Posted on December 9, 2010 by admin
Sleep Science
Separate myths from scientific solutions. Sleep Science is your base for sleep-related disorders and solutions.
Most of us take it for granted that we’re going to get some rest at night when we go lay our heads down on our pillows. The truth of the matter is, a big percentage of the population suffers from an assortment of sleep related disorders; and it’s not limited to a particular age, race, or gender. To get to the root of sleep disorders, we must first get a better understanding of sleep itself.
Sleep is a natural part and function of everyone, an activity in which we spend roughly a third of our lives. However, we generally know very little or rarely attempt to find out more about it and its impact on our lives until we are suffering from its lack. Sleep is not an optional activity. Even though the specific role and mechanisms of sleep are only partially explained, it is an acknowledged fact that it is a requirement to maintain normal motor and cognitive functions. Bottom line, we all need to sleep. It is essential to survival.
Contrary to popular belief, sleep is not a static process but a series of stages divided into two major states, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (Non-REM) sleep.
The “normal” amount of sleep fall around a 7.5-hour average, but the optimal amount of sleep we need vary from person to person; while some people feel rested and can function very well on five hours of sleep, others might feel sluggish and enervated with the same amount. Many things factor in the way we sleep, some of which—external factors—are directly under our influence, such as not purposely depriving yourself of sleep, diet, environment, et cetera. Internal factors are other elements that affect how we sleep that are beyond our control. Foremost among these is our circadian rhythm, our built-in 24-hour internal clock. Research is also beginning to point toward confirming suspicions regarding the role genetics play in determining sleep-related behavior.
Posted on July 11, 2011 by admin
Hotel Accommodations Especially For Snorers
We might be looking at the next level in anti-snoring or at least, the next level in anti-snoring coping mechanisms. It just goes to show how prevalent the problem is that even hotel chains are thinking of solutions we would think are quite mundane and somewhat personal.
A hotel chain, the Crowne Plaza, is now in the trial phase of its snore absorption room for their hotel chain across Europe and the Middle East. This room features sound proofing foam on the walls that stop sound from reverberating, a sound-absorbing headboard that soaks up sound waves and muffles echoes, and a specifically designed bed with a wedge that encourages sleeping on one’s side rather than flat on one’s back—which can trigger snoring. Not only that, the room also has pillows that contain neodymium magnets that’s supposedly cause a magnetic field that open the airways and stiffen the upper palate and keep it from vibrating, therefore stop it from making the snoring noise. The room will also be equipped with a white noise machine that is set to cancel out the any snoring noise.
This just illustrates how widespread the problem is. It’s not just an American concern; it’s a global issue. Snoring, like obesity, crosses boundaries and borders indiscriminately. We’re now being forced to deal with it as best we can, and often, with patchwork solutions. This latest hotel promotion is at best, a temporary fix—or at worst, a publicity stunt—but it brings to light how common the problem is. The unhappy truth is, it is more common than we’d all like to think or admit.
Until such time that there is a more permanent way to solve or cure snoring, we are stuck with the current treatment methods and aids currently available now, be they CPAP machines, snoring mouthpieces, surgery, or something else. If these are the best we can have at the moment, let’s take full advantage of what they have to offer and give ourselves a head start by leading active and healthy lives.
As for the hotel rooms, well, if you’re in the market for them—on a vacation for a night of two, why not go on a vacation form the snores as well? It might just be worth a try.
Posted on June 14, 2011 by admin
Sleep Problems Becoming An American Epidemic
We tend not to take sleep disorders seriously. For many, hitting the hay at night is no big deal. It’s automatic, it’s restful, it gets them recharged for the next day. Unfortunately, a majority of Americans are not getting enough of it. They are either getting fewer hours of shut-eye or even when they do get the hours they need, the quality of their sleep may be poor.
Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the finding on two sleep-related studies. These tackled issues relating to the amount of sleep we get, the quality of sleep, sleep disorders and the hazards attached to them.
The reports indicated that there’s a trend showing that Americans are increasing their tendency to get less than seven hours of sleep per night, negatively affecting their ability to concentrate and raising the risk of nodding off while driving or operating machinery. Based on one of the reports, four unhealthy sleep behaviors are prevalent: inadequate sleep, snoring, falling asleep during the day, and nodding off while driving.
