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Sleeplessness-Finding a Sleeplessness Cure

Posted by Sheila

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Can using your daily routine diary help you find a sleeplessness cure? For most people this really can stop those nights of sleeplessness.

Your daily routine definitely has an effect on how you do at night. Although some daily habits are harder to change than others, it is worth taking a look at.

8 top sleeplessness causes - your daily routine.

Caffeine - America has gone on a caffeine kick. It is the in thing to drink giant coffees from the local Starbucks. Energy drinks,  full of caffeine are the rage. If you like drinking coffee or other caffeine drinks, then test this out for yourself. Keep track of your caffeine intake. When do you drink caffeine? Should you cut out caffeine or cut back to drinking it earlier in the day?

Exercise - The body is meant to work. Are you working your body? Taking the time to exercise not only helps with sleeplessness, but helps with your over all well being.

Computer /TV - These two culprits are easy to miss. If you spend a lot of time at the computer or watching TV, turn them off early in the evening and spend time relaxing for sleep help.

Naps - If you are taking naps during the day adjust your nap time to what works best. You can start on a gradient; take shorter naps, move nap time to an earlier period in the day or cut out naps completely.

Nicotine - Now this is one of those habits that could be hard to change. Kudos to those who make the honest effort. Nicotine has been proven to cause anxiety. Also the need to wake up and smoke disturbs sleep.

Alcohol - Often it is thought that alcohol helps you go to sleep, the problem is that it makes it hard to get a good nights sleep.

Schedule - It is suggested that you keep a reglar sleep schedule. This can be a hard one. It is easy to rob sleep time to get things done. Shift work can throw you off schedule. No matter what is happening try to set a schedule that fits your life.

Sunlight - Getting sunlight has taken a bad rap the last few years. I mean we slather on sun screen, and then again there is a big push for people to get more vitamin D. (go figure) Just 20 minutes to an hour in the sun every day will work wonders. This is one that you need to try out for yourself. Not getting any sun is not only the culprit for lack of sleep it affects every part of how your body functions.

Dr. Daniel Kripke,Univeristy of California, and the very first person to set up a sleep clinic, gives these suggestions.

sleep hygene

I will be going into more detail on these culprits in the future.

Hope this helps you sleep well,

Sheila

P.S. This is a quick over view of culprits you should watch for when you keep your daily routine diary. It is very possible to find what is causing your sleeplessness and fined a sleeplessness cure.

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Sleeping Difficulty – Is Your Daily Routine Causing Sleep Problems?

Posted by Sheila

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Once you have completed your sleep habits diary it is time to see if your daily routine is causing your sleeping difficulty.

Again a diary will help you identify any thing that make be contributing to sleep problems and any sleep anxiety.

This diary should include:

  • Food
  • Exercise
  • TV and computer time.
  • Work
  • Play

I like to keep an hour by hour diary. I just jot down what I did in the last hour. If I wait longer than an hour I have a tendency to forget parts of my routine.

Keep this diary for at least one week or longer if you feel it would give you a better view of your habits.The whole idea is to get a good look at what is happening in your life that may an underlying source of  your sleep difficulty.

Sheila

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Sleep Habits – A Change to Healthy Sleep Habits

Posted by Sheila

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While keeping my diary of sleep habits I discovered some simple things that were easy to change to healthy sleep habits. A change in my sleep environment was the culprit.

My sleep environment.

When I started staying up late at night to get my Internet business going, I had change changed bed rooms.This put a major crimp in my ability to get good nights sleep.

I didn't want to disturb my husband so I often sleep in the computer room. This meant a new bed, and pillow. They were comfortable, but I loved my old bed and pillow.

I would wake up every time some one else got up to the bathroom because the computer room is in a high traffic area of the house.

The light in the computer room was different. Outside light had a glow in the room.

Staying in the computer room made it real tempting to get up and work instead of sleep.

Although the bed was comfortable, I missed my old pillow and bed.

Back to the old environment - Old sleeping habits.

In moving back to the old bedroom I realized that I not only loved the my bed and pillow,  I found that I had set up a sleep environment that worked for me.

There were no off noised to wake me up in the middle of the night.

The room is dark and I mean dark. I had even eliminated my clock light.

My bed faces the south. Yeah I know, this is one of the homeopathic sleep remedies. When I was seeing a homeopathic doctor he told me to point my bed south. So I did what I was told and kept it that way ever since.

One of he major changes for sleeping habits, suggested at sleep clinics, is to make sure your bedroom is a haven for sleep. They suggest not using your room for anything but sleep and sex. That means no TV, no computer, no office work and no gym.

