World Class Athletes Owe Their Success to Quality Sleep

We all know that professional athletes owe much of their success to a number of things such as rigorous training, determination and natural talent. But do you also know that the way they sleep also plays a big part in their success? Whether its golf, tennis, basketball, cycling, running, swimming or any other high endurance sport, it is a known fact that the well-rested athlete has better chances of securing victory.

Researchers have found that athletes who extend their sleeping time from the normal 8 hours to 10 hours performed better on the field. They determined that the extra hours of sleep improved the athlete’s brain functions, thus reducing stress and releasing more growth hormones that promote the healing of bones and muscles.

It’s no wonder that many world-class athletes take sleep very seriously. Take for instance Michael Phelps, the American swimmer who is the most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 22 models to his name, 18 of them being gold. He appeared on the show “60 Minutes” with Anderson Cooper revealing that he slept in a specially designed sleeping chamber in preparation for the 2012 London Olympics. He used the sleeping chamber as a training tool to prepare his body for the task ahead. He tweeted a photo of his sleeping chamber which is posted here. Needless to say, his insistence on good quality sleep helped him win another gold medal in the men’s 4×100-meter medley relay.

Usain Bolt, the Jamaican track and field star who is reportedly the world’s fastest man, also takes sleep very seriously. He also took measures to ensure success in the 2012 Olympics. Bolt reportedly slept in a custom made orthopaedic bed prior to the Olympics to make sure that he would not suffer from any back problems which could disrupt his training and preparations. His bespoke bed contained a 7ft mattress made especially for him. The quality sleep surely worked in his favour as he won a total of three gold medals in the Olympics.

The same importance world class athletes put on the quality of their sleep are useful for us regular folks too. In simple terms, good sleep equals better health. It’s the same for everyone – athlete or not.

 

 

 

Teens & Sleep Disorders

The scariest thing about sleep disorders could be that so many victims go undiagnosed. Parents, we just want the best for our children, right? Well, listen up because this could be your teen that we’re talking about. If your teenager has a hard time falling asleep at night, if it’s a battle to get them out of bed every morning, or if they’re sleepy throughout the day, they could be displaying a pattern of disturbed sleep. Your teen could be diagnosed with sleep disorders like narcolepsy, insomnia, restless leg syndrome (RLS), sleep apnea, and nocturnal enuresis, or bed wetting. The significance of this lies in the fact that this pattern of disturbed sleep could be an early warning sign of even greater problems to come.

Not to mention all of the complications that go hand-in-hand with a lack of sleep! A sleepy teenager is more likely to experience problems with cognitive function. This could lead to greater problems in the future such as the development of learning disabilities, memory impairment, personality changes and depression, daytime sleepiness, mood swings, drowsy driving, poor grades, and even weight gain. In other words, if your teenager isn’t getting enough sleep because of sleep disorders that should be treated but aren’t, fighting to get them out of bed in the morning could be the least of your worries. A lack of sleep is a problem in itself, but the consequences of sleep deprivation tend to permeate into other aspects of life outside of the bedroom like school, relationships, and even health.

There are several things that you should be on the lookout for in your teens. Most common sleep disorders among teenagers include nocturnal enuresis, otherwise known as bed-wetting, sleep terror, rhythmic disorder (moving in sleep), insomnia (a lack of sleep or a disturbed sleep), teeth grinding (oftentimes due to stress), sleep walking, and sleep talking. If your teen displays any of these common sleep disorders, be sure to get the proper treatment for your loved ones before you start to see the chain reaction of consequences reach outside aspects like grades!

There are even things that you can do to prevent the development of sleep disorders and to get a good night of sleep for your kids. For example, cutting down their consumption of soft drinks, cold coffee, and nighttime snacking of chocolates will encourage a healthy sleep schedule for your teens. In addition, relieving or even reducing stress related to their studies will make getting to sleep a lot easier for them. Make sure that the television and video games are turned off at night too!

