The Insomnia Blog - Sleep Doctor Michael Breus, PhD

Sleep – The key to a long term, loving relationship?

It is one of the most common struggles that couples face: over the life of a relationship, partners can lose a sense of appreciation for one another. Holding on to a sense of gratitude for each other is one of the hallmarks of couples who stay content in their relationships over the course of many years. On the other hand, loss of gratitude and appreciation between partners can jeopardize a relationship’s long-term success.  

A new study suggests that poor sleep may contribute to a lack of appreciation between romantic partners.  Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley conducted a multi-part study to examine how sleep may affect people’s feelings of gratitude, and the ability to value and appreciate romantic partners. The study was presented recently at the annual conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. The study included more than 60 heterosexual couples between the ages 18-56. They participated in three separate exercises designed to measure how sleep affects individual levels of gratitude, and sense of appreciation between partners:

• After a night of sleep, people were asked to make a list of 5 things for which they were grateful. Those with poor sleep demonstrated less of a sense of appreciation than those with better sleep quality and sleep quantity.
• Participants were asked to keep a daily record for two weeks of both their sleep and their feelings of gratitude—and lack thereof. Researchers identified a decline in levels of gratitude that was associated with poor sleep. People were more likely to report feelings of selfishness after a night of sleeping poorly.
• The third section of the study looked specifically at how sleep affects the dynamic of gratitude and appreciation between couples. Their results showed that people tended to feel less appreciated by their partners if either they or their partner slept poorly. 

The last finding is particularly interesting. A lack of sleep by one person in the relationship resulted in greater likelihood of diminished feelings of appreciation by both partners. This suggests just how deeply sleep can influence the emotional dynamic of a relationship. 

Sleep can pose a number of challenges to relationships. Poor sleep can make for difficult sleeping conditions for couples. The tossing and turning of insomnia and the noisy, disrupted sleep of snoring and sleep apnea don’t just diminish the quality of sleep for the individuals with the disorder. They also rob partners of restful sleep. Night owls and larks who share a bed may also have difficulty marrying their sleep schedules. If you’re an early-to-bed, early-to-rise type, having a partner who likes to read or watch television late into the night can interfere with sleep.  

These may be among the reasons why an increasing number of couples are choosing to sleep in separate beds. Research shows as many as 25% of couples are sleeping separately, and this is a number that’s been rising for years. The separate-bed strategy may seem like an attractive option for couples struggling to sleep together well. But it’s important to consider what might be lost in this choice. I’m talking about the intimacy created by sharing a bed. And I’m not only talking about sexual intimacy, although that’s certainly a risk of sharing separate beds. (At the very least, couples are much less likely to have spontaneous sex if they’re not sleeping together.) I’m also talking about the sense of togetherness and emotional connection that comes from sleeping together. 

What’s more, sleeping together can actually reinforce good sleep habits. Partners who sleep together can be a positive influence when it comes to keeping reasonable bedtimes, and not falling asleep to the television. Studies have shown that sleep apnea patients who use CPAP therapy are 60% more likely to stick with the treatment if their partners continue to share a bed, rather than sleeping separately.  

This latest research makes sense given what we know about how sleep affects mood and outlook, as well as emotional and mental health. Poor quality sleep and insufficient sleep can negatively affect mood and judgment, making us cranky and less apt to greet the inevitable ups and downs of life with perspective and an even keel. Research shows that poor sleep increases the likelihood of depression and anxiety, conditions that themselves can interfere with sleep. So it’s not surprising that gratitude might diminish when we’re short on sleep, and that the people closest to us—our partners—might bear the brunt of this diminished sense of appreciation.  

I’d like to see more studies like this—both for the specific knowledge and insights they provide us about the functions of sleep, but also for the way they highlight the very central role that sleep plays in the
quality of our waking lives, and the lives of those we love.

