By Andy | October 13, 2009 - 3:01 am - Posted in Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Habits

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 pet-in-bed-300x200 How Do Not Waste your Sleep: 10 Bad Sleep Habitsbed. 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…

By Andy | September 29, 2009 - 4:43 am - Posted in Sleep Habits

Good sleep habits can help you get a excellent night’s sleep. With correct sleep habits, it is easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. Several good sleep habits include avoiding caffeine and other stimulants late in the day, getting regular exercise, and going to sleep at the same time each night.

Below is a list of things that typically help people sleep better:

1.Bedtime routines are helpful for good sleep. Keep routines on your normal schedule. A cup habits-300x225 10 Good Sleep Habits Tips for Better Sleepof herbal tea an hour before bed can begin a routine.

2. Exercise Regularly. Another way to develop better sleep habits is to exercise regularly. Your body uses sleep to recover and repair so exercise promotes your body’s need to rest.

3. No napping. Some people can take a short afternoon nap and still sleep well at night. However, if you are having trouble sleeping at night, try to eliminate napping. If you must nap, do it in the early afternoon, and sleep no longer than about thirty minutes.

4. Eat Moderately, No Caffeine, No Smoking . Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants and can keep you from falling asleep. Alcohol can cause you to wake in the night. It also interferes with sleep quality. Read The Full Story…

By Andy | September 15, 2009 - 4:16 am - Posted in Sleep Habits

Sleep hygiene refers to the habits, environmental factors, and practices that may influence the length and quality of one’s sleep. These include bedtime, nighttime rituals, and disruptions to one’s sleep. These are typically represented by simple guidelines meant to effectively promote a good night’s rest.

The following is a list of sleep hygiene rules which can be used to improve sleep:

  1. Establish a Regular Routine: go to bed at the same time each night and rise at the same time
    good sleep room

    good sleep room

    each morning.

  2. Get an enough quantity of sleep every night. Determine the amount of sleep you need by keeping track of how long you sleep without using an alarm clock for a week. Maintain this “personal” sleep requirement.
  3. Good environment: Make sure your bed is comfortable and use it only for sleeping and not for other activities, such as reading, watching TV, or listening to music. Remove all TVs, computers, and other “gadgets” from the bedroom.
  4. Avoid naps. If you have to take a nap, try to keep it to less than one hour and avoid taking a nap after 3 pm. Read The Full Story…
By Andy | August 5, 2009 - 5:57 am - Posted in Sleep Habits

Feng shui bedroom tips are an important part of your wealth creation strategy because you spend up to one-third of your life in your bedroom.. A good feng shui bedroom is a bedroom that promotes a harmonious flow of nourishing and sensual energy. A good feng shui bedroom is a bedroom that invites you, lures you in, excites and calms at the same time. A good feng shui bedroom is fun and pleasurable to be in, either you are there for a quick nap, a good night sleep or to make passionate love!

Here are 10 ways to utilize feng shui in your bedroom:

  1. Place the bed so that you have clear sight of the door. However, avoid placing the bed feng-shui-300x199 10 Tips for Your Feng Shui Bedroom directly opposite or against the same wall as the door. The idea is that you should be able to clearly see who is entering, but without being in the path of incoming energy.
  2. Let go of the TV, computer or exercise equipment in your bedroom. The good feng shui energy in your bedroom is destroyed when these items are present in your bedroom.
  3. Don’t have a mirror or mirrored dressing table facing the bed, if you can see yourself in the mirror from a resting position. There isn’t a problem if the mirror is too high for this to occur. You can either change the position of the mirror or dressing table, or cover it with a cloth each night before going to bed. Read The Full Story…
By Andy | July 28, 2009 - 5:53 am - Posted in Sleep Habits, Sleepy-Foods

Do you have trouble falling or staying asleep?

Head for the kitchen and enjoy one or two of these foods. These foods really can make you sleepy. They relax tense muscles, quiet buzzing minds, and/or get calming, sleep-inducing hormones - serotonin and melatonin - flowing. Yawning yet?

Bedtime foods that help you sleep:

  • 1 -Bananas. They’re practically a sleeping pill in a peel. In addition to a bit of10 Sleepy-Foods Who Tell You “Good Night” soothing melatonin and serotonin, bananas contain magnesium, a muscle relaxant.
  • 2 - Warm milk. It’s not a myth. Milk has some tryptophan - an amino acid that has a sedative - like effect - and calcium, which helps the brain use tryptophan. Plus there’s the psychological throw-back to infancy, when a warm bottle meant “relax, everything’s fine.”
  • 3 - Honey. Drizzle a little in your warm milk or herb tea. Lots of sugar is stimulating, but a little glucose tells your brain to turn off orexin, a recently discovered neurotransmitter that’s linked to alertness.
  • 4 - Oatmeal. Oats are a rich source of sleep - inviting melatonin, and a small bowl of warm cereal with a splash of maple syrup is cozy - plus if you’ve got the munchies, it’s filling too. Read The Full Story…

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a common problem in women characterized by mood or physical symptoms that appear regularly in the luteal phase and remit during or shortly after menses. Severe, predominantly affective symptoms can markedly impact a woman’s ability to function at home or the workplace or in her relationships.

