Sleep Disorders

Tee Off on This: Sleep Better, Golf Better

2009-11-20T06:00:00.002-05:00

I don't know any avid golfer who isn't looking for tips to improve his or her game. Some of my golfing friends are real fanatics, incessantly talking about ways to reduce the number of strokes it takes to get through eighteen holes. And now I finally have proof to make a case for my area of expertise: better sleep. Equipment, weather conditions, athleticism, and technique aside, if you can get your game on at night, you can get your game on over the greens. Seriously.

I'm not making this up. A study out of Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey found a group of golfers that improved their golf game by up to three strokes. Granted, these golfers suffered from sleep apnea and were users of the C-PAP, a continuous positive airway pressure mask that helps them sleep better. But my guess is that if a study were done on the general golfing population, we'd see similar findings: those who sleep better, golf better.

Why? Easy. Consider the following benefits of a good night's sleep:

Better concentration and ability to focus.
Better hand-eye coordination.
Alertness.
Sharper memory (to recall the level of difficulty or technical secrets to a certain hole, the course terrain, etc.)

All of this bodes well for the golfer-or any sports player for that matter.

So, why were researchers looking at the effects of a C-PAP on golfers in particular? Sounds like an odd thing to report on. But not when you consider that savvy supporters of the C-PAP (myself included) are always looking for ways to motivate people who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea to wear these highly-effective devices. It also turns out that the better you are at golf, the more you have to gain (or lose, depending on how you look at it from a stroke perspective) from achieving restful sleep at night. The more adept golfers in the study lost the most strokes.

Now go sleep. And go play.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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Fact or Fiction: You Can Catch Up on Sleep Over the Weekend

2009-11-18T16:06:00.001-05:00

If we're watching our weight and "blow it" on any given day, we're told it's okay because we can make up for it the next day and get back on track. But what about when we lose sleep? Can we catch up over the weekend and, say, sleep in on Sunday morning to make up for those late, late nights during the work week?

I get this question a lot. I think it's because people expect to hear something different from the truth: NO, you can't just pay off a sleep debt by sleeping late on the weekend. Sorry. The proof? Check out the following studies of late, which have changed some of the conventional thinking of many of us in the world of sleep science:

In 2003, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research examined the cognitive effects of a week of poor sleep, followed by three days of sleeping at least eight hours a night. The scientists found that the "recovery" sleep did not fully reverse declines in performance on a test of reaction times and other psychomotor tasks, especially for subjects who had been forced to sleep only three or five hours a night.

In a similar study in 2008, scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm found that when subjects slept four hours a night over five days, and then "recovered" with eight hours a night over the following week, they still showed slight residual cognitive impairments a week later, even though they reported no sleepiness.

Another study done this year at Walter Reed found that people recovered much more quickly from a week of poor sleep when it was preceded by a "banking" week that included nights with 10 hours of shuteye.

The good news in this latest study, and a change from prior thinking, is that it appears you can prepare for an upcoming sleep debt by banking some hours of sleep. In other words, if you know you have a week of little sleep ahead of you, try loading up on sleep beforehand, not simply afterward. However it should be noted that you are likely only paying off a bit of sleep debt, to bring your reserves back to normal, before depleting them again.

The bad news, of course, is that it's not so easy to pay off a sleep debt in a single night of solid sleep. And the effects of that sleep deprivation can last a lot longer than what you'd imagine. (We all just got an extra hour a few weeks ago when the time changed. How much better off are you today?)

The lesson: avoid chronic sleep deprivation entirely, and when life gets in the way of that goal, then plan for it. Use weekends to prepare for a long work week rather than trying to make up for them.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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Housework After Sex, Not Sleep

2009-11-05T07:06:00.004-05:00

Hold on to your seat belt for this one.

Professor Elwyn Isaac from England's University of Leeds has just discovered an astonishing behavior among fruit flies: after mating, females ditch their usual afternoon siesta in favor of engaging in intense foraging (ahem, that would be akin to domestic-type duties or housework). The trigger? A "sex peptide" that is produced in the males' accessory gland, the equivalent of the human prostate, and attaches itself to the surface of the sperm's tail.

This sex peptides appears to have a chemical effect on the female, preventing her from taking her usual afternoon nap. This suggests the behavioral change has a purpose: to prepare females for the birth of offspring, and ensure successful paternity after mating.

Okay, so maybe you're not so impressed about new tidbit about how the fruit fly - that buggy nuisance you see on rotting fruit and vegetables - mates and changes behavior. But fruit flies, if you recall from high school biology days, have been the center of attention in research circles for decades. For starters, the fruit fly's genome has been fully mapped, so wide ranging genetic studies are possible. In terms of sleep studies:

They provide a good model for examining sleep behavior because they exhibit many of the hallmarks of mammalian sleep.

Like (most of) us, they sleep deeply at night from which they're difficult to rouse and they have a preferred sleeping posture. They also enjoy afternoon naps.

If they are sleep deprived, they show tiredness the next day.

If fed caffeine, they stay awake, and they become drowsy if given antihistamines.

Women can rest easy. I don't think human sperm contains a similar sex peptide that inhibits sleep and triggers them to spring into household action. (Though many women do feel energized after sex and can be known to get up and go as compared to their male, sleepy counterparts.) Human females have a long nine months during which they can prepare for birth.

But I wonder, are there ingredients in human sperm yet to be identified that can chemically alter a woman's body? Help her to conceive? Prepare the body for pregnancy? A lot of research in the past decade has focused on estrogen's role in sperm (yes, men do produce estrogen, and lots of it in sperm). So I don't doubt we'll learn more with closer inspection. Fruit flies and all (let's not forget about the mice, too).

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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When Power Snoring Exceeds a Power Saw

2009-11-02T11:06:00.009-05:00

Think you've got it bad putting up with a snoring bed partner? Well, think again. This month a British woman has been recorded as one of her country's loudest snorers. Her snore is so loud that from a decibel standpoint, it's louder than a jet plane!

Impossible? Not at all. Though snoring rarely exceeds 85 decibels, sixty-year-old Jenny Chapman comes in at 111.6 decibels, which could drown out a spinning washing machine, diesel truck, and speeding express train.

