MANY of us struggle to nod off from time to time, but for some this can a issue that plagues them nightly.
This Morning star Alice Beer appeared on the show to discuss her own struggles with insomnia, which she described as a ‘form of torture’ that lasted 20 years.
ITVAlice Beer said CBT had lead to sleep properly for the first time in years[/caption]
A third of Brits say they struggle to sleep on a weekly basis, and for some insomnia can be a nightly occurrence.
The presenter counts herself among the 20 per cent plagued by insomnia every night and got candid with hosts Holly Willoughby and Josie Gibson, describing how sleeplessness seeped into every aspect of her life.
But Alice revealed she’d recently found a new technique to manage it.
The star said she’d never thought of herself as a ‘great sleeper’, recalling not needing ‘that much sleep’ when she was younger and always waking up quite early.
But her real trouble with nodding off started after she had her twins Phoebe and Dora 20 years ago, she told hosts.
“I know so many women – especially women – who identify with what I’ve been through. It’s not just, ‘Oh I had a bad night last night’. I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about the chronic, on-going inability to get more than about three or four hours a night.”
When questioned by Holly about how she functioned on a daily basis, Alice said: “You do function, but on a certain level. It affects everything.”
She went on: “It affects what you eat – I start eating sugar and put on two stone. It affects how I am in my relationships with people, work colleagues. It affects whether I exercise. It makes you teeter on pre-diabetes. It affects your physical and mental health.
“It’s torture. It is a form of torture. And all you want is to go to bed and sleep.”
Alice described trying every treatment under the sun: “If somebody says lavender spray to me, I’m going to stick that where the sun doesn’t shine.”
She even admitted to resorting to sleeping tablets every night, which is ‘really bad for you’. Those eventually stopped working because she was taking them so often.
But the presenter said she’s recently discovered that she’d been ‘doing it all wrong’.
Alice recalled ‘training’ her twins to sleep through the night, but it never occurred to her that she might be able to so the same for herself.
Her light bulb moment happened when she read a newspaper article about a woman that suffered from similar sleep issues, who did a six week cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) course called Sleepstation.
Alice decided to try it herself and found herself sleeping ‘for the first time in three decades’.
She visited Sleepstation’s website and started the course two days later, after liaising with her GP.
“And honestly I was tearful at the thought that there was something out there. And I was angry that my GP had never mentioned this to me before, in 20 years on my medical record.”
Sleepstation is a sleep improvement and insomnia course that helps identify the underlying causes of sleeplessness.
It examines an individual’s daily routine and habits to suggest behavioural changes for improved sleep, and can be accessed through the NHS if your GP practice is registered, or you can join it privately.
Christina Guerra Unwin, senior NHS programme manager, told Holly and Josie that Sleepstation is available in ’41 out of 42 regions of the country’, though it isn’t yet in every single GP practice.
If your GP hasn’t partnered with Sleepstation, Christina recommended you access it privately.
“We have lots of funding available to support people affected by the cost of living crisis,” she added.
Outlining what CBT is, Christina said: “We’re focusing on behaviour change. It’s also about focusing on different patterns, so what in your lifestyle might be affecting your sleep currently. We know it’s never just sleep.”
This can include depression, anxiety, caffeine and alcohol intake, screen time, diet and exercise, the programme manager said.
Alice added: “I have good nights and I have bad nights but I am winning. I haven’t taken a sleeping tablet for three weeks and that is ridiculous for me.
“And at the weekend I slept for five and a half hours without anything helping me and that is a breakthrough. I hope other people access it as it’s really important.”