When it comes down to it, parents should stay aware and pay attention. Make it a habit to sleep at a proper time, and your children will be more likely to follow your example. Activities like listening to soft music and reading books encourages a healthy sleep pattern a lot more than violent video games and late night sitcoms. We know how important sleep is for a growing body and mind. We also know how much you love your children. We all want what’s best for the next generation!

Poor Sleep & Special Ed Needs

Sleep is very important for a growing child. Parents who have undergone the wrath of a sleep-deprived and cranky kid know the importance and necessity of sleep all too well. However, a recent study now tells us that grouchiness and whining aren’t the only things that parents should be worried about when it comes to a sleep-deprived child.

It turns out that if your young child is experiencing sleep problems, there’s a higher chance that they could develop special education needs by the time that they’re eight years old. A recent study took a look at a number of children, eight percent of which had the worst sleep problems. Researchers discovered that those eight percent of children had the highest risk of having special education needs at age eight—even when statistics were adjusted so that factors like IQ were irrelevant in the results.

It should be noted that only an association between poor sleep and special education needs has been discovered. Researchers have yet to find a cause-and-effect relationship. In addition, this phenomenon could be explained by something other than sleep. Researchers also included that this information is limited because all of the subjects were children from England, and ninety-eight percent of them were white. More conclusive data would’ve come from a more diverse pool of subjects. Nonetheless, the information that we have gotten out of this study brings us one step closer to a healthier world.

In another analysis, 13,024 children were studied. One thousand eight hundred and twenty five of them had special education needs. Out of these 1,825 kids, seventy-one percent of them had suffered from earlier sleep problems. In other words, children who dealt with sleep problems like sleep apnea and snoring in their infant, toddler, and preschool years were more likely to need special education services for things such as speech and behavioral problems a few years later.

Again, no definitive cause-and-effect relationship has been established, but we do know that previous research has given us information that shows how sleep problems affect the brain. For example, sleep deprivation inhibits the brain from making memories. Researchers noted that it’s possible that genetics could explain both sleep problems and disabilities. Ultimately, as loving parents, we are responsible to make sure that our children are getting the proper sleep that they need every night. It could save them from needing special education services later down the road!

How Technology Contributes to Lack of Sleep

Technology is great. It brings people from all over the world closer to one another. Jobs and other tasks are made easier. And the economy is stimulated from all of the new developments that regularly come out of the realm of technology. While the benefits seem endless, there is such a thing as too much technology. And this applies in the bedroom.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, more than ninety percent of Americans are regularly on the computer or some other kind of electronic device within the hour before we go to sleep. We know it’s tempting to check your newsfeed on Facebook or send a few emails and text messages during the downtime right before bed, but doing so can hurt your healthy sleep cycle. Here’s why: Electronic devices are known to stimulate brain activity, and not surprisingly, disrupt your ability to fall asleep. In addition, the artificial light that comes from the screen of some devices may mess around with the brain chemicals that promote sleep.

A recent study from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute investigated how exposure to light from certain electronic devices affects our hormones tied to sleep. The subjects were studied as they read, played games, and watched movies on an iPad, iPad 2, or PC tablet for various amounts of time. While they were doing these various activities, researchers were measuring the amount of light the subjects’ eyes received.

The results were unmistakable. Researchers found that exposure to light from computer tablets significantly reduced levels of melatonin, a hormone that regulates our internal clocks and plays a significant role in our sleep cycles. They determined that just two hours of exposure to a bright tablet screen at night reduced melatonin levels by about twenty-two percent. This is scarily important because the suppression of melatonin can mean all kinds of bad things health-wise, such as sleep disturbances, and even raising the risk of obesity, diabetes, and other disorders.

We know that it can be hard to cut down your use of electronics, but if you find yourself tossing and turning at night trying to fall asleep, then it’s worth a try to turn off the TV earlier and set down your phone long before you sleep. Other things you can do include limiting your computer use before bed—Facebook will be there in the morning. At the very least, you should at least dim the screen as much as possible so that the contrast between the screen and the dark isn’t so striking. When it comes down to it, studies have shown that using your electronic devices before sleep can greatly contribute to a lack of sleep by altering your hormones and reducing melatonin levels.