People confuse decibels all the time, because they aren't "units" per se. A decibel is literally one-tenth of a bel - the number of bels (named after Alexander Graham Bell) being the common logarithm of the ratio of two powers. In other words, they measure a ratio of powers. Decibels do measure loudness, but it's best to think of them in terms of percentages because they aren't quantities of anything. Here's a list of common sounds and their associated decibels:

Decibel Level	Sounds
0	The softest sound a person can hear with normal hearing
10	Normal breathing
30	soft whisper
50	rainfall, refrigerator, large office
60	normal conversation
70	Some research suggests that any sound above this range can stimulate the nervous system
70 - 95	garbage disposal
75 - 85	flush toilet
80	doorbell, ringing telephone
80 - 90	blender
85	heavy traffic, noisy restaurant
110	car horn, baby crying, shouting in ear, power saw, leaf blower
120	thunder
170	shotgun
180	rocket launching from pad

So what can Jenny do to tone down the volume (and invite her poor husband back into bed who sleeps in another room)? She's been working on living a healthier life - cutting back on alcohol and food intake at night, and exercising more. Though snoring is a multi-factorial problem, studies have long proven that excess weight, alcohol use, and being too sedentary can trigger or exacerbate the problem. When Jenny manages to gain better control of her snoring, she won't just make her husband happy. But she'll also make herself happier. Less ferocious snoring means more restful sleep.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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Andy Rooney on Sleep

2009-10-30T15:05:00.003-04:00

dno1967 / CC BY 2.0

Yes, Andy, we do sleep about a third of our lives away.

And I agree, it would be nice to have a gauge on us to let us know when we need to get some shut eye or when we've had enough, much like a battery light that comes on to tell us it's time to charge a certain device for optimal use. Green means go. Red mean stop.

Earlier this month when Andy Rooney gave his classic spiel during the last segment of 60 Minutes, he talked about sleep. He doesn't quite understand why so many people have problems with sleep, especially since he "can sleep night or day, sitting, standing, or lying down" and he admits to falling asleep right at his desk or on a bus going across town. He can get along on 7 hours, and thinks that anyone who gets 9 hours or more is sleeping his or her life away.

Andy's quips were no doubt enjoyed by many. But a few big topics Andy failed to cover, though, are sleep's impact on:

overall health;

memory; and

the ability to get things done (ahem, like work into your nineties and have the energy to go on television on a weekly basis).

But what about that "device" to tell us when we've had the perfect amount of sleep? Might I suggest:

Signs of your battery is getting low: fatigue, sleepiness, low energy, need for caffeine, moodiness, inability to focus, difficult concentrating

Signs of your battery has been charged properly: feeling refreshed when you wake up, having the energy to get through your day, not needing caffeine to stay awake, alert, and productive

Put simply: the body tells us when we need sleep. It's the "y" effect. When we're hungry, we eat, when we're thirsty, we drink, and when we're sleepy, we sleep - or at least we should. And I sense that Mr. Rooney knows that, alongside the other secrets to sound sleep. How else can he be so vibrant, focused, and productive at ninety years old?

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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Pilot Fatigue to Blame?

2009-10-26T16:03:00.003-04:00

If you learned upon landing that your plane's pilots had overshot the airport by 150 miles because they fell asleep at the controls, what would you feel?

Terrified?
Shocked?
Lucky?

I'd feel a mix of the above. In this week's latest hit to the airline industry, a Northwest flight to Minneapolis overshot its destination and pilot fatigue could be to blame. Of course, the pilots are saying they were in an argument at the time and that's the reason for the blunder (not that I'd like to see my pilots so distracted over a "debate" that they still overshoot the runway!).

Fatigue among pilots has been a recurring theme this year, punctuated earlier this year by the deadly crash near Buffalo that was partly blamed on fatigue (that crash was blamed on pilot error).

The Federal Aviation Administration is rewriting its rules that govern flight time for pilots and their required rest periods in order to reduce the chances of fatigue. It will be the first update to the rules in decades and will utilize research that wasn't available before.

Does that make me feel better the next time I fly?

A little, maybe. Trouble is, it can be hard to legislate such rules. And sometimes fatigue over a series of poorly slept nights can catch up to you days later. In other words, you could have a sleep-deprived weekend, feel okay on Monday but be a zombie on Tuesday when you're expected to perform - and the lives of countless others are in your hands.

I've written about shift workers a lot in the past. But those who have jobs that put the lives of many others at stake should be scrutinized to a much higher degree. If it's that easy to fall asleep at the controls of an airplane - without the airplane knowing (or its numerous flight attendants!), then I say, let's invent something that can keep check on that. With all the gadgets we have at our disposal today, can't we find one that can alert the crew on a flight when its captain has nodded off?

Just a thought. Now that would make me feel safer in the skies.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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Tick-Tock: News about Your Clock

2009-10-19T08:15:00.006-04:00

Chris Metcalf / CC BY 2.0

I love a study that debunks an old theory long believed true. Last week scientists at the University of Michigan came out with a bold statement: everything we know about the human biological clock is wrong.

According to these researchers, who hail from mathematics, the cells responsible for maintaining the clock in the part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nuclei, or SCN, don't fire all day and night like previously thought. The cells that control the clock are silent during the day. Though these cells sustain an electrically excited state, they don't actually fire until a brief period around dusk, and then remain quiet throughout the night before releasing another burst of activity around dawn. Think of a clock that only chimes twice a day - because the time only needs to be announced at two particular times. The clock keeps ticking during the silent periods, to make sure the time is accurate when it is time for the chimes to sound.

This may not sound like big news for you (or even mean all that much), but it means a lot to people in sleep medicine and in general medicine for that matter. I've written often about biological clocks in the past. It's a fascinating area of research that has so many applications to everyday life. Consider how much your internal clock determines the quality of your life. And if you don't know what I mean by that, then here's a quick summary. All of the following relate to your internal clock:

Your sleep/wake cycles.

How refreshed you feel in the morning.

How easy it is for you to fall asleep at night.

Whether you can recover quickly from jet lag.

The fate of a shift worker who has to be productive at odd hours.

Whether you're a lark or an owl.

Your mood and energy level.

The strength of your immune system.

Your ability to ward off diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer's.

It may seem unfathomable that your body's clock can influence diseases like cancer, but it's true. Think of your clock as your body's central pacemaker - a means by which the body can remain balanced and, in medical speak, in a state of homeostasis.

I expect future studies to validate some of this new information. It's been suggested that there's more than one clock in the body. Perhaps these math gurus should apply their mathematical model to these other clock ideas and see what emerges. Time will tell...tick-tock...

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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Big Decisions After All-Nighters?

2009-10-12T10:00:00.008-04:00

Imagine having to make a huge decision that may affect the lives of millions. Your constituents have voted with confidence in your ability represent them on issues like health care and education.

But after months of contentious debate, when the deadline nears, it comes time to make the critical decisions, there's nothing left to do but pull numerous all-nighters, eat poorly, and struggle to stay awake while you and your colleagues fight for a resolution.

Sound like a group project in college or business school? No wait - it is actually the State Senate!

