Step seven in the Ten Footsteps to Living Well With Pain is 'Sleep'.

An information video on stress management hosted by Sarah Priddle, Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist at Somerset Community Pain Management Service.

This factsheet from our team at Somerset Community Pain Management Service includes a sleep diary and covers:

• The bedroom and sleep
• Worry and sleep
• Buying a bed
• The bedtime routine
• Still can't get to sleep?
• Daytime naps

Knowing what foods we should and shouldn’t be eating can be really confusing, especially when it feels like the advice changes regularly. However, evidence suggests that as well as affecting our physical health, what we eat may also affect the way we feel.

It’s where our brains travel to every night, it’s out of our voluntary control, and we often complain that we don’t get enough of it. Sleep is the mysterious shift in consciousness that our bodies require every day. It’s vital for our health and wellbeing but its importance goes far beyond that, sleep is something that we can’t live without. Not only do we function worse when we don’t get enough quality sleep, but it can lead to long-term health problems. That’s why if we’re having sleep problems it’s important we do all that we can to rectify these difficulties and restore quality sleep into our lifestyles.

Sometimes, we all have trouble getting a good night’s sleep. Stress, noise disturbances and too much stimulation before bedtime can all contribute to us having difficulty drifting off. Sleep is essential for maintaining mood, memory and cognitive functions, and as well as having a negative impact on these factors, a lack of sleep can also have serious consequences for our health. Not only is it crucial for normal functioning of the endocrine and immune systems, a lack of sleep has also been linked with obesity, diabetes, hypertension and depression. Some dietary components have long been known to have a disruptive effect on sleep, but evidence is emerging of other interesting foods that may help us on the way to the land of nod.

Find out about how foods to improve your mood can also assist your sleep in this thought for food blog.

From the Royal College of Physchiatrists: If you have trouble sleeping - or know someone who has - this information may be helpful. It covers some common problems with sleep, as well as some more unusual ones. There are some simple tips on how to sleep better, and how to decide if you need more help.

From the MIND charity, this web page highlights that there's a close relationship between sleep and mental health. Living with a mental health problem can affect how well you sleep, and poor sleep can have a negative impact on your mental health.

Sleep is important to a number of brain functions, including how nerve cells (neurons) communicate with each other. In fact, your brain and body stay remarkably active while you sleep.  Recent findings suggest that sleep plays a housekeeping role that removes toxins in your brain that build up while you are awake. 

Pain Concern produce podcasts on all aspects of pain research. In Airing Pain Programme 14, they and a team of experts look at various types of pain research, and how chronic pain affects and is affected by sleep. 

Sleeping well is a habit that you can learn! Small changes can have big effects. The worksheet will give you more information to help you cope if you're struggling to get a good night's sleep.