It’s only natural

• Most of us have a natural dip in alertness between 2 – 4pm.
• A 15 minute nap when you’re tired can be a very effective way of staying alert throughout the day. Avoid napping for longer than 20 minutes, after which you will enter deep sleep and feel even worse when you wake up.

See a doctor if your problem continues

• If you have trouble falling asleep night after night, or if you always feel tired the next day, you might have a sleep disorder. It is advisable to seek more advice from your doctor. Most sleep disorders can be treated effectively.

Create the routine of  regular bedtime and wake up time

• Make a habit of going to bed and waking up at the same time each day, even on days off and weekends. This helps  your body clock to keep to these times. Resisting the urge for a lie-in can really help in keeping you alert throughout the day.
• If you haven’t slept well, don’t  sleep in longer than normal,  getting up at your normal time keeps your body in its normal wake-up routine.
• Remember that  even after only four hours of sleep the brain has gained many of the important benefits.

More Top Tips on getting a restful night’s sleep.Watch what you eat!

• Don’t eat a large heavy meal close to bedtime. It will interfere with your sleep patterns.

•  Fatty or Spicy foods may cause indigestion and heartburn.  These conditions often cause  difficulty in falling asleep and discomfort throughout the night.

• Foods containing tyramine cause the release of norepinephrine, a brain stimulant.  Foods containing norepinephrine are bacon, cheese, ham, aubergines, pepperoni, raspberries avocado, nuts, soy sauce, red wine might keep you awake at night.

• If you get hungry close to bedtime,  it is a good idea to eat something that triggers the hormone serotonin, which makes you sleepy. Carbohydrates such as bread or cereal  are ideal.

Always try to make your bed as comfortable as you can. Check out our wonderful ranges of Bedding and Bed Linen at www.betweenthesheets.co.uk

More Top Tips on getting a restful night’s sleep.

Avoid alcohol

• Too much alcohol can make you restless. It’s fine to have a nightcap but remember that is also a diuretic, which means it encourages you to urinate,  which of course leads to to a disturbed night. Drinking  can also restrict airflow into the lungs.  This  can reduce oxygen in your blood which again may disturb your sleep and can contribute to a hangover.
  Restricting airflow into the lungs is also a major cause of snoring which again can lead to a disturbed sleep. 

Avoid caffeine

• Caffeine is a powerful stimulant which can stay in your system for many hours. So during the late evening avoid sources of caffeine. Examples of high caffeine foods are  coffee, chocolate, cola drinks and non-herbal teas.

For more advice on Good Sleep click here.  To make your sleeping environment more comfortable and restful Click Here.

Try to create a calm bedroom environment

• Your bedroom  should be for sleep only.
•  Avoid turning your bedroom into an entertainment centre with computers, televisions, and music.
• Two thirds of British children have a computer, games machine or TV in their bedroom and could be losing out on sleep as a result.
• Take care to keep light from outside to a minimum. Use blackout curtains if necessary.
• Look hard at your bedroom lighting . Having bright lights on in your bedroom when you are prearing fro sleep will just stimulate the brain. Low soft lights are best.
• Invest in the best bed you can afford. Beds do not last for ever and if your bed is over 10 years old you may need a replacement.
• Take care to find quality bed linen in a comfortable fabric that fits your bed. Bed Linen in Natural Fabrics like Pure Silk and 100% Bamboo are ideal.

There are a whole host of good advice from Between the Sheets about sleep. Check out more blogs about Sleep here and here.

Exercise regularly to improve your Sleep.

·          A great way to improve your sleep is regular exercise. Just 20 minutes a day of moderate exercise daily such a brisk walking can make a real difference.  Make sure not to exercise  too close to bed time as exercise produces stimulants that stop the brain from relaxing.

·         Exercising first thing in the morning is an excellent way to wake up the body. Going for a brisk walk or a run, in fact any aerobic exercise will aid the body’s natural wake/sleep patterns.

·         Remember even a short walk daily can help!

For more information on getting a good nights’ sleep checkout our other blogs. You will also find information on how to make your bedroom and bed more comfortable to  help you sleep. Just Click Here.

Get your brain to relax!

Take time to relax before you go to bed. A bath or shower before you go to bed can be really useful.

Many sleep specialists suggest beathing excercises before sleep. Breathe, use your abdomen for deep breathing not your chest. Breathe in through your nose for three seconds, then breathe out for three seconds. Pause for three seconds before breathing in again. Try this for 5 minutes before settling to sleep.

Keep your bedroom well ventilated and some people find that a little olbas oil , lavender oil or other sweet smelling herb oils  oin the bedroom aid sleep.

Make sure that your bedroom is dark with the minimum amount of light from outside

Don’t lie in bed tossing and turning. Leave the bedroom and find something absorbing like jigsaws or reading and don’t go back to bed until you feel sleepy. Don’t watch television!

Some people find that massage or aromatherapy  helps in preparing the mind and body for sleep.

Finally make sure that you have a comfortable mattress and bed linen. We recommend our Mattress Toppers, Duvets and Bed Linen all in 100% Bamboo . Bamboo is soft, comfotable and keeps you at the correct temperature thoughout the night and aids restful sleep . Check out more details on Bamboo Bed Linen here.

How much sleep do you need?

Individual sleep requirements vary greatly from person to person and reduce gradually as we get older . Sleep is essential in life for the body to repair itself and in maintaining normal levels of cognitive skills such as speech, memory, innovative and flexible thinking. Sleep plays a significant role in brain development.