This is what's been happening in states like California where budgets are running in the red and constitutional rules have forced legislators to lock themselves in the statehouse to get bills passed. California lawmakers have pulled at least six all-nighters so far this year.

On some of these nights, the atmosphere is more like a slumber party than a political arena, as some politicians sneak in a snore-laden snooze while others play solitaire, sing, or Twitter to the outside world - activities that may help them stay awake during discussion or debate, but might not help them focus as much as they would like on the task at hand.

Crazy? I think so. No good decision can be made by anyone operating with so much sleep deprivation, especially when it's not just one or two people here. We're talking about an entire assembly of lawmakers trying to do their job and make an impact on the health and welfare of all of us - the folks that elected them - to keep us safe and make sound decisions about our future. That's right: we trust them to make decisions about the health and welfare of others even though when it comes to their own sleep, they don't always make the best health decisions. A real case of "do as I say, not as I do."

We know this about sleep deprivation: there are real physiological and psychological effects as we deprive our bodies of a basic physical need. Our judgment isn't always the best. We know that we start to make bad food choices - we crave things like doughnuts and cookies - choices we might not make when well rested and energized. We do things like "go all in" at 3 a.m., a choice we might not make earlier in the evening. Our reaction time slows, our memory decreases, our bodies and minds slow down in an effort to preserve the energy we have left.

Here's what I see going on as a result of all that sleepiness:

Bad moods fueling endless, pointless debates among cantankerous colleagues.

An inability to think clearly and rationally.

Abuse of caffeine, Visine, and junk food.

Sporadic snoozing, leaving many missing out on important conversations that are necessary for arriving at effective decisions.

How's that for inspiring confidence in effective lawmaking? I've always been a big fan of napping, but falling fast asleep on the carpet of your Capitol building's floor just doesn't cut it.

Rest up, lawmakers. We've all got a lot of expectations resting on the political agenda these days. One way to ensure you arrive at good decisions is to get a good night's sleep. Every day of the year. Both in and out of the political forums.

Put sleep at the top of your personal healthcare reform agenda. Stop growing your personal sleep debt - we're counting on you to be at the top of your game. You can't be there when you're falling asleep on the job.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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Buying A Mattress: And The Survey Says...

2009-10-06T15:11:00.001-04:00

October's Consumer Reports features a review on something most people find frustrating, and almost everyone asks me about: buying a mattress.

I've written about this chore numerous times, and offered lots of tips to making it as painless and inexpensive as possible (though my jaw still drops at the fact some retailers can sell a mattress for tens of thousands of dollars; as you're about to find out, price doesn't always matter). Unfortunately, many people put off replacing their old, dirty, dust-mite-laden mattress for as long as they can because, well, the thought of shopping for a mattress just doesn't sound like fun. There are other ways we'd rather spend a weekend. And though our backs would disagree, mattresses often don't break beyond use.

Which is why I love to read research and reports like the one Consumer Reports just put together based on more than 17,000 online subscribers who bought a mattress in the past few years and dished about their experience. Here are the highlights:

Which brands won out? Tempur-Pedic, Original Mattress Factory brand, and Select Comfort (then Denver Mattress, Simmons, Kingsdown, Serta, and Sealy).

Which brands got a so-so response from owners? Spring Air and Stearns & Foster, coming in at 9 and 10 respectively on the list.

Does price matter? Not really: 78% of those who spent more than $4,000 said they were highly satisfied with their purchase. But 66%of those who spent less than $1,000 were also highly satisfied. Go figure.

Which brands are best for problem sleepers? Tempur-Pedic and Select Comfort.

Are test-runs necessary? It appears so, as 72% of those who invested at least 10 minutes (for instance, lying down on each side, back, and stomach) were highly satisfied with their mattress purchase compared with 62%who didn't.

Which retailers got high fives? The Original Mattress Factory was noted as the top-ranked seller for both service and selection. Costco was also highly rated, but it got a few dings (with its competitor Sam's Club) for less-than-perfect service and selection.

Would they buy the same brand again? Maybe. Less than 50% said they would definitely buy the same brand again. And that number was still less than 60% when reported by buyers of the highest scoring brands.

How's that for an idea of what to look for during your next mattress-buying adventure? The one caveat that even Consumer Reports can't remedy, though, is price. You'll always find a sale somewhere on mattresses, and trying to make sense of the "suggested retail price" among different manufacturers can make your head spin.

So shop with your wallet and your back in mind. Oh, and one more myth to bust that Consumer Reports highlights: The best bed is the one that's most comfortable to you. Older backs don't necessary need firmer beds. There have been no well-controlled studies to indicate the best firmness overall.

A few of my own tips to add to the mix:

Take your own pillow with you. Use it when you test drive a mattress

Remember to lay on each of the mattresses you try for at least 10 minutes on you back, your side and even your stomach, if you are a stomach sleeper.

While you've got that pillow with you, check it out as well. Might be time for an upgrade there, too.

If you fall into heaven when you test out a new mattress that's just shy of $1,000, grab it. On the other hand, if your back seems to only like expensive tastes, well then. Consider it a worthy investment.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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Attention Parents with an Autistic Child: Is a Sleep Clinic in Order?

2009-09-30T13:00:00.002-04:00

Nothing could be more challenging, exhausting and rewarding than raising an autistic child. Not only is the situation difficult for doctors and parents alike, but it's manifested in oh-so-many ways across a spectrum of symptoms and to varying degrees in different children. One of the most commonly experienced problems, however, is trouble sleeping.

So I applaud the sleep counselors at a special school in Manchester, England, who are helping autistic children and their parents deal with disturbed sleep patterns.

Typically, an autistic child can:

Have erratic and prolonged settling down routines.

Have the need to perform rituals prior to going to bed, such as going up and down stairs a certain number of times, or repeatedly check on other family members.

Have trouble learning to sleep alone in a room.

Wake frequently and require time to settle back down with the help of an overtired parent.

Be very sensitive to light and sound.

Be tactilely defensive to sheets, PJ's and covers.

All of this makes for overtired children and parents. Not a good thing for the health and wellness of either. This exacerbates an already difficult situation, affecting an autistic child's ability to perform and learn in school, as well as a child's ability to gain the upper hand on a sleep-deprived mood. Any parent who has had to endure endless nights of little sleep can attest to their own package of consequences: poor concentration levels, low tolerance for coping with the challenging behaviors of their children, and high stress. And I know those are just a few examples in the litany of negative effects to chronic sleep deprivation.

Establishing a firm routine appears to be the magic bullet to helping autistic children. This strategy actually works for helping anyone become a better, sounder sleeper. It lies at the core of sleep hygiene.

