Diet Tips, Weight Loss Tips, Makeup Tips, Parenting Tips, Exclusive Online Shopping

SLEEP TIGHT TONIGHT

health and fitness

Confession time: How many times have you actually uttered the words "I'd rather take a nap than have sex." Is your marriage on the rocks? No, like 75 percent of adults, your problem is more likely sleep - or rather the lack of it. We seem to be too busy to get enough sleep. On average, men and women sleep roughly 7 hours a night,' to 2 fewer hours per night than they did 40 years ago. And when we do hit the sack, sleep doesn't necessarily follow. No wonder many of us sometimes feel like zombies. Worse, there could be serious health repercussions due to our lack of shut-eye. Here's the A., latest research on how sleep deprivation affects your body and mind, and what you can do to solve the most-common sleep problems - from insomnia and snoring to apnea and restless legs syndrome. Do you have a sleep disorder? How much sleep each person needs varies, though the differences may not be as great as yo,u think, says Eve Van Cauter, PhD, professor of medicine at the university o 'Chicago. Studies have shown that slee capacity - how long you'll sleep if you,96 to bed and get up whenever you wan- is about 8 hours and 45 minutes for .ealthy young males (the group that's en researched most). In three separate studies, that amount varied less than 30minutes from person to person. "A lot of people who believe they need only 4 hours of sleep are unconsciously depriving themselves," Van Cauter says. Most people need 7 to 8 hours a night, according to Lawrence Epstein, MD, regional medical director for Sleep Health Centers in Boston and former president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. "The idea shouldn't be to get

into bed, fall asleep instantly, sleep a set number of hours, and wake up never having had your sleep disturbed," he explains. "The target should be to get an adequate amount of sleep to feel rested during the day." How do you know you're not getting enough z's? "If you're falling asleep in 1 or 2 minutes, you're probably sleep deprived," says Thomas Roth, MD, director of the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital. On average, it takes most people about 15 minutes to fall asleep, though Roth notes that "it takes some people more time, some people less." Another way to tell if you're not sleeping enough is to monitor daytime sleepiness. Chronic daytime sleepiness is not normal, says Michael Twery, PhD, acting director of the National Centre of Sleep Disorders Research. "People can live for decades and never appreciate that they have a sleep disorder and how it's affecting their lives."

The downside of running on empty Scientists are finding more evidence that sleep deprivation can affect appetite, weight gain, diabetes risk, the strength of your immune system, and even your chance of developing depression. In 2004, University of Chicago researchers restricted a group of men to only 4 hours of sleep per night. After just 2 nights, the men had an 18 per cent decrease in leptin, a hormone that tells your brain when you are full, and a 28 per cent increase in ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger. These results were reinforced in a 2007 study of almost 10,000 adults that found that people who slept fewer than 7 hours a night were more likely to be obese than those who got 7 hours of shut-eye. "Chronic sleep deprivation causes changes in metabolism that produce a state that stimulates hunger," Epstein explains. Sleep deprivation can also affect how your body handles insulin; insulin resistance puts you at risk for weight gain and diabetes. In a study that's still under way, Van Cauter and her colleagues are looking at chronic sleep loss in a group of normal-weight men and women under age 30. Over 6 months, those who slept fewer than 6.5 hours a night were more insulin-resistant than normal sleepers who logged 7.5 to 8 hours per night. The short sleepers, the study shows so far, need to produce 30 to 40 per cent more insulin to dispose of the same amount of glucose. Still other studies suggest that over time, sleep loss may play a role in the development of depression. "Positive moods are lower in people with sleep loss," Van Cauter says, "and mood isn't stable over the 24-hour cycle. People have lower moods in the morning. They also have higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. All those changes are typical of clinical depression." But your sleep issues don't have to doom you to depression, diabetes, or a bigger pant size. Read on to find out what you can do to get the sleep you need.

