Friday, August 26, 2011
Although there are many parents who claim their children sleep in their own beds, a recent report found that 13% of parents shared their beds with their children. This percentage has risen over the last decade with only 5.5% of parents saying they slept with their children in 1993. “It’s incredibly common,” Jennifer Waldburger, a family sleep therapist from Sleepy Planet said in a recent TV interview. “So many families struggle with this and it’s kind of one of those really well-kept secrets nobody talks about.”
Although it’s a growing trend in today’s world, should parents still be sleeping with their children? After all, when it comes to infants and their parents the practice does have its benefits. For mothers, sleeping with your infant makes night feeding much easier and it merges the parent’s and baby’s sleep cycles. It also can deepen the bond between parent and child, especially if the parent is at work during the day. But, what about the safety risks that come with small children s;eeping next to adults? The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warns parents not to place their infants to sleep in adult beds, stating that the practice puts babies at risk of suffocation and strangulation.
While there are some benefits to sleeping with children, Janice G. Tracht, MSW of Associated Counselors and Therapists in Hermosa Beach, CA believes otherwise. “A healthy family has healthy boundaries. There is a separation between the generations that functions to maintain a balance of power and appropriate intimacy. These boundaries do not exist to restrict the flow of love between members, but rather allow parents to share and benefit from mature adult intimacy, while fostering a loving and nurturing flow of parental affection to the children. When these boundaries are blurred or crossed, the marital relationship suffers.” She also believes that in divorced families, letting children sleep with a parent can be difficult because the child will become jealous when the parent finds a new adult sleep partner. In addition putting the child in the role of intimacy provider to their parent is inappropriate at any age.
If you’ve decided that you do not want your child to sleep with you through the night, here are a few tips to help your child sleep comfortable in their own bed:
Make Expectations Clear – The child should know that they are expected to sleep in their own bed every night.
Spend Time Together Before Bed – Tuck your child in by sharing a story or having a light conversation with them before bedtime so they feel secure, relaxed and loved before their heads hits the pillow.
The Sleep Fairy—Use special gifts from the “sleep fairy,” like the tooth fairy. If they sleep in their own bed, they get a little morning present
Be Tough—After the decision is made, parents need to quit co-sleeping cold turkey.
Plenty of Praise – It is very important to praise the child each morning after they have successfully slept in their own bed.
Associated Counselors and Therapists
If you have ever dozed off while driving your car you’re not alone. A 2007 study found that an estimated 2.3 million U.S. drivers have dozed off behind the wheel at some point in their lives. According to the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep in America poll, 60% of Americans have driven while feeling sleepy and 37% admit to actually having fallen asleep at the wheel in the past year. Now, those are some scary statistics because driving while sleepy doesn’t put the driver and their passengers in jeopardy but everyone on the road around them as well. Driver tiredness is linked to over 96 fatal traffic collisions per year and leads to countless more serious injuries.
Drowsiness while driving can happen to just about anyone at anytime. While most people are only concerned with dozing off while driving home late at night; people can fall asleep at the wheel on the way to work or during an afternoon drive after an exhausting day. In fact, drowsy driving is so dangerous, that after staying awake for 24 hours straight, you’re as impaired as if you are over the legal drinking limit.
Here are some signs furnished by the National Sleep Foundation to help you recognize when you may be too sleepy to drive:
• Difficulty focusing, frequent blinking, or heavy eyelids
• Daydreaming; wandering/disconnected thoughts
• Trouble remembering the last few miles driven; missing exits or traffic signs
• Yawning repeatedly or rubbing your eyes
• Trouble keeping your head up
• Drifting from your lane, tailgating, or hitting a shoulder rumble strip
• Feeling restless and irritable
If you get sleepy while driving there are many different tips available that can help you get home safely. But, leaving your window open is not a good strategy. Cold wind blowing in through your door is not proven to reduce the incidences of accidents due to drowsy driving. Also, turning up your radio is not a good solution. Having a loud car radio will not deter you from crashing into another car.
Here are some effective tips recommended by the National Sleep Foundation:
• For maximum alertness, get enough sleep before your trip. Take a mid-afternoon break, and avoid driving between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.
• Take a passenger to keep you talking, watch for signs of sleepiness, and share the driving.
• Schedule a break every two hours or 100 miles to take a quick nap or get some exercise.
• Consume a caffeinated drink or food to boost your short-term alertness.
Sleep Foundation
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
When it comes to being alert, refreshed and in great form both mentally and physically, professional athletes must do whatever they can to stay at the top of their game. In professional sports, the difference between winning and losing, making a catch or missing a free throw is miniscule. At the upper levels of professional sports the competition is tough and athletes must stay in the best shape possible and take every advantage they can. Although it may seem like common sense, recent studies have proven to athletes and trainers that getting extra sleep can give them the edge they need to stay at the top of their game.
A recent study at Stanford University looked into whether getting more sleep provides a distinct advantage over sleeping the traditional eight hours a night. Researchers took 11 players from its men’s basketball squad and gave them a simple directive: Get at least 10 hours of sleep a night. Although the study only focused on 11 athletes, the results were conclusive. Athletes averaged 5% faster times in their 282-foot wind sprints and their free-throw percentages increased by a whopping 9%. Only if someone explained this trick to Shaq before he retired…
Now that we know athletes can improve their performance by getting extra sleep what happens if you’re sleep deprived? A recent study at the University of Chicago Medical School found that sleep-deprived people metabolize glucose less effectively and emitted stronger levels of stress hormones that have been known to impair memory, produce insulin resistance and reduce recovery time in athletes. Recovery time can make a huge difference especially for athletes that must be prepared to compete day in and day out.
