HEALTH PROBLEMS GET HELP AND BE FIT

Scientifically but naturally Reverse your diabetes

2016-10-14T20:19:00.001-07:00

Diabetes can be a lifelong condition that is characterized by a raised blood glucose level. There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Signs of diabetes include an increased sense of thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, weight and muscle loss, cuts or wounds that heal slowly and blurred vision. It is extremely important for diabetes to be diagnosed as early as possible – if left untreated the condition will get progressively worse.The good news is that it can be reversed. CLICK HERE We have to amputate your legs. That’s what the doctor told me as I lay in a hospital bed. “Without the amputation,” the doctor told me, “you’ll be dead within a year.” I couldn’t believe it. But 5 years ago, the doctors wanted to put me under anesthesia, to cut off my legs… All because I was one of 115 million Americans with pre diabetes or diabetes… …the disease that ran rampant through my body, thrashing the blood vessels in my limbs, until it practically cut off the circulation to my legs. Here are some key points about diabetes: Diabetes is a long-term condition that causes high blood sugar levels. In 2013 it was estimated that over 382 million people throughout the world had diabetes (Williams textbook of endocrinology). Type 1 Diabetes - the body does not produce insulin. Approximately 10% of all diabetes cases are type 1. Type 2 Diabetes - the body does not produce enough insulin for proper function. Approximately 90% of all cases of diabetes worldwide are of this type. Gestational Diabetes - this type affects females during pregnancy. The most common diabetes symptoms include intense thirst and hunger, weight gain, unusual weight loss, cuts and bruises that do not heal, numbness and tingling in hands and feet. If you have Type 1 and follow a healthy eating plan, do adequate exercise, and take insulin, you can lead a normal life. Type 2 patients need to eat healthily, be physically active, and test their blood glucose. They may also need to take oral medication, and/or insulin to control blood glucose levels. As the risk of cardiovascular disease is much higher for a diabetic, it is crucial that blood pressure and cholesterol levels are monitored regularly. As smoking might have a serious effect on cardiovascular health, diabetics should stop smoking. Hypoglycemia - low blood glucose - can have a bad effect on the patient. Hyperglycemia - when blood glucose is too high - can also have a bad effect on the patient. The doctor made it clear that if he didn’t amputate, my legs would rot like spoiled meat. So what happened? Then the day I’d been dreading: My next appointment with my doctor. He wanted to check how I was doing… And schedule the surgery to amputate my legs. I went to the hospital, they did their tests, and then I waited in the exam room. First, the doctor stuck his head in. “There’s something wrong with the tests. We’re running them again.” So I waited even longer. Finally, he came back. “What did you do?” he asked, looking at his clipboard. “What did you change?” he asked again. “A new diet?” I told him about jump starting my pancreas. “Well,” said the doctor, “that just saved your legs, and your life. “6 weeks ago you had about the worst case of Type 2 Diabetes I’ve ever seen. And now it’s like you never had it at all. It’s a miracle.” I want you to imagine what it felt like to hear the doctor say “your diabetes has disappeared.” Suddenly, I had my whole life ahead of me. I would never again have to stick myself with painful insulin needles. I would never again have to feel like a burden to my family and friends. I could go hiking, to the beach, or on vacation with my family and not worry about how tired I would get, or what food I could eat.CLICK HERE

ensuremoneyhealth.com: We’re Hiring! looking for a job OR additional income? Get it now!!

2014-04-21T09:27:00.001-07:00

ensuremoneyhealth.com: We’re Hiring! looking for a job OR additional income? Get it now!!

