Microsoft word - ho 14 sleep well.doc

Sleep Well!
Sleep is vital to health and
Causes of Disrupted Sleep
wellbeing
Disrupted sleep is a general term that refers to any Sleep is absolutely to vital to good health and condition in which sleep doesn’t follow its normal PJEndicott
wellbeing. Recent research by Dr Neil Stanley cycle and/or a particular cycle doesn’t last as long at the University of East Anglia showed that as it should. Some of the common risk factors missing out on just one hour of sleep at night associated with disrupted sleep include: will make us 27% less effective the next afternoon. In her bestselling book ‘Take A Nap!’, author and researcher Dr Sara Mednick details how lack of sleep has contributed to some of the best known disasters worldwide. Not sleeping and then driving can be as
dangerous as drinking and driving - studies
show that staying awake for seventeen hours or more can have the same affect on your mind as a blood alcohol level of 0.05%; the legal limit for driving. The research was conducted in the United States but the effects will be much the How much sleep do we need?
The amount of sleep needed varies from one person to the next but is generally accepted to be around 8 – 9 hours per night. Age, type of What is insomnia?
Insomnia is a condition where you do not get enough sleep or enough quality sleep. Good sleep is not necessarily related to the number of hours that you sleep, however. Some people feel fine after getting five hours of sleep per The effects of poor sleep
night. Others need nine hours of sleep to feel at Not only do we feel tired when we are short on sleep, we can also become accident prone, irritable Insomnia can be:
Chronic: Chronic insomnia sufferers constantly have trouble sleeping and have had this difficulty on most nights for at least a month. Intermittent: Those who have intermittent insomnia do not experience sleepless nights constantly but do have periods of sleepless nights that recur over a longer period of time. Transient: Transient insomnia occurs for short periods of time, up to a couple of weeks. The symptoms of insomnia can include:
weight gain (lack of sleep has been linked to depression (depression can cause a lack of As a result, you may feel:
heart disease and hypertension (high blood Lack of sleep can also affect your immune [email protected] www.pjendicott.co.uk PJEndicott 2008 Be watchful in the afternoon
Keep your bedroom as dark as possible as At first sight this might seem a crazy notion but any light source can interrupt sleep. It may there are many substances that act as stimulants be worth investing in a black-out blind. on the human body and contribute to restlessness Likewise, try to keep noise in the bedroom to and lack of sleep at night. Start off by watching window open to maintain a stream of fresh air Caffeine perks up the brain for about one is preferable, if the outside environment is hour, but lasts in the body for at least 4 – 6 hours. Therefore try to restrict caffeine If all else fails - use ’90 seconds to sleep’ to intake to before 4:00 PM. Caffeine is found in a wide range of food and drink but especially in tea, coffee, Coke and Pepsi, energy drinks and 90 Seconds to Sleep!
Watch out for hidden sources of caffeine! If This is a useful routine taught to me by a your favourite pain relief has ‘Super’, ‘Extra’ friend who is a therapeutic counsellor. It uses or ‘Plus’ on the packet it is most likely to contain caffeine as a way of speeding up the Programming that our eyes move in certain metabolism so that the pain relief takes effect more quickly. After 4:00 PM swap to plain When worried or suffering from stress it is difficult to get the brain to ‘switch off’ and to let us sleep, thought themes keep appearing in Exercise earlier in the day is attributed with causing the body to produce both endorphins unconscious part of our brain is saying ‘You (the body’s natural pain relief) and serotonin can’t go to sleep yet – we have all these (the happy hormones), also leading to better problems to solve!’. To use 90 seconds to sleep effectively you will need to be very disciplined but once learned it can be used over and over again. Be watchful in the evening
Avoid caffeine, alcohol or nicotine in the Focus your eyes on a spot on the wall or Get sleep off to a good start
counting to five as your breathe in, and to five as your breathe out as well. Carbohydrates have a soporific effect – saving carbohydrates for your evening meal or pre- Avoid reading or watching TV in bed – most Continue with your breathing and you will find that after a short period your eyes will begin to move to one side or the Try to set a regular time for bed. An occasional late night will not matter too much other as your unconscious brain prepares but sleeping less than you need on a regular to send thoughts for your consideration – basis makes it more difficult to get to sleep As soon as you detect your eyes moving to the side, stop! Bring your focus back Granny really was right about having a hot milky drink before bedtime! Milk contains onto the spot on the wall or ceiling, clear high levels of tryptophan and research has shown that this affects two parts of the brain making us feel full up (i.e. not hungry) so we sleep more soundly. The other food source high in tryptophan is turkey – maybe this is why we all fall asleep after our Christmas dinner? Tryptophan also contributes to the production of serotonin (the natural anti-depressant hormone) making us feel relaxed should realise your intent, give up its disruptive behaviour and allow you to go Ensure that your room remains at a steady temperature which is neither too hot nor too

Source: http://www.pjendicott.co.uk/files/ho_14_sleep_well.pdf