Helping You Understanding Sleep :: Brain Basics:
Sleep apnea is a disorder of interrupted breathing during sleep. It usually occurs in association with fat buildup or loss of muscle tone with aging. These changes allow the windpipe to collapse during breathing when muscles relax during sleep.
This problem, called obstructive sleep apnea, is usually associated with loud snoring (though not everyone who snores has this disorder). Sleep apnea also can occur if the neurons that control breathing malfunction during sleep.
During an episode of obstructive apnea, the person’s effort to inhale air creates suction that collapses the windpipe. This blocks the air flow for 10 seconds to a minute while the sleeping person struggles to breathe. When the person’s blood oxygen level falls, the brain responds by awakening the person enough to tighten the upper airway muscles and open the windpipe.
The person may snort or gasp, then resume snoring. This cycle may be repeated up to hundreds of times a night. The frequent awakenings that sleep apnea patients experience leave them continually sleepy and may lead to personality changes such as irritability or depression.
Sleep apnea also deprives the person of oxygen, which can lead to morning headaches, a loss of interest in sex, or a decline in mental functioning. It also is linked to high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats, and an increased risk of heart attacks and stroke. Patients with severe, untreated sleep apnea are two to three times more likely to have automobile accidents than the general population. In some high-risk individuals, sleep apnea may even lead to sudden death from respiratory arrest during sleep.
An estimated 18 million Americans have sleep apnea. However, not manyof them have had the problem diagnosed. Patients with the typical features of sleep apnea, such as loud snoring, obesity, and excessive daytime sleepiness, should be referred to a specialized sleep center that can perform a test called polysomnography. This test records the patient’s brain waves, heartbeat, and breathing during an entire night. If sleep apnea is diagnosed, several treatments are available. Mild sleep apnea frequently can be overcome through weight loss or by preventing the person from sleeping on his or her back.
Many people try using an inexpensive anti snoring device prior to conducting exhaustive testing for a sleep apnea cure. These can sometimes reduce snoring so expensive sleep apnea machines are not necessary.
Other people may need special devices or surgery to correct the obstruction. People with sleep apnea should never take sedatives or sleeping pills, which can prevent them from awakening enough to breathe.
Natural Cures for Insomnia
Slept poorly last night? So what.
But sometime you may cross the line between a couple of nights of poor sleep and insomnia. This is where it starts to effect your life and your health. When you cross this line it is time to find a treatment for your insomnia. How to know if you suffer from insomnia? Insomnia is when you have these 3 problems:
- Experience poor sleep in general. (falling asleep, staying asleep, or poor-quality sleep)
- Problems occurs despite having enough opportunity to sleep and a good sleep environment.
- The poor sleep results in problems when you are awake:
-
- fatigue
- sleepiness
- aches and pains
- mood disturbance
- poor concentration
- lack of energy or motivation
- worry about sleep
If you believe that you are suffering from insomnia it is important to start treating it at soon as possible before it becomes sleep becomes a physiological problem. A good way to start is to look into Natural Insomnia Treatments:
Sleep routine
Develop a healthy sleep routine where you go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning. Make sure you plan your night for a good night sleep.
Herbs
Chamomile, lavender, passionflower and valerian can help you to relax and fall asleep. They are often used in a herbal tea.
Hot Bath
Take a long, hot bath one hour or two before bed time. The method is called “passive body heating”. It alters your body temperature cycle and this can help you fall asleep.
Acupuncture
Certain meridian points on legs, arms, wrist, scalp and ears are effective in treating insomnia.
Reconditioning
Many people with insomnia get frustrated tossing and turning in bed. This frustration gets associated with the bedroom which only makes matters worse. Richard Bootzin has created a method to break this vicious circle. The method is called reconditioning but is also known as “stimulus control” and it has 6 steps:
- Go to bed when you’re sleepy
- Use the bed only for sleep and sex (no tv, books, food or worrying in bed)
- If you are unable to sleep in about 20 min, get up and go to another room until you are sleepy
- If you can’t fall asleep repeat step 3 as often as necessary
- Set your alarm and get up at the same time every morning, regardless of when you went to bed the night before
- Do not nap during the day
Sleep Restriction
The idea behind sleep restriction is to make sure that you get a full block of good undisturbed sleep. This helps you minimize the tossing and turning and its following frustration. Follow these 3 steps:
- Estimate the number of hours that you sleep
- Go to sleep the X amount of hours before you need to get up. No matter how tired you are don’t go to bed earlier.
- When you have slept well for several nights you can add 30 min to your sleep. Then repeat the process.
