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Trouble Sleeping?- Maybe You Two Should Sleep in Separate Beds!

I am not kidding here—a new study came out suggesting that couples who have trouble sleeping and who sleep in the same bed may get better sleep if they sleep in separate beds. Apparently around 25 percent of U.S. couples sleep in different beds or rooms, according to the National Sleep Foundation. This is no [...]

Night Shift Workers–Health Risks of Poor Sleep

It’s estimated that at least 20% of the workforce in the USA and in Europe work the so-called graveyard shift, either as their primary shift, or at least more than half of the time—that includes yours truly. A new study has confirmed what was suspected by many—that night shift workers face significant health risks, and [...]

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Easy Ways Of Stopping Insomnia

January 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Stopping insomnia

Stopping insomnia has become the primary objective of many a people, as progressively more and more are suffering from it. The inability to fall asleep, is affecting people mentally, physically and socially, hence bringing about a drive for way for stopping insomnia.

For a very easy and safe way to cure insomnia, simply click here.

For stopping insomnia, it is often crucial to examine its causes and effects. It is mostly brought about due to psychological factors, followed by physical and other short-term factors affecting one’s sleep-wake cycle. As a result of having chronic insomnia, individuals experience loss of energy, weariness throughout the day, decreased memory function and at times even a hormone imbalance. If being caused by stress and anxiety, insomnia only makes it worse, potentially ruining one’s normal life.

The easiest way of stopping insomnia is to take prescription or supplementary pills. These pills induce sleep hormones and take over your circadian cycles, forcing you to fall asleep. However that option is really not the best for you health, it is easy to become dependant on them and hence your sleep stops coming to you naturally, in addition you could also experience side effects. Therefore when looking at stopping insomnia, a more natural and healthy way is much more preferred and encouraged.

Stopping Insomnia by Exercising

A good amount of exercise each day can do your body wonders. Not only is it good physically, it fatigues your body just the right amount to then allow you to have a good night’s sleep, without waking up. Exercise also raises your body temperature slightly, which if done hours before you sleep, allows your body temperature to gradually slip during rest or sleep comfortably. However, do not exercise just before going to bed, it is much better to do it in the morning or at some point during the day.

Even forms of meditating for a while before you sleep can help, it calms your mind to a large extent and frees you of your stress and worries, allowing you to accept sleep as it comes. Yoga, therefore is a great way of stopping insomnia.

Stopping Insomnia by Monitoring Food intake

 

Stopping insomnia

Change your daily habits!

What you eat throughout the day, has a direct impact on how well you sleep at night, if at all, as seen with chronic insomniacs. Your body produces natural sleep hormones, melatonin and serotonin, which facilitate falling asleep for you. However, the consumption of processed foods, high amounts of sugar, these tend to stimulate your body processes, providing extra energy, rather than helping you wind down at the end of the day. Do not eat just before sleeping, you must give it at least 3-4 hours if possible and always try and avoid a heavy meal. Also definitely try and avoid the intake of alcohol, caffeine or nicotine through smoking, before bed.

Drinking plenty of water throughout the day rids your body of toxins and all sorts of poisons, a clean body functions better and is more accepting of hormonal signals provided to it.

Stopping Insomnia by Changing Your Daily Habits

Change in other daily habits, can also affect your sleep-wake cycle positively. Avoiding things such as taking naps during the day or forcing yourself to sleep at any point. This way your body falls asleep naturally.

Avoid snacking at night, it disturbs the balance and indigestion is a great inhibitor of sleep.

Try and have some fixed times, as to when you usually wake up and go to bed, a routine always suits the body well.

If you successfully follow the above mentioned guidelines you are surely on your way to stopping insomnia and getting a good night’s sleep.

Filed Under: Insomnia, Sleep Disorders Treatment Tagged With: , , ,

Chronic Insomnia Treatment

January 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Chronic insomnia treatment

Sleep is one of our most basic needs, suffering from insomnia not only affects us mentally, but we also face physical exhaustion and social retardation, hence to avoid such scenarios, it is important to take a look at chronic insomnia treatment.

Initial chronic insomnia treatment

 

Constantly struggling for sleep or lying awake for hours on end can get quite frustrating and then one ends up spending the rest of the day trudging along in weariness. Insomnia occurs for various reasons such as stress, anxiety, medication, uncomfortable environment, psychological problems etc. It prevents you from being sufficiently active, draining all energy, it affects your mood, causing for unpleasant situations and in the long run it can very well contribute to health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease or even diabetes. But now, as you will find out below, simple lifestyle changes can well be chronic insomnia treatment.

