How Many Hours Do You Sleep At Night?
That's exactly what I want to know. A poll has been started on this website to get an idea of how many hours people spend sleeping at night.
The results will be published once the poll reaches 2000 answers and I will also write an article explaining how to determine your optimal sleep time and why more is not always better.
So just cast your vote and know where you fit in.
Using 5 HTP to Solve Sleep Deprivation (Part I)
.
This one product really work wonders at
re-establishing proper sleep patterns, and I
have recommended it to many of my patients, all
of whom have been really happy and have seen
dramatic results and improvements.
But why does 5 HTP work so well at helping people regain sleep?
Serotonin, a hormones produced by the human body, is a major sleep regulator. Lack or decreased serotonin will not only cause sleep disturbances or insomnia, but also depression, digestive problems, a lower threshold for pain and even fibromyalgia.
One of the major factor causing a decrease in the body levels of serotonin is stress. Not occasional stress but repetitive, chronic stress as millions of people are experiencing it nowadays due to the increase workloads, financial crisis, etc...
So just think that if you are living a stressful life, you are probably asking too much of your body and depleting from the extremely important serotonin that is the precursor for melatonin.
Therefore the combination of stress reducing activities such as exercise, meditation or breathing exercises combined with a proper supplementation of 5 HTP, is key to restoring proper sleep hormone levels.
Sleeping pills such as benziodiazepines will never address this issue and while you think you may sleep better or more while taking them, the hormonal levels will remain low. This is another reason why resorting to sleep medication makes no sense.
Stay tuned for the second part on this topic as I will explain how to take 5 HTP, what types of reactions can occur in your body and what to do about it. I will also review a few of my favorite brands. In the mean time, if you are anxious to start on 5 HTP and improve your sleep, you can buy it here
.
Stress At Work Is Messing Up Your Sleep
Burgard explains that back in the days, work was a
lot more physically draining and tended to leave
people so exhausted at night that they wouldn't have
any trouble sleeping. But she says that work today is
actually more emotionally and psychologically
stressful which affects the way people are able to
rest and sleep at night.
What she found to be the most stressful to people was
personal conflicts with other co-workers, and what
she calls "work-family conflicts", in other words how
your work is affecting your family life.
She says that sleeping pills won't solve the problem,
and I must say I have to agree with her. The solution
resides into dealing with those conflicts, and
eliminating them or at least reducing them to a
minimum and being able to live a balanced life.
One must also find ways to deal with work stress, by
doing things such as regular exercise, meditation or
breathing and relaxation exercises.
If you want more
information on how to solve your sleep
problems simply click on this
link.
-Photo by gotplaid?-
Keeping A Regular Sleep Schedule
For some of you, what I am about to say may seem like
I want to make your life boring, but believe it or
not you cannot keep doing the same thing over and
over and expect different results. So here is what
you need to do, if you really want to improve the way
you sleep:
You need to have a regular
schedule, EVERY DAY! This means Monday through
Sunday, and even on vacation. You need to go to sleep
at the same time and wake up at the same time every
single day.
So you may ask “But why can’t I
wake up late, if I go to bed late? I am still
sleeping the same amount of time”. Well, true; maybe
you are sleeping the same amount of hours. However,
your body has something called the circadian rhythm
which regulates many body functions, including sleep
patterns; it is like a fixed clock. And every time
you change your sleeping hours, you tell your
internal clock to change and reset to new hours.
Problem is, it doesn’t reset right away; it takes
days (just think about how long it takes to
completely get over jet lag).
So if you constantly change your sleep hours, you are
constantly asking your internal clock to change and
reset to new hours, which it can never do and never
stabilize, which results in you having sleep
problems.
Your circadian rhythm doesn’t really care how many
hours you sleep; what it really cares about is what
time you go to sleep so it can prepare to start
releasing Melatonin and what time you wake up, so it
knows when to start decreasing the Melatonin level.
Does this make sense to you?
So figure out how many hours of sleep are optimal for
you, get on a regular sleep schedule and stick to it.
This in turn will set your internal clock, regulate
proper hormone secretion and optimize your sleep
pattern.
If you want more
information on how to solve your sleep
problems simply click on this
link.
-Photo by laffy4k-
How Long Should A Nap Be?
Sleep mechanics are rather complex, and taking naps, can if done improperly actually make things worse. We have all woken up from naps where we felt completely out of it and it took us more than 10 minutes to regain some sort of consciousness and another 10 to get back to our task at hand. However, we have also all woken up from great naps, full of energy, completely recharged and ready to conquer the world. But exactly why is that?
How can one nap leave you groggy and another one fill you with more energy than you've had in a long time.
Well it all has to do with how long you spend napping. Sleep is divided into different phases, or stages and the further you go into the stages the deeper your get into sleep as your brain waves change. When napping, you have to avoid getting into deep or delta sleep. That is when it will be more difficult to wake up and when you will experience the most grogginess.
The truth is, a nap doesn't need to be long to be beneficial. So, anything between 1 and 30 minutes is what you want to aim for, with 20 minutes being the sweet spot: you get a good rest, great benefits and are sure to avoid getting into Delta sleep.
If you want more information on how to solve your sleep problems simply click on this link.
-Photo by insertinanename-
