National Sleep Foundation

RECOMMENDED HOURS OF SLEEP ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL SLEEP FOUNDATION

Posted by

0


Image result for recommended sleep

As you probably already know, rest and sleep are crucial for the overall health and development and in order to maintain the energy and mental clarity throughout the whole day, you need to know how much sleep you need, that is, how many hours per day you should sleep.

For that purpose, Charles Czeisler, a Harvard professor, together with other experts, conducted a research to determine the amount of sleep a person needs according to their age. There were several studies done between the period of 2004 and 2014. The end results helped create the following list:

Newborn babies from 0 to 3 months need 14 to 17 hours

Babies from 4 to 11 months need 12 to 15 hours

Children from 1 to 2 years need 11 to 14 hours

Preschoolers from 3 to 5 years need 10 to 13 hours

Primary and secondary school children from 6 to 13 years need 9 to 11 hours

Teens from 14 to 17 years need 8 to10 hours

 Youth from 18 to 25 years need 7 t o 9 hours

Adults from 26 to 64 years need 7 to 9 hours

Seniors over the age of 65 need 7 to 8 hours

It’s important to note that these hourly rates are approximate and that the amount of needed rest depends on the person in question. However, if the sleeping hours are too low, this could cause serious health problems. Namely, when a person is deprived of sleep and rest, they won’t only be physically tired, but they will also have a problem focusing, making decisions, thinking clearly, and their appetite will lower.

Unfortunately, when a person sleeps less than 5 hours per night they’re at a higher risk of cardiovascular problems, whereas less than 7 hours can lead to weight gain, obesity, and diabetes. The contributing factors to lack of sleep can be stress and technology.

That is, stress is known to release too much cortisol, known as the stress hormone, and when its levels are too high, it causes sleeplessness. Additionally, when we use gadgets like tablets and smartphones prior to sleep, the light which they emit prevents the brain from releasing enough melatonin which controls the sleep and wake cycles.

What Happens to Your Body When You Don’t Get Enough Sleep

Posted by

0


If you eat well and exercise regularly but don’t get at least seven hours of sleep every night, you may undermine all your other efforts.

Sleep disorders expert Harneet Walia, MD, says it’s important to focus on getting enough sleep, something many of us lack. “First and foremost, we need to make sleep a priority,” she says. “We always recommend a good diet and exercise to everyone. Along the same lines, we need to focus on sleep as well.”

What Happens to Your Body When You Don't Get Enough Sleep

How much sleep do you actually need?

Everyone feels better after a good night’s rest.  But now, thanks to a report from the National Sleep Foundation, you can aim for a targeted sleep number tailored to your age.

The foundation based its report on two years of research. Published in a recent issue of the foundation’s journal Sleep Health, the report updates previous sleep recommendations. It breaks them into nine age-specific categories with a range for each, which allows for individual differences:

  • Older adults, 65+ years: 7-8 hours
  • Adults, 26-64 years: 7-9 hours
  • Young adults, 18-25 years: 7-9 hours
  • Teenagers, 14-17 years: 8-10 hours
  • School-age children, 6-13 years: 9-11 hours
  • Preschool children, 3-5 years: 10-13 hours
  • Toddlers, 1-2 years: 11-14 hours
  • Infants, 4-11 months: 12-15 hours
  • Newborns, 0-3 months: 14-17 hours

Dr. Walia says there’s evidence that genetic, behavioral and environmental factors help determine how much sleep an individual needs for the best health and daily performance.

But a minimum of seven hours of sleep is a step in the right direction to improve your health, she says.

What happens when you don’t get enough sleep?

Your doctor urges you to get enough sleep for good reason, Dr. Walia says.  Shorting yourself on shut-eye has a negative impact on your health in many ways:

Short-term problems can include:

  • Lack of alertness: Even missing as little as 1.5 hours can have an impact, research shows.
  • Impaired memory: Lack of sleep can affect your ability to think and to remember and process information.
  • Relationship stress: It can make you feel moody, and you can become more likely to have conflicts with others.
  • Quality of life: You may become less likely to participate in normal daily activities or to exercise.
  • Greater likelihood for car accidents: Drowsy driving accounts for thousands of crashes, injuries and fatalities each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

If you continue to operate without enough sleep, you may see more long-term and serious health problems. Some of the most serious potential problems associated with chronic sleep deprivation are high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, heart failure or stroke. Other potential problems include obesity, depression and lower sex drive.