As a first step of chronic insomnia treatment it might help to work on your stress and anxiety issues, it might not do away with insomnia entirely, but will definitely help. Hence doing things like organising your daily schedule, doing away with multiple tasks or heavy loads of work and working on any other persistent issues might help calm you down. While attempting to sleep you might find it calming and useful to create a dark, quiet and comfortable environment. Avoid taking naps during the day, this will force your body to fall into a set sleep-wake cycle.

Effective chronic insomnia treatments

 

Chronic insomnia treatment

Insomniac

Changing simple lifestyle habits can prove to be affective chronic insomnia treatment methods. Avoiding stimulating activities before bed time, helps ease the body into sleep mode. Often consumption of caffeine or alcohol disrupts sleep, disturbing the natural circadian rhythm, hence avoiding those and smoking before sleeping would greatly help. Also avoid eating heavy meals or munching on snacks for at least a few hours before sleeping, in order for digestion to take place completely.

To eliminate chronic insomnia, you could look to doing gentle breathing exercises, muscle relaxation, mediation or even yoga. These aren’t highly stimulating and in turn prepare your body for good sleep. It harnesses your power and not only will it benefit you in your efforts to sleep, it is also a generally healthy habit.

Looking away from natural chronic insomnia treatments, one has the option of dietary supplements or prescription pills. Dietary supplements shouldn’t be taken without consultation as they have positive sleep-promoting effects. The most effective of these supplements are Melatonin, a sleep inducing hormone, and Valerian, a mildly sedative herb, which helps you sleep better. Though if taken, they should both be consumed only before sleeping and at no point in the day as it will naturally induce sleep at the time. If your insomnia is serious and no other insomnia treatment is working, you should visit a doctor who could prescribe you some sleeping pills. The first kind would be a pill for those who have recently begun suffering from chronic insomnia. For long-time sufferers doctors suggest stronger pills to induce sleep in addition with possibly psychologist visitation to help in the long run. Both though act as immediate chronic insomnia treatments.

Filed Under: Insomnia, Sleeping Disorders Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Sleep Paralysis Treatments

January 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Sleep Paralysis Treatments

Natural Sleep Paralysis Treatments

Seeing as how sleep paralysis is such a common widespread phenomenon, it is of essence to know well about sleep paralysis treatments. The condition of sleep paralysis, experiencing immobility while falling asleep or upon awakening, is quite a frightening prospect. Added with the possibility of horrific hallucinations, it is enough to scare anyone off this condition. However, it is important to remember that though scarily unrealistic, this condition is quite common, it brings absolutely no harm to the body and there are available sleep paralysis treatments today.

There is no clear cut sleep paralysis treatments that exist, in fact it is a number of factors, which when controlled and changes brought about, help to reduce the frequency and possibility of it’s occurrence in any individual. The following steps are most efficient and natural sleep paralysis treatment methods.

Sleep paralysis is found more often in people who suffer from high stress levels, sleep deprivation or constantly changing sleep-wake cycles, hence it is important to get good sleep, in sufficient chunks of time to decrease episodes of sleep paralysis. For adults about 6-9 hours of sleep and around 10-12 hours for younger children are good sleep paralysis treatments. t would also greatly help to have a more or less fixed time for bed and to arise. To further your sleep paralysis treatments, one could ensure a quiet, dark and warm sleeping environment; avoid alcohol or caffeine consumption and smoking close to bed time.

Sleep Paralysis Treatments

Avoid having alocoholic drinks before bedtime

Other sleep paralysis symptoms include small habits such as eating at least 4 hours before you decide to sleep, this will ensure complete digestion of food and will make you less prone to wake up suddenly in the middle of the night. Though preferred by some, it is highly advised to avoid sleeping on your back. Sleeping in the supine position greatly enhances the possibility of suffering from episodes of sleep paralysis. Doing any amount of exercise in the day, especially yoga relaxes your body, reduces the stress and immediately enables good sleep at night.

Reminders on sleep paralysis treatment

If none of the above suggestions work effectively as sleep paralysis treatments, you should perhaps visit the doctor and a prescription may well be in order. There are primarily two medicines you might be asked to take. One, Ritalin, taken every morning, ensures a complete wake cycle to then ensure a proper sleep cycle. The second one, Clonazepam, which is taken before sleep, and works more to ensure a good sleep and hence is more effective as a sleep paralysis treatment.