A change to healthy sleep habits worked for me, it has made a big difference.

Sheila

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Behavior Modification Program – Sleep Habits Diary

Posted by Sheila

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I looked at my last post on keeping your sleep habits diary and thought about the term "behavioral change program." It sounds kind of clinical. I suppose since I am looking at the way clinics are handling sleep deprivation and using that as an out line, I guess it works.

In my life time I have had long periods of time where I got very little sleep. I can attest to the way lack of sleep affected my well being and the well being of those around me.

For the past 35 years, I have worked for my self. Those of you that are self employed will understand when I say, that being self employed takes much more time and energy than working for someone else. All of the planning and worries often followed me to bed.

Then there were the years that 90% of my work time was spent right here in the house. My family was young and needed attention, so I would stay up into the wee hours of the morning working.

These periods of sleep deprivation would trigger migraines, brain fog, anxiety and feeling kind of crazy. I didn't realize how bad it was until years later when I understood that those were sleep deprivation symptoms.

Starting my online business has created a similar situation. Working a job and learning the computer I found my self staying up later and later, to get things done.

Soon sleep those same sleep deprivation symptoms showed up. My internal clock became all out of sync. Even when I started going to bed at a decent time, I had trouble sleeping. That is when I began my sleep habits diary.

Keeping my sleep diary helped me determine what sleep remedy I would most likely need and what behaviors I needed to change. I am not real big on major changes, I like those changes that are easy to put into action.

Yeah, "behavior modification program" sounds weird but I find that I can not expect a different out come if I continue to do the same things. Changing my sleep habits made since.

Sheila

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Difficulty Sleeping? – Finding The Underling Causes Of Your Sleeping Difficulty

Posted by Sheila

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At first glance it may seem that you know why you are having difficulty sleeping. Yes, there are some obvious causes of sleeping difficulty, like pregnancy, asthma or an unusual life event. But there could be hidden underlying causes you can not see.

Behavior modification programs for trouble sleeping.

Whether your sleeping difficulties are long or short term, medical related or not, it is possible that behavior modification will help. In fact whole entire sleep clinics are set up to teach people to change the behaviors that contribute to sleep deprivation.

A sleep clinic could be ideal. I mean how would it be to have someone help you look at your sleep habits and any behaviors that may contribute to sleeplessness. But who can afford a sleep clinic? And who has the time to go. We are already living such fast paced lives...one more thing sounds stressful to me.

Taking a survey of sleep habits.

The very first step you would take in a sleep clinic would be to take a survey of your sleep habits. This was a real eye opener for me. The key is to be honest with your self.  For the next week keep a diary of your sleep.

Ideas of what to include in your sleep habits diary.

  • What time do you go to bed?
  • How long did it take you to fall asleep?
  • When did you wake up in the night?
  • What wakes you up?
  • Did you have difficulty sleeping again?
  • When did you wake up in the morning?
  • How did you feel?
  • Look at your sleep environment.
  • Do you sleep with the TV on?
  • Are there noises that bother you?
  • Do you feel comfortable in your bed?
  • Do you feel hungry?
  • Do you feel anxious?
  • What do you do when you have trouble sleeping?
  • Do you go to bed when you are tired?

At a sleep clinic you would have the advantage of a second or third person helping you see what is happening. You can use a partner to do the same thing. Have them include their observations and questions you need to ask your self. Have them give their input. I like picking a partner I am willing to share my thoughts with and one I am willing to listen to.

I did this survey for a week. You can survey your sleep habits even longer if you feel that you have major changes that occur during a month.

The whole idea is for you to observe your sleep habits. Discover all about your sleeping difficulty. This is the first step to starting your own behavior modification program and remedy sleep.

Sheila

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Sleeping Help – Reasons For Lack of Sleep

Posted by Sheila

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Identifying the reasons for lack of sleep is the first step in finding sleeping help.

Lack of sleep usually falls into 3 categories.

  • Can't fall asleep. Trouble falling asleep.
  • Difficulty sleeping through the night. Waking up and can't go back to sleep.
  • Waking up early. Can't fall back to sleep.

By survey reasons given for difficulty sleeping.

  • A difficult time in life; divorce, death or illness of a loved one.
  • Worry; financial, family, up coming event such as a wedding or presentation.
  • Medical condition; arthritis, fibromyalgia, asthma, indigestion and acid reflux.
  • Pregnancy and children; discomfort during pregnancy, taking care of a new baby, children and teens.
  • Not enough time; staying up late to complete tasks like house cleaning or paying bills.
  • Snoring and sleep apnea; this complaint came from both the snorer and their partners.
  • TV or Computer; staying up late to watch TV or work on computer.
  • Anxiety or stress; this is a more than worry and was reported to be more long term.
  • External noises; sudden noises or noise near by were the two biggest complaints.

