As anyone who suffers from sleepless nights or disturbed sleep will tell you, not getting enough sleep is no laughing matter. Not getting enough quality sleep can lead to irritability, lethargy, bad skin and general feelings of ill health, so it’s vital that we all do get the sleep we need.

Of course, we will all occasionally suffer from the odd bout of insomnia or have trouble sleeping, perhaps due to stressful times in our work or personal lives or because of travelling or shift work, but it is when a good night’s sleep becomes the exception rather than the rule that it can help to take a closer look at our lifestyles.

One of the most common contributing factors towards not getting enough sleep, or the right sleep, is often overlooked and that factor is diet. If you are having difficulty sleeping, take a look at your diet and consider the following: are you eating heavy or spicy meals fairly late at night? Are you drinking alcohol on an evening? Heavy meals can sit on your stomach at night causing you problems sleeping and spicy food can cause upset stomachs and acid indigestion at night. Opt for light meals in the evening and save any big or spicy meals for during the day. A small amount of alcohol may make you feel relaxed, but much more than this will send you off into an unsatisfying sleep and you are likely to find yourself waking up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, so go for a hot milky drink in the evenings instead.

Once you have done your best to eliminate possible dietary causes, if you are still having trouble sleeping then your bed might be the problem, in particular your mattress. For restful sleep, vacuum packed mattresses are recommended by many people, and you can find these and other varieties at www.sleepmasters.co.uk.

Good “sleep hygiene” means everything that helps maintain your health by keeping your mind and body rested and strong. The idea of sleep hygiene is like a dental hygiene. Both rely on nightly or daily rituals for consistently good hygiene. Just as you get in the habit of brushing, flossing, and visiting your dentist regularly, you must implement a nightly routine of healthy habits to improve your sleep hygiene. Follow these sleep hygiene tips to help assure a good night’s sleep.

- Eat lightly to induce sleep. Although you shouldn’t eat too much right before sleep, certain foods promote sleep. Such foods include the amino acid L-tryptophan, found in milk, turkey, and tuna; and carbohydrates, such as bread and cereal. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and large amounts of sugar.

- Wait until you are sleepy before going to bed. If you’re not sleepy at your regular bedtime, do something relaxing; read a book, listen to music, or do some other activity that relaxes, not stimulates you. This will relax your body and distract your mind to remove your worries about sleep.

- Create the right environment. Every person has his or her own personal preference as to the ideal sleep environment. Extremes should be avoided. Make sure your room is dark and quiet, and the right temperature. Most experts agree cooler temperatures work best. If you’re bothered by noise, wear earplugs or use a fan to create white noise. Read The Full Story…

Manny people waste hours and hours in bed for no good reason. The purpose of this post is to help you, not only to fall asleep faster, but also to improve your sleep system – the idea is that you will ultimately waste less time in bed because you will require less sleep and fall asleep faster. If you don’t have enough sleep, it can lead to depression, high blood pressure and lower productivity at work.

Here are 10 bad sleep habits:

1. Limit time spent in bed. Regardless of how long you slept, don’t spend more than 8 hours in bed. Get out of that bed! Unless of course you and your better half have morning activities of some sort planned.

2. Having pets sleep in your bed: Animal hair can trigger off asthma and other allergy attacks, so it is advisable to keep your furry friends out of your bed. Even children’s stuffed toys can be carriers of dust mites. And that is something you need to watch out for.

3. Slow Bed Movements. Instead of tossing and turning in bed, move around slowly if you absolutely have to move around. Frustration feeds on fast movements. Gentle, slow movements will make you yawn and feel more tired.

4. Cleaning your bedroom: Many disinfectants have chemicals that can irritate your skin, nose, throat and lungs when you sleep. So avoid cleaning your room in the evening, but clean it & give it a make-over in the morning. Read The Full Story…

Note: This guest post was written by Andy SZEN. Check out his websites: www.egodevelopment.com

A power nap is a short nap, normally between 10 and 30 minutes long, taken in the middle of the day in order to reinvigorate and refresh you for the next part of the day. Power naps are not similar to normal sleep, so you will not be groggy after taking one. While you might have “dreams”, power naps are more similar to meditation, where thoughts are allowed to move from the sub-conscious mind to the conscious mind and back again without you concentrating on them.

