Insomnia May Lead to Hypertension

A recent article in the journal Hypertension showed that "middle-aged" adults are more likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure (hypertension) if they slept less than six hours per night.

This is extremely interesting since we know that blood pressure falls during sleep, thus giving the body a bit of a break during any given 24-hour period. If you are middle-aged (I actually am not sure what age range this would be. I would guess 35-50?) and you get less than 6 hours, you could be setting yourself up for disaster.

"Among people aged 32-59, those who reported getting less than six hours of nightly sleep in the original survey were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with high blood pressure by 1992. Obesity and diabetes partly accounted for the findings, but sleep still mattered, the study shows."

Unfortunately, sleep habits were only checked once and a lot can change over the course of the 10-year study. But it is certainly a wake up call (no pun intended) and one more reason to get more sleep.

Related Topics: Hypertension Drugs May Cut Alzheimers, WebMD Sleep Disorders Health Center

Technorati Tags: sleep disorders, hypertension, high blood pressure

Unwanted Guests: Bed bugs

There was a very interesting story on bed bugs in last weeks' WebMD Newsletter. Although I had done a bit of research on bedbugs in the past I was reminded that they actually feed off of human blood, not unlike a tick, and we never wake during the process. But when we do get up we have a small bite. This can be confusing with fleas, if you have pets in the bed. Again this is all just one more reason to change your sheets every week and keep the bedroom clean.

The article recommends the following steps for identifying the culprit:

1. Search the bedroom. Look in folds and creases in mattresses and box springs, pleats of curtains, behind loose wallpaper, in spaces of wicker furniture, behind cove molding, and in corners of drawers. You may notice dark-brown or reddish fecal spots on bed linens, mattresses, or walls near the bed.- OK this is just nasty.
2. When you find an insect, compare it with a good reference image, such as the one on the Harvard School of Public Health web site, or place it in a plastic bag or pill bottle, and take it to an entomologist at an extension agency for identification.
3. Make a positive identification before going to the expense of hiring a licensed pest control operator. "In many markets, it costs several hundred dollars to treat a one-room apartment, and don't be shocked at spending a grand or more to treat a single-family house,"

I am actually starting to itch right now.

But here is the worst part of it. If you happen to be a traveler you can actually bring these hitch-hikers home with you from a nasty hotel. And in some cases a not-so-nasty hotel.

If you are now totally freaked out by the subject here are some steps you can take to try not to get anything else taken out of you on your next road trip:

1. Set your suitcase off the floor on the luggage holder
2. Leave it zipped unless taking something out or putting it in
3. Inspect the bed.
Pull back the covers, the sheets, and mattress pad and look for telltale signs -- the dark spots left by bed bug feces.

If you find something, ask for another room. Or another hotel. Yeish!

Related Topics: Prescription for a Healthy Home, Can a Mattress Improve Your Health?

Technorati Tags: bedbugs, bites, travel

Sleep Hacker Backs Off

I was interested to recently learn that the official Polyphasic Sleep Experiment had finally come to a halt.

Steven said, "After doing polyphasic sleep for about 5-1/2 months, I finally decided to switch back to monophasic. I sleep about 6.5 hours a night and wake up with an alarm at 5 a.m. every morning."

What was so fascinating about his eventual return was that it was more for what I would deem as psychological reasons than physical ones. He realized that the rest of the world was monophasic (I suspect he realized this earlier) but that this new schedule, while it did give him more time alone, took time away from family and friends.

Since he was in Vegas, he said it was not too bad at first, but after a while it started to grate on him. He felt as though he spent enough time on the Internet, and those who are a big portion of his life (e.g., wife) were not around when he was up at night so it sounds like it got pretty lonely. Also he felt as though he could not constantly work. This, too, is very interesting since many would think that would be a good goal, increased alone time = increased productivity.

He also missed the Sun. It was not that he never saw it, as he was awake during the day, but he seemed to have missed it. Also his napping schedule got in the way of life. If you need to nap every 4 hours, what can you really get done? How many errands can you run? Get up, get dressed, out of the house (about 1 hour) then try going to the bank, grocery, and the dry cleaners, and be done in less than 2.5 hours to get back to your bed and sleep! Socially this could also be quite a nuisance. How do you have dinner and a movie in under 3.5 hours? Netflix, I guess.

He also said that his spontaneity was less than what he liked. Everything had to be planned. It seemed to "cramp his style."

