Preparing yourself for sleep – some quick reminders
I thought it would be useful to remind you of a few simple things that it might be worth trying to hopefully give yourself some releief from insomnia. A number of the things have been discussed in previous blogs in more detail, but sometimes it’s useful to look back and review some of the information.
There are a few different techniques here or things that you can alter which you never know might just provide that elusive cure for insomnia or help some relief for your sleep depravation.
Clear your mind. Do not watch TV, or read a book or go on the internet right before sleeping. Your brain can feel overwhelmed with all the information it has just heard that it will all linger on for a few more hrs and thus deprive you of sleeping right away. A clear mind can fall asleep quite easier.
Breathing technique. Lay down on your back, comfortably, and breathe in and out, slowly, but deeply. Do this over and over again. This breathing ritual will help relax you and cleanse your being, thus making it ripe for a good night of sleep.
Visualization. Close your eyes, and imagine the most beautiful, and peaceful place you know. Picture yourself there, and submerge yourself into the amazing feeling it's giving you. This will give you something relaxing and soothing to focus on, which will help calm you down and make you ready to fall asleep.
Sleep at regular hours. If you're awake until 3am and wake up in the afternoon, then you'll never overcome this problem. You need a normal sleeping schedule, which is waking up early in the morning, and going to bed not too late into the evening. Try it, and you'll notice immediate improvement.
Get rid of any addictions. The thing with addictions, is that they are constantly bugging you, and this even translates to the time when you're supposed to sleep. Therefore, if you have a caffeine, smoking, alcohol, or drug addiction, your best bet is to overcome the addiction first (which will help you not only for insomnia but for a lot more reasons) and then tackle your insomnia problem, which should already be much better with the loss of the addiction problem.
Listen to relaxing music. Music can guide our entire being into its tempo and mood. Same with relaxation music, and it can greatly help you feel at ease and stress free, which will help you fall asleep. You can also take it a step further and use self hypnosis or subliminal courses, which will help guide you mentally to overcome your insomnia, while also providing a relaxing music.
I particularly found that the listening to chilled out music helped me as one of the things that helped me gains some insomnia relief. I can particularly recommend a band called Lemon Jelly who are particularly chilled our even some of the Ibiza Chill out stuff - you can find from café del Mar on Amazon.
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Showing posts with label environment and sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environment and sleep. Show all posts
Monday, 15 November 2010
Insomnia in older people
Insomnia in older people
The article below is from Sleepdex an online resource which has lots of information about sleep, but as insomnia appears to get worse with age – there is some quite interesting stuff as to possible causes. If you are over 60 and suffering from insomnia, then I’m sure you will find it an interesting read.
Insomnia is a common complaint in older adults. Chronic sleep difficulties affect older people more often than younger adults. The homoeostatic regulation of sleep changes as we age. Older adults typically have shallower sleep, and fragmentation is more common. Doctors prescribe sleeping aids to the elderly much more often than for young adults or kids.
Factors that contribute to insomnia in seniors may include medical illnesses and medication use, both of which are more common in older adults. Older people also have too little physical activity and reduced exposure to bright light.
There is also a fundamental age-related alteration in the neurobiology of circadian
rhythms, although scientists haven’t figured it all out.
Older people, even healthy ones, often complain about decreased sleep quality, and polysomnographic measurements of physiological indicators have confirmed the reality of these claims. Deep sleep, as a percentage of total sleep, decreases as people age, along with a decrease in growth hormone levels. During late life, REM sleep in a typical night declines about 10 minutes per decade. Wake time during the nocturnal period, a measure of sleep fragmentation, increases about 30 minutes per decade.
There’s also a chicken-and-egg question of the relationship between declining sleep quality and development of chronic illness in older adults. Does low quality sleep contribute to other physical problems or do illnesses cause the low quality sleep?
It can be unclear for any individual, and the two factors are intertwined in most people.
It is worth pointing out the distinction between insomnia and disturbed sleep. Insomnia refers to a subjective inability to fall or stay asleep, and chronic insomnia is due to circadian dysrhythmia, homeostatic dysregulation and hyperarousal.
A person can have insomnia but not disturbed sleep. When the person finally gets to sleep, he or she can sleep soundly. Young adults more typically have trouble falling asleep while old people have trouble staying asleep.
Insomnia, by this classification, often results in increased risk of depression, overall decreased productivity at work and in daytimes activities. Disturbed sleep results in symptoms like those of sleep deprivation.
As people get older, they are more apt to experience secondary insomnia due to medical conditions, and to experience sleep disorders such as apnea, restless leg syndrome, and circadian rhythm disorder. Primary insomnia and insomnia due to psychiatric problems do not increase with age.
Some common poor sleep habits are more prevalent in elderly populations – staying in bed all night even when not sleeping (leading to poor sleep efficiency) and daytime napping. This can be due to retirement or boredom. Good sleep practices can help.
Sleep medication use in the elderly differs from that in younger people only in the longer retention time in the body. A drug's half-life – the time it takes for the body to eliminate half the drug from the bloodstream – is higher in the elderly.
This means sleep inertia due to residual sleeping pills is more likely in older people.
In general, older people are more prone to movement during sleep and sedative drugs increase the risk of falls. This is why doctors take into account a patient's age when selecting a sleeping aid. Chloral hydrate is also used in the elderly more often than in young people.
WHAT SCIENTISTS KNOW
There’s a difference in the sexes. Men lose more of the deep sleep (stages 3 and 4) than women. Daytime sleepiness is more frequent in older men than in older women.
Young and middle-aged adults typically complain of difficulty falling asleep, seniors more often experience nocturnal awakening, early morning awakenings, and non-refreshing sleep.
