You might think you have a circadian rhythm disorder. But this is very likely not the case… Circadian rhythm disorders are, basically, problems with the timings of sleep. We don’t necessarily see broken sleep on these people, we see that they sleep a full night but on a different time of day. If, for example,…
No, insomnia is not a phobia of sleep. Although unfortunately when sleep starts to become poor it’s quite common for people to fear going to bed because they are worried about what happens to them at night sleep problems like insomnia are usually a habitual problem So they are effectively a different pattern. Your brain…
One of the keys to fixing a sleep problem is timing. This is often overlooked and we talk more about the duration and quality of sleep. Actually, ‘when’ we sleep is incredibly important, if not more important. I’m a sleep clinician. And earlier in my career I worked for Harvard sleep labs. There we did…
People often ask how I started in sleep medicine. And it’s quite an interesting journey… I knew I wanted to go into neurology and psychology, and whilst I was doing one of my degrees I got this amazing experience to go to Harvard Medical School. We had a sleep lab there and carried out studies…
What causes chronic insomnia? Well in clinic as a sleep clinician I often get told, “my sleep problem has been caused by menopause”, or by high stress at work, or an illness, or a life event. It doesn’t really matter – there are many things that could cause you to have asleep problem, but the problem…
There are 3 things I’ve noticed over time, having treated a lot of patients over the last 17 years, that tend to kill people’s sleep… 1- Going to bed at the same time every night. Surprisingly, it’s better to go to bed when you’re feeling really sleepy. When we go to bed at the same…
It’s quite normal for most of us, even me as a sleep specialist, to wake in the night. It’s normal to have short-term sleep problems. But if this is happening to you on a regular basis it can be a sign of maintenance insomnia. That’s right… you don’t need to have a problem getting to…
What it means to be a good sleeper? I think all of our goals when we have a chronic sleep problem is to be a good sleeper. A good sleeper is not somebody who sleeps well all the time. The ratio is they have good sleep most of the time but about 15-20% of the…
I have been studying sleep for a long time. Dealing with many different types of patients. I even worked at Harvard labs doing studies around astronauts’ sleep and blue light. And, a really interesting subject that comes up is sleep debt. Our natural tendency As humans, we feel that we need to recover when we…
Is it quantity or quality of sleep that’s important? I often get GP referrals and the letters will say something like, “John has had three hours of sleep”. There’s a real emphasis on the quantity of sleep the patient is getting and whether I can improve it. Actually, I try to get people to understand…