Got Sleep Apnea? Go Green, as in Green Tea

If you find yourself having the proverbial brain freeze at work all too often, and you know you suffer from sleep apnea (or think you do because you just can't feel rested after a long night's sleep), then listen up: it's time to reach for the green tea.

More than 18 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that causes your airway to collapse during sleep. If you're among those millions, then each night your breathing essentially gets cut off multiple times, and so does that restful sleep. Untreated sufferers of sleep apnea never feel fully rested, which can result in chronic sleep deprivation that can be life-threatening.

Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

You could have apnea if:

• You snore
• You wake up with a headache
• You're moody most days
• You are tired to the point of falling asleep
• You have constant congestion
• Someone has seen you stop breathing

But there's some good news to report: chemicals found in green tea may be able to prevent some of the cognitive problems that can happen with obstructive sleep apnea.

Green Tea Can Help Your Memory

Cognitive problems, you're wondering? That's right, sleep apnea isn't just about missing out on a few breaths of air through the night. All those intermittent moments of oxygen deprivation add up, and your body isn't able to reach a level of sleep that is restorative - where the brain can essentially re-boot itself and prepare for the next day when it will need to learn new things, solve problems, and tap its memory card.

Other Benefits of Green Tea and Polyphenols

The benefits of green tea don't end with the brain boost, though. The researchers who discovered this recently also confirmed what we already know about the positive effects green tea can have on us. Its rich supply of polyphenols acts as a powerful antioxidant to help tame the flames of inflammation and oxidative stress - two big agers in the body.

So yes, green tea may help you beat sleep apnea deficits, but the bonus is you can give yourself a good dose of anti-aging ingredients, too.

Green Tea and Weight Loss

In a recent post, I talked about ways to lose weight (so you can sleep better at night). Nixing sugar-laden drinks is an easy way to steer clear of a boatload of unnecessary calories.

Regardless of whether or not you suffer from sleep apnea, give green tea a try for a week. Switch out your sodas and juices for a thermos of hot or cold green tea. Sip on it all day and avoid other drinks (don't worry, tea is also a source of water).

At the end of the week, check in with yourself: do you feel sharper-minded and maybe a pound or two lighter?

What I'd like to know is if other sources of polyphenols can also be as effective. These include berries, beer, grapes (including wine), olive oil, chocolate/cocoa, walnuts, peanuts, pomegranates, yerba mate, and other fruits and vegetables.

One thing is for sure: drinking green tea is something you can do all day long (try decaf in the afternoons). Not sure the same could be said for the other polyphenol friends.

This post is cross-posted at Dr. Breus' blog, The Insomnia Blog.

Related Topics:

• Green Tea Puts Sleep Apnea Woes to Bed?
• Taste Test Tuesday: New Green Teas!

Technorati Tags: sleep apnea, insomnia, green tea, weight loss, polyphenols

Lose Weight, Sleep Tight

My trusty industry journal, Sleep, just published another study confirming what we've known for some time: waist size affects sleep quality. The bigger you are, the bigger your chances are of not getting a restful night's sleep.

An overview of the study was recently posted on WebMD, and it points out that "short sleepers" - people who get fewer hours of sleep that others in their age group - are more likely to be obese. This is true for both adults and children. For adults, a short sleeper is defined as someone who five hours or less of sleep. For kids, it's less than 10 hours.

Many researchers have suggested that short sleep may prompt hormonal changes that fuel appetite and caloric intake, thus leading to obesity. We already know the hormones that control appetite are negatively affected by sleep deprivation (sleep less, eat more), so this is very plausible. It's yet another call to make the necessary changes to shed those excess pounds.

Are Sleep Tips Enough?

I'm used to giving tips on getting a good night's sleep, such as teaching people how to create the perfect bedroom setting, and reminding them to get up and go to bed at the same time every day, to avoid stimulates like caffeine in the late afternoon, and to establish a Power Down hour prior to bed so they can prepare the mind and body for sleep.

But what if these tips are not enough? What if all the "sleep hygiene" recommendations mean diddly-squat when the prime reason for one's poor sleep is simply too much weight?

It means we must begin to give equal focus to the things we can do to reach our ideal weight and maintain it. So here are my top 5 weight-loss friendly ideas to think about throughout the day if you know you could lose a few.

5 Ways to Help Weight Loss

1. Eat breakfast within one hour of rising (go for high-fiber cereals or low-fat yogurts topped with berries) and then be sure to eat something every 3 to 4 hours thereafter. This will keep your metabolism humming and your blood sugars stable throughout the day; you won't ever feel famished or stuffed.