Some of the sleep hygiene practices recommended for insomniacs are often ignored by older people. Retired people without the regular schedule of a job are more likely to engage in daytime napping, irregular arising time, and increased time in bed compared to employed people. These practices are not conducive to trying to beat insomnia.
Insomnia affects a third of older Americans. Restless leg syndrome and sleep-disordered breathing/apnea are also more common in older people. Sleep-disordered breathing is particularly of interest because there is evidence that connects it will dementia and cognitive deficits in the elderly.
It used to be believed that the human circadian clock had a period of about 25.25 hours and that this period declined as people got older. This explained why teenagers had trouble waking up in the morning while seniors get sleepy early in the evening. However, circadian rhythm amplitude sometime stays strong in very healthy older people. Now scientists think that the intrinsic period of endogenous human circadian pacemaker is not significantly different between health old and young adults and is much closer to 24 hours. Deterioration in the suprachiasmatic nucleus may represent a pathologic rather than a normal change. Another view is that older people tend to have a narrower window in the circadian cycle to get to sleep. They are literally more set in their ways. Young people can go to bed at a different time each night and move their sleep times around much more flexibility.
Older people spend more time in bed than younger ones, but nighttime sleep is typically shallow and fragmented. Scientific measurements confirm subjective reports of decline in sleep quality with age in otherwise healthy older people. Deep sleep decreased from 18.9% during young adulthood (ages 16 to 25) to 3.4% in midlife (36 to 50). The decrease in slow-wave sleep was accompanied by decreases in growth hormone levels.
During late life, REM sleep declines gradually by about 10 minutes per decade. Sleep fragmentation, as measured by wake time, increases by 30 minutes per decade during late life.
THERMOREGULATION AND THE ELDERLY
Dutch scientists have found that elderly bodies are less capable of thermoregulation than younger ones, and give the effect of skin temperature on the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep, this may explain increased insomnia rates in seniors. (More on thermoregulation and sleep.)
The prevailing hypothesis in sleep models is the two-process model, in which sleep is a affected by circadian and homeostatic processes . The decline in sleep quality that goes along with getting old is thought to be due to alterations in both processes. Researchers at Cornell's Laboratory of Human Chronobiology found that the homeostatic process starts to go off-kilter before the circadian process as we age.
They found this by studying people of different ages.
They also found that while young adults sleep longer than middle-aged and older adults, daytime napping is essentially unchanged as we age, in the absense of other restrictions (such as retirement.)
RESEARCH
When the U.S. government started the National Insitute on Aging in the 1970s, sleep was a low priority in the medical funding community. In the past few decades the importance of sleep has been recognized, both as an important part of quality of life and as a contributor to and symptom of diseases.
The most recent National Sleep Disorders Research Plan (2003) concedes that most of the research on sleep is conducted on young adults and that there has not been enough scientific exploration of how age affects sleep. There isn’t widespread agreement on what is “normal” age-related changes in sleep patterns and therefore no going agreement on whether any medical treatment is desirable.
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
The article below is from Sleepdex an online resource which has lots of information about sleep, but as insomnia appears to get worse with age – there is some quite interesting stuff as to possible causes. If you are over 60 and suffering from insomnia, then I’m sure you will find it an interesting read.
Insomnia is a common complaint in older adults. Chronic sleep difficulties affect older people more often than younger adults. The homoeostatic regulation of sleep changes as we age. Older adults typically have shallower sleep, and fragmentation is more common. Doctors prescribe sleeping aids to the elderly much more often than for young adults or kids.
Factors that contribute to insomnia in seniors may include medical illnesses and medication use, both of which are more common in older adults. Older people also have too little physical activity and reduced exposure to bright light.
There is also a fundamental age-related alteration in the neurobiology of circadian
rhythms, although scientists haven’t figured it all out.
Older people, even healthy ones, often complain about decreased sleep quality, and polysomnographic measurements of physiological indicators have confirmed the reality of these claims. Deep sleep, as a percentage of total sleep, decreases as people age, along with a decrease in growth hormone levels. During late life, REM sleep in a typical night declines about 10 minutes per decade. Wake time during the nocturnal period, a measure of sleep fragmentation, increases about 30 minutes per decade.
There’s also a chicken-and-egg question of the relationship between declining sleep quality and development of chronic illness in older adults. Does low quality sleep contribute to other physical problems or do illnesses cause the low quality sleep?
It can be unclear for any individual, and the two factors are intertwined in most people.
It is worth pointing out the distinction between insomnia and disturbed sleep. Insomnia refers to a subjective inability to fall or stay asleep, and chronic insomnia is due to circadian dysrhythmia, homeostatic dysregulation and hyperarousal.
A person can have insomnia but not disturbed sleep. When the person finally gets to sleep, he or she can sleep soundly. Young adults more typically have trouble falling asleep while old people have trouble staying asleep.
Insomnia, by this classification, often results in increased risk of depression, overall decreased productivity at work and in daytimes activities. Disturbed sleep results in symptoms like those of sleep deprivation.
As people get older, they are more apt to experience secondary insomnia due to medical conditions, and to experience sleep disorders such as apnea, restless leg syndrome, and circadian rhythm disorder. Primary insomnia and insomnia due to psychiatric problems do not increase with age.
Some common poor sleep habits are more prevalent in elderly populations – staying in bed all night even when not sleeping (leading to poor sleep efficiency) and daytime napping. This can be due to retirement or boredom. Good sleep practices can help.
Sleep medication use in the elderly differs from that in younger people only in the longer retention time in the body. A drug's half-life – the time it takes for the body to eliminate half the drug from the bloodstream – is higher in the elderly.
This means sleep inertia due to residual sleeping pills is more likely in older people.
In general, older people are more prone to movement during sleep and sedative drugs increase the risk of falls. This is why doctors take into account a patient's age when selecting a sleeping aid. Chloral hydrate is also used in the elderly more often than in young people.