 

Sweet Dreams,

 

Michael J. Breus, PhD 

The Sleep Doctor™ 

www.thesleepdoctor.com

The Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan:  Lose Weight Through Better Sleep

Everything you do, you do better with a good night’s sleep™ 

twitter: @thesleepdoctor 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesleepdoctor

The sleep stories of 2012, Part I

We learned so much about sleep this year. 2012 was bursting with great sleep stories, which revealed the power of sleep to enhance our health and well being, and the dangers associated with sleep deprivation and disrupted sleep. Here are my picks for the sleep stories of 2012—along with suggestions for ways you can bring the benefits of the latest in sleep science to your everyday life.

 

January

Sleep suggestion: In times of emotional turmoil, turn to sleep 

Scientists found that sleep may take some of the sting out of emotionally difficult experiences. Researchers at University of California, Berkeley monitored the brain activity of people while they were looking at a series of emotionally charged images. Some of the participants slept after viewing the images, while others stayed awake. All were shown the images a second time. Those who slept experienced a significant decrease in the intensity of their reaction to seeing the images a second time, compared to those who did not. Getting enough sleep is important for mental health. This research showed that sleep might also help ease the emotional pain of particularly difficult emotional experiences.

 

February 

Sleep suggestion: Stay at a healthy weight (a BMI below 25), and guard against diabetes, by getting enough sleep 

Research in recent years has established strong links between sleep and Type 2 diabetes. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation increases risk of developing diabetes. In 2012, scientists found a genetic connection between the sleep-hormone melatonin and diabetes risk. Researchers in this study identified a series of mutations to a gene involved in melatonin regulation that are associated with significantly elevated risk for diabetes. These mutations are rare, but identifying them could help improve diagnosis and treatment for high-risk diabetes patients. With this study, we continue to learn more about the role of melatonin, and the body’s circadian rhythms, in the onset of diabetes and other diseases. Sleep is a powerful tool for weight management, and an important part of any prevention strategy for Type 2 diabetes.  

 

March 

Sleep suggestion: Don’t ignore your child’s snoring or other signs of sleep-disordered breathing 

Children who experience sleep-disordered breathing are more likely to develop behavioral and emotional problems, according to this study. Researchers analyzed data on more than 11,000 children, using information from parent questionnaires. They found evidence of a relationship between sleep-disordered breathing and behavioral and emotional issues in children as young as 1 year. Hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, aggressiveness, and problems socializing with peers were all found more often among children with sleep-disordered breathing. Sleep-disordered breathing is actually a cluster of conditions that disrupt airflow during sleep. Snoring and mouth breathing are common signals of sleep-disordered breathing in children. If your child’s sleep appears disrupted—even mildly so—by breathing difficulties, talk with your pediatrician.   

 

April 

Sleep suggestion: Create—and maintain—a sleep-friendly bedroom 

In April we discussed the results of the National Sleep Foundation’s “bedroom poll”, which sought a comprehensive look at how Americans use, feel about, and care for their bedrooms—and of course how bedroom conditions affect sleep. The results showed that a majority of Americans feel pretty good about their bedrooms—but fewer than half said they slept well on most nights. Most people reported sleeping better when they slept on clean sheets and made their beds on most days.

The basics of good sleep hygiene include a clean bedroom, good-quality sleep equipment (mattress, pillows) and a room that’s cool and dark. The ability to make the bedroom dark at night is critical—this means shades or blinds for the windows, it also means no TV or tablet screens lighting up the room after bedtime. Put some time into making, and keeping, your bedroom comfortable and sleep friendly, and you’ll be rewarded with better and more restful sleep.

 

May 

Sleep suggestion: Curb your consumption of energy drinks 

Research increasingly shows that energy drinks may be harmful to health and to sleep. Studies such as this one found these caffeine-packed, high-sugar beverages raise blood pressure, heart rate, and are linked to anxiety and insomnia. Most of these drinks are classified and marketed as dietary supplements, which means they’re only minimally regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Don’t let the colorful, kid-friendly packaging of these drinks fool you—some energy drinks have as much as 360mg of caffeine in a single serving. That’s 2-3 times as much caffeine as an 8-ounce cup of coffee.

It’s important to be careful about over-consumption, if you choose to consume these drinks at all, or let your kids drink them. If you need a caffeine boost, a regular cup of coffee will do the trick. Just make sure not to consume caffeine of any type after 2 p.m., so as not to interfere with your sleep at bedtime.  

