Back pain can affect how soundly you sleep and certain sleep positions can add harm to your back and to your overall health. The Dr Oz sleep positions for better sleep are broken down as side sleepers, back sleepers and stomach sleepers. Which of these sleep positions are the healthiest? What does your sleeping position say about you as a person? Read more »
Sleep Aid Kava Kava Warning
Kava is a plant native to the South Pacific and has been used for thousands of years in rituals and ceremonies. This shrub produces large, green, heart-shaped leaves that grow thickly on the branches. Long, slender flowers grow where the branches meet the stems. The roots look like bundles of woody, hairy branches. Today in the South Pacific kava is a popular social drink similar to alcohol in Western societies. In the West there have been safety concerns about kava due to cases of liver damage and even deaths and in March 2002 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a sleep aid kava kava warning. As a result, kava has been banned from the market in Switzerland, German, Canada and several other countries are considering similar action. This ban has hurt the export economy of the Pacific Islands countries. Due to these potential dangers, kava should be used only under the guidance of a qualified healthcare practitioner. Read more »
Sleep and Melatonin
Every once in a while I suffer from bouts of insomnia and for those times I take melatonin. What’s the connection between sleep and melatonin? Melatonin occurs naturally in the pineal gland causing drowsiness and a decrease in core temperature. Levels of melatonin rise during the evening and peak in the middle of the night, if your bedroom is dark enough. 100 lux of light in your room can suppress melatonin production, that’s why sleep specialist recommend for those that suffer from insomnia, no light of any kind, not even from your alarm clock. Research proposes that melatonin will help you to fall asleep easy while maintaining your internal sleep/wake cycle. But that is not all research has found. Even though its main use is a supplement for insomnia, melatonin is also a powerful antioxidant that has shown to fight certain cancers and an immunity booster to aid in weight loss. Read more »
You are Fat and Cannot Sleep a Book Review: The Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan: Lose Weight through Better Sleep
So, you are fat and cannot sleep. Did you know when you cannot sleep it triggers a hormonal imbalance that causes you to eat more (especially at night) and you are less likely to burn off calories? Sleep deprivation changes your glucose metabolism that results in hoarding the calories by storing them as fat instead of burning them off as energy, in turn; you will produce more of the stress-hormone cortisol which is known to cause hunger. Research has shown even if you lose weight you will lose less fat if you do not get enough sleep. Not getting enough sleep robs you of the valuable REM sleep cycle that burns calories. Read more »
Light Sleeper…I was born this way
Do you wake up during the night by the slightest of sounds? It turns out that some people’s brains are hard-wired to block out external stimuli, while others are aware of any noise that goes bump in the night. For light sleepers ambient sounds are the most common cause for interrupted sleep since the mind receives and monitors stimuli in order to protect them from outside threats or hear a baby cry. But it should also block sounds to let them fall asleep easy and stay asleep so they can recharge their "brain battery" as well as getting the deep sleep they need to feel refreshed the next day. Many light sleepers brains respond to all surrounding stimuli no matter if it’s nonthreatening like traffic, partner snoring or dogs barking and/or threatening such as a fire alarm or an intruder in the house. Are YOU a light sleeper? I was born this way. Read more »
Sleep and Marriage Sleep and Marriage Go Together Like a
According to a study by the Sleep 2011, 25th anniversary meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis, if your wife can’t fall asleep easy you are more likely to have marital problems. The research measured 35 healthy, married couple’s ability to fall asleep and the total each slept over a 10 day period. Couples kept a diary and recorded positive and negative reactions with their spouse. It was concluded that wives who have sleep difficulties affected the way they communicated to their spouse the next day. There are several studies that show sleep deprivation causes irritability and when you are irritated you are most likely to take it out on your spouse/partner. Sleep is found to be very important in the detriment of marriage quality. Read more »
Sleep with an Open Marriage
Do you know where your spouse is? If your partner purposes we either have an open marriage or we separate, does this mean they are already having an affair or just hoping that you agree that both of you may see other people intimately? If you agree to an open marriage (besides worrying about STD's), is your biggest fear that they would fall in love with the other person and you would end up separated/divorced nonetheless? Is the only reason they want to have an open marriage to stay close to the kids and not to go through a messy divorce; splitting assets, child custody etc? If so, do you feel the marriage is pretty much over anyway and the only reason you would agree is to have time to get your life in order to prepare for being a single mom: getting a job that can pay for child care with health benefits, saving some money etc. Do you end your 20+ year marriage on a maybe? Not only are you stressed about what they're doing when their not home, you are also stressed about what you are going to do with the rest of your life. What are your options if you agree to this? Who can sleep easy with all this added stress? You wonder how he can sleep so easy (snoring beside you) knowing what he is doing to your family. Can you live with yourself in a semi-happy marriage, life without intimacy from your partner, but freedom to do what you want without financial burdens? In order to sleep with an open marriage it may be time to rewrite your marriage rules according to Pamela Haag, the author of Marriage Confidential: The Post-Romantic Age of Workhorse Wives, Royal Children, Undersexed Spouses, and Rebel Couples Who Are Rewriting the Rules Read more »
Sleep with a Chronic Cough from Bronchitis Asthma COPD
The most common reason for a chronic cough at night is asthma although other conditions such as bronchitis, COPD, emphysema, cystic fibrosis and other respiratory conditions are known to cause excessive coughing. Many suggest that to sleep with a chronic cough from bronchitis, asthma or COPD is to go to bed only when you’re tired, breath only through your nose and avoid sleeping on your back. There is a technique called the Buteyko Emergency Procedure that stops persistent coughing and allows you to fall asleep easy. Here is how the procedure works: Read more »
This Father’s Day Give the Gift of Sleep
Many men feel that sleep is at the bottom of their priority list dividing most their time between work and family life. Since getting little sleep impacts their ability to perform during their waking hours and over time may have an effect on their over-all health, getting enough sleep each night is very important. Like women, men don’t realize they need more sleep because they get used to being tired and they think this is way I am suppose to feel. If they get tired, they simply fight through it and as a result it minimizes their ability to focus and reduces their energy levels. Pay attention to the signs that they aren’t getting enough sleep; do they feel tired during the day, are they unmotivated, lose their temper easily or falls asleep easy while doing family activities? If so, this Father’s Day give the gift of sleep. Read more »