PHILIPPA’S TOP TIPS FOR GOOD SLEEP

How sleep can impact on your mental health and wellbeing

How well you sleep can impact how well you feel the next day, affecting your ability to concentrate at work, your food and lifestyle choices. Put simply with poor sleep we don’t feel great!

There are many, many reasons for insomnia and disturbed sleep, ranging from the physical to the psychological.

Being stressed affects how well we sleep but there are some sleep related signs which may indicate specific mental health conditions.

Depression is often associated with what doctors call terminal insomnia, or early morning wakening – you wake up much earlier than you wish to and cannot fall back to sleep.

Anxiety is more often associated with initial insomnia – inability to get to sleep, tossing and turning, running things over in your mind. I often use the term “not being able to turn your head off” from the constant thoughts preventing you from sleeping.

Panic attacks can wake you suddenly in the middle of the night, with your hear t pounding, and it may be difficult to get back to sleep after that.

Nightmares in combination with intrusive thoughts, flashbacks and other symptoms, are part of post traumatic stress disorder. But having a nightmare doesn’t mean you have PTSD – we all have nightmares.

Parasomnias are a group of conditions where there is a disturbance of sleep but you may still remain asleep – sleep walking and sleep talking.

Antidepressants and anti anxiety medication can cause sleep disturbances, but can also treat the condition causing the insomnia!

Other medications may also be the culprit so please do check with your pharmacist or GP.