Newspaper prints insomnia diary

A newspaper has published extracts from an insomnia diary kept by writer Joy Persuad, who eventually overcame her condition with the help of a sleep clinic.

The Daily Mail reports that a third of Britons have trouble getting to sleep when they go to bed, with many of these people developing chronic problems.

"If I don't sleep properly soon, I'll keel over," Ms Persuad wrote in her diary in January 2007.

"I've not had a full night's sleep in years and I'm permanently exhausted. I spend the nights increasingly distressed by my wakefulness."

She added that when she was in bed she got a maximum of four hours sleep over the night, but sometimes got as little as half an hour before trudging away from her mattress for the day ahead.

At a visit to the London Sleep Centre, Ms Persuad was diagnosed with involuntary movement and teeth grinding.

She was treated with muscle relaxants, a sleep schedule and exercise regime and now usually manages a proper sleep when she gets to bed at night.

BBC Health notes that bruxism - or nocturnal teeth grinding - is a common condition that is often caused by stress.

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