What is Effecting Your Ability To Sleep…?

Going to the bathroom – 60% 
Noise – 50%
Stress – 28%
Light – 27%
Pain – 25%
Thinking about work – 24%
Nightmares – 24%

FOOD & DRINK
We are going to cover this topic in more detail in next weeks blog. It is wise not to eat right before sleep and avoid stimulants.

Stimulants include:
Caffeine – Is a stimulant and it’s effect on the body lasts for many hours, for this reason is it best best not to consume it after the mid-afternoon. Caffine is found in Tea (Green, Normal Tea) //  Coffee // Soft Drinks (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Red Bull, V, Mother) Chocolate – Dark Chocolate contains more caffeine) including Cocoa and Hot Chocolate drinks.

Food – Allow 2-3 hours between your evening meal and going to bed

Nicotine – Is a stimulant and makes it harder to fall asleep and to stay asleep, try avoid for at least 2 hours before bed.

Alcohol – Can make you drowsy and help you fall asleep, but it can actually make it harder to sleep deeply and continuously throughout the night and should be avoided at least four hours before bed. Alcohol is in a class of drugs called sedatives, it binds to receptors within the brain that prevent neurons from firing their electrical impulses. Alcohol sedates you out of wakefulness, but it does not induce natural sleep.

MENOPAUSE
Many women report that it is more difficult to sleep well during the menopause and or peri-menopause. They say that it is not as easy to get to sleep or to stay asleep and they also tend to wake up earlier than planned. This may be due to less oestrogen in the body.

During the menopause, the levels of hormones in the body change. This means that the body temperature is less stable and sometimes there are surges of adrenaline. When this happens, a hot flush is felt. All of these can happen during the day or at night. Women tend to wake up just before a hot flush occurs. Experts think that both the waking up and the hot flushes are caused by the same thing. It can help if you sleep in a cool room where air can flow through freely (e.g. using a fan). Avoid heavy bedclothes or tight bedspreads. If you can put your feet outside the blankets, it will help cool down from a hot flush. Sleep in light sleep wear. Cotton is best.
Good news is after the menopause, sleep will improve.

MENSTRUAL CYCLE
Up to 7 in 10 women say that their sleep changes just before their period. The most common time for this is 3 to 6 days before having the period.

Women may feel that it is harder to get to sleep and stay asleep. They may have restless sleep in the days leading up to their period. Some women say they are sleepier during the day. We know that the amount of REM sleep – which is when we have most of our dreams – is less in this part of the menstrual cycle. Hormonal changes at this time (progesterone levels suddenly drops) affect the body’s temperature control – core body temperature is increased over the two weeks following ovulation. In addition, core body temperature increases to it’s maximum each day between approximately 9pm and 10pm.

Some women with PMS may have low Melatonin levels. If this is the case then taking melatonin may help your sleep symptoms. You should discuss this with your GP.

PREGNANCY
While pregnant you need more sleep than usual along with the changes to the body that occur during pregnancy, there are also changes in sleep patterns. Rising progesterone levels may partly explain excessive daytime sleepiness, especially in the first trimester. As the pregnancy progresses, women have less deep sleep and wake up more often during the night. Sleep is less refreshing, which is why expectant mothers should spend more time in bed asleep. An afternoon nap of an hour or two will help.

CAN SLEEPING PILLS HELP?
According to Sleep Scientist Matthew Walker [Book Why We Sleep] – Sleeping pills, old and new, target the same system in the brain that alcohol does— the receptors that stop your brain cells from firing— and are thus part of the same general class of drugs: sedatives. Sleeping pills effectively knock out the higher regions of your brain’s cortex.

If you compare natural, deep-sleep brainwave activity to that induced by modern-day sleeping pills, the electrical signature, or quality, is deficient. The type of “sleep” these drugs produce is lacking in the largest, deepest brainwaves. Adding to this state of affairs are a number of unwanted side effects, including next-day grogginess, daytime forgetfulness, performing actions at night of which you are not conscious (or at least have partial amnesia of in the morning), and slowed reaction times during the day that can impact motor skills, such as driving.

The waking grogginess can lead people to reach for more cups of coffee or tea to rev themselves up with caffeine throughout the day and evening. That caffeine, in turn, makes it harder for the individual to fall asleep at night! worsening the insomnia. When the drug is stopped, there is a withdrawal process, part of which involves an unpleasant spike in insomnia severity. In Summary “Sleeping pills do not provide natural sleep, can damage health, and increase the risk of life-threatening diseases.”

CONCLUSION: Understanding why we need sleep and how our bodies get ready for sleep helps us to identify reasons as to why we maybe struggling to get to, and stay asleep. A few simple tweaks here and there, changing your ‘attitude’ towards sleep, and creating a bedtime routine can make a profound difference to your long term health and daily quality of life.