Tuesday, November 29, 2011
A recent study by the Minnesota Sleep Institute found that nearly three out of every four women are sleep deprived. This is a drastic increase over men of which only about one on four suffer from the condition. Now, why is it that women are suffering at a greater rate than men? Here, the SleepBook team investigates…
Sleep deprivation is a serious problem. The average woman should be getting eight hours of continuous sleep every night. Women who are not getting enough sleep are at risk of developing obesity. Women who are sleep deprived tend to over indulge on fatty, high-caloric foods in order to recoup their energy, plus being sleep deprived can cause an imbalance in appetite-curbing hormones. Sleep deprivation also diminishes mental acuity, can hinder work performance and weakens the immune system.
One of the leading causes of sleep deprivation in women is the stress that comes with raising a family, especially for single mothers. In addition to the early morning pressure of getting their youngsters ready for school, single mothers can be awakened by babies that need feeding or extra attention during the night. Being a mother also creates for restless nights spent lying in bed ruminating over the day’s activities while milling over the countless tasks on the next day’s to-do list.
Due to their menstrual cycles, women are constantly going through hormonal sways throughout the month. Early in their cycles, low progesterone levels interfere with their ability to attain quality, restorative sleep. Later in the month, elevated progesterone levels can make a woman feel sleepy and sleep deprived even if they’ve slept for a full eight hours the night before. For post-menopausal women, hot flashes can cause women to wake up more frequently in the night.
If you are a woman experiencing sleep deprivation, understand that although sometimes it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day, by getting the correct amount of sleep you can maximize the time you do have. It’s hard to be supermom when you’re not getting enough sleep, try and put yourself on a solid sleep schedule. This will help put your body into a rhythm and you’ll fall asleep faster and reach the deeper nourishing levels of sleep easier.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The average person spends about one third of their entire life sleeping on a mattress. The interesting thing is that most people spend much more time shopping for a car or their couch rather than researching the perfect mattress for their needs. Mattresses come in many different types whether they’re firm, extra firm, soft or ultra plush. They are also made from various materials whether it’s latex, a traditional coil system or memory foam. Sleepers in search of the perfect mattress should find out the type of mattress that best suits their individual needs before selecting a product.
Not sleeping on the right type of mattress means sleeping on a surface that isn’t providing the proper support every day of the week. This can have a severely negative effect on your back, spine and neck. Whether you should be sleeping on a firm or soft mattress has less to do with the actual level of comfort you desire and more to do with your individual body type. Now, what if you sleep with a partner that has a different body type? These days, there are mattresses available with different comfort levels on each side to accommodate both sleepers.
Larger individuals are best suited for a firm mattress because they offer additional support for the sleeper. For heavier individuals, a soft mattress can make for an uncomfortable night’s sleep and the mattress may not be able to correctly distribute the sleeper’s weight across the sleep surface. This can result in uncomfortable pressure on certain parts of the body.
Individuals who aren’t quite as heavy should get softer mattresses that evenly distribute their weight. For lighter individuals, a firm mattress may be too hard and not support certain parts of the body, forcing the sleeper to overcompensate by sleeping in less-comfortable positions.
Now, these suggestions are just that, suggestions. To find out the perfect mattress for your individual body type, you should consult a Body Diagnostic Machine, like the diagnostic beds available at all Sit ‘n Sleep locations in Southern California. For non-southern California residents you can find these diagnostic beds at a handful of exclusive retailers throughout the country. The Body Diagnostic Machine has a bed that measures how your body interacts with a sleep surface and can determine the perfect mattress for your needs within 97% accuracy. This virtually removes any guesswork from choosing a mattress and helps to ensure you’re sleeping on the correct surface, night after night.
Body Diagnostic
For the majority of Americans, the morning just wouldn’t be the same without a big jolt of caffeine to help them start the day. But, if they simply got enough sleep each night, they’d wake up feeling great every morning without needing the chemical boost. With over 68 million Americans drinking three cups of coffee or more a day, it’s safe to say caffeine addiction is a national pastime. For people that are addicted to caffeine, not being able to have their morning coffee is a serious issue. Caffeine withdrawal can give you a big headache and/or muscle pain throughout the body.
Although being addicted to caffeine isn’t as dangerous as being dependant on nicotine or alcohol, it can cause health problems down the road. Caffeine is known to cause high blood sugar, a reduction in serotonin release, sleep disruption, caffeine tolerance and malnutrition. Given the potential problems that stem from caffeine addiction, why not go the healthy, natural route by improving your nightly sleep habits instead of being forced to drink coffee in the morning? You’ll feel better and be on the road to better health.