My hope is that the trend in addressing the sleep needs of autistic children expands and reaches the shores of us here in American. I'm not aware of any sleep clinics that focus chiefly on autistic children and their parents, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them pop up soon enough.

Ask your doctor in the meantime - and remember that the practice of good sleep hygiene can be helpful and rewarding to anyone, whether you're dealing with autism or not.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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The Secret to a Happy Marriage (and Healthy Self): Separate Beds? I Doubt it!

2009-09-22T07:11:00.005-04:00

This topic is always popular: sleeping in separate beds for the sake of getting restful sleep and enjoying your partner even more as a result.

Have you ever been awakened by your bed partner? (snoring, thrashing, moving around)
Have you ever been the unintentional recipient of a battle by your bed partner in the middle of the night? (hit or punched as your bed partner physically plays out his dream without even knowing it)
Have you ever gotten better sleep in your partner's absence?
Have you ever slept on a couch because you couldn't get the sleep you needed in the same bed as your partner?
Have you ever thought about sleeping in separate beds on a routine basis?

If you answered yes to any of the above, you're not alone (well, maybe you are alone now sleeping soundly in your own bed).

In 2005, the National Sleep Foundation began reporting on this trend in separate sleeping beds. A survey then showed that 23 percent of married Americans sleep alone, an increase from 12 percent in 2001. Glamour magazine also reported on a survey of builders and architects who predict that double master bedrooms will soon be the norm.

Then there's the report by British sleep specialist Dr. Neil Stanley at a recent conference that has lots of people talking on the Internet: married people suffer 50 percent more harmful sleep disturbances if they share a bed. And this does not bode well for the sufferer of poor sleep, as it can cause depression, heart disease, stroke, lung disorders and accidents.

No doubt about that. He could have just summed it all up by saying bed partners are hazardous to your health!

But I think this is a bit one-sided. I am not questioning the validity of his results, but there are some serious advantages to sleeping with a bed partner.

In many cases this is the time for intimacy, from cuddling to sex, and it usually occurs in bed. Sure you can have "dates" for this, but how do you say "Honey I love you, thanks and Bye!"
Sometimes this is one of the best times for communication. If you have been running around all day, and not had time to "catch up" with your partner, this is usually the best time to do it. Of course large emotional discussions are best out of the bedroom, but just everyday catching up is fine.
While I can't put my finger on it, the mere fact that you are physically close to someone, feels like (no pun intended) it has a positive effect on any relationship. Think about what you are saying to someone when you refuse to sleep next to them.
There is also one research study from Australia that shows men sleep better when they are sleeping next to someone.

Okay, so the separate bed thing may not be for everyone. But if you have a bad bed partner, and the last time you got a good night's sleep was when you were alone in your bed, then it may be time to look at this situation. Here is what I suggest:

If you are concerned that your bed partner may have a sleep disorder, a visit to a primary care physician and/or sleep specialist is the place to start to rule out potentially serious disorders like sleep apnea, periodic limb movement, or restless leg syndrome, or any other health issue that could be interfering with their (or your) sleep.

If it is snoring that bothers your sleep, consider ear plugs, a sound machine, or some type of anti-snoring device.
If it is their movement that bothers your sleep, consider a new mattress that reduces motion transfer.
If they get up in the middle of the night and disturb you, consider two beds in the same room, or a mattress that reduces motion transfer.
If they have a different schedule, consider scheduling changes, eye masks, book lights, etc.

Or, in the very least, opt for a bigger bed. You may be surprised by how well today's mattresses can accommodate two very different sleepers.

Here is what I know to be true above all else:

I have saved more marriages as a sleep specialist than I probably would have as a marital therapist, just by getting people back in bed, sleeping together!

Sweet Dreams.

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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Beware of Late-Night Eating

2009-09-18T10:10:00.005-04:00

Don't eat after 7 pm.

It's okay to eat late at night so long as you didn't pig out during the day.

Scratch that. It's not about timing, it's about calories.

No, it's about timing and calories!

Confused? I know, the messages tend to get mixed and muddled. So let me set the record straight (for now) based on a recent finding that will have you thinking twice about that late-night snack.

Northwestern University has just come out with a study that shows what a lot of people don't want to hear: eating when the body prefers to be sleeping (ahem, when it's dark outside and most of your neighbors are in bed) can have an impact on weight gain - regardless of your calorie load for the day. Timing your meals, it turns out, plays a much bigger role in your weight equation than previously thought.

This doesn't surprise me in the least. We've known for quite some time how influential the body's internal clock, or circadian rhythm, can be on its physiology. Recent studies have also confirmed that this clock regulates energy use, suggesting the timing of meals may matter in the balance between caloric intake and expenditure. In other words, time a meal badly in relation to your body's clock, and you'll gain weight. Time it perfectly, and your body will use those incoming calories to burn for energy rather than store them as fat.

Without even getting into the scientific details of how this is so, it's easy to imagine how the body would prefer to not have to work so hard when it wants to sleep. The moment you put something in your mouth when the body is trying to slow down and get some rest, it's screaming back at you: What are ya doing? It's time for bed! I don't want to burn these calories now. Let's save them for tomorrow...and put them on the shelf for now (as fat).

So, based on these findings, let me offer some advice short of writing the new diet book:

Set a time after which you try not to eat anything prior to bed. Ideally, this time should be at least an hour before hitting the pillow.

Choose bedtime snacks intelligently. If you eat dinner on the early side, and need a snack before bedtime, go for something that entails complex carbs and a little protein, such as a piece of toast with a small smearing of a nut butter on top.

Avoid fatty foods before bedtime. This is not the time to be chowing down on hot fudge sundaes, triple-cheese pizzas, and the classic burger and fries.

I've always said that getting good sleep is one of the easiest (and cheapest) ways to lose weight. Now there's one more reason hit the hay on a empty stomach.

Sweet Dreams.

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

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Is Your Sleep Deprivation Leading You to Diabetes?

2009-09-11T07:15:00.006-04:00

Pop quiz: Which of the following words does not seem to go with the others?

Obesity
Calories
Insulin
Sleep
Fat

If you said sleep, you're right. Er, you're wrong actually. While sleep may not seem like it belongs in the same category as words that revolve around weight, it actually has everything to do with weight and whether or not you're at risk for diabetes. Two fascinating studies that just came out to further prove it:

One study out of a sleep lab at Penn State College showed that insomniacs who slept only five to six hours a night had greater odds of developing diabetes.
The other study, this one from the University of Chicago and published recently in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, demonstrated that sleep deprivation mixed with sedentary living and free access to food can change the body's physiology to the point it resembles that of a prediabetic. In other words, the body's insulin resistance and glucose tolerance shifts, leaning toward a dangerous condition that's a precursor to full-blown diabetes.

