Sleep

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Power Nap Benefits

Power Nap Benefits. Are they good for us?

Are you feeling tired? If you find that you can’t wait for the day to end because you don’t have the energy to deal with anything in the late afternoon, then you could probably benefit from a quick afternoon power nap.

 

What is a Power Nap?

A power nap involves sleeping for a short period in the afternoon to help your central nervous system recover from the stresses of the morning. If you spent the early hours of the day dealing with clients and crunching numbers, then the chances are that you’re feeling pretty tuckered out by the end of the day.

Taking a short nap for 20 to 40-minutes will help your brain clear toxins from neural pathways, leaving you feeling revitalized and ready to hit the books or meet that client for dinner.

 

When is the Best Time to have a Power Nap?

Research shows that the best time of day for your power nap is between the hours of 1 pm and 3 pm. During this stage of the day, the brain is reaching its peak of neural activity, and taking a power nap at this stage is like feeding it a supplement to help its function later in the day.

Sleep experts recommend that you sleep for 20-minutes, and stretch it to 40-minutes if you’re feeling exceptionally shattered. Sleeping for longer than 40-minutes starts to induce the fourth stage of sleep – the REM phase, and it will end up making you tired and groggy when you wake up. By keeping to the 40-minute maximum nap time, you’ll feel restored and refreshed, not like you need to get back to bed.

Sleeping for too long also alters your circadian rhythm, your biological clock that regulates your sleeping patterns. If you get too much sleep during the day, it messes with your circadian rhythm, keeping you up at night when you should be sleeping. These types of changes to your natural body-clock will leave you feeling exhausted the following day.

 

The Benefits of a Power Nap

Power napping is a great idea. Daytime naps are an excellent way to avoid sleep deprivation. If you’re feeling tired after a long night, a quick 20-minute power nap can give you the energy you need to make it through the rest of the day.

Power napping also produces better cognitive function. Research shows that the brain clears toxins during sleep. If you’re having a hard time making out that spreadsheet, hit a quick power nap and you might find that it makes better sense to you later on in the day.

If you’re an athlete, hit a quick power nap before you head out to the gym or the track. The extra bit of rest will supercharge your athletic performance, and as a result, you’ll feel stronger and faster on your feet.

 

Power Nap or Coffee?

The next time you’re feeling tired during the middle of the day, put down the coffee pot and take a nap in the staff lounge instead, maybe try a nap pillow too. Drinking coffee may keep you awake due to the high caffeine content, but it’s a nervous system stimulant, not a refresher. As a result, you’ll find that you’re still yawning after your fifth cup of coffee.

The extra stimulation of the CNS may make you feel even more tired. A power nap ensures that you wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated – not overstimulated.

 

Final Thoughts

Are you sold on power napping yet? Why not give it a try and see if it works for you? Here are a few tips for you to use on your first power napping session.

Keep a regular napping schedule – and be consistent.

Set your phone alarm for 30-minutes, and don’t “sleep-in.”

Try and nap in as dark a room as possible, with no noise.

 

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Bamboo Mattress Benefits

Bamboo Mattress Benefits

Are you in the market for a new bed? Why not consider a bamboo mattress? Yes, we’re talking about the long-stemmed plant found growing in groves all around the world.

Fabric manufacturers process bamboo stems to remove the fibers for use in textiles, creating a bamboo fabric that’s woven in with other synthetics like polyester to form hybrid materials used in mattress manufacturing.

So, why bamboo? It’s light, moisture-absorbing, and breathable, making it the ideal fabric for use on your new mattress.

What is a Bamboo Mattress?

A bamboo mattress combines memory foam materials and springs in hybrid mattress design. Most manufacturers will construct their beds using memory foam products, or a hybrid combination of foam and springs.

The manufacturer then wraps the internal components in a cover to provide the final layer of comfort. There are various types of mattress covers available, but most use some synthetic fabric. Bamboo textiles make an excellent mattress cover, the light and airy fabrics breathe well, allowing you to sleep cool while wicking away moisture from your body.

Some manufacturers also add charcoal bamboo into the memory foam of their mattresses. This construction strategy provides the bed with better anti-microbial properties while improving heat dispersion.

Bamboo Mattress Benefits

Sleeping on a bamboo mattress has plenty of benefits. Here are our top reasons why you should go with bamboo for your new bed.

Hypoallergenic Properties

People that suffer from allergies will love the bamboo mattress. Bamboo has unique anti-microbial properties that make it resistant to bacteria, viruses, and fungi that can infest your bedding, leading to allergy attacks. As a result, the pathogens can’t settle on the bed and find their way onto your skin.

Bamboo also does a fantastic job of trapping pollen and dust particles that may set off your allergies. By sleeping on bamboo, you ensure you wake up feeling refreshed in the morning – You won’t have to worry about puffy eyes and an inflamed sinus in the morning anymore.

Manage Temperature Regulation

If you live in a warm and humid region of the United States, a bamboo mattress is ideal for your bedroom. Bamboo breathes well, allowing for better airflow throughout the layers of the bed. Memory foam is well-known to trap body heat, resulting in you waking up in a pool of your sweat during the night.

If you sleep hot, then a bamboo mattress can solve your perspiration problems with its airflow enhancement. The porous bamboo fibers promote optimal airflow while you sleep, keeping you cool and dry in the warmest climates.

Free from Toxic Compounds

All mattresses experience some sort of off-gassing after manufacturer. The glues and fabrics used in the construction of the bed end up turning to vapor and “gassing-off.” Most manufacturers gas-off their products before packaging and shipping the product to the customer.

The gas-off vapors include VOCs, (volatile organic compounds), such as formaldehyde, and toluene. The manufacturer will ensure these VOCs are gone before they ship you the mattress.

However, after opening your mattress on your bed frame, you may notice that there’s a chemical smell similar to the new car smell you get when you drive an automobile off the showroom floor. These vapors are harmless, and they will fade away after a few days.

Bamboo mattresses have fewer toxic compounds, meaning that they take less time to gas-off, and release fewer VOCs.

Natural Fragrance

After unboxing the bed and leaving it to uncompress in the bed frame for a few days, you’ll notice the odors floating through the room. Some memory foam mattresses with synthetic covers take a few months to completely gas-off. In the meantime, you have a smelly bed.

Similarly, memory foam is absorbent, and if you spill anything on the bed, it’s likely to absorb the odor of the liquid. A mattress featuring a bamboo cover always smells fresh., the hypoallergenic properties and the low VOC gas-off means that your bamboo mattress will absorb foul odors, rather than release them.

If you spill anything on the bed, the fiber design provides some water resistance, allowing you to wick away the liquid before it settles into the mattress.

Optimal Spinal Support

Bamboo mattress covers feature on the top-of-the-line products available. If you’re buying a bamboo mattress, you can rest assured in the fact that you’re purchasing a bed that offers excellent spinal support and comfort.

Sensitive Skin Protection

The hypoallergenic bamboo cover on your mattress ensures that your skin remains calm and feels soft. People who are living with the skin disorder, eczema or psoriasis, may find that some mattress covers may flare their symptoms.

A bamboo mattress traps all the dust and allergenic particles in the mattress cover, preventing the irritants from getting to your skin.

Repel Bed Bugs and Mites

If you live near the coastline or in the city, then bed bugs might be a cause for concern. Bed bugs are tiny insects that feed off of human blood. These bugs leave small little red bite marks on your skin that itch.

The bugs burrow into your mattress and come out at night to feed. Since these bugs can carry deadly blood-borne diseases, you’ll have to torch your bed if it’s contaminated.

The hypoallergenic properties of a bamboo mattress resist bed bug infestation, keeping you safe from these pesky little critters. A bamboo cover also stops mites from colonizing your bedding as well.

