Brain health: sleeping well
Irish in Britain Cuimhne team’s Top Tips for Brain Health
Zibiah Loakthar, our Cuimhne Coordinator writes:
One Cuimhne top tip for supporting brain health is sleeping well!
Most of us will experience times in our life when we may struggle with sleep. Some factors may feel out of our control. Parents of young children are often experts by experience on sleep disruption! Whilst caring responsibilities may make it difficult to snatch longer period of sleep, we might be mindful of the ease in which temporary sleeping patterns can become long term habits.
We are creatures of habit and may get stuck into unhelpful sleeping patterns even where the original cause of disruption has disappeared!
It is estimated that a third of us will struggle with sleeping at some time in our lives. It is no surprise that in this period of the Covid-19 pandemic, global uncertainty and rise in cost of living, that many people are reporting difficulties with sleep.
Stress and anxiety are common triggers for poor sleeping patterns. And of course, ironically, not being able to sleep can in itself create stress and anxiety where we worry about losing sleep and so further feed a poor sleep cycle.
We may be acutely aware of our own poor sleep patterns. Alternatively, we may be so accustomed to these that they seem quite normal and we then forget to pause and reconsider what steps may lie within our power to achieve better quality sleep!
The NHS promotes this quick online test from Sleepio to find out your 'sleep score':
For those of us with poor sleeping habits this test may act as a good wake up call J
This tool also offers some practical tips and advice for improving sleep:
· avoid caffeine later in the day
· avoid alcohol as this is known to disturb sleep
· avoid heavy meals late at night
· stick to regular times to go to bed and get up
· use thick curtains, blinds or an eye mask to prevent being woken up by light
· try earplugs to stop any noise disturbance
· try taking a warm bath an hour before going to bed
· try listening to calming music or reading a book
· avoid watching TV or using mobile devices in the bedroom
Whilst we may not be able to address all factors that contribute to poor sleep, we can remind ourselves that there are some factors that are possible for us to manage and that there are things that we can do for ourselves.
Taking even small positive actions can help us feel more in control and in turn less anxious! Doing what we can to get into good habits to maximise our chances of a good night's sleep improves our brain health with both immediate and longer-term benefits both for ourselves and for the people around us.
Cutting corners on sleep to get other things done can turn out to be false economy. Investing in good sleeping patterns now, we invest in our futures! Sleep not only benefits for brain health, but there are also benefits for our bodies that repair themselves during sleep, and our minds.
Many of us will have experienced the connection between good sleep and positive mood. We are less grumpy versions of ourselves when we sleep well J
This Dementia Action Week we can be especially mindful of things we could do in our communities that may support people living with dementia and family carers access better sleep to look after brain health.
People living with dementia may experience particular challenges with sleep. Activities we can offer in communities that help bring people together and get people out and about may play a huge role in supporting physical and mental well-being.
Physical movement activities, from walks, to chair based exercise, to tea dances, to football matches and social interaction in the daytime may enable people to expend energy and reduce stress. Such activities can in turn support rest breaks and better sleep for family carers too.