Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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This is a short video for those who may be
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struggling with sleep.
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We would discuss the impact this has on our daily
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lives as well as some strategies you may want to
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try out to help improve your sleep.
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It's really common to struggle with sleep at some point
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in our lives, our sleep can be affected by lots
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of different things, but when we feel stressed, go through
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big changes in our life or changes in our routines,
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this can make it particularly hard for us to get
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a good night's rest.
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People can struggle with their sleep in many different ways,
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such as finding it hard to get to sleep in
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the first place, struggling to stay asleep and waking up
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frequently throughout the night, having nightmares or anxiety upon waking.
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Or some people can find themselves sleeping too much.
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Our sleep can be influenced by lots of factors such
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as age, physical health conditions, as well as difficulties with
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mental health and well being, such as stress, anxiety and
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low mood.
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It's important to remember that if you're experiencing any changes
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to your daily life, then it's understandable.
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If you're sleep changes to you will probably find that
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you can easily identify when you have had poor sleep.
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But this section will briefly describe some changes in your
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thoughts, emotions, body behaviors that you might see.
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It's important to recognize the impact that sleep has on
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the rest of your daily life, as well as acknowledging
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the underlying factors that could be contributing to sleep changes
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to some thoughts that may occur whilst having sleep difficulties
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include all I do is sleep.
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I lie in bed awake for hours, I thought summaries,
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keep me awake at night, no matter what I do,
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I can't sleep.
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I sleep far too much and I'm still tired and
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I'm going to have a terrible day tomorrow after a
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bad night's sleep or having sleeping difficulties over a prolonged
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period. You may find yourself becoming tearful, irritable, angry, low
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in mood, anxious, drained or frustrated sleep can leave us
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feeling mentally and emotionally drained but can also impact upon
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our body by leaving us with little energy, feeling fatigued,
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feeling hungrier and therefore eating more and feeling restless.
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You may also notice some changes and how you are
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behaving following changes to your sleep.
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You might begin to avoid social activities, you might spend
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more time in bed feeling demotivated to do things you
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would normally enjoy or you might lose hope of having
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a restful sleep and begin to do things that you
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know will help you to get to sleep here.
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We will discuss some strategies that you might find useful
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making small changes to optimize your routine and sleeping environment
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can make a big difference to how well you sleep.
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These are some things that you could consider, making sure
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that your bedroom is dark enough is very important.
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Is like an affect your sleep wake cycle and keep
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you awake.
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It's also important to make sure that you're not too
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hot or cold and that there isn't too much noise
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to disturb you.
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Caffeine can make us feel more alert.
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So make some whining before bed more difficult.
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Try cutting down on drinking caffeinated drinks in the evening
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or switch to caffeine free versions instead keep your bedroom
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for sleeping and where possible.
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Try to avoid working, eating or watching T.
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V. In there with an increasing demand to work from
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home. I will work home life boundaries can become difficult
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to navigate.
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If you have to work in your bedroom, try making
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small changes such as sitting in a different location and
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wearing work clothes.
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This can help your body to distinguish when you are
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in your bedroom for work off asleep.
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try not to exercise late at night, at least 90
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minutes before going to bed, reduce your use of technology
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before trying to sleep so you are experiencing less blue
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light instead.
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Maybe read a book, do a puzzle or try some
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relaxation techniques.
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Give yourself time to relax and wine before going to
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bed and try your best to go to bed and
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get up at the same time each day.
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Having a consistent routine can help our bodies to get
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into a rhythm.
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Making sleeping more automatic for our bodies.
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Even doing this on the weekends or your days off
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is really helpful.
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What can you do if you're struggling with broken sleep,
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you could keep a note pad next to your bed
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so that if you have any thoughts keeping you awake
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or things you need to remember for the morning, you
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can write these down and address them in the morning.
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White noise, like the sound of waves can help some
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people get back to sleep when they wake up regularly
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throughout the night or help to keep them in a
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deeper stage of sleep, doing an activity that is tiring
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yet not stimulating can help you drift back off to
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sleep, make sure it's something that doesn't pique your interest
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so you don't get invested in trying to complete the
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task. If you begin to feel frustrated that you cannot
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get back to sleep, get up and go somewhere away
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from the bedroom and do a small activity.
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Nothing to effortful or stimulating and as difficult as this
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can be.
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Try your best not to watch the clock and make
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note of how long you have been awake.
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You could turn the clocks that it's facing away from
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you so that you're not tempted throughout the night.
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Of course poor sleep over a prolonged time can impact
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on your waking day.
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But it's surprising how well you can function on the
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bad night's sleep.
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Try not to put too much pressure on yourself to
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get X amount of hours or wake up thinking I
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have not had enough sleep.
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So today is going to be awful.
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Sometimes you might find yourself sleeping too much and that
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this impacts the rest of your waking day napping in
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the day.
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Can sometimes feel good and give you a short boost
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of energy.
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But this can make sleeping at night more difficult as
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you're not tired enough to sleep during these times.
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It can help to set a routine and try to
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get your body into an automatic rhythm of when you
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should be awake and when your body should be sleeping,
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setting an alarm clock couldn't help you stick to this
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routine and make sure that you're awake and ready to
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complete your daily tasks.
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Working different shift patterns, including night shifts, can have a
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huge impact on your sleep and can be difficult to
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manage figuring out which sleep pattern works best for you
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and stick into it gives your body the best chance
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at managing a routine for that set of shifts after
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a night shift.
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Some people prefer to sleep straight away.
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Some people prefer to stay awake for a while and
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then sleep whilst others split their sleep into too short
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periods with a period of activity in between.
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Everybody functions differently with each strategy.
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So it's important to know what works best for you.
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Lighting parks are more biological sleep wake cycle and helps
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our body to recognise typical times to sleep, for example,
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when it's dark.
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Therefore, if we reduce the white as much as possible,
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this can help our bodies to recognize that it's time
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to sleep even though the sun might be shining outside,
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make sure others understand the importance of your sleep and
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how they can help you to get some much needed
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rest. You may have Children in the house, which understandably
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makes things more difficult to manage.
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But those around you can consider the in quieter in
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the house and making sure not to message or ring
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you at certain times, you could check if your phone
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allows you to change the settings to do not disturb.
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With exceptions.
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For calls from certain people, for example, your family, Children
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work or schools, rotating between shifts involves having to change
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your current sleep routine fairly regularly rather than making sudden
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switches to your sleep patterns.
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Try to gradually shift when you're going to bed, hour
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by hour and they'll run up to the next set
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of shifts.
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This can reduce the impact, both physically and mentally.
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Sometimes strategies like the ones we discussed can be enough
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to improve our sleep, but further support is available.
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If difficulties continue, you could speak to your local GP
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to discuss any long term impacts that may be affecting
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your sleep and see how they can help address these
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that your sleep improves.
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If you think what expresses contributing to your poor sleep,
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discuss with your manager or occupational health about how they
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can support you, they may be able to provide provisions
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to reduce your stress or support of their life circumstances.
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If you work in health and care settings and either
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live or work in Greater Manchester, then you can contact
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the Greater Manchester resilience hub for support by telephone or
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email. This is also available to family members of these
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staff. Keep your eye out for other videos on topics
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such as managing stress worries and feeling low as these
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may be, some strategies that may be helpful to combat
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the reason behind why you may be struggling with your
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sleep.