Hi there,
Well, September’s arrived and with it, according to the weather presenters on TV, we are now in “Meteorlogical Autumn” and, it would seem, the weather has been listening.
Gone are the the heady summer days that we so very gladly experienced over the gorgeous summer of 2025 (some would say too hot!) and the rain and cloud has been ushered in big time.
But, I think that’s healthy, and as much as I don’t really like Autumn, I will try this time to embrace all the season brings us.
One of the things that Autumn seems to bring me is a disruption to my sleep.
Those of you who know my story will now that I’ve had major sleep issues previously where I suffered from full blown insomnia for 4 years. And I tried anything and everything to cure my sleep, and, finally, I found a few things that helped to very gradually restore my good sleep.
So, how do you sleep? One of the things that scientific research into sleep is finding, is that not only can poor sleep affect our energy, but also a vast slew of health related issues. And brings with it the risk of developing things like Dementia and other brain related diseases, along side some cardio vascular diseases (strokes and heart attacks, anyone?). Not to mention the total torture that lack of enough sleep gives you
So, it worried me for a long time about how my little sojourn into insomnia had affected me. Me being me, I did a whole ton of research to try and find solutions to resolve my poor sleep. At one point it was so bad I was only getting 4 hours sleep per night. Those were dark days.
But me being me, rather than waste all this research I was doing, I decided to log it all for future reference, which I did diligently and included any scientific evidence I came across.
So, for those of you who struggle with your sleep like I do, here’s a couple of tips that are helping me right now.
The first one is to STOP NAPPING! The latest scientific research suggests that napping could be the reason why you’re waking up in the night or ridiculously early in the morning, unable to get to back to sleep. The scientists give an analogy to explain why:
Consider sleep like a meal that will fill you up. You need to be hungry to get the most benefit out of your food. If you are taking naps during the day, and especially the evening (which is what I used to do) then you are taking little “sleep snacks” that will fill you up so that you won’t need that full nourishing meal (sleeps) as much as you did if you were empty and hungry. Do you get the drift? Napping at time during the day “steals” your need for long, refreshing sleep. And, as someone who was an habitual evening napper, I now know just how destructive to good sleep this is.
Reduce or cut out caffeine entirely. Not the easiest one to do this - I still struggle at times to resist a mid morning cup of fragrant coffee or a cup of builders tea (my downfall!). But, I know that any that I do have, reduces my quality of sleep and if I indulge, I will be paying for it in the early hours of the following morning by being wide awake and anxious. The scientists explain the reason for this thus:
Caffeine acts as an adenosine receptor antagonist, meaning it binds to adenosine receptors without activating them.
This prevents adenosine from exerting its sleep-inducing effects, thereby promoting wakefulness and delaying feelings of tiredness.
The most critical effect is on A2A receptors, which play a key role in sleep initiation and are strongly blocked by caffeine.
While caffeine provides alertness, it does not reduce adenosine production; instead, adenosine continues building up in the background.
So, in a nutshell, caffeine affects the production of adenosine and it’s this little devil of a biochemical that determines how well we sleep. Or not, as the case might be.
Interesting stuff right? Well, maybe not to everyone, but the value is in the turning all this scientific evidence into easily understandable advice for regular folk like me, on how to get better sleep.
So, it hit me. Why didn’t I do that? I could talk with authority about the god-awful state of being an insomniac and with a little bit of research and patience on my part, I could write something that would help those poor souls like me.
So, last year that’s exactly what I did.
I wrote a short e-book about the solutions that helped me to sleep better and, because we are all different and what works for one may not work for another, I included those solutions that are scientifically backed but didn’t work for me.
And the result is my little e-book How I Learnt To Sleep Again which you can look at in more depth on my website. Just click on the above link and it will take you straight there.
And for the month of September, I’m offering my sleep e-book at 50% off. Take a look at the offer here
So, I hope all of the above helps those of you who struggle with their sleep - not matter how small - to enjoy longer and deeper sleep. After all, more and more evidence is coming out about just how crucial good sleep is to not just our mental health and vitality, but also our longevity and dodging those older persons ailments that affect so many in later life.
If anyone has any thoughts or comments about their sleep, please just reply to this newsletter, and I will respond - your reply will find me okay.
But, in the meantime, I wish you nights and nights of good, refreshing sleep. The kind of sleep we all deserve.
Take care till next time
Una x