WHAT SCIENTISTS KNOW
There’s a difference in the sexes. Men lose more of the deep sleep (stages 3 and 4) than women. Daytime sleepiness is more frequent in older men than in older women.
Young and middle-aged adults typically complain of difficulty falling asleep, seniors more often experience nocturnal awakening, early morning awakenings, and non-refreshing sleep.
Some of the sleep hygiene practices recommended for insomniacs are often ignored by older people. Retired people without the regular schedule of a job are more likely to engage in daytime napping, irregular arising time, and increased time in bed compared to employed people. These practices are not conducive to trying to beat insomnia.
Insomnia affects a third of older Americans. Restless leg syndrome and sleep-disordered breathing/apnea are also more common in older people. Sleep-disordered breathing is particularly of interest because there is evidence that connects it will dementia and cognitive deficits in the elderly.
It used to be believed that the human circadian clock had a period of about 25.25 hours and that this period declined as people got older. This explained why teenagers had trouble waking up in the morning while seniors get sleepy early in the evening. However, circadian rhythm amplitude sometime stays strong in very healthy older people. Now scientists think that the intrinsic period of endogenous human circadian pacemaker is not significantly different between health old and young adults and is much closer to 24 hours. Deterioration in the suprachiasmatic nucleus may represent a pathologic rather than a normal change. Another view is that older people tend to have a narrower window in the circadian cycle to get to sleep. They are literally more set in their ways. Young people can go to bed at a different time each night and move their sleep times around much more flexibility.
Older people spend more time in bed than younger ones, but nighttime sleep is typically shallow and fragmented. Scientific measurements confirm subjective reports of decline in sleep quality with age in otherwise healthy older people. Deep sleep decreased from 18.9% during young adulthood (ages 16 to 25) to 3.4% in midlife (36 to 50). The decrease in slow-wave sleep was accompanied by decreases in growth hormone levels.
During late life, REM sleep declines gradually by about 10 minutes per decade. Sleep fragmentation, as measured by wake time, increases by 30 minutes per decade during late life.
THERMOREGULATION AND THE ELDERLY
Dutch scientists have found that elderly bodies are less capable of thermoregulation than younger ones, and give the effect of skin temperature on the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep, this may explain increased insomnia rates in seniors. (More on thermoregulation and sleep.)
The prevailing hypothesis in sleep models is the two-process model, in which sleep is a affected by circadian and homeostatic processes . The decline in sleep quality that goes along with getting old is thought to be due to alterations in both processes. Researchers at Cornell's Laboratory of Human Chronobiology found that the homeostatic process starts to go off-kilter before the circadian process as we age.
They found this by studying people of different ages.
They also found that while young adults sleep longer than middle-aged and older adults, daytime napping is essentially unchanged as we age, in the absense of other restrictions (such as retirement.)
RESEARCH
When the U.S. government started the National Insitute on Aging in the 1970s, sleep was a low priority in the medical funding community. In the past few decades the importance of sleep has been recognized, both as an important part of quality of life and as a contributor to and symptom of diseases.
The most recent National Sleep Disorders Research Plan (2003) concedes that most of the research on sleep is conducted on young adults and that there has not been enough scientific exploration of how age affects sleep. There isn’t widespread agreement on what is “normal” age-related changes in sleep patterns and therefore no going agreement on whether any medical treatment is desirable.
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Physical Exercise and Getting a Restful Sleep
Physical Exercise and Getting a Restful Sleep
The amount of physical exercise that you exert during the day is one of the key ingredients to helping you get a good restful sleep at night. The more active your body is during the day, the more likely you are to relax at night and fall asleep faster.
With regular exercise you'll notice that your quality of sleep is improved and the transition between the cycles and phases of sleep will become smoother and more regular. By keeping up your physical activity during the day, you may find it easier to deal with the stress and worries of your life.
Research and studies indicate that there is a direct correlation between how much we exercise and how we feel afterwards.
You should try and increase your physical activity during the day. The goal here is to give your body enough stimulation during the day so that you aren't full of energy at night.
Your body requires a certain amount of physical activity in order to keep functioning in a healthy manner. It is also important to note that you should not be exercising three or four hours before you go to bed.
The ideal exercise time is in the late afternoon or early evening. You want to make sure you expend your physical energy long before it is time for your body to rest and ready itself for sleep.
You should attempt to exercise at least three or four times a week for a period of 30 minutes or so. You can include walking or something simple. If you prefer, you can include strenuous activities such as running as well.
The goal here is to increase your heart rate and strengthen the capacity of your lungs. By adding a regular exercise activity to your daily schedule will help you to improve your overall health and help you emotionally as well.
Along with running and walking there are several other physical activities that you can add to your daily life to increase your level of physical activity. If you are battling not sleeping, you'll find aerobic exercise to be the best.
Your goal with exercise is to increase the amount of oxygen that reaches your blood stream. Overall, there are many types of aerobic exercise for you to choose from.
The activities include running, biking, using a treadmill, dancing, and jumping rope.
There are some non aerobic exercises that you may find beneficial to help you solve your amnesia problem.
Yoga - Yoga is an exercise that has a stimulatory effect on your nervous system, especially the brain. Yoga utilizes breathing techniques and yoga postures to increase the blood circulation to the brain, promoting regular and restful sleeping patterns. The regular practice of yoga will help you to relax as well as relieve tension and stress.
Tai Chi - Tai Chi is an ancient art of breathing and movement that was developed by the Chinese monks. The movements involved are slow and precise, which is ideal if you have joint pains or you are unable to participate in high aerobic exercises. Research has shown that Tai Chi can help with insomnia by promoting relaxation.
If you discover that you don't have any time to exercise on a regular basis, you should try to sneak moments of activity into your schedule. Whenever possible, you should take the stairs instead of the elevator, as little things like that will do wonders for your body.
