Women whose night terrors leave them too scared to go to bed
Nancy is actually asleep, but suffering frighteningly vivid hallucinations. She’s just one of a surprising number of...
He was prescribed medication to help regulate his sleep patterns, but was wary of taking a high dose, choosing to function on the minimum.
‘I was worried about the side-effects which include everything from mood swings to severe joint pain,’ he says.
It meant that when he took part in the documentary he was barely functioning. ‘I was intrigued to see what they would find about the quality of my sleep and whether there were other things I could do to improve it,’ he says.
The answer — for Phil and all the participants — was, happily, yes.
Having been examined by a psychologist, sleep environment expert, a sleep physiologist and a neurologist, each participant was issued with an individual treatment plan. After six weeks, they all reported improvements.
Izzy — whose body clock was haywire after years of feast and famine — was prescribed regular bedtimes and wake-ups, aided by prescription drug melatonin and 20 minutes in front of a light-box each morning to shock her body into a strict day-night routine.
The team felt Nancy’s problems were 50 per cent environmental and 50 per cent psychological.
‘I have a genetic predisposition to insomnia, but stress plays a huge part,’ she says.
‘At the same time they said having consistency in my sleep environment was really important.’
So set bed times, a cool temperature, no caffeine after 3pm and a white-noise machine to eliminate random external noise were recommended — not easy as a student!
Nonetheless she says: ‘When I first came back to university it was hard to get on top of it, but it’s definitely helped and I did see a difference after the show.’
As for Phil, who has the most chronic condition, there were lessons to be learned. ‘Guy told me I had to eliminate the cataplexy as the first step because it would impact my life further as I lived in fear of the next attack. To do that, I had to get over my aversion to higher medication,’ he says.
‘I was also given little life hacks which help — like identifying the most tired part of the day and taking a nap just before.’
Consistency is key: Phil’s medication effectively tricks his body into a deep sleep — and for it to work effectively he has to go to bed at 11 pm and not eat for two hours before then.
He also has to set his alarm for 3 am to take the second dose — and he can no longer drink alcohol.
It has meant making major changes to his lifestyle. ‘I’m not back to the person I was, but I’m learning to live around my condition,’ he says.
The Secrets Of Sleep is available on More4 on Channel 4’s catch-up service. episode two is at 10pm, Wednesday, June 28, on More4.