- Expert warns of increase in number of people experiencing poor quality sleep
- Coeliac Awareness Week ‘Sleep Session’ to provide simple, practical, and effective advice
An increasing number of people are experiencing sleep difficulties due to stress, anxiety and changing lifestyle patterns brought on by COVID19 and the pandemic lockdowns.
That’s according to Health Scientist and Sleep Coach Tom Coleman, who says that people experiencing poor quality sleep are putting their physical and mental health at risk.
Mr Coleman will be speaking about the importance of sleep as part of Coeliac Awareness Week 2021, which runs from Monday 10th to Friday 14th May. His ‘Sleep Session’ will focus on the importance of sleep to the physiology of a healthy body and examine how mental wellbeing and emotional stability are regulated by the quality of sleep.
The health scientist and sleep coach will outline the many stress and physical triggers that cause disruption as well as providing simple, practical, and effective advice on how to regulate this most important aspect of living a healthy life.
Mr Coleman said: “Sleep is the ultimate act of self-care. Not a single aspect of physiology or psychology isn’t affected by sleep. When you’re asleep, your immune system is awake, the good bacteria in your gut is active, and your body is repairing the wear and tear of the previous day. These are all vital functions that are required to maintain a healthy body and mind, and they can only be achieved through good quality sleep.
“This is true for everyone but particularly for people suffering from auto-immune conditions such as coeliac disease or severe gluten intolerance. By the nature of their conditions, people with these conditions need to pay particular attention to their body’s ability to regulate their immune function and health in general.”
“Over the past 12 months I have witnessed a significant increase in people experiencing sleeping issues caused by the worry and anxiety of the COVID19 pandemic.
“We all should be spending roughly 36% of our lives asleep. But currently the levels of stress are high due to pandemic concerns, and the ‘always on’ nature of working from home and spending an increased amount of time on screens, particularly at night.
“People need to give themselves the opportunity to bring themselves down form this arousal continuum, to live in the now rather than constantly think about the future.”
Gill Brennan CEO of Coeliac Society Ireland said: “Coeliac Awareness Week will have lots of events focused on helping people take care of their nutritional health and mental wellbeing, as well as various activities that will be fun for all the family – including live cooking demonstrations, a kid’s corner, and a laughter yoga session.
“There are around 50,000 coeliac sufferers in Ireland, but as many as 37,000 are undiagnosed. These people are living with an untreated lifelong autoimmune condition, which can have a massive impact on their health. There are also over 400,000 people who are gluten intolerant.
“That’s why Coeliac Awareness Week is so important – it’s an opportunity for people with unexplained symptoms such as bloating, stomach pains, diarrhoea, constipation, anaemia and fatigue to ask, ‘Could it be gluten?’. The Coeliac Society can provide information about getting tested, diagnosed and start living a gluten free lifestyle.”
Find out more Coeliac Awareness Week, coeliac disease and living gluten free at the Coeliac Society of Ireland.
