Want more sleep? Ban the snooze button

WHEN you go to your GP to ask for advice or support about insomnia, there is every chance you’ll be given information about sleep hygiene.

This is the term doctors and sleep specialists use to describe good habits and the sleep environment conducive to having an optimal night’s sleep.

Some of the principles of sleep hygiene might seem a little obvious — don’t try to sleep with the lights on, make sure you’re not too hot and not too cold.

But you’d be surprised how many people allow their pets to sleep on or even in bed with them, then wonder why they are having broken nights and feel tired in the morning.

Anyone, regardless of how well or badly they sleep, should take heed of my sleep hygiene advice.

Think of it like good dietary advice — the fundamental foundation on which to build good sleep. If you follow the rules, then you will reduce your vulnerability to insomnia.

And if you do suffer from insomnia, running through the list of sleep saboteurs below will provide you with a ‘sense check’ before embarking on the rest of my plan.

By the time people with insomnia decide to consult a sleep specialist like me, there is every chance they will have worked tirelessly to improve their sleep hygiene, but to no avail.

In fact, most of my patients tell me sleep hygiene didn’t work — and if your insomnia is bad and has been going on for many years, you are probably right.

But when you have worked through my course and you have fixed your sleep, you are likely to see better, longer-lasting results if you practise good sleep hygiene.

It offers you the best possible chance of good sleep in the future.

Always set an alarm

MANY people with insomnia have a bizarre assortment of bedtimes. Sometimes people slope off to bed straight after their evening meal in an attempt to catch up on lost sleep.

Others stay up until the early hours because they know they will have trouble falling asleep anyway.

To fix it, set a sensible fixed time for going to bed and waking up, and stick to it — even at weekends.

We have all evolved to keep a regular ‘sleep-wake cycle’, which ensures we sleep during the hours of the night and remain awake during the day.

This is governed by an internal clock (or circadian rhythm), which ensures we feel tired at the end of the day and (hopefully) refreshed in the morning.

However, if you have had insomnia for a long time, there’s every chance your drive to sleep is out of sync with your circadian rhythm.

Being more disciplined about going to bed at the same time each night and waking up at the same time each morning will help nudge your body clock back into a regular rhythm, which might make falling asleep and waking at convenient times more likely.

Prioritise bedtime

WITH so much to do, sleep for some people can become a mild inconvenience that has to be squeezed into the shortest possible time. But if you don’t give yourself a chance to unwind at the end of the day, you may find it difficult to fall asleep.

Instead, create a relaxing bedtime routine that allows enough time for your brain to wind down and gives you familiar cues that it is time to sleep.

A warm bath (not a shower) about two hours before bed can be a helpful habit as it raises your body temperature. Then, as your body temperature drops back down, you should start to feel sleepy.

Block out bad light

STREET lamps shining through a window or light from the hall creeping around your bedroom door can confuse your body and brain, making you think it is time to be awake.

To conquer this, install blackout curtains or a blind. Or wear a cheap, soft, in-flight eye mask.

you can keep a dim light or plugin night light outside your bedroom if you are concerned about falling if you get up in the night.

Turn off tech

WE All know the blue light emitted from electronic devices such as a laptop, phone or tablet can send signals to the brain that it’s time to be awake and stop the production of the brain chemical melatonin. Checking emails, using social media and writing reports in the hours before bed can get your mind racing at a time when it should be winding down for sleep.

There’s a pressing immediacy about social media that compels you to respond quickly and this can be highly disruptive for sleep.

So ban computers in the bedroom and set an electronics cut-off time, one to two hours before bedtime.

Tell friends and family about your new rule so they don’t expect an immediate response if they text or email you at night, and keep lights dimmed until you get into bed.

Avoid the heat

THE ideal bedroom temperature is between 18c and 22c. If you get hot flushes, invest in an electric fan.

Shut out noise

If You are a sensitive sleeper, noises can wake you in the night without you realising.

Eliminate as much interference as you can — double glazing masks noise from the outside and consider using soft sponge earplugs if necessary.

Some people find it easier to fall asleep if there is ‘white noise’ in the background, but the hum of an electric fan usually does the trick.

Ban pillow talk

HEATED night-time discussions can stimulate a stress response and make it difficult to fall asleep.

remember to use your bed for sleep and sex only. Watch TV, read, eat and discuss emotional issues elsewhere.

Stop clock watching

ANYONE with a sleep problem may find it tempting to glance at the clock during the night and involuntarily start mental calculations about how little sleep you’ve had and how little more time you’ve got left in bed.

Not surprisingly, this can escalate worry and stress.

Try to stop this by hiding all clock faces in the bedroom. If you use your phone as an alarm, turn it face down on your bedside table to stop you looking at it during the night.

No more naps

NAPPING at any point during the day will dilute the body’s natural drive to sleep. It’s like snacking between meals: it means you are less likely to be hungry for dinner.

So from now on, if you can, enforce a rule: no napping after 4pm and never longer than 30 minutes

Napping might be fine for normal sleepers, but it can be really bad if you have insomnia and use it to catch up on sleep.

long or late-in-the-day naps can reduce the drive to sleep at night and can make it more difficult to get off to sleep.

Check your sleep diary: in many cases, when you compare days with naps against days without naps, you will see an association between long late afternoon naps and issues getting off to sleep at night.

If you can’t stop yourself napping, see your GP for investigations.

Shut out your pets

PETS have become a common feature of our bedrooms, but animals have different biological sleep rhythms to us and many are nocturnal. This means they will be moving throughout the night and so increase your vulnerability for disturbed sleep.

If you haven’t already done so, start tonight with a no pets in the bedroom rule and certainly do not let your dog or cat in the bed.

No coffee after 1pm

CAFFEINE in the day will increase alertness, but not reduce your sleepiness. Though a cup of tea contains roughly half the caffeine of coffee (20mg a cup compared to 40mg), it can make dropping off to sleep tricky if you are sensitive.

The trick is to avoid caffeine after lunch. Opt for herbal or decaffeinated drinks in the afternoons instead. And don’t binge on chocolate in the evenings — it also contains caffeine.

Change meal times

A HEAVY dinner within two hours of bedtime will force your body to attempt two opposing biological processes at the same time — digestion and sleep. This can leave you with indigestion and a night of restless sleep.

from now on, leave a two-hour digestion window between eating a meal and going to bed.

n ADAPTED by Louise Atkinson from the One-Week Insomnia Cure by professor Jason ellis published by Vermilion on February 16, priced £12.99. to order a copy for £9.09 (30 per cent discount), visit mailbookshop. co.uk or call 0844 571 0640. p&p is free on orders over £15. Offer valid until February 24, 2017.