The Turbo PayPal Booster

2014-01-08T03:32:00.001-08:00

The Turbo PayPal Booster

Acne Removal

2013-12-10T03:13:00.000-08:00

Would you like to know which Anti-Acne products really work? Most Acne Treatments promise a miracle, but once you buy them, you are disappointed that they don't work as well as you thought. Here, we look at what is in those acne treatment products that helps them get rid of acne. That’s how we eventually narrowed down an extensive list of acne products to just a few that we think are the best on the market today. Click Here :

The best acne removal programs

Have problems with acne? Well there is a connection between what we eat and the condition of our skin. there are specific foods that are known to spark a reaction which eventually leads to acne. Beware of These Hidden Causes of Acne Acne Definition Acne is a common skin disease characterized by pimples on the face, chest, and back. It occurs when the pores of the skin become clogged with oil, dead skin cells, and bacteria. Here Are The Top 10 Foods That Cause Acne: 1. Diet Soda Diet soda is very inflammatory to your body, since it contains the aspartame that increases the acne breakouts. Diet soda can lower the pH levels which can cause acne. 2. Sugar: High sugar intake causes acne. Sugar in any form can cause spikes in certain pimple producing hormones. Foods such as chocolates and other sugary treats increase blood sugar, which may trigger acne.So sugar as much as possible. 3. Dairy. Cow’s milk contains many nutrients and growth hormones. These growth hormones can cause acne. Milk also increases the production of insulin in your body that can cause pimples on your skin. Milk and cheese can increase the acne on your skin. 4. Gluten: Gluten causes inflammation and digestion related problems that cause acne. Foods such as flour, cereal, bread, wheat, and pasta are the biggest causes of inflammation in your body that comes out as acne on the skin. Gluten has similar effects like sugar, so try to avoid these foods to get a clear skin. 5. Vegetable Oils: Trans fats and highly processed vegetable oils are the major factors that cause skin breakouts. These include canola oil, corn oil, margarine, and other vegetable oils stimulate inflammation. Hence, it is advised to consume extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil for a clearer acne-free skin. 6. Salt: Salt can lead to swelling in the tissues and give you puffy face. Iodized salt should be avoided in high doses, as they can cause acne. Check the sodium content of the pre-packaged foods before consuming. You should also rinse the meats, canned vegetables, and beans to reduce the sodium from them. 7. Candy: Candy is filled with sugar content that cause acne, wrinkles and unhealthy skin. They damage the collagen and elastin fibers, which is useful to maintain the firmness and youthful skin. This can also cause dry skin that produces premature wrinkles and skin sagging. 8. Spicy food: Consumption of excess spicy food can cause harm to your digestive system. This leads to inflammation sensation in your digestive track and acne on the skin. This also increases the blood circulation to the face that gives redness to your face. Hence, individual with acne must take spicy food in moderate quantity and take proper care for the skin condition. It is recommended to control or cure the acne in its early stage. They can be cured by clearing pores or medications advised by the doctors. 9. Caffeine for pimples: Caffeine can be obtained from tea (black and green), chocolate, sodas, coffee, energy drinks and pain killers. Caffeine stimulates the adrenalin glands to release stress hormones that can increase the stress levels. Taking too much stress is harmful for your health and skin and lead to acne condition. Caffeine can also disturb your sleep by not letting you go to the deepest phase of sleep. This sleep is essential for physical repair and detoxifying your body. These conditions can worsen the acne on skin. 10. Processed foods: Any processed or packed food is bad for your skin and health. Processed foods are highly refined that becomes difficult for proper digestion. This can cause many allergic reaction, inflammation and acne. They are also filled with additives, flavors, and other chemicals that cause allergic reaction. Processed foods have high amount of fat and refined sugars that can cause diabetes, Excess belly fat and inflammation. These foods aren’t necessarily bad for you, but when taken moderately you can avoid acne. If you suffer from acne, try and cut back on a couple of these and you may find yourself with healthy, beautiful skin. So there is your answer to what foods causes acne! Also be careful and alert to these other common causes of acne: Makeup. Acne cosmetica, is most common on the face, neck, hairline, and scalp. Products that contain mineral oil can clog pores, so use brands labeled non-comedogenic, which are oil-free, don't strip skin of moisture and nutrients, and don't block pores. Makeup brushes collect bacteria and yeast, so clean them once a week with soap and water.Also use exfoliating wipes and pads, which remove more dead skin than soap. Cell phones. Your iPhone or Android can pick up dirt and bacteria with use, and can trigger breakouts on your chin and around your mouth. So wipe it down daily with alcohol or Clorox. Medication. Check your medicine cabinet and tread particularly carefully with prescriptions that emphasize steroids, such as prednisone, cortisone, and hydrocortisone. These can both aggravate and cause acne. Also watch out for lithium, lithium chloride, and certain forms of iodine. "Unfortunately, many of these medications are given for serious conditions, and there are few available substitutes," Krant says. "So people can get stuck in troubling situations, having to take important medication that causes distressing side effects." Keep an open line of communication with your doctor, and make sure he's aware of your concerns. Yoga mats.Before grabbing a mat think of all those who have used it before you. So place a clean towel on the end of the mat where your head and face will be, even if you're using your own personal yoga mat. Touching your face. Beware skin contact do not to touch your face if it is not necessary, switch to a headset, and make a ponytail holder instead of using a headband. [See: Wrinkle Creams: Worth It or Not?] Dandruff. Dandruff can cause acne, in the form of tiny pimples lining the scalp. So Use shampoo designed to treat dandruff this can help. Sunscreen. Yes, But make sure it's oil-free and non-comedogenic. Avoid sunscreen with perfume or dyes, and steer clear of spray-on formulas; many of these contain alcohol, which may irritate sensitive skin. Products made with zinc oxide are often more tolerable than those with titanium dioxide. Traveling. Changes in environment—humidity, weather, minerals,fluoride in water—can all trigger breakouts. So wash your face with bottled water when you can, and use your own soaps. Stress.Triggers heigh levels of androgens, these hormones can contribute to adult breakouts. Stress also releases cortisol and other adrenal steroids that can stimulate the sebaceous glands and lead to acne flare-ups. Stress tends to worsen matters in those already struggling with the acne problem. Try to get enough sleep, and try to relax 15 minutes each day and do some exercise, since it helps reduce stress. Hair-styling products. Breakouts caused by hair gel or any other styling product. These may cause oil to seep onto your forehead, trapping acne-causing bacteria in your pores. So apply products with your hands, keeping the product away from the hairline, and wipe your skin with facial cleanser to remove any remaining traces. Chin straps. Bikers and athletes who wear helmets are prone to this type of acne, caused when straps rub against the skin. "Wash your face before and after putting it on, and keep the strap clean," Fusco says. She also recommends using an antibacterial pad to wipe straps down before and after use. Anti-aging creams, Many of these contain retinol, which stimulates cell turnover, increasing the number of acne-like lesions.Though Retin-A, which contains retinol, is sometimes prescribed to treat acne, experts warn that many people find it to be a skin irritant. Remember use these sparingly, under a dermatologist's instruction.

