Your doctor may recommend counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy to treat insomnia. These can often help them understand the cause of your insomnia and work out a treatment plan. They may ask you to keep a sleep diary or fill in a questionnaire. If you are worried about disturbed sleep then do talk to your doctor or specialist nurse. Try to avoid checking or watching the clock during the night.Minimise noise and light in the bedroom.Meditate, practice mindfulness or try deep breathing at bedtime.Make sure the temperature in the bedroom is not too hot or cold.Do something relaxing before you go to bed, for example, listening to relaxing music, reading a book or having a bath.Try to avoid alcohol as it can affect sleep quality.Also try to avoid nicotine and large meals within 2 hours of going to bed. Try to avoid caffeine 6 hours before you go to bed as it can keep you awake.Try to be physically active during the day.Make sure you turn off mobile phones, tablets and TV at least 2 hours before going to bed. There are things you can do to try to help improve your sleep. Speak to your GP, hospital doctor or specialist nurse about a referral for counselling. If you don’t want to talk to family or friends, then you might find counseling helpful. You might find it helpful to write down your thoughts and worries in a diary. Try getting up and do something quiet such as reading or doing a crossword or a jigsaw until you feel tired. If you really can't sleep it's best not to lie there. You might feel depressed and find that although you are managing to fall asleep you wake in the middle of the night unable to get back to sleep again. You might find that thoughts run over and over in your head. You may be worrying about the disease, treatment or disruptions to family and work life. This is natural and can be hard to cope with. Worry, anxiety or depressionĪ cancer diagnosis can cause many different feelings including worry and anxiety. This depends on where you have your radiotherapy, For example, if you have radiotherapy to your bladder you may find that you need to wee more often during the day and night. The side effects of radiotherapy can affect people in different ways. Talk with your doctor if hot flushes are a problem for you. If cancer or its treatment has affected your hormone levels, or you are taking certain hormone drugs, then you may experience hot flushes and sweats. If this happens, tell your doctor as you might be able to have a different type. Some anti sickness drugs can make you feel restless. It can help if you take them in the morning. You may be taking steroids as part of your cancer treatment. Ask your pharmacist or doctor if the drug you are taking can affect your sleep. Some cancer treatments such as targeted cancer drugs can cause insomnia. The following treatments may affect your sleep. They can prescribe medicine and treatment to help. If you feel sick, have pain or other symptoms caused by the cancer and it’s affecting your sleep, let your doctor know. You might also have poor concentration, and irritability, and may feel you cannot cope. You may feel very tired, and have low energy. If you often have insomnia, it can interfere with everyday life.
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