Sleep and rest

Man asleep on a bed

You may have sleep problems that make your ELC symptoms worse. For example, you may:

have problems getting to sleep
have unrefreshing or restless sleep
need an excessive amount of sleep
sleep during the day and be awake at night

You should be given advice about how to establish a normal sleeping pattern. Having too much sleep does not usually improve the symptoms of an ELC, and sleeping during the day can stop you sleeping at night.

You should change your sleep pattern gradually, and your doctor should review how it's going regularly. If your sleep does not improve after making changes, you may have an underlying sleep problem that will need to be addressed.

It's likely you'll need to rest during the day, and your doctor should advise you about the best way to do this. For example, they may suggest limiting each rest period to 30 minutes and teach you relaxation techniques, such as breathing exercises.

If you have a severe ELC and need to spend much of your time in bed, it can cause problems, including pressure sores and blood clots. These problems, and how to avoid them, should be explained to you and your carers.

A good night's sleep is important to everyone but when someone has an energy limiting condition, their relationship with sleep and rest may be very different. Every-One have produced a podcast, hosted on Podbean, around this subject area. It is called Sleep well, rest well.

The Lincolnshire Sleep Hub at The Sleep Charity have produced two video resources:

Lincolnshire Sleep Hub - for EveryOne

Lincolnshire Sleep Hub - for Employers

More information is available on the following websites: