Helping You Get a Good Night’s Sleep
Getting a good night’s sleep plays an important part in ensuring your overall health. Getting good quality sleep at the right times helps to look after our physical and mental life and as a result, helps to improve our quality of life. However, many people struggle to sleep on a regular basis. In some cases, sleep can be disturbed for many nights in a row, to the point where a person is left feeling severely drained and unhealthy. This is called insomnia.

Do I suffer from insomnia?
Commonly seen symptoms of insomnia include problems in getting to sleep, waking up throughout the night and waking up very early. As a result, people who suffer from persistent disturbed sleep for a fortnight or more are likely to feel extremely irritable and exhausted, making it hard to function properly in the day.
The longer insomnia lasts, the bigger the impact it can have on your overall physical and mental health. Sleeping helps your brain to prepare for the next day, helping you to learn and remember information. As a result, lack of sleep can make learning much more difficult and can alter activity in some parts of the brain, making it harder to make decisions, solve problems, cope with change and control emotions and behaviour.
Treating insomnia
There are a number of treatments that can be effective for treating insomnia and other sleep problems. Sleep therapy can help trained counsellors to identify and gain an understanding of your sleep problems and patterns. Techniques such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) can then be used to help insomnia sufferers to work through their sleep problems.
Simple solutions for sleep problems
Whilst insomnia is a very serious problem, in some cases, very simple changes can help you to experience a much higher quality of sleep. In some cases, problems sleeping are simply a case of being uncomfortable and changing your bed around could help to prevent the likelihood of insomnia and other serious sleep problems.
Get a new mattress

If you struggle to get comfortable in bed or wake up with aches and pains, there is a good chance that you may need to consider replacing your mattress. Your mattress is what supports your spine and joints as you sleep, so it should be firm enough to stop you from slumping into it. However, your mattress should have enough give for your hips and shoulders to sink in a little if you sleep on your side.
The heavier you are, the firmer your mattress should be. In contrast, if you are light, you will need a softer mattress. If you share a bed with another person of a totally different size, it may be worth shopping around for a mattress that takes this into account, offering different levels of support.
Here are some important reasons to consider buying a new mattress:
· It’s uneven, lumpy or has protruding springs
· There’s a clear dip in the middle
· You’ve had it for 10 years or more
· You regularly wake up with a stiff or sore back, neck or hips that gradually eases throughout the day
Are your pillows right for you?

If your pillows aren’t providing the right support and height to align your body properly, this could contribute to sleeping problems, stiffness and aches and pains.
To keep your spine aligned, if you sleep on your side, the general rule of thumb is that you should need two pillows. This is because your pillows need to be a little higher to accommodate for the space between your head and shoulders. You should aim to use a bottom pillow that is firmer and a top pillow that is softer and more flexible so that it can mould to support your head and neck.
If you sleep on your back, it’s recommended that you only need one pillow, as this helps your head and neck to align with your spine, rather than being projected forward.
If you regularly suffer from aches or pains that make it difficult to sleep properly, an osteopath may be able to help. If you have suffered from sleep deprivation for more than two weeks, it could be that you are suffering from insomnia and sleep therapy could be very beneficial.
If you are based in the West Midlands, contact Fiona Passey Osteopaths today. Call 0121 585 8555 to talk to our Halesowen clinic, or 01902 894 894 to talk to our Wombourne clinic.