2. Replace sodas and fruit juices (including those labeled "diet") with water. This will help nix all those excess sugar calories, including artificial sweeteners that can trigger cravings. If you prefer, opt for sparkling water and throw a wedge of lemon or orange in it for more flavor.


3. Replace butter and margarine with vegetable oils and extra virgin olive oil. Use cooking sprays at the stove. This will help you stick to healthier fats.


4. Switch from plain pastas, refined breads, and white rice to whole-wheat/high-fiber varieties. This will boost your daily fiber intake and also help keep your blood sugars stable so you feel satisfied and energized. The more fiber you get, the more calories your body won't absorb from the foods you eat!


5. Avoid eating after 7 p.m. This will help you to avoid late-night munching that takes your daily caloric intake off the charts.

If all of these ideas seem overwhelming, then just pick one - just one - that you can do this week. Next week, add another, and then another the following week. Small shifts add up to big changes.

And just think: you're killing two birds - no, make that a flock of birds - with one stone. Not only will you sleep better once the weight comes off, but you'll feel better, kick obesity out, and say good-bye to a slew of health risks like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and obstructive sleep apnea.

Good night.

This post is cross-posted at Dr. Breus' blog, The Insomnia Blog.

Related Topics:

• The Sleep and Obesity Quiz
• The Link Between Sleep and Weight Loss

Technorati Tags: sleep, insomnia, obesity, weight loss

Can You "Have It All" - Sleep Included?

A thriving career. A house with 2.5 kids, the average. Time to exercise. A vibrant social life. A great romantic relationship, whether married or not. And you sleep like a baby at night for a full X-hours, whatever you need to feel like a million bucks the next day. Is this possible? Is this a total fantasy?

I'm not trying to state the obvious or beg the obvious answer. My gut feeling is that having it all, including sleep, is a tall order. And recent research proves it. A Canadian article I read online outlines researchers' data about the relationship between sleep and lifestyle, which includes a number of things like employment status, gender, and marital status.

Do you commute a long way to work? Do you work full-time (i.e., long hours)? Do you have kids, especially ones under the age of 15? If yes, then chances are you don't get as much sleep as someone who answers no to most of these questions. And I don't think you have to be Canadian to fit the bill of what these researchers found. In fact, in America I think we tend to fare far worse.

There's nothing very revolutionary about these results. Other interesting findings to note:

• The more money you make, the less sleep you get. (More money usually means more work, more stress, more of everything but sleep.)


• Men tend to get less sleep than women, but it's the women who complain more of not being able to fall asleep easily.


• Men who exercise sleep better, but women who exercise don't sleep as much as women who don't. The reasoning behind this makes sense: a woman who carves out time to exercise could be taking time away from sleep. The payoff, though, is that the women who do make time for exercise don't have as much trouble getting to sleep. This has a scientific explanation: exercise is a great promoter of restful sleep.

It's hard to know what to do with a study like this. It points out the obvious, and I'm not about to tell someone to sacrifice having children, working full time, and making more money for sleep. But surely this kind of news helps call out what we can attempt to modify in our lives for the sake of restful Zs. After all, being well-rested is what makes our jobs easier, our quest to be fit more doable, and our capacity to parent and deal with the hassles of life, including stress, much bigger.

So with that in mind, here are some questions to ask yourself. Your answers may help you to see how you actually can have it all - or as much of "all" as possible:

• Can you create better boundaries at work so you aren't over-working yourself every single day? (Yes.) Remember, it's okay to pull long hours once in a while. But don't make a habit of it.


• Can you make the need for exercise not infringe on your need for sleep? (Yes.) If fitting time to exercise means cutting back on sleep, try cutting back on something else in your life - go to bed a little earlier if you're an AM exerciser or leave work earlier so you're not watching the 11:00 news while on the Stairmaster.


• Can you equally share your parental duties with the other parent? (Yes.) Don't feel like you're the one who has to handle everything 24/7. Go 50/50. Each of you can pick days when one parent takes on a smaller percentage of the parental role so you can catch up with yourself and recharge your batteries. Then switch.


• Can you knock off two or three things that you had on your To Do list and move them to tomorrow? (Yes.)


• Can you think of at least ONE thing - just one - that you can push to next week so you can devote more time to sleep this week? (Notice this should be a recurring question each week!)

I'll leave you with this: can you imagine being rich, fit, and well-rested? Yes you can.

This post is cross-posted at Dr. Breus's blog, The Insomnia Blog.

Related Topics:

• Not Enough Sleep All Too Common
• The Secret Causes of Insomnia: What Every Woman Should Know About Sleep Problems

Technorati Tags: sleep, health and wellness