Fast Facts About Sleep and Athletic Performance:
• Chronic sleep loss can lead to a 30-40% reduction in glucose metabolism
• After four days of restricted sleep, weight lifters lose 20 pounds off their maximum bench press
• Sleep improves split-second decision making by 4.3%
• Tennis player Roger Federer sleeps, on average, 11-12 hours a night
• Two days of sleep restriction can lead to a three times increase in lapses of memory and reactivity
Ready to sleep your way to victory? Even if you’re not a professional athlete making sure you get the recommended eight hours of sleep every night can go a long way towards improving your mental and physical performance. Getting that extra boost of energy every day can make a huge difference whether it’s in business, raising a family of being your creative best. Plus, sleeping is so wonderful in its own right, do you really need another reason to enjoy a few more hours beneath the sheets?
If you’re a senior citizen you may be experiencing a very common problem, the inability to sleep through the night. Many seniors simply accept their sleep problems as unavoidable side effects of the aging process, but there are many ways seniors can improve their overall sleep quality. It’s important for seniors to address any underlying sleep issues at their onset because poor sleep quality in the short term can lead to a lack of energy, mental acuity and, if left untreated, long-term health issues such as cardiovascular problems, obesity and diabetes.
Why Do Seniors Have a Hard Time Sleeping?
One reason for these problems is because seniors secrete less melatonin, the hormone that promotes sleep. Melatonin deficiency also results in fragmented sleep, more frequent sleep cycles and an increase in awakenings per night. Seniors also produce less HGH, another valuable hormone that promotes sleep. Further, aging can cause a disruption in Circadian rhythms making seniors feel sleepy earlier in the day and causing them to rise earlier. Health problems are also major sleep disruptors. Arthritis, osteoporosis, bladder troubles, heartburn and anxiety can all prevent seniors from sleeping soundly.
How Much Sleep Should Seniors Get?
Sleep requirements for most healthy adults range from seven to nine hours a night depending on the individual. While there are no hard-set rules for seniors regarding the recommended amount of sleep they should get each night, they shouldn’t settle for less just because sleep is proving more difficult. The important factor is how you feel each morning. If you have a lack of energy and poor concentration throughout the day, chances are you should be getting more sleep every night.
Tips for seniors to improve their sleep quality:
Get plenty of exercise – Exercise releases endorphins that improve your mood and also will help you fall asleep faster at night.
Get some sun – Bright sunlight increases your melatonin levels and helps to regulate your sleep-wake cycles.
Keep naps short – It’s good to nap in the early afternoon, but try not to nap after 3:00 pm as it may affect your sleep that night. Also, keep your naps shorter than 45 minutes so you don’t feel too groggy or disrupt your sleep at night.
Drink less before bed – Limit your liquid intake at least an hour and a half before bed to prevent waking up in the middle of the night to urinate.
Avoid alcohol before bed – Alcohol may make you sleepy, but it can also disrupt your sleep cycles and prevent you from reaching the most replenishing levels of sleep.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
It is very common for people to have a night cap before bedtime to help them fall asleep. The sedating effects of alcohol are very effective at calming the mind and the body and helping people reach the onset of sleep in less time. Although many people report that heavy drinking makes them sleep soundly, alcohol actually has the reverse effect and will make you more tired the next day. How does alcohol deceptively ruin a good night’s sleep? Read on to see what the SleepBook team found out in our recent under-the-covers investigation.
Alcohol Disrupts Sleep Cycles
Drinking alcohol before bed can have a negative effect on what scientists call “sleep architecture” — the pattern of sleep and brain waves that leaves you feeling refreshed in the morning. We need the right balance of REM sleep and non-REM sleep, and alcohol disturbs this.
Alcohol is No Cure for Insomnia
A recent survey found that 28% of insomniacs used alcohol in an attempt to induce sleep on a nightly basis. Unknowingly, an insomniac may ingest alcohol to help them fall asleep but, because alcohol disrupts the sleep cycle. This prevents people from reaching the deeper, more restorative phases of sleep, leaving them feeling groggy and tired in the morning. Also, repeated use of alcohol to help fall asleep can eventually lead to alcohol dependence.
Dehydration
Alcohol dehydrates the body which can wake a sleeper up in the middle of the night with a parched throat or mouth. Waking up thirsty also means a trip to the kitchen for a glass of water which may make it difficult for the sleeper to fall back to sleep.
Sleep Apnea
A recent study by the University of Wisconsin Medical School found that “Each additional alcohol drink per day increased the odds of sleep-disordered breathing by approximately 25%.” Sleep apnea causes people to imperceptibly wake up frequently throughout the night – sometimes over a hundred times per hour – which can lead to many serious health problems.
If you’re having trouble getting to sleep at night, avoid the alcohol and go for a natural cure. Here’s a few ways you can fall asleep naturally:
- Get plenty of exercise during the day
- Develop a consistent sleep/wake cycle
- Don’t drink caffeine after 3:00 pm