You should also park your car around the corner and walk that extra block or two to get to your destination. As you may know, there are many small things you can add to increase the activity in your life. Your overall goal here is to have a healthy and well balanced life - with plenty of sleep.
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
The amount of physical exercise that you exert during the day is one of the key ingredients to helping you get a good restful sleep at night. The more active your body is during the day, the more likely you are to relax at night and fall asleep faster.
With regular exercise you'll notice that your quality of sleep is improved and the transition between the cycles and phases of sleep will become smoother and more regular. By keeping up your physical activity during the day, you may find it easier to deal with the stress and worries of your life.
Research and studies indicate that there is a direct correlation between how much we exercise and how we feel afterwards.
You should try and increase your physical activity during the day. The goal here is to give your body enough stimulation during the day so that you aren't full of energy at night.
Your body requires a certain amount of physical activity in order to keep functioning in a healthy manner. It is also important to note that you should not be exercising three or four hours before you go to bed.
The ideal exercise time is in the late afternoon or early evening. You want to make sure you expend your physical energy long before it is time for your body to rest and ready itself for sleep.
You should attempt to exercise at least three or four times a week for a period of 30 minutes or so. You can include walking or something simple. If you prefer, you can include strenuous activities such as running as well.
The goal here is to increase your heart rate and strengthen the capacity of your lungs. By adding a regular exercise activity to your daily schedule will help you to improve your overall health and help you emotionally as well.
Along with running and walking there are several other physical activities that you can add to your daily life to increase your level of physical activity. If you are battling not sleeping, you'll find aerobic exercise to be the best.
Your goal with exercise is to increase the amount of oxygen that reaches your blood stream. Overall, there are many types of aerobic exercise for you to choose from.
The activities include running, biking, using a treadmill, dancing, and jumping rope.
There are some non aerobic exercises that you may find beneficial to help you solve your amnesia problem.
Yoga - Yoga is an exercise that has a stimulatory effect on your nervous system, especially the brain. Yoga utilizes breathing techniques and yoga postures to increase the blood circulation to the brain, promoting regular and restful sleeping patterns. The regular practice of yoga will help you to relax as well as relieve tension and stress.
Tai Chi - Tai Chi is an ancient art of breathing and movement that was developed by the Chinese monks. The movements involved are slow and precise, which is ideal if you have joint pains or you are unable to participate in high aerobic exercises. Research has shown that Tai Chi can help with insomnia by promoting relaxation.
If you discover that you don't have any time to exercise on a regular basis, you should try to sneak moments of activity into your schedule. Whenever possible, you should take the stairs instead of the elevator, as little things like that will do wonders for your body.
You should also park your car around the corner and walk that extra block or two to get to your destination. As you may know, there are many small things you can add to increase the activity in your life. Your overall goal here is to have a healthy and well balanced life - with plenty of sleep.
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Monday, 11 October 2010
Choosing the right bed to help cure insomnia
Choosing the right bed to help cure insomnia.
This week I helped my friend Dave drag a double mattress up two flights of stairs. It nearly killed me! We had to bend it round corners and use brute force to drag it up the last few steps.
He certainly owe’s me a few beers!
Dave and his wife Lauren had finally decided to get a new bed as Laurens back had been getting increasingly worse and had been really affecting her sleep. The idea was that by treating the cause, that Lauren would start to get a good night’s sleep again.
Let’s hope it works
It got me thinking…
As I’ve made it my mission to help other people get over their sleep problems and insomnia – the fact Dave & Lauren were getting a new bed made me think. And before you say well that’s a first! – I thought I’d spend a bit of time researching the subjects of BEDS.
You might not be thinking of changing your bed, or be able to afford to do it, but the information below may be useful when you do and for the sake of 5 minutes you might find it interesting.
To tell you the truth – I didn’t realise there was so much to the subject!
We spend a third of our lives in bed!
This fact seems obvious, but when you start to think about it, it is a huge proportion. Even though this is the case – few of us pay any attention as to whether they are comfortable, supportive or most importantly – sleep enhancing.
When is it time to get a change a bed?
The Sleep Council suggests it’s probably time to change your bed when:
1. You wake up with aches and pains (which disappear during the day)
2. Your mattress shows signs of wear and tear
3. You are not sleeping as well as you previously did
4. Dips appear where you lie, as you roll into a partners space
The Sleep Council recommend that to help with sleep related problems and as a treatment to avoid insomnia- that generally people should replace their beds every 8 years.
Isn’t a bed just a bed?
There are lots of different types of beds. I’ll try and give you a bit of an outline – on what everything means when choosing the right bed to help cure insomnia:
There are 2 types of bed base –
Bedsteads and Divans
Traditionally divans have been the most popular – but bedsteads have recently enjoyed a bit of a revival over the last 5 years according The Sleep Council.
There are 4 types of divan
1. Spring edged divans – having an open coil or pocket spring base on a frame. They provide even support and shock absorbtion. They are probably the most luxurious and often last the longest. They do give a comfortable night’s sleep and if insomnia is brought about by being uncomfortable instead of a psychological factor they do help with insomnia relief.
2. Solid or platform top divans have a non sprung top panel, usually made from
hardboard. They are firmer and cheaper than a sprung base bed –but are often preferred as an insomnia treatment due to the extra support.
3. Firm edge divans – these have fewer, bigger heavy duty springs with a solid wooden side frame. Again as a firmer bed they often help back related problems and act as an insomnia cure if back problems are the route cause of the problem.
4. Flexible slatted divans – these have flexible soft wood slats that make them slightly springy. These are sometimes preferred by people with anxiety related insomnia as they help people to relax and de-stress with their added softness and flexibility.