 

June 

Sleep suggestion: Make sleep—and sleep disorders—an ongoing part of your conversation with your doctor.  

A pair of studies presented this year linked obstructive sleep apnea to an increased risk of cancer and cancer death. Sleep apnea is also associated with a number of other serious health complications, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. These two studies are the first to establish a link between sleep apnea and cancer risk in humans. (Previous research has found this link in animals.) It’s important to note that neither of these studies established sleep apnea as a cause of either developing cancer or dying from cancer. What researchers in both studies found was a link between the presence of obstructive sleep apnea—and its severity—and the risk of developing from and dying from cancer. There will be a lot more research that explores the relationship between sleep apnea and cancer risk. For all the health risks associated with sleep apnea, it’s critically important that you talk to your doctor about your sleep, and any sleep difficulties you may have.

 

So much to talk about, and we’re only halfway through the year! Check back for the second installment of the sleep stories of 2012.

 

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD 

The Sleep Doctor™ 

www.thesleepdoctor.com

The Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan:  Lose Weight Through Better Sleep

Everything you do, you do better with a good night’s sleep™ 

twitter: @thesleepdoctor 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesleepdoctor

Sleep Better to Play Better

Here’s exactly the kind of sports story I love: a recent study revealed that additional sleep improved the performance of competitive athletes. Working with a group of collegiate basketball players, researchers at Stanford University examined the benefits of sleep on athletic performance, as well as on mood and levels of daytime sleepiness. The eleven participants in the study were members of the men’s varsity basketball team at Stanford.

The athletes spent 2-4 weeks sleeping according to their normal schedule, in order to establish a baseline for sleep. Researchers then asked the basketball players to sleep as much as they possibly could for a period totaling 5-7 weeks. The goal? To sleep for at least 10 hours per night. When the athletes weren’t able to get 10 hours of sleep overnight, they took naps during the day in an effort to reach the 10 hour mark. (Sleep monitors showed the athletes actually averaged about 8.5 hours of sleep per night during the extended sleep period.) So, how did their on-court performance fare with additional sleep?

• They ran significantly faster: In a 282-foot sprint, players shaved nearly one full second off their running time.
• Their shooting improved dramatically: Players saw their free-throw shooting and their three-point shooting improve by 9 percent.
• They felt less fatigue and less daytime sleepiness, and improved their reaction time.
• They reported an improvement in their moods and their overall physical well being during both games and practice.

Researchers reported that many of the athletes involved were chronically sleep deprived when the study began. There’s some evidence that suggests it may be possible to “repay” some of your sleep debt after being deprived of sleep, and that it may be particularly effective to bank sleep ahead of time when you anticipate getting less sleep than you need. The real goal, of course, is to avoid becoming sleep deprived to begin with, by maintaining a regular sleep schedule that provides you with sufficient sleep on a daily basis. The takeaway here is that the athletes improved their performance, and their overall sense of physical and mental well-being, when they eliminated sleep deficiencies from their routine.

This is important news for athletes at all levels in training—sleep can help make you a better, stronger, faster, more accurate competitor. What about the rest of us? You don’t have to be a world-class athlete to improve your performance in your everyday life by virtue of more sleep. In addition to the wide range of health benefits of a full night’s sleep, the amount of sleep you get has been shown to have dramatic effects on

• Your memory and cognitive function
• Your ability to focus
• Your mental health and sense of well being

These are all things that can have a significant impact on your performance at work and in your personal relationships. Take a page from this playbook, and commit to a healthy routine of sleep. You’ll set yourself up for a win!

Sweet Dreams,

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

The Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan:  Lose Weight Through Better Sleep

Everything you do, you do better with a good night’s sleep™ 
twitter: @thesleepdoctor 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesleepdoctor

Marriage Problems for Parents, Sleep Problems for Baby

Here’s some sobering, if unsurprising, news: A recent study indicates that strength of your marriage can have an effect on your baby’s sleep. Researchers studied 350 families looking for a possible link between parents’ marital problems and sleep problems in their children. They followed the families over a nine-month period, beginning when the children were 9 months old. Here’s an important note: the researchers chose to study only adoptive families, in order to rule out the possibility of a genetic link between parents’ behaviors and their young children’s sleep habits, and to focus on the stress level in the family.   What did they find?