How to Power Nap Effectively:
- Don`t be shame – be proud of your nap, announcing your intentions in advance toworkmates or family members. Napping is great for your health and productivity.
- Choose a time of the day when you are most likely to crash, such as the mid-morning or in the middle of the afternoon. Plan to nap between 10 and 30 minutes in your quiet spot during those times. The time limits may vary depending on how much sleep your body will need to renew its energy.
- Choose a quiet, location to power nap. One thing you want to make sure is that you have a silence place that you can power nap without being interrupted or distracted by environmental factors, such as cars or ground maintenance workers. If you choose to power nap in your office, then make sure that you post a sign that lets people know that you are power napping and not to disturb you.
- Collect your equipment blankets, pillows and, where possible, a foldout bed will ensure you get the most out of the rest, and help you separate naptime from the rest of the day
- Eat right – Avoid caffeine and sugar. If you choose to practice power napping, then you want to make sure you avoid eating too much caffeinated or sugary products before you power nap, as these can obviously obstruct with your ability to sleep. Read The Full Story…

The total of physical exercise you get during the day is one of the key elements in enabling you to fall asleep at night and get a good night’s rest. The more active you are during the day, the faster you will fall asleep at night and the more well-rested sleep you will get.

By exercising frequently, you’ll see an improvement in the quality of your sleep and the cycles and phases of sleep will become smoother and more regular. Regular physical activity may also better enable you to deal with the stress and worries of your life.

Exercise has generally been held to result in an increase in slow wave sleep and sleep duration.

• Aerobic exercise is considered to be the greatest type of activity to fight with sleeplessness. This is because these exercises allow more oxygen to enter the blood, due to the fact that you normally breathe deeply while Read The Full Story…

So what do you think about eating in bed? An indulgent pleasure or an absolute no-no? This is a question that will divide opinion every time you ask it, and is a great one for an eye-opening insight into your friend’s private lives! Oh dear, I am just so nosey…

In our house breakfast in bed is a real treat, and cups of tea whilst snuggling under the duvet are an early morning ritual. With small children leaping eagerly out of their beds at 6am-ish and sometimes horribly even earlier, (in my book there is only one 5 o’clock in the day and it is not in the morning), that extra few minutes to wake up gently whilst enjoying a nice cuppa are absolutely essential.

We have been known to take a tray of nibbles to bed in the early evening to watch a film as well, and recently got the children involved one Sunday afternoon with a film and popcorn: this may not be repeated however as we were finding the bits for days afterwards; not the most pleasant experience.

When staying away from home I love it when the sofa beds in the guest rooms are set up for a real home-from-home experience, including of course the all important cup of tea. I actually get a lot of pleasure out of the antiquated tea-making alarm clock at Grandma’s house – but I have not yet brought myself to the point of wanting to personally own one as I don’t think I could stand the teasing I would get!

If you are on the fence with the food in bed or not debate maybe give it a try – start simple with tea and biscuits – you never know you might become a convert to what we consider to be one of life’s little joys.

A good rest has always been called beauty sleep, but what a dream lean body? New research shows that individuals who are sleep deprived have a greater ability to lose weight and keep it off.