The best acne removal programs

Over 40% Of The Adult Population Will Suffer From Hemorrhoids. Are You Making Any Of These 3 Mistakes That Contribute To It?

2012-12-25T15:29:00.000-08:00

Today, I wanted to alert you to something will afflict 40% of the adult population (or more) at some point of their lives. It's called hemorrhoids or piles and it's basically any form of vein inflammation around the lower rectal regions. Blood on your toilet paper? Itching in your anus area? Pain during constipation? All of these are likely signs that you may have hemorrhoids and it's no laughing matter � because although common, they can be annoying and embarrassing. In the more severe stages, they can fall out like a lump outside your bottom. So what are some common mistakes that people make which contribute to developing this common condition? Even if you have these already, avoiding the following 3 mistakes can start relieving the problem gradually. Mistake #1: Eating too much processed food This can be a toughie for some people. However, it's known that processed foods create harder stool and troubles in digestion. This creates constipation and other issues which can lead to hemorrhoids. The key here, especially when you are suffering and trying to cure hemorrhoids, is to lower your intake of processed sugars and foods. Mistake #2: Sedentary lifestyle A lot of long term sitting can create additional pressure on the bottom area and this invokes the perfect environment for a hemorrhoid to occur if combined with a sharp force such as constipation or pregnancy (in women). The solution is to make sure you do not sit for over 1 hour at a time, and remember to do stretches that promote healthy blood flow. Mistake #3: Intake of processed medication and creams This creates the same potential problem as processed foods. Even many of the fiber supplements contain processed and artificial elements that can create side-effects elsewhere� and lastly they are not even attacking the root of the problem here. The other downside of these creams which do no benefit is that they waste one's time and the hemorrhoid can get worse over time if the root problem is not reversed. So try to avoid these 3 mistakes and you will not be contributing to any worsening of hemorrhoids. It's very important to understand these in our modern lifestyle of sedentary office work and processed, convenient diets. ==================================================================== Holly Hayden is an independent expert on curing hemorrhoids 100% naturally using the little-known fast system called "The H Miracle". You can get a free sample and get your Free "What 95% of Hemorrhoid Sufferers Don't Know..." Special Report at:

