According to the National Institutes of Health, insomnia affects more than 70 million Americans.
While hours of sleep per night have become the standard recommendation, everyone is different. Some people truly do not need that much sleep, whereas some people need more than 8 hours. You can determine for yourself if you’re well rested if the following apply to you:
• You wake up without an alarm clock;
• You usually do not sleep late on weekends;
• You’re not falling asleep during boring or sedentary activities (i.e. watching television, boring meetings or lectures)
Many things contribute to being sleep-deprived, including your dietary habits, your daily routine/schedule, and your sleeping environment. If you’ve determined that you are not well-rested, it’s time to start developing good sleeping habits for yourself.
During the Day:
• Get regular exercise. Be cautious of exercising within 2-3 hours of going to bed; this can make it harder for you to fall asleep.
• Say no to caffeine. Your sleep can be particularly affected when you have caffeine later in the day.
• Avoid naps. Napping later in the afternoon or evening can disrupt your body’s sleeping pattern and make it more difficult to fall asleep when bedtime arrives. If you do need to nap, opt for a short 10-20 minute nap; longer than 45 minutes can make you feel drowsy.
• Turn off the TV. Research has found that children and teenagers who watch more television have greater difficulties falling and staying asleep.
At Night:
• Establish a regular bedtime. Go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time each day. Your body works well when it has a set routine.
• Relax! Often our brains are racing with things that happened during the day or our to-do lists for the following day. Try building in relaxation rituals such as a warm bath, massage, hot tea (decaffeinated), or reading a book.
• Don’t spend too much time in bed. Only spend as
much time in bed as you’d actually spend sleeping. You can’t force your body to sleep more by staying in bed longer and can actually make the bed turn into a source of wakefulness and frustration.
• Avoid alcohol and nicotine. Although you may initially feel drowsy from consuming alcohol, when your blood alcohol level drops, your sympathetic nervous system is activated. Therefore, if you don’t avoid alcohol completely, make sure you wait at least one hour per drink before gong to bed. In addition, nicotine stimulates your bodily systems like caffeine, so it should be avoided.
Natural Sleep Aids
There are some herbal remedies that can help if you aren’t eager to use prescription or over-the-counter medications (most experts do not advocate long-term use of sleep aids of any kind).
• Hops – a British plant used to flavor beer that can cause sleepiness. The recommendations are to take this herb 1-2 hours before bed as a pill or in a cup of tea.
• Valerian – an herb commonly used in traditional medicine as a sedative. It appears that it is more effective in alleviating mild anxiety or stress (often triggers for sleeping difficulties) than treating insomnia itself.
• Melatonin – a hormone produced by the body during times of darkness and causes sleepiness. This process is interrupted by travel, time zone changes, stress, working night shifts, age, or increased light exposure. It is not recommended to take melatonin long-term; short-term use should be no more frequently than every other night (ideally every third night) at the lowest dose possible (0.3 mg a few hours prior to bed); higher doses of 2 to 5 mg can cause nightmares.
Even “natural” herbal remedies are merely providing a band-aid fix for sleep problems. If you’re finding that you are using sleep aids regularly, it’s time to seek professional help from a qualified healthcare provider.
Sources: Better Sleep Council; National Sleep Foundation; Kelly Rice, “Insomnia”, Today’s Health & Wellness (September/October 2005), National Health & Wellness Club.
Showing posts with label chronic insomnia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chronic insomnia. Show all posts
Friday, January 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Insomnia is Bad for the Heart
Can't sleep at night? A new study published in the journal Sleep has found that people who suffer from insomnia have heightened night-time blood pressure, which can lead to cardiac problems. The investigation, which measured the 24-hour blood pressure of insomniacs compared to sound sleepers, was conducted by researchers from the Université de Montréal, its affiliated Hôpital du Sacré-Cour de Montréal Sleep Disorders Centre and the Université Laval.
