts along these lines in different areas of my life for a while now, and would like to share how they help with sleep too.

In a former life I used to work with parents, helping them improve their children's behaviour and one of the most common problems was that there was little or no routine in the house. Bedtimes and wake up times were erratic, mealtimes were whenever someone felt like cooking, in fact the only routine seemed to be around school (if there were school aged children in the home) and weekends ended up as one long blur.

When I asked these parents why there was no routine the common response was that they wanted to be 'spontaneous' 'live in the moment' and 'have fun'. There was also a popular theme of having a strict upbringing and wanting to be different with their children. However having no routine meant that the children were insecure, not sure what was happening and this displayed itself in their behaviour. I often found myself explaining that if you had no routine you couldn't be spontaneous, throwing in something different to do just added more chaos to the mix. Conversely if you have a good routine going, then saying to yourself one evening 'Let's jump in the car and go to the beach' is spontaneous and a fun and different thing to do because it is not the norm. It makes it more fun and more special and a brighter memory.

So what does this have to do with sleep?

Our brains and bodies need a structure to work round. For an adult the most obvious and defining point of this structure would be being asleep and being awake. then work and mealtimes, after that it is your free time and how you chose to spend it.

However - if your sleep times keep changing or are erratic then this begins to throw the whole routine out. If you are constantly changing your sleep times your body does not know what is happening, it is confused and doesn't work as well. Just like the children being cranky and displaying difficult behaviours when there is no daily routine.
As discussed in previous posts our bodies need triggers and reminders that it is time to sleep or time to be active, which is why good bedtimes routines can help adults as well as children. It is why shift workers have such problems sleeping as they are constantly changing their body rhythms.

I used to fight long and hard against the concept of any daily routine, especially in regards to sleep. I would tell myself that it was impractical to have a regular bedtime and wake up time, if I was actually sleeping - why wake and stop that. When on a week's holiday I could quite easily stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning reading and then wake up mid-morning, have a nap in the afternoon (because I had gone to sleep late) and go to sleep even later the next night. Within a couple of days my sleep patterns would be out the window and I would be cat napping when ever and where ever, but not getting a good night's sleep. The end result was that I would go back to work feeling exhausted, despite having had all that extra time to sleep!

Last year I took a good hard look at what was going on and decided to redefine my sleep routines. Though it was hard to admit, I am no longer a teenager and all night parties two or three times a week just don't happen any more!
So I looked at my work schedule, took into account my night owl tendencies and came up with a plan that I would get up at 8.30am at the latest. Every day. It seemed really tough for me at first but it has worked. A couple of days a week I need to get up earlier for work but I tell myself this is the exception, not the norm. On the weekends and the days I work from home the alarm is set for 8.30. It is easier to set up a regular getting up time, than a going to sleep time.

I won't lie and say it was easy. There were times I longed to stay in bed and sleep some more. It wasn't quick either, but I have stuck with it and it is paying off. My sleep has really improved!

I now get tired in the late evenings and actually want to go to bed (depending on how busy the day has been it varies between 11 and midnight). Though I do wake in the night, it is briefly. I now tend to wake before the alarm - something that I thought I would never say, and have some time in that nice drowsy state that used to happen after a lie-in, so I'm not missing out on that. The urge to nap has decreased and if I nap now, it is usually after an early start. I still have the occasional bad night, but it is now once every couple of weeks rather than several times a week.

The strange thing is that I now don't feel as if I am depriving myself of anything. I really thought that would be a problem (and in the early days it was hard) but as I am sleeping in more of a block, I wake up more refreshed and am able to achieve more and do more with my day.

The added bonus is that if I do pull a late night because of a party etc, it feels more special, like something spontaneous and different! There is a difference between going to bed at 3am because I was mooching round the house as usual and going to bed at 3am because I was out celebrating.

So if your sleep patterns are erratic, then I encourage you to take the plunge and set up a routine and see what happens. Remember, if you want advice or support with this, then please contact me, I'd love to help you get a great night's sleep.

Also if you want some new ideas and methods to help you go to sleep then check out next week's free http://www.worldsleepsummit.com/index.html, which I have set up especially to support people with sleep problems.