Marital instability among couples when their children were 9 months old predicted sleep problems in children 18 months of age.  The sleep difficulties for these toddlers included both falling asleep and staying asleep.

This study reinforces just how important it is to tend to our relationships with our partners. The health of your marriage can affect your children no matter how young they are. To me, this is also a perfect example of how sleep is at the very crux of our lives, as individuals and as families. Think about it:

• Marital difficulties affect children’s sleep, even at a young age.
• Parents of young children are often sleep-deprived--this is often especially true for moms--which can directly affect the quality of their relationship.
• Moreover, studies have shown a strong correlation between sleep habits of parents and their infant children.

At every turn, sleep matters! Before you start feeling overwhelmed, keep this in mind: creating strong sleep habits—for you and for your child—is not just an important goal, it’s an achievable one. There are several simple, practical steps you can take to help your entire family get the nightly good rest they need.

As all of us who’ve been through it can attest, new parenthood is both wonderful and stressful. The demands of having a young child can put pressure on a marriage. Sleep deprivation, so common among parents of young children, can make things worse. To be sure, sleep isn’t the only issue in marital problems among parents of young children: financial pressures, work issues and grueling daily schedules are issues for many of us. But being sleep deprived can make all of these problems seem worse. Lack of sleep is also a critical factor in one’s individual health and well being, and therefore has an impact on the version of ourselves that we’re able to present to our partners.

Keep in mind these basic new-parent strategies for protecting your sleep, and your relationship.

Share the workload: Rotating feedings at night, trading off chores—when both partners are involved in family work, everyone gets a break.

Know yourselves: Pay attention to your own natural inclinations, when it comes to sleep. The night-owl of the two of you is probably better suited for the midnight feeding than the early bird.

One-on-one time: It can be tempting to put every moment of attention to your baby, especially new moms. Nurturing your marriage is important too. Find time every day to connect with your spouse.

To help your child develop strong sleep skills, start early with these basic habits:

Slow things down: As bedtime approaches, quiet the activity level in the house. Television, music, and high-octane running around can be replaced with reading and quiet play as you prepare for your child’s bedtime ritual.

Bath, bed, repeat: Create a bedtime routine that you can follow nightly. Maybe it’s bath, then PJs, followed by a book and a back rub. Your child’s routine should be quiet, soothing, and enjoyable for you both.

Set that bedtime: Once you’ve picked a bedtime for your child, stick with it. Toddlers ages 1-3 should be sleeping from 12-14 hours a night. (The National Sleep Foundation has recommendations for sleep amounts for children from infancy to adolescence.) Whatever time you pick, remember—consistency is the key.

Don’t skip the naps: Skimping on naps won’t make babies more apt to sleep. Also, it’s best to put your child when she’s sleepy, not exhausted or actually asleep. This way, she’s better able to develop self-soothing techniques that will help her fall asleep on her own.

Protecting health of your marriage, as this study indicates, is another way to help pass along good health—and strong sleep habits—to your child.

Sweet Dreams,

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

The Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan:  Lose Weight Through Better Sleep

Everything you do, you do better with a good night’s sleep™ 
twitter: @thesleepdoctor 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesleepdoctor

Does Being Sleep Deprived Make Us More Optimistic About Money?

We make hundreds, even thousands of decisions every day.  Some are easy— like what to have for breakfast, or what to wear to work —while some are much harder—like how to spend money or educate our children.  We know that without a good night’s sleep making those tough decisions is even more difficult, though everyone from business executives to politicians often makes important decisions on too little sleep.

The one place we really should try to make sure we have a good night’s sleep before we make any decisions is Las Vegas—or any casino, for that matter.  A new study suggests that beyond leading to poor decision making, sleep deprivation actually makes us more optimistic in our judgments, particularly those about money.  Researchers at Duke University studied healthy volunteers as they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and found that the less we sleep, the more likely we are to focus on potential gains and ignore potential risks.

