From vogue.co.uk
“How do you sleep at night?” It’s a question frequently put to politicians on Twitter, amidst a cost of living crisis unfolding against the backdrop of the climate emergency and war in Ukraine. A better question might be, how are the rest of us meant to sleep at night, with a 24/7 news cycle dispensing new worries faster than we can refresh our feeds?
If you’re losing sleep over the dire state of current affairs in the UK, you’re not alone. The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) says concerns over the cost of living crisis are causing a decline in people’s mental health, with 52 per cent of therapists reporting a rise in clients’ insomnia over money worries. The shadow of Covid-19 is still looming large too, with data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggesting a new rise in cases as winter settles in. So there’s “coronasomnia” to deal with as well, with a 2021 report from the BBC detailing the “disastrous consequences for sleep” brought about by the virus and its ongoing effect on our lives. (Put it this way: the word “insomnia” was Googled more in 2020 than it ever had been before.) And that’s before we get onto everyday sleep barriers like noise pollution, shift work and taking care of small children.
“Most of modern life in the West is set up to challenge our sleep! Some people say this started with the invention of the lightbulb, meaning we were no longer driven by the natural light/dark cycle,” says Dr Allie Hare, a consultant in sleep medicine at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, and secretary of the British Sleep Society. “The real challenge these days though is probably the fact that we can access everything we could possibly want, 24 hours a day. There used to be nothing to distract us after around 10pm, but now there are rolling news cycles, boxsets to ‘binge watch’, Instagram… In addition, our work is no longer boundaried or fixed as a traditional nine to five, so it often intrudes, via email or Teams/Zoom calls, into our evenings.”
So the reasons why we’re struggling to sleep are pretty clear, but what about the solutions? The “sleep market” – think special pillows, candles and supplements – is forecast to be worth $585 billion by 2024, according to a Frost & Sullivan research report commissioned by the mattress company Casper. Beauty brand This Works is a prime example of the growing demand for sleep-focused products, having recently expanded its award-winning Deep Sleep category to include skincare alongside its bestselling pillow sprays, bath products and baby sleep range.
Products and gadgets aside, here are four simple ways to promote good sleep – even while the government is imploding.
Switch off
You can buy fancy sheets, play whale music, and spritz your pillows with lavender all you want, but however glorious an environment you create, you’ll never sleep if your mind is still buzzing with the day’s events.
“It is certainly true that, even after we stop the consumption, our minds take time to really switch off from all of that information we have been taking in whilst scrolling,” Dr Hare tells us. “Our brains and our bodies need time to prepare for sleep and so we really should aim to switch off our devices (and not just put on a blue light filter!) at least an hour before bedtime.”
Try setting an alarm for around an hour before you normally settle down to bed, and then switch off all of your devices and use that time to wind down from your day. You could try leaving your phone to charge in another room, so you aren’t tempted to pick it up and resume scrolling.
Put your mind to it
A lot of the issues we’re collectively losing sleep over won’t go away overnight, so putting them out of your mind isn’t easy. Dr Hare advocates mindfulness-based approaches to sleep for times when switching off from your worries feels especially difficult.
“Mindfulness can help bring us back into the present moment, helping to reduce stress and settle feelings of anxiety, reduce negative thoughts, stop us ruminating on worries about ourselves or the wider world, and foster a feeling of contentment,” she says. Apps like Headspace and Calm offer sleep-focused mindfulness techniques, or you could try to set aside time to focus on specific concerns earlier in the evening, so that they’re less likely to attack at night.
“If you find you are often waking in the night worrying, you might find Cognitive Control and Constructive Worry charts helpful. These strategies, employed before you go to bed, help you to organise your thoughts and understand what actions you can take to manage your worries,” she says. You can search for sample charts and strategies online. But if you have been struggling with your sleep for three or more nights per week, especially over the course of several months, Dr Hare advocates seeing your GP.
Take a break
Middle-of-the-night panics happen to a lot of us – no worry feels more pressing than the one that strikes at 3am, after all – but there are techniques you can use to get back to sleep.
“If this happens rarely, you can try cognitive distraction techniques, such as counting backwards from 1,000 in 7s,” advises Dr Hare. She also recommends a proven technique known as Progressive Muscle Relaxation (there are plenty of free explainers and scripts online), which is “a deep relaxation technique that has been effectively used to control stress and anxiety and relieve insomnia”.
But if you still find yourself lying awake in the early hours, try not to worry. “If these strategies aren’t helping, the best thing to do is to get out of bed – I know that’s hard! – and do something else for about 30 minutes, such as listening to music, or reading. Then return to bed,” she advises. “It is important not to focus on trying to get back to sleep as this will only make it harder. Instead of focusing on sleep as your goal (and wakefulness as the enemy), try to foster a neutral stance and remain relaxed.”
Perfect your routine
It can be helpful to plan a regular bedtime and stick to it at least five nights a week, to train your body to adopt a natural sleep rhythm. As well as switching off devices an hour before bed and using the time to wind down, take the opportunity to do any mindfulness exercises you’ve been practising, and create a calming environment. “Dim the lights to allow your natural melatonin levels to rise – melatonin is released under dim light conditions – and go to bed when you are feeling ‘sleepy tired’,” advises Dr Hare.
And if you still feel wide awake at your planned bedtime, fear not. “Just make sure all devices are off and do something relaxing for another 20 minutes or so until you feel more sleepy,” she says. And, again, don’t place too much focus on getting to sleep. “Just rest and relax, and sleep will be more likely to arrive.”
https://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/article/how-to-sleep-in-chaotic-world
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