Did you see your reason for lack of sleep? I identify with several that have sent me running for sleeping help.

Sheila

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Sleeplessness- A National Health Problem

Posted by Sheila

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Sleeplessness among American adults has hit an all time high. 1/3 of all adults report not getting enough sleep in the past month.

In November the Nation Sleep Foundation released a startling report.

One percent of U.S. drivers -- 1.9 million people -- have had accidents or near-misses over the past year because they were driving while sleepy, a new survey finds.

Also, more than half of drivers surveyed admitted that they've driven over the last year while feeling drowsy, and 28 percent said they drive while sleepy at least once a month, according to the survey sponsored by the National Sleep Foundation.

"People underestimate how tired they are and think that they can stay awake by sheer force of will," Thomas Balkin, chairman of the National Sleep Foundation, said in a news release about the 2009 Sleep in America poll. "This is a risky misconception. Would there be 1.9 million fatigue-related crashes or near misses if people were good at assessing their own ability to drive when fatigued?" he asked.

Rise in use of prescription drugs as sleep aids.

If money- spent is any indication, sleeplessness is one of the most widespread problems affecting, our population. Of those who are suffering from sleeplessness, one in six resorts to some form of sleeping pill either occasionally or on a regular basis.

Last year over $300 million dollars was spent on sleep drug advertising. 42 million prescriptions were written for prescription sleep aids. Drug companies raked in over $2 billion dollars.

Pharmaceutical and insurance companies spend more money than any other industry lobbying Congress.

Total For Pharmaceuticals/Health Products: $199,323,702

Lobbying Spending Database Pharmaceuticals_Health Products, 2009 | OpenSecrets

Opensource.org

Giving up sleep is often considered the "in" thing to do.

"That's a bad loan. There's a lot of bad loans going around. Borrowing from sleep is a bad way to go."

"Our society has valued people who brag about being able to function on very little sleep as a mark of someone who is aggressive, dynamic, successful. Well, forget that. Admire someone who puts focus on sleep and is not making mistakes" (from sleep deprivation)

Dr. Neil Kavey, director of the Sleep Disorder Center at New York-Presbyterian at Columbia University Medical Center.

All of this has prompted the government to do more studies on the causes of sleep deprivation and remedy sleep. Whoa! Wonder how much money and time that will take.

Although sleeplessness is now considered and epidemic, there are plenty of studies and effective sleep remedies. Besides who wants to wait for the government to come up with a solution.

So stay tuned,

Sheila

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Need Sleep Help? Searching the Net Because You Are Having Trouble Sleeping?

Posted by Sheila

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If you are looking for sleep help, you are not alone. When you can not sleep, and need a good nights sleep you will often turn to the Internet to find a sleep solution.

We all recognize and feel the need to sleep. After sleeping we feel rested and more alert. We need sleep in order to survive. Rats deprived of sleep will die within two to three weeks, a time frame similar to death due to starvation.

How big of a problem is sleeplessness?

The number of people in the US that are not getting enough sleep is alarming.

  • One in every 10 adults in the US report that they did not get a good nights sleep in the last month.
  • 70 million people suffer from chronic, treatable sleep disorders.
  • Lack of sleep increases with age. Retirees report the highest incidences of lack of sleep.
  • Women are twice as likely to be sleep deficient as men.
  • Last month 135,500 people searched Google for the word "sleepless".
  • 1.9 million people -- have had accidents or near-misses over the past year because they were driving while sleepy.

The results from lack of sleep.

  • Chronic lack of sleep can shorten your life span.
  • Weight gain.
  • Attention deficits.
  • Increase in type 2 diabetes.
  • Decrease growth hormones.
  • Impaired motor controls.
  • Lower immune system function.
  • Increased stress.

What is enough sleep?

Although the amount of sleep required by an adult varies. According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults need 7--9 hours of sleep each night. Each individual should test for themselves what is sufficient sleep.

A person that is getting enough sleep, will feel bright, alert and have plenty of energy to do daily tasks.

We spend one third of our lives sleeping. Wow! it is no wonder we rob our sleep time in order to get things done.

Need sleep help? In future posts I will go into what I have found out about sleep deprivation, and the results of not getting enough sleep.

Sheila


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