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Blog posted by: Andy Clarke, Performance Insight, Department for Work and Pensions, 17 March 2022 – Categories: A Skilled Civil Service, An Ambitious Civil Service, An Innovative Civil Service.

Sleep Awareness Day highlights the importance of quality sleep and how insomnia can have a devastating impact on our wellbeing. Andy Clarke tells us how signing up to Sleepstation through the Charity for Civil Servants helped improve his quality of life. 

Insomnia means you regularly have problems sleeping, but the good news is, it usually gets better by making some simple changes to your sleeping routine. If you’ve experienced insomnia recently (for less than three months), it’s known as short-term insomnia. If it lasts three months or longer, it’s called long-term insomnia. It’s a common problem, and around a third of people will experience problems with sleep at some point - so you’re not alone. 

Andy Clarke, Performance Insight, DWP

Struggle to sleep

Before signing up to Sleepstation, I couldn't honestly remember a time when I slept well. I would struggle to fall asleep, wake up several times throughout the night and be exhausted by the morning before I even started my day.  

I signed up to Sleepstation through the Charity for Civil Servants and worked with them to create a sleep diary. They provided tailored advice based on my diary entries and I’m sleeping better now than I’ve done in years.  

Effective tips

Sleepstation gave me so many effective tips which have helped me switch off mentally and physically. For example, I never felt I had the time to read before now but switching off the TV and reading a book in bed has made a huge difference.  

More energy

Sleepstation has helped me find the balance and combination of things that work for me and I feel like I can focus again. I feel like I have more energy and can concentrate the whole day, and knowing that I will likely sleep well each night means that I approach bedtime without a high level of anxiety.

As A Modern Civil Service, we take pride in this innovative approach to support our community. This clinically validated sleep improvement programme is designed by experts and can be accessed through the Charity for Civil Servants.  

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