The Best Bamboo Mattress Brands

We spent some time investigating and reviewing the products available from top leading brands. We believe that the following three manufacturers offer the best deal for bamboo mattresses. Want to see the best bamboo mattresses? Read our Bamboo Mattress Buying Guide

Cariloha Bamboo Mattress

Cariloha 

Cariloha’s signature Bamboo Comfort mattress offers bamboo-infused charcoal memory foam for excellent breathability and optimal airflow throughout the bed. The cover is soft and plush and made from viscose bamboo. Interested in Cariloha Bamboo mattress, read our full review

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Brentwood Home

Brentwood Home Cypress Bamboo Mattress

This mattress features gel-infused memory foam for a more refreshing sleeping experience than traditional memory foam mattresses. The bamboo-derived cover provides excellent airflow and comfort.

 

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Lucid

Lucid 12 Inch Bamboo Mattress

This 12-inch plush hybrid mattress features temperature-regulating gel-infused memory foam, as well as antimicrobial bamboo charcoal. The mattress conforms to your body, providing a luxuriously soft sleeping experience. Read our detailed Lucid Mattress Review

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Bamboo Mattress Benefits – Wrap Up

Bamboo mattresses may cost a little more than a regular mattress cover, but considering the benefits on offer from the material – it’s a must-have for your next bed. The hypoallergenic properties, along with the breathable fiber, means that you’ll never wake up feeling sweaty again.

Anyone of the three manufacturers mentioned above will provide you with an excellent mattress for your new bed. Pick the mattress that suits your ideal firmness and budget, and enjoy peaceful nights for years to come!

 

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Help With Snoring

Our Help With Snoring Guide

Need help with snoring? Snoring is a very common sleeping problem that most people don’t know they’re going through until someone tells them they’re doing it. Statistics estimate that approximately 40% of men snore compared to approximately 24% of women – and while most people don’t realize this, it can be a sign of underlying problems with your sleeping routine (or sometimes health) that need to be addressed. If you snore yourself or sleep next to someone who does, you might feel at your wit’s end. Don’t!

Here’s a guide to help you understand why snoring happens, what can be done to stop it and reviews of some of the best products on the market that can help to make snoring a  thing of the past.

 

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Top 5 Help With Snoring Device

Snoring DevicesReviews5 Star RatingVisit Retailer
NEOMEN NT30B Snore Stopper Snoring Solution
Help With Snoring NEOMEN Snore Stopper
2200+4.1<strong>Check Prices</strong>
Yeesun Snoring Chin Strap S2
Help With Snoring Yeesun Snoring Chin Strap S2
120+4.9<strong>Check Prices</strong>
Upgrade Anti Snoring DevicesHelp With Snoring Upgrade Anti Snoring Devices200+5.0<strong>Check Prices</strong>
Snoring Aid Solution Anti Snoring MouthpieceHelp With Snoring Snoring Aid Solution Anti Snoring Mouthpiece50+4.8<strong>Check Prices</strong>
Snoring Solution Nasal Dilator Air Purifier FilterHelp With Snoring 2-in-1 Anti Snoring Devices100+4.9<strong>Check Prices</strong>

 

Why do you snore?

Most people don’t realize the fact that snoring is more than just a simple annoyance. Instead, it can also be something that points to underlying medical issues that you might not have known about that’s causing it, or it can be due to something that isn’t right when it comes to your sleep routine. Usually snoring is an easy problem to fix in both cases and its easy to find devices which help with snoring.

As you might have guessed by now, snoring can happen due to several different reasons. Here are 5 possible things that could be behind snoring every time you sleep.

 

Sleeping in the wrong position

Snoring happens when air “vibrates” through the sinuses when you sleep, and sleeping in the wrong position that helps this can often be a trigger.

 

Sleeping with the wrong pillow

If you’re sleeping with the wrong type of pillow for you, it could be putting strain on your neck in your sleep and be what’s causing you to breathe differently.

 

Problems with your sinuses

Sinus problems are a very common cause of people who snore, and if you experience constant sinus issues in the morning, you might snore and not even know it.

 

Some routines before bed

There are many things that can trigger snoring, including drinking alcohol or dairy before bed that irritates the nasal cavity and throat.

 

Sleeping with the wrong height

Just like sleeping in the wrong position, sleeping with the wrong height can often be what’s causing you to snore.

 

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Top 5 Help With Snoring Device

Snoring DevicesReviews5 Star RatingVisit Retailer
NEOMEN NT30B Snore Stopper Snoring Solution
Help With Snoring NEOMEN Snore Stopper
2200+4.1<strong>Check Prices</strong>
Yeesun Snoring Chin Strap S2
Help With Snoring Yeesun Snoring Chin Strap S2
120+4.9<strong>Check Prices</strong>
Upgrade Anti Snoring DevicesHelp With Snoring Upgrade Anti Snoring Devices200+5.0<strong>Check Prices</strong>
Snoring Aid Solution Anti Snoring MouthpieceHelp With Snoring Snoring Aid Solution Anti Snoring Mouthpiece50+4.8<strong>Check Prices</strong>
Snoring Solution Nasal Dilator Air Purifier FilterHelp With Snoring 2-in-1 Anti Snoring Devices100+4.9<strong>Check Prices</strong>

 

Remedies To Help With Snoring

Snoring is a health condition that can come with a lot of discomfort and sleepless nights – both for the person snoring and the person who has to sleep next to a chronic snorer! Sometimes snoring can even cause symptoms like pain and swelling of the throat, usually when waking up throughout the night or by the next morning, especially when the condition is chronic.

 

It’s a good thing that snoring is a curable condition, and usually easier to fix than you might have thought. There are plenty of possible remedies for snoring, and it’s usually just about finding the right one that works for you.

 

Here are some of the best common snoring remedies before we get to reviewing some products that can help with snoring.

 

Sleep on your side

Sleeping in the wrong position is one of the most common causes of snoring because of the pressure it places on the throat. Sleeping on your side can often help alleviate snoring by “opening up” the airways.

 

Try a new pillow

Especially older pillows tend to “sink in” and can cause a lot of discomfort – and it’s also a very common cause for people who snore. Sometimes, just changing your pillow to memory foam is enough to help snoring stop.

 

Try nasal strip or external nasal dilator

If your snoring problem is specifically due to sinus issues or sleeping with your mouth open, then a nasal strip or external nasal dilator can be a great help to “open up” the problem areas that are the cause behind your snoring.

 

Try Chin Strap

If snoring because you sleep with your mouth open, a simple chin strap can often be enough to control the condition completely.

 

Avoid alcohol before bed

Substances like alcohol or dairy before bed can put additional pressure on your airways – or relax them enough to “vibrate” and cause snoring. Stop consuming it before bed and see if it brings change.

 

Try an anti snoring mouthpiece

An anti-snoring mouthpiece is a simpler device than you would think, but it can help you to reduce the pressure in your airways and might even put a complete stop to snoring.

 

Raise your head by sleeping on a second pillow

If you’re sleeping in the wrong position or with the wrong pillows, you might find that just sleeping on a second pillow is enough to stop snoring for good.

 

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Top 5 Products Which Help With Snoring

 

NEOMEN NT30B Snore Stopper Sleep Aid Night Mouth Guard Bruxism Mouthpiece Help With Snoring NEOMEN Snore Stopper

The NEOMEN Snore Stopper is a mouth guard that helps you to stop snoring by ensuring that you don’t sleep with your mouth open – and don’t grind your teeth at the same time. It comes with easy instructions that tell you how you should mold the product for comfortable sleep and your individual jaw shape, and it guarantees to be a perfect fit.

 

The NEOMEN Snore Stopper also comes with a useful travel case for keeping it safe when not in use – or for travelling with if you’re going somewhere. Whether you snore or grind your teeth, the NEOMEN can be a great solution to these common sleeping problems.

 

Product Pros

  • The NEOMEN Snore Stopper helps to guard you against bruxism (commonly known as grinding) as well as snoring at the same time, so it’s perfect for either of the most common sleeping problems – or both.
  • It’s made from FDA approved materials according to international standards and the products are guaranteed to be tested when they come off the production line, which means that there’s no risk or allergy, irritation or potentially carcinogenic or dangerous materials.
  • It’s a very durable product that’s meant for long-term use.