Chronic sleep deprivation can even affect your appearance.  Over time, it can lead to premature wrinkling and dark circles under the eyes. Also, research links a lack of sleep to an increase of the stress hormone cortisol in the body. Cortisol can break down collagen, the protein that keeps skin smooth.

Make time for downtime

“In our society, nowadays, people aren’t getting enough sleep. They put sleep so far down on their priority list because there are so many other things to do – family, personal and work life,” Dr. Walia says. “These are challenges, but if people understand how important adequate sleep is, it makes a huge difference.”

How To Stop Snoring With Your Diet: 6 Foods To Help You Snore No More

Posted by

1


Cup of tea, honey, wax and pollen granule

We all snore on occasion, but for some of us it happens frequently, leading to late-night jabs, pillows over the ears, and a poor night’s sleep. Whether you’re the snorer or the bed partner of a snorer, it’s a nuisance that not only disrupts the quantity and quality of sleep, but can also cause daytime fatigue, irritability, and increased health problems. Rather than sleep in separate rooms from your bed partner, make these changes to your diet to snooze without snoring.

In the U.S., noisy breathing during sleep is a common problem among people of all ages and genders, affecting approximately 90 million American adults and 37 million on a regular basis, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Snoring occurs when the muscles of the throat relax, the tongue falls backward, and the throat becomes narrow and floppy. This causes the walls of the throat to vibrate, specifically when you breathe in and occasionally when you breathe out, which is what produces the snoring sound.

Snoring can be triggered by several factors, including diet. A diet that lowers or restricts foods high in prostaglandin 2 (Pg 2) — lipid compounds that can create swelling or enlargement of the tissues in the throat and sinuses — can potentially decrease the incidence of both sleep apnea and snoring. Kevin Meehan, a holistic practitioner and founder of Meehan Formulations in Jackson, Wyo., believes “any process which increases the obstruction or reduction in the space of the air passageway will usually initiate the vibration of the respiratory structures, resulting in snoring. … Keeping the obstruction of the throat and nasal passageways down is imperative,” he told Medical Daily in an email.

7 Ways To Stop Your Snoring

Posted by

0


Before you resort to sleeping in separate beds, try these at-home remedies for snoring. 

7 Ways To Stop Your Snoring

Forget about the monster under your bed. If you have a partner who snores, you’re dealing with a monster in your bed — and it’s often a near-nightly showdown. In a new National Sleep Foundation survey, 40 percent of Americans admitted to snoring a few nights per week (or more).

And the ones who are suffering aren’t usually the folks sawing logs. “The most common side effect of snoring is waking up other people, whether in the same bed or the next bedroom, depending on how loud it is,” says Eric Kezirian, MD, a professor of otolaryngology at the University of Southern California, who specializes in the treatment of snoring.

In fact, people with a snoring significant other tend to lose an hour of sleep per night, according to Craig Schwimmer, MD, founder of The Snoring Center. Perhaps as a result, “couples in snoring relationships report lower marital satisfaction scores, they have less sex, and they often resort to sleeping apart,” he tells Yahoo Health.

That’s why snoring is considered a social issue more so than a medical one, although in some cases, it does indicate a more serious problem: obstructive sleep apnea. “When we go to sleep at night, the muscles in the throat relax, and as we breathe in and out, this relaxed tissue tends to vibrate,” explains Schwimmer. If that tissue simply vibrates — and nothing more — you’ll probably just bother your bedmate. But if that tissue closes as it vibrates, blocking your airway, you may have obstructive sleep apnea. “Snoring and sleep apnea are really just different points on a continuum,” says Schwimmer.

Obstructive sleep apnea, of course, requires serious medical intervention. But simple snoring can often be treated with these at-home remedies:

Adjust your position

If you’re a chronic snorer, back isn’t best. “Most people snore more on the back than they do on the side, and more on the side than they do on the stomach,” says Schwimmer. It can be tough to switch your preferred sleeping position, so sleep doctors often suggest this trick to encourage people to stay on their side: Sew a pocket on the back of a T-shirt between the shoulder blades, and slip two tennis balls inside.