Now as well as the divans – the other type of bed I mentioned earlier was the
Bedstead.
Bedsteads are an alternate bedbase and basically have either flexible or rigid wooden slats or rigid wire mesh to support the mattress. They are more often found in rented accommodation and do tend to be slightly less comfortable. They do actually have some advantages over divans which I’ll detail later.
Many insomnia specialist recommend if you are changing your bed to help alleviate insomnia problems and try and gain some extra relief – that divans are the preferred option.
Hopefully you’re still with me and I haven’t sent you to sleep! I’ll wake you up now with a gross fact!
Night sweating
It’s thought that we lose at least half a pint of moisture each night through perspiration (or sweating). Gross thought isn’t it!
Some people, especially if they are overweight or it is particularly hot can lose up to 1 and a half pints of moisture a night! Just picture how wet your bed would be if you tipped a pint of water on your bed?
Temperature change
This sweating can cause a change in temperature which can disturb sleep and cause insomnia. There is a school of thought that wooden slatted bedsteads can help aid sleep and relive insomnia by allowing air to circulate beneath the mattress, helping to disperse body heat and reduce sweating.
Another plus point for bedsteads is they are more hard wearing so that after 8 years you may be able to just change your mattress and not the whole bed.
Does size matter!
A basic rule of thumb is to buy the biggest bed you can afford. If you sleep with a partner – make sure there is enough space so that the other person can sleep if one of you has a fitful nights sleep.
A few bed related top tips…
The Sleep Council offers lots of advice on everything sleep related. Here are a few top tips you might find of interest especially if you have insomnia problems…
Back Pain
To prevent back pain related insomnia – choose a supportive bed. A medium bed with proper cushioning is sometimes better than an orthopaedic or hard base.
Snoring
Sleep with your head raised – to help cure snoring related insomnia. Adjustable base beds are often the best way of achieving this.
Mobility
Raising the head of the bed can often help getting in and out of bed easier for people with mobility problems caused by accident, illness or age.
Circulation
People with poor circulation, who are often woken in the night by pins and needles or cold feet, can often treat their insomnia by sleeping with raised feet. This can be done with an adjustable bed as well – or the cheaper alternative of just positioning an extra pillow beneath your feet!
Well, all this bed talk is making me tired, so I hope the information ultimately helps you in some way.
A new bed may not be the miracle cure for insomnia – as insomnia cures often involve addressing the route cause. But as we spend a third of or life in bed, the more comfortable the environment – the better!
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
This week I helped my friend Dave drag a double mattress up two flights of stairs. It nearly killed me! We had to bend it round corners and use brute force to drag it up the last few steps.
He certainly owe’s me a few beers!
Dave and his wife Lauren had finally decided to get a new bed as Laurens back had been getting increasingly worse and had been really affecting her sleep. The idea was that by treating the cause, that Lauren would start to get a good night’s sleep again.
Let’s hope it works
It got me thinking…
As I’ve made it my mission to help other people get over their sleep problems and insomnia – the fact Dave & Lauren were getting a new bed made me think. And before you say well that’s a first! – I thought I’d spend a bit of time researching the subjects of BEDS.
You might not be thinking of changing your bed, or be able to afford to do it, but the information below may be useful when you do and for the sake of 5 minutes you might find it interesting.
To tell you the truth – I didn’t realise there was so much to the subject!
We spend a third of our lives in bed!
This fact seems obvious, but when you start to think about it, it is a huge proportion. Even though this is the case – few of us pay any attention as to whether they are comfortable, supportive or most importantly – sleep enhancing.
When is it time to get a change a bed?
The Sleep Council suggests it’s probably time to change your bed when:
1. You wake up with aches and pains (which disappear during the day)
2. Your mattress shows signs of wear and tear
3. You are not sleeping as well as you previously did
4. Dips appear where you lie, as you roll into a partners space
The Sleep Council recommend that to help with sleep related problems and as a treatment to avoid insomnia- that generally people should replace their beds every 8 years.
Isn’t a bed just a bed?
There are lots of different types of beds. I’ll try and give you a bit of an outline – on what everything means when choosing the right bed to help cure insomnia:
There are 2 types of bed base –
Bedsteads and Divans
Traditionally divans have been the most popular – but bedsteads have recently enjoyed a bit of a revival over the last 5 years according The Sleep Council.
There are 4 types of divan
1. Spring edged divans – having an open coil or pocket spring base on a frame. They provide even support and shock absorbtion. They are probably the most luxurious and often last the longest. They do give a comfortable night’s sleep and if insomnia is brought about by being uncomfortable instead of a psychological factor they do help with insomnia relief.
2. Solid or platform top divans have a non sprung top panel, usually made from
hardboard. They are firmer and cheaper than a sprung base bed –but are often preferred as an insomnia treatment due to the extra support.
3. Firm edge divans – these have fewer, bigger heavy duty springs with a solid wooden side frame. Again as a firmer bed they often help back related problems and act as an insomnia cure if back problems are the route cause of the problem.
4. Flexible slatted divans – these have flexible soft wood slats that make them slightly springy. These are sometimes preferred by people with anxiety related insomnia as they help people to relax and de-stress with their added softness and flexibility.
Now as well as the divans – the other type of bed I mentioned earlier was the
Bedstead.
Bedsteads are an alternate bedbase and basically have either flexible or rigid wooden slats or rigid wire mesh to support the mattress. They are more often found in rented accommodation and do tend to be slightly less comfortable. They do actually have some advantages over divans which I’ll detail later.
Many insomnia specialist recommend if you are changing your bed to help alleviate insomnia problems and try and gain some extra relief – that divans are the preferred option.
Hopefully you’re still with me and I haven’t sent you to sleep! I’ll wake you up now with a gross fact!
Night sweating
It’s thought that we lose at least half a pint of moisture each night through perspiration (or sweating). Gross thought isn’t it!