 

Product Cons

  • The instructions for cleaning it aren’t clear enough, and many people have reported that cleaning it with toothpaste as recommended isn’t the best way for keeping this guard clean.
  • If you make a mistake while molding, you might have to follow the entire process again – and if you do it really wrong, you might have to buy another one.
  • If you have an under- or overbite, then the NEOMEN might not be the right mouth guard for your needs and you might have to find another brand that works for you – or make an appointment with a dental expert if you can’t find any mouth guard to fit.

 

Conclusion

There are many sleeping aids out there that people avoid just because the product is large, bulky or horrifying and makes you feel like an incarnation of Darth Vader in your sleep – but the NEOMEN Snore Stopper is one of the most unobtrusive sleeping aids out there, and most people wouldn’t even spot it as a sleeping aid at all if they saw it lying around. It’s great for helping with two different sleeping problems at the same time, whether or not you suffer from both, and this is one of the sleeping aids on the market that really happens to work.

 

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Yeesun Snoring Chin Strap S2 Help With Snoring Yeesun Snoring Chin Strap S2

The Yeesun Anti-Snoring Chin Strap offers you a great possible solution if you’re a chronic snorer who does it because you sleep with your mouth open. It doesn’t come with any fancy bells or whistles – but it doesn’t need to, because it does its job of keeping your jaw closed while you sleep pretty well without it being irritating or uncomfortable.

 

Product Pros

  • Yeesun is so confident in their product that they guarantee the materials won’t cause any contact allergies or issues with your skin – and if it does, they’re happy to send you your money right back so that you can find a product that works for you.
  • For the majority of people, the Yeesun anti-snoring chin strap is a perfect fit – and great for stopping snoring the same night they wear it for the first time.
  • Many chin straps are impossibly hard to fit – and pretty hard to get off when you’re still asleep. But the Yeesun chin strap is easy enough to use – and so easy that you don’t have to worry.

 

Product Cons

  • Even though it claims to be “one-size-fits-all”, you might still find that you have a hard time getting into the Yeesun chin strap if you have a slightly larger or smaller head or chin.
  • The Yeesun anti-snoring chin strap can sometimes be a very uncomfortable fit around the ears, and you might have the constant urge to pull at it or remove it from behind your ears while you sleep – which can only lead you right back to the cycle of snoring.
  • Chin straps are great for controlling snorers who do it because they sleep with their mouths open, but chin straps aren’t great if your problem is instead related to grinding and snoring, and a chin strap like this can often serve to worsen the problem.

 

Conclusion

Finding the right chin strap for your needs can feel like a nightmare once you’ve tried a few and haven’t found the right one for your needs just yet – but it doesn’t have to be this difficult with the Yeesun Anti-Snoring Chin Strap that’s likely to fit most types of sleepers and heads. It’s comfortable, easy-to-use and great for stopping snoring if sleeping with your mouth open happens to be the cause of why your snoring has become chronic – and it’s not one that happens to become so uncomfortable that you want to tear it off at night

 

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Upgrade Anti Snoring Devices. 8 Set Snoring Solutions Anti Snoring Stopper Nose Vents Help With Snoring Upgrade Anti Snoring DevicesNasal Dilators Snore

Upgrade Solutions Dilators are a great way to stop your snoring right in its tracks if it happens to be caused by the vibration of the nasal cavities while you sleep – which is one of the most common possible causes of why people snore in the first place. These are FDA-approved and come in a handy set of eight so that you don’t have to worry about running out – and you or your partner doesn’t have to worry about snoring becoming an issue.

 

Product Pros

  • The Upgrade Solutions set of dilators doesn’t just come in a handy set of eight, they also happen to come with a super handy travel case that means they’re safe when not in use.
  • Upgrade Solutions believes in their products enough to offer a lifetime warranty for their anti-snoring nasal dilators – and if you aren’t happy with the product or you have to replace the set due to years of use, they’ll happily send you another set.
  • It’s made from medical-grade silicone, a material that’s guaranteed not to cause allergies or rashes.

 

Product Cons

  • Some people just don’t like the idea of nasal dilators, and the moment they put them in they start sneezing – sometimes, this is something that you get used to, but other people just never do.
  • This product should always be cleaned regularly and properly after use – not doing so will mean that you need to replace it a whole lot faster.
  • While it’s pretty rare, there are still some people who might experience a contact allergy due to this product – and if you do, there are plenty of other products available that will work just as well.

 

Conclusion

There are many different things that can potentially trigger a snoring episode – and just one of these things is the vibration of your air canals as you sleep. For controlling snoring when this is the root cause, the Upgrade Solutions set of nasal dilators do their job perfectly fine – and they’re pretty easy to use and guaranteed to be completely safe; they’re also one of the most unobtrusive sleeping aids on the market, and this one comes with a carry case so that you can put it away when it’s not in use.

 

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Snoring Aid Solution Anti Snoring Mouthpiece, 4 Set Snore Stopper Nose Vents Nasal Help With Snoring Snoring Aid Solution Anti Snoring MouthpieceDilators Stop Snoring Mouth

Snoring Aid Solution advertises as one of the easiest ways to fix your snoring – and it very well might be, especially if your snoring happens because of common sinus issues.

 

Product Pros

  • Many users report irritation or discomfort when wearing nasal dilators for the first time, and you can take the edge off most of the discomfort when using these!
  • For some types of snorers, nasal dilators can work much better when it comes to controlling their snoring as opposed to other comparable methods.
  • They’re one of the few sleeping aid products out there that offers you a lifetime guarantee on the effectiveness of their product. This means that you know you can trust it for years of use!

Product Cons

  • Even though every precaution has been taken to avoid allergic reactions, some people have still reported a contact allergy and needed to switch to another product.
  • There are some users who have reported that this particular nasal dilator brand wasn’t a great fit for them.
  • This nasal dilator might not be a great fit for everyone, and if it doesn’t work for you, just change to another brand of nasal dilator to see if it fits better.

Conclusion

This product’s biggest drawback is the fact that it’s only available in packs of 4 – and this means that you’ll have to spend more money on this product by getting more than one box if you’re trying to remedy a chronic sleeping problem. But that’s a small issue for a product that happens to work great for a lot of people, and this might be just what you need to stop your snoring right in its tracks.

 

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2-in-1 Anti Snoring Devices, Snoring Solution Nasal Dilator Air Purifier Filter Nose Vents Help With Snoring 2-in-1 Anti Snoring DevicesPlugs Clip Stop Snoring Aids

The Snoring Solution nasal dilator and air purifier is a great product because it can take care of more than one cause of snoring in your sleep at the same time – and this makes it effective for several potential causes at once. It’s easy to use and greatly effective, even for breathing easier at night.

 

Product Pros

  • The product is guaranteed to be made from safe materials only, and won’t cause a rash or allergy even with chronic use.
  • This is one of the only sleeping aids that also focuses on the purification of air while you sleep, which can help you to breathe better.
  • The manufacturers are confident enough in their product to offer a money-back guarantee if you aren’t happy with the product or at any point need another replacement set.

 

Product Cons

  • There are some people who might find the “air purifying” aspect of the product too much to handle, and simple nose dilators might be a better fit.
  • Even though allergies are rare, there are still times where this product can cause potential allergies or issues.
  • If you’re prone to misplacing or losing items like nasal dilators, these are sold in only one unit at a time so that you might have to add two by default!

Conclusion

What happens to make this product greater than a lot of similar sleeping aids that you’ll find for sale on the market is the fact that this particular sleeping aid serves more than just one purpose – and can be useful for more than just one problem. It’s great for snoring, but it can also be great for alleviating conditions such as sleep apnea that might sometimes accompany snoring as a sleeping problem.

Overall, this is one of the best products for taking care of more than one issue at a time – and it can help to stop your sleepwalking dead in its tracks.