Alkaline Diet - How Can Alkaline Diet Transform Your Health

2012-10-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

The diet of our ancestors is completely different from what we are so accustomed to these days. With the advancement of technology, the types of foods we consume are dragged along. A trip to the grocery store will shock you with aisles and aisles of processed food items and animal products. You will not have a hard time finding fast food when eating out as practically every corner of the street has one. Even fad diets are partly to blame, for introducing a whole new eating habit, such as high-protein diets. In the recent years, consumption of animal products and refined food items has increased, as more and more people leave out the daily supply of fruits and vegetables in their diet. It comes as no surprise why, these days, many are suffering from different types of allergies, bone diseases, heart problems and many others. Some health experts link these diseases to the type of foods we eat. There are certain types of food that disrupts a certain balance in our body that, during such instance, health problems arise. If only we could modify our eating habits, itâ€™s not unlikely that prevention of diseases and restoration of health is achieved. The Importance of Alkaline Our bodies need to maintain a healthy and steady alkaline to acid ratio, which is signified by the pH level of our body. The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, and anything lower than 7 is considered acidic. Processed food items, meat and meat products, sweets, and some beverages and condiments generally produce excessive amounts of acidity in the body. Acidosis, abnormally high acidity level in the blood and other tissues of the body, is the one thing that several different diseases have one thing in common. And many health experts believe that acidosis is responsible for a lot of fatal diseases that many people are afflicted with these days. Alkaline, on the other hand, naturally occurs in the body to neutralize excess acidity in the body, which is its main role. However, alkaline also becomes depleted at times â€“ especially when thereâ€™s too much acid it needs to get rid of, and we do not consume foods that replenish our bodyâ€™s alkalinity. Maintaining a Healthy pH Level As mentioned earlier, acidosis leads to many health-related problems. Dangerous levels of acid get to circulate in our body and break into tissues and organs when not properly neutralized. To prevent this, one must see to it that a healthy pH balance in the body is maintained. And to offset the excessive amounts of acid is to increase your bodyâ€™s alkalinity. Determining whether or not your pH levels are prevalently alkaline may be done with easy-to-use pH level strips which you can purchase in drug stores or medical supplies stores. There are pH level strips meant for testing using your saliva, and there are those for using your urine. Basically, a saliva pH level strip will determine how much acid your body is producing; normally itâ€™s between 6.5 and 7.5 throughout the day. While a urine pH level strip will tell how well you excrete excess amounts of acid; you should get between 6.0 and 6.5 in the morning and between 6.5 and 7.0 at night. The Dangers of Excessive Acid If you constantly experience exhaustion, headaches and having frequent colds and flu, then that could be it â€“ you have high acid levels in your body. But the ill effects of acidosis in the body donâ€™t stop there; you might be surprised at the wide-ranging types of diseases you could get with dangerous levels of acid in your body. Depression, hyperacidity, ulcer, skin dryness, acne and obesity are some of those linked to excessive acid levels in the body. Then there are those that are more serious such as joint diseases, osteoporosis, bronchitis, frequent infections and heart diseases. Even if you begin to take medications for these illnesses, the symptoms may be masked, but they will still continue to affect your health as you are not attacking them from their roots. No matter what medications you take â€“ pills, anti-inflammatory and the like â€“ your body will only become more acidic because of these medications. Alkaline Diet Approach To get to the roots of these health problems, the bodyâ€™s pH level must be brought back to normal. There are alkaline foods that can help replenish the depleted alkaline levels in the body while neutralizing excess amounts of acid. Through an alkaline diet, sufficient amounts of alkaline are re