Exercise right Sleep tight!


There is nothing like the feeling of waking up refreshed from a great night’s sleep; you’re rested and revitalised, your batteries are re-charged and you’re ready to take on the day ahead. But what about the millions of people for whom sleep is more of a nightmare than a dream?


A recent report from the Mental Health Foundation - entitled ‘Sleep Matters' - has revealed that over 30% of the population currently suffers from insomnia or some other form of sleep disorder. And whilst a bad night’s sleep now and again is certainly nothing to worry about, chronic, long-term sleep deprivation is not only detrimental to our physical health, it can have a huge impact on our mental well-being too.


Sleep repairs and restores our brains, not just our bodies, and a persistent lack of it has been identified as putting sufferers at a greater risk of mental health concerns ranging from low mood, lack of concentration, poor memory and irritability, to more much more serious illnesses such as depression, anxiety and bi-polar disorder.


That is why this year the Mental Health Foundation chose the topic of ‘Sleep’ as the centrepiece of its annual campaign, aiming to raise awareness of how sleep


can affect our mental state and how we can all


achieve a better night of it.


To show support for this campaign, as well as for World Mental Health Day 2011 in October, CIC services across the country held a series of fun, informative events, looking at one of the main ways to help improve sleep, and thus our mental wellbeing: Exercise.


Wais Zamani, who leads CIC’s Mental Health Forum in England, explains: “Although many of us struggle to find the time to fit exercise into our hectic lifestyles,


when done regularly, it can make a huge difference to both how much sleep we get and its quality.” He continues: “Exercising eases anxiety and stress, reduces body temperature, which makes falling asleep easier, and releases feel-good endorphins, which can also work to break the sleeplessness cycle.”


He adds: “We included lots of different types of exercise in our events - from football to basketball, trampoling to badminton, we even did some bowling to show that less energetic forms of exercise are still worthwhile too. The people we support had a lot of fun trying out these activities, but most importantly, everyone said they felt like they’d get a great night’s sleep!”


You First | www.c-i-c.co.uk | 21


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24