Good sleep is one of those things we’d all love to have a little more control over. Children and young people need more sleep than adults to function – but unfortunately, there are a lot of things that can impact our ability to get the amount of rest we need.

Whether it’s stress, illness, screen time, too little physical activity or too much caffeine, it doesn’t take much to throw our sleeping habits out of whack. Poor sleep can have a huge impact on our mental and physical health – and vice versa. If we’re struggling with our wellbeing, it’s often very difficult to sleep well, which then has a negative effect on our health. Most people will have difficulty with their sleep at some point, but ongoing or severe sleep problems need to be addressed. Lack of sleep can negatively affect our mood, concentration, weight, our ability to cope with stress and even how many spots and pimples we get. 

Neurodiversity, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can also impact sleep. If your sleep problems carry on for a long time and trying different sleep-inducing habits doesn’t work, or there’s no obvious reason why you can’t sleep, you may wish to talk to your GP, as this could impact your learning and overall wellbeing.

Clearly, general health has a massive part to play in getting enough rest. There are hundreds of health apps in your Digital Healthy Schools Library to help with improving sleep, making sure you’re getting enough exercise, building healthy habits and more – and you can use the filters at the top of the search page to make sure you find the best app for you.

So, how do we improve our sleep? There are a number of ways we can help ourselves sleep better – the first is to try to identify why we’re having trouble sleeping. For instance, energy drinks or several hours of staring at a screen right before bed are very likely to cause difficulties falling or staying asleep. Similarly, lying in bed going over and over our worries or stresses doesn’t allow our brains to enter the state of rest needed for sleep. 

A good sleep routine is key. This is called “sleep hygiene” (which doesn’t just mean clean bedding – although that definitely helps!). Essentially, it’s about creating a bedtime routine which helps us to wind down before bed. Creating a pattern to follow before going to bed helps your body and brain recognise that it’s time for sleep, and to settle into a restful state more easily. 

First, identify a realistic bedtime which will allow you to get 8-10 hours of sleep. Stick to this bedtime as closely as you can – even on weekends. Set a time period before this time, between 30 minutes and two hours, you should avoid sugar, caffeine, heavy exercise and screens. Before this, you could set a blue light filter on your screens, as this light tends to stimulate our brains. If you often find yourself laying in bed worrying, you might use this time period to make sure you’ve done everything you need to do for tomorrow, and maybe create a to-do list for the following day, which could help you feel more in control of your outstanding tasks. 

You may also want to try guided meditations, wind-down exercises or sleep story audios. There are loads of apps in your Digital Healthy Schools Library designed to help with sleep, try searching “sleep” or downloading one of our three top-rated sleep apps below. 

*Please note: these are the three top-rated apps with specific sleep improvement functions that do not require a subscription by an organisation or service.

People in Sefton can now help themselves to live healthier, happier lives using accredited health applications included on sefton.orcha.co.uk. 

Health and care partners across the NHS, local authority and voluntary, community and faith sector (VCF) in Sefton have worked with the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications (ORCHA) to develop an online health app library tailored to the health needs of Sefton residents.

Dr Peter Chamberlain, local GP and chair of NHS South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said: 

“This is a fantastic development for people in Sefton. Health apps can provide people with important information to help them manage their health conditions and live healthier and happier lives through exercise and healthy living. The ORCHA Health App Library makes it quicker and easier to access safe, accredited health and wellbeing apps, which can make a real difference to people’s lives.”

There are thousands of accredited health apps listed on sefton.orcha.co.uk and they have been carefully selected to meet the health needs of people in Sefton. They include apps to help people with children and young families, to help people keep active, eat healthier or to support their mental health or manage long term conditions such as diabetes, asthma or heart disease.

Dr Rob Caudwell, local GP and chair of NHS Southport and Formby CCG, said:

“Anyone can use sefton.orcha.co.uk to access health support and information that they can rely on. In addition, we’re training health and care professionals in Sefton on how to use the app library to select specific apps that can help to support the people they care for. For some people using these health apps can enable them to take better care of their own health.”

Liz Ashall Payne, CEO, ORCHA, said:

“ORCHA is the world’s leading health app evaluation and distribution organisation and works with the NHS and health professionals across the UK. We continuously review all of the apps on the ORCHA health app library, ensuring that they meet stringent NHS guidelines, to provide health information you can rely on.”

Deborah Butcher, designate place director at Sefton Partnerships, said:

“Digital health is revolutionising health and care services, helping to provide care that is more patient-centred and empowering. The apps selected for the health app library are aligned to our local assessment of the borough’s health needs. They give our health and care professionals more tools to support care and they give local people access to reliable, accredited information to enable them to live healthier, happy lives.

This is another great example of how our partnership of NHS, Sefton Council and VCF organisations is working to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Sefton.”

About Sefton Partnership

Building on existing plans for improving health and care in Sefton outlined in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Sefton2gether, Sefton Partnership brings together Sefton Council, all local NHS, voluntary, community and faith (VCF) groups, Healthwatch Sefton and other organisations involved in improving health and care in the borough. 

This partnership is one of nine place based partnerships working within the regional Integrated Care System; the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership that will be formally established with the passing of the Health and Social Care Bill.

Patients who are supported by the Wellness Improvement Service (WISE) at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board will soon have personal access to a digital healthcare library, thanks to a new partnership with the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps (ORCHA).

ORCHA is the world’s leading health app review and distribution company and has already created Health App Libraries and Digital Health Formularies in 70% of NHS regions in the UK.

WISE will have its own Health App Library that is tailored to assist patients who are on secondary care waiting lists within four separate cohort conditions – mental health, cardiology, IBS/gastroenterology and pain management.

The individual apps selected by WISE clinicians will offer alternative non-medical intervention to a wide range of medical and lifestyle issues.

It is becoming common practice that digital tools are being used to supplement face-to-face healthcare, empowering citizens to manage their own health and helping to reduce NHS spending. Health apps are increasingly being used to support patients and service users with long-term conditions such as cancer and diabetes, and with lifestyle changes such as smoking cessation and diet management.

Liza Thomas-Emrus, Lead Clinician with WISE said:

“Taking into consideration our holistic lifestyle medicine ethos at WISE and the rapid growth of social prescribing app usage in Wales, we are extremely excited to have partnered with the digital health experts at ORCHA.

“Our team views health and care apps as a crucial step on the journey to a more patient-centred, self-managed healthcare approach – something close to our own hearts.

“Social prescribing apps will also help us overcome the current post-pandemic challenges we face at Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board, and, with the future in mind, provide an alternative healthcare approach to our population with ever increasing life expectancy and more long-term conditions.”

ORCHA reviews health apps against 350 tough standards, including elements of the NICE framework – and only apps which achieve a score of over 65% for clinical assurance, data privacy and usability are featured in its libraries. Fresh reviews are triggered each time an app is updated, so that standards are maintained.

For further information please email: CTM.WISE@wales.nhs.uk