Adults in the U.S. reporting that they get les than seven hours of sleep nightly have gone up from the mid-80s to 2004; this increase may be attributed to lifestyle changes such as increased use of technology and more nightshift jobs, according to the CDC.
Getting the right amount of sleep is important; somewhere between seven to nine hours per night for adults is what the National Sleep Foundation suggests. Getting shorter or longer durations of sleep can be worse for our health.
The reports also showed statistics for unhealthy sleep habits. It shows that 56 percent of men and 40 percent of women snore. Younger and older people, those aged between 18-24 and those over 65 were more likely to unintentionally fall asleep during the day. And people aged 25-34 were more likely to say they’d experienced they’d nodded off while driving within the last month.
Drowsy driving is one of the deadliest consequences of inadequate sleep based on the CDC’s research. The Department of Transportation says it’s responsible for an estimated 1,550 deaths and 40,000 injuries every year in the country.
Posted on March 23, 2011 by admin
Not Snoring Again: Home Remedies
Snoring is one of the major problems that can cause many people sleepless nights. If you are the one who snores at night then it is highly likely that your partner will suffer sleepless nights. This is an important issue because the next day, your partner can experience the aftereffects, one of which is fatigue. It’s best to look for solutions for this problem now than face future, and probably more serious, health problems. There are a number of ways to tackle it; and there are a number of products in the market to aid you so you can stop snoring.
Avoid being banished from your marital bed at night. If none of the products being sold as stop snoring aids are to your liking, there are a number of things you can do on your own that might help. The immediate action is to get to the core of the problem, silencing your snoring by getting to what’s causing it is the best way to make the problem go away. Your sleeping posture, your nasal passages, or the soft tissues around your throat might be the issue.
Simple home remedies are mostly “adjustments.” Try sleeping with your head raised by pillows. Find out if it helps your breathing and works for your snoring. If it does, nothing can be easier; always keep your head amply supported and raised by pillows. Sleeping on one’s back has also been reported as a reason for snoring, so try sleeping on your side. This might be another simple remedy for your snoring.
Snoring is also a problem for people who carry excess weight and often, have more fat deposits around the neck and throat area. Daily exercise will not only help you burn more calories and fat to help you lose the extra weight, it can help strengthen your cardiovascular system as well. Being in good shape and maintaining a healthy weight will help you stop snoring because it will affect the muscle tone in your neck and help decrease the fat around the throat area that tends to collapse and cause air passage narrowing, which, as we all know, results in snoring.
Other lifestyle changes will also have an effect on your snoring. Alcohol intake and medication such as sleeping pills and muscle relaxants may also contribute to your snoring.
If the above tips are not helpful, it doesn’t automatically mean you have to resort to expensive treatments. There are reasonably priced alternatives to help you stop snoring. Many people turn to a snoring mouthpiece to help stop their nightly noises.
Posted on March 10, 2011 by admin
Snoring Treatment Procedures
A couple of in-office snoring treatment procedures, Somnoplasty and the Pillar Procedure, have been around for some time. Of the two, the latter and newer treatment called the Pillar Procedure has been getting a lot of buzz.
Both the CPAP and snoring communities have been having discussions about the pros and cons of the procedures. So far, their one common ground is there still isn’t one bulletproof cure.
The various features recently done on the Pillar Procedure have stirred up all this talk about a solution to snoring and mild to moderate sleep apnea. As recent as a month ago, a feature in an early morning television show put the spotlight on this treatment.
The in-office procedure involves implanting three to five small, flexible implants made of strong woven material, into the upper soft palate to add support during sleep. This procedure is supposed to lessen the fluttering of the soft palate and improve snoring.
The process takes less than 20 minutes to complete and requires local anesthesia.
Because the entire treatment is minimally invasive, patients’ recovery time is quite fast. Reports say that due to the minimal discomfort a patient can return to work on the same day or the next. They can expect minor soreness around the throat that can easily be relieved by lozenges or over-the-counter pain medications. As it is still fairly new, peer reviews are still coming in. And, as many fans and converts of the Pillar Procedure there are, it also has as many critics.
Overall, there’s no final word on it yet, but many are hopeful. One downside, it’s not covered by insurance.
Another treatment described as minimally invasive is Somnoplasty. Also an in-office procedure, this one takes about 45 minutes and must be performed by a qualified ENT surgeon. Local anesthesia is also employed for this outpatient surgical procedure.