Lengthy periods of disturbed sleep lead to reduced ability, irritability and lack of concentration. An adult requires about 7-8 hours sleep whereas an elderly person generally requires only 5-6 hours. There is no set amount of time that everyone needs to sleep, since it varies from person to person. Generally people like to sleep anywhere between 5 and 11 hours, with the average being 7.75 hours. The simple truth is that - the amount of sleep we require is what we need not to be sleepy in the daytime.

With continued lack of sufficient sleep, the part of the brain that controls memory, language, planning and perception of time, practically shuts down.

What is Disturbed Sleep?

Researchers have discovered that, over the past two decades, on average the time spent asleep during the night has shortened by up to 30 minutes . An astonishing 25% of the UK population suffer some form of sleep disorder that results in excessive daytime sleepiness.In most cases, people suffer from difficulty in going to sleep and from disturbed sleep. Anyone one who takes more than half an hour in going to sleep is suffering from sleep disturbance. Those who suffer from sleep interruption usually go to sleep easily but often wake up during the night and have difficulty in going to sleep again. Anyone who takes longer than 30 minutes to go to sleep again is suffering from sleep interruption.

Sleep deprivation not only has a major impact on cognitive functioning but also on emotional and physical health. Sleep disturbance is one of the most sensitive indicators of the earliest signs of depression.

What are the most frequent causes of poor sleep?”

Almost everyone experiences poor sleep from time to time and is usually temporary. It may be caused by work or family pressures, a change from normal routine,Jet lag, a different bed, exam nerves or stress. Poor sleep normally improves in time in these situations.

Other causes are:-

Worrying about sleep

We all have had nights where we can’t “drop off”. Or we wake during the night and can’t get back to sleep. This often causes us to become irritated or anxious , which of course can make the problem worse. This may make you have an impression of a bad night’s sleep even when the actual amount of sleep was within normal parameters.

Anxiety or depression

People often find it difficult to switch off  anxieties about work, home or personal problems. Poor sleep is sometimes due to depression. Other symptoms of depression include: a low mood, lethargy, poor concentration, tearfulness, and persistent negative thoughts. Treatment for depression often solves sleep problems

Sleep Apnoea

Commonly occurs in people who are overweight. This condition causes the airwaves to narrow and collapse. This can cause the sufferer snore, get a reduced supply of oxygen into the lungs and to wake up many times each night causing extreme tiredness during the day.

Snoring

Most snorers do not have sleep apnoea and sleep well . However partners of snorers can be kept awake during the night and is a common problem.

Illness and Medication

A large range of illnesses keep some people awake. For example, illnesses  causing pain, indigestion leg cramps, breathlessness, coughs, itch, hot flushes etc. In addition many medicines have side-effects that can cause sleeplessness and disturbed sleep.

Stimulants

Can interfere with sleep. There are three common stimulants that can cause problems

Caffeine – which is in tea, coffee, some soft drinks such as cola. These are all best avoided during the evening.

Alcohol – many people use alcohol to help them sleep. Although it often helps peolple get off to sleep it commonly  causes waking during the night and wakefullness in the early morning.

Smoking. Nicotine is a stimulant and can cause sleeplessness.

Environment

The bedroom environment can be a major factor in sleep problems. A noisy or light bedroom can cause wakefulness. Old and worn out beds,pillow cases  and worn out and uncomfortable bed linen can all contribute to poor sleep. Bedrooms should always be kept cool but draught free to maximise good sleep.
Click here to find out more information on bed linen

People’s Sleeping habits can change over time

Some people find as they get older they can manage with less sleep than when they were younger. Older people and people who get little exercise do tend to need less sleep. If your sleep pattern has not changed, and you do not feel sleepy during the day  you are probably getting sufficient sleep.

Whatever the initial causes a sleep problem , concern about poor sleep, and anxiety about feeling tired the next day, are very common reasons for the problem to gradually become worse.

What Can be done? Solutions for Sleep problems

Anyone having problems sleeping will find a plethora of advice. For people who are having serious problems with sleep the best advice to is to talk to your G.P.  Sleep problems can often be a symptom of an underlying illness, however  sleep experts have concluded that 90% of people can improve their sleep experience by adopting  some simple measures.

Create the optimal environment for sleep

Initially look at your sleeping environment and try to create optimal sleeping conditions for a good nights sleep. Ideally the  temperature in your bedroom  should be 14° – 18°C. The room should be regularly aired and it will help to leave a small window ajar through the night. Bedrooms should be quiet and dark to aid restfull sleep.

It is important that the room is  dark as even a dimly lit room can cause disturbed sleep. Curtains should be lined with blackout material to keep light from outside from causing a disturbance.

High Quality Bed Linen aides restful sleep

Research on the sleeping environment  has concluded that  high quality bedding (beds, underbedding, pillows,bed linen) can extend the period of sleep by nearly an hour each night.
For more information on Luxury bed Linen – Please click here

It is best to encourage good sleep to try to keep to regular sleeping times. You may be a “lark” where  you are a morning person who wakes up early and are most alert in the first part of the day, or an “Owl” – an  evening person who is  most alert in the late evening hours and prefer to go to bed late. Make allowances for this preference and then try to set aside a regular time for sleep.

Regular exercise, spending time outdoors and a balanced healthy diet all improve your potential for restful sleep.

During the evening, avoid late heavy meals and stimulants. Keep lighting low during the evening as bright lights can upset your Circadian rhythm (your internal body clock)

Try to relax as bed time approaches, avoiding vigorous exercise and too much mental or visual stimulation. Late night thrillers are not ideal bedtime viewing! Try gentle Yoga exercises or meditation to introduce a calm state of  mind and body and prepare yourself for rest and sleep.