What keeps you awake at night – and what to do about it

How are you sleeping?

Good quality sleep is essential to our wellbeing. Sleep enables our bodies and minds to function as well as they can by giving them time out to rest and recharge. 

An average healthy adult needs between 7 and 9 hours sleep per night. But unfortunately many people in the UK do not achieve this. 

Recent research indicates that around:

  • 50% of UK adults struggle to sleep at least once a month. 
  • 36% of UK adults struggle to sleep at least once a week.
  • 20% of UK adults struggle to sleep every night.

 

 In this article we take a look at:

  • What kind of sleeping problems do people experience?
  • What can you do to help you sleep?
  • What is one of the most common things to keep you awake at night?

 

What kind of sleeping problems do people experience?

Insomnia is the term used to describe a variety of sleeping problems. There are three most common types of insomnia:

  • Sleep onset insomnia

You can’t get to sleep for a long time when you go to bed. You will usually fall asleep eventually, but your sleeping time will be less than you need, so you will feel tired the next day.

  • Sleep maintenance insomnia

You fall asleep quite easily but then wake up at least once during the night and struggle to get back to sleep again. This leads to broken sleep which is likely to cause you to feel sleepy or sluggish the next day.

  • Early morning awakening insomnia

You fall asleep naturally, and sleep through most of the night, but then wake very early and are unable to get back to sleep again. This can lead to reduced physical or mental capacity the following day.

You may regularly suffer one of the above types of insomnia, or a combination of two or three. But what can you do about it?

 

What can you do to help you sleep?

If you are having trouble sleeping, there are various things that you can try. Here are ten.

 

Top Ten Tips to help you sleep

  1. Make sure you go to bed and get up at the same time each day, as this helps your body’s circadian rhythms to get into a regular routine. 
  2. Don’t be tempted to nap during the day as this can affect your sleep patterns at night.
  3. Keep your bedroom dark and quiet. Use curtains or blinds and an eye mask if needed to keep out the light. Use ear plugs if there is noise that you can’t control.
  4. Ensure that your bed is comfortable, with a decent mattress and pillows, and clean fresh bed linen.
  5. Take regular exercise during the day as this can help you to fall asleep more easily later on.
  6. Avoid drinking alcohol, tea or coffee for at least 6 hours before going to bed.
  7. Do not eat a big meal late at night.
  8. Make time for a relaxing activity before bed, such as reading, listening to music or a podcast, a warm bath, or gentle stretches.
  9. Don’t use digital devices such as tablets or phones for at least an hour before going to bed. Ideally have them out of the bedroom altogether when you settle down to sleep.
  10. Make a list of any worries or things you need to do that are on your mind. Once you know you won’t forget them, you can set them aside to deal with tomorrow.

This last point is very important. You may find that you do everything else right, but you are still not sleeping. If that is the case, it may be that there are circumstances in your life causing you to feel stressed and preventing you from sleeping.

Let’s take a look at one of the most common causes of stress.

 

What is one of the most common things to keep you awake at night?

Around a quarter of UK adults lose sleep because they are in debt. More than 60% of UK adults are in some form of debt, and in August 2021, the average unsecured debt per UK adult was £3,737. 

If you are in debt it can be very stressful, particularly if you don’t know how you are going to repay your debts. 

Earlier in the year we published an article called Five Ways to Stay out of Debt in 2021 which contained useful tips about how to start tackling debt and where to get help with debt. So if you are struggling with debt and are not sure what to do, take a few minutes to read through that article for some ideas as to where to go from here.

You may well find that as you begin to tackle your debt problems – and/or any other issues that are worrying you – you start to sleep a little better. Your problems haven’t disappeared, but you will begin to feel more positive if you know that there are things you can do to move forward.

 

We hope that the information in this article helps you to improve your sleep and find ways to deal with any issues that are causing you to lose sleep.

Remember that Simple Fast Loans provide financial products and services such as online loans so do get in touch with us if we may be able to help you at this time.

For more financial and lifestyle tips do visit us again here at Simple Fast Loans.

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