Summer Vacations Filled with Sun and Sleep

With back-to-school creeping around the corner, many of us are trying to squeeze in last-minute vacations or trips to the beach. While these getaways allow us to soak up a little more sun and relax with family and friends before the summer ends, they can also cause a disturbance in our regular sleep patterns.

Jet lag, unfamiliar hotel rooms and changes in daily schedules are aspects that may cause detrimental effects on sleep health. While vacations are supposed to leave people relaxed and rejuvenated, irregular sleep patterns and lack of sleep can actually lead to irritability and fatigue, ultimately reversing the vacation’s initial purpose.

Changing time zones, or altering a sleep pattern, shifts the natural rhythms of the body – resulting in the common phrase ‘jet lag.’ Why are our bodies so sensitive to even a one-hour shift in sleep patterns? The answer lies within the area of the brain called the hypothalamus, home of the body’s internal “clock,” known to scientists as the “suprachiasmic nucleus” (SCN). Shifts in schedule and in exposure to light can disrupt the work of the SCN and make us feel out-of-sorts and tired.

There are a number of easy and practical precautions that should be considered before taking any vacation:

• Avoid the temptation to stay up late and stick to your normal sleep schedule while vacationing. This is especially important for kids who are about to go back to school!
• Select well-timed flights that will allow you to get a good night’s rest.
• Utilize earplugs and blindfolds to sleep more soundly in an unfamiliar environment.
• Try to keep afternoon naps to twenty minutes, rather than sleeping the day away on the beach.
• Try to avoid sugary or caffeinated cocktails late in the day.
• Keep high-intensity activities on the agenda! Getting exercise a few hours before bed can allow you to sleep more soundly.

Summer Foods to Help You Snooze

During the summertime, it’s easy to stray from our normal diets and sleeping schedules. Vacations, parties, beach days, and other summer activities often call for late nights, long naps, and a little bit of chaos. What we often forget to consider is how our summer schedule affects the types of foods we eat and how this ultimately impacts how we sleep (or don’t sleep!) at night. This summer, try to pay attention to what you’re snacking on and how close to bedtime you’re eating.

There are a few general terms to understand when learning about food and sleep. Tryptophan is an amino acid our bodies use to make serotonin and melatonin, neurotransmitters that help calm the brain and body, allowing for sound sleep. Feeding your body more tryptophan will essentially aid this process.

Here are a few ideas for foods to enjoy and foods to avoid for a better night’s sleep.

AVOID:
• Caffeine: While this one may seem obvious, many people forget that caffeine—even a few hours before bed—can ruin a night of sleep. Try to avoid coffee, tea, soda, chocolate, and other foods that contain caffeine several hours before bed. Tolerance levels for caffeine are different for everyone, so use your personal judgment and experiences when deciding how long before bed to cut-off the caffeine.

ENJOY:
• Whole Grains: Healthy whole grains such as brown rice, whole wheat breads, and oatmeal can have a calming affect, allowing your mind and body to rest. Carbohydrates also tend to heighten levels of serotonin.
• Vegetable soup or fruit salad – two delicious sources of carbs and tryptophan.
• Dairy products, such as cheese, milk, and cottage cheese. Try a bowl of whole grain cereal with milk as a bedtime snack!
• Soy beans, soy milk, tofu, and other soy products
• Turkey – have a turkey sandwich made with whole grain bread before bed!
• Seafood

Paying Off Sleep Debt

While the current state of the economy continues to affect our spending habits and bank accounts, many people may not realize how the economic crisis is impacting their sleep health.

Debt, unemployment, and other economic factors have contributed to a steady increase in stress and anxiety in the average American’s life. Consequently, many of us are struggling with a different kind of debt—sleep debt—and might not even know it.

The National Sleep Foundation’s 2009 Sleep in America poll focused on the current economy’s effects on Americans’ sleep. The poll found that almost one third of Americans are losing sleep due to concerns about their personal finances. Thirty-one percent of Americans experience mood difficulties, such as worry, tension, anxiety, and depression, which impact their sleep and health.