Some people, especially if they are overweight or it is particularly hot can lose up to 1 and a half pints of moisture a night! Just picture how wet your bed would be if you tipped a pint of water on your bed?
Temperature change
This sweating can cause a change in temperature which can disturb sleep and cause insomnia. There is a school of thought that wooden slatted bedsteads can help aid sleep and relive insomnia by allowing air to circulate beneath the mattress, helping to disperse body heat and reduce sweating.
Another plus point for bedsteads is they are more hard wearing so that after 8 years you may be able to just change your mattress and not the whole bed.
Does size matter!
A basic rule of thumb is to buy the biggest bed you can afford. If you sleep with a partner – make sure there is enough space so that the other person can sleep if one of you has a fitful nights sleep.
A few bed related top tips…
The Sleep Council offers lots of advice on everything sleep related. Here are a few top tips you might find of interest especially if you have insomnia problems…
Back Pain
To prevent back pain related insomnia – choose a supportive bed. A medium bed with proper cushioning is sometimes better than an orthopaedic or hard base.
Snoring
Sleep with your head raised – to help cure snoring related insomnia. Adjustable base beds are often the best way of achieving this.
Mobility
Raising the head of the bed can often help getting in and out of bed easier for people with mobility problems caused by accident, illness or age.
Circulation
People with poor circulation, who are often woken in the night by pins and needles or cold feet, can often treat their insomnia by sleeping with raised feet. This can be done with an adjustable bed as well – or the cheaper alternative of just positioning an extra pillow beneath your feet!
Well, all this bed talk is making me tired, so I hope the information ultimately helps you in some way.
A new bed may not be the miracle cure for insomnia – as insomnia cures often involve addressing the route cause. But as we spend a third of or life in bed, the more comfortable the environment – the better!
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Ditch the telly!
Ditch the telly!
Get rid of the television in the bedroom.
This really did help me in my quest for a cure for insomnia...
Stop watching TV in bed late at night. It basically over stimulates the brain making it difficult to switch off.
Taking a lap top or computer to bed has a similar effect – so don’t do it. Bright lights from a TV and computers can also interfere with the production of hormones such as Melatonin that help regulate the sleep/awake cycle and are responsible for helping you get a good nights sleep.
So – keep the telly in the living room, and keep the bedroom for sleeping.
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Get rid of the television in the bedroom.
This really did help me in my quest for a cure for insomnia...
Stop watching TV in bed late at night. It basically over stimulates the brain making it difficult to switch off.
Taking a lap top or computer to bed has a similar effect – so don’t do it. Bright lights from a TV and computers can also interfere with the production of hormones such as Melatonin that help regulate the sleep/awake cycle and are responsible for helping you get a good nights sleep.
So – keep the telly in the living room, and keep the bedroom for sleeping.
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Blackout!!!
Darkness stimulates your brain to produce the sleep hormone melatonin – light disrupts this problem.
You need to make sure that your sleep environment is as dark as possible. If you live near bright lights – line your curtains with blackout cloth or invest in some blackout blinds. Close bedroom door and shut out the light.
Don’t leave lamps on when you are asleep of have computer screens glowing in the background – you need total darkness.
Also remember to dim the lights in your bedroom as you start to wind down. This will help your body to start relax and your natural body clock to start to realise it is time for sleep.
If you work shifts and have to sleep during the day, or if you live in a particularly light area with a street light just outside your bedroom window – it’s worth considering an eye mask to help recreate the sensation of darkness/night.
These eye masks are easily available and can be found in pharmacists and travel/luggage shops.
Remember – when trying to sleep – Black is good!
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
You need to make sure that your sleep environment is as dark as possible. If you live near bright lights – line your curtains with blackout cloth or invest in some blackout blinds. Close bedroom door and shut out the light.
Don’t leave lamps on when you are asleep of have computer screens glowing in the background – you need total darkness.
Also remember to dim the lights in your bedroom as you start to wind down. This will help your body to start relax and your natural body clock to start to realise it is time for sleep.
If you work shifts and have to sleep during the day, or if you live in a particularly light area with a street light just outside your bedroom window – it’s worth considering an eye mask to help recreate the sensation of darkness/night.
These eye masks are easily available and can be found in pharmacists and travel/luggage shops.
Remember – when trying to sleep – Black is good!
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
7 top tips on avoiding jet lad triggered insomnia
My wife has just returned from a long haul trip to the States with work. After a couple of weeks with her struggling to sleep and waking me up in the middle of the night to look at paint samples I thought I’d better start looking at how I can stop this from happening again!
So I’ve decided to pull together some facts on the causes of jetlag and some tips on things that you can do to avoid it. Even if you’ve not got a long flights across timezones coming up soon – hopefully you can remember the tips and they will come in handy in the future.
So what is jet lag exactly?
Well, one of the downsides of long distance travel across different timezones is that it confuses your body clock – this can lead to throwing peoples sleep patterns.
The syptoms manifest themselves as severe tiredness and fatigue as well as minor disorientation.
7 Top Tips on avoiding jetlag
The tips below have been proven to help with minimising the effects of jetlag.
1. Your watch
Change your watch to your destination time as soon as you board the plane. It’s a small thing but it really helps you mentally adjust to arriving at your destination.
2. Eating
Eat after you land, rather than just on the plane. This will help your body clock adjust. It will also help you feel dozy as long as you keep to a light meal. A salad is often good as lettuce has been found to actually help people sleep.
3. Bedtime
When you arrive at your destination – force yourself to stay awake. It’s best not to sleep until it is bedtime in that timezone.
4. Routine
If it is bedtime when you arrive, follow your normal bedtime routine. This will encourage sleep.