Here are a few tips to kick the caffeine habit and wake up naturally:
1. Be aware of what you’re consuming – Caffeine isn’t jus in coffee. It’s found in heavy amounts in sodas, energy drinks and tea and is also present in chocolate, gum and even ice cream. Over-the-counter pain relievers may also contain caffeine and can be habit-forming.
2. Taper down your caffeine consumption – This is an easier and more comfortable way to break the caffeine addiction. If you usually drink three cups of coffee a day, switch to two every day for a week, then one, until you’re off the drink completely.
3. Try something new – Although there can be caffeine in tea, there is usually less than a cup of coffee. Try switching drinks and see if your thirst for caffeine doesn’t diminish a bit.
4. Water down your caffeinated beverages – This can help you slowly wean your way off of the stimulant.
5. Ever try decaf?
6. Ask yourself an extra time – Before filling your cup at work or stopping by the local coffee show in the morning, ask yourself an extra time, do I need this cup of coffee or can I do without?
7. Brew less – If you’re a tea drinker, steep your tea for half the time, this will reduce the amount of caffeine you’re consuming.
8. Order a small – If you normally grab a huge, 24 oz coffee in the morning, take it easy. Go for 12 oz and see if you actually notice the difference.
Monday, October 03, 2011
The recent trial of pop icon Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, has brought the danger of prescription sleeping pills to light. Whether Michael’s doctor was guilty of administering medication improperly or Michael was indeed addicted to prescription pills, it appears that there was an exorbitant amount of sleeping medication in the pop star’s system. Because of the large amount of media coverage of the trial, people have been becoming familiar with sleeping medications they may have never heard of, including Lorazepam and Propofil.
The most common prescription sleeping pills are Xanex, Ativan, Restoril and Ambien. These are commonly prescribed by doctors for patients having a difficult time falling and staying asleep. These drugs are of the tranquilizer class and help people sleep by lowering their heart beat and slowing their breathing. This drowsiness helps people fall asleep, but these pills do nothing to help people suffering from insomnia or other sleep disorders; they simply mask the problem.
Reliance on prescription drugs to solve sleep problems can lead to either physical or psychological dependency. Taking sleeping pills for too long can result in rebound insomnia. Rebound insomnia happens when people are taken off the drug which they’ve been dependent on to sleep. This eventually makes the sleep problem much worse. Some say this is what eventually led to Michael Jackson taking such drastic measures in order to sleep throughout the night.
Here are some of the signs of sleeping pill addiction:
• You have developed a tolerance to sleeping pills, and you require more of the drug than you used to in order to feel the same effects.
• You mix sleeping pills and alcohol or other drugs.
• You feel irritable, sick or experience intense emotions without a sleeping pill.
• Without the sleeping pill, you feel that you may stay awake for days.
• Your body weight has changed rapidly, or you are experiencing digestive problems.
• You experience headaches, lightheadedness, forgetfulness or feel like you cannot fully wake up.
Unfortunately for Michael Jackson, he eventually succumbed to some form sleeping pill abuse. But, for others struggling with the condition, help is available. These days, there are many rehab facilities available for people with severe sleep problems or sleeping pill addictions and people who work the steps to recovery can expect to kick the habit and live addiction-free. The story of Michael Jackson should serve as a warning to people with sleep problems that are facing sleeping pill addiction. Hopefully his story can prompt people with similar troubles to get help.
As we’ve previously reported in SleepBook, sleep-deprived adults are more likely to be overweight than those that get eight hours a night of sleep each night. Evidence of the link between sleep deprivation and weight gain has grown even stronger with a new study recently published by the Journal of the American Medical Association. This study found that sleep-deprived children are also at a greater risk of being overweight.
The study was conducted on 244 children between the ages of three and seven and found that children between the ages of three and five had a lower BMI (body mass index) at the age of seven than their shorter-sleeping counterparts. The study also went on to demonstrate that babies and toddlers that slept less than the recommended 12 hours a night had a much greater chance of becoming overweight when they reached pre-school. The study also found that sleep-deprived teens were much more likely to grab high-calories snacks than those who slept more.
This latest study joins a large and growing body of evidence that sleep has a significant impact on children’s weight. Here are a few tips to help your child sleep better in order to maintain a healthy weight.
• Turn off the television. There is plenty of evidence that TV before bed disrupts children’s sleep.
• Keep a consistent sleep schedule. Even on weekends, make sure your children’s sleep and wake cycles are consistent.
• Although they may stay up later, teens actually need more sleep: about 9 and a quarter hours of sleep every night.
