When should I sleep?

Our levels of alertness and attention are influenced by our circadian rhythms, as shown in the figure below. Circadian rhythms allow us to feel more alert during the day and less alert during the evening. This is the primary reason it is difficult to stay awake at night and why we may struggle to sleep…

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Napping

Effective napping is a skill, which cannot be achieved by everyone. Napping cannot replace sleep, but can assist in times of sleep debt, extreme tiredness and/or when heightened alertness is required for your safety, such as driving a car. Naps may improve subsequent performance and alertness for a period of time, ranging from 2 to……

Sleep Disorders

It is estimated that 6% of the population suffer from sleep disorders. Sleep disorders may make some health conditions worse such as, heartburn, depression, asthma and heart disease. Sleep disorders are diagnosed by a GP or sleep specialist. If you are experiencing poor sleep and have some of the following symptoms, you may want to……

Energy requirements & fatigue

Eating too much food will provide more energy than we need for metabolic and activity needs, leaving the extra energy stores as body fat (weight). The greater your body weight, the more chance you are of experiencing fatigue. The graph below shows that, as body weight increases above 86kg for an average height man, and……

Optimising sleep for night shift

In a 2018 article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ 2018;360:j5637 doi: 10.1136/bmj.j5637 [Published 1 March 2018]) the topic of optimsing sleep for night shift was covered with the aim to provide sleep management skills for the individual. The article presents the best evidence from trials, guidance material and expert opinion, but outlines the limited……

What can you do to manage fatigue?

Taking action against fatigue happens in two forms: 1) the action you take when you experience fatigue; and 2) the action you take to prevent fatigue and therefore become more fatigue resistant. Figure 1 below summarises the causes of fatigue and identifies the areas that need to be focused on to build fatigue resistance. Although……

How much sleep do you need?

The amount of sleep that people require varies between individuals depending on many factors. Age is a major determinant of the quantity of sleep. The table below provides a general guide to the number of hours sleep needed through the stages of life. Children generally require more hours of sleep each day, while for most……

Exercise and sleep

Regular exercise can considerably improve the quality and quantity of sleep, as well as, having other benefits to general health and wellbeing. Exercise improves sleep by improving the release and uptake of neurotransmitters in the brain. This provides a positive environment for the brain to function allowing sleep to occur more naturally.There are some considerations……

How does caffeine affect sleep

Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system and can artificially stimulate your senses, which makes you more alert. Peak alertness levels are generally reached 30-60 minutes after consumption. If too much is consumed, or it is consumed too close to bedtime, it can interfere with your ability to sleep by keeping you awake and disrupting naturally……

Managing mental health and fatigue

When trying to establish the cause of an individual’s fatigue, it is easy to get caught up in the end point, or symptoms, of fatigue. However, start digging a little deeper and you may be able to identify the factors causing fatigue. Once we determine the underlying causes of fatigue, we are better able to……

What is fatigue amnesia?

Have you ever driven into your driveway at home and on arrival thought to yourself, How did I get here? I cannot recall the trip home or the last part of the trip. You may have suffered from fatigue amnesia. Amnesia, in simple terms, is the loss of memory. Fatigue amnesia is where a person……