Further, the 2009 poll found that the number of Americans that get less than six hours of sleep per night has increased from 13 to 20 percent since 2001. Meanwhile, the number of Americans who claim to get eight hours or more per night has decreased by ten percent since 2001.

Clearly, the current economic climate has negatively impacted Americans’ sleep and health. When experienced over a long period of time, insufficient sleep can have detrimental effects on long-term and short-term memory, decision-making ability, math processing, and many cognitive difficulties that are damaging to workplace performance and everyday life.

So, the question is: what can be done about all of this? While there is no “quick fix” for the nation’s economy, I can tell you that there are a number of simple strategies for getting a better night’s sleep, even amidst troubling financial times.

• Keep a regular routine—wind down the same way each night, at the same time, and wake up at the same time each morning.
• Sleep in a relaxing, dark, and cool environment, and avoid the use of electronics in the bedroom. This will help your brain to release sleep-inducing hormones.
• Don’t toss and turn—if you can’t sleep, get out of bed and engage in a relaxing activity, such as reading. Only return to bed when you are relaxed and sleepy.
• Don’t face the clock and watch the minutes tick by. This will only add to your anxiety.
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol after about 5 p.m.
• Do not exercise within three hours of bedtime.
• Allow yourself an hour to unwind before sleep.

Sleep Aids: Helpful or Harmful?

There’s a new study out from Thomson Reuters, which found the use of prescription sleep aids among adults between the age of 18 and 24 tripled between 1998 and 2006. Researchers also found that during the time of the study, the average length of time sleep aids were used by adults under 45 jumped by more than 40 percent – up to 93 days in 2006 from 64 days in 1998. These are alarming facts, as I’m willing to go out on a limb and guess that many of those users may be suffering from a sleep disorder, but are hiding their symptoms with these sleep aids.

The best thing to do when you suspect you’re suffering from a sleep disorder is to see a sleep specialist who may recommend a sleep study. This is the most efficient way to determine the real cause of the problem, and to go about solving it. This is the most efficient way to determine the real cause of the problem, and to go about solving it. While sleep aids may assist one in masking symptoms, that’s about all they do. They won’t help solve the problem. Undergoing a sleep study allows sleep technicians to analyze your sleeping patterns, and to get to the real root of your problem(s). Don’t get me wrong, there are times when sleep aids will do the trick. But if you’re suffering from a sleep disorder, there may be other courses of treatment that won’t require you to be on medication.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it always bears repeating – especially given the results of this study. Symptoms of sleep disorders, which sleep aids may help, but shouldn’t be the solution for, include:

- Snoring
- Insomnia
- Brief periods of not breathing and/or choking or gasping during sleep- Waking during sleep and restless sleep
- Excessive daytime sleepiness and falling asleep at inappropriate times
- Personality changes/disorders
- Depression
- Loss of concentration
- Morning headaches

If you or a loved one are experiencing any of these symptoms, the first step should be to see a sleep specialist who may recommend you undergo a sleep study. This will help your doctors determine if your problems are due to sleep-related issues or other health issues, and as I said, there are times when the course of treatment may not require medication. The bottom line is, sleep disorders need to be taken seriously – this is one time where taking the easy way out may be harmful for your health!

A New Year, A Healthier You

As we ring in 2009, it’s time to make a resolution that you won’t regret making a week into the New Year: getting more sleep! Every year, we make resolutions to get more exercise, to stick to the new “it” diet, to quit smoking – so why not make another healthy resolution that will be much easier (and more enjoyable) to keep, and has many of the same benefits as the resolutions listed above?

The healthy benefits of getting more sleep are endless. Besides the obvious, which includes feeling better and being able to maintain a more steady focus on everyday activities, getting adequate amounts of sleep helps prevent hypertension, obesity, depression and the potential for having a heart attack or stroke. It can even give you healthier skin!

If that’s not enough to get you to dedicate more time to sleeping in 2009, consider this: a study by the University of Wisconsin found that people with untreated sleep apnea (a condition characterized by episodes of stopped breathing during sleep, and often exhibited by snoring) are at three times greater risk of dying from any cause than those without the condition. On top of that, researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center recently found that an extra hour of sleep every night could reduce the risk of calcification in the arteries, a precursor to heart disease.