It isn’t that we’re just too tired to make the right choice; sleep deprivation actually changes the way that our brains process information.  Lack of sleep makes us:

• more sensitive to positive outcomes,
• more likely to pay attention to the upside, and
• less aware of possible negative outcomes, making it easy to ignore the possibility of losing. 

This could be why when people stay up all night playing cards and gambling they take crazy risks that they shouldn’t and maybe wouldn’t take if they were well rested!  This could also hold true for people staying up all night on online gaming sites: the later you stay up, the more focused you become on the possibility of winning big (and less focused on the possibility of losing big).  It also explains why casinos often have flashing lights, free alcohol, and late hours—they are all designed to make you stay longer and as you become more and more sleep deprived, make bigger and riskier gambles.

Trying to make important decisions without a good night’s sleep could lead to many problems:

• Bad mood, which can lead to poorer decisions and even worse mood
• An inability to think clearly and rationally
• Abuse of caffeine
• Preference for a decision that looks like it will lead to financial gains, no matter how risky it may be

This optimism in judgment is not limited to money—the researchers in the study write that doctors and medical residents who work long hours are more likely to make mistakes, and it’s easy to see how making decisions that look positive despite the risks could be problematic for lawyers, bankers, and those in the military.  The truth is that no good decision can be made by anyone with that much sleep deprivation.

Do you consider how much sleep you’ve gotten before you make important decisions?  Having a clear and well-rested head is important for any big budgeting decision you make—and for those trips to Vegas.  Want to avoid losing it all?  Try resting up before you place your bet – or make that big decision.  Get the rest you need and make sure your optimism is real.

Sweet Dreams,

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

Everything you do, you do better with a good night’s sleep™
twitter: @thesleepdoctor
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesleepdoctor

National Sleep Awareness Week and Daylight Saving Time

It’s National Sleep Awareness Week – and while I talk about sleep all the time, it’s great to have a week focused on activity that just doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

The truth is that people aren’t nearly as aware of the importance of sleep as they should be.  In fact, the CDC recently released a report that says that more than a third of Americans get fewer than 7 hours of sleep a night.  This might not seem like such a frightening statistic, but the long-term effects of sleep deprivation include severs health risks like diabetes and heart disease.   The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7 to 10 hours of sleep a night for adults, and this report suggests that those who get less sleep are more likely to doze off during the day, even while driving—now that’s scary.

It’s hard enough to make sure we get at least 7 hours of sleep every night, but it’s even more difficult to make sure those hours are good, quality sleep.  In honor of Sleep Awareness Week, take a look at some of the questions that the CDC asked:

• During the past 30 days, for about how many days have you felt you did not get enough rest or sleep?
• During the past 30 days, for about how many days did you find yourself unintentionally falling asleep during the day?
• During the past 30 days, have you ever nodded off or fallen asleep, even just for a brief moment, while driving?

Are you surprised by your answers?  You shouldn’t be.  In the CDC report, 35% of the adults studied reported getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night!

This sleep deprived situation isn’t going to be helped by the start of daylight savings time this Sunday, on March 13^th.  The time change in the spring is always more difficult than in the fall since we spring forward and end up losing an hour of our day—and since that time change officially happens at 2 AM on Sunday morning, the hour we lose is an hour of sleep.

Since the time change coincides with National Sleep Awareness Week, here are some tips to help you be more aware of the loss of that valuable hour of sleep and better adjust to it:

• Starting about 4-5 days before the change, stick to this schedule: On Tuesday and Wednesday, get in bed 15 minutes earlier than your normal bedtime.  On Thursday and Friday, 30 minutes earlier than normal, and on Saturday night, try to get into bed 45 minutes earlier than your normal bedtime.
• Beginning on the Tuesday before the time change, stop drinking caffeine at 1:30 in the afternoon to help with the earlier bedtime.
• Avoid alcohol during the weekend of the time change.
• Keep up your exercise during the week for better sleep quality.
• Make sure you get sunlight in the morning the day of the time change to help reset your body clock.

Be aware of your bedtime routine as the clock springs forward—otherwise you might fall back asleep at the wrong time.

