What’s Stopping You Sleeping At Night?

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Sleeping should be blissful, but sadly it’s problematic for many people, myself included. There are a myriad of reasons why your sleep may be affected, from health conditions, breathing problems and chronic pain, to stress, lighting and temperature. Following from a recent post on anxiety at nighttime, this collaborative article takes a look at some of the culprits that could be keeping you up at night.

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Struggle With Sleeping?

Whether you struggle from insomnia or generally struggle with enjoying a full night’s rest, then you’re not alone. Poor sleep affects many people to some degree, whether you can’t sleep at all, find it hard to nod off, get up feeling exhausted, or keep waking up throughout the night. The important question is, what can you do to get better quality sleep? Let’s take a look at some of the common things that stop people sleeping properly at night, and what you can do about them.

Lack Of Routine

One of the habits that many of us fall into which actually makes sleep less likely to come is not keeping a regular bedtime. In order to get your body fully ready for sleep, it’s typically advised to ensure that you have some kind of a routine, and the more regular that routine is, the better.

The most important part of that routine is making sure that you go to bed at around the same time every night. If you do that, you’re hopefully more likely to find yourself drifting off so much sooner and more easily, and enjoying deeper rest the whole night long.

Of course, this isn’t possible for everyone. Home life demands, work and chronic illness can all throw routines into a tailspin at the best of times. The key is to try whenever you can, and you could still look at developing a calming bedtime routine to get you more comfortable and relaxed before bed, regardless of whether you make it there the same time each night or not.

Anxious Thoughts Stopping You From Sleeping

Many people who don’t sleep well also suffer with anxious thoughts, and that is no accident. In fact, this is a very common vicious cycle, and one that can cause you a lot of trouble and health problems too. Does this sound familiar? You have anxious thoughts, which keep your brain whirring and keep you up, and then you get more anxious because you are worried about not sleeping. And so it goes, on and on.

What’s more, increasing numbers of people are reporting poor sleep this year because of the the pandemic, with stress and worry over finances, health, family and friends, loneliness, grief, the goings on in our country, and so on. So much is also out of our control, which only serves to heighten the feelings of stress and frustration.

Some methods exist to reduce or dampen anxiety on a practical, physical level, such as trying to improve your sleep with a weighted blanket. Exercise in the day can also be beneficial for some people. Then there’s the psychological level, looking at your thought patterns and trying to clear your mind before bed. Music, mindfulness, reading and meditation can help with calming anxious thoughts at night.

While there are various tools to help, diagnosed anxiety is a serious mental health condition. It may be that these suggestions can work well in tandem with pharmaceuticals, but please speak to your doctor if you’re struggling or have concerns.

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain can lead to what some people refer to as ‘painsomnia’, where you can’t sleep because of being so uncomfortable. Pain has a way of being so intense and relentless that it’s not surprising it can prevent people from sleeping well.

If you’re finding pain too difficult to manage, speak to your GP or specialist to see what other help or prescription medications may be available. Play around with different positions as you sleep to see what works best. You may find you need to fidget a lot throughout the night.

Foam toppers, as well as memory foam pillows and mattresses, could help with joint and muscle pain by cushioning your body. These contour more effectively to the body and help promote better alignment. Consider a pillow between the knees if you have hip pain, and try muscle rubs or CBD gels before bed to take a little of the edge off the pain.

Uncomfortable Environment

A chaotic or messy environment, an uncomfortable bed, too much light, or a room that’s either too hot or too cold can all be detrimental to sleep. Try to clear your space so that it’s fresh, clean and calming. Make your bed each day and change the sheets regularly. If you’re pillows, duvet or mattress are particularly old they may be creating more problems than they’re worth so it could be time for an upgrade.

Try to open the windows in the day to get some fresh air in the room and aim for a moderate temperature at night. If it’s cold, it’s better to add another blanket on top than have the heating on and find it’s too stuffy. Humidifiers and air purifiers can also improve the quality of the air, which might be beneficial if you have sinus issues, breathing problems or allergies.

Full Bladder

This one can be annoying. Ever find that when you’re just snuggling down and finally ready to nod off, you then have to get up to pee? You might also be getting up in the night to go to the toilet. While there are health conditions that might result in this, and often older individuals find this happens more regularly, it’s worth taking a look at your fluid intake. Are you drinking too much before bed? While tea might be soothing, it can also be a diuretic, so try cutting down in the evening and see whether that helps at all.

It’s also worth keeping a close eye on your bladder to make sure there are no other untoward issues; if you’re struggling with urinating frequently or during the night then speak to your doctor about your concerns just so they can check everything out.

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While these are only a few of the most common things that stop people from getting a good night’s sleep, they are also some of the most common. Any small adjustment you can make to improve your quality of sleep should make a positive different to your overall physical and mental wellbeing.

[ This is a collaborative post & as such the ideas expressed here are that of the authors ]