She spoke candidly about the only treatment that ever worked for her that left her “brighter and full of energy”.
Singer and actress Toyah Willcox will be taking to the floor this weekend as part of the opening show of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. The 66-year-old will be joining 14 other celebrities hoping to win the coveted glitterball trophy by performing a number of classic dances.
Also a television presenter, Toyah has been open about some of the health issues she has faced over the years. It is no secret that she was born with a twisted spine, a clubbed right foot and one leg shorter than the other.
However, she also suffered from a chronic condition for four decades, for which she only found relief after trying acupuncture. Speaking to The Mirror for Acupuncture Awareness Week in 2013, she revealed that she lived with debilitating insomnia since she was just 14.
In the interview she explained how it started alongside the stress of school exams. “I experienced the typical teenage stress that the pressure of cramming for exams, and then sitting there for hours on end doing them brings,” Toyah said.
“During what felt like a solid month of exam papers, I just stopped sleeping. Once the pattern set in, it became a habit and I never really addressed it because back then no one really talked about insomnia. You’d just had a bad night’s sleep.”
The NHS defines insomnia as a condition that means you regularly have problems sleeping. If you have insomnia for a short time (less than three months) it’s called short-term insomnia, while insomnia that lasts three months or longer is called long-term insomnia.
A healthy amount of sleep for an adult per night according to the NHS is seven to nine hours. But Toyah wasn’t getting anywhere close to this amount of sleep.
Toyah continued: “My insomnia progressed and soon the hours I slept each night had whittled down from five to three. I hit this pattern where I’d only reach deep sleep between about 8 to 10am and I still have that routine today.”
This pattern continued through her days at drama school and when she was in a punk band when her busy schedule meant it was “actually helpful not to sleep very much”. “Over the decades, I just learned to deal with the lack of sleep,” Toyah admitted.
Outside her insomnia though she has “always” led a healthy lifestyle, not smoking or drinking. But most nights she finds she lies in bed awake until 2am. “Doctors have told me that I need to physically lie there motionless in the dark to give my joints a rest and let my brain shut down,” she said.
She tried sleeping aids in the past but they were not for her. Toyah recalled: “I took temazepam to help me sleep, but I will never touch that again as it totally zonks you out and is really addictive.
“It made me grumpy when I tried to wake up and eventually I just thought, ‘What’s the point?’ So I devised a way of making my insomnia work for me.”
This is when she considered trying acupuncture, something she had successfully had to treat muscular pain 20 years ago. She had her first session in 2012.
“Afterwards, I was immediately sleeping six or seven hours a night,” Toyah said. “I had less joint pain, my skin looked great and I was so much brighter and full of energy.
“I just thought, ‘Wow, that can only be down to acupuncture and the fact that I’m sleeping properly’. Initially I had six weeks of treatment before I moved to having it once a month for a top-up. Since then I’ve had it about every three months.”
She said she really noticed a difference when she was unable to attend acupuncture appointments and found herself unable to sleep again, relying on 20 minute naps throughout the day.
Toyah added: “The only question I do sometimes ask myself is: ‘If I hadn’t had chronic insomnia for 40 years would I have achieved more?’ and the honest answer is, ‘I’m just not sure’. All I know is that I’ll always love acting and singing until the day I walk out on stage and realise that I’m embarrassing myself!”
If you suffer from insomnia the NHS recommends you:
- Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day
- 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 curtains, blinds, an eye mask or ear plugs if needed
- Exercise regularly during the day
- Make sure your mattress, pillows and covers are comfortable.
The health body says you should see your GP if:
- Changing your sleeping habits has not helped your insomnia
- You’ve had trouble sleeping for months
- Your insomnia is affecting your daily life in a way that makes it hard for you to cope.
The Strictly Come Dancing 2024 launch show will air on Saturday 14 September at 7.20pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.