Sleep Easy

Sleep is essential. Much as we might desire a blissful eight hour’s worth of shut-eye, some conditions conspire to rob us of our sleep, making mornings a bit murderous.

Before you resign yourself to disrupted slumber, have a look at the ideas below which can help.

Trouble falling asleep

Luckily, issues with falling asleep can often be managed in daylight hours, so are relatively simple to remedy. Caffeine is often a culprit – limit your intake to a couple of coffees a day, and try to have them before early afternoon, so the effects wear off before bedtime.

Try and get your exercise in in the early part of the day too – while regular exercise will help you get sound sleep, it will also wake you up. Exercise in the evening can make it much harder to nod off.

Remember to ease up on the blue light in the evening too – if you must be online, switch your scree to night mode, and the brighter blue light will interfere with your natural sleep rhythms.

Trouble staying asleep

There are usually a couple of culprits which prevent you staying asleep – alcohol and worry. Overindulging in your favourite tipple can interrupt your REM sleep, which is the lovely deep kind, so if you find yourself regularly awake in the night, swap one or two of your alcoholic drinks for water or herbal tea.

Worries love the middle of the night. While you can’t eliminate all worry, you can work on how you handle them. Firstly, have a good long think during the day – are your worries directly related to you, can you fix them and are you making a plan or just worrying? Take a pen and paper to bed and if you wake, write down your worry or solution so you won’t forget, that can often ease your mind.

Pain in the night

Shoulders, backs, necks and hips often ache in the night. Frustratingly, a lack of sleep can lower your pain tolerance and your body’s ability to heal. Use pillows to support sore spots (hug a pillow to alleviate shoulder pain, place one under your knees for back pain, replace too-soft pillows to support the neck and sleep with a pillow between your knees to ease aching hips). Remember to discuss any ongoing pain with your GP – not only should you not have to put up with it, it can be an indication of other conditions.

Reflux and snoring

Acid reflux can be extremely unpleasant at night – try sleeping slightly elevated on your left side (and discuss with your GP).

For snoring, ease up on alcohol at night and aim to sleep on your side, slightly elevated. You could also try rinsing your sinuses with saline or warm salt water at night.

Leg cramps

Restless legs at night can disturb both you and your partner. Get regular exercise and stretch gently before bedtime. A hot water bottle can also provide relief.

Overall, to rest well, it is ideal to have a regular bedtime and wakeup time. Try and have a good couple of hours between a meal and sleep time and keep warm using bed coverings, rather than over heating the room. We wish you a great night’s sleep tonight!