 

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Final Thoughts

There can be many different potential reasons for why you might be snoring in your sleep, and if you manage to track down the cause for the problem, you can find the right sleeping aid that will fix the problem. Just the addition of a simple sleeping aid that takes care of the root problem can help you (and your partner) to get a good night’s sleep again – without having to worry about things like snoring that keep you or them up for the majority of the night. As it turns out, snoring is one of the easiest sleeping issues to fix.

 

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Types Of Sleep Disorders

Types Of Sleep Disorders

There are many types of sleep disorders, and are increasingly common part of the human condition, and they’re a lot more common than you might think. Statistics from the American Sleep Association estimates that there are as many as 70 million Americans out there who suffer from some or other form of temporary or chronic sleeping disorder.

 

It’s a blanket term that describes several different disorders related to sleep. These can be varied, and including everything from bruxism (nightly grinding) through to insomnia (not getting enough sleep) through to hypersomnia, where the patient sleeps too much instead.

 

Here’s all the information that you should know about sleep disorders, how they’re determined and what can be done to treat them.

 

How Are Types Of Sleep Disorders Determined?

 

Sleep disorders have to be adequately diagnosed before they can be properly treated.

 

The first thing that tells most people they might be suffering from a sleep disorder is the fact that they notice something is wrong with their usual sleeping patterns. Sometimes they’re getting more sleep than they normally would (parasomnia), other times it’s because of not getting enough (insomnia) – but there are other sleep disorders which can fall into these groups, too.

Sleep disorders are officially determined in a clinical setting through assessing the symptoms, testing enzymes and hormones through a simple blood test and through a stay in a sleep clinic that usually only lasts 24 to 48 hours and allows experts to take a look at your symptoms from closer up.

This is to establish the nature and severity of the type of sleep disorder that you help, and it usually helps to establish the underlying cause at the same time. More tests might be ordered if the cause of the condition isn’t clear from the first round, which is common for some.

From the point where an official diagnosis is made, medical experts are able to recommend what treatments would work best for controlling the condition and restoring the sleep cycle back to normal.

 

6 Categories Types Of Sleep Disorders

Even though insomnia might be of the most common sleep disorders and the one that most people have learned by name, it’s not the only type of sleep disorder that you can be diagnosed with – and there are several different groups of sleep disorders that you might encounter.

Depending on the cause or your sleep disorder and just what symptoms you are experiencing, you could have insomnia, hypersomnia, a sleep-related breathing disorder such as apnea, circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders or parasomia as the cause; there are also potential disorders related to sleep and moment in these categories.

Here’s the brief description for what you should know about each.

 

Insomnias

Insomnia is one of the most common type of sleep disorders out there, and it’s the one that most people are familiar with – there are even some people who will use the term “insomnia” to describe their condition even though it’s not the correct name for most types of sleep disorders.

Usually, insomnia is characterized by the chronic inability to sleep – or sometimes the inability to be able to make it through a full night’s sleep. This condition can occur for a while and then subside for a while, or it can be a constant and lead to years worth of being unable to get through the night.

There are hundreds of potential reasons for what’s causing your insomnia to happen; this cam sometimes include dietary factors when certain foods are more likely to trigger the disorder, genetic factors can play a role in insomnia, chemical imbalances in the bran can contribute to causing insomnia and other times the condition occurs due to stress or hormone levels within the body.

Insomnia has the potential to be one of the hardest sleep disorders to live with, and it can be one of the easiest ones to treat once it has been properly diagnosed by a doctor.

 

Hypersomnias

Hypersomnias describe a group of sleep disorders that can almost be called the direct opposites of insomnia. Instead of interruptions in the sleeping pattern that causes a lack of sleep, hypersomnia will cause the opposite effect – and it can lead to conditions like narcolepsy, which sees the brain leap directly into the sleep phase from being wide awake in a matter of a millisecond, which can make it far more dangerous than insomnia and mean that it interrupts your life on a daily basis.

 

Sometimes hypersomnia will also be characterized by conditions that cause people to sleep far more than their bodies are supposed to. Usually in both cases, people with disorders that fall under hypersomnia end up being no more and no less tired than people who have been diagnosed with insomiac-related disorders.

 

If you are diagnosed with hypersomnia disorders, the first step for doctors is to find the cause of why the condition happens in the first place. In most cases the best course of action is through visiting a sleep clinic where the disorder will be allowed to happen in a natural setting, where doctors can assess the best possible ways in which to treat the specific condition.

 

Sleep Related Breathing Disorders

Sleep-related breathing disorders describe a range of conditions that affect the breathing in some or other way, and the condition generally only occurs when asleep.

 

Snoring is one of the most sleep-related disorders that happens to a lot of people, but that the majority of people have no idea is actually a disorder related to sinuses and breathing – and in some cases might even act as an early indicator or other health issues like sinus problems, apnea or heart conditions.  However, it’s not the only sleep-related breathing disorder that people are diagnosed with.

 

Talking or moaning in the sleep can also often be a common sleep-related breathing disorder that could be pointing to the same signs.

 

Sleep apnea is another common sleep-related breathing disorder that means that people stop breathing – usually only for a brief second – during sleep. This can happen as obstructive sleep apnea, central sleep apnea or child sleep apnea, a version of the condition that usually only occurs in children and babies.

 

Any sleep-related breathing disorders are considered serious and should be treated as soon as possible due to the possible complications they can cause for breathing during sleep, and the fact that the conditions are sometimes known to lead to further potentially fatal health issues.

 

Circadian Rhythm Sleep Wake Disorders

Circadian Rhythm Sleep-Wake disorders are sleep disorders that are considered to cause a direct disruption in the sleeping patterns, and this can be caused by both internal factors within the body or something outside of it.

 

What people call “jet lag” is the most commonly known type of Circadian-rhythm sleep-wake disorders, and it happens due to the fact that the body’s expectation of time no longer matches up with the time when they check their clock – and this can lead to many of the other sleep conditions mentioned in this article to occur as a direct result.

 

Sometimes Circadian-rhythm sleep-wake disorders can also take place due to the fact that the body’s rhythm is interrupted from the inside out rather than by an external factor, like in the common case of jet lag – in this case, it’s called irregular sleep-wake rhythm, and often treated in the same way that other Circadian-rhythm sleep-wake disorders are by restoring the sleep cycle back to normal through therapeutic means.

 

Circadian-rhythm sleep-wake disorders can usually leave people feeling tired, regardless of whether or not they are getting enough sleep – and it can take the body a while to restore itself back to the correct rhythm, especially if you are someone who travels through different time-zones a lot.

 

Parasomnias

Parasomnias describe a range of different sleep disorders that causes people who suffer from them to act out different behaviors in their sleep that you would normally have associated with being awake; of these, sleepwalking and talking might be two of the most common ones that you might already be familiar with.

 

Night terrors, sleep paralysis and the occurrence of chronic nightmares are also considered to be some of the disorders that can be counted under the category of parasomnias. Sometimes, these conditions might only occur as a child, or they might happen after some type of emotional or physical trauma that affects the brain and subsequently the sleep cycle.

 

In some cases, parasomnia is an entirely temporary condition that can be caused as a side-effect of certain medications. Depending on the individual cause, treatment can vary greatly – and it can be as simple as a switch to another sleeping medication, or the use of one to begin with.

 

There can be many different things that are counted as the cause behind parasomnias, and they require very careful examination of the cause before they can be treated. Like other sleep-related conditions (including insomnia and parasomnias), an appointment at a licensed sleep clinic is recommended to establish the nature of the condition first.

 

Sleep Movement Disorders

Sleep-movement disorders describes a group of different health conditions characterized by involuntary movements related to sleeping patterns; sometimes these might occur just as you are falling asleep and they might stop you from getting back into a proper sleeping routine, and other times these might occur during your sleep and you might not even aware they happen until someone else points it out to you or you notice that you’re experiencing weird pains during the day that feels like you were more physically active than you remember.