For example: if you estimate that you get 5 hours of sleep each night and you need to get up at 7 am then go to bed at 2 am. Do not sleep less than 5 hours a night. If you get less than 5 hours sleep at night and still have trouble falling asleep contact a doctor.
Relaxation Techniques
Insomnia that is causes by stress or a worried mind can often be resolved with relaxation. Try techniques such as:
- Deep breathing
- Meditation
- Visualization
- Progressive muscle relaxation
- Biofeedback
On top of this there are also foods that you can eat to help you relax and fall asleep.
June 15, 2009
You Cannot Cure Insomnia With Sleep Aid Pills
It’s very tempting to resort to sleep aid pills if you’re having trouble sleeping. There are now a bewildering array of different sleep medications and some of them can now be easily purchased over the counter. But before rushing off to buy these drugs you should ask yourself the following questions; Do these medications have side effects? Do they actually help me sleep over the long term and are they safe to use with other medications?
Taking sleeping pills is only a short term term answer to insomnia and is in no way a cure. In fact taking any sleep drugs can actually make insomnia worse by causing an addiction to the drugs and serious withdrawal symptoms if the drugs are stopped suddenly. Drug tolerance may also be an issue, tolerance is needing to take ever increasing doses of the drug to achieve the same effect.
There are other problems to consider if you’re using sleeping aid pills. Side effects such as drowsiness and dry mouth are common. More serious are interactions with other medications you may be taking such as painkillers or blood pressure medications and rebound insomnia caused by trying to stop the drugs too quickly. Some hypnotic medications can cause sleep-walking or other dangerous behaviors such as driving whilst asleep.
In most cases, sleeping pills are used for those who suffer from short term sleep disorders. In cases of severe sleep disorders it is recommended to use sleep medication only as needed and not on a daily basis to prevent any of the problems stated above. Other solutions to insomnia are stress relief, cognitive behavioral therapy or brainwave entrainment. Always talk to your doctor before you start taking more sleep medication to be sure that it is safe for you to take them on a long term basis.
When deciding to take sleeping aid medication, make sure that you follow the dosage correctly, inform your doctor if you are taking any other types of medication apart from the sleeping pills, and also inform your doctor if you have any other type of illness or allergy to medication. It is also recommended not to drink any type of alcohol whilst taking sleep aid pills as they can interfere with the medication.
When dealing with severe or long term insomnia, sleep aid pills may not be your best option. Better and longer lasting solutions may be had from cognitive behavioral therapy, stress relief or brainwave entrainment. The latter can slow you brainwaves down slowly and safely allowing you to fall into a deep and refreshing sleep.
June 13, 2009
Getting Snoring Relief to Develop the Quality of Your Sleep
Snoring relief can advance the quality of your health. Really? It is very important to get snoring relief for people who have thecustom, of snoring when they are sleeping. If you are one of them, it’s not crucial to debate about when you have realized that you are snoring, since long time ago or just realize recently. Instead, you require to become aware of that you suppose to get snoring relief NOW. You will get two things all together: you can breathe better at night and return back people’s good sleep.
You don’t have adequate reasons for allowing your housemates to be annoyed by your snoring, so it’s time for you to do something concerning it. Snoring relief is bearable as long as you know where to look, what to do and what all to undertake. There is a way of snoring relief, but the main point is that you have to get stated as soon as possible.
One of the crucial things is finding out concerning why you are snoring. It is because snoring relief may be as easy as dropping a few extra pounds that you have packed on over years. Another uncomplicated procedure in snoring relief is sleep in a different position. Sometimes, those who sleep on their backs and snore realize that those can be truly beneficial to reduce or even eliminate the snoring all together. Are you still hesitate with that uncomplicated and great way in snoring relief?
Other Methods
But if none of those ways are useful, you can attempt the most possible way. It is by seeking something that can be picked up at your local drugstore. There are many reliable objects available as your perfect snoring relief.
You cannot compare the result between you and another people, because what works best for someone else doesn’t mean what is best for you. So, when you feel that you can’t get the best effect, you should undertake another product that may be the best solution for snoring relief. But if it’s also doesn’t work, it’s time to attain another direction.
The fact that none of those fact don’t work will make you feel that there is no remaining solution for you. Get a doctor’s help for snoring relief, because snoring could be a hard warning about the indication of a trouble in your body. After estimating the problem with your doctor, you will comprehend the exact cause of snoring. You can get snoring relief from the doctor’s suggestions as well. You may consider that snoring is a small thing, but it will become a more hard problem when it is left uncontrolled. So don’t overlook the problem.
Want to know further about snoring relief? Let’s explore more on the links here and you will get much more about landscaping as well as any thing related.
« Previous Page — Next Page »