About a year ago I noticed that I couldn't stay awake during the day. Then, an internist friend took my blood pressure while we were on a trip together and was shocked at how high it was. Concerned, he monitored me for days to figure out possible causes. When my husband jokingly asked, "Can you cure her snoring, too?" the doc knew what was wrong. "You have sleep apnea,' he said. And that's how I ended up spending a night at a sleep center. I was a nervous wreck. If I couldn't even sleep in my own bed, how was I going to slumber in a strange bed with people watching my every move? And - more important - what was I going to wear? I packed my best pajamas, a magazine, and my favorite pillow. Then I checked in at the center around 9 p.m. and was taken to a nice hotel-like room. I put on my PJs and prepared myself for my somnogram, the Frankenstein setup that would record my brain waves and muscle movements all night. A gluelike substance was used to attach multiple wires - 12 to my head and face, two sets on each leg. Then I was outfitted with a nasal-airflow sensor, chest and abdomen belts, an oximeter, and a snore microphone. The process took 45 minutes. Then I had a new worry: What if I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night? Between the pajamas and the potty, I was sure I'd be too stressed to snooze. But thanks to the magazine and a mild sleep aid, I dropped off almost right away. Later, a nice technician helped me waddle to the bathroom, wires and all. After a quick, horrified look in the mirror, I went back to bed. Before I knew it, it was 6-ish. Time to get up. After reviewing the results with my doc. I was set up on a continuous positive airway pressure ( machine that gently.blo my nasal passages to kee open while I am asleep. T out that not only did I sn had sleep apnea and rest syndrome, too. No wond tired. I was waking up 29 hour! My husband thought mask was creepy fthoug the machine's mild hum soothing than my snorin been running on adrenali long that looks didn't ma happy to have a fix. It took a week or two b full effects of getting a go sleep. But for almost a ye been able to get through day without dozing off. I bed as soon as I get horn able to wash that last bit cook dinner, and do all th couldn't do before. My bl dropped back down to n within a month. And I no if I'm living in The Twilight
Here are 11 of the most common sleep problems — solved.

EU Insomnia

"Staying up late to watch TV is not insomnia," Henry Ford Hospital's Roth says. "But if you finish whatever you're doing, go to bed, and still can't sleep, that's insomnia - it's difficulty sleeping despite adequate opportunity." Other signs: Having a hard time staying asleep and waking up too early in the morning. Acute insomnia, lasting a night or two, can occur in anyone and is no big deal. The real problem is chronic insomnia, defined as 30 days or more of the above symptoms. Women are twice as likely as men to experience insomnia. Hormones do play a role. Researchers see insomnia rise in women when menstruation begins and again at the start of perimenopause. Menopause has a significant effect on sleep, too. Epstein of Sleep HealthCenters says, "Sleep becomes more fragmented -and it's not just from hot flashes. Going through menopause itself seems to have an effect." Exactly how and why these hormonal shifts contribute to sleeplessness is unclear.

Insomnia is also foun in people with depressi medical conditions, incl heart failure, Parkinson' stroke. Another risk fact Several studies have sh insomnia in people wh separated, or widowed who are married.

MAGIC MOVE

Get more zzz's with this relaxing pose The next time you find yourself lying awake at night, grab your yoga mat - research suggests this ancient form of exercise can help combat insomnia. Easy-to-hold lyengar yoga inversions, which send blood to the head, are particularly effective. (Note: If you have glaucoma or high blood pressure, stick to upright poses.) The gentle Supported Standing Wide Leg Forward Bend (shown here), is easy to relax into and will help still your thoughts. For best results, put on your night suit first and do this move right before you turn in for the night. How-to: Stand with hands on hips and feet approximately 4 feet apart, toes slightly turned in. Place a block or short stack of books on the floor in front of you. Breathe deeply; exhale, fold forward, and place hands on floor shoulder-distance apart with fingers spread. Lengthen spine forward and place crown of head on block so both head and neck are fully supported. Draw shoulders away from ears and hug elbows in. (If you feel a hamstring stretch, widen legs and raise block.) Close eyes; breathe slowly in and out through nose. Hold up to 5 minutes, then come out of pose slowly.
What you can do Develop good habits. Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, no matter how much you sleep the night before. Don't eat, drink, smoke, or exercise close to bedtime. Don't nap after 3 in the afternoon or for more than 30 minutes. And make your bedroom a quiet, dark haven reserved just for sleep and sex.

