At Home with Lorraine Kelly 2013 - (Page 86)

Night DOES THE THOUGHT OF GOING TO BED STRIKE FEAR INTO YOUR SLEEP-DEPRIVED HEART? WE SPOKE TO THREE WOMEN WHO SUFFER FROM INSOMNIA… G HELP YOURSELF TO SLEEP... ‘The first thing to remember is that insomnia, in its acute or short-term form, is a normal biological reaction to stress. In most cases, your sleep should return to normal either when the situation changes or you begin to better manage the stress. It’s unlikely that your bedroom environment is the root cause of your insomnia but it can make your symptoms worse and, in some cases, maintain the vicious cycle of insomnia. To that end, a healthy bedroom environment is one that is cool, dark and quiet. There are three simple rules to help you deal with your insomnia. These are called the three Ds: 1. DETECT It is important to determine if the problem is insomnia, or another sleep disorder, or if it is being caused by something else… ● Keep a sleep diary – make a note of what time you go to bed, how long it takes you to get off to sleep, if you wake in the night, what times and for how long, and what time you get up. This information can help identify any patterns in your sleep. As insomnia tends to be quite unpredictable, a pattern of awakening at the same time every night may indicate another problem. ● Talk to your doctor – the sooner you discuss insomnia with your GP, the more likely you will get help and determine if there is a physical problem. What causes insomnia is rarely the same thing that maintains it over the longer-term so getting it addressed early on can prevent it from becoming a chronic problem. If you are on any prescription medicine, talk to your GP about the type, dose and timing of your medication. It could be interfering with your sleep, and there may be some changes that could help resolve your sleep problems. OVER 90% of people will experience some degree of insomnia at some point in their lives 2. DETACH The longer you spend in bed awake the more likely it is that you will get anxious, frustrated or angry (not the best combination for sleeping). Use the bedroom for sleep or sex only. If you are in bed and not asleep within approximately 15 minutes (about as long as it takes to get anxious or frustrated), leave the bedroom and return when you feel sleepy. ● So what should you do? Reading is a great idea, although a magazine or newspaper is preferable to a book, as magazine articles tend to be short whereas you can easily get caught up in a book and fight the sleepiness. Conversely, only sleep in bed. Sleeping in other environments, such as on the sofa, weakens the association between bed and sleep, making it harder to sleep in your bed when you do retire. Put the day to bed before you go to bed. Make a plan to wind down, at least an hour or two before bedtime. Put the laptop down, don’t reply to emails and set aside time to do something relaxing. ● Clear your head – a perfect way to de-mark the transition between wake and sleep is to complete a diary of what you have achieved today, what you have to do tomorrow, and what things you have or need to put into place to deal with those challenges. Not only does this put the day to rest but also clears out your mind, too. 3. DISTRACT The harder you try to sleep, or think about it, the more likely you are to stay awake. Everyone’s heard about counting sheep – based on the principle of distraction – but it tends to be a bit boring and a little too easy. ● Test yourself – try something that’s mentally challenging, but contains no emotion. Counting backwards from 1,000 in seven’s is certainly challenging and, unless you deal with numbers every day, contains very little emotion. Word games or visualisations based on categories (for example, food, capital cities) are also good distractors. Remember, everyone is different, and may prefer word games to visualisations.’ WORDS: Gerogina Maric | PHOTOGRAPHS: Getty Images, Shutterstock Dr Jason Ellis, is a practicing health psychologist and director of the Northumbria Centre for Sleep Research. The sleep centre was built with the explicit aim to understand, prevent and treat sleep problems, such as insomnia, without using medication. He is a leading world expert on the study of acute insomnia and has been involved in research for the last 15 years. He has recently set up his own sleep lab in Northumbria and consults NHS patients at the Regional Sleep Service in Newcastle {{ etting a good night’s sleep has never been so tricky in Britain, as 51% of people regularly struggle to nod off. Women are three times more likely than men to be sleep deprived – 75% of women report problems, compared with 25% of men, according to the Great British Sleep Survey (www.greatbritishsleep survey.com). And did you know, the UK has the third- highest number of insomniacs in the world behind the US and Germany? Insomnia is generally thought of as a string of nights when you can’t fall asleep. Although the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) identiﬁes the condition as ‘difﬁculty getting or staying asleep, or having non-refreshing sleep for at least one month’. The symptoms of not having enough sleep range from ‘feeling hungover’ to not being able to drive a car and ﬁnding it very hard to concentrate at work or at home. These women have suffered from insomnia for several years, so we asked sleep expert, Dr Jason Ellis, from the BBC’s documentary Goodnight Britain, to give them some sound advice. night 086 | MARCH 2013 86-89 sleep.FINAL.indd 86 28/1/13 11:23:46 http://www.greatbritishsleepsurvey.com http://www.greatbritishsleepsurvey.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of At Home with Lorraine Kelly 2013

EDITOR'S LETTER
LORRAINE KELLY UPDATE
NEWS UPFRONT
SAVE THE DATE
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
BEAUTIES IN BLUE
LIGHTEN UP
BAGS OF STYLE
BUCKLE UP
IT'S A WRAP
IF THE SHOE FITS
SETTING TRENDS
THE BIG REVEAL
GET THE LOOK
LONG REIGN LORRAINE
MOTHER KNOWS BEST
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER
EXPECT THE WORST
UNPLANNED PREGNANCY
WOMEN'S HEALTH A-Z
COULD YOU BE DEPRESSED?
SLEEP EASY
GET BACK TO YOURSELF
WHAT A PAIN
LISTEN UP
CHINESE CUISINE
A TASTE OF ITALY
SNACK TIME
DRINK IT UP
EXCUSES, EXCUSES
EXERCISE'S NEW GROOVE
SPRING INTO SHAPE
OUT AND ABOUT
BEAUTY BLOOPERS
CROWNING GLORY
MAGIC MAKEOVERS
I LOVE MY NEW BODY'
FLASH A SMILE
YOUNG AT HEART
SAFELY DOES IT
LOOK AFTER THE PENNIES
THE GOOD LIFE
ROOM REVAMP
CLEAN UP YOUR ACT
WHAT A BLINDER!
TAKE TO THE FLOOR
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
THE EMERALD ISLE
SPRING BREAKS
REST AND RELAXATION
ANIMAL ACCESSORIES
A MAN'S BEST FRIEND
BEASTLY BEHAVIOUR
STYLE SAVVY
TV FAVES
LAST WORD
STOCKISTS
CRAFT NEWS
WE LOVE BEING CRAFTY!'
HOME SPUN
FRAME WORK
MAKE THE CUT
CLEVER CARDS
KNIT ONE...
SPARKLE!
KITTED OUT
THE ICING ON THE CAKE
HELLO CUPCAKE
LORRAINE'S ROAD TO SUCCESS
THE WORLD OF WORK
AN AGE OLD PROFESSION
THE ONLY WAY IS UP
JUST THE JOB
MOVE OVER, MISTER!
BEYOND THE SHOP FLOOR
THE BANK JOB
ARE YOU COVERED?
CAREFULLY DOES IT
EQUAL RIGHTS
BALANCING ACT

At Home with Lorraine Kelly 2013