Sweet dreams!

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!

Does the way you sleep show your personality?

Though there have been recent studies into sleep positions and personality traits  (one commissioned by a hotel chain), I believe things are a little more complex than the results claim. For me - I can go through several sleep positions in one night, especially when I was an insomniac, does this make me a mix of all the personality types? Who knows!

So - for a little bit of fun here are the results!

Fetal position
Sleeping curled up on your side.
Said to show a need to destress by reverting back to a stress free time when in the uterus. The more tightly curled up you are, the more stressed you are. Can be difficult to get to know, but very sociable with family and friends.

Yearner
Again lying on your side but more open and you have your arms stretched out in front of you, as if 'yearning' for something.
Said to show a confident nature, with a hint of suspicion. May take a long time to come to a decision but then will not change their minds.

Log
Lying on your side with your ams and legs in a straight line.
An open and sociable person but can be too trusting with others.

Starfish
Lying on your back, arms and legs spread.
Listeners bit so they can give advice, often believe themselves to be king or queen in their environment.

Solider
Lying on your back, straight legs and arms alongside your body.
Reserved and introverted, don't like giving things away. They have high standards of themselves and are perfectionists and can be hard on themselves.

Freefaller
Lying on your front, head to one side, normally with legs spread and arms wrapped round a pillow.
A good listener who is open to new ideas. Tends to be someone who stays in the background. Can feel like life is happening around them and they are hanging on for the ride.

Does your sleep position match your personality? Please let me know!
Remember this is just for fun.

Sweet dreams

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!

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.

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.

So why do we sleep?

"As far as I know, the only reason we need to sleep that is really, really solid is because we get sleepy." William Dement - Stanford University Sleep Research Centre.

There is very little research into sleep (and even less into sleep disorders), so much so that no-one is exactly sure why we sleep. It seems such a strange thing in evolutionary terms to sleep - to deliberately leave ourselves vulnerable and defenseless to predators while we snooze and snore.

It was only in the last century that scientists realised that the brain was active during sleep, up till then it had been thought that sleep was a period of inactivity and not worth studying. Now modern tracking techniques have shown how active the brain is at night, this has lead to the discovery of the sleep cycles and the difference between REM and deep, slow wave sleep. These discoveries have allowed for new theories to be put forward as to why we sleep. However they are sill only theories!

Theory 1 - Rest and recuperation
That sleep allows the body a chance to rest and recuperate from being in a state of heightened awareness throughout the day. Sleep allows the body time to heal and repair itself. If we become sleep deprived we are more susceptible to illnesses and take longer to recover.

Theory 2 - Learning
Sleep and the temporary absence of consciousness allows the brain time to process all the information it has learnt and reorganise itself. Again sleep deprivation tests have shown that a lack of REM sleep affects your ability to perform tasks and a lack of deep sleep affects the recall of knowledge.

Theory 3 - Dreaming
Dreams seem to be a result of REM sleep, so maybe the reason we sleep is to dream?

Science is still learning a lot about the world of sleep and new research will hopefully answer our questions about sleep and dreams. In the meantime, we can help our bodies and minds by making sure we allow enough time to sleep.

Sweet dreams

The second sleep

Do you often wake in the night and find it difficult to go back to sleep straight away?
Maybe it's not because you're a freak or different but because we are genetically programmed to do this!

There has been a lot of interest recently (with articles by the BBC, the Times and The Guardian amongst others) about 'the second sleep' and it seems that the human brain is actually programmed to sleep in two four hour chunks.

Research in the 1990's took volunteers and put them in 14 hours of darkness each day. After a few weeks the volunteers had started to sleep in two 4 hour blocks with a one to two hour period of being awake in the middle. despite being of great interest to sleep scientists, the belief that an eight hour block of sleep being the norm has persisted.

Then 2005, historian Roger Ekirch published a book called At Day's Close: Night in Times Past, where he draws on his research where he found over 500 references to segmented sleep in books, in diaries, court records, medical books and literature. what he found interesting was the way in which the references to this sleep pattern were made - as if it was totally normal and that everyone did it.