Somnoplasty has been around since the late 1990s. Approved by the FDA, the method has two main goals: clearing the air passage of any blockage by stiffening and reducing the size of the tissues in and around the soft palate, the back of the tongue, uvula, and the nose. This is achieved through the use of a Somnus device, otherwise known as a radiofrequency thermal power preheated electrode. The electrode penetrates the pertinent tissues causing the obstruction so as to scar them. These scarred tissues are then reabsorbed by the body in about a month or so.
The stiffening of these tissues is supposed to prevent their collapse when in a relaxed state; plus, the reduction in their size—of about 10-15%—will result in the clearance of air passage obstruction.
For snoring and sleep apnea sufferers who’d like to explore sleep without a CPAP machine, perhaps these are viable options. There is more information out there regarding these procedures. Make sure to read up on them if you think either one is a possible help, if not a complete solution for you. And, as some snoring sufferers have found out, this condition is sometimes complex and capricious, requiring patience, adaptability, and sometimes, a multi-faceted treatment attack. Until such time that there is a permanent and all encompassing treatment for snoring and sleep apnea, we must continue to explore treatment aids and options.
Posted on December 27, 2010 by admin
Sleep Hygiene: Tips For Developing Better Sleep Habits
We all experience some sort of sleep deprivation. Fortunately, for most, these are temporary episodes. For people who have had or are still experiencing difficulty sleeping, lack of proper sleep hygiene may be to blame. It is often overlooked but its absence can exacerbate preexisting sleep disorders. Sleep hygiene refers to a set of behavioral and environmental adjustment techniques that can help promote a restful and restorative night’s sleep.
If you’re tossing and turning at night, taking too long to get to sleep, and suffering from daytime sleepiness, you may need to evaluate your bedtime routine. As it is when we were children, so it is in adulthood, our set habits will help smooth the way toward getting some quality sleep.
Any of our routines can easily accommodate good sleep hygiene. Furthermore, establishing these sleep habits can prevent the development of sleep disorders. Here are some basic tips to start off:
•Make sleeping an event, establish a sleep zone.
Reserve the use of your bedroom and particularly your bed for sleeping or sex (if appropriate). You should refrain from using it for studying, working, or other activities.
•Be neither hungry nor full at bedtime.
A growling stomach or an indigestion will keep you up at night. Hunger will nag at you until you find some way to assuage it and an upset stomach will do the same. Have dinner at a reasonable hour and give yourself some time for proper digestion before heading to bed.
•Stimulants before bedtime, caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine are no-nos.
Caffeine and nicotine are both stimulants and will definitely not encourage restfulness; alcohol, on the other hand, might induce drowsiness but often results in fitful sleep.
•Not all exercise are created equal.
Strenuous exercise may wipe you out in the short term but will keep your body temperature up and your system revved. In general, exercise helps with sleep but a grueling session near bedtime (approximately 2-4 hours before) will have the opposite effect. There are certain forms of exercise that can specifically help getting you to sleep such as a relaxing style of yoga.
•Might as well be comfortable.
If you’re hoping to be lucky enough to get 7-8 hours of shut-eye, you can hedge your bets by making your sleep environment comfortable. A cool, quiet space that’s lit just right is best.
•Set your body clock
Establish a sleep schedule and stick to it. A regular sleep-wake time will help your body latch on to this conditioning. Soon enough it will recognize its set hours.
Posted on December 22, 2010 by admin
Sleep Aids: Help, Hindrance, or Hype?
Suffering from sleep deprivation is more than just walking around feeling fuzzy and yawning a lot. We’ve touched on the dangers of not getting enough sleep on previous posts, but until you’ve experienced them firsthand, sometimes it’s difficult to comprehend.
There are heaps of tools and aids for sleep disorders out there. This only goes to show how many are affected by sleep related disorders and how large the market is for such products. A whole lot of people are looking for ways to get more, or just better quality sleep.
Help has come in the form of a dizzying multitude of choices. Products that promise to solve all your sleep troubles in no time. In truth, some products are based on actual science and research. Unfortunately, there are plenty of others that might not be able to claim the same and are basically all hype. Most importantly, seeking to solve your sleep ailment on your own might lead to your missing out on proper diagnosis.