 

Any type of sleep movement disorder can cause a great deal of discomfort, pain and can even contribute to a huge interruption of the overall sleep cycle that leads to dangerous interruptions in the waking cycle (such as feeling like you’re too tired to function properly at work, or falling asleep at the wheel).

 

Just some of the disorders related to sleeping patterns and movement can include restless legs syndrome, periodic limb movements, sleep cramps, sleep-rhythmic movement and bruxism, more commonly known as grinding the jaw while asleep.

 

Disorders of sleep and movement are usually easy to cure or manage with the right treatment options, although there’s a huge list of “folk cures” for curing them – and very, very few of these treatments are effective when it comes to managing sleep-movement disorders.

 

Sleep Disorders Within The Categories

 

Sleep disorders aren’t all the same, and at this point in the article it should be obvious that there are different signs, symptoms and treatments for each of a group of different sleep disorders; by this point, you know the basics of what defines the different disorders and you might even recognize one or two already, but if you suspect a sleep disorder in yourself, you’ll want to know more than just the basics.

Here’s more information about the individual sleep disorders that have been described in this article, how you can recognize the symptoms and what can most commonly be done to treat the symptoms of the disorder.

Insomnias

Insomnias are perhaps some of the most common types of sleep disorders that you’ll encounter, and it’s likely true to say that the majority of people have experienced a temporarily inability to sleep at some or other point in their lives, sometimes due to physical or mental trauma that might affect their sleeping cycle for days, weeks, months or years at a time, although there can be a wide range of different causes for insomnia happening in the first place.

 

If you have been diagnosed with insomnia, it’s likely that you aren’t getting the right amount of sleep to keep your body and mind in healthy condition; it’s common for people who have been diagnosed with insomnia to have trouble falling asleep, or to have no trouble falling asleep at all, but instead problems staying asleep after they’ve woken up through the night.

 

Sometimes insomnia can occur as a temporary condition that happens when someone has never experienced the symptoms before in their lives, and other times the condition can be chronic and something that feels like it has stuck around for an entire lifetime – and this is different for each individual case of insomnia, and will likely be a different case for yours.

Types Of Insomnia Sleepers

Not all insomnias are considered to be the same, and while they can all have the same general symptoms – e.g. the fact that you aren’t getting enough sleep for whatever reason – they can have a wide range of different causes and will need to be treated in different ways.

 

  • Short Sleepers: Short sleepers are characterized by the fact that their sleeping patterns are literally “too short.” When it comes to the right amount of sleep per night, it’s estimated that you should be getting approximately six to eight hours of sleep per night to ensure that your body remains at optimal capacity (and the cells and brain get a chance to recharge).The condition of insomnia in “short sleepers” can usually be treated by restoring the sleep cycle through medication or making small adaptations to the routine just before bed; often times dietary factors can also be considered a huge part of the cause.
  • Child Insomnia: Child insomnia often occurs in children, and while the condition can commonly subside when adulthood is reached, the condition can continue well into adulthood as well as set over into other different types of sleep disorders at the same time. Because of this reason, childhood insomnia should be treated soon – usually with adaptations in the sleeping routine, and with a very light dose of prescribed medication in extreme cases.

 

Hypersomnias

Insomnias describe a group of different sleep disorders that are most commonly known to occur in cases where people aren’t getting enough sleep to meet their needs, and although it’s the most common type of sleeping disorder that you might encounter, it’s not the only type out there by any means.

 

Hypersomnia instead describes a range of health conditions whereby the sleep pattern is interrupted, usually in the opposite ways to which insomnia would have. Instead of getting to little sleep, people with hypersomnia-related conditions are instead getting too much of it – and they usually will feel just as tired as anyone who might be suffering from insomia.

 

There are many different potential causes of hypersomnia: Sometimes it can be a side-effect of medication or a result of physical or emotional trauma. Other times it might indicate the presence of another heath condition that needs to be monitored and assessed due to the fact that hypersomniac-conditions can occasionally point to other ones such as epilepsy.

 

With time, hypersomnia can start to affect the rest of the body – and conditions like narcolepsy are considered to be extremely dangerous, especially when they’re either undiagnosed or currently untreated. Conditions that affect the rest of the sleep cycle in this way should be especially closely monitored because of the potential danger they can pose when, for example, someone falls asleep at the wheel or while operating equipment as a result of their health condition.

Diagnosing Hypersomnia

Like with insomnia, hypersomnia has to be properly diagnosed before a treatment option for the condition can be planned – and for proper diagnosis of conditions like narcolepsy, hypersomnia or the condition that’s better known as being a “long sleeper”, an appointment with a sleep clinic might be needed so that the condition can be closely monitored for the best possible results.

Symptoms of hypersomnia can sometimes include sleeping far more than eight hours a day and still feeling tired, and in the case of narcolepsy symptoms can include falling into a sudden “sleep” in a matter of seconds at any point throughout the day.

If you suspect that you might have hypersomnia any health condition that could be related to any of the conditions related to hypersomnia, an appointment with an expert should be your first course of action. The condition has the potential to be dangerous, although is just as easily treatable with the right medication for your individual case of hypersomnia.

 

Sleep Related Breathing Disorders

Sleep-related breathing disorders refers to a group of disorders that affects the breathing during the sleeping cycle. These disorders can sometimes occur in combination with other disorders, but it’s very common for them to also occur on their own without any of the other conditions being present. Sometimes these conditions can be pointing to the fact that there’s a sinus problem or obstruction that’s causing them, but this might not always be the case, and like with the majority of different conditions related to sleep, you can expect individual cases to be hugely different even when we might be talking about the same disorder.

 

Snoring is one of the most common sleep-related breathing disorders that people usually fail to recognize for what it is, and if you have been experiencing chronic or temporary snoring as a symptom you should make an appointment with your doctor. This is especially due to the fact that snoring usually doesn’t occur by itself, and it has potential to be diagnosed alongside a condition like apnea, which can be dangerous.

 

Usually, snoring can be cured with just a few lifestyle adaptations: Sometimes changes to the diet will need to be made, such as cutting out dairy and the possibility of sinus issues during sleep as a result; other times, a C-PAP machine needs to be used in order to alleviate the condition.

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a condition that involves the interruption of breathing during the sleep cycle, This can be a potentially dangerous condition that can cause the obvious consequences that you would associated with stopping to breathe in your sleep. Sometimes sleep apnea is treated with medication that helps to control it, and other times the condition might need to be treated with surgery if it’s happening because of any pressing sinus issues.

It’s a condition that comes in several different forms, including obstructive sleep apnea (which is usually caused by a physical obstruction) and infant or child sleep apnea that usually occurs in childhood form, and might or might not occur into adulthood. Regardless, childhood apnea should be treated immediately.

These sleeping-related breathing disorders are sometimes diagnosed because of other sleep disorders that seem like they’re unrelated, or they might be found because of other health issues entirely that lead to a diagnosis of apnea.

Like the other types of sleep disorders, these are usually easy to treat with a combination of the right lifestyle changes and medication.

 

Circadian Rhythm Sleep-Wake Disorders

Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders describe a group of conditions that causes interruptions in your sleeping cycle that aren’t related to the type of interruptions that conditions like para- or insomnia-related conditions will cause. These conditions are very common in people who spend a lot of time travelling, and might cross over from one time-zone into the next without getting any sleep – or with an amount of sleep they feel is insufficient.

Circadian Rhythm – Jet Lag

One of the most common Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders is what people commonly call jet-lag, and it’s usually seen when people move from one time-zone into the next – and it happens because the body tries to adapt to this sudden change, and it often does this badly. Jet lag is usually a temporary condition that can be fixed with light medication or adaptations to restore the body back to it’s natural sleep cycle – although for regular travelers and people with medical conditions, it can easily turn into a chronic condition that requires more effort to treat.

