To sleep, perchance to dream

Picture: Royal Philips

If there was one commodity, one seemingly luxury item, I could guarantee myself every single day of the week it would be a good night's sleep. But, as I progress through the novice slopes of my 50s, a night where I'm out at 11 and awake again next morning, unbroken, appears as elusive as a sane resolution to Brexit.

I can, so my girlfriend attests, go to sleep quite quickly after head hits pillow, but it is rarely the last movement before waking again at the preferred hour. Not wishing to take things too far into unpleasantness, there is usually at least one trip to the smallest room in the house, before returning to, apparently, slumber. Travel isn’t helping. By the end of this month I will have travelled to Barcelona, Madrid, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Rome, Zurich, Milan and Lausanne (having dodged brief visits - and long flights - to Tel Aviv and Dubai), with individual overnight hotel stays in each city. Sounds luxurious (and in the case of Barcelona, possibly the best hotel bed I’ve ever had the pleasure to snuggle up in), but, alas, not a solid night's sleep in any. No matter how Egyptian the cotton, or how high the thread count, I just can’t relax. Travel weariness might catch up with me, conking me out for an hour or two at a time, but I’m too easily awake, briefly, searching for the optimum sleeping position (a choice of: 1. on my right flank; 2. my back; or 3. my left flank). It's not insomnia per se, just a lack of proper, deep, uninterrupted, out-for-the-count, lost-in-the-depths-of-Bedfordshire, giving it the full Z, sleep. Over-the-counter sleep aids bought easily in American supermarkets don’t seem to help, either, even contributing to the frustration of sleeplessness by being ineffective. You just lie there thinking about the pills you’ve taken, rather than being blissfully asleep.

So, in this month of almost perpetual takeoffs and landings, check-ins and check-outs, and a generally disturbed pattern to my nocturnal doings, it’s somewhat ironic that today should be World Sleep Day. Yep, there's one of them, too (though I have to confess that I’m a little more excited about Record Store Day next month). To mark this day-of-days, my former employer, Philips - which is less about consumer electronics, these days, than healthcare - has published the findings of a global study into sleeping habits, and not of the usual "he hogs the duvet/she takes up too much of the bed” kind.

Surveying adults in 12 countries to see how they feel about sleep, the results come worryingly close to my own sleep issues, showing that people are increasingly concerned about the impact on their health caused by poor sleep, but also their frustrations at the pursuit of a quality night's kip. Though not giving an immediate explanation for the finding, Philips reports that 44% of adults say their sleep has worsened in the last five years. The obvious culprit may well be the use of smartphones and tablets close to lights-out, a point of blame recently cited as the reason for sleep issues amongst teenagers, due to the blue light such devices emit which strongly inhibits the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Addiction to such devices isn't, however, limited to teenagers.

Getting off to sleep is one thing, but the quality - and therefore, restorative effects of good sleep is another thing. Eight out of ten adults would like to improve their sleep, according to the Philips study, with 77% recognising that sleep has an enormous impact on general health, including a growing awareness of chronic sleep problems and sleep deprivation and a high correlation to medical conditions such as depression, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, neurocognitive disease and even cancer. More than three-quarters of those surveyed said that at least one recognisable condition impacted their sleep, be it insomnia (37%) or snoring (29%).

So, as my month of almost perpetual motion continues, I'll try and apply these top tips from New York-based sleep therapist Dr. Ross Levin: 

• Limit alcohol consumption.
• Give yourself at least an hour to wind down before going to bed.
• Disconnect from electronics and keep them out of the bedroom.
• Keep regular sleep/rise times within an hour day to day.
• Never cancel social/work obligations in anticipation of staying up late.
• Keep a sleep diary.
• Get morning sunlight.
• What you think about during the day affects how you sleep at night.
• Try not to obsess about your sleep – people who don’t sleep well think about sleep all day long. People without sleep problems just go to sleep.
• Talk to your doctor if you’re concerned about a sleep disorder.

Night-night.