Women with PMS tend to report more sleep-related complaints, including pms PMS and Sleep: Women with Severe PMS Perceive Their Sleep Quality To Be Poorinsomnia, hypersomnia, tiredness or fatigue, disturbing dreams or nightmares, lethargy, and inability to concentrate.

Women with severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS) perceive their sleep quality to be poorer in association with their symptoms in the late luteal (premenstrual) phase, despite there being no specific alterations in sleep structure associated with premenstrual symptoms, according to a study published in the October 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

The study, authored by Fiona C. Baker, PhD, of the Human Sleep Research Program at SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, focused on nine women with PMS or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and 12 controls. The subjects, all 18-40 years of age, had laboratory-based polysomnographic recordings at two phases of the menstrual cycle: follicular phase and late luteal phase. Read The Full Story…

By Andy | July 1, 2009 - 4:55 am - Posted in Sleep Apnea, Sleep Habits

What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep Apnea — a condition in which your tongue and soft palate collapse onto the back of your throat during sleep. This blocks your airway and, when your oxygen level drops low enough, it forces your brain to move out of deep sleep to partially awaken you. You awaken repeatedly with a loud gasp and return to sleep.

If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea you can get follow advices:

1. - Tell a spouse or responsible persons the details of your diagnosis and treatment so they can inform the physician in an emergency situation

2. - Avoid narcotic (opioid) pain medications such as morphine, which can lead to life-threatening hypoxia (low oxygen), even in patients with mild sleep apnea

3. - Avoid alcoholic beverages (or use with moderation) within 3 hours of bedtime

4. - Avoid (or use with ca

exericises

ution) sleeping pills and other medication known to cause sedation

5. - If you smoke, quit. You are three times more likely to have sleep apnea if you smoke than if you never smoked or stopped smoking. - Improve your nasal breathing. f you suffer from a ‘stuffed up’ nose, then try using a nasal spray to help open up your nasal airway. Nasal sprays should not however be used regularly or for prolonged periods, as they can cause damage to the tissues of the nose. Read The Full Story…

By Andy | June 10, 2009 - 12:05 am - Posted in Sleep Habits, dreams

Since very old times, some of the most famous quotations have dealt with the theme of sleep. Here are a few examples of good sleep quotes:

Many things–such as loving, going to sleep, or behaving unaffectedly–are done worst when we try hardest to do them. C.S. Lewis

“A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book” Irish proverb

“I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting.” Mark Twain

“Sleep is the best meditation.” Dalai Lama

“Blessings on him who first invented sleep. It’s meat for the hungry, drink for the thirsty,

heat for the cold, and cold for the hot. It makes the shepherd equal to the monarch, and

the fool to the wise.” Miguel de Cervantes

Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.
~William Shakespeare, Macbeth Read The Full Story…

By Andy | June 4, 2009 - 5:23 am - Posted in Sleep Habits, Sleepy-Foods

You might remember your mother giving you a glass of hot milk previous to bedtime to help you sleep. Studies have shown that a little milk can help you sleep better. And it’s not just milk either. There are a host of common foods that can help you get to sleep – and stay asleep – easier.

Here are a few good night foods:

Tryptophan-rich foods

Out of all essential amino acids, the most research has been carried out bycarbohydrates-300x179 Tryptophan and Carbohydrates for Good Sleep nutritional researchers on tryptophan. It is also known as a sleep-inducing amino acid.

Tryptophan is a substance in certain foods that the body converts to an amino acid called L-tryptophan. This amino acid in turn helps the body produce the brain chemical serotonin, which many call the “sleep hormone.” Serotonin induces deeper and more restful sleep. (Strictly speaking, serotonin is not a hormone; it is a neurotransmitter.)

Foods rich in tryptophan include milk (hence the popular bedtime habit), cheese, eggs, nuts, fish, and beans. These are protein-rich foods, so they should be easy to remember when you’re deciding what to have for a bedtime snack.

Foods rich in carbohydrates

Eating food high in carbohydrates, especially four hours before bedtime, could make you sleep quicker. These include rice, breads, pasta, milk products, potatoes, and maybe a bit of fruit pie, banana, cake, or ice cream for dessert. Such foods also help release serotonin. Read The Full Story…

By Andy | May 27, 2009 - 3:50 am - Posted in Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Habits

“Smoking is dangerous to your health.” This warning found in cigarette 3110477186_1697d4e0551-300x199 Effects of Nicotine On Sleepboxes is not for naught and a recent study published in the February issue of Chest suggests yet another ill effect of smoking. According to Dr. Naresh M. Punjabi and his research colleagues, smoking can cause poor sleep quality.

Punjabi, one of the authors of the study, points out that those who smoke are more likely to feel tired when awake and they spend less time in deep sleep than those who do not smoke. This can be attributed to the fact that smokers go through nicotine withdrawal each night, therefore causing sleep disturbances. Read The Full Story…