University of Kent Occupational Health and Wellbeing Manager, Brenda Brunsdon<\/p>\n
We will all have heard the phrase \u2018sleeping like a baby\u2019.\u00a0 Parents will usually tell you that their offspring did not sleep soundly all the time; ask any new parent and they will be able to tell you about the long weeks of sleepless nights endured in the first few months of a newborn\u2019s life.\u00a0 However, it remains an aspiration of adults, to benefit from that deep, restful sleep that we attribute to our younger members of society, undisturbed by the cares and responsibilities of adulthood.<\/p>\n
Getting a good night\u2019s sleep is becoming more of a problem for many.\u00a0 Information on the Sleep Council\u2019s website states that 40% of people \u2018suffer with sleep issues\u2019, 20% of road traffic accidents are related to fatigue from lack of sleep and that sleep deprivation costs the UK economy \u00a320 billion.<\/p>\n
Do you realise, though, that scientists have not decided definitively the reason we sleep?\u00a0 It is a habit we share with every animal; insects, fish, reptiles, birds and mammals.\u00a0 The sleep expert, Matthew Walker, makes a presumption from this that sleep has a positive evolutionary purpose for our existence and our wellbeing.<\/p>\n
There are reasons that the quality of our sleep may be affected by the lockdown and working from home.\u00a0 It could be a positive effect stemming from not having to get up as early to commute and get to work.\u00a0 It could be a positive effect from having to exercise outdoors while not being able to get to the gym.\u00a0 However, the stress and anxiety arising from the uncertainty of this exceptional time could mean that sleep quality reduces.\u00a0 Or it might be because of not exercising regularly as normal.\u00a0 Maybe late nights engaging in TV, video calls and games leads to too much blue light which can lead to disturbed sleep.<\/p>\n
The sixteenth century poet, Thomas Dekker, wrote \u2018Sleep is the golden chain that binds health and our bodies together\u2019.<\/p>\n
There are some simple rules that can help us to achieve and maintain better quality sleep which is essential to our wellbeing. Here are links to some articles which can guide you:<\/p>\n
Sleep Foundation website: Sleep Guidelines During the COVID-19 Pandemic<\/a><\/p>\n BBC website: Five tips to sleep like an Olympic athlete during coronavirus crisis<\/a><\/p>\n Boots website: How to get a good night\u2019s sleep<\/a>; Six expert approved ways to help you sleep better<\/a><\/p>\n If you want to learn more about sleep, there is this article on the BBC website: The Science of Sleep<\/a>\u00a0 For even greater depth, try Matthew Walker\u2019s best-seller: \u2018Why We Sleep\u2019<\/p>\n Wellness Wednesday is part of Kent Sport\u2019s\u00a0 #KentSportStayWellAtHome series of daily blogs and vlogs to keep you positive during these unusual times. To be sure not to miss our updates, Like us on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and follow on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0@UniKentSports \u2013 we hope you enjoy and join in!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" University of Kent Occupational Health and Wellbeing Manager, Brenda Brunsdon We will all have heard the phrase \u2018sleeping like a baby\u2019.\u00a0 Parents will usually tell … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5725,"featured_media":5566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124],"tags":[127013],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5563"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5725"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5563"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5565,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5563\/revisions\/5565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}