Around a third of people in the UK suffer from difficulty sleeping at some point in their lives, with the condition being more common in women than men. As a father of two young boys I know that it can be hard to get enough sleep especially when your kids wake up in the night. It can be hard to get through a day when you haven’t had enough sleep but sometimes fate just won’t let you get enough kip!

But what exactly is this lack of sleep doing to your health? And more importantly, can anything be done about it?

What’s keeping us up at night?

One of the main causes for not being able to sleep is stress and anxiety. Whether its long hours at work, or a break up from a partner, whatever is making you worry throughout the day is also the cause of you not being able to sleep at night, too. Alongside stress, there are a variety of other causes including: mood disorders, (like depression) physical conditions (like asthma) and hormone problems.

What does it do to our health?

For starters, lack of sleep will kill your mood. Many people do not realise how much sleep contributes to mood. In fact, sleep is just as important as a good diet, exercise, work and lifestyle.

As well as the impact that sleep has on mood, it also affects many other aspects of lifestyle too. Not getting enough sleep can cause problems with losing weight and concentrating. But in fact is proven to make you more stressed and more susceptible to serious medical conditions such as heart disease and strokes.

How you can sleep better?

Your firstly need to establish what is causing you trouble with sleeping. If it is an underlying medical condition, then you should consult you GP, where he will discuss how to work round the situation. If it is something cognitive, your GP may also be able to help. Alternatively, therapies and tablets may work to help this being an issue.

If it’s none of the above, then you need to establish something which is referred to as good “sleep hygiene.” You need to recognise and set fixed times for going to bed and fixed times for waking up (you must make sure that you stick with them, too!) You should also investigate the temperature of the room, if your room is to hot or cold (not to mention noisy) you may have difficulty sleeping. You should also try your best to avoid any substances such as: caffeine, nicotine and alcohol within six hours of going to bed.

Picture courtesy of D Sharon Pruitt

Especially at this time of year, there is no specific way to avoid coming down with flu, in fact for the past couple of day the wife has been looking quite sickly and the kids have sported snotty noses.

However, there are certain precautions you can take to strengthen your body’s natural defences. Exercise, sleep and limiting the amount of stress that you are exposed to will all help to boost your immune system. However, it has been indicated recently that diet can contribute to the immune system defences, too.

One an average day, we are exposed to a variety of bacteria and viruses. An average healthy immune system will attack most, however the common cold and flu is pretty much avoidable. A healthy diet will help to overcome this and a strong immune system will mean that we recover successfully and quickly.

To ensure that your immune system is ticking over correctly, you should try eating a diet which includes a wide variety of fruit and vegetables as well as nuts and seeds, whole grains and fish. One thing to remember is that there are some foods that are substantially better at fighting off bacteria. Vitamin C, vitamin A, selenium, zinc, probiotics and iron are all vitamins and minerals that help the immune system to run to the best of its ability.

Capsicum peppers, as well as your average citrus fruits, contain lots vitamin C. Carrots, fish oils and dairy foods are a rich source of vitamin A. You can also eat Brazil nuts for selenium and natural yoghurt is an excellent source of probiotic bacteria (which is proven to help aid the natural killer of bacteria in areas such as the gut.)

When you are ill you should be a regular eater of garlic! When it comes to colds and flu’s, garlic is proven to help immensely and has been recognised for its medicinal properties for years! Garlic contains a very useful nutrient called alliin. Alliin acts as a natural decongestant, whilst the antioxidants in the garlic help to destroy bacteria in the body before they can damage cells and replicate.

As mentioned, citrus fruits are high in vitamin C and many foods (such as: strawberries, green peppers, broccoli and pineapple) can often relieve symptoms. Honey is another famous natural antiseptic, which is also thought to help the immune system greatly, as well as cinnamon which will easily soothe a fever.

If you stray slightly from your normal diet regime slightly when you are ill, then do not panic! Its also important to consider comfort when you are ill and often the best way to feeling comfortable is to eat foods that you enjoy! You should also consider snacks and food s that a quick and easy to prepare! There is nothing like faffing around downstairs in the kitchen, when you could be tucked up in your nice, warm and cosy bed upstairs.

Finally, the most important thing to think about when your ill is to keep you fluid levels high. Water is extremely helpful when dealing with an illness and you should constantly try sipping water or juices.