Stress & Sleep

Sleep is essential to our health and well being. Neuroscientists now believe sleep is not only crucial to brain development, but is also necessary to help consolidate the effects of our waking experience – by converting memory into more permanent and/or enhanced forms. We may take sleep for granted until it eludes us. Sleep problems are very common and are often referred to as insomnia. A recent study found that as many as 30% of the adult population are affected by sleep problems. People can become very distressed when they feel they are not getting a good night's sleep, which can in turn actually make it even harder to get off to sleep. Sleep is not like a light bulb which is either on or off, but has different stages, varying from light to deep sleep. At least five different types or stages of sleep have been identified. Broadly, sleep is divided into what is called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and non-REM sleep. REM sleep occurs several times during the night and is where most dreaming is thought to take place. Non-REM sleep is divided into four stages, each stage being a bit deeper, almost like a staircase of sleep. During the night whilst asleep, people go up and down this staircase many times and in fact wake up several times. 

Stress, anxiety and worry -sleep is easily affected by how someone is feeling. If someone is worrying about something or suffering from stress, very often they will find it hard to get off to sleep.Depression and low mood- when someone is feeling depressed, disturbed sleep is common. It is quite usual for a depressed person to wake up early in the morning and find it hard to get back to sleep, or alternatively to have difficulty getting off to sleep.SummarySleep problems are very common and affect people in different ways. There is no right amount of sleep as this varies between people and across the life-span. Sleep problems can occur for a number of reasons. There are different sorts of sleep problem. It is also possible to think you have a sleep problem when in fact you are still getting enough sleep but it is different from what you expect.