Archive for October, 2007

Snoring has long been the nuisance for married couples. A German scientist, Daryoush Bazargani, has come up with a solution for snoring. He, a computer science professor at the Rostock University, Germany, presented a computerized pillow that can stop you from snoring.

This computerized pillow is supposed to prevent or reduce snoring in the person by shifting the sleeping position of the head until the snoring sound stops. The pillow is connected to a computer, which is of the size of book and analyses noises of snoring.

The pillow consists of five air compartments and these compartments are connected to computer. As the computer is of book size, it can easily be fitted on a night stand. The snoring noises of the person when sleeping on the pillow are captured through a microphone and analyzed by the computer.

When snoring noises are detected by the computer, the air compartments in the pillow constrict or enlarge to shift the sleeping position of the person. The person will not wake up, as the movements will be very small.

Modafinil is a drug that improves wakefulness in people with excessive sleepiness. It promotes wakefulness in people who have excessive sleepiness related to narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, obstructive sleep apnea and hypopnea syndrome.

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder of the brain and spinal cord characterized by recurrent and uncontrollable desire to sleep. Shift work sleep disorder occurs when the normal rhythm of the sleep gets disturbed due to night shifts.

Modafinil for narcolepsy:

Modafinil is the non-addicting drug for narcolepsy sufferers, which offers safe and efficient relief from excessive sleepiness. Patients with narcolepsy stay awake longer after taking this drug. Patients also reported that they felt less sleepy during normal daily activities.

SAD (seasonal affective disorder) is a disorder that occurs to changing seasons with changing moods and behavior. People sleep less in winter and dislike the dark mornings and short days. In some people, the symptoms may be severe enough to disrupt their lives.

The main problem of SAD is lack of bright light in winter. People who live or work in basements or poorly lighted environments are the main persons to be affected.

Effects of seasonal affective disorder:

• People with SAD oversleep, but not refreshed, not able to get out of bed and need an afternoon nap.
• They have cravings on carbohydrates, which leads to weight gain.
• They become too lethargic and tired to cope.

Tossing and turning with pain? You may be one who suffers from restless leg syndrome (RLS) or arthritis.

In many cases, you may suffer from both the problems and not even know about it.

People suffering from arthritis do not recognize the symptoms of RLS and treat it because they relate the symptoms of RLS with the arthritis condition.

The main causes of RLS are delivery of insufficient calcium to the cells, diminishing bones and joints, which is common in arthritis, stenosis and osteoporosis and delivery of insufficient oxygen to the cells. Therefore, you can see that the causes of RLS are related to arthritis and osteoporosis.

People suffering from RLS have an abnormal, uncomfortable sensation in the legs and feel an irresistible urge to move the legs to calm these feelings. The symptoms worsen at night resulting in lack of sleep.

People suffering with arthritis have painful swelling, inflammation and stiffness in arms, wrists and legs occurring in the same joints on both sides of the body. Joint inflammation, fever, tenderness, and sharp pain also indicate infectious arthritis.

Shift work sleep disorder occurs due to a work schedule that takes place during normal sleeping period.

This work schedule makes you to work in the sleeping period when your body actually wants to sleep.

When your body is expected to be awake, you have to try to sleep. There are many health risks associated with shift workers.

Shift work and increased risk of cardiovascular disease:

According to a recent study, shift work is associated with specific heart problems. People who work in a mix of day and night shifts are at increased risk of heart disease than others.

Shift work affects your body’s circadian rhythm and functions of the body such as hormone secretion, blood pressure and heart rate.

People who work in rotating shifts have the increased risk of heart disease due to the factors such as obesity, high blood pressure [High Blood Pressure in Children], cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption.

Sixty percent people who are working in rotating shifts have diseases related to heart and blood vessels and they are twice likely to die from heart attacks.

Getting too little sleep or poor quality sleep leads to have worse blood sugar control. Whether sleep deprivation makes diabetes worse or diabetes interferes with sleep, diabetes patients should get enough sleep.

Diabetes linked to sleep problems and vice-versa:

People with diabetes have problems in controlling their blood sugar levels if they get insufficient sleep. Mostly, in type 2 diabetes the sleep problems are common.

ype 2 diabetes is characterized by poor blood sugar control that does not result from low levels of insulin, but results from lack of sensitivity of cells to receive glucose.

Some prescription sleeping pills have serious and side effects. Among the main side effects, sleepwalking is the common one.

According to food and drug administration (FDA), zopiclone is a sleep inducing drug that causes sleepwalking behaviors.

FDA also reported that by taking sleeping pill called ambien also causes the sleepwalking behavior.

There were numerous reports from the users of the pills ambien.

The side effects include sleepwalking, hallucinations, violent outbursts and violent driving.

People reported that after taking sleeping pills, they woke up in their pajamas in the middle of the road. While taking sleep inducing drugs, people fell several times, fracturing their wrists, breaking the ribs, and cracking the pelvis.

Working of Ambien medication:

Ambien makes you to fall asleep. Do not take this medication during normal waking hours and if you have seven to eight hours sleep. People after using this medicine do not remember the activities such as eating, driving, and making phone calls.

As this pill makes you to fall asleep within few minutes, take it only when you are ready to sleep. If you are facing this type of symptoms, stop taking ambien medication and talk to doctor about another treatment for your sleep disorder.

DRI Sleeper® Excel Bedwetting Alarm with Urosensor™

DRI Sleeper Excel Bedwetting Alarm with Urosensor is the device for beating bed wetting.

First, the alarm should be attached on the shoulder of pajamas.

Urosensor should be placed in the underwear. Lead should be run inside the pajamas up to the shoulders.

Urosensor lead should be plugged into the DRI Sleeper alarm unit.

For best results, urosensor should be placed inside the underpants where the urine hits. The urosensor is soft and flexible with no hard plastic clips. No metals contacts are present on the sensor. It can be easily cleaned and dried for instant use.

For price details and specifications, visit:

http://www.fitzz.com

Nytone Bedwetting wrist alarm

Nytone Bedwetting Wrist Alarm is worn on the wrist, which contains moisture detecting fasteners.

Moisture detecting fasteners are attached to the child’s underwear.

One to two drops of moisture can set off the alarm before the bed completely becomes wet.

Nytone Bedwetting Alarm control unit is attached to the wrist with a wire going up the sleeve and down to the front of the shorts. When your child starts to wet the bed, the moisture is detected and the alarm starts to sound. The alarm can be stopped by releasing the fasteners.