Good Sleep, Happy Aussies!

I think it’s safe to say that we can all agree on one thing: A good night of sleep can make for a happy person. A recent survey in Australia proves just that. This survey, dealing with 2000 Australians, found that a good night’s sleep makes a happier life so much more likely. In other words, sleep and wellbeing go hand in hand.

To back up this claim, the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index states that those with lower wellbeing levels are the people who sleep less than six hours a night (compared to those who sleep seven to nine hours a night). However, it’s interesting to note that when people sleep for more than ten hours a night, their levels of satisfaction noticeably drop off. Australia’s Deakin University came out with a report on such results, The Wellbeing of Australians – Quantity and Quality of Sleep. The report covered a study in which thirty percent of the subjects slept for seven hours a night while the other  two-thirds got between seven and nine hours of sleep. The study found that people who tend to sleep for more than ten hours a night usually find themselves struggling with a lack of purpose in their lives. On the contrary, people who can only get at most seven hours of sleep a night are usually stressed out.

Here’s why: Sleeping six hours a night—in other words, not getting enough sleep—can significantly reduce levels of satisfaction when it comes to health and safety. This may lead to higher levels of anxiety, which can all be traced back to a lack of sleep. At the same time, sleeping for too long could be an indicator of depression or sleep apnea. We find that the takeaway message here is that although sleep and wellbeing go hand in hand, it’s important to add moderation to the mix. For the sake of your health and wellbeing, it’s important to find that sweet spot in sleep—don’t sleep too much, but at the same time, don’t sleep too little!

 

How Diet & Fitness Help You Sleep

If you’ve been keeping up with our blog, or if you’ve been paying attention to the latest health articles on the Web, you know how important sleep is—how almost everything can be linked back to sleep. You can imagine how bummed out we are to hear that according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, otherwise known as the CDC, thirty percent of us are sleeping a sad average of no more than six hours a night. That’s 40.6 million Americans not getting enough sleep! The National Sleep Foundation tells us that the recommended amount of sleep is seven to nine hours a night. Apparently, anything less than that opens the door to an increased risk of health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, depression, substance abuse, and even an increase in appetite and the risk for future weight gain or obesity. At a recent meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a new and unpublished study shared that a lack of sleep could impact diet by boosting our cravings for less healthy foods and by hindering our decision-making ability when it counts—like when we’re up against fatty and calorie-filled snacks.

As alarming as all of this may be, we’re actually here to give you some good news that will most likely help! There are several things that you can do to help you get the sleep you need. And to avoid all of those nasty complications that come with sleep deprivation. All of these tips tie back to eating well and staying active.

Exercise keeps your muscles, bones, and heart strong and in shape to conquer the day. It may also help you sleep! Previous studies have shown that participating in an exercise training program has moderately positive effects on sleep quality in middle-aged and older adults. So for all you parents and grandparents out there, stay active for a good night’s sleep! We recommend that you exercise earlier in the day. After your workout, your body needs a few hours to cool down. A cool body sleeps better, so be sure to give your body enough time to cool down so that you can get the sleep you need.

If you’re dieting, you might be staying away from carbs. But carbohydrate-rich foods, in moderation, give you the energy you need during the day and hit your sleep sweet spot at night. Tryptophan, an amino acid found in lots of carbohydrate-rich foods, creates serotonin in your body. This is the neurotransmitter that helps you wind down after a long day. Try a steady dose of carbs like oatmeal and other whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy foods. These options will not only help you get to sleep, but they’re healthy for you too! Remember to keep you dinners and bedtime snacks small. Large, late meals can adversely affect sleep!

Be cautious with caffeine! This stimulant of the central nervous system is notorious for delaying sleepiness and is known to cause sleep disturbances for those of you who do manage to doze off after a cup of coffee. This is because caffeine inhibits some sleep-promoting hormones in your body. Caffeine also stays in the body for several hours, so you should steer clear of the coffee at least several hours before bedtime.

