Sleep

As you’re getting older your relationship with sleep changes and it becomes more important to you as you grow. It’s really important that you are able to sleep well so that you can keep growing healthily.

Caffeine

Caffeine is a stimulant and gives energy to the brain and can prevent you from falling asleep. Caffeine can be found in drinks such as tea, coffee, fizzy drinks and energy drinks. If you drink a lot of drinks make sure that you have your last one of the day a few hours before you go to bed so that you can settle down comfortably. 

Food

Eating a large meal right before you go to bed will prevent sleep as your body is focussed on digesting the food, so don’t have your evening meal too late. If you have an earlier bedtime, make sure that you eat sooner rather than later, on school nights it might be good to consider eating earlier.

While its best to avoid large amounts of food before sleep, some foods and drinks are helpful in promoting sleep, for example warm milk.

Exercise

You may have difficulty in falling asleep if you have been inactive throughout the day. If you can take up a sport and exercise outside it will help you burn off energy and make you more tired at the end of the day. You can do any time of exercise for this, even just going for a walk will be helpful. Just make sure you don’t do too much exercise too close to bedtime.

Sleeping environment

Most of the time its easiest to fall asleep when it is quiet, dark and cool in the room however it can vary as different people like different things.

If you like the quiet, you could wear ear plugs and leave your phone on silent so you can sleep in complete quiet.

If you like sleeping in darkness, then good curtains or blinds are a really good thing to have, as well as keeping phone screens turned face down, but having a nightlight can be beneficial to lots of people too.

Make sure that your room is the right temperature. Some people like it warm but most of the time it is better that your room is cool. You will normally get better sleep if your room is cool.

Some people find it helpful to have background noise like soft music or white noise.

Night time routine

Establishing a consistent routine for night time will help you get better sleep more regularly. You can include lots of different things in your routine, for example reading a book, having a bath or a shower, meditating or doing yoga or writing in your diary. These are all activities that will help calm you down and help your mind wind down into sleep.

You should also keep your sleep schedule consistent. By keeping to a regular schedule where you go to bed and wake up at the same time every day you will get better sleep and you will be able to better regulate your body. The amount of sleep you get through the night contributes to your schedule so try and make sure you are able to get to sleep.

Insomnia

Insomnia is a sleep disorder that means you have trouble sleeping. It can last months or even years and you will find yourself very tired very often.

You might be suffering from insomnia if you:

  • Regularly find it hard to go to sleep
  • Wake up several times during the night
  • Lie awake at night
  • Wake up very early and cannot get back to sleep
  • Still feel tired after waking up
  • Find it hard to have a nap during the day even if you are tired
  • Feel tired and irritable during the day
  • Find it difficult to concentrate during the day because of how tired you are

Insomnia can be caused by stress, noise, temperature, drugs, alcohol or caffeine, jet lag or unusual working patterns. You can take steps to help yourself recover from insomnia.

Its best to go to bed at the same time every night and take time to relax at night before you go to sleep and do plenty of exercise in the daytime to make yourself feel tired. Make sure you’ve got a comfortable mattress and pillows and that your room is the best conditions you can make it, it should be cool, dark and quiet.

There are also some things you shouldn’t do if you’re suffering from insomnia. Don’t smoke or drink alcohol for at least 6 hours before bed and don’t have a big meal late at night. Make sure you have finished your exercise 4 hours before you go to bed and don’t use electronic devices right before you go to bed to avoid blue light which will keep you awake. Avoid napping in the day and don’t sleep in in the morning after a bad night sleep, stick to your routine.

Learn more about insomnia here: Insomnia - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Stress and sleep

Stress from your everyday life, such as stress coming from school, can be bad for your sleep. If you are more stressed it is more likely that your brain will be very active at night time so you will struggle to relax and fall asleep.

Its best to talk to people about the things that are making you stressed, you could talk to your friends, a teacher or someone in your family, they may have some advice that can help you, but even if they don’t its good to share your feelings. Writing a diary or a to-do list for the next day are also good things you can do to try and relieve yourself of the stress you feel. If you don’t you are likely to keep having bad nights and won’t get good, restful sleep.

Technology

Using devices like phones, tablets and computers too close to bedtime will be bad for your sleeping. This is because of the blue light that the screens put out, they stimulate your brain and can make your eyes sore if the screen is on and the rest of the room is dark.

The best thing to do is to try and limit screen time before you go to bed, it may sometimes be unavoidable but if you can go without going on your phone too much before bed you will have a better night sleep.

You could read a book or write in your diary as an alternative to staying on your phone, or you could listen to music.

Mindfulness

Anxiety and worries can affect the quality of our sleep, but there are things you can do to help yourself. Try talking to someone, it could be your friends or someone in your family. You could also try writing what you are feeling in a diary.

If you’re up late at night not able to go to sleep because you are worried about the next day, you could try writing a to-do list so you can map out what you need to do, this could help you put your mind at rest.

You could also try self-help techniques like reframing negative thoughts. You can find more information on this here: Online self-help CBT techniques - Every Mind Matters - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

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