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Sleep and tiredness: key facts
Sleep
One or two bad nights will make you tired the
next day, but won't harm your health. Poor sleep over weeks or
months certainly can.
You:
- feel tired all the time
- drop off during the day
- can't concentrate
- can't make decisions
- start to feel depressed
- can be dangerous if you are driving or operating heavy
machinery.
Poor sleep makes you more likely to get high
blood pressure, diabetes and to be overweight. To sleep better,
make sure that you:
- Have a comfortable bedroom- not too hot, not too cold, not too
noisy.
- Have a mattress that supports you properly.
- Get some exercise. Start slowly with some regular swimming or
walking, best in the late afternoon or early evening.
- Take some time to relax properly before going to bed.
- Don't take alcohol, slimming tablets, or street drugs
like Ecstasy, cocaine and amphetamines
- Try writing any worries down before going to bed and then tell
yourself to deal with them tomorrow.
- Get up if you can't sleep, and do something you find relaxing.
Read, watch television or listen to quiet music. After a while you
should feel tired enough to go to get back to sleep.
- If your sleep routine has been disrupted by shift work, jet
lag, or having a small baby, try to wake up quite early, at
the same time every morning, whatever time you fell asleep the
night before. Make sure that you don't go to bed again before about
10 pm that night. After a few nights you should start to fall
asleep naturally at the right time.
If you try these tips and still can't
sleep, see your doctor.
Treatments
Sleeping tablets don't
work for very long; leave you tired and irritable the next day and
lose their effect quite quickly, so they tend to be addictive. They
should only be used for short periods (less than two weeks) - for
instance if you are so distressed that you cannot sleep at all.
Antidepressants can be helpful but
have their own side effects.
Over the counter medicines
often contain an anti-histamine. These do work but can make you
sleepy well into the next morning. You also tend to need to
take more and more to get the same effect. It is best not to take
anti-histamines continuously for a long time.
Herbal remedies (eg Valerian) work best if you take them every
night for two to three weeks or more rather than just taking them
occasionally.
Cognitive behavioural
therapy can help. It involves looking at unhelpful
ways of thinking that can make you more anxious.
Tiredness
At any given time, one in every five people
feel unusually tired and one in ten have prolonged fatigue. It is
often due to poor sleep, but not always. The reasons can be:
Physical
- Being overweight - your body has to work harder just to do
everyday things
- Being underweight - your muscles aren't strong enough to do
everyday things
- Doing too little and getting unfit
- Doing too much and tiring yourself out - If you carry on doing
things, whether physical or mental, even when you feel tired, you
may find it harder to recover, and get even more tired.
- Any illness can make you tired. They include:
- anaemia
- chronic infections
- cancer
- liver, heart or long-term chest problems
- diabetes or thyroid problems: hypothyroidism
- muscular: Myositis; Multiple sclerosis
- narcolepsy or sleep apnoea
- Treatments - serious operations on your abdomen or chest,
medications like beta-blockers and strong painkillers and
radiotherapy and chemotherapy
- Pregnancy and breast feeding
Psychological
- Worry or stress, especially if you can't see a way out of your
problems.
- Depression tends to
make you feel tired all the time, especially if you are waking too
early in the morning
- Everyday difficulties – but even positive events, like moving
home or getting married, can be exhausting.
- Emotional shock such as bad news, bereavement or the break up of
a relationship
- Expecting too much of yourself – you find yourself repeatedly
failing, feeling frustrated and tired.
- Habits – you sleep during the day, sleep too much or do too
much then rest too much.
Life
- If your child doesn't sleep through the night, it can be really
hard work just to keep going with the daily routine.
- Night work will often make you tired, especially if shifts are
often changed.
Helping yourself
- Try the sleeping tips listed above.
- Get some exercise, cut out caffeine and get back to a normal
weight
- Plan your week and spread your chores so that you don’t get
exhausted
- Have realistic expectations for yourself.
- If you have been tired for a long time, don't expect to be back
to normal overnight. Take small steps and don't expect too much too
soon. Any progress is good, however small it may seem at the
time.
Other reasons for tiredness
A small number of people suffer from severe
and disabling tiredness that goes on for a long time and for which
there is no clear cause. This is called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
(ME) or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). For more information see
our main
leaflet.
This leaflet is made available through the
generosity of the Charitable Monies Allocation Committee of the
mental health charity St Andrew's, Northampton.
© April 2009 Royal
College of Psychiatrists. This is an abridged version of our main
leaflet.
Due for review: April
2011
You can link to, download, print, photocopy and distribute this
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Please note that we are unable to offer advice on individual cases. Please see our FAQ for advice on getting help.
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