Sweet Dreams, 

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
Everything you do, you do better with a good night’s sleep™
www.thesleepdoctor.com 

twitter: @thesleepdoctor
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesleepdoctor

Vitamin D: Daytime Energy the Old Fashioned Way.

Once again I love it when a mystery is revealed, or at least partially explained.

I was reading a case study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine and it helped confirm a hypothesis I have had for a while about the importance of vitamins to your sleep.

 

Look a the Busy B’s: Did you know that Vitamin B can help regulate the use of tryptophan?

• B3: Has been shown to increase REM sleep, help with depression in some cases and a decrease in nighttime awakenings.
• B6:  is essential in the production of serotonin, the “calming” hormone that helps calm the body before falling asleep.
• Folic Acid: deficiency in folic acid deficient can  be found in those with insomnia
• Important Minerals: Calcium and Magnesium, taken in a 2:1 ratio, can be helpful for sleep
• Calcium: is a natural relaxant which has a calming effect on the nervous system.  500 mg daily can be helpful (soda can actually strip away calcium).
• Magnesium: is a mineral that appears to help assist chronic sleep problems as well. It should be taken 250 mg daily with 500 mg. of calcium.
• But a recent case study has shown that a patient with severe sleepiness, and a vitamin D deficiency,  vitamin D supplementation improved daytime sleepiness dramatically:
• The patient was a 28 year old female.  She was suffering for about 4 months with excessive sleepiness. Her symptoms started slowly and continued to progress.
• She kept a standard bedtime between 10 and 11 pm, and she reported falling asleep within minutes.  She would wake at 7:30 am and reported that she did not think that she was sleeping poorly. She would get her kids ready for school and then be back in bed by 8am until noon. She would then nap from 4 pm to 7 pm. She reported about 14 hours of sleep per day.
• Her sleep study showed no signs of sleep apnea or other sleep disorder. During her clinic visit she showed no signs of narcolepsy, depression or anxiety. Her next day nap study was unremarkable.
• She reported muscle fatigue and pain, as well as headaches, her labwork showed a thyroid in the low but normal range and she had low levels of vitamin D.

She was started on a Vitamin D supplementation at 50,000 units once per week (IV) and within 2 weeks she started to see a decrease in her sleepiness and fatigue.

Vitamin D is actually considered a fat soluble hormone that can be received in foods (dietary sources and fish) or is self-manufactured by the skin after exposure to UVB light. A Vitamin D deficiency has been noticed as a global issue and recently found in underserved populations, patients in northern latitudes, people with darker skin tones, the elderly, obese and pregnant or lactating women. Also very common in areas with a high degree of sunshine (this seems counter-intuitive, but think about all that sunblock!). Recent studies have linked Vitamin D deficiency to metabolic syndrome, muscle pain, and even type 2 diabetes.

 

So why do we think it helped her sleepiness? It is really hard to say, but I have seen this in some of my patients. It could be linked to a decrease in sleep disturbing pain. Or Vitamin D may be something that will help decrease a person’s drive for sleep. Only more research in this exciting new area can tell us.

 

Check with your doctor about vitamin supplementation. We all work hard, and eating right isn’t always easy - and even when we do, we may not get what we need from the food we eat. Our bodies actually make vitamin D, but we have to get enough sunlight to make that happen effectively.

 

Have you started taking vitamin D and noticed an increase in your daytime energy? What about vitamin B? Share your stories – would love to hear your experiences with keeping healthy and getting better sleep.

 

Sweet Dreams,

 

Michael J. Breus, PhD

The Sleep Doctor™

Everything you do, you do better with a good night’s sleep.™

www.thesleepdoctor.com

twitter @thesleepdoctor

Facebook: The Sleep Doctor

Is your New Year’s Resolution to look better? Beauty Sleep: Need I say More?

I have talked about this before and now there is new research to keep the discussion going; both better quantity and quality sleep is an attractive feature, in everyone. A new study from researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the prestigious British Medical Journal showed that when given a choice, people thought individuals with more sleep looked attractive!