Consider a sleep aid. Over-the-counter sleep aids usually contain an antihistamine, such as Benadryl, and may help people who have occasional trouble dozing off. For more-severe sleep problems, prescription pills maybe needed on a short-term basis (35 days or less). Newer sleep drugs work on circadian rhythms and melatonin receptors. The important thing is to take any sleep aid under the supervision of your doctor. Try cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). "Anxiety about lack of sleep becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy," Epstein says. "You lose your job or get upset about something, and you can't relax and go to sleep. After a couple of days you're no longer thinking about the original problem, you're thinking, 'Can I sleep tonight?" CBT teaches you how to handle those thoughts. Sleep experts usually offer this treatment, a combination of cognitive and other behavioral therapies, such as relaxation training and sleep restriction (cutting the number of hours you stay in bed, no matter how little sleep you actually get). Studies have shown that CBT works both better and longer than medication in alleviating insomnia.

nSleep Apnea & Snoring Snoring occurs when your breath moves through a passage that's too small. During sleep, your throat muscles relax and your tongue falls backward. The walls of your throat become "floppy," so they vibrate as you breathe. If something (your tongue, enlarged tonsils, a deviated septum in your nose) narrows the passage in your throat, you snore.

"If you blow up a balloon then pinch the end of it and release the air, it makes noise," Roth says. "That's what happens when air passes through a passage that's not big enough." Snoring isn't necessarily a health risk (unless you consider the death threats from your bed partner). The danger comes when not enough air can get through your nose or mouth and you stop breathing for a few seconds - a condition called sleep apnea. That signals the brain to wake you up to get your breathing going again. You may not even be aware of these mini-awakenings, but your body is. As a result, most people with this disorder are sleepy during the day.
Sleep apnea has been linked to a higher risk of stroke and death from any cause, according to a 2005 study of more than 1,000 patients at the Yale Center for Sleep medicine. And, according to Rush University Medical Center's Crisostomo, it increases the number of "inflammatory mediators" in the body that are associated with heart disease and diabetes. Scientists look at how many times per hour people with sleep apnea stop breathing during the night. "Even with just five per hour, the odds of developing high blood pressure are significant," Crisostomo explains. Before menopause, a woman's risk of developing sleep apnea is 10 to 50 per cent lower than a man's. It "goes up dramatically after menopause," Roth Breathe your way to sleep . This exercise from Portable Reiki by Tanmaya Honervogt, encourages you to concentrate on your breathing while resting on your side. Place one hand o your forehead and the other on your stomach. Feel the rise and fall of your be as you breathe in and out. Ten minutes of this should send you into slumber.

explains, probably because estrogen is a stimulant that encourages breathing. When your estrogen level decreases after menopause, so does this breathing boost. The hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy also increase your chances of developing snoring and sleep apnea. How can you tell if your snoring is dangerous? "A bed partner will usually tell you if you snore loudly or stop breathing. You may feel tired during the day, or not as well rested as you used to be with the same amount of sleep. These are signs you need to talk to your primary care doctor or see a sleep specialist,' Epstein says.

T hat you can do Spend a night at a sleep center. Where you'll spend a night being observed by experts. Lose weight. Even modest changes in weight, say 10 pounds, decrease sleep problems. Be a side-sleeper. Crisostomo tells patients to hit the hay wearing a T-shirt backward with a tennis ball in the breast pocket; the uncomfortable hump discourages back sleeping. Raising the head of your bed just a few inches can also alleviate snoring. See a dentist. A dentist can create a retainer-like device that pulls your lower jaw and tongue forward when you sleep to increase the air space at the back of your throat. Such devices are very effective in treating mild to moderate apnea and snoring. Be careful, though: "You want someone with specific training in sleep and snoring,' Crisostomo says. Learn the didgeridoo. No joke. In a study published in December 2005, researchers found that regularly playing the didgeridoo, an Australian aboriginal horn, significantly reduces daytime sleepiness in people with moderate apnea. It retrains the muscles of the upper airways so they don't collapse as much, easing apnea and snoring.

Restless legs Eill syndrome

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a neurological disorder that can cause itchy, crawly, tingly feelings in your legs. "If you have to move all the time, it's very difficult to lie down and go to sleep," Epstein explains. There appears to be strong genetic component to RLS:
You're three to five times mu get it if you have a first-degre who has it.

That you can See your doctor for an eval There is no test to diagnose.I doctors can figure it out b), t medical history, Crisostomo 2000, the National Institutes established RLS criteria, inck an urge to move the legs, ter relief with movement, and s) that begin or get worse at re evening, or at night. Get your iron levels checke to be related to low levels of protein that stores iron in the why pregnant and menstrua are more likely to get it. "Just the anemia (with iron supple often enough to alleviate syr Crisostomo explains. Consider medication. Rese shown that people with RL5 diminished levels of dopam neurotransmitter that carriE between nerve cells in the drugs, including some tram relieve symptoms.