When suffering from sleep paralysis, for an effective treatment and diagnosis, it is important to recognize your symptoms and triggers. Different people undergo different experiences and you must be aware and know if you are experiencing any sleep paralysis symptoms. More than symptoms, if established that you often suffer from sleep paralysis, it is vital to monitor and realize the trigger causes. These triggers could be anything and is most subjective, but important for more effective sleep paralysis treatment.

Filed Under: Sleep Paralysis, Sleep Paralysis Natural Remedies Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

What is Sleep Paralysis

January 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment
What is Sleep Paralysis - Immobility during sleep

What is sleep paralysis?

 

Often, people misdiagnose sleep disorders due to overlapping symptoms experienced in some, in the following article we hope to provide you with detailed and distinct knowledge of what is sleep paralysis?

That feeling when you’re sleeping and you feel as if you are drifting through dreams and suddenly you’re fully aware of your surroundings, following which you are unable to move at all and you feel another’s presence, that is the empirical essence of what is sleep paralysis. The prospect of sleep paralysis is rather scary, and therefore it is important to know exactly what is sleep paralysis so you’re in a better position to realize it and deal with it the next time.

To begin to uncover the question what is sleep paralysis, quite simply, it is a condition in which an individual experiences partial or absolute inability to carry out voluntary movements. This either happens just as you are falling asleep, (hypnogogic or predormital) or in most cases upon awakening from sleep (hypnopompic or postdormiral). It mostly happens when one is in a supine position and the paralysis lasts anywhere between seconds to several minutes.

Understanding what is sleep paralysis and narcolepsy

 

What is Sleep Paralysis - Immobility during sleep
Sleep paralysis is a condition in which an individual experiences partial or absolute inability to carry out voluntary movements.

Sleep paralysis is most often associated with narcolepsy, a neurological condition whereby one experiences sudden bouts of daytime sleepiness. Therefore it is always good to get your condition checked by a doctor to ensure you do not have narcolepsy, as unlike sleep paralysis, that is a physically harming condition. There is no real causation of sleep paralysis yet discovered, it could be a number of factors such as genetics, immunity etc. General symptoms covered when considering what is sleep paralysis, include immobility, the feeling of not being able to breathe, rapid eye movements, feeling choked and hallucinations of strange noises and images.

When looking at what is sleep paralysis, it is important to remember that the condition, is in no way harmful to the health, physically or even mentally. Except, while undergoing a phase of sleep paralysis, there is a strong feeling of fear and anxiety that is felt in the moment. It seems extremely scary and confounding and it’s hard to make sense of much immediately. This sensation can be heightened if hallucinations take place, whereby one begins to imagine the presence of someone either fantastical or horrific, which in most cases is extremely disturbing to the mind. During this whole phase though you are technically awake, the process must have been quite sudden, due to which the brain still believes it is dreaming. But within minutes the body fully awakens and either gradually or abruptly one will be able to move voluntarily again. The phase usually terminates upon sound or touch.

Sleep paralysis though seemingly unreal, is quite a realistic experience and is quite common. About 20% to 50% of the world suffers from it. It is found most commonly amongst university students (21%), a lot of which is owed to sleep deprivation, stress and the disruption of sleep-wake cycle schedules.

It is important to keep in mind the above-mentioned facts about what is sleep paralysis, to avoid confusing it or misdiagnosing it with other sleep and anxiety disorders.

Filed Under: Sleep Paralysis, Sleep-Troublesome Actions Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Sleep Paralysis Symptoms

January 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Sleep Paralysis Symptoms

Often looked over, sleep paralysis is a common condition suffered by many, to prevent from further such cases, below is a detailed outline of sleep paralysis symptoms and what bring them about.

Primary Sleep Paralysis Symptoms

 

Sleep paralysis is not only extremely easy to diagnose, unlike some other sleep disorders, it is also one of the scariest sleep disorders for one to experience. It throws our body in a state of paralysis, just as we’re awakening from sleep or falling asleep. Our muscles don’t move at all for periods ranging from seconds to minutes, even though one can sense everything else. It often sets in stress and brings about modes of panic due to the trapped and helpless feeling, for any person experiencing it.