It seems that the labourers would come home from the work, have something to eat then go to bed - usually because they were really tired! Then approx 4 hours later they would wake up and do things! It was a time for conversation, for prayer, visiting the neighbours, having sex etc. Then they would go to bed and have a second sleep, and wake at dawn ready for another days work.
A doctor's manual from 16th Century France even advised couples that the best time to conceive was not at the end of a long day's labour but "after the first sleep", when "they have more enjoyment" and "do it better".

Ekirch found that references to the segmented sleep dwindle from the 17th Century onwards and links this to social change, the shift to living in cities and eventually the increase in street and domestic lighting, which helped develop a leaning towards socialising in the evening and pushed sleep into one later block of up to 8 hours.

Though the majority of people have adapted to sleeping in one 8 hour block, sleep researchers now think that this could be the root cause of sleep maintenance insomnia, where sufferers wake during the night. It is helpful to realise that most people do wake in the night but that most do not remember it, whereas an insomnia suffer, who is already stressed about lack of sleep, may become more anxious at waking and take longer to fall back asleep. For these people it the realisation that it is not some abnormality but in fact genetic programming may help them and their anxieties around sleep.

In fact, if we look there is still evidence of this segmented sleep around us. Babies who need to wake in the night for feeding, toddlers who still need an afternoon nap, and in hotter climates - an afternoon siesta during the heat of the day, followed by working later in the cool of the evening. The modern world with 24 hour electricity and an unbroken day work ethic actually is encroaching on our sleep patterns even more.

So maybe for those of us who do wake in the night, we need to be celebrating this fact - that we are more in tune with nature and our bodies, that we can use this period of wakefulness for contemplation, meditation and destress (just like our forefathers used the time for prayer and relaxation). Since I found out about segmented sleep a few months ago, I am more relaxed about waking in the night and call it my 'throwback'. Ironically, since being more relaxed about night time waking, I sleep better!

Please comment below if you are a segmented sleeper or have issues around night time waking, I'd love to know your thoughts.

Sweet dreams!

The stick process

This post follows on from last week's post about your thought patterns, so please read that first, then this one will make more sense!
 I use this process with coaching clients who are stuck in one thought pattern and want to change to another. This works well with sleep problems, especially insomnia and other non specific disorders, though you can use it with any situation you feel stuck in - weight loss, lack of money etc. It is a visualisation process, so allow yourself to picture the situation and notice how your body feels during the two different stages.

Picture that you are holding a stick in your hand - it needs to be a really long stick, (you'll see why in a minute), as big as a javelin. It's impossible to hold it at both ends.
Now imagine at one end of the stick is the negative thoughts that you have around sleep -
I always sleep badly
Why can't I sleep like everyone else
I'm always tired etc

Now imagine the other end of the stick, and it has all the positive thoughts that about sleep -
I sleep like a baby
I always wake feeling rested and refreshed
Sleep restores my body etc

Now because this stick is so big, you can only hold one end of it. If you are holding the end that has all the negative thoughts, then you cannot hold the end with the positive thoughts.

Now picture yourself holding the stick at the negative end. Start repeating all the negative thoughts that you have about sleep and notice how you feel. Is your body tensing up? How is your breath? How do you feel about sleep? Just as we discussed last week, it is our thoughts that hold us back from what we want and determine what we achieve, so if you are holding the negative end of the stick you are like the repelling end of the magnet and  is pushing away the possibility of great sleep.

It is impossible to have both negative and positive thoughts about sleep (or whatever subject you are choosing) at the same time, so you need to drop the stick, and change your thought patterns!

So you can now chose to hold the positive end, the end with the positive thoughts about sleep. So picture yourself holding the stick at the positive end and start to go through those positive thoughts and  notice how different it feels. How much calmer you become and how the possibility for great sleep becomes more real. This is like the positive end of a magnet that attracts more good thoughts and then as these increase, more good feelings about sleep.

So next time you realise that you are stuck in a negative thought pattern, (perhaps you are in bed and unable to fall asleep), take a deep breath and ask which end of the stick are you holding and which end do you want to be holding and make a conscious decision to take hold of the positive. Really focus on those good feelings and allow your body to relax as this will allow you to sleep.