Here are 10 Tips to Improve Your Beauty Sleep:

1. Avoid before-bed snacks, particularly grains and sugars. This will raise blood sugar and inhibit sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you might wake up and not be able to fall back asleep.
2. No TV right before bedtime. Better yet, get the TV from the bedroom or even outside the house, completely. It is very stimulating to the brain and it will take longer to fall asleep. Also disruptive of pineal gland function for the same reason as above.
3. Go to bed early. Our systems, particularly the adrenals, do a majority of recharging or recovering during the hours of 11 pm and 1 am In addition, the toxins from the gallbladder dumps during this same period. If awake, backup of toxins in the liver which then secondarily back up your entire system and cause further disruption of their health. Before the widespread use of electricity, people went to bed shortly after sundown, as most animals do, and that nature intended for humans. Read The Full Story…

Nightly tooth grinding is a taxing problem that can result in chronic headaches, earaches, jaw pain, worn tooth enamel and sometimes flattened, shortened or even broken teeth and fillings. Also known as sleep bruxism, nightly grinding plagues as much as 10 percent of the adult population and as many as one-third of children. And yet, it is still unclear what causes it.

Some studies have connected sleep bruxism to sleep apnea. In fact, research shows that treating sleep apnea may help alleviate sleep bruxism. Alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, caffeine intake, snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness and certain medications also have been linked to sleep bruxism, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Meanwhile, one recent Sleep study indicates that the “daily grind” also may contribute to nightly tooth grinding. In other words, people who are under high levels of stress or experience troubles at work may be more likely to grind their teeth at night. According to a report in Head & Face Medicine, gnashing teeth was especially common in those dealing with stressful work situations and it was particularly evident in people who cope with difficult situations by escaping. It is suggested then that tooth grinding is a way for the body to release pent up stress and anxiety.

If your sleep bruxism is related to stress, experts suggest trying to relax in the hours before bedtime to reduce stress levels and to maintain a regular soothing bedtime routine. Creating a sleep environment that is cool, dark, and quiet may also be helpful.

We have all heard the old wives tale that eating cheese before you sleep will give you nightmares. What most people want at night time is dreams, so what other food and drinks are on the list not to eat before you sleep?

Probably the most obvious thing not to drink before you sleep is caffeine. This natural chemical revs up your nerves and makes you far more awake and alert, not the kind of state of mind you want when you are trying to nod off.

When you think of caffeine you immediately think of a cup of coffee or a glass of coke, but there are other drinks such as certain soft drinks that also contain caffeine, and do not forget that chocolate has a proportion of caffeine in it as well. So if you are particularly sensitive to caffeine, avoid any such things at least eight hours before you sleep, or you will not be experiencing any dreams at all.

Alcohol is another drink you should possibly try and avoid before you sleep. It does help you get sleepy and put you in a relaxing state for bed, however, it will more often than not then cause you to wake in the middle of the night and then finding it very hard to drop off to sleep again. I recommend a good drink of water after the alcohol, and then you are balancing out the alcohol in your body with good wholesome water.

Finally try to avoid large meals straight before you sleep. Although the intake of lots of food makes you drowsy, this will not last, as you will find your digestive system will slow down when you try to sleep, resulting in an uncomfortable tummy that may keep you awake. You are best eating large meals a good few hours before bed, so that you have time to digest properly.

So make those dreams last all night by avoiding food and drink that may cause you a restless night, and jump in to a bed such as the king size beds available at www.very.co.uk for supreme comfort.

If, like me, you are a parent of small children you will remember vividly how little sleep you come to survive on with a new baby. If your children are a bit older these unpleasant memories may have faded into nostalgia and not seem so bad. If you have a baby in the house though, you are probably either reading this during the precious me-time you get during their after-lunch nap or sometime in the wee small hours of the night. It will get better, I assure you.

Sleep deprivation due to the demands of a crying baby who needs feeding, changing cuddling or driving round in the car in the middle of the night – quite often more than once – is something which unfortunately cannot really be avoided. Unless you have a live in nanny then it is down to you and your other half to cope, and as one of you probably has to go to work in the morning it is down to the stay-at-home parent most of the time.

Things which might work for you include putting single beds in your nursery so that you can respond quickly to the child and not wake the whole house up, or if the baby is in your room then devising a set rota of who’s ‘turn’ it is to get up in order to avoid those whispered 3am arguments whilst the screaming escalates. Giving each other a break is really important to maintain your sanity! Read The Full Story…