Jet lag isn’t the only condition that forms part of Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders: Sometimes the condition occurs naturally as irregular sleep-wake rhythm, or sometimes there might be external conditions that can make these conditions happen, such as working shifts and being forced into an irregular sleep rhythm by default, or by jet lag which can be a great contributor to confusing your internal clock.

Circadian Rhythm – Sleep-Wake Disorders

Sleep conditions that are related to Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders are usually diagnosed when frequent travellers notice that they are feeling tired more than usual and find it very hard to function when they get off the plane; other times, they have such trouble adjusting that they can’t get back to sleep – or they’re sleeping too much.

When it’s caused by something like jet lag or working shifts, it’s classified as Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders due to the effect that it has on the sleep rhythm cycle of sleeping and waking up that we’re designed for.

Treating it is often as simple as restoring the natural sleeping rhythm, sometimes with techniques like “power naps” to restore the body and other times it might be done with a course of medication that can help you to integrate back into a better sleeping pattern. Often Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders are also treated with a combination of changing the patterns to get the right amount of sleep during a different part of the day.

Parasomnias

Parasomnias describes a range of different sleep disorders that are related to performing actions that you would normally associate with someone being awake, with the exception that someone is asleep while they’re doing it.

This can include disorders you would commonly think of such as sleep walking and sleep talking, but it might also encompass other conditions that are part of the same umbrella, including sleep paralysis, sleep walking and nightmares. Night terrors are also another common condition which can be part of parasomnias; most people might think of it as something that mostly happens in childhood, but it’s something that can also happen to many adults.

There are many different things that have the potential to cause parasomnia-related conditions, and your medical team’s first step will likely be to establish what the cause is so that the best course of action for treatment can be planned. While everyone’s condition varies (and so will the degree of intensity), there are several things that are known to be the cause of these types of sleep disorders.

 

Parasomnias – Trauma

Sometimes these conditions can be caused by emotional or physical trauma; it’s commonly seen with cases of combat-fatigue and other forms of trauma. These aren’t the only things that can cause the condition, and it can also happen because of many other different causes including taking certain types of medication, certain dietary factors and genetics.

Of course, there are some cases where there is no preceding trauma before the condition occurs and it occurs naturally – sometimes for a period of time, sometimes chronically until the condition is properly treated by eliminating the cause. Sometimes the conditions can be limited to childhood (for example, night terrors together with sleepwalking are often combined), but this shouldn’t be assumed to always be the case, and it can occur well into adulthood – or only start up at a later stage.

The best way to officially diagnose parasomnias is to make an appointment at a sleep clinic where the disorder and the conditions under which it occurs can be properly studied – this is a vital step for your doctors in order to make sure you’re getting the right treatment for your condition, and follow-up appointments are likely to be needed to ensure that the treatment is effective when it comes to alleviating the condition.

 

If the condition persists, adaptations will have to be made to the treatment with consistent monitoring to find something more effective.

 

Sleep Movement Disorders

Sleep movement disorders are characterized by movements of the body that occur either while the person is asleep, or while the person is trying to fall asleep; these conditions can lead to a lot of pain and discomfort in the long-run, and it can even cause other sleep related conditions such as insomnia in the long run when you aren’t getting proper sleep due to an underlying sleep movement disorder.

 

Restless Legs Syndrome

Restless legs syndrome is one of the most common manifestations for sleep movement disorders, and anyone who has ever struggled with this condition will know how frustrating it can be – and just what it can do to your sleep routine. There are a thousand and one possible home treatments for what supposedly fixes sleep movement disorders like this, but very few of them are known to actually work – and in most cases, trying to treat restless legs syndrome yourself won’t be effective unless you manage to find the right cause.

Diagnosing sleep movement disorders don’t always require the use of a sleep clinic, and might just require close monitoring of symptoms to keep an eye on the condition and what treatment for it is effective.

Restless legs isn’t the only common sleep movement disorder that you can be diagnosed with: Sometimes periodic limb movements throughout the night that interrupt sleep can be common, and so can cramps in the legs during sleep – which can point to using the wrong mattress or bed to sleep on, or to certain mineral deficiencies and muscle-related conditions; these usually mean that the condition can be fixed as soon as the cause of it is taken care of.

Bruxism

Bruxism is another common condition that can be diagnosed as a movement sleep disorder: It’s more commonly known as grinding the jaw during sleep. There can be several different causes for this, including dietary factors and a side-effect of many types of medication, but the treatment for bruxism tends to be approached in much the same way throughout: The cause should be eliminated where it can be found, but if the condition turns out to be chronic, a mouthpiece might be recommended to reduce the amount of pressure that’s placed on the jaw.

Sometimes cases of sleep movement disorders can be treated with the use of medication, usually mild and on a temporary basis if the cause for the condition is related to something else like a side-effect of another medication.

 

Final Thoughts

Having an undiagnosed and untreated sleeping disorder can be frustrating, and for a lot of people it can take years of struggling with a medical issue with an unknown cause before they manage to get help for their conditions; it should be a huge relief to know that sleep disorders are easy to treat in most cases once they have been diagnosed, usually just with the use of a few lifestyle changes and sometimes medication to compliment this treatment.

While many sleep disorders can feel hopeless, especially if you have been struggling with it for months or years at a time, it just takes the right treatment.

 

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5 Tips To Improve Sleep Anxiety

How To Control Your Sleep Anxiety

If you’re not getting a good night’s sleep, then you’re probably one of the more than 40-million Americans suffering from an anxiety disorder. How is it possible to be anxious when you’re going to sleep? Isn’t sleep supposed to be a therapeutic function that reduces feelings of anxiety?

Anxiety affects every biological action the body takes, including your sleep. Medical professionals refer to feelings of stress that prevent an individual from falling asleep as “sleep anxiety disorder.”

 

What is Sleep Anxiety?

As your head hits the pillow, you close your eyes and take a deep breath. It’s been a rough day at the office and your boss in on your case for turning in that report at the end of the week. You take another deep breath and wait for the comfort of sleep to drift you away to dreamland.

Two hours later and you’re still wide awake. Why can’t you seem to turn off your mind? Why do you continue thinking about that report? The hour’s tick by and before you know it, the first rays of sunlight creep into your bedroom. It’s morning, you need to be at work in a few hours, and you haven’t slept a wink.

 

What Causes Sleep Anxiety?

Sound like a familiar story? This scenario is textbook sleep anxiety. The disorder develops from a feedback loop in your adrenal system. The hormones cortisol and adrenaline are out of balance. Stress produces excess cortisol which then feeds a spike in adrenaline. The more you stress about things in your life, the more cortisol and adrenaline run through your bloodstream.

This “fight or flight” response by the adrenal glands helps when lions are chasing you on the plains of the African wilderness. Unfortunately, times have changed and now its bills, work demands, and social pressure that form the new-age lion we’re all running from, even at bedtime.

 

How to Treat Sleep Anxiety?

Unfortunately, there’s no “cookie-cutter” treatment strategy for curing sleep anxiety. Everyone has a unique hormone response to environmental stress, and every person deals with stress differently.

Our diet, exercise regimen, and ow we spend our downtime all play a significant role in determining our overall stress level. Consulting with a medical professional is the first place to start in dealing with your sleep anxiety.

Visit your doctor and tell them about your situation. Your physician will ask you qualifying questions regarding your lifestyle to help determine the source of your anxiety. Expect the doctor to take a blood sample for analysis as well. A blood panel will screen your hormone system for signs of an auto-immune disorder, such as adrenal fatigue, responsible for your condition.

 

What Helps Sleep Anxiety?

Expect your treatment to include an overhaul of your lifestyle. There may be multiple factors contributing to your disorder that require immediate change. Your doctor’s priority at this time is to help you establish and maintain a set sleep time.

Depending on the severity of your condition, your physician may prescribe sleeping drugs or over-the-counter sleep aids which assist you with falling asleep. Don’t think that you can get away with using drugs as a means of soothing your sleep anxiety – they’re a tool, not a crutch.