Let’s take the sleeping resolution one step further. If you’re getting adequate amounts of sleep, but feel like you’re exhibiting signs of a sleep disorder, I urge you to drop into a sleep center for a sleep study in 2009. To review, some symptoms of sleep disorders include:

- Snoring
- Insomnia
- Brief periods of not breathing and/or choking or gasping during sleep
- Waking during sleep and restless sleep- Excessive daytime sleepiness and falling asleep at
innappropriate times
- Personality changes/disorders
- Depression
- Loss of concentration
- Morning headaches

So when you go to make your resolution this year, remember that a resolution for a healthier you doesn’t always call for “no pain, no gain”. Sometimes, it just requires a little more effort in making sure you’re staying healthy and treating your body right. Here’s to a happy, healthy New Year to all!

Home Sleep Tests Offer Patients a New Alternative

A new and exciting trend in sleep testing is quickly gaining traction around the country: home sleep testing. Reimbursement for the home sleep test has only recently been approved, and more and more accredited sleep centers around the country are providing access to home sleep tests, as well as most major hospitals.

The home sleep test provides an excellent opportunity for sleep professionals to gauge a patient’s sleep tests needs from the comfort of their own home. It’s an excellent alternative to conducting a sleep test in a lab, a practice that many patients often find intimidating. It’s surprisingly simple, too.

First, the patient is given a brief questionnaire to determine if they’re at risk for a sleep disorder. If the patient’s results suggest they may have a sleep disorder, they’ll be given a lightweight and unobtrusive home sleep test device to take home and use overnight. This device records respiration, including both breathing and sleeping. The next morning, the patient returns the device to the sleep center, where experts download data from the unit’s memory card and prepare the results for the patient. If it’s determined that the patient does, in fact, suffer from a sleep disorder, more testing will be arranged.

Some common signs of sleep disorders include:

- Snoring
- Insomnia
- Brief periods of not breathing and/or choking or gasping during sleep
- Waking during sleep and restless sleep
- Excessive daytime sleepiness and falling asleep at inappropriate times
- Personality changes/disorders
- Depression
- Loss of concentration
- Morning headaches

If you believe you’re suffering from a sleep disorder, you should seek medical help from a physician or sleep expert immediately. There’s no need to fear a sleep test, especially with the new home sleep test option.

Wake Me When Its Over

It’s no secret that today’s tough economic times are the cause of many headaches for anyone that has to worry about supporting themselves or a family. Many are struggling with anxiety over losing a job at a time when unemployment rates are at an 11-year high). That anxiety has begun to translate into sleepless nights.

Recently, a study of more than 1,100 workers found that 9 out of 10 were losing sleep over money worries. The reason is simple – if you’re feeling threatened over your financial situation or anything else, you’re likely to have difficulty sleeping. Any perceived threat triggers a “fight or flight” response in which adrenaline is released in the body. Adrenaline produces vigilance and alertness, making sleep impossible.

During times of stress, it’s critical to maintain both quantity and quality of sleep. Like food and water, sleep is a corner stone of good health. Proper sleep enables peak performance. It also helps fend off colds and the flu (and keeps sick days to a minimum).

While there’s no quick fix for economic woes, there are some steps that help ensure a healthy night’s sleep:
· Keeping a regular routine – wind down the same way each night, at the same time, and wake up at the same time each morning
· Sleep in a relaxing, dark and cool environment, and avoid the use of electronics in the bedroom, such as TV’s and computers. This will help your brain to release sleep-inducing hormones.
· Don’t toss and turn – if you can’t sleep, get out of bed and engage in a relaxing activity, such as reading. Only return to bed when you are relaxed and sleepy.
· Don’t face the clock and watch minutes tick by, which will also add to your anxiety.

If you go for more than two weeks with disrupted sleep, it’s time for professional help. Board-certified sleep specialists are physicians trained to diagnose and treat more than 80 known sleep disorders.