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A Good Night's Sleep as the
clocks go back
Laterlife learns a few tips from BUPA on getting a better
night’s sleep |
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| As the clocks go back and British summertime ends, fortunately
we gain an extra hour. One hour of sleep may not sound much, but if you suffer from sleep
problems - and many in laterlife do - it’s the perfect time to start a new routine
that could help in the long-term. BUPA is taking the end of October as a focus point to
help everyone get a good night's sleep. Assistant medical director, Dr Paula Franklin
explains: "It is not difficult to get into a beneficial regular sleep pattern. If we
go to bed and get up at roughly the same time each day, our bodies become used to the
routine and the quality of sleep is better."
Here are her tips for the perfect nights sleep:
- One thing you need to learn about yourself is how much sleep you need in order to awake
refreshed and ready for the day. For most people this will be between seven and eight
hours. Although it might be tempting to believe that we will feel better the longer we can
stay in bed, there is no real added benefit to more than eight hours.
- Stick to a routine of going to bed and getting up at the same time each day.
- Don't smoke - it's not only your lungs that are damaged, smoking increases the time it
takes to get to sleep.
- Avoid stimulants such as caffeine and alcohol before going to bed as these will
interrupt your sleep pattern.
- If you can't sleep, try not to stress yourself further by worrying that you can't sleep.
Try reading or something else relaxing to make you sleepy again.
- Although we think a warm, snug bedroom is most welcoming, aim for your room to be about
24 degrees Celcius. This is the most conducive for a good nights sleep.
- If you do find that you struggled to get some sleep one night, you should avoid staying
in bed the following day to make up your sleep time. This will only make it harder for you
to sleep the next night.
- Install black-out blinds in your bedroom if morning light bothers you, and wear earplugs
to reduce noise.
If you feel that you have a serious problem with sleep, you should make an appointment
with your GP and discuss your symptoms.
For further information contact:
Gayle Siblock/Camilla Saunders
BUPA Corporate Communications
0207 656 2292/2545
siblockg@bupa.com
October 2001 |
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| laterlife interest
The above article is part of the features section of laterlife.com called laterlife interest. laterlife interest contains a variety of articles of
interest for visitors to laterlife.com written by a number of experienced and new
journalists.
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articles and also regular columns of a more specialist nature such as healthwise, reports from the REACH files,
mother and daughter and a beauty section called looking good in later life.
Also don't forget to
take a look at our regular IT question and answer section called YoucandoIT by IT trainer and author Jackie
Sherman.
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