Kate Humble currently co-hosts the BBC documentary series Animal Watch with Ben Fogle. It offers a charming window into the lives of keepers and animals at Longleat Safari Park, Wiltshire, England. Kate was an obvious choice to replace Paul Heiney in 2001. Her formative years were spent driving safari trucks and working on a crocodile farm in Africa.
Not opting for the standard nine to five lifestyle eventually caught up with her a couple of years back, however.
Speaking to the Express.co.uk, the Animal Park host revealed she suffered from bouts of insomnia so bad that it had a profound impact on her life.
“Insomnia makes you fear going to bed. Sleep becomes the enemy,” Kate said.
The star attributed her sleep woes to long hours and a lack of routine in her work as a freelance TV presenter.
She recalled that traumatic period: “Lying in the dark my brain would start to go mad. I’m a worrier. I say I don’t care what people think but actually I do.
“If somebody took my car parking space as I was about to drive in I would replay all the things that I should have said to them as they got out of their car. In the middle of the night insignificant injustices feel enormous.”
Kate revealed that drifting off was not the problem – it was staying asleep that proved impossible.
How do I know if I have insomnia?
Insomnia means you regularly have problems sleeping – it usually gets better by changing your sleeping habits, according to the NHS.
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Telltale signs you have it include:
- Find it hard to go to sleep
- wake up several times during the night
- Lie awake at night
- Wake up early and cannot go back to sleep
- Still feel tired after waking up
- Find it hard to nap during the day even though you’re tired
- Feel tired and irritable during the day
- Find it difficult to concentrate during the day because you’re tired.
“You can have these symptoms for months, sometimes years,” explains the NHS.
How to treat insomnia
Making modest changes to your lifestyle can significantly improve your ability to sleep.
One remedy that has proved highly effective is to drink chart cherry juice, which may treat insomnia and increase the amount of sleep you get each night.
That’s because tart cherries are naturally rich in melatonin, a hormone responsible for sleepiness.
Moreover, tart cherries contain a good amount of tryptophan and anthocyanins, two compounds that may help the body create melatonin and lengthen its effects.
Research shows that supplementing with tart cherry juice increases levels of melatonin and helps improve sleep quality and duration.
In one study, participants suffering from insomnia drank either 16 ounces (480 ml) of tart cherry juice or the same amount of a placebo juice each day for two weeks.
Over the course of the study, the cherry juice increased sleep time by an average of 85 minutes.
Interestingly, tart cherry juice seems to be just as, if not more, effective at reducing insomnia than valerian and melatonin — the two most studied natural products for insomnia.
According to the NHS, directly changing your sleeping habits should also help treat insomnia.
It says to:
- Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day – only go to bed when you feel tired
- Relax at least one hour before bed – for example, take a bath or read a book
- Make sure your bedroom is dark and quiet – use thick curtains, blinds, an eye mask or ear plugs
- Exercise regularly during the day
- Make sure your mattress, pillows and covers are comfortable.
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