Help with Sleep Problems London | Sleep Therapy in London

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It’s easy to underestimate the role that sleep plays in psychological and emotional well-being. We usually take sleep for granted until we have problems sleeping and then we quickly remember how important a good night’s sleep is.

There is much that is unknown about sleep. When we are awake, we all inhabit a common world but when we sleep, each of us occupies a world of our own, a world of dreams, images and varying states of unconsciousness. One thing that certainly is known about sleep is that there is an intimate relationship between sleep and psychological functioning. Sleep benefits our mood, memory and concentration. It also plays an important role in our immune system and nervous system. The need to sleep is fundamental.

According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the amount of sleep we need depends on our age:

Babies sleep for about 17 hours per day
Older children need 9 – 10 hours per night
Adults generally need 8 hours of sleep nightly
Older people need the same amount but will often only have one period of deep sleep during the night, usually in the first 3-4 hours. After this period, older people wake more easily. We also dream less as we get older.

A University of California, San Diego psychiatry study of more than one million people found that people who live the longest reported sleeping for 6 – 7 hours each night.

Sleeping is fundamental to good health but it doesn’t always come easily. The most common sleep disorder is insomnia, which occurs when someone has difficulty in falling or staying asleep. Other sleep disorders include narcolepsy (an excessive need to sleep, regardless how much sleep an individual has had) and sleep apnea (a disruption of breathing patterns during sleep usually accompanied by loud snoring).

Signs that you may be suffering from too little or poor quality sleep include