Michael: Hi I'm Michael
Mark: Hi I'm Mark
Molly: Hi i'm Molly
Michael: And today we're going to talk about sleep problems.
Everybody needs sleep it's a time when the mind and the body can be repaired, and it's
a good time to relax and get your head straight for the next day. But sometimes that's a bit
difficult for people.
So have you had any experience of not getting enough sleep?
Mark: For me personallyI feel like about 3 years ago it was the worst time for me with
sleep
I would go to sleep at like 3am-4am and not wake up until like 2 the next day and honestly
it did not benefit me in the slightest
Michael: How about you Molly?
Molly: Yeah I think especially when I made the transition to highschool I found sleep
really difficult because for the first time I used to spend a lot of time on social media.
And it was like the time of facebook and MSN and those kind of chats that would just like
go on until 1am and at the time we all thought it was really cool to stay up talking until
really late. but then we just ended up being really tired and it just got to a point where
I would find it really difficult to fall asleep even without going on like a phone or a laptop
um but that was about 4 years ago now.
Mark: SO then you would still have to get up for school?
Molly: Yeah I'd still have to get up at like 7 I'd have an alarm set and we'd all make
jokes it's be like oh yeah we got like 5 hours to sleep but that's not really funny because
we'd be shattered all the time
Mark: I feel like with me like at least I could wake up later in the day. But i still
feel like even if I had to wake up it would it's just the worst feeling ever.I'd just
feel really like what's the word? Lethargic.
Michael: Yeah yeah yeah
Mark: And just like really groggy and I'd just feel ill. And then I was just like this
can't go on. And yeah I just noticed so many side effects like from it
Michael: what kinda things did you notice then?
Mark: I just felt over tired all the time like obviously like it changes your face I
felt like I just looked grey. Like not my hair but like my skin looked really dull and
like obviously under eyes just really bad. And I just had no energy to do anything
Michael: Ok. SO what's it like when you got no energy and you've got something really
important to do during the day? How do you cope with that if you've not had enough sleep?
Molly: Uggh
Mark: Coffee.
Molly: yeah coffe that's the honest answer! But obviously drinking too much coffee like
in excessive amounts you're gonna end up not sleeping even more so I guess it's a vicious
circle once you start.
Michael: So almost like you're playing catch up for the whole day
Molly: constantly
Michael: alright so what other things ddo you think sort of effects your not geting
enough sleep
Mark: Um I would say like if you're worried about something. If I had an exam the next
day or I had like coursework to hand in the next day. The more you think about it the
more your brain is going round and round so obviously you're not sleeping. But yeah that
stress related to like work and school is like a massive key
Molly: and then you're just playing out like endless possibilities and it's just like going
round and round in circles. It's easy to just re-live it and prevent yourself from going
to sleep
Michael: So we've talked about a few of the reasons why you know you might struggle with
sleep but is there any tips you can givee to sort of help people get a good night?
Molly: I think it depends on like every person gonna be different but I know that for me
it came to a point where when I was taking my GCSEs I'd get into a routine of just like
staying up quite late to revise and I knew that that couldnt carry on because it wasn't
gonna benefitt like my exams at all, uh lying completely in the dark and breathing techniques
are what helped me cus I did use to really struggle if I'd been stressed. And that was
one thing that definitely worked.
Michael: So it's really important to relax. DO you have any tips or tricks
Mark: If you get away from like TV, internet or yourphone maybe like half an hour or an
hour before you go to sleep - I think that's a great thing cus you've got no distractions.
And for me personally I lie to get my room really cosey - clean sheets. Like, i like
audio books as well. And sometimes I listen to what they called? gamer walk throughs!
Where it's just someone like talking. It's like I'm a baby but like you know when we're
youngr and we got read stories and stuff? Like I feel like that helps me so much. And
Um yeah I like to listen to things. Focus on something that's not my voice in my brain
Molly: yeah definitely that helps yeah
Michael: so something quite soothing
Molly: Yeah, somebody with a calm voice. You don't want them to be quite like
Mark: Or like there's so many apps isn't there
Molly: there really are
Mark: You can listen to water falls or rains or like wind or something like that
Michael: SO is there anything else you can do as part of your daily lifestyle that might
help you sort of relax in the evening?
Mark: Um, maybe go for walks. Like that can also be a great way of clearing your mind,
and I also think like for me something like swimming because that will tire you out and
when you get home you can think oh I've done exercise that's really good. And then hopefully
you'll be like tired out from that.
Molly: yeah and it helps you wind down as well especially if you are just going on a
walk and it's not like really strenuous
Michael: if you are feeling a bit anxious about not getting enough sleep, you can get
in touch with childline you can get in touch either online or over the phone, and there'll
always be someone there to give you support no matter what time of the day or night.
So thanks ever so much for coming to sit down with us. It's really really helpful.
Molly: Thanks for having us yeah
Michael: And we'll se you next time
all: BYE!