Sleep can be disrupted by many things. Insomnia includes difficulty getting to sleep and also waking up in the night. Insomnia is common and happens in around 1 in 3 people at some time in their lives. There are many ways to improve sleep and we can exclude the common causes.

There are many habits that can improve sleep onset and getting back to sleep. These can be combined with changes to your exercise, eating habits and bedtime surroundings to help insomnia.

The range of normal sleep is between 5 and 10 hours. Sleep occurs in cycles of different stages through the night. Often the most refreshing sleep happens early on in the night.

The lungs have cough receptors along the airways. Many diseases of the lungs cause cough symptoms but the commonest reasons for chronic cough include nasal allergy or indigestion.

Often exercise can help reduce weight alongside changes to your diet and this can help snoring. Singing or exercises that improve muscle tone in the upper airway can help snoring.

Enlarged tonsils can cause snoring and a blocked nose may also be important. Tonsillectomy and nasal surgery can help in theses situations. There are several other surgical options for snoring from local anaesthetic procedures to stiffen the soft palate to general anaesthetic corrective surgery of the tongue, jaw or soft palate.

Sometimes snoring can cause sleepiness but usually this is a sign of obstructive sleep apnoea and can be helped with CPAP treatment.