Researchers took pictures of 23 people on two separate occasions, the first time when they were sleep deprived (after being awake for 31 hours), and the second time after 8 hours of sleep. The pictures were taken under these conditions:

• The participants were non-smokers
• The participants had not had an alcoholic beverage in 3 days
• Taken at the same time of day
• With no make-up and similar hygiene measures
• With similar hair styles (lose or pulled back if long)
• At the same camera lens distance
• In the same well lit room
• And they were asked to have a neutral facial expression

Sixty-five “observers” were blinded to the condition (meaning that they did not know which occasion they were rating (sleep deprived vs. well rested) and asked to rate people on perceived health, attractiveness, and tiredness. And what do you think the results showed? People who were sleep deprived were rated as:

1. Less Healthy looking
2. More tired looking
3. Less Attractive

Not surprisingly a decreased rating of looking healthy appeared to be associated with ratings of tiredness and less attractiveness.

What can you do to make this New Year one of Sleep and Health?

• Make sure you are getting your needed rest-in most cases this is between 7-9 hours
• If you think that you may have a sleep disorder that could be causing poor quality sleep, make a point of speaking to your doctor about seeing a sleep specialist
• Try some sure-fire ways of increasing sleep quality:
  
  • Go decaf by 2:30pm
  • Exercise daily-with doctor’s permission
• Consider creating a tranquil sleep environment
  
  • Could it be time for a new pillow or mattress?
• When creating those holidays cards choose pictures of a well rested family
• If creating a new online profile (dating or otherwise) chose those pictures wisely

We all want to look and feel our best in 2011 and all the years to come, and remember healthy sleep is a great way to help make that happen.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD

The Sleep Doctor™

www.thesleepdoctor.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesleepdoctor

Twitter: @thesleepdoctor

Are You G-Free and Sleep-Free?

Being gluten sensitive or intolerant has gained a lot of attention in recent years, no doubt spurred by celebs like The View’s Elisabeth Hasselbeck who has written a book about living a “G-free” life. Also called celiac disease, this condition is caused by an allergic reaction within the inner lining of the small intestine to proteins (gluten) that are present in wheat, rye, barley and, to a lesser extent, in oats. The body’s immune response causes inflammation that destroys the lining of the small intestine, which then reduces the absorption of dietary nutrients and can lead to uncomfortable symptoms and signs of nutritional, vitamin, and mineral deficiencies.

You wouldn’t think being sensitive to gluten would have any effect on sleep, but there is in fact a strong connection. A team of researchers recently found that people with this condition—even those following a gluten-free diet —  commonly suffer from sleep disorders that are related to depression, anxiety, and fatigue. It is, to put it mildly, a vicious cycle:

• When you’re tired and down, you’re not likely to sleep well, which can then play into digestive issues.
• Add to that a sensitivity to an ingredient as ubiquitous as gluten and there’s bound to be trouble.
• The reverse holds true as well: when your eating life is challenged by celiac, you run a higher risk of having physical ailments that hinder restful sleep.

Since anxiety and depression both occur at higher rates in people with celiac disease than in the general population, the researchers were curious to see how celiac disease might affect quality of sleep. In addition to finding that sleep disorders commonly affect people with celiac disease, regardless of gluten-free status, they also found that sleep disorders are less common in celiacs who score higher on quality of life scales, while those with low quality of life scores suffer at higher rates.

This may seem an expected likely observation, but it further proves the complex challenges people face when their health is not 100 percent or they suffer from a condition that can lower their quality of life. Just about any disease or illness can cut sleep short and increase one’s risk for consequences linked to sleep deprivation. Fatigue, depression, and anxiety are really just common denominators to myriad other conditions; in other words, they happen as a side-effect to enduring or living with other health problems.

Here’s some help:  if you or someone you love has celiac disease, be prepared to address sleep issues, and do everything possible to ensure a good night's rest. That means:

• Avoiding digestive irritants, especially if you’re sensitive to gluten.
• Keeping a regular bedtime routine.
• Watching your consumption of stimulants, from caffeine to CSI at night.
• Managing stress better in your life and being mindful of your mood.
• Getting the sleep your body deserves.

