A Good Night’s Sleep

19^th March was World Sleep Day, and with statistics showing that as many as a  third of the UK population suffer regularly from insomnia, sleep has never been more important.

How much are you getting?

Sleep is one of the pillars of good health. Our body needs eight hours of good quality sleep each night to fully renew and restore itself, so that’s the optimum amount for an adult, and getting less than seven hours sleep can have a huge impact on our health and well being, including serious diseases like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity as well as our mood, ability to focus and mental acuity. Getting just 7 hours sleep a night equates to losing almost a whole night’s sleep every week! Teenagers actually need nine hours sleep a night, and children need 10 to 12 hours.

A survey conducted in 2019 showed that 31% of the population regularly suffer from insomnia, and our modern lifestyle certainly has an impact on our ability to sleep soundly.

So Why Aren’t We Getting Enough Sleep?

Our natural body clock or circadian rhythm is attuned to changes in light and temperature, so when the sun goes down and light levels start to drop, and the temperature becomes cooler, our body starts to produce the sleep hormone, melatonin, to prepare us for bedtime. But modern life plays havoc with this because we have electric lights and central heating so we don’t tend to get the natural drops in light and temperature levels that signal to our body that it’s time to go to sleep. And on top of this we now have blue light stimulation from our devices. Blue light is the most stimulating light wave that increases alertness, and elevates body temperature and heart rate, so it’s really not great for bedtime.

In addition we live a fast pace lifestyle where we’re always expected to be ‘on’, our brains can be constantly whirring, trying to keep up with all the demands placed on us.

Falling asleep and staying asleep

The survey showed that 22% of adults struggle to fall asleep every single night, and this is often due to the interference with our circadian rhythm and the inability to switch off.

The other problem that people often suffer is waking in the night and being unable to fall asleep again. Waking can be due to lots of reasons, from needing to use the bathroom; stress and anxiety; pain conditions; to peri-menopause symptoms where the drop in oestrogen causes us to wake more often, along with night sweats which really disturb sleep patterns. If we wake during a dream cycle, that can lead to the mind becoming stimulated and anxious which prevents us falling asleep again.

Traditional medicine has some wisdom to offer around this. In Traditional Chinese Medicine each organ is linked to a clock time where it is most active, and the liver time is between 1am – 3am, which is a common time for wakefulness. If you’re waking at this time it can be an indication that the liver is overloaded, and is working hard to detoxify itself (see the tips section below).

In Ayurveda, the day is divided up into times governed by each Dosha. The Doshas make up our individual constitution and by looking at what time you tend to wake, this can indicate which dosha might be out of balance and specific lifestyle changes can be made to remedy this. For example, waking between 2am and 6am indicates that Vata may be out of balance so some Vata balancing actions can be really helpful, such as keeping a regular routine and giving your feet an oil massage before bed to help with relaxation and grounding your energy away from your head and into your body.

General Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep

• Avoid caffeine after midday. Caffeine drunk in the afternoon will remain in the body until 4am, causing stimulation and preventing the body from resting
• Avoid eating a heavy meal in the evening because if the body is working hard to digest, it’s unable to switch off, putting strain on the liver. Ideally we should have our main meal at midday when digestion is at its strongest, and just have a light meal in the evening. If this is difficult, at least aim not to eat later than 7pm.
• Go easy on the wine! Too much alcohol in the evening disrupts sleep hormones, puts a strain on the liver and can also increase snoring
• Keep the bedroom cool and dark to keep in tune with the natural circadian rhythm. If you have an electronic clock try turning it to face away from you so the light doesn’t stimulate the pineal gland, and avoid using devices for an hour or so before bed, or at least use the blue light filter.
• Have a relaxing evening routine where you switch off from work and avoid stimulating activities. Read something relaxing or listen to calming music, and try a soothing bath or shower to wash away the stress of the day and allow the body to unwind. Neal’s Yard  Remedies Beauty Sleep shower oil  (£19.50) and foaming bath  (£15.50) are perfect for this.
• Have a soothing  drink – try a mug of hot milk with a little nutmeg grated in, or a cup of chamomile tea, or  Neal’s Yard Remedies Night Time herbal tea (£4) which is a delicious formulation of relaxing and sedative herbs including lavender, lemon balm and passion flower.
• Have a regular routine, going to bed and getting up at the same time each day, ideally in bed by 10pm to maximise the first part of the body’s renewal cycle.
• Moderate exercise during the day has been shown to help with sleep patterns, and increasing exposure to daylight helps keep the circadian rhythm in balance.

Meditation

You can try meditation techniques to help you switch off and get to sleep at night including progressive muscle relaxation and yoga nidra.

There’s also a lot of evidence to show that a regular meditation practice, perhaps done at a different time of day helps improve the quality of sleep, reduce stress, anxiety and overthinking and has a host of other health benefits as well.

Scent to Sleep

Essential oils can have a powerful effect on the body and mind and can be a great aid in regulating sleep. Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is perhaps the best known oil for sleep, and for good reason. It’s calming and sedative, helps the mind switch off and the body relax. It’s also been shown to reduce the need to get up for the bathroom at night.

Other essential oils that are sedative and calming include bergamot,  mandarin, ylang ylang , vetiver, chamomile, and for hormonal related sleep problems Geranium and Clary Sage, are very balancing. You can use a few drops of any combination of these in a diffuser for about an hour before bed, or put a few drops on a tissue to inhale. You can then tuck the tissue into your pillow.  Or why not try Neal’s Yard Remedies Night Time Blend   (£15.50) which contains lavender, vetiver, rose and bergamot, or the night time remedy to roll,  (£8) which you could apply to pulse points and your top lip in order to get the benefits during the night. For menopausal symptoms that are disrupting sleep, there’s the popular Women’s Balance blend (£15.50) and Women’s Balance Remedy to Roll  (£8).

Neal’s Yard Remedies Goodnight Pillow Spray  (£15) is an easy way of using essential oils to help you sleep. It contains a blend of relaxing essential oils including lavender, mandarin, geranium and vetiver and is great for spritzing the room before you hit the pillow.

Holistic Therapies

If you’re struggling with sleep, holistic therapies can really help, as the holistic model looks at you and your life as a whole and draws from different disciplines creating a treatment plan tailored to support you. An in-depth personal consultation will help pinpoint specific factors that are interfering with your sleep pattern, and then tailored lifestyle recommendations for home care along with a bespoke treatment plan can be worked out. Therapies I’ve used to help with sleep include aromatherapy, Ayurveda,  Indian Head Massage, reflexology, aromaflexology and Gentle Release Therapy as well as meditation instruction. Many of these can be carried out online, or as a combination of online and in person appointments.

I’m offering a bespoke Get back to Sleep package which includes six hours’ worth of appointments along with bespoke aromatherapy products made for you to support your sleep. The introductory price for this package is £350. Do contact me if you would like to discuss how this can help you.