"Over many years, chronic insomnia can have negative effects on the hearts of otherwise healthy individuals," says lead author Paola A. Lanfranchi, a professor in the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine and researcher at the Hôpital du Sacré-Cour de Montréal Sleep Disorders Centre. "Whereas blood pressure decreases in regular sleepers and gives their heart a rest, insomnia provokes higher night-time blood pressure that can cause long-term cardiovascular risks and damage the heart."
The findings are important given that insomnia, which is a chronic difficulty falling or staying asleep, affects up to 48 percent of the population at some point in their lives. As part of the study, the scientific team recruited 13 otherwise healthy chronic insomniacs and 13 good sleepers. Subjects spent 40 hours in the sleep laboratory: two nights for adaptation and one for monitoring followed by the intervening day.
"Blood pressure cycles are mainly linked to the sleep-wake cycle," says co author Jacques Montplaisir, a professor in the Université de Montréal Department of Psychiatry and director of Hôpital du Sacré-Cour de Montréal Disorders Center. "Since blood pressure is heightened among insomniacs, those with overt cardiac disease are particularly at risk for progression of the disease."
About the Study
The article "Night-time Blood Pressure in Normotensive Subjects With Chronic Insomnia: Implications for Cardiovascular Risk," published in Sleep was authored by Paola A. Lanfranchi, Marie-Hélène Pennestri, Lorraine Fradette, Marie Dumont and Jacques Montplaisir of the Université de Montréal and its affiliated Hôpital du Sacré-Cour de Montréal, as well as Charles M. Morin of the Université Laval.
Source
"Over many years, chronic insomnia can have negative effects on the hearts of otherwise healthy individuals," says lead author Paola A. Lanfranchi, a professor in the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine and researcher at the Hôpital du Sacré-Cour de Montréal Sleep Disorders Centre. "Whereas blood pressure decreases in regular sleepers and gives their heart a rest, insomnia provokes higher night-time blood pressure that can cause long-term cardiovascular risks and damage the heart."
The findings are important given that insomnia, which is a chronic difficulty falling or staying asleep, affects up to 48 percent of the population at some point in their lives. As part of the study, the scientific team recruited 13 otherwise healthy chronic insomniacs and 13 good sleepers. Subjects spent 40 hours in the sleep laboratory: two nights for adaptation and one for monitoring followed by the intervening day.
"Blood pressure cycles are mainly linked to the sleep-wake cycle," says co author Jacques Montplaisir, a professor in the Université de Montréal Department of Psychiatry and director of Hôpital du Sacré-Cour de Montréal Disorders Center. "Since blood pressure is heightened among insomniacs, those with overt cardiac disease are particularly at risk for progression of the disease."
About the Study
The article "Night-time Blood Pressure in Normotensive Subjects With Chronic Insomnia: Implications for Cardiovascular Risk," published in Sleep was authored by Paola A. Lanfranchi, Marie-Hélène Pennestri, Lorraine Fradette, Marie Dumont and Jacques Montplaisir of the Université de Montréal and its affiliated Hôpital du Sacré-Cour de Montréal, as well as Charles M. Morin of the Université Laval.
Source
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Choosing your Over the Counter Sleep Aids
How do you begin to choose between the different types of Over the Counter Medications? John of bestoverthecountersleepaids.com provides a guide on how to choose your over the counter sleep aids. Read the whole article below.
There are dozens of different over the counter sleep pills available today. How do you even begin to choose between the different types of OTC medications? I had no idea where to start when I was plagued with insomnia. I didn’t know if herbal was best, or if it didn’t matter if there were non-herbal ingredients. I also wondered if I should just see a doctor and buy expensive, prescription sleep aids.
It turns out that a lot depends on the type of insomnia you have. And I didn’t even know there were different types. I thought that if you couldn’t sleep well for more than a few days, you had insomnia, period. This isn’t all there is to it.