There are always advantages and disadvantages to a particular step you might decide to take. On the one hand, being aware that you do have a sleep disorder—for example: snoring—is a major step in the right direction. This will help you narrow down your options for your next move. Depending on the severity of the sleep deprivation that you (or perhaps even your partner) are having, you can figure out whether you are in need of professional help, or at the very least a consultation with a doctor for a preliminary check up.
You can do further research online and check out common treatments prescribed by physicians for particular sleep disorders if only to have a point of comparison. This step will also help you weed out some products being marketed as sleep aids that either have no merit or are just not the right ones for you.
Posted on December 21, 2010 by admin
Everyday Sleep Disorders
We’ve heard of them before, probably even suffered a bout or two. Sleep disorders run the gamut, from pretty mild annoyances to health-threatening conditions. Learn to distinguish which is which and avoid the pitfalls.
Sleep related problems could backfire with more than just fatigue and a general feeling of sleepiness. It can lead to an impaired mental state which is the gateway to various problems such as lethargy, irritability, and dulled reflexes; also, a compromised immune system, and even depression. The results themselves may actually be symptoms of even more serious health threats.
Identifying whether the sleeplessness you have experienced is an isolated attack or a manifestation of a chronic sleep disorder is an important next step. Take the time to evaluate your daytime hours to see whether you’re displaying the signs of sleep deprivation. If the signs point toward yes, then you might indeed be suffering from one of these:
Insomnia
Nearly all of us have or will encounter insomnia at some point in life. This is one of the most common sleep disorders and even the statistics show that it is a widespread occurrence. Insomnia is the inability to sleep, a condition that can be short term or chronic. It is brought on by the following factors: stress, a change in sleep schedule or time zones, or poor bedtime habits.
Snoring
Characterized by a sound emanating from our nasal passages or airways while asleep. The sound can vary: a whistle, wheeze, grunt, snort, or gurgling noise or an unlucky combination of two or more. Snoring is caused by either an obstruction or a narrowing in the air passages due to bad sleep posture, weakness or abnormalities in the muscles around the throat, and excess weight.
Sleep Apnea
It’s more common than we think. Often confused with regular snoring, sleep apnea is the period of extremely shallow breaths or the temporary pause in breathing while asleep. These pauses can last a few seconds to minutes and can happen between 5 to 30 times in the span of an hour. The resumption of breathing often happens with snorting or gurgling sound that leads some people to think it’s “just” snoring. Usually difficult to diagnose, sleep apnea is a treacherous condition. Left untreated, it can lead to increased risks for stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart failure.
Posted on December 12, 2010 by admin
Common Sleep Misconceptions
There are quite a few mistaken assumptions associated with sleep. Some of them are common conclusions about sleep that most people jump to, while others have been in circulation so long that we take them for facts. Here are a few and their accompanying explanations and clarifications:
1. Sleep is the time when the body—with exception of its involuntary systems—“unplugs” and rests; when it goes on a total shutdown.
Although sleep is indeed a state of rest that is characterized by the reduction in consciousness and dulling or suspension of sensory activity, it is a dynamic process that involves an express set of signals for its management. It’s not simply “light’s out” for the brain and body. On the contrary, a dramatic increase in activity in certain brain waves occurs during sleep. It has also been found that there is an increase in the secretion of certain hormones, the human growth hormone (HGH) for one, while in the sleep state.
2. The older you get, the less sleep you need.
This is one of those things we’ve heard about since well, forever. It isn’t so much about older people “needing” less sleep but their ability to get sleep. The older we get, the lesser our ability to sleep for longer spans and get into that deep and restful phase. It is common for older people to lose that slept-like-a-log ability as their sleep become more fragile, easily disrupted by noise, light, or even frequent bathroom breaks.
3. One hour less than needed sleep at night will not impact how you function during the day.
When you get less sleep than what you need, you incur “sleep debt.” Even a seemingly harmless daily deduction in sour nightly sleep accumulates through days and can pile up. When the sleep debt is significant enough, it can cause sleep related problems and affect a person’s overall performance: physical, mental, and emotional.
4. Sleeping extra long at night will take care of your unusual daytime fatigue.
Have you ever slept 8, 9, or even 10 hours and woke up not feeling rested and rejuvenated? That’s very likely due to poor sleep quality. Additional sleep time or quantity won’t help much if the quality suffers. There are various sleep disorders and conditions can affect the quality of sleep and padding your time catching some zs won’t ease the symptoms or fix the cause. There are, however, treatments and therapies for many sleep related disorders and other medical concerns.