“When people sleep on their side, their shoulder can get sore. So they roll on their back,” says Kezirian. “The tennis balls aren’t very comfortable, so they end up rolling to their other side.”

Not extreme enough? Try the Night Shift Sleep Positioner, a device you wear around your neck that vibrates when you roll onto your back, increasing in intensity until you shift to your side. “I wore it one night, and it drove me crazy,” says W. Christopher Winter, MD, director of Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine. “But it worked. After a few days of that, you would not be sleeping on your back.”

Play with pillows

For some people, the tennis ball trick works — but only because it keeps them up all night. If you simply can’t sleep with sports equipment attached to your PJs, try resting a body pillow between your legs, which helps align your spine and makes side sleeping more comfortable. Or wedge a C-shaped pregnancy pillow behind your back, suggests Winter.

If you still can’t adjust to lying on your side, lie on your back, but prop up your head and shoulders. “You want to make a little incline — a wedge — with a couple pillows,” says Kezirian. “It’s not just lifting up your head.” Try placing one underneath your shoulders to elevate your chest, then another two under your head. That may help keep the back of your throat open.

Avoid alcohol before bed

It’s not just your inhibitions that loosen up when you’re drinking. “Alcohol preferentially relaxes the muscles in the throat, so everybody’s snoring is worse after a couple drinks,” says Schwimmer. Plus, since you’re more sedated after drinking, your snoring is less likely to stir you awake, leaving your bedmate to suffer longer. “Most wives will tell you, ‘When Walter goes out drinking with his buddies, he’s going to snore like crazy. I don’t even sleep in the bed with him that night,’” says Winter. The simple fix: Stop your imbibing within four hours of bedtime.

Open your nose

Sometimes, snoring isn’t due to flapping muscles in your throat — it may simply be a problem of clogged or narrow nasal passages. If they’re consistently congested, a saltwater nasal spray may be the only fix you need. “When you brush your teeth in the morning and at night, put a spray or two in either side of your nose,” says Kezirian. Not only will that keep your nostrils clear, it will also maintain the moisture in your nose, preventing the dryness and irritation that can promote snoring.

Another way to keep your nasal passages open: Breathe Right strips. “If your airway is collapsing in the back of your throat, putting a sticker across your nose is not really going to help,” says Winter. But if narrow nasal passages are the problem (or if they’re chronically clogged due to allergies), the sticky strips could make a big difference.

Try this test to see if these strips might be the right remedy for you: While looking into a mirror, inhale deeply through your nose, and see if the sides of your nose collapse. If your nostrils cave in, you probably have narrow nasal passages, so the strips could do the trick, says Kezirian.

Control your acid reflux

What’s happening in your esophagus may not seem relevant to the noises you make at night, but acid reflux can actually play a major role in snoring. When stomach acid coats your throat, it creates inflammation, says Schwimmer. “The tissue is swollen, so that narrows the airway,” he says. “Swollen tissue is more vibratory.” To tame your reflux, stop eating two to three hours before bedtime, and if that doesn’t work, try taking Tums or Rolaids before bed.

Be a mouth breather

People who snore often sound like a choo-choo train while they snooze. “They’re puffing up their cheeks, and exhaling against a closed mouth,” which can lead to snoring, says Winter. ProVent stickers turn your nostrils into a one-way valve, allowing you to breath in, but not out, through your nose. “That creates extra pressure in the back of your airway and holds it open,” he explains. In other words, the stickers force you to exhale through your mouth. “They’re really for sleep apnea, but I have patients who say that they help with their snoring,” says Winter.

Belt it out

Here’s motivation to turn your morning commute into a concert: In a 2013 British study, people who did singing exercises — a series of simple, repetitive noises put to music — for 20 minutes a day showed a significant reduction in snoring after three months. But you don’t necessarily have to do the specific exercises in the study — just belting it out may have a benefit. “There are a lot of muscles in your upper airway that don’t get used a tremendous amount,” says Winter. By singing, you may strengthen and tone those muscles, which could potentially reduce your snoring, he says.