After a long day, switching off your mind isn’t always easy. You might feel physically exhausted, yet find yourself lying awake replaying conversations, worrying about tomorrow or simply struggling to relax. Could the same smartphone that keeps you connected throughout the day actually help you fall asleep?
Meditation apps are becoming increasingly popular as a convenient way to unwind before bed. But can they genuinely improve sleep, particularly for people experiencing insomnia?
Menopause can bring plenty of changes to sleep. Hot flushes, night sweats and hormonal shifts can make it harder to fall asleep, stay asleep or wake feeling refreshed. But for some women, there may be more than one sleep disorder behind those restless nights.
Menopause is associated with an increased risk of both insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). When insomnia and OSA occur together, it is known as COMISA, or comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea.
We all have days when we feel a little forgetful or find it harder than usual to concentrate. But if you’re regularly losing track of conversations, struggling to stay focused or forgetting things you would normally remember, your sleep could be playing a role.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) does more than cause snoring and tiredness. Research suggests that untreated OSA can also affect cognitive functions such as attention, concentration, memory and executive functioning.
After a bad night’s sleep, going to bed earlier the next evening can seem like the obvious solution. You might also sleep in, stay under the covers longer in the morning or spend extra time in bed hoping sleep will eventually arrive.
While an occasional sleep-in may be perfectly reasonable, regularly extending your time in bed when you have insomnia can sometimes have the opposite effect. Instead of helping you sleep more, it may make sleep feel even harder to achieve.
If menopause has suddenly made a good night’s sleep harder to come by, you’re far from alone. Hormonal changes, hot flushes and other menopausal symptoms can all interfere with sleep, and insomnia is particularly common during this stage of life.
While there is no single solution for menopausal sleep problems, regular physical activity may help. Research suggests exercise can reduce insomnia symptoms and support better sleep, while providing plenty of other benefits for health and wellbeing.
We’ve all noticed how a poor night’s sleep can change the way we feel the next day. You might be more irritable, less patient or find that small frustrations bother you more than usual. But when disrupted sleep happens night after night, as it can with sleep apnea, the effects on your mood can become much more noticeable.
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the most common type…
For many of us, coffee is a comforting part of the morning routine. It helps shake off tiredness, improves alertness and can make starting the day feel a little easier. But during perimenopause and menopause, you may notice that your usual coffee suddenly affects you differently.
Hormonal changes can influence everything from sleep to temperature regulation, and caffeine may make certain symptoms more noticeable. If you are struggling with insomnia, hot flushes or night sweats, it may be worth taking a closer look at what is in your cup.
Have you ever had a poor night’s sleep and found yourself rereading the same email, forgetting why you walked into a room or struggling to find the right word? That frustrating, fuzzy feeling is often described as “brain fog”, and poor sleep may be one reason it happens.1
Sleep is essential for much more than simply feeling rested. Your brain relies on healthy, restorative sleep to support attention, memory, decision-making and clear thinking.1 When insomnia repeatedly disrupts that process, everyday mental tasks can start to feel surprisingly difficult.
If sleep suddenly feels harder during menopause, you are far from alone. Trouble falling asleep, waking repeatedly during the night and waking earlier than intended are all commonly reported during the menopause transition. Research suggests sleep problems affect around 39% to 47% of women during perimenopause and 35% to 60% after menopause.1
Hormonal changes are thought to play an important role, which raises an obvious question: can hormone replacement therapy (HRT) help you sleep better?
