Thursday, June 14, 2012
Tips for getting a good night’s sleep
Thursday, June 14, 2012 | 
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art_tatto_design_extremeTips for getting a good night’s sleep
Adequate sleep, while as critical as proper nutrition, is often overlooked as a key component of good health.The health and functional importance of sleep is not well understood. Although often unrecognized
as serious,lack of sleep is associated with many physical and mental health problems, including injury, chronic health conditions, and mortality. Insufficient rest may contribute to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other age-related, chronic and high-cost disorders.
Difficulties with sleep profoundly affect daily living and have broader societal implications, such as the risks associated with unsafe driving and resulting accidents, and the health care cost implications of a prescription drug market flooded with sleep remedies.
Lack of adequate and regular sleep has a negative impact on health and has been associated with chronic conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression and diabetes. Researchers don’t know fully whether sleep disruption leads to these clinical problems or the problems disturb sleep.
Studies linking lack of sleep and weight gain show that obesity can contribute to sleep problems,but having difficulty sleeping may also lead to obesity. Reduced sleep affects the secretion of two hormones related to appetite: ghrelin (which triggers appetite) is increased; and leptin (which reduces appetite) is decreased.
People who are overweight or obese are at higher risk for numerous serious medical conditions, particularly type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and stroke.Difficulties falling asleep, staying asleep or early waking lead to fatigue, depression and an inability to function at full capacity. Inadequate sleep can result from poor sleep habits or sleep disorders that interfere with consistently sleeping seven to eight hours a night.
Sleep problems can be treated by a number of interventions ranging from adopting healthier habits
to trying more complicated medical, pharmaceutical or surgical interventions.For many people, changing daily routines such as avoiding alcohol near bedtime, quitting smoking,losing weight, shifting sleep positions and changing the sleep environment may relieve the symptoms of sleep apnea (a sleep disorder with brief interruptions of breathing during sleep) and help insomnia.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health suggests a range of dietary and other lifestyle changes to promote better sleep hygiene:
1. Stick to a sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up the same time each day. As creatures of habit, people have a hard time adjusting to altered sleep patterns. Sleeping later on weekends won’t fully make up for the lack of sleep during the week and will make it harder to wake up early on Monday morning.
2. Exercise is great but not too late in the day. Try to exercise at least 30 minutes on most days but not later than 5 or 6 hours before your bedtime.
3. Avoid caffeine and nicotine. Coffee, colas, certain teas, and chocolate contain the stimulant caffeine, its effects can take as long as 8 hours to wear off fully. Therefore, a cup of coffee in the late afternoon can make it hard for you to fall asleep at night. Nicotine is also a stimulant, often causing smokers to sleep only very lightly. In addition, smokers often wake up too early in the morning because of nicotine withdrawal.
4. Avoid alcoholic drinks before bed. You may think having an alcoholic “nightcap” will help you sleep, but alcohol robs you of deep sleep and REM sleep, keeping you in the lighter stages of sleep. You also tend to wake up in the middle of the night when the effects of the alcohol have worn off.
5. Avoid large meals and beverages late at night. A light snack is okay, but a large meal can cause indigestion that interferes with sleep. Drinking too many fluids at night can cause frequent awakenings to urinate.
6. If possible, avoid medicines that delay or disrupt your sleep. Some commonly prescribed heart, blood pressure, or asthma medications, as well as some over-the-counter and herbal remedies for coughs, colds, or allergies, can disrupt sleep patterns. If you have trouble sleeping, talk to your doctor or pharmacist to see if any drugs you’re taking might be contributing to your insomnia.
7. Don’t take naps after 3 p.m. Naps can help make up for lost sleep, but late afternoon naps can make it harder to fall asleep at night.
8. Relax before bed. Don’t overschedule your day so that no time is left for unwinding. A relaxing activity, such as reading or listening to music, should be part of your bedtime ritual.
9. Take a hot bath before bed. The drop in body temperature after getting out of the bath may help you feel sleepy,and the bath can help you relax and slow down so you’re more ready to sleep.
10. Have a good sleeping environment. Get rid of anything that might distract you from sleep, such as noises,bright lights, an uncomfortable bed, or warm temperatures. You sleep better if the temperature in your bedroom is kept on the cool side. A TV or computer in the bedroom can be a distraction and deprive you of needed sleep.
11. Having a comfortable mattress and pillow can help promote a good night’s sleep.
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