Aug 27
When you sleep, your brain doesn’t simply shut down and turn back on again when you wake up in the morning. During the night, it is constantly going through cycles that involve five separate stages.
Stages one is considered light sleep and involves brain waves called alpha waves. These are different than brain waves when you are awake, but not my much. Their speed is eight to twelve cycles per second.
After stage one, you will enter into stage two sleep, which develops your brain waves into slower delta waves. Once you are in stage four, or deep sleep, your brain waves will consist almost entirely of delta waves. During stage four, your body is in an extreme state of relaxation. This time allows the body to restore itself, and is crucial to staying healthy.
Alpha wave interrupted sleep, technically called an alpha EEG anomaly, doesn’t allow for this restorative process to occur. In people who have this, their delta waves are frequently interrupted by the faster alpha waves. Sometimes, this will cause the person to wake up several times during the night. Other times it will simply leave the person extremely fatigued the next day, and sometimes even in pain.
For example, people with fibromyalgia usually have the alpha EEG anomaly.
Fibromyalgia is generally diagnosed as a chronic pain condition, in which the patient experiences pain in at least eleven points on their body for at least three months straight.
Because so many sufferers of fibromyalgia have the alpha EEG anomaly, it is believed that the sleep disorder could even be a cause of the pain. In any case, it certainly makes it worse. Patients with chronic pain rely on sleep to restore their muscles. When this doesn’t occur, it is only logical that the pain would get worse.
Fibromyalgia patients have said that when they get a good night’s sleep, they feel much better the next day and have the energy to get up and do things. When they don’t, however, it feels like their muscles haven’t gotten a chance to relax at all, and they are still tight and cramped from the previous day. This is why the most commonly used muscles are usually the ones in which pain develops.
The alpha EEG anomaly can often be overcome with natural sleep aids. These sleep aids regulate your sleep, preventing the bursts of alpha waves from occurring.
Aug 25
Are you having sleep problems? Do you toss and turn at all hours of the night? If so, you are probably suffering from insomnia. And you are not alone! It’s estimated that about 20 million Americans suffer from some sort of sleep problem, or five to ten percent of the total U.S. population.
The consequences of insomnia include sleepiness and impaired physical functions. If you have chronic insomnia, you may find yourself to be overly alert all the time, and you have trouble relaxing or remaining calm. In addition, you may feel physical and emotional exhaustion.
There are lots of theories on how to deal with these types of sleep problems. Some include some rather unusual home remedies for insomnia. My personal favorite is a concoction of honey, tea, and milk, although it has never been proven that this actually works. Others have opted for hypnotherapy. Patients learn self-hypnosis that they can use at home when they are trying to sleep. This works on clients whose mind is easily open to suggestion, but it’s not quite as effective for those who are more analytical in their thinking.
A common “quick fix” for sleep problems for many people is to take sleeping aids, but these should only be used in very rare instances. Sleeping pills are highly addictive, and offer no real solution for your insomnia. And last year, the Food and Drug Administration found the most popular sleeping aids can cause strange behavior during sleep, such as driving and eating.
Aug 24
One of the more disturbing side effects of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) is their possible sleep disturbances. It is true that more studies need to be done to determine the actual reason for sleep disturbances caused by SSRIs, but the correlation is very strong. However, if you are taking an SSRI, this does not mean you will no longer be able to get a good night’s sleep.
Positive Effects of SSRIs on Your Sleep
Though many people have reported sleep side effects from taking an SSRI, SSRIs do help many with sleep issues. Depression may cause insomnia in many sufferers, and if you are one of these people, an SSRI may actually improve your nightly sleep. By treating the depression, you may actually have a better chance at a good night’s sleep with an SSRI than without one.
Negative Effects of SSRIs on Your Sleep
According to studies and patient reports, insomnia affects 15 to 20 percent of those who take an SSRI, though less serious sleep problems occur in a larger percentage of users. Here is the quick list of the side effects with some discussion to follow.
Higher occurrences of sleep disturbances Insomnia Poor overall sleep quality/intense nightmares Reduces REM sleep Taking longer to fall asleep
The most striking effect that SSRIs have on sleep is the interference with REM sleep. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is considered the most important aspect of a person’s nightly sleep. It consists generally of only about 90 to 120 minutes of the entire night’s sleep, but it makes a significant contribution to your nightly recovery. REM sleep is where your memories are cemented into your mind. It is also when your most vivid dreams normally occur.
Many patients, as well as those taking part in sleep studies, have reported higher occurrences of sleep disturbances throughout the night. Most people with normal sleep habits will have periods of sleeplessness or wake up at some point throughout the night, and SSRIs can possibly increase this number in some patients.
It also may take longer for you to fall asleep if you are taking an SSRI. Many patients and those involved with sleep studies reported taking longer than one hour to fall asleep. A final side effect is an increase in extremely vivid nightmares reported by some SSRI users. All of these side effects can manifest themselves singularly in an individual, or they can all be present in one who is taking an SSRI.
How to Deal with Sleep Problems while Taking an SSRI
The side effects of sleep problems for those taking an SSRI do not manifest themselves in every patient. However, if they are a problem for you, there are options available to help alleviate these side effects.
Reduce Dosage Switch to a different form of anti-depressant Switch to a different SSRI Take a sedative
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Jul 31
Is snoring really a problem? Is it really a serious health issue for the snorer? These are just a couple of the questions that may occur to your mind if you try to think about the root of the problem as to why a person snores. It would also be a lot helpful if you find out as much as you can about the present condition of the snorer. Little did you know, it could already be a case of sleep apnea, a worse case than snoring.
