People can develop a range of poor sleeping patterns and problems which can disturb their sleep. These can include:
- going to bed feeling very tired but being kept awake by worries and thoughts that won’t go away
- falling asleep very quickly but then waking up and being unable to go back to sleep
- waking several times during the night
- napping during the evening and then finding it very hard to fall asleep when going to bed
- waking up feeling very tired after having a night of very poor or light sleep
- being woken by distressing nightmares or waking with an intense feeling of terror about an unknown danger (called night terrors) which can make you scream or hit out at someone – severe nightmares can be linked to stress, an upsetting situation, trauma or possibly medication
- Sleep apnoea is a common condition where normal breathing is interrupted during sleep causing someone to snore very loudly or gasp or snort – talk to a GP if you think you may be experiencing this condition