At some stage in our lives many of us will have a bed partner who has annoying habits that disrupt our sleep. Anyone had the quilt stolen or copped a stray elbow or knee recently? One problematic habit in particular that we often hear about in our clinical work is snoring. Snoring occurs when airflow between your nose and throat …
Improving Sleep in Teens
Dr Jessica Tearne and Mr Paul Jeffery from Sleep Matters presented a seminar on teenage sleep to year 7 students and their parents at one of Perth’s high schools this week. It was a great opportunity to cover some interesting and important facts about sleep in adolescence. Getting good quality and quantity sleep can be tricky in adolescence. At the very age the …
How to wake up earlier (and feel good about it)
Follow the steps below for 2 weeks and see if you become the early-bird you never thought you’d be. We often help people who would like to get up earlier in the morning. This desire can be motivated by a number of things; fitting in exercise, making the morning routine before school/work less rushed, creating a more positive mindset to …
Back to school sleep routine
Sleep routines for children can change a great deal over the long summer holidays. Later nights, sleeping in, more variability and sleep-wake schedules, more screen time, less focus on a pre-bed wind down routine are some of the common changes. While many kids and teens adjust easily to the school sleep routine, others may benefit from some structured adjustments to create a great routine around sleep. …
Early Bird or Night Owl? Knowing what you are may help you get the most from your day
This year, researchers won a Nobel prize for their work on understanding the role of the body clock, aka circadian rhythm. We have a master clock deep in the brain (the suprachiasmatic nuecleus to be exact) which controls the timing several bodily features such as body temperature, hunger, and sleepiness. Melatonin is an important hormone controlled by our body clock and it …
Improving sleep in children
Paul Jeffery from Sleep Matters presented a seminar to parents at Queensgate Medical Centre last month. He discussed aspects of childhood sleep and provided tips for improving sleep in little ones. Here is a summary of his talk. From the age of 3 up until the end of primary school its estimated that children spend around 40-50% of their lives asleep. Sleep is crucial …
Clean up your Slumber: ‘Sleep Hygiene’ Printable tip sheet
Our infographic contains important tips for improving sleep and setting up a healthy sleep routine. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but is a carefully considered selection of changes that can have a large impact. Are there some challenges you could set for yourself from these? Try any change for 2 weeks and then evaluate how much it has helped. The …
Is it a myth that we need 8 hours sleep? How much sleep do I need? How much sleep does my child need?
Almost anything we read about sleep says we need 8 hours. Numerous studies have been published concerning the dangers of lack of sleep, to our general health and wellbeing. We now understand that sleep may play an important role in allowing to the brain to cleanse from toxins. So how much shut eye do we really need each night? New guidelines have been …
The low down on screens before bed
There is a lot of talk about the negative impact of pre-bed screen use on sleep. Many of us still do it though…..and some of us do it and even sleep well. Media messaging often takes a one-size fits all approach and I want to challenge this. Sleep is a hot topic in the media – and so it should …
Are Power Naps helpful? What does the science say?
The answer is, it depends. Read on to learn about the potential benefits of naps and how to realise them. In general, for a healthy adult, a long daytime sleep is not a great idea as it is likely to lead to sluggishness on waking (often worse than before the sleep), and it can wreak havoc with sleep that night- especially if …
New Years Resolution – Improve My Sleep! Want to sleep better without medication?
In our fast-paced world, Insomnia is VERY common. One in three Australian adults regularly struggle with their sleep and around 10 per cent of adults suffer from chronic insomnia. Insomnia is defined as a difficulty falling asleep or returning to sleep following night-time awakening, with significant negative impact on daytime functioning. Insomnia can be triggered by many different things – …
Does alcohol help or hinder sleep?
Many people believe that alcohol assists sleep. While it’s true that alcohol may help you initially get off to sleep, this is offset by a less restful slumber later in the night. As the silly season gets underway, it can be useful to bear in mind the impacts of alcohol on sleep. After a few drinks, we are more likely …