I hope this visualisation helps you in achieving a better night's sleep, please let me know your thoughts and if it works.

Sweet dreams

 (I just went to check where I found this process and it wasn't in the book I thought it was. So, I would love to give credit for it, so if anyone recognises it, then please let me know!)

What's your sleep story?

One of the fascinating things that I have discovered when talking to people about their sleep, is how different everyone's sleep history is.

During my insomnia days I wanted to put my head on my pillow, fall asleep and not wake up for 8 hours - 'Like everyone else did!' However, the more I talk to people about sleep, the more I realize that not many people do sleep for 8 hours straight.

It is much more likely that people have individual quirks when it comes to sleep - needing the temperature just right, sleep talking, snoring, delays in going to sleep, waking in the night for no reason, being woken by strange noises, habits changing over time, needing sleep rituals... The list seems almost endless. What I have found reassuring about this is that even if I have felt alone at 3am and felt like I was the only person awake at that time, that actually I'm not, and that other people have their sleep stories too. I have found that really reassuring, it is comforting to know that I am not the only one. It also helped reduce my stress over sleep and, strangely, made falling asleep a little easier.

I have asked some of my friends to share their sleep stories - what affects them, how they overcame sleep disturbances, funny stories of sleep talking/walking etc. I will be adding more stories over the next few weeks, so if you have an interesting, unusual or funny story that you would like to share, then please contact me, I'd love to talk to you about it!

Here is the link to the first few stories.
http://www.charlottewelply.com/sleep-stories.html

Hope you enjoy listening to them and remember to check back regularly for more stories!

Sweet dreams

Pillow Talk!

Did you know that you should replace your pillows every two to three years? Nope, me neither! I was looking into this the other day and there seems to be quite an online debate about this, but the general rule of thumb seems to be that if it's not giving you support then it should go. It also seems that synthetic pillows wear out more quickly than feather ones.

In order to stop those pesky little dust mites taking over, then they should be washed and tumbled dried every few months and special pillow protectors will also help cut down on allergens and mites as well as extend the life of your pillows.

If you are looking at replacing your pillows then what sort should you go for? It seems that there is a type for every kind of sleeper. Even hotels are getting in on the act these days and have pillow menus for you to choose from. It is important to get a pillow that meets your needs as something as simple as giving your head and neck the correct support will help improve your sleep.

This week I'll look at different pillow shapes and next week we can look at different fillings, to help you choose the correct pillow for you.

Traditional rectangular pillows
These pillows suit a lot of people. You should check how firm and how high it is, if it is too high and has no give it will distort your neck and be uncomfortable to sleep on. If you sleep on your front, you should choose a thin pillow (you may even not need a pillow at all). Natural fillings can be pushed and molded to provide support where you need it.

Contoured rectangular pillows
I changed to one of these a few years ago and really miss it if I am traveling! These tend to cradle the head by having a dip in the middle and a high edge to support the neck. These suit people who sleep on their sides or back and ensure the spine is in alignment all the way through the neck and down the back. They do come with different fillings providing firm to medium support.

V shaped pillows
These offer great support if you need to sleep in a more upright position and can help aid sleep if you have a chest complaint or acid reflux. They are also popular amongst pregnant and breast feeding women.

Bolster pillows

These are long thin tubes that come in various lengths and fillings. They can be molded around your body and support you in a variety of ways. They are a classic means of supporting the neck but can also be used by a side sleeper, being tucked between the knees (to stop them rubbing), and by pregnant women (supporting the abdomen). If you sleep on your back, then a smaller one can be used tucked under your knees to relieve pressure on the back.
My friend used one when on holiday in Morocco and found it helped his sleep so much he brought one when he got home.

Boyfriend pillow
Ok - this one is a bit of a novelty factor, but does provide support for a side sleeper!

And before I get accused of sexism - here's the male version, a lap pillow!

As I mentioned, I use a contoured pillow for my head but also have a down pillow that I hug!
What is your favourite pillow type, what works best for you?
Please use the comment box below and pass on any pillow tips!

Until next week.

Sweet dreams