I get very upset when I hear phrases like ‘You snooze, you lose’,” says Dr Jason Ellis, professor of sleep science at Northumbria University. “Actually, if you snooze, you won’t lose. A good night’s sleep will make you more productive.”

As a psychologist, Ellis has studied sleep for nearly 20 years. On placement in hospital as an undergraduate, he saw insomniacs going around the healthcare system receiving no answer to, or relief from, their body- and mind-shattering exhaustion.

And that was it: insomnia instantly became his passion.

Now director of the Northumbria Centre for Sleep Research, Ellis is known, in particular, for his research into acute insomnia. And his findings in this area of sleep science could be incredibly helpful for teachers.

“I would define acute insomnia as short-term insomnia due to stress: so regular problems getting to sleep, staying asleep or waking too early for up to three months, despite having adequate opportunity to sleep,” he explains.

Historically, little research has been done on the acute form of the disorder, with the spotlight too often falling on chronic (ie, long-term) insomnia.

However, Ellis believes this is an oversight. Acute insomnia can lead to the chronic form, which, in turn, has been linked with depression. Therefore, if you understand the acute phase you might halt a cascade of problems, he explains.

Classroom stress

It is the acute phase that seems to impact many teachers, he adds.

“Short-term insomnia seems to be quite typical in teachers, sadly. The occupational stress they go through is really fertile ground for it.

“Acute insomnia always has a stressor as its ‘trigger’, but this doesn’t have to be a major life event. Instead it can be an accumulation of daily hassles that reach a pivotal point. Teachers spend a lot of time with the same class, so if there are problems it can create cumulative stress.”

To reduce the impact of work stress on shut-eye, Ellis suggests “putting the day to bed before you go to bed”. “I see a lot of teachers who merge daytime and night-time, working late,” he says. “Try to create a ‘moat’ between them - an hour when you do something to unwind. You could write a list of everything you’ve done today and everything you have to do tomorrow to give you a sense of control and help you switch off.”

Most of us need around seven to nine hours’ sleep every night, says Ellis. And the repercussions of regularly falling short can be profound.

“If someone sleeps badly, their memory, attention levels, problem-solving and physical performance are diminished, as well as their ability to notice and attend to risk.”

So what should you do if you’ve started sleeping badly?

“For the first two weeks, my feeling is that the best therapy is not to do anything at all to compensate,” suggests Ellis.

This surprising advice is borne out of an interesting theory.

“I’m coming more to the decision that a short period of poor sleep is a normal biological response to stress. Our bodies create a fight or flight response and part of this is a change in hormones that stops you sleeping. From an evolutionary perspective, that makes sense. If an axe-man attacked, you don’t want to sleep, no matter how tired you are. Your survival depends on it.”

A vicious cycle

The professor believes that if we accept short-term poor sleep as “normal”, we’ll be better off.

“The sleeplessness should right itself, either because the stressor goes away or because your biology says, ‘I’m sorry but I actually have to go to sleep now, no matter what’s going on.’

“The problem is, in an initial period of poor sleep we usually try to compensate by going to bed earlier, napping, having a lie-in or drinking coffee. But those behaviours tend to disrupt the sleep cycle. So you actually start to fuel the insomnia. And there’s a tipping point - it’s the Holy Grail of my research agenda to discover where - when lack of sleep becomes the stressor itself, so even if you remove the original trigger the insomnia remains.”

If you’re still struggling with insomnia after two weeks, Ellis advises seeing your GP, as he believes it’s important to tackle the problem in its acute phase.

In some cases, GPs may recommend cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which helps to address thoughts and behaviours that might impact on sleep.

‘Therapy works’

In a study last year, Ellis found that just one 60-minute session of CBT-I (a session that he created) improved sleep quality for 73 per cent of acute insomniacs - so it’s certainly worth asking your doctor about that option.

“My other piece of advice is if you find yourself laying in bed trying to go to sleep, get out of bed and try not to do it,” he adds. “We know that if you put increasing effort into something, you’re likely to tense your muscles, which is not conducive to sleep. We also want to try to break this association between the bedroom and lack of sleep.”

Stress-induced insomnia aside, Ellis believes that another problem for teachers can be inconsistent sleep schedules.

“Teachers use their summer holidays to recover their resources,” he says. “They will often start to sleep erratically - lying in and perhaps staying up later. The problem is this makes it very hard for the body to get into a regular sleep/wake schedule when they go back to school.

This can happen on a smaller scale with “Sunday-somnia”, caused by a less structured sleep schedule over the weekend. It’s really important to have a regular wake and bed time to keep your body clock on track.”

Great in principle, but who doesn’t want to maximise enjoying their Friday night? “What’s most important is the time you get up, as that resets your whole biological rhythm for the day,” concedes Ellis. “So if I was to give you carte blanche for anything, I’d say go to bed whenever, but get up at a similar time every day.”

Sounds painful. But he promises you’ll be repaid with better sleep. Time to start setting a Saturday alarm…

Jessica Powell is a freelance journalist