health care information

Every year, come September, the European Sleep Research Society holds its annual conference. It attracts experts from around the world, all of whom want to catch up with the latest research into one of the least well understood things we all do. Despite the best efforts of top brains in the scientific world, we still do not know why we sleep nor what processes take place during sleep to benefit us. There are many theories about the need to dream as a form of memory processing, of sleep as a means of topping up the immune system to keep us safe from diseases, and so on. But there is only one thing everyone can agree on. Disrupt sleep and we all walk around like zombies. Keep up the disruption and the function of both mind and body starts to break down. Yet even at this point, there can be disagreement.

Some people enjoy untroubled and successful lives on four or five hours of sleep every night. Others seem to need not less than nine hours a night to remain functional. In part, the ability to adapt to less sleep seems to be partly genetic and partly learned. In some, the need for sleep reduces as they age. The conclusion is clear. There is no right or wrong length of time to sleep. As you grow up and develop habit patterns, you will settle on a routine that works for you and your lifestyle. You should ignore advice setting precise sleep targets, e.g. everyone needs an average of eight hours a night. If you are fit and well, you are sleeping enough.

If you are not fit and well, and the cause is disruption to your usual sleep patterns, then action should be taken. But before you reach for the sleeping pills, take a moment to think. What is disrupting your sleep? If your sleeping environment has changed so there is more light or noise, you should buy heavier curtains to keep out the light and soundproof the room. If you are uncomfortable because of changes in temperature, change the bedding and do something about heating or the air-conditioning. These simple steps may restore sleep without you having to do anything else. But if the causes are physical, e.g. you have developed a disease or disorder causing pain and this keeps you awake, you should investigate treatment for that problem and take painkillers rather than rely on sleeping pills. Similarly, if you are stressed and depressed, treatment to relieve the stress and reduce the depression should be the first step.

None of this removes the need for a drug like ambien. It is the market leader for a good reason. It is a highly effective and safe treatment for insomnia. But it is not a drug you should take over the long term. If at all possible, you should try to recapture the old habits of sleep without becoming dependent on pills. The best modern research confirms cognitive behavioral therapy achieves the best outcomes, but health plans often do not pay for it and it can be too expensive for private sessions. So, to recover balance in your life, buy ambien and use it for a short period, changing your sleeping arrangements to maximise the chances of sleep the natural way.

On the average, we all spend about one-third of our lives asleep. But most of us probably spend most of the day wishing that we were asleep. That’s because studies show that only 11% of all Americans get quality sleep every night, and all the rest are sleep-deprived.

Too often, we sacrifice our sleeping hours due to hectic work schedules, active social lives or heavy course loads at school. Although we stay up late thinking that we can be more productive that way, the sleep deprivation actually creates negative effects on our mental, psychological and physical state.

Mental Effects

Have you ever tried working on a particularly mentally challenging problem after a late night? You’ll probably notice that you have difficulty concentrating on the problem at hand. In fact, studies show that students who are sleep-deprived have trouble keeping at a single task for 30 minutes straight.

In addition, sleep deprivation hinders our ability to memorize information. That’s why staying up too late to study for an exam can do little good if the student cannot remember the hastily memorized facts during the test.

Psychological Effects

Another effect of not getting enough sleep is experiencing mood swings. Going without sleep leaves some people irritable and easily provoked. Some people, on the other hand, experience a kind of hypomanic euphoria, an unexplained happiness that can last for hours. This could lead to silly behavior like giggling uncontrollably in public.

Studies also show that sleep deprivation causes a person’s motivation level to decrease. Even worse, those who constantly survive on a few hours of sleep every night are often more prone to depression.

Physical Effects

Sleep deprivation also negatively affects your physical health. Your immune system becomes weakened, which makes your body more prone to disease. Lack of sleep does not give your muscles enough time to repair, which causes decreased athletic performance. There are also studies that show that sleep deprivation has a troubling correlation with cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Aside from these, sleep deprivation decreases your driving ability. Did you know that there are about 100,000 accidents a year caused by sleep-deprived drivers, totaling 1,500 deaths? The reason is that sleep-deprived drivers may experience what is called as “micro-sleep,” which is a condition where people inadvertently fall asleep for a few seconds without even realizing it.

Over time, sleep deprivation will create a sleep debt, which your body must repay at some point. Although a nap can pay off the sleep debt, you’ll only add to the debt whenever you miss another hour of sleep. If you lose five hours of sleep every week, you’ll need to find time to pay it off in either five 1-hour naps, ten 30-minute naps or a sleep marathon of five hours. However, napping for that long could throw off your sleeping pattern, causing another sleepless night afterwards.

The best way to deal with sleep debt is to try not to have any at all. You should sleep the recommended length of time every night, which could be anything between five to eight hours.

If you want to begin living healthy, the first thing you must do is to get enough sleep every night. If you’re wondering how you can know whether you are sleep deprived or not, remember this: if you’re the type who fall asleep within 5 minutes of going to bed, then you’re most probably not getting enough sleep.

It is not a secret that too little sleep makes us feel “out of sorts” and can account for poor performance at work or school. Many people become irritable and forgetful if they have only had a short amount of sleep the night before. Believe it or not you are not able to make up for lost sleeping hours tonight with more sleep tomorrow. This is especially true for children. They need the right amount of sleep every night if they are going to be functioning at their best.

Often parents forget the importance of sleep for kids, and it is easy to begin thinking that if a couple of hours of sleep are missed here and there it can not possibly matter. The fact of the matter is that it does matter, and it makes a big difference in the development of each child.

When children are sleeping their bodies are going through a process of repair, renewal and growth. This is true for the brain as well. These hours of slumber and rest allow the brain to process the billions of bytes of information it has received during the day. When there is less sleep than needed all of these different developmental processes can not take place in an efficient manner. Not only does it hinder all children, too little sleep can make certain conditions such as autism or ADD even more problematic.

Children and adults all have individual requirements for the amount of sleep that they need to perform at their best. However there are some guidelines concerning the amount of sleeping hours that children need according to their age. This is a helpful chart that parents can refer to if they want to see how their child’s sleeping habits are measuring up to what the professionals recommend.

0-18 months

From the first day, until the age of 18 months children are spending more hours resting and sleeping than they are doing anything else. This amount of sleep is necessary because their minds and bodies are growing quickly and these processes demand an enormous amount of energy. On the average children in this age group will be sleeping about 16-18 hours a day at the beginning. As these tiny tots begin to grow you will notice a slight tapering of the sleep cycles over time; by the age of 18 months most will be sleeping for about 13-14 hours a day.

18 months to 4 years

During this time children are becoming very active when they are awake and most will benefit from a mid-day nap. However no child should be forced to actually go to sleep in the middle of the afternoon. Just let them have some quiet time instead of forcing the issue of a nap upon them. A total of 11.5-14 hours of sleep each day is quite sufficient for a child in this age group.

5-9 years

10-12 hours of sleep every day is recommended for kids aged 5-9 and this includes the naps that are taken during the day. A 10 hour cycle of sleep at night should be ideal and will help your child feel refreshed and happy the next day. Children who are 5-9 will be much happier if they can help choose their bedtime, and every night you should enforce the rule about when it is time to get ready for bed. Although there will be a few occasions when you might allow your children to stay up later than usual, this should be kept to a minimum.

10 – 13 years

8-10 hours of sleep should be sufficient for older children in this age group. If your child is getting the minimal amount of recommended sleep and does not seem to be performing as well as they could in school or at home then an extra hour of sleep might be in order.