I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty remarkable...and scary. This change in physiology, by the way, in the second study happened over the course of just two weeks as healthy adults were forced to get by on only five hours a night.

None of this was news to me. I've written numerous times about the impact of quality sleep in our ability to lose and maintain a healthy weight, and avoid the ravages of diabetes.

Other studies have also shown what happens when we miss out on sleep. We can't seem to go a day without more news about our diabetes and obesity problem. But I still find that the conversation about this hugely popular topic often gravitates toward access to healthy diet choices, and ways to get more regular physical activity. What about access to more and better sleep?

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

Related Topics:

Moms: A New School Year Can Spell Sleep Relief (or Not)

2009-09-09T11:51:00.004-04:00

"A woman's work is never done" - a phrase that will never go out of style, and its partner - a woman's often low-quality sleep life. At least that's what some are reporting as study after study indicate that all the multitasking in the world can't create more time to rest and enjoy leisure time.

In fact, a study that came out earlier this year in The Economist revealed that, across 18 countries, men had between 4 to 80 minutes more leisure time per day than women.

Now, 4 more minutes isn't all that much. But 80? That's plenty of time for a good long nap, more time in bed, or simply some downtime sitting on the couch.

Many moms are rejoicing at the thought of the kids going back to school. This means:

Keeping regular routines and a consistent schedule.
Having set bed times and wake times.
Not having to provide entertainment or activities for kids as much during long, summer days.
No more sleepovers, pool parties, and events way past the kids' bedtime.
Knowing you've got teachers and a school helping to care for the best interests of your children.

All of these things bode well for the mom trying to avoid major sleep deprivation. With the start of school, however, also come the occasional late-night homework and school projects. Calls from the nurse to come pick up sick little Suzie and take her home. And keeping up with the school-year's list of household chores like laundry, meal planning, and lunch-making.

Men and women do share more household responsibilities now more than ever, but it's still the women who carry the heaviest load of caretaking, basically acting as CEO of a family. Another recent study out of the University of Cincinnati suggests that the uneven distribution of domestic responsibilities result in stresses that may be driving a trend of lower quality sleep among working women.

Solution? Either the men have to pick up more slack, or the women have to give themselves permission to do less. Which is more realistic? I'll leave that answer to you.

But if I can give these over-tasked and over-tasking women a few tips to consider as this school year kicks off, here's a few with an eye toward better sleep:

Knock one item off your "To Do" list a day and aim to be in bed 15 minutes earlier than the previous night.
Give yourself a set bed time and wake time, just as you do your kids. You wouldn't let your seven year old stay up past midnight, so why should you?
Likewise, you watch what your kids eat before bedtime. What are you eating within an hour of your bed time? If you're in the kitchen plowing through a box of sugary cookies or leftover meatloaf, reconsider.
If you read to your kids at bedtime, you're teaching them great habits for sleep hygiene. Reading can help a person to unwind, relax, and prepare for sleep. When's the last time you did something like that before putting yourself to bed?

Welcome to the new school year. May it be filled with fresh wisdom, challenging activities, and lots of sound sleep.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com

This article on moms and sleep is also available at Dr. Breus' official blog, The Insomnia Blog.

Related Topics:

Off to College - Probably Not Off to Sleep: Part 2

2009-09-03T15:55:00.004-04:00

Ah, there's nothing quite like dorm room living:

Tight quarters.
Old, rickety furniture and carpeting.
A small, hard bed.
Thin walls and rowdy neighbors.
Late-night hallway parties.
Perhaps a humming mini-refrigerator and an annoying roommate with whom you share absolutely nothing in common.

Now, that might not sound so pleasant if you're over the age of, say 30, but for many college students, it's acceptable - a kind of hazing period during the transition from high school to the big school.

But none of this bodes well for sleep hygiene. I don't know any college student who isn't sleep deprived and living on caffeine.

Last week, I dispensed some secrets to settling into college life without losing too much sleep over it. The dorm room deserves special attention. It's where college students will spend a great deal of time mixing attempts to get some shut-eye and a host of other activities-socializing, writing papers, studying, talking on the phone, hanging out, listening to music, and so on. Whether it's your first-born making the move to college or you yourself are about to move on up, heed these dorm room makeover tips:

If possible, strategically arrange the bedroom furniture around any incoming light and noise.
- Face the bed west if possible so that you don't get direct sunlight in the morning.
- Avoid placing the bed directly across from a window that faces east
  (or you will be rising with the sun).
- If you can get away from the noise but that puts you in the light, move away from the noise and buy some blackout shades.

Consider the use of a room divider or screen. This will give you more privacy and help dampen light (and some noise) coming from your roommate.

Decorate the area around the bed differently than the rest of the room. Keep it clutter-free, and try not to snuggle up with your cell phone. Teddy bears are better sleep mates.

Splurge on good bedding materials that are comfortable for you:
- soften up a hard mattress with a featherbed (which is like a big body pillow you rest on top of the mattress),
- lots of pillows
- consider a mattress topper, and
- a plush comforter.

Keep high-wattage lights away from the bed. Most dorm rooms are equipped with desks. Keep the high-wattage lights there and install low-wattage lights (45 watts or less) anywhere near the bed.

Position your entertainment, television and/or computer area so it's not directly aligned with your line of vision when you're in bed. Again consider the use of covers for the monitor and turning off the CPU itself at night.

Bedside sleep savers:
- Eye shades.
- Ear plugs.
- Sound machine to wash out background noise.
- Reading lamp or book light.
- Drape clip. If the room is equipped with draperies, try clipping the drapes together at night using a chip clip so there's no light leaking through the crack.
- Aromatherapy.
- Watch out for alarm clocks that light up the whole room.

But all that aside, I'll admit that the most challenging task of all awaits: Having that straightforward conversation with your roommate(s) about the rules. What if one of you needs to stay up late finishing a lab report, tapping on a laptop with the lights on? What if your roommate wants to invite the entire floor to party in your room until the wee hours of the morning on the night you've promised yourself to go to bed early? How will you manage living with someone who likes to keep to a totally different sleep schedule than you?

Conversation.

You must have it.

Early and often.

Good luck, my aspiring graduates. Cheers to the new academic year.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™

This article on college students and sleep is also available at Dr. Breus' official blog, The Insomnia Blog

Related Topics:

Off to College - Probably Not Off to Sleep: Part I

2009-08-28T09:01:00.003-04:00

The dog days of summer are fast coming to a close. In the coming weeks, millions of college-bound students will be hitting the books again and adjusting back into university life. For first timers, this is an exciting time period. For veteran upper classmen, it's also a thrilling time to know that you're close to being fully independent and out in the "real" world on your own.