Finally, he said, "It gave me a whole new perspective on the passage of time. I saw time as passing continuously rather than being chunked into individual days." Now, we all know that time is a continuum, but we do have a break of conscious time with unconscious time. This break allows us to have an anchor and not feel as though we are floating freely in the cosmos, which may be a good thing.

Could this be one of the reasons for sleep? It is possible.

Related Topics: Better Sleep Naturally HealthZone, What's Your Sleep Personality? (WebMD Video)

Related Blog Posts: Sleep Hacking I, Sleep Hacking II

Technorati Tags: sleep hacks, sleep, polyphasic sleep

Eminem addicted to sleeping pills?

I saw an article that had the rock star Eminem claiming that his recent rehab check-in was due to his sleeping pill addiction. What is so interesting about this statement to me is that few of today's sleeping pills are actually addictive.

If you have an older medication, e.g., a benzodiazepine, then yes it could be possible, but hardly anyone prescribes these anymore for those who are young with good insurance (which I suspect he has).

He claimed that his constant on-the-road life style and flying back and forth to see his child made him need sleeping pills to catch some shut eye whenever he could. I think I can understand where he is coming from, and I certainly do not know his social calendar, but I find it hard to believe that he could not get sleep without the help of sleep aids.

If that is true, then my next question would be what is the problem? So what if he is addicted to the pills? Is he uncontrollably taking them before a show? Is he trying to "score" some pills from his buddies after hours in an alley somewhere? I guess I must be missing the point.

If he is addicted and all they do is make him sleep and nothing else, what is the big deal?

Related Topics: Sleep Drugs: None Stands Out As Best, Better Sleep -- Naturally

Technorati Tags: Eminem, sleeping pills, sleep disorders

Perceived Racism, Depression and Sleep

I recently read a fascinating new study which was performed at BYU where perceived racism was shown to be related to sleep difficulties and depression in Hispanic immigrants.

In the study the authors wrote:

"We found that perceived racism impacts the quality of their sleep and that disturbed sleep is related to depression," explained lead author Patrick Steffen, assistant professor of clinical psychology. "Individuals who have experienced racism could be thinking about what happened the previous day, feeling stressed about their ability to succeed when being judged by something other than merit -- skin tone or a different way of speaking. Sleep is the pathway through which racism affects depression."

Knowing that quality of sleep is tied to physical effects like blood pressure and the immune system, the author hopes to find a causal relationship. But in his advice I felt he falls short.

The author states that when feeling depression from perceived racism you need to seek counseling, which I completely agree with. However he never speaks to one's sleep habits.

I say yes go to counseling, but also look at your sleep. Are you making sure you have a good sleep schedule? Is your bedroom a good sleep environment? Are you adhering to cultural differences in sleep that your body has gotten used to over the years (like a Siesta)? If these are also problems, think about a dual treatment track both counseling and sleep.

Related Topics: Sleep Lifestyle Quiz, Tired and Sleepless

Technorati Tags: hispanics, depression, sleepdisorders, sleephabits

Violent Behavior while Asleep?

A recent commenter asks:

"As a mental health counselor in Fl., I have a client who during her sleepwalking does destructive things such as: turning on the burners on the stove, kicking in a louvered door, throwing a pitcher of iced tea on the floor. It is my understanding it is rather unusual that sleepwalkers do such harmful activities. Are there other reports of this?"

My answer:

First of all it is great that you are asking questions about sleep, much less sleepwalking in your patients. And yes you are certainly correct, most sleepwalkers rarely do any violent behaviors.

That being said there are several factors I would consider for this type of patient. First, I would want them to have a sleep study to determine whether or not they are actually sleep walking or if they have a situation called REM behavior disorder.

The difference is that in REM behavior disorder people usually are acting out their dreams (which can be violent). To distinguish between the two there are several symptoms to be aware of:

1. Is this behavior happening in the later 1/3 of the evening ( where REM is more likely to occur); and,
2. Does the behavior correspond to their dreams?

Either way a sleep study is needed for several reasons. Sleepwalking can be kicked off by any number of other sleep disorders (Apnea, insomnia, sleep deprivation, Narcolepsy, etc.) . There is now an entire body of literature looking at sleep-related violence.

The good news is that these behaviors are often treated with medication (Klonipin and some tricyclic anti-depressants) . Many of those with REM behavior disorder are thought to eventually develop Parkinson's, and if caught early the treatments are more effective.

Related Topics: The Risky Toll of Sleep Loss, Sleepy Teens

Technorati Tags: rem behavior disorder, sleepwalking, sleep disorder