For celiacs, living a G-free life doesn’t mean you have to be sleep-free too. The more restful sleep you achieve, the easier it will be to manage your condition and enjoy a vibrant, well-rested life.

 

Sweet Dreams,

 

Michael J. Breus, PhD

The Sleep Doctor™

www.thesleepdoctor.com

The Heart of the Sleep Matter

I know I’m not the first to tell you about the benefits of exercise. I also know I’m not the first to tell you that exercise can do a body good from both an emotional and physical standpoint.

But I might be the first to tell you that exercise, and specifically the aerobic kind that gets your heart rate up for an extended period of time, can improve your sleep. If you’re in insomniac, listen up: a new study from Northwestern Medicine that will be published in the journal Sleep Medicine soon showed serious promise to the dramatic effects of exercise on people diagnosed with insomnia. 

Millions of Americans suffer from symptoms of chronic insomnia, including difficulty falling sleep and/or staying asleep, and impaired daytime functioning. Insomnia also tends to strike more severely during middle age in and older adults. Women have the highest prevalence of insomnia. Many of these people resort to perscription drugs and sleep aids to help achieve a better night’s sleep. But drugs are not always a solution over the long term, and there’s no substitute for exercise, which has benefits that go far beyond restful sleep.

The highlights from the study:

• Twenty-three sedentary adults, primarily women, 55 and older with insomnia were grouped into two: one that would commence an exercise program and another that would engage in less physically demanding activities. Both groups received education about good sleep hygiene, which includes sleeping in a cool, dark and quiet room, going to bed the same time every night, and not staying in bed too long if you can't fall asleep.
• The aerobic physical activity group exercised for two 20-minute sessions four times per week, or one 30-to-40-minute session four times per week, both for a total of 16 weeks. Participants worked at 75 percent of their maximum heart rate on at least two activities including walking or using a stationary bicycle or treadmill.
• Participants in the non-physical activity group participated in recreational or educational activities, such as a cooking class or a museum lecture, which met for about 45 minutes three to five times per week for 16 weeks.

The results: The people in the exercise group fared far better than the non-exercise group when it came to their sleep. Exercise not only improved their sleep quality—elevating them from being a “poor sleeper” to a “good sleeper” but they also reported feeling better. Their moods improved, and had more vitality and less daytime sleepiness.

I’ve long been an advocate for getting plenty of physical activity into your life to promote restful sleep. This study may have been among the first to examine the benefits of maintaining an aerobic regimen among insomniac women, but it certainly wasn’t the first to discover the profound role exercise has on supporting high-quality sleep.

Not everyone experiences the same sleep benefits to exercise, but people who suffer from insomnia aren’t usually the athletes and highly active individuals. (The only instance I’ve seen is where athletes over-train and for some reason have a hard time turning their mind off at night, or they are so used to exercising that on their “off days” their body craves that exercise to help with sleep.) To the contrary, most people who complain of sleep problems lead sedentary lives and don’t practice a regular exercise routine.

Aerobic exercise has shown to aid in sleep primarily by doing two things: 1) helping you fall asleep quicker; and 2) plunging you into deep (or delta) sleep for a longer period of time, which is where you need to be to feel refreshed and restored the next day. Other studies on people who participate in aerobic activities show that they have a tendency to secrete more growth hormone at night, which aids in repairing and rejuvenating the body.  And let’s not forget the stress component to exercise: getting active tends to help us lower our stress levels, which allows up to calm down enough to welcome sleep!

One of the current reasoning behind exercise’s effects on sleep centers of the brain is the thermogenic hypothesis, which states that exercise promotes sleep by heating the body or brain. When you work out (it has to be an aerobic workout for at least 20 to 30 minutes), your body’s core temperature rises a couple of degrees (about 2 ⁰F) and stays that way for about 4 to 5 hours. When it cools back down, your core temperature will decrease to a point lower than had you not worked out at all. And it’s this drop in body temperature that is theorized to promote falling asleep and gaining the deep, sound sleep your body needs.

Exercise your body to rest your body. It’s as simple as that

 

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD

The Sleep Doctor™

www.thesleepdoctor.com