How to sleep better

Ask a good sleeper how they manage it and they’ll probably look at you blankly, because for them, it’s simple. They just go to bed and sleep. Ask an insomniac the same question and they’ll reel off a list of pre-bedtime rituals and remedies: a warm bath, hot milk, relaxation tapes… This in itself can become a problem, says Dr Meadows, because, often, the harder you try, the more sleep can elude you.

Traditionally, CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), which helps people replace the thoughts and behaviours that promote insomnia with more helpful ones that promote sleep, has been the tried, tested and proven way to beat insomnia. But Dr Meadows is now pioneering a new approach: acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). It has its origins in CBT but with a fundamental difference: rather than training yourself to learn different thoughts and behaviours, ACT focuses on accepting the thoughts, feelings and sensations that go with lying in bed awake.

A NEW APPROACH

‘With ACT, the first step towards better sleep is to accept that you’re awake,’ says Dr Meadows. ‘Once you change the way you feel about not sleeping, you begin to remove the obstacles. Sleep is a natural biological process that can’t be controlled and battling against it could be likened to an endless game of tug of war, which only wakes you up more.’

A study at the University of Glasgow found that the best way to help insomniacs was to allow them to stop trying to sleep and encourage them to stay awake instead. Working on the premise that trying to control sleeplessness can make it worse, researchers recruited 34 insomniacs and told half to try to sleep as normal, and half to stay awake for as long as they could. They had to lie in bed with their eyes open but couldn’t watch TV or read. Surprisingly, after 14 days the insomniacs trying to stay awake fell asleep more quickly than those who kept to their normal habits.