GRINDING YOUR TEETH
If your partner doesn't tell you, apart from the toll it takes on teeth - which will wear down faster, may chip off or even crack - one of the key signs to watch for is waking up with a crushing headache. Dentists can make you a night guard which will stop you from locking your teeth. They cannot stop then motion but the plastic guard will ensure that teeth are rubbing against a smoother, softer surface.
COLD FEET
A team of Swiss scientists recently confirmed that it is virtually impossible to get to sleep with cold feet and recommended a hot water bottle for curing insomnia. Dr Kurt Krauchi, who led researchers, also favours the hot -water bottle as a means for cooling the body, claiming the arteries in the hands and feet dilate just before sleep, allowing more blood to flow through which cools down the body temperature, which he argues triggers sleep. Some sleep disorders may be caused by a failure of those arteries to dilate and a hot-water bottle can synthetically dilate the veins so that the body temperature falls - inducing sleep.
CURLING UP
Curling up in bed could cause backache or even osteo-arthritis. During the day we adopt postures that are not good for us. 'When we curl up in bed, we are perpetuating an exaggerated form of the bad posture we have assumed all day,' says Robin Shutt, lecturer in physiotherapy at the University of East Anglia. 'This may lead to backache but, more seriously, could cause osteo-arthritis in later years from an overload on the vertebrae.' Rather than automatically curling into the foetal position in bed, try some stretches.
SLEEP-WALKING
Sleep-walking tends to run in families and affects one-in-six children at some stage. During sleep, memories of what occurred during the day are processed, activated and stored. At the stage in sleep where the mind becomes most active, the body becomes most relaxed, except in families genetically predisposed to sleep-walking where the emotional processing of problems may get linked to movement. Sleep-walkers should be gently steered back to bed and possible stress factors should be examined to try to prevent it in the future. Protective measures, such as putting locks on windows, doors and securing gates to the top of stairs, should be taken.
A NIGHTCAP
Alcohol at bedtime is best avoided on a regular basis. It will send you off to sleep faster but as the drink metabolises, the brain becomes more excitable and you are more likely to wake a couple of hours later.
FALLING ASLEEP WITHOUT REMOVING MAKE-UP
Make-up left to clog pores - which will open in the warmth of your bed ? will result in blackheads or eruptions. Eyeliner and mascara left on over night can cause conjunctivitis.
SLEEPING TABLETS
These should only be regarded as a temporary measure. 'Although you wake up feeling as if you have slept very well, what you have got is a suppression of some of your sleep cycles,' says Dr Peter Fenwick, consultant neuro-psychiatrist at the Institute of Psychiatry. 'Most tablets have a knock-on effect,' says Dr Fenwick, 'This means you think less clearly during the day, and will feel sluggish.'
INSOMNIA
How much you suffer may depend not only on the amount of sleep you lose but at what stage in the sleep cycle it occurs. Early insomnia, says Dr Fenwick, is often due to life events. Problems at work, a row with your partner, means you may have difficulty getting off to sleep. Waking in the middle of the night is virtually always due to anxiety. Late insomnia ? where someone sleeps through the night but wakes at 4am, unable to drift off again ? is usually associated with depression. The most effective treatment is through trying to tackle the underlying stress or anxiety responsible. ( dailymail.co.uk )
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