8 tips to help you sleep better
Research shows that almost half of people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease experience sleep disturbance, and this increases to 70-80% during relapses.
We know that sleep is vitally important for our health and we should be aiming for around 8 hours per night. Lack of sleep can reduce quality of life and may increase the risk of a flare even in clinically inactive disease (3 times greater risk of relapse in patients with poor sleep).
Our sleep-wake cycle, aka circadian rhythm, is controlled by a central ‘clock’ in our brain but also other gastrointestinal ‘clocks’. These clocks can be influenced by environmental factors including light, chemicals, food, and genes.
Not only can symptoms, including tummy pain and diarrhoea, cause sleep disruption, as well as affecting our ability to get to sleep and the amount of time we can sleep for, but sleep disturbances can also affect our immune system - sleep deprivation can activate pro-inflammatory signalling molecules. So, the connection between sleep and IBD appears to work in both directions.
Interestingly, there seems to be a role that inflammation plays too – the process of inflammation can produce signalling molecules in the body that can directly alter sleep patterns and disrupt our sleep. Some of these signalling molecules can induce sleep but others can prevent it.
There is also a role that medications can play too – for example, steroids are known to disrupt sleep but TNF-α drugs like Remicade (infliximab) and Humira (adalimumab) may help sleep.
If you really struggle with sleep you may need support from a sleep specialist or CBT which has been shown to be helpful for sleep and IBD. Broken sleep is something that has always been a problem for me but there are certain things all of us can do at home to improve what we call our ‘sleep hygiene’, which can help to support our sleep, even if we do wake up during the night:
Try darkening rooms as the evening draws in – turn off harsh overhead lights and use lamps or downlighting only.
If you do wake up in the night, try not to turn on too many bright lights, keep lights low and don’t look at your phone screen as this can affect our ability to get back to sleep.
If you struggle to get to sleep you could try a sleep meditation to help you or some breathing exercises. I regularly use the CALM apps 10 minute deep sleep body scan which helps me to get to sleep and sleep more deeply.
Stop using technology/screens for at least an hour before bedtime (try meditation, journaling, reading instead). If looking at a screen cannot be avoided perhaps try some blue light blocking glasses in the evenings to help reduce the amount the blue light from the screen will affect melatonin production (sleep hormone).
Preferably don’t have your phone in your bedroom but if you need it for your alarm, turn your phone on aeroplane mode. Even if it is on silent the vibrations and lights from notifications can disrupt our sleep cycles.
Leave enough time between supper and bed – it is not good to go to sleep hungry as this can disrupt sleep but equally we don’t want to be going to bed straight after supper so making sure we leave enough time between eating and bed can help us get a good night sleep – aim for at least 1.5 hours.
No caffeine after midday – caffeine stays in our system for much longer than we think (over 12 hours!) so swapping our afternoon coffee for an alternative hot drink, such as herbal tea, may help our sleep quality.
Assessing your sleep environment can be really helpful too – is there background noise? Can you remove this? What about the temperature? The ideal room temperature for sleep is 16-18°C (60-65°F), can you adjust your room to this? Is the room completely dark? Can you block out more light or get an eye mask?
I have written a free e-book to help you find a way forward for your everyday life with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Whether you are right at the beginning of your journey with IBD or have been living with your condition for years and feel like you have tried almost everything, there are things you can do everyday, beyond the medication you are taking, to help you take back control.