The insomnia that many people have at some point or another is called transient insomnia. Transient fits, I suppose, because it comes and goes. It can last one night or several, but is usually related to a current stressor. And once the stress goes away, so does the insomnia. Haven’t we all been bothered by this at least now and then?
Acute insomnia lasts longer, usually for at least three weeks. This is a longer-term problem that can rob you of sleep for up to six months. There will be nights that you do sleep with this type of insomnia, but the majority of nights will find sleep elusive.
Chronic insomnia can go on for months or years. Chronic fatigue, depression, distractibility, lack of concentration and general fuzzy-headedness occur with this type of problem. Chronic insomnia is something you should talk about with your doctor, instead of looking at over the counter sleep pills. Usually with chronic insomnia, there’s a medical problem that’s the reason for the lack of sleep, and it should be dealt with.
For transient and acute insomnia, over the counter sleep pills are a valuable option. Some opt for prescription pills, but this carries some risks you might not be aware of. In today’s world where some people talk sleeping pills to sleep, wake-up pills to get up in the morning and a variety of mood-altering pills throughout the day, people look at sleeping pills as something pretty harmless. But prescription sleep aids are highly addictive. It’s not difficult to become dependent on them, and unable to fall asleep with the pill.
Over the counter sleep pills, on the other hand, don’t have the heavily addictive ingredients you find in sleep aids that are prescription only. OTC pills are usually less expensive, as well. And because the herbal over the counter pills have natural ingredients, there’s a bit less chance that you’ll have any kind of problem with the pills.
There are over the counter pills to help you sleep that aren’t herbal, as well. These can work just as well as herbal remedies, but still skip the tendency to addict users and make them unable to sleep without a pill. If you just need help sleeping occasionally, then these over the counter pills can help you finally get some rest.
There are dozens of different over the counter sleep pills available today. How do you even begin to choose between the different types of OTC medications? I had no idea where to start when I was plagued with insomnia. I didn’t know if herbal was best, or if it didn’t matter if there were non-herbal ingredients. I also wondered if I should just see a doctor and buy expensive, prescription sleep aids.
It turns out that a lot depends on the type of insomnia you have. And I didn’t even know there were different types. I thought that if you couldn’t sleep well for more than a few days, you had insomnia, period. This isn’t all there is to it.
The insomnia that many people have at some point or another is called transient insomnia. Transient fits, I suppose, because it comes and goes. It can last one night or several, but is usually related to a current stressor. And once the stress goes away, so does the insomnia. Haven’t we all been bothered by this at least now and then?
Acute insomnia lasts longer, usually for at least three weeks. This is a longer-term problem that can rob you of sleep for up to six months. There will be nights that you do sleep with this type of insomnia, but the majority of nights will find sleep elusive.
Chronic insomnia can go on for months or years. Chronic fatigue, depression, distractibility, lack of concentration and general fuzzy-headedness occur with this type of problem. Chronic insomnia is something you should talk about with your doctor, instead of looking at over the counter sleep pills. Usually with chronic insomnia, there’s a medical problem that’s the reason for the lack of sleep, and it should be dealt with.
For transient and acute insomnia, over the counter sleep pills are a valuable option. Some opt for prescription pills, but this carries some risks you might not be aware of. In today’s world where some people talk sleeping pills to sleep, wake-up pills to get up in the morning and a variety of mood-altering pills throughout the day, people look at sleeping pills as something pretty harmless. But prescription sleep aids are highly addictive. It’s not difficult to become dependent on them, and unable to fall asleep with the pill.
Over the counter sleep pills, on the other hand, don’t have the heavily addictive ingredients you find in sleep aids that are prescription only. OTC pills are usually less expensive, as well. And because the herbal over the counter pills have natural ingredients, there’s a bit less chance that you’ll have any kind of problem with the pills.
There are over the counter pills to help you sleep that aren’t herbal, as well. These can work just as well as herbal remedies, but still skip the tendency to addict users and make them unable to sleep without a pill. If you just need help sleeping occasionally, then these over the counter pills can help you finally get some rest.
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