Why do I have difficulty sleeping?

Symptoms:

You’re on furlough and worried your job won’t survive. At night your mind races making it difficult to sleep and you wake in the early hours.

You get home from work late and only manage to eat just before you go to bed. You feel physically uncomfortable when you lie down and find getting off to sleep difficult.

You wife has told you that you stop breathing periodically through the night and this interrupts your sleep. You’re overweight and have always snored.

It could be:

Stress. Any stressful life event or trauma, such as job loss and death or illness of a loved one, may lead to insomnia.

Many people experience heartburn, a backflow of acid and food from the stomach into the oesophagus, after eating which can keep you awake.

which is a risk condition for heart disease and heart attack as during each pause in your breathing your blood oxygen level drops.

Stop it:

Change your bedtime routine to a relaxing ritual with reading or listening to music and take up a regular daily activity as exercise promotes a good night’s sleep. Don’t nap. De-stress with yoga.

Rearrange your evening, give higher priority to eating your evening meal early, don’t overload your stomach and don’t graze. Avoid caffeine and alcohol. Don’t smoke.

See your doctor who can refer you to a specialist for assessment of what’s causing the blockage to your breathing. It could be something as simple as being overweight. Many cases improve with weight loss.