But for both newbies and soon-to-be graduates alike, the one thing that seems to get the best of them every single year is sleep. It's not hard to get that "A" in not enough sleep. Translation: serious deprivation.

Okay, so I'll admit, it comes with the territory. College life is, well, college! A rite of passage, and we all have our top secret stories from then. The two biggest culprits of a sleepless college student:

Academics and late-night studying.

"Social" studies and late-night partying.

You can't necessarily forgo either of the above on a consistent basis. But your body wants sleep on a consistent basis, which can conflict with the trappings of a successful and fun college life. And, without mom or dad around to nag about bedtime (and, might I add, wake time in order to be in class on time), the transition back to school life with all its demands and nocturnal distractions can be difficult.

So let me offer some realistic solutions that can ease any college student back into the swing of things quickly and restfully:

Time management: this is a no-brainer, albeit hard to do well. When homework, the social calendar, and sleep all call for attention, which goes first? How can you maximize all three?

Set clear boundaries. Tell yourself you won't party past a certain time; keep to a regular sleep-wake schedule as best you can, even on the weekend. Don't use the 24-hour library. Keep a routine study session daily, say from 4 to 7 at night, and don't let social distractions get in the way that will later have you back in the books past midnight.

Turn off your cell phone after a certain hour, say 10 pm.

Establish coping skills and stress-reduction practices. College comes with an enormous set of stresses and challenges. Strategies to help balance your stress will have a huge impact in your ability to get things done, and yes, get a good night's sleep.

Don't forget to exercise. The freshmen 15 isn't just related to a higher intake of (usually buffet-style) food; most college students forgo regular exercise and sleep - the double whammy for packing on the pounds.

Enlist a support buddy to keep you on track. Having someone who can watch out for you and let you know when it's time to re-think your habits can be a lifesaver. And doing the same for them reaps benefits for you.

Become a pro napper. Napping can be difficult to pull off out in the corporate world. But there's ample time to nod off in the afternoon library (just don't be caught doing it in class). It's exercise for the brain, after all.

College students get free passes for keeping their computers in their dorm rooms, but watch out for those bright screen savers. Before you put yourself to bed, put your computer to sleep.

In part II, I'll share my ideas for the ultimate dorm room makeover. It's a little different than reconfiguring your bedroom back home. Even in an itty-bitty room the size of a closet or bathroom, you can create a sanctuary for sleep. And yes, even study.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™

This article on college students and sleep is also available at Dr. Breus' official blog, The Insomnia Blog

Related Topics:

Something New in Melatonin?

2009-08-24T08:48:00.008-04:00

You don't have to be a shift worker or jet setter to have awkward or non-existent sleeping habits, but both groups suffer quite a bit. Melatonin, one of the more popular over-the-counter supplements, may be headed toward a new delivery system, a patch placed on the body with small pulses of the hormone administered throughout the evening (or day), through your skin!

I've written about this sleep aid frequently because I get so many questions on it. Many supplement companies and health food stores will claim that melatonin is a natural sleeping aid or nightcap because it "naturally" helps regulate sleep-wake cycles. Given its wide spread availability today, you'd presume it's safe and effective.

Is it?

Well, that depends. Melatonin has been shown to help regulate sleep cycles in certain populations and really help out quite a few people, but like anything there are pros and cons:

The precise mechanism of melatonin secretion in the body is not well understood. We do know, however, that melatonin isn't just about sleep-wake cycles. It's been shown to help regulate the female reproductive cycle and may also affect the onset of puberty. Children who take melatonin can suffer a delay in sexual development. (So never ever give a child a melatonin supplement.)

This new patch study showed that men and women had different levels of melatonin in their system with the same dosage patch! So a gender difference may apply.

Studies have pointed to melatonin's role in regulating blood flow, specifically in constricting coronary arteries.

And it's been suggested that melatonin can increase depression in people prone to the illness.

For the record, melatonin is a hormone, and it's not a regulated drug under the FDA. No other hormone is available in the United States without a prescription. In some parts of Europe, melatonin is available by prescription only.

If this experimental patch version of melatonin reaches the market, it could have a much bigger effect on the body than just popping a pill. The half-life of a melatonin pill is short and it doesn't last long; a patch, on the other hand, can deliver small doses throughout its use to keep the levels in the body consistent for a longer, stronger effect. This might be great for shift workers who sleep during the day, when the body does not like to produce melatonin.

The patch has been tested on people who sleep during daylight hours and work at night.. For this reason, I can see why a melatonin patch could be helpful to those who maintain schedules opposite to the usual solar day (where the body prefers to be functional). And I have great respect for those who manage to live this life for the sake of their careers and my safety (e.g., emergency care, pilots, etc.). But, even though the patch would be sold as a prescription, it wouldn't surprise me to see people getting their hands on it without trying other sleep hygiene tactics first, which can be far more effective and healthier overall for the body, particularly for those of us that can really get our shut-eye at night.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD, FAASM
The Sleep Doctor™

This article on sleep and melatonin is also available at Dr. Breus' official blog, The Insomnia Blog.

Related Topics:

Do Not Try This at Home

2009-08-14T08:55:00.000-04:00

…unless you've got the space and lots of willing participants… with a really good sense of humor.

If you haven't seen the spectacular display of Mattress Dominoes yet, check it out. In a mattress factory in England, 41 fellow Brits lined up dozens of mattresses on their ends and then stationed each person in front of one of them so they could play out a game of dominoes. As each one came crashing down, it (gently?) knocked the one behind it where another person was clinging to a mattress ready to go down with it. You can hear screams of laughter and the plunk of plastic-wrapped mattresses falling down one by one. The last mattress ends up on a conveyer belt where it is rolled into a truck and allegedly shipped off to a customer's home (with the customer and his wife tucked neatly inside, at least that's how I understood it).

Crazy? Well, not when you consider this group was trying to break some unusual world record. Not sure if they managed to do it but the video certainly became a viral hit on You Tube.

You gotta hand it to these folks for their whacky sense of humor.

And if you want to "try" this at home, I say the best you can do is one-two punch your own mattress. That is to say, dump your old one and get a new one. Ask yourself:

Have you been sleeping on the same mattress for five years or more?
Do you sleep better in a hotel bed than in your own?
Are you tired of dealing with your bed partner's tossing and turning, and bed-hogging?
Do you find your allergies kick up when you get into bed?

It's probably time. There are lots of new technologies in mattress-making now that guarantee a good night's sleep. And you don't have to go to England to get it.

Sleep Linked to Infertility

2009-08-13T11:46:00.001-04:00

Correction: Sleep-deprivation linked to infertility. (I had a feeling that would get your attention.) Did you ever consider that? How could you with all the other things to worry about:

You've cut down on alcohol, caffeine, and even processed food.
You've scheduled more time to relax and tried to reduce the stress in your life.
You've started a consistent exercise routine and detoxified your house.
You've charted your monthly cycle, bought ovulation kits, and still…nothing.

But you've overlooked one very important element: sleep, which you don't get enough of.

The word infertility can quickly generate a response, especially among the 10 percent (more than 6 million) of women struggling with it. The topic routinely graces the covers of magazines and academic health reports. Lately, the talk about toxins in our food, water, and air have been blamed for increasing the likelihood of infertility. But what if it's much simpler than that? What if infertility can be partly blamed on how many hours of sleep you get a night. OR hours you don't get?

A new report puts the spotlight on exactly this issue. The highlights:

Missing your required number of sleep hours a night can impact your ability to conceive.
The average woman (30 to 60 years old) gets only 6 hours 41 minutes of sleep during the work week, according to the National Sleep Foundation, when she really needs 7 to 9 hours.
Sleep has a powerful influence on the body's hormonal system, which controls a woman's cycle and regulates ovulation.
Too little sleep leads to low leptin levels, the hormone responsible for appetite and which can impact ovulation.
Insomniacs have a significantly higher level of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenocorticotropic, both of which can suppress a healthy fertility cycle.

The take-home message is clear: you could be doing "everything right" when it comes to preparing your body to conceive and bring a healthy baby to term. But with so much focus on external factors like your environment and what you put in your mouth, the time has come to add another aspect to this big equation: sleep. All the healthy, pure food in the world and all the attention to getting your body into tip-top prenatal shape won't cure a hormonal system gone awry from missing sleep hours. So if you're thinking of having a baby, put sleep on the list. At the top. And if you're going to worry about your environment, remember to also think about the one in the bedroom.

Sleeplessness Worse for Women

2009-08-07T08:47:00.000-04:00

All "men" are created equal. That turns out not to be the case when it comes to sleep.

Just this week a study came out of the U.K. revealing an alarming discrepancy between the effects lack of sleep brings men versus women. Scientists looked at two biological markers that relate to cardiovascular health and discovered that those markers change a lot when a woman loses sleep but not so much when a man loses sleep.

In other words, if a woman gets fewer than 8 hours of sleep, her risk for heart disease goes up (accordingto these biological indications), but men don't seem to show such a significant increase in their risk.

Not fair?

We all know men and women are built differently. Hormones, body composition, and other physiological variations are probably contributing to this mismatch seen in the lab. Heart disease continues to be the number one killer for both sexes, though let's not forget that, on average, women outlive men.

No matter who you are--man or woman--your risk for heart disease goes up the more you lose out on sleep. What this study shows is that this risk may go up more steeply for a woman than for a man the more she loses sleep.

That's not to say men get a free pass to sleep less. Statistically, women do complain more than men about poor sleep and not feeling rested in the morning. A few questions:

Can men naturally get away with less sleep and not feel its ramifications as severely as women?
Should we separate men and women in all studies about sleep?
Will there be different risk parameters across the board for men and women?
Could these biological markers be leading us astray in making definitive conclusions about risk between the sexes?

Future studies will bear all this out, as these findings confirm earlier ones. No wonder this felt so familiar.

Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD, DABSM
The Sleep Doctor

This article about women and sleep is also available at Dr. Breus's official blog, The Insomnia Blog.

Naps Are Exercise for the Brain

2009-08-06T10:34:00.001-04:00

Dozing off. Getting some quick shut-eye to beat the afternoon lull. Having a siesta.

It seems I've been talking a lot about naps lately. And the New York Times must have heard me this week, as it reported on a survey about napping. The findings:

1 in 3 adults admit to napping on a typical day.
Napping is high among adults who have trouble sleeping a night or who have worked out in the last 24 hours.
Unemployed people were more likely to nap during the week.
Women, those who make less than $20,000 a year, and people dissatisfied with their financial situation were also likely to report having trouble sleeping at night.

Unfortunately, the survey didn't define exactly what constitutes a nap. But I think most people can do that for themselves, even if those definitions vary slightly from person to person. Does nodding off for a few seconds on a commuter bus or subway count? How about putting your head down on your desk for a few minutes while reading? Or do you have to be fully engaged in the sleep-like position on a couch or bed?

Anyone who gets a boost from a brief micro-sleep could be napping. You don't have to be lying down necessarily or in a bedroom with the lights out (though that would be ideal). I know plenty of people who have mastered the art of napping while sitting up or reclining in an office chair.

As the article points out, it's too bad that napping is still bashed by society. Some sleep experts think naps should have the status of exercise and I agree! They make us feel stronger, happier, and able to perform better.

What I don't like about this recent survey is that its results somehow imply that you have to have trouble sleeping at night or be dissatisfied about work to embrace naps and see them as positive contributors to health. That's clearly not so. Whether you are:

happy or sad,
financially fit or troubled,
employed or out of work,
an insomniac or sound sleeper, or
a man or a woman

all of us can learn how to nap and reap its many rewards!

After all, naps were recently proven to be more effective than a cup of joe at tackling that afternoon lull. Sleep up, don't drink up.

Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD, DABSM
The Sleep Doctor

This article about sleep is also available at Dr. Breus's official blog, The Insomnia Blog.

Sleepless in the White House

2009-07-21T14:07:00.001-04:00

How long do you think you would last if your alarm rang at 4 am every morning and you often didn't stop working until very late at night? Your days last 18 hours, 7 days a week, but you're expected to be on-call for 24 hours. And you're not a physician who can take several weeks of vacation a year. OK, the vacation part is a joke!

The Washington Post published an article this week detailing the grueling lifestyles of the people working in the West Wing. It's bad. It's worse than anything depicted on the TV drama. Highlights of some of the descriptions of people's days sound unbearable:

To fit a workout in, staffers hit the gym around 5 am.
Email with the day's bulletin land in Blackberries by 7, demanding attention.
Meetings begin by 7:30.
Staffers grab dinner around 8 pm and then head back to the office.
Conference calls consume the weekends.
Travel can entail an 8-day trip across 10 time zones. On such a trip, you manage to catch a few hours a night and then return home to get back to work before sunrise again.

And here's a detail that really stood out: The night before Obama announced the administration's housing plan earlier this year, one staff member e-mailed the final documents at 3 a.m. and asked for comments. Five people responded immediately!

The adrenaline rush that comes with winning the election and working for a president can only go so far. By now, as the article conveys, the fatigue and exhaustion is showing. White House staff have been seen nodding off in meetings (a good thing: those microsleeps can actually help them), and I can only imagine the toll this takes on their families.

