Sleep tips during cancer treatment

Sleep is an important, yet often neglected part of our daily lives. There is strong evidence that insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality can impact our immune system, metabolism and cardiovascular health and greatly affect our focus and concentration. Increasingly, there is evidence that poor sleep may increase the risk of cancer and perhaps even increase the risk of cancer recurrence.

Unfortunately sleep is often affected during and after cancer treatment. This can have a significant impact on quality of life long after any initial diagnosis. What can you do if your sleep is affected by cancer treatment?

Why am I so tired yet I cannot sleep?

Many people find sleep difficult during cancer treatment. Even though you may feel tired from your treatment, or be sleeping a lot, it can still feel impossible to achieve good quality sleep. This can lead to a cycle of feeling worse or avoiding physical activity altogether, which can contribute to a cycle of poor sleep. While sleeping tablets may be helpful in the short term, over the longer term there is strong evidence that they are associated with poorer health outcomes.

Treatment side effects that contribute to poor sleep

Optimising sleep can be a challenge, particularly if you have other treatment side effects or cancer symptoms which contribute to poor sleep quality. This may include hot flushes and night sweats, pain or anxiety, which can make sleep difficult. However, by taking notice of what may be causing you to have poor sleep, we can start to address the issues individually and come up with an overall plan to improve the quality of your sleep.

Tips for good sleep hygiene

The best way to manage your fatigue and work towards a better night’s sleep will be different for everyone. Paying attention to good sleep hygiene is a good place to start. You could try some of the following tips to see what works for you:

• Establish a consistent routine – go to bed and get up at the same time each day, even on weekends

• Exercise regularly – stay physically active and aim to meet the exercise guidelines during and post cancer treatment

• Train your brain for day and night – expose your eyes to bright sunlight in the mornings by going outside and avoid wearing sunglasses in the mornings

• Avoid bright lights after dark – especially LED screens and other forms of ‘blue light’ in the evening

• Switch off – keep phones and other light emitting devices away from your bed

• Keep it dark and cool – sleep in a dark, quiet and cool bedroom (consider block-out curtains)

• Eat lightly at night – avoid eating within 2 hrs of sleep

• Avoid stimulants – avoid alcohol, caffeine and nicotine in the afternoon and evenings

• Take time to relax and unwind – develop a relaxing bedtime wind-down routine. You could try meditation, gentle stretching or a gratitude journal

• Make the bedroom a sanctuary – reserve bed for sleep and intimacy only

• Limit day sleeping – try and limit your daytime naps to 30mins and don’t nap after 3pm

• Get comfortable – invest in a good quality mattress and pillow

• Attend to other symptoms – speak to you doctor about symptoms that are affecting your sleep (hot flushes, night sweats, pain or anxiety)

• Avoid sleeping tablets – other than when required for very short periods during treatment

Things will get better over time

It’s also important to remember that while you may be struggling to get a good night’s sleep, sleep quality and fatigue symptoms do tend to improve over time. If you’ve tried all the above tips and are still having issues, talk to your doctor about further strategies which may help.