Another beverage to keep an eye on is alcohol. Alcoholic beverages not only encourage binging on food, but it promotes a restless sleep and boosts daytime fatigue. And we don’t even have to discuss the likelihood of hangovers.

The bottom line is that eating healthy and staying active could help you with any sleep problems you may be experiencing at night. We think it’s worth a try. At the very least, you’ll be living a healthy lifestyle!

Mundane Mondays: We’ve Cracked the Code

The mere utterance of the word “Monday” to any employee or student is usually followed by mumbling and grumbling. Unless it’s a national holiday, Mondays mean the official end of the weekend and the long start to another long week at school, work, or both. And to make matters worse, Mondays mean having to wake up before noon after you spent the last couple of days sleeping in to your heart’s content. Fear no more! We’ve cracked the code as to why Mondays are so dreadfully unbearable—well, Monday mornings anyway!

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have conducted a new study that suggests that contrary to popular belief, sleeping as much as possible doesn’t always help us feel more awake or even boost our energy levels. In fact, too much sleep can disrupt the body’s internal clock, which explains why just a few extra hours of sleep on the weekend make getting out of bed even more difficult than normal on Monday morning.

Most of you are guilty of not getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep every night on weekdays, am I right? Chores, errands, school, work, and all of the other aspects of your life make it nearly impossible to keep up with the recommended dose of shut-eye every night. A lot of people that don’t get enough sleep on weekdays usually use the weekend as a couple of days to catch up on lost sleep. However, researchers are telling us that sleep recovery is only possible by going to sleep eight hours before we usually wake up—not by going to bed later and then sleeping in. They also included that sleeping in defeats the purpose of feeling more rejuvenated. Sleeping longer than usual makes sleep less efficient because at a certain point, more time is spent on sleeping lightly rather than on restorative sleep (REM sleep).

Researchers explained that our circadian cycle, which controls our body clock, can be messed up by any change in our otherwise regular sleep pattern. This makes sleeping at a reasonable hour on Sunday night more difficult, and Monday mornings are even more unpleasant to go through. In addition, it can take a few days for our circadian cycle to get back to its normal schedule. This means that for a majority of the week, our bodies are struggling to get back to their normal cycles, which will be disrupted once the weekend starts. Basically, it’s a vicious cycle of not getting enough sleep and making up for sleep the wrong way. It’s important to keep to a regular sleep schedule so that your body and mind are rejuvenated and ready for the day 

Are Sleep Disorders Precursors to Alzheimer’s?

Not getting enough sleep during the night is bad enough as it is. It’s the hardest thing to get out of bed when your alarm clock annoyingly wakes you up. You’re just tired, irritable, and lethargic throughout the day. And you don’t function properly because all you can think about is lying down to get some rest. We all know how horrible the next day is when we haven’t gotten a good night’s rest. But did you know that worse things can come from a pattern of disturbed sleep other than a crappy day?

A recent study from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has discovered a connection between sleep problems like sleep apnea and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers say that people whose sleep is regularly disturbed could be experiencing an early warning sign of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers worked on a mouse model by genetically altering the mice to develop Alzheimer’s plaques as they age.

Their findings revealed that when the mice’s normal sleep-wake cycle was significantly disrupted, that’s when the first signs of Alzheimer’s plaques appeared in the subjects’ brains. This is because their brain levels of a primary component of the plaques naturally rise when the healthy young mice are awake. The levels decrease when the subjects are asleep. When the mice were deprived of sleep, their natural cycle was disrupted, and this caused acceleration in the development of brain plaques.

So what does this mean for Alzheimer’s patients? Well, doctors try to treat Alzheimer’s patients before the onset of dementia. These results suggest that a presence of sleep problems could be a rapid indicator of whether the new treatments are succeeding or not. In other words, sleep problems could greatly help doctors figure out the best treatments to help Alzheimer’s patients.