Sleep Paralysis Symptoms – Inability to move or talk

 

The primary and most obvious sleep paralysis symptom is the partial or complete inability to move or talk, you can feel heavy pressure on your chest, restricting your breathing and sometimes you might also realize a choking feeling. You will be completely aware of your surroundings and of the fact that you are trying to move but cannot. You will unknowingly continue to perform involuntary movements such as blinking your eyes or breathing, even though it might not feel like you can. This sleep paralysis symptom occurs as while you sleeping and dreaming, there is often movement and sometimes the brain signals to paralyze the muscles to prevent movement and possible injury while you are asleep and dreaming. Hence even when you suddenly wake up, sometimes the brain fails to perceive that and continues to presume you are asleep and retains the state of paralysis. It is an extremely frightening experience but brings no hard at all to the body.

Sleep Paralysis Symptoms -Hallucination

 

Sleep Paralysis Symptoms
Having hallucinations while sleeping is a common symptom of sleep paralysis

The second sleep paralysis symptom is what we see as frightening illusion images, which doctors call a hallucination. You might experience frequent episodes of hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences. Most times these hallucinations occur in a form whereby it makes us feel that some evil presence is trying to harm us in some way, either being very closely watching the individual or in some way bodily harming the individual. In most cases it is some form of a demon or an alien. Other forms of hallucination that might take place are acoustic, where loud noises can be heard, exosomatic, vibrations or tremors are felt, it could be visual, where we view a scenario taking place of any possible nature, or it could be hallucinations within which you are experiencing extreme pain of some sort. These hallucinations can vary in intensity, could be very slight and fleeting or extremely solid where you believe it like you are awake and experiencing it. The latter sleep paralysis symptom being scarier and more dangerous to one’s mental state. Hallucination is definitely an important sleep paralysis symptom, however if it occurs always or almost always it is usually the case that it is a symptom of a different and more serious health condition, sleep narcolepsy, in which case you will definitely need to visit a doctor.

As can be seen from above there are 2 primary sleep paralysis symptoms, which you might experience, seeing as how they are pretty obviously recognizable sleep paralysis symptoms, it would be wise to act on it as soon as you can, to avoid dreadful sleep.

Filed Under: Sleep-Troublesome Actions, Sleeping Disorders Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Sleep Paralysis Causes

January 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Sleep Paralysis Causes

What are the common sleep paralysis causes?

The scary feeling that you feel from not being able to move at all during sleep, comes with sleep paralysis, to be able to avoid this fearful condition it is of essence to look at it’s parameters and sleep paralysis causes. In every 10 people, 4 experience sleep paralysis and it is so randomly spread that anyone can experience it at any stage when any of the causes are triggered, therefore it is important to learn of sleep paralysis causes.

There are quite a few sleep paralysis causes that doctors consider to be significant in bring about the condition, however these are all just widely considered theories, as the actual and primary sleep paralysis cause is still unknown. Sleep paralysis in effect is causes by a short-term episode of muscle paralysis, which disables one to move in any manner. It does not in any way cause any damage to an individual’s physical health but it does affect them mentally, sometimes quite severely. Those who suffer from sleep paralysis often feel extremely frightened when unable to move and experience immediate bouts of stress to the slight disorientation of not fully being able to grasp what is happening and it’s effects and reasons.

A very common sleep paralysis cause is narcolepsy, whereby you experience random, sudden bouts of extreme daytime sleepiness brought about by mixed brain signals regarding the sleep-wake cycle. The sudden state of being awake and then asleep is a major sleep paralysis cause. A lot of the times when you change your sleep schedule drastically it can also result in sleep paralysis, this is very common amongst first year university students as well for those who travel around a lot across several time zones. Moreover, irregular sleep schedules, also form substantial sleep paralysis causes, whereby you take frequent naps, sleep in very often or put yourself through sleep deprivation.

Major sleep paralysis cause – STRESS

 

Sleep Paralysis Causes

How sleep paralysis occurs?

Another major sleep paralysis cause is the presence of high levels of stress or even low levels of stress on a regular basis. The hormones released in your body when you are experiencing stressful situations, results in disturbed sleep and affects the motor ability when asleep. When people have a fear of sleeping alone for whatever reason and they do sleep alone, it can also cause a lot of stress brought about by fear, very often becoming a sleep paralysis cause. A lucid dream can often bring about sudden bodily movements that can be immediately succeeded by an episode of sleep paralysis. Also sleeping in a face upwards position or a supine position for long fixed time periods that freeze your body in that position for a time period causing sleep paralysis.

Certain medications, prescribed or unprescribed, contain chemical drugs which either induce or inhibit sleep and can bring about sleep paralysis as well. Hence it is important that you check that the medication you are taking doesn’t have large doses of sleep affecting drugs, as that can often become sleep paralysis causes.

Filed Under: Sleep-Troublesome Actions, Sleeping Disorders Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,