Archive for the 'Sleep Deprivation' Category
Not getting enough sleep makes people tired and cranky.
Your energy becomes low when you have less sleep.
Your brain thinks that the body requires more food to fill your energy.
Less sleep boosts your appetite and you tend to eat more. You crave on high energy foods like ice cream, cakes and sugar based drinks.
Your body’s ability to process glucose efficiently can be lessened by the effects of sleep deprivation leading to an increased tendency to put on weight.
It can also lead to an increased risk of diabetes. A higher level of stress hormone cortisol is produced by sleep loss. Lack of sleep also lowers the metabolic rate which leads to burning fewer amounts of calories.
Signs of sleep deprivation are both physical and mental. It can affect your concentration, coordination, and cognitive ability while making you depressed, moody and anxious.
You have to increase your metabolic rate by exercising every day. If you feel tired, how can you exercise? So, if you want to lose weight, getting a fair amount of sleep is important.
Some people try to compensate the loss of sleep by getting extra sleep on the weekends. This even makes the situation worse and can lead to sleep deprivation.
Gambling is a risky activity that can potentially result in the loss of a significant amount of money. Sleep deprivation can adversely affect a person’s decision-making at a gambling table by elevating the expectation of gains and making light of one’s losses following risky decisions.
To understand the neural underpinnings of risky decision making under conditions of sleep deprivation, Vinod Venkatraman and colleagues of Duke University studied healthy volunteers as they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the use of MRI to measure the haemodynamic response related to neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans.
The authors found that the nucleus accumbens, an area in the brain involved with the anticipation of reward becomes selectively more active when high risk-high payoff choices were made under conditions of sleep deprivation.
Further, the number of high risk decisions did not increase with sleep deprivation, but the expectation of being rewarded for making the high risk gamble was elevated.
Allied to this finding was the observation that there was an attenuated response to losses in the insula, a part of the brain involved with evaluating the emotional significance of an event.
May 1st kicks off Older Americans Month. This year’s theme is, "Older Americans: Making Choices for a Healthier Future." As people get older, several aspects of their lives change, including their sleep patterns.
While older adults need about seven to eight hours of sleep each night to maintain good health and optimum performance, many elders often get less sleep, mainly because they experience problems sleeping.
While sleep patterns change as people age, disturbed sleep and waking up tired every day are not part of normal aging.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) advises those who struggle with getting the sleep they need each night to see a sleep specialist.
Many adults often have more trouble falling asleep than persons in other age groups. A study of adults over the age of 65 found that 13 percent of men and 36 percent of women take more than 30 minutes to fall asleep.
Ralph Downey III, PhD, of the Sleep Disorders Center at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, Calif., says it is normal for our body clocks to change as we get older.
Older Americans are convinced that a good night’s sleep is necessary to maintaining their health. A survey by the Gallup Poll found that seventy-two percent of seniors have discussed poor sleep with their doctors.
The study also found no clear consensus on the safety of sleep medications such as Ambien and Lunesta - also known as hypnotics.
In another study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) titled “The Treatment of Sleep Disorders of Older People”, NIH estimates that disturbances of sleep affect more than half of people aged 65 and older.
They advise hypnotic medications should not be the mainstay treatment of insomnia as “they are overused and have habit forming potential”. Some of their recommendations include exercise, avoidance of alcohol and caffeine, and reduced fluid intake in the evening.
One important cause of sleep problems in older people is lack of nutrients and minerals. Lack of nutrients and magnesium disturbs your sleep.
Magnesium, calcium and other nutrients have health advantages which includes calmer nervous system, strong immune system and improved digestion.
According to the study published in the March 1st issue of the journal SLEEP, sleep deprivation impairs the ability to integrate emotion and cognition to guide moral judgements.
The study was conducted by William D.S. Killgore, PhD, and the colleagues at the Walter Reed Army Institute of research.
It was focused on 26 healthy adults who made judgements about the appropriateness of various courses of action in response to three types of moral dilemmas on two separate occasions: at rested baseline and again following 53 hours of continuous wakefulness.
Compared to baseline, sleep deprivation resulted in significantly longer response latencies for moral personal dilemmas.
According to the findings, continuous wakefulness has a debilitating effect on judgment and decision making processes that depend up on the integration of emotion with cognition.
The studies results provide that sleep loss is particularly disruptive to the ventromedial prefrontal regions of the brain, which are important for the integration of affect any cognition in the service of judgment and decision making.
Different ways to make your baby sleep:
- Decide where baby sleeps best: Decide where you baby sleep comfortably. Some babies sleep best in their own crib in their own room, some sleep better in their crib in the parents’ bedroom, other babies sleep best right next to their mother in the parents’ bed. There is no right or wrong place for babies to sleep. Parents should use various sleeping arrangements at various stages during the infant’s first two years. Be open to altering styles as baby’s developmental needs and your family situation changes.
- Set consistent nap routines for baby sleep: choose out the times of the day that you are most exhausted, for example 12:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Lie down with your baby at these times every day for about a week to get your baby used to a daytime nap schedule. Babies who have constant nap routines during the day are more likely to sleep longer stretches at night. [Baby Sleep Problems]
- Soothing down: Give baby a warm bath followed by a soothing massage to relax tense muscles and busy minds. Be cautious, because this will stimulate some babies.
You know that sleep loss is not a just a nighttime problem.
Its effect can extend far into the daytime functioning.
You cannot substitute anything for a good night’s sleep.
Sleep loss causes depression:
In college students, depression is two times more common than in the general population, affecting approximately 20% of students.
Researchers believe that sleep loss contributes to high rate of depression in college students.
Attending college increases the incidence of both sleep problems and depression. Lack of sleep for more than two weeks is a risk factor for developing depression. Some people have sleep loss due to the work submission before the deadline. [Depression Management]
For many students, it’s an indication of achievement to function on minimal sleep, but lack of sleep carries risks. Sleep less than 6.5 hours per night is related with 1.7 times greater risk of disease and death.
Sleep loss causes:
- Automobile accidents (exhaustion is the leading cause)
- Illness such as colds and flu
- Mental illnesses
- Decreased academic performance
Sleep loss alters hormones and metabolism:
Sleep loss can decrease the capacity of even young men and women to perform metabolic functions, such as processing and storing carbohydrates or regulating hormone secretion.
Are you getting sufficient sleep at night? No body exactly knows exactly how much sleep is required it varies from individual to individual.
The matter of consideration here is the way you feel, when you wake up in the morning.
Do you feel refreshed when wake up in the morning? Do you feel energetic? Are you able to concentrate on your everyday task?
If it is the case then you may have no problem sleeping at all. However, you may be having trouble either falling asleep or staying asleep if you identify with the following statements:
- Waking up feeling tired.
- Feeling drowsy and always needing a nap.
- Cannot fully concentrate.
- Lacking energy throughout the day.
- Nodding off while driving or eating.
- Experiencing memory loss.
Sleep Clinic
Talk to your health care provider if you feel you need help. Your healthcare provider may refer you to a sleep clinic. Sleep clinic is a place where your sleep patterns will be monitored.
This is the most correct way to ascertain the type and quality of your sleep. It can also quantify how much sleep you are getting.
Recent Posts
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- Therapeutic "Snore Ring" For Sleep-Deprived Snorers
- How Snoozing Makes You Smarter?
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