Eventually, you’ll need to uncover the source of your anxiety and work on ways to reduce the stress in your life.

 

5 Tips to Improve and Manage Sleep Anxiety

  1. Avoid Stimulants

How many cups of coffee do you drink each day? Energy drinks and coffee are a significant cause of elevated levels of stress in many people.

 

  1. Set a Cut-off time for Screen Time

Two hours before bed, turn your phone onto airplane mode and don’t look at the screen again until your alarm goes off in the morning.

 

  1. Exercise Regularly

Join a yoga class and learn how to breathe and stretch. This activity helps your body relieve the stress of the day.

 

  1. Medicate if Necessary

Follow your physician’s advice on medication. Never self-medicate to induce sleep, this behavior could wind up in dependency to sleep aids for falling asleep.

 

  1. Practice Better Sleep Hygiene

Sleep hygiene refers the period leading up to your bedtime. Optimize your behavior for sleep in the two hours before you retire to bed. Don’t eat in these two hours and minimize liquids. Meditate for a few minutes to calm your mind. Take a relaxing bath to prepare your body for sleep. Purchase a good bed, comfortable linen, and supportive pillows to get the most out of your time between the sheets.

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What Causes Insomnia

Insomnia & How To Improve It

Sleep is an essential biological function. Sleep deprivation, or a lack of sleep, can ruin your life. When we sleep, our brain clears neural pathways of stress hormones and toxins built up during the day. That’s the reason why we wake up feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep.

Unfortunately, that information isn’t helping you right now. You glance over at your clock to notice that it’s 3-o’clock in the morning, another restless night with next to no sleep in sight. Three days in a row and you haven’t managed to get a minute of rest. You spend every night tossing and turning, unable to shut off your mind and drift off to dreamland. How can you carry on living like this? If you’re wondering what’s wrong with you, you have a case of insomnia.

What Causes Insomnia

Physiological and neurological issues create insomnia in people. Stress is the primary culprit in most cases. Auto-immune disorders like “adrenal fatigue” create a hormonal balance in the blood between adrenaline and cortisol.

In this state, your body is experiencing a constant “fight or flight” scenario that keeps your mind working, preventing you from falling asleep. The fight-or-flight response is hard-wired into our system, it’s a primal response to danger and elevates stress so we can survive an attack.

Unfortunately, being under constant stress from your job, family life, or social circle can trigger the fight-or-flight response. The result is the inability to fall asleep, also known as “insomnia.”

What is Insomnia?

Insomniacs describe their condition as a feeling where they don’t know whether they are awake or asleep at night. It’s typical for people who have insomnia to spend all night tossing and turning, without ever dropping off to sleep.

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder where the brain cannot slow its function into the beta-wave state were sleep takes over the mind. Instead, the individual suffering from the disorder experiences a mental state where they feel like they’re about to fall asleep, only to find that they end up thinking about a problem or issue in their life.

 

How to Treat Insomnia

Treatment for insomnia varies from person to person depending on the symptoms and underlying causes of the condition. Visit your doctor for a diagnosis, and advice on treating your sleepless nights. Your physician’s first action is to give you a good night’s sleep. They may prescribe sleeping drugs or over-the-counter sleep aids to assist you in falling asleep.

It’s vital that you work on finding out the cause of your insomnia. A blood test checks for hormone imbalance. However, you need to audit your lifestyle for any attributing factors to your condition. Your diet, lifestyle habits, and exercise all play a part in managing your stress levels.

After you’ve visited the doctor, it’s time to take charge of the situation for yourself. We put together 5-tips to help you lift the curse of this terrible sleep disorder. Review each of them and ask yourself where you think you can improve.

 

5 Tips to Improve and Manage Insomnia

  1. What Are You Eating?

Our diet plays a central role in managing our health. If you overeat junk food and drink sugary beverages, swap them out for healthier options. Avoid drinking energy drinks and stick to one or maximum two coffees during the day. Habits like cigarette smoking increase blood pressure and the chances of developing insomnia.

 

  1. How is Your Health?

Do you exercise? You don’t need a gym membership to keep your body healthy. A walk around the block at a moderate every day is sufficient to relieve daily stress. If you want to take it to the next level, try joining a Tai Chi or Yoga class. These activities teach you to stretch and breathe, which help calm your mind and relieve your body of accumulated toxins.

 

  1. Is Your Work Environment Toxic?

Is your boss driving you mad? Do you work with people you don’t like? Spending all day in an office around toxic individuals will cause your mental health to decline. Learn to say no to people and don’t be hard on yourself.

 

  1. What Do You Do with Your Downtime?

Reading a book or watching your favorite show helps you relax in the evening after a long day at the office. Talk to friends or phone a family member if you’re feeling stressed.

 

  1. Optimize Your Sleep Environment

We spend one-third of our life asleep. Therefore, it makes sense to invest in a good bed, supportive pillows and quality linens. Turn off your cell phone before you go to bed to ensure notifications don’t disturb your rest.

Buy a set of noise-canceling earphones if you live in a busy city, and consider investing in some black-out blinds or a sleeping mask. A dark room will keep your mind from thinking its daylight outside.

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5 Tips To Sleep Better

5 Tips To Sleep Better

Sleep Better With These 5 Tips

Many of us want to sleep better and wake up feeling restored and refresh. Having a good night’s rest is just as important as maintaining a healthy diet and regular exercise. Yet, there are many factors that can interfere with sleeping well, from stress, academia, family responsibilities or medical illnesses. Even though you may not be able to control these factors that occur unexpectedly in life, there are a few habits that you can adopt to perhaps encourage you to have a good night’s sleep.

Sleep In A Peaceful Environment

In order to sleep better, it is important to create an environment that is ideal for sleeping. For many people, this type of environment is quiet, calming and dark. Practicing a daily relaxing bedtime routine is a great way to fall into a regular habit and encourage you to fall asleep easier.

It is recommended to stay away from any form of bright lights, such as your phone, as this can create excitement or stress. Studies have shown that being exposed to blue light- omitted by electronic devices- prevents our brains from releasing melatonin, a hormone which tells our bodies that it is the night. Thus, this results in you being unable to fall asleep quicker. If you find it difficult to create a peaceful environment, consider using ear plugs, an eye mask, black-out curtains and/or a fan in order to suit your needs.

 

Maintain A Regular Sleep Schedule

As stated in the previous tip, maintaining a regular night time routine can encourage you to sleep better. For a healthy adult, the recommended amount of sleep you should be getting is a maximum of eight hours, however many adults do not feel they need that many hours of sleep. You should try waking up and sleeping at different times before you settle into a routine in order to find out what works for you best.

In order to create and stick to a bedtime routine, you should go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. If you wanted to tweak your routine for the weekends, try to limit the difference in your sleep schedule by no more than an hour. Sticking to a regular routine will reinforce your body clock. If you find it difficult to fall asleep within half an hour try doing something relaxing, such as reading or using some relaxation techniques in order to help you drift off.

 

Reduce Midday Napping

Excessive napping may interfere with your sleep during the night. This is because napping during the day can confuse your internal body clock which will lead you having difficulties to drift off at night. Although short power naps are shown to be beneficial, naps that are longer than 60-90 minutes or irregular napping can ultimately negatively affect your sleep schedule.

However, some studies have also shown that those who take regular midday naps, did not suffer from any difficulties falling asleep at night. This shows that every person’s sleep schedule and body clock is different, and you may need to experiment to find out what works for you and your sleeping habits.

 

Try Not To Eat/Drink Heavily Before Bed

If you were to go to bed straight after eating a big meal or drinking caffeine, you may find some discomfort and difficulty to fall asleep. Try to eat earlier in avoid any discomfort as you try to sleep and also try to avoid heavy, rich foods a few hours before bed time. Eating these types of foods, as well as acidic or spicy foods can upset your stomach. In addition, drinking caffeine can stimulate your body, causing you to fall asleep less easily. While it is recommended to stay hydrated, it is important to avoid drinking too many liquids during the night which may cause frequent trips to the bathroom, disrupting your sleep.