5. Dehydration
This makes jetlag worse. It is important to try and avoid too much alcohol on your flight and instead drink lots of water.
6. Light
If you have arrived in daylight when it should be dark in the time zone you’ve come from – try and avoid light as much as you can the first day or so.
7. Active
Finally, be as active as you can during daylight hours. This will help you naturally feel tired at night time in the new timezone. Fatigue can be a great way of getting back into a sleep routine.
Hope these tips come in use at some point in the future
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
So I’ve decided to pull together some facts on the causes of jetlag and some tips on things that you can do to avoid it. Even if you’ve not got a long flights across timezones coming up soon – hopefully you can remember the tips and they will come in handy in the future.
So what is jet lag exactly?
Well, one of the downsides of long distance travel across different timezones is that it confuses your body clock – this can lead to throwing peoples sleep patterns.
The syptoms manifest themselves as severe tiredness and fatigue as well as minor disorientation.
7 Top Tips on avoiding jetlag
The tips below have been proven to help with minimising the effects of jetlag.
1. Your watch
Change your watch to your destination time as soon as you board the plane. It’s a small thing but it really helps you mentally adjust to arriving at your destination.
2. Eating
Eat after you land, rather than just on the plane. This will help your body clock adjust. It will also help you feel dozy as long as you keep to a light meal. A salad is often good as lettuce has been found to actually help people sleep.
3. Bedtime
When you arrive at your destination – force yourself to stay awake. It’s best not to sleep until it is bedtime in that timezone.
4. Routine
If it is bedtime when you arrive, follow your normal bedtime routine. This will encourage sleep.
5. Dehydration
This makes jetlag worse. It is important to try and avoid too much alcohol on your flight and instead drink lots of water.
6. Light
If you have arrived in daylight when it should be dark in the time zone you’ve come from – try and avoid light as much as you can the first day or so.
7. Active
Finally, be as active as you can during daylight hours. This will help you naturally feel tired at night time in the new timezone. Fatigue can be a great way of getting back into a sleep routine.
Hope these tips come in use at some point in the future
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Friday, 20 August 2010
Insomnia and Reflexology – Cycle Balancer
Another reflexology technique called Cycle Balancer
Here’s another reflexology technique I came across which is meant to help you relax before bedtime.
To help balance your sleep/awake cycle, try this DIY reflexology technique. It stimulates your pineal gland which produces the sleep hormone Melatin.
Here goes...
Using your thumb and forefinger, apply pressure to the fleshy area about two thirds of the way up your big toes for a couple of minutes. Leave it a minute and then repeat, try and do it for about 10 minutes.
I find that this technique always works best if carried out an hour or so before bedtime.
Give it a go, there’s nothing to lose and it doesn’t cost anything to try!
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Here’s another reflexology technique I came across which is meant to help you relax before bedtime.
To help balance your sleep/awake cycle, try this DIY reflexology technique. It stimulates your pineal gland which produces the sleep hormone Melatin.
Here goes...
Using your thumb and forefinger, apply pressure to the fleshy area about two thirds of the way up your big toes for a couple of minutes. Leave it a minute and then repeat, try and do it for about 10 minutes.
I find that this technique always works best if carried out an hour or so before bedtime.
Give it a go, there’s nothing to lose and it doesn’t cost anything to try!
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
10 Feng Shui Tips To Cure Your Insomnia
How to use Feng Shui in your bedroom to help promote sleep.
Someone suggested I try Feng Shui at home to make my house a bit more relaxed and help me sleep. I have to admit I wasn’t 100% convinced but thought it was worth a look into.
I did a bit of research and what I found I’ll share with you below. It gives you some advice on how you can Feng Shui your bedroom, as well as some of the basics on exactly what it is.
Feng Shui actually means “wind and water” and is the ancient Chinese art of creating a well balanced, harmonious environment to promote health, wealth and happiness.
So what are the principles behind it?
It involves making sure that the layout of a building or room and everything in it, allows a free flow of energy or “chi”.
Another feature is making sure there is a balance between the yin (female, passive) and the yang (male, active) energies.
Practitioners of the art of Feng Shui claim that a room or building can effect the behaviour , emotions, thoughts and health of the people who spend time in it.
How can these principles be used to help insomniacs and promote a calm, relaxed nights sleep?
Here’s a Top 10 tips to using Feng Shui to promote sleep...
1. Remove clutter to encourage the flow of Chi this includes removing old clothes ,shoes or piles of dirty washing
2. Don’t store things under the bed where they can block Chi and disrupt sleep
3. Don’t keep items on top of wardrobes. Plus keep your dressing table/top of chest of drawers tidy – only displaying things that you use regularly
4. Place your bed as far away from the door as possible with the headboard against a solid wall
5. Ideally chose a wooden framed bed with solid headboard to protect your Chi whilst you are asleep
6. Pale blue and violet are good bedroom colours. They are supposedly “yin” shades that produce serenity and calm!
7. Lighting needs to be more yin than usual to promote relaxation and sleep. This means bedside lamps with rounded shades, candles and lights with dimmer switches if possible.
8. Remove TV’s, computers or games consoles as they produce too much “yang energy”
9. Use batter operated clocks rather than electrical or clockwork ones
10. Don’t position a mirror so that it reflects the bed as this disrupts sleep
There you go, at least you know what it is now!
Most things won’t cost the earth to try ( some of them will probably just take a 20 minutes tidy!) – so may be worth a try.
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Someone suggested I try Feng Shui at home to make my house a bit more relaxed and help me sleep. I have to admit I wasn’t 100% convinced but thought it was worth a look into.
I did a bit of research and what I found I’ll share with you below. It gives you some advice on how you can Feng Shui your bedroom, as well as some of the basics on exactly what it is.
Feng Shui actually means “wind and water” and is the ancient Chinese art of creating a well balanced, harmonious environment to promote health, wealth and happiness.