People who suffer from snoring obviously have problems with their upper airway since it contracts when it should be open, blocking the air completely. This health problem also causes hypertension issues and cardiovascular problems to the snoring person.
There are more health problems actually that a snorer could experience especially if it’s already leading to a worst case. When the air is blocked, it could cause damage to the arteries which are very important in the proper circulation of the blood. When this happens, after some time, a build up on the artery by cholesterol and calcium happens which turns to plaques blocking blood flow to other arteries in the body and could cause an even more severe problem called stroke.
While you think that a snorer is having the time of his life while sleeping, think about what’s going on inside his body which causes him the racketing sound that he’s capable of producing. When a snorer is already suffering from sleep apnea, the danger here could become doubly fatal. A sleep apnea sufferer actually stops breathing while sleeping for a matter of 10 seconds up to 30 minutes. Just imagine what could happen during the time that the snorer stops breathing.
If you want to help a victim, a snorer relative perhaps, look for symptoms that indicate clear signs that cause snoring problems. Usually, it’s the middle-aged men who are overweight that suffers from snoring first and then sleep apnea.
Not to worry though, there are still effective natural remedies to help the snorer to completely get rid of snoring problems. Snoring exercises are available and approved by medical experts. These are helpful in keeping the air passageways open even when sleeping. Talk to the person you know suffering from snoring and help him live a healthy life and get a peaceful sleep at night.
Jul 17
I don’t know about you but I don’t like to take medications if I don’t have to. Sadly there are a lot people out there taking prescription sleep medication for their sleep problem with no relief in sight. It needn’t be that way after all sleeping pills don’t cure a sleep problem they just mask them. There is however, a natural way to regain the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep all night long. It’s called brain entrainment.
Brain entrainment is a natural approach to re-teaching your brain the skill of falling asleep and staying asleep for a complete night’s rest. Through this ground breaking process you no longer have to wonder as your bedtime approaches whether or not you are actually going to be able to fall asleep. Or if you do fall asleep will you be able to stay asleep. And there are even more variations on the lack of sleep theme including sleeping for a few hours only to find that when you wake up you are awake for the rest of night. Talk to anyone who is sleep deprived and they will share their own war stories when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep.
When did sleep become something that millions of people had to work at rather than just do naturally? You know, when we are born we are natural sleepers. Our brains instinctively know how to sleep. But something happens along the way. We start becoming anxious or stressed or worry worts or we develop monkey mind. You know what monkey mind is don’t you? That’s when you lay in bed trying to unwind only to find that your mind is wound up tighter than top. All of these things can slowly erode our brain’s innate skill when it comes to being able to go into sleep mode when our body’s require it. In fact our brain’s end up working against us when it comes to sleep – not for us.
It doesn’t take much at all to master brain entrainment. In fact it’s as easy as turning on your MP3 player or inserting a disk in your CD player and kicking back. Natural simple soundtracks (at least on the surface) start rewiring your brain synapses easily and naturally. No hocus pocus involved, just pure scientific research presented to your brain in the most natural ways. It doesn’t take much brain entraining at all for you to kick your own particular chronic sleep problem.
Jun 29
Insomnia is also classified as according to the duration of symptoms, with chronic insomnia persisting for a month or so, being regarded as most serious, compared to short-term insomnia lasting 1 to 4 weeks and transient insomnia lasting only 2 or 3 days.
We’re not making light of short-term or transient insomnia. Any condition that interferes with sleep puts you at risk for a number of things, including higher incidence of on-the-job accidents and motor vehicle accidents.
But when insomnia persists and sufferers start to build up a significant sleep debt, it can have devastating effects on waking life and on personal and business relationships.
Transient insomnia usually has a readily identifiable cause, such as an upcoming exciting event. By its nature, transient insomnia is limited to a few nights surrounding the acutely stressful event and generally don’t lasts for more than several days to a week and usually resolves on its own
A sleep aid can help you sleep on those nights when you know that something weighing on your mind will likely keep you awake. However, if you regularly experience bouts of transient insomnia or your insomnia lasts more than 2 days, seek medical attention.
Short-term or intermittent insomnia can last for several weeks, and is usually related to a significant ongoing stressful situation, like losing a job, financial difficulties, a spouse’s death, etc. because it lasts more than just a few days, short-term insomnia can have a significant impact on daytime alertness and performance
This can also negatively affect personality and attitude. It can also increase the problem’s severity and duration. Talk to your primary care physician about your sleep problems. He can help you determine if you need to seek professional evaluation to keep it from becoming chronic insomnia
When your chronic insomnia goes on for a month or more, you have chronic insomnia, a serious health problem. Insomnia can become a serious cycle.
For example: you lose a night of sleep worrying about a meeting the next day, the following night the meeting having gone well, instead of sleeping with no difficulty, you still worry about not getting to sleep the night before, which keeps you awake.
Left untreated, chronic insomnia can lead to a host of other health problems, including hypertension, diabetes, obesity and heart disease. If you have chronic insomnia and noticed significant health changes see a doctor
Is insomnia a psychiatric condition?
Many people with insomnia and even some healthcare professionals persist in the belief that insomnia is a psychiatric illness. This perspective derives from a variety of known associations:
o Nearly 90% of patients with mood disorders suffer from insomnia
o Among individuals with insomnia who go to sleep disorders centers, 35% have insomnia related psychiatric illness and