If you find yourself in need of a light snack before bed try eating yoghurt, a banana or perhaps drinking some warm milk.

 

Sleep Better On A Good Mattress

If you find yourself struggling to fall asleep and have tried the tips suggested above, perhaps the issue is the mattress itself. The quality in your bed can have a big impact in your sleeping habits. It is recommended for you to replace your pillows every year and replace your mattress every five to ten years. If you struggle with any form of chronic pain, allergies or just discomfort, try changing to a mattress that will help your sleep.

Final Thoughts

Sleep is very important for your mind and body, as it allows you to rest and regenerate. Knowing how to sleep better is also essential, as you don’t want to develop bad habits which will affect your sleep. Some bad habits include eating before you sleep, not having a sleep routine and many more. Therefore in order to sleep better, make sure you have a sleep routine and follow it.

 

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5 Tips On How To Help Back Pain

5 Tips On How To Help Your Back Pain

Back pain is very common among a range of people from various ages, knowing how to help back pain is essential. Whether it is a constant dull ache or a sudden sharp pain, back pains can negatively impact your everyday life, even while you are sleeping. While people can develop a pain in their back from various factors, most common pains in the lower pack usually recover within a few days or weeks. The tips below may be quite effective in preventing future back pains.

Maintain A Good Posture

If you have back pain, it may be due to your posture. Could be walking, sitting or even the way you brush your teeth. You may not know it, but these little incorrect postures all contribute to to back pain. So to help your back pain, remind yourself to straighten your posture, have someone look at the way you are walking, see if you can straighten your posture. If you work in an office, make sure your computer screens are at the correct height and try not to lean towards the screen, as this will strain your back.

Exercise

Exercising regularly is a great way to maintain health. By doing exercises that strengthen your core, which are the muscles in your lower back, pelvis, abdomen and hips, it can help ease any back pains. Exercising your core regularly can prevent the risk of you straining your back as well as ease muscle tension and inflammation.

 

Watching Your Weight

Gaining weight can worsen any back pain you may currently have by shifting your centre of gravity therefore straining your lower back. If you maintain a healthy diet and regular exercise may ease any strain on your back.

 

Adjusting Your Bag

It is better for you back to have a bag that distributes the weight evenly around your shoulder and back. This is done through the placement of the shoulders. Buying a bag or a briefcase that has a wide, adjustable strap that is long enough to reach over your head is great at distributing weight. Having the strap on the opposite shoulder of the bag can help ease the weight that is put on your shoulders and prevent back pains. If you are carrying a bag that has no strap or you prefer to keep your bag on one shoulder, make sure to frequently switch hands and/or shoulders to avoid putting strain on one side of your body.

 

Sleeping Position

Sometimes back pain is due to sleeping in the wrong position. If you find that this is the cause for your back pain perhaps try to change the way in which you sleep. If you prefer to sleep on your side, try sleeping with your knees pulled up slightly towards your chest. It is recommended for those who sleep on their backs to put a pillow under your knees and one under your lower back in order to ease any strain. Even though it is quite hard on your back, if you prefer to sleep on your stomach you should try placing a pillow under your hips to elevate tension.

If you find that changing your sleeping position does not help, your back pains could also be due to your mattress. The type of mattress you buy depends on your body type. A soft, perhaps memory foam, mattress can work well for those whose hips are wider than their waist as it will allow your spine to stay straight as you sleep. Yet a harder, firmer mattress may provide additional support for those whose hips and waist already line up straight.

However, mattresses are different for all types of people, it is recommended for you to try out various mattresses whether it be at a hotel, a mattress showroom or even at a friend’s house in order to determine which mattress will work ultimately work for you.

Final Thoughts

There are many ways to help back pain, for example sleeping on a firmer mattress, seeing a chiropractor or getting massages. But the best treatment is to find the habits which are causing it, little changes to your daily posture can massively help your back pain, so make sure to have a look at your daily postures.

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5 Effects Of Lack Of Sleep

The Effects Of Lack Of Sleep

Lack of sleep is becoming a common issue, with everyone having busy lives, from work, studying, family life or even gaming, there are many factors that contribute to us staying awake for longer than we should. Getting enough sleep seems to be the last thing on your mind

Yet, there are many risks that can affect your health as your body needs sleep. During sleep, your body replenishes itself and restores its chemical balance. Without proper sleep, your brain and your body will not receive the rest it needs, and they will not function normally.

If you find it hard to fall asleep, then it might be time to change your sleeping environment, for example change your bed sheets, flip your mattress, try a new pillow or a new routine before bed time. Having lack of sleep has many affects, here’s 5 effect of lack of sleep:

 

1. Accidents

Lack of sleep can cause drowsiness which can slow reaction time as much as drink driving. It can affect your interpretation of events therefore hurting your ability to make a proper judgement. This is because we may not assess situations correctly and therefore act on them accordingly.

Those who lack sleep are prone to poor judgement especially on what their sleep deprivation is actually doing to them. If you think you are doing fine on little to no sleep, you are probably incorrect. Sleep deprivation is a safety hazard in everyday living and in a work environment. Accidents and injuries are more likely to occur, especially at work.

 

2. Difficulties Learning

As you sleep your brain, and your body restores themselves, allowing you to wake up ready for the day ahead. Various sleep cycles play a role in configuring memories in the mind. If you do not get enough sleep, you will not be able to remember what you learned or experienced during the day. Lack of sleep can impact the way you think and learn for the worse. This may affect those in academia the most. If you are a student who decides to do an all-nighter to get ahead in school, you may find that you face difficulties in learning the next day.  This is because lack of sleep hinders your ability to concentrate, problem solve, stay alert and reason.

 

3. Depression

Sleep loss can have a long-lasting impact on emotional function and your ability to think soundly. Over time, lack of sleep can contribute to symptoms of depression. There are many reasons as to why you may lack sleep, one factor can be a sleep disorder. Insomnia, the most common sleep disorder, has the strongest link to depression. It is said that depression and insomnia can affect each other very badly. Depression can make it much more difficult to fall asleep and lack of sleep can often aggravate the symptoms of depression. Those who are sleep-deprived are more likely to report feelings of failure, low self-esteem, poor job performance and reduced quality of life, among other things.

It can be said that treating sleep problems or symptoms of depression can help ease your mental health and sleep cycle.

 

4. Hormone Imbalance and Eating

Lack of sleep can contribute to an increase in appetite which could possibly result to obesity and other weight problems. If you frequently have little to no sleep, the body does not release the hormones necessary to regulate metabolism, glucose processing, and appetite. Instead it forms an excessive amount of stress chemicals, such as cortisol and norepinephrine. This hormone imbalance also disturbs other body hormones and causes them to behave abnormally. Along with the increase of cortisol being produced, less insulin will be released as you eat. This could possibly lead to too much glucose in your bloodstream which creates an increased risk of developing type two diabetes.

 

5. Aging Skin

Even if you were to not sleep for a few nights, you may find that you have puffy eyes and sallow skin. This is even worsened if you are deprived of sleep for a long time, you may experience fine lines, dark circles under the eyes and dull skin. As stated in the point above, when you do not get enough sleep your body will release more of the stress hormone cortisol. If an overabundance is produced, cortisol can break down skin collagen, which is a protein that maintains your skins smoothness and elasticity.

During deep sleep, the human growth hormone, which promotes growth when we are young, is released. As we age, this hormone helps increase muscle mass, strength bones and thicken skin. If you are deprived of sleep, the body will release too little of this hormone, thus affecting your overall health and appearance of skin.

Final Thoughts

Overall lack of sleep has many affects on your daily life from work to your general health. Sleep allows our body and mind to regenerate and restore, therefore its very important to get enough sleep. According to the Sleep Foundation, an adult aged 26-64 needs to sleep from 7-9 hours a night to fully restore, so make sure to prioritize how many hours of sleep you are sleeping.

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