Sleep apnea ties into all of this in that it’s a sleep disorder, and is therefore indirectly linked to Alzheimer’s disease. We cannot stress enough how serious this sleep disorder is. Sleep apnea may seem like just an annoying sleep problem that only occurs at night, but what we’re trying to get across is that the problems and complications of sleep apnea do not stop when a person is awake.

Power Napping: 6 Steps to a Great Nap

The concept of napping is a tricky thing. Some people find napping to be a waste of time. Others see it as counterproductive since long naps could be the reason we can’t fall asleep at night. However, we find that napping, when done right, can be that extra oomph to becoming more productive and creative. Power naps can restore wakefulness and fight fatigue so that you are less lethargic after waking up. Those several minutes of shut-eye can help with your memory, cognitive function, and motivation so that you can be the best worker you can be. But all of this can be possible under one condition: You nap the right way.

One of the first steps to taking a great power nap is to make your napping environment as dark as possible. Since it’s unnatural to sleep in the middle of the day, it’s best to turn off the lights, close the blinds, or even wear a sleeping mask.

Another thing to do is to make sure it’s as quiet as possible. Distracting sounds like traffic from the street or office talk from down the hall can keep you from dozing off. If ear plugs don’t work for you, then try listening to some relaxing music or even investing in a white noise machine to drown out the noise of a busy day.

Not only should you quiet your surroundings, but you should quiet your mind as well. Racing thoughts will definitely keep you from dozing off. We know this sounds really difficult, but try not to think of anything. Just calm your mind and let your thoughts take you to a peaceful slumber.

Something that might be on your mind and keeping you from sleeping is guilt. We know it can feel odd and just plain wrong to take a break for yourself to sleep in the middle of the day, but just think of these fifteen minutes as an investment rather than a waste of time. Your abilities to be even more productive post-nap are certainly worth the sacrificed fifteen minutes of power napping.

We’d like to stress that this should be a power nap. This nap should be short, quick, and to the point! Be sure not to start a full cycle of sleep. This will leave you feeling even groggier when you wake up hours later. These long and lingering naps are what we find to be counterproductive. Keep the power nap short and sweet. Fifteen to twenty minutes should do the trick!

Since this is such a short nap, we recommend that you consume caffeine right before. I know, I know. Sounds crazy, right? Well, a cup of coffee will put some soothing warmth in your belly that will make it so much easier to drift off, and the caffeine will start working around the time when you wake up. A cup of coffee will help you doze off and then give you more energy and mental focus when the time comes.

We hope you found these tips useful and helpful! We all need at least fifteen minutes of “me-time” at some point during the day. Why not let it be the investment of power napping? Happy napping!

 

The Link between Sleep Apnea & Diabetes

As many of you may know, sleep apnea is known to cause fragmented sleep and intermittent hypoxia, otherwise known as moments of oxygen starvation. Researchers are now telling us that these symptoms of sleep apnea are associated with the development of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease—among other things…

A professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore states that seventy to eighty percent of patients with Type 2 diabetes are also victims of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This revelation can be explained by the fact that the on-and-off breathing from apneas and hypopneas not only starves the sleeper of oxygen, but it also places stress on their metabolic balance. This imbalance can stimulate the production of excessive adrenaline which can increase their resistance to insulin. Diabetes is then encouraged to advance.

Sleep apnea has a link not just with diabetes, but cancer too. Those moments of intermittent hypoxia—when your body is literally starved of the oxygen it needs multiple times every night—can set off a cellular process, otherwise known as mitochondrial dysfunction, which is significant in the onset of cancer. In other words, the lack of oxygen your body gets because of sleep apnea could eventually lead to cancer.

It’s no secret that OSA must be successfully treated not just for healthy energy levels and quality of sleep, but for the patient’s long term health as well. Sleep apnea is linked to so many more complications like heart disease, heart failure, a rise in blood pressure, and even stroke. If you or someone you love has sleep apnea, be sure to get the proper treatment right away in order to avoid any long term health effects.