So what are the principles behind it?
It involves making sure that the layout of a building or room and everything in it, allows a free flow of energy or “chi”.
Another feature is making sure there is a balance between the yin (female, passive) and the yang (male, active) energies.
Practitioners of the art of Feng Shui claim that a room or building can effect the behaviour , emotions, thoughts and health of the people who spend time in it.
How can these principles be used to help insomniacs and promote a calm, relaxed nights sleep?
Here’s a Top 10 tips to using Feng Shui to promote sleep...
1. Remove clutter to encourage the flow of Chi this includes removing old clothes ,shoes or piles of dirty washing
2. Don’t store things under the bed where they can block Chi and disrupt sleep
3. Don’t keep items on top of wardrobes. Plus keep your dressing table/top of chest of drawers tidy – only displaying things that you use regularly
4. Place your bed as far away from the door as possible with the headboard against a solid wall
5. Ideally chose a wooden framed bed with solid headboard to protect your Chi whilst you are asleep
6. Pale blue and violet are good bedroom colours. They are supposedly “yin” shades that produce serenity and calm!
7. Lighting needs to be more yin than usual to promote relaxation and sleep. This means bedside lamps with rounded shades, candles and lights with dimmer switches if possible.
8. Remove TV’s, computers or games consoles as they produce too much “yang energy”
9. Use batter operated clocks rather than electrical or clockwork ones
10. Don’t position a mirror so that it reflects the bed as this disrupts sleep
There you go, at least you know what it is now!
Most things won’t cost the earth to try ( some of them will probably just take a 20 minutes tidy!) – so may be worth a try.
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
4 Tips on How Changes In Your Environment Will Help With Insomnia
Some people are more sensitive to their environment than others. If you’re one of them, then these four tips on how to make your environment more sleep friendly should help.
When it comes to sleep, most people require the same things: a quiet, dark, cool room.
It sounds easy, but it’s truly hard to find. Noisy neighbors, barking dogs, babies crying, someone’s snoring, thumping music, a bedmate with “restless leg syndrome” or one who talks in his or her sleep, or even a dripping tap can keep you from restful sleep. Noise is truly a serious invader, and there are several ways to obliterate the offending sounds.
If there are noises in your environment that affect your sleep, run that fan or some other white-noise machine to help block it out. If you are very sensitive to sound, invest in some decent ear plugs to help you tune out the noise around you. Some people wear heavy-duty earplugs that can block out up to 32 decibels of sound. Playing soothing music may help some sleep, but others may be tempted to “hum along” with the tunes, which will naturally keep them awake, so just experiment until you find what works best for you.
Next, create a space that is peaceful and comfortable. It certainly helps if your bedroom is visually appealing and clean, and make sure the temperature is comfortable. Fresh air or a breeze created by an oscillating or overhead fan can help you sleep, and the ideal temperature for sleeping soundly is 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Also, remember that we are not that far away from our ancestors in terms of rest and work cycles. Humans are naturally diurnal creatures; we are meant to sleep at night, when it is dark. Therefore, your body is naturally responsive to light and dark. Darkness induces sleep, whilst light induces wakefulness. To ensure you get a good night’s sleep, make sure your room is dark. If the sun comes through your windows too early in the morning, invest in light-blocking drapes or shades. However, make sure that whatever you do to make it dark is reversible, because during the day, the more bright sunshine you can let into your life and home, the easier it will be to stay awake!
Your sleep surface is incredibly important to your ability to get good sleep. So few people take the time to consider whether they might need a new, quality mattress and pillows. If you cannot afford to replace your mattress now, make it a priority to save for a future purchase. In the meantime, improve your sleep by rotating your mattress regularly. Also, invest in new pillows. If you have had your pillows for more than six months, replace them now – their germ-collecting time is UP!
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
When it comes to sleep, most people require the same things: a quiet, dark, cool room.
It sounds easy, but it’s truly hard to find. Noisy neighbors, barking dogs, babies crying, someone’s snoring, thumping music, a bedmate with “restless leg syndrome” or one who talks in his or her sleep, or even a dripping tap can keep you from restful sleep. Noise is truly a serious invader, and there are several ways to obliterate the offending sounds.
If there are noises in your environment that affect your sleep, run that fan or some other white-noise machine to help block it out. If you are very sensitive to sound, invest in some decent ear plugs to help you tune out the noise around you. Some people wear heavy-duty earplugs that can block out up to 32 decibels of sound. Playing soothing music may help some sleep, but others may be tempted to “hum along” with the tunes, which will naturally keep them awake, so just experiment until you find what works best for you.
Next, create a space that is peaceful and comfortable. It certainly helps if your bedroom is visually appealing and clean, and make sure the temperature is comfortable. Fresh air or a breeze created by an oscillating or overhead fan can help you sleep, and the ideal temperature for sleeping soundly is 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Also, remember that we are not that far away from our ancestors in terms of rest and work cycles. Humans are naturally diurnal creatures; we are meant to sleep at night, when it is dark. Therefore, your body is naturally responsive to light and dark. Darkness induces sleep, whilst light induces wakefulness. To ensure you get a good night’s sleep, make sure your room is dark. If the sun comes through your windows too early in the morning, invest in light-blocking drapes or shades. However, make sure that whatever you do to make it dark is reversible, because during the day, the more bright sunshine you can let into your life and home, the easier it will be to stay awake!
Your sleep surface is incredibly important to your ability to get good sleep. So few people take the time to consider whether they might need a new, quality mattress and pillows. If you cannot afford to replace your mattress now, make it a priority to save for a future purchase. In the meantime, improve your sleep by rotating your mattress regularly. Also, invest in new pillows. If you have had your pillows for more than six months, replace them now – their germ-collecting time is UP!
Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)