“The worst thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to. F Scott Fitzgerald

Poor sleep is common following COVID-19. Many people also say that they had poor sleep before COVID but now it’s worse. We call it insomnia when we have difficulty getting  to sleep, or staying asleep. If you also have fatigue, you may find that, even though you feel really tired when going to bed, you can’t get to sleep or  you wake feeling unrefreshed in the morning.

Sometimes there are underlying reasons why we have poor sleep, one of these is called sleep apnoea. Check out the British Lung Foundation website to see whether or not you may have sleep apnoea. Routine is the most important thing we can do to help our sleep – we call this sleep hygiene.

You may find it easier to make no more than 1 sleep hygiene change every 3 nights so that the change becomes more natural. Changing too many things in one go can be too much for most people. It is usually at least 4 weeks before sleep improves but maintaining the diary will help you see that there are improvements.

The nearer these steps are kept, the better the sleep will be over time. You may find it easier to make no more than 1 sleep hygiene change every 3 nights so that the change becomes more natural. Changing too many things in one go can be too much for most people. It is usually at least 4 weeks before sleep improves but maintaining the diary will help you see that there are improvements.

For extra advice on sleep check out this information from the sleep charity.

You will also find this video from our local pain service really helpful: video on sleep (and pain).