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Sleeping well

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Healthy sleeping

Did you know as many as 1 in 3 people have difficulty sleeping? Lack of sleep can be distressing and affect your work, mood and relationships.

The good news is that most insomnia (difficulty getting to sleep and/or staying asleep) can be improved by following some simple advice and routines. It takes time to bring problematic sleep under control, so the key is to stick to the advice and not give up after a few days.

Remember that generally we sleep better when we are in good health. So eating well and regularly exercising (and losing weight if you are overweight) can have a very positive effect on how you sleep. If your lack of good sleep is affecting your work or your enjoyment of life, please let your family doctor / general practitioner know. 

If your sleep patterns are abnormal, you may find it useful to keep a sleep diary for a while to help you (or your GP) identify any problems. This is particularly useful for shift workers or others who have varying sleep times. A sleep diary means recording when approximately when you go to sleep and when you wake up (periods of sleeping through the night), and a brief record of when you eat and if you take medication, alcohol or caffeinated food and drink, and if you did any exercise. 

Sleep apps on smart phones can be useful indicators of sleep disturbance but they may not take into account relevant things that you can record in sleep diary, and they are not valid ways of diagnosing obstructive sleep apnoea. 

You can get a lot of information about sleeping, insomnia, reviews of sleep apps, sleeping disorders and good sleeping tips on the Health Navigator website sleep section.

Learn about Waikato DHB Sleep Clinic and how obstructive sleep apnoea can be investigated, diagnosed and treated.

  • Establish a regular get-up time, whether it is a working day or weekend, regardless of how much sleep you got the night before. Lie-ins and naps during the day only make it harder to establish good sleeping patterns.
  • If you can't get to sleep or can't get back to sleep, get up and do something purposeful but boring, e.g. washing some dishes, tidying a table, reading a chapter of a boring book, and then clean your teeth and go back to bed.
  • Don't check the time, it only makes you more anxious.
  • Be aware of what you eat and drink in the hours before you go to bed - caffeine is a stimulant; alcohol may make you drowsy but it impairs sleep quality and can cause early waking; avoid foods that cause indigestion and eat dinner earlier; television and mobile phones use blue light which disrupts your "body clock" so stop using them well before you go to bed, or switch to a night-time setting (usually under Settings/Display) that will lower the blue tones at night time.
  • Exercise is great, but earlier in the day or evening, not within 4 hours of bedtime.
  • Drink fluid to keep hydrated, but not too much just before bedtime if it means you will wake up for the bathroom repeatedly.
  • Don't take your worries to bed, or start worrying about something if you wake up. Write your worries down and put them somewhere safe to look at when you are wide awake. Do something purposeful but boring for a while before you return to bed. 
  • Treat yourself to relaxing things before you go to bed - listen to music, take a warm bath, do some gentle stretches. Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark and cool as possible, and that your bed is comfortable.

 

Find more tips about sleeping on Health Navigator