Fact – I live with a chronic illness that is made worse by poor sleep, but not improved by good sleep. It sucks. Over the last ten years I have had patterns of weeks or months barely sleeping, or always waking in the night. Sometimes sleeping so deeply that I feel awful the next day. Then, ahh, then there are those rare blissful nights of sleeping straight through. I honestly wish I could sleep as well as my cat.
Sundays
I also suffer with Sunday Night Syndrome, when anything can wake me and once awake I am not going back to sleep. This week was one of those, and I am yawning just thinking about it. I do not have quiet neighbours, they think nothing of slamming wardrobe doors even past 11pm. Said wardrobe is against my bedroom wall and therefore wakes me. My heart rate accelerates (part of the illness thing) and it can take quite a while to settle again. Yes, I’ve spoken with my neighbours – they don’t care. They’re also the only house that isn’t out at 8pm on a Thursday for our thank the NHS/check in on each other clapping, so you get the gist of the type of people that they are.
Why do we need good quality sleep?
Many of us know this, and knowing it can add to the worry around not sleeping well. Sleep is essential for many reasons. As humans, we are able to survive on short-term periods of a lack of sleep, even this can lead to an increase of circa 30% of perceived sensitivity to pain. Long-term sleep deprivation leads to high stress levels, weight gain, decreased libido, not to mention how grumpy it can make us, one person in my life is completely unbearable, and also then doesn’t have breakfast. A complete nightmare (pardon the pun) to be around. The fewer hours of sleep, the more anxious we are, the less capable with juggling workloads and we struggle with work life alignment.
How many nights have you slept badly because you had a person waking you up? Isn’t it amazing how tired you feel, yet your brain is on and alert quicker than a light switch? Never anything useful, though, always worries. Or perhaps you had a big day the next day (be it at work, a sporting event, catching an early flight, meeting someone, getting married) and you spend the entire evening and night worrying about when you’re supposed to be sleeping. Will the alarm go off? Did I set the alarm? What if it rains? Or if there’s traffic/trains are delayed? What if I forget my passport? The list goes on. You’ve lost all this sleep by worrying and wake the next day feeling stressed out and really, really tired. Did the worry fix anything? Are you better prepared? Unlikely.
How much sleep?
How much sleep you need is unique for you. It’s genetically determined, so if your parents functioned well on 6 hours of good quality sleep, it’s likely you will too. The key factor here is function well. The time of night that you fall asleep also has an effect. I need around 7.5hrs, from 10pm. I’m very much a morning person, same as my dad. I do my best work and exercise much better first-thing. My sister and mum are not morning people. If you’re naturally a night person, and come alive and do your best work at night, waking up early for exercise will be a struggle to begin with, and after work will be a much better time for you. I’ve known plenty of people adjust.
What works for me to drift off the first time, and in the middle of the night.
- Pukka Night Time tea (contains the herb Valerian, a natural sedative). If you can’t drink late at night, you can also get Valerian and hops tablets, a natural sleeping tablet and these work great. This is a Sunday night only for me now. Both with the tea or the tablets, I’ll still wake if I hear a noise, but I’ll drift back off again pretty quickly. These are not as strong as prescription sleeping tablets. Yep, been there, done that at the height of my illness.
- Magnesium. My diet is quite high in green veg, but I also add two Magnesium tablets about an hour before bed every night. Great for relaxing tense muscles and helping to drift off to sleep.
- No caffeine after noon. After almost a year as decaf-only, I’m now 7 weeks completely caffeine free, but before that there was no caffeine after noon.
- No sugar after 6pm. I had to quit my Coca Cola/Dr Pepper habit a few months after diagnosis (made a huge difference), but as long as there’s no crème eggs around, this is a golden rule for me.
- A night-time routine. I do the same things every night, and I go to bed at the same time.
- WiFi off, and apps locked. I leave the phone outside the room now, but no screen time an hour before bed. I’ve been a bit slack on this the last couple of weeks, and it shows.
- Meditation. Anything that can focus on your breathing and/or mind management is fantastic at any time. I only meditate at night because I always fall asleep. If you’re going to use your phone (see point [ ]), use an app that will stop itself so you don’t have to wake to do it. If you’re going to use YouTube, listen to it first to check there’s no adverts half-way through. I was listening to one and they threw in an advert with rock music, scared the life out of me.
- Write the thoughts down, especially if it’s forming a to-do list. Getting up to do something else works well for a lot of people.
- Reading (real book or kindle-type non-blue light screen). If using an electronic book, make sure it’s one that will switch itself off in case (like me) you tend to drift off.
- Lavender (real or a good quality spray) is great for reducing anxiety and increasing relaxation, it can improve the quality of sleep. I used to make little fabric bags of lavender for my niece’s pillow. Would work like a charm, especially on my brother-in-law…
- Don’t cut calories from protein. Over the years of running, lifting, and trying various diet tricks with the hospital to control my illness, the one consistent of the carb/protein/fat that has aided better sleep is not cutting back on my protein. I’m hungrier when I lack protein. Should also state that cutting carbs is also detrimental for my health. We need healthy fats too, especially for the brain, so I’m on a balanced diet of the three. Keto/Atkins is very harmful for me.
- Keep cool. I sleep well with my legs under heavy bedding, even in summer, so I’ll have a window open to keep the room cool. When it is summer, or thanks to hormones, I’ll grab a towel from the bathroom, run it under the cold tap, wring out the excess, and then sleep under that. A wet towel helps the heat escape from the body quicker.
- Take some time for yourself during the day to help keep stress levels lower.
Have you tried any of these before? Have they worked for you? Give a couple a try and let me know how you get on.