I would bet that every administration has grappled with this "ironman" syndrome, which is what my old friend Martin Moore-Ede, a former Harvard University professor, calls it. He adds that the American political workplace is one of the few that still resists a means for ensuring people get rest.

It doesn't help that there are so many issues on the agenda today: a new health care system, financial recovery plans, auto bailouts, Middle East peace, nuclear nonproliferation, two wars, and education reform. It also doesn't help that the expectations are so high.

Can there be a solution? Long days come with the territory in this field. Teaching sleep hygiene will fall on deaf ears. The only thing I can think of that would be realistic at the moment would be to install napping rooms in the White House where staffers can go get some legitimate shut-eye and try to recapture some of the hours left behind...on tarmacs...in meetings...and on the ongoing struggle to see us through the current agenda.

And how much does all this sleeplessness impact their overall health and longevity? Now that's a story for another day. If any of those staffers, or the President himself reads my blog, I'll dedicate or rather donate some of my time to teach them some solid sleep strategy!

Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD, DABSM
The Sleep Doctor

This article about sleep in the White House can also be found on Dr. Breus's official blog, The Insomnia Blog.

Sleep Paralysis Gets Screentime – But Not as a Horror Flick

2009-07-20T17:02:00.002-04:00

Ever wake up and it feels like your mind woke up but your body didn’t? Now that’s a nightmare in real time, and it can happen to anyone. And one that a team of film producers has made the subject of their documentary.

The phenomena is called sleep paralysis, which is characterized by a waking from REM sleep but the body remains paralyzed (it is supposed to be paralyzed in REM-so you do not act out your dreams!).

People who’ve experienced this, as chronicled in the film, report seeing or hearing a shadowy presence entering their room and approaching their bed. Feelings of dread descend but they are unable to cry for help. Some experience choking or chest squeezing to the point they think they are going to die. Not good.

Examinations into how and why this happens have turned up some interesting findings. People who experience sleep paralysis share a few things:

They are often under the age of 25.
They are usually sleep deprived.
There appears to be a connection between sleep paralysis and post-traumatic stress.
Improving sleep hygiene can help alleviate reoccurring sleep paralysis. So can talking about their experiences. Prayer and positive thinking also seems to help.
It happens to almost everyone!!!

What do I think? I think this is an area that deserves more attention and study. It’s a shame that some doctors whose patients are brave enough to report their sleep paralysis can brand them as having a schizophrenic or psychotic episode.

Maybe this film will offer some observations for researchers to use. Good thing it wasn’t spun into a horror flick, though that probably could have made more money.

Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD, DABSM
The Sleep Doctor

This article on sleep paralysis is also available at Dr. Breus's official blog, The Insomnia Blog.

Adolescents Are Losing Sleep Over "It"

2009-07-09T15:14:00.000-04:00

"It" just keeps getting worse. And "it" is robbing our adolescents of the sleep they need to learn, be healthy, and probably feel good about themselves. What is "it"? A combination of things:

Obesity
Technology abuse
Caffeine abuse
Sleeplessness

Now that's a combination for poor health. Any one of these items can be addressed successfully, but together they blend to create a terribly difficult mountain to climb.

This week the big news networks reported on how much fatter we are all getting, from boomers to children. Not a single state shows signs of slimming down, and obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past year.

Obesity rates among kids have skyrocketed. Now add to that another study that emerged this week indicating that obesity among teens is associated with less sleep. Two notable culprits: technology and sleep issues.

This is not a surprise when you think about it. The heavier you are, the higher your risk for sleep disorders like apnea and disruptive episodes of snoring – whether you're a teenager or fully-fledged adult. The more you stay plugged into technology tools late at night, the harder it can be to settle down and go to sleep.

I've talked about this vicious cycle before. Being overweight has its own host of health challenges and poor sleep over time then adds more layers of risks and further health challenges that are like nails in a coffin.

So if it's all a big Molotov cocktail, what is the solution?

Make it simple. I say, pick one. Start with what you think is the easiest task of all and work your way down:

Set a boundary for consuming caffeine. I like to recommend people limit caffeine significantly after 2 pm. Switch to green tea. Watch out for sodas and medications that also contain caffeine. I can see no reason why an adolescent should be ingesting caffeine, so for them it should be ZERO!
Go low-tech after a specific hour at night, or within two hours of bedtime. Shut down email, stop Internet surfing, turn off the cell phone.
Establish good sleep hygiene. If you think you suffer from sleep apnea, speak with your doctor. Sleep is not a luxury, and it shouldn't be that difficult to achieve on a regular basis.

If we don't see the trends in our waistlines change soon, we won't see changes in how well we sleep and feel day in and day out. Doesn't a world where everyone gets restful, rejuvenating sleep sound downright dreamy?

We'd have a happier, healthier planet.

Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD, DABSM
The Sleep Doctor

This article on sleep is also available at Dr. Breus's official blog, The Insomnia Blog.

Better Marriage, Better Sleep

2009-07-07T10:14:00.003-04:00

Does that really surprise anyone? A new study out of the University of Pittsburgh says that women who have stable marriages sleep better than women who are unmarried or who have lost a partner. The study also pointed out the fact women who start dating a new partner also sleep better as compared to their single – partner-less – counterparts.

Surely you and I can list several factors contributing to this result. (And I'd bet that if a study were performed on men, they'd find similar results.)

Let's be honest: a good relationship, married or not, often leads to:

Lower stress
Greater sense of well-being
Perceived security
Stronger financial stability (or at least a perceived sense of this)

All of these play into the quality of one's sleep. We can't also forget the fact studies have also proven that those in committed relationships tend to live longer than those who are not. A 2004 study, for example, indicated that married people are healthier than other adults.

So how can a person not in a relationship reap the health benefits of actually being in one? Can a single person really sleep as well as a married person? Absolutely. You just have to:

Pay attention to sleep hygiene.
Seek solutions to lower your stress.
Plan well for your financial future so money issues don't keep you up at night. Financial woes seem to be the prime suspect in stress-related insomnia these days – whether you're single or not.
Establish a really good circle of solid friends. You'd be amazed at what having a trusty group of friends can do to your emotional – and physical – health. Another recent study out of Australia has shown that having friends around may do more for your longevity than having family members around!

And what if your partner snores, keeping you up at night? After all, a marriage can be "stable" but snore-full. That, my friends, is another topic for another day. It would surely put a kink in the better-marriage hypothesis, but luckily most snoring issues can be dealt with – more easily than finding a soulmate.

This article on sleep is also available at Dr. Breus's official blog, The Insomnia Blog.