Can’t sleep? Play, adjust and drop | He sleeps

Repeating your article (Why do I keep waking up at 2am – and how do I get back to sleep?, Oct 1), I too suffer from maintenance insomnia and used to spend the wee hours of the night thinking about all sorts of real or imagined fears. Then on-demand radio changed my life. Your brain simply can’t process two things at once, and I now have a wide range of shows to choose from that hold my attention and keep anxiety from creeping in.

I still miss some sleep, but I enjoy the time I get to listen to all the shows I didn’t have time to focus on during the day. I often stop again mid-program without worrying about finding “my page” again, as is the case with audiobooks. It might be worth a try for others.
Gillian Greenfield
Haydon Bridge in Northumberland

Before artificial light became commonplace, split sleep patterns were normal for young people. In times when it was necessary for some people to be awake and alert, teenagers stayed up early and went to bed late. The elderly people slept and woke up early to do the third observation. The young men would take the middle shift, waking up after a few hours of sleep to watch midnight. Then they go back to sleep again.

Real life, of course, is much more complex than that, but we still have natural biorhythms that change as we age. The answer is to follow your natural biological rhythms rather than fight them.
Michael Bell
London