Healthy sleep is sleep that allows us to wake up feeling refreshed.
Good quality sleep involves:
- getting the right amount of sleep
- falling asleep within 30 minutes of getting into bed
- sleeping straight through the night waking no more than once
- falling back to sleep within 20 minutes of waking up
- feeling rested and restored on waking up
These are the National Sleep Foundation recommended sleep durations:
Sleep boosts our mood, improves memory and concentration and improves immune function.
Poor quality sleep is associated with poor health outcomes such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia and depression. Short sleep duration has been associated with a higher chance of being overweight.
We all have nights when we sleep less well but insomnia is when you regularly:
- find it hard to go to sleep
- wake up several times during the night
- lie awake at night
- wake up early and cannot go back to sleep
- still feel tired after waking up
- find it hard to nap during the day even though you’re tired
- feel tired and irritable during the day
- find it difficult to concentrate during the day because you’re tired
If you have insomnia for a short time (less than 3 months) it’s called short-term insomnia.
Insomnia that lasts 3 months or longer is called long-term insomnia.
If you fall asleep easily during the day or are worried about sleep apnoea please complete this form and make a GP telephone appointment to discuss.
There are many things you can do to improve your sleep whether you have insomnia or not:
- go to bed and get up around the same time every day
- have a wind down routine eg warm bath or shower an hour before bed, breathing exercises, yoga, meditation or writing in a journal
- if you find you wake up thinking of things you need to do, writing a to do list before bed can help
- try to spend at least 20 minutes outside in the morning
- avoid using phone or computer screens 1-2 hours before bed
- exercise can improve sleep but avoid all but gentle exercise eg yoga too close to bedtime
- ensure your bedroom is dark and not too warm. 16-18oC is the best temperature for sleep
- food – low fibre, high fat or sugar diets are associated with poorer sleep.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0Z27vRupBk
- Find out more about diet here – https://www.douglasmedicalcentre.co.uk/help-support/health-and-wellbeing/food-and-health/
- caffeine in tea, coffee and in some soft drinks can affect your sleep and is best avoided after early afternoon
- alcohol – really affects the quality of your sleep and is best kept to a minimum. This is a helpful guide to assess your drinking with support to cut down: https://app.box.com/v/CQUIN-structured-advice-tool
- smoking – don’t smoke within 30 minutes of going to bed. Find help to stop smoking
Sleeping tablets:
People often ask us to prescribe sleeping tablets. Guidelines suggest these should only be used for a maximum of 2 weeks. This is because quite quickly you develop a tolerance to the drugs meaning they work less well and there is a risk of addiction. Medications often only have a small effect on how long you sleep and can reduce sleep quality.
Some medications such as old-fashioned antihistamines (eg promethazine) or
amitriptyline may affect your memory in the longer term.
Sleepio
There is a huge body of evidence that this is an effective, long-lasting treatment for insomnia. For this reason an online Sleepio is free to everyone who lives in Scotland.
Other sleep resources:
Better Health every mind matters Sleep Problems NHS
Why Sleep is the most important pillar of health Podcast by Dr Ragan Chatterjee
How to improve your sleep and why you should Podcast by Dr Ragan Chatterjee
NHS Insomnia
Joined up health Sleep