Zoe Ball on Her Insomnia Struggles and the One Thing That Helps

Zoe Ball has opened up about her battle with insomnia and she admitted she used to ‘take a lot of sleeping tablets’.

The BBC Radio 2 presenter, 55, made the confession on Monday during an episode of her Dig It podcast – which she hosts with Jo Whiley. 

During the chat, Jo mentioned a question from listener Alison, who asked for help after admitting she listens to the show at 3am because she hasn’t been able to sleep.

Alison shared that she felt she had exhausted all the known aids, from sleeping tablets and meditation apps to sleeping separately from her partner. 

Replying to Alison, Zoe confessed that she too had been managing bouts of insomnia as she revealed the one thing that had helped her get a good night’s sleep.

Zoe said: ‘Alison, darling girl, I feel your pain; that is so frustrating. I used to really struggle to sleep, and yeah, I used to take a lot of sleeping tablets. 

‘And again, you shouldn’t really take those for a long period of time because, you know, they can add to your risk of dementia, but then, the worry of not being able to sleep makes you not be able to sleep. 

‘So, Alison, from me, something which you possibly have tried because it does sound like you might have exhausted all the avenues, once I started taking magnesium at night, I found that really helped.’

Zoe went on to reveal she also been bathing in magnesium salts, and while she wasn’t sure of its efficacy she admitted it had helped her. 

Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep no matter how tired you are and symptoms include waking up several times a night, lying awake, and waking not falling back to sleep.

The most common causes are stress, anxiety or depression, noise, a room that’s too hot or cold, uncomfortable beds, alcohol, caffeine or nicotine, recreational drugs like cocaine or ecstasy, jet lag or shift work. 

Last month Zoe candidly opened up on her ‘horrific’ menopause after experiencing excruciating symptoms.

She discussed the current treatments she is on to control the pain after suffering anxiety, panic attacks and difficulty breathing.

Speaking with co-presenter Jo Whiley on their Dig In podcast, Zoe said she puts bioidentical gel on her arms and takes progesterone every day, while making sure she has quarterly blood tests.

A bioidentical gel is a Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) that contains hormones, such as estradiol (oestrogen), which are chemically identical to those naturally produced by the body.

‘I take those everyday because I was getting some really bad periods. I was getting some really nasty random big bleeds’, she said.

‘And when I was doing the Breakfast Show, I had horrific anxiety. That was my worst sort of symptom and that involved panic attacks, not being able to breathe, a lot of tears, quite a low mood and it was quite frightening at times.

‘Once I sussed out that was a major cause… because I did go on anti-depressants for a while for my anxiety, but I’m off those now and I’m really glad to be off those, but they did help for a little period of time.

‘It’s difficult with things like this because sometimes you are not sure what is what. You don’t know whether some of your symptoms are coming from things in life or mainly menopause so you have to try these things.

‘But now I am on a very steady, I’ve got steady moods. I sometimes get sad but that’s just life, it happens. But definitely hormone wise I feel so level.’

Earlier this year Zoe fought back tears as she revealed she had an emotional breakdown following her mother’s death last year.

Zoe was forced to take time off from her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show following Julia’s passing in April 2024 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Late last year it was announced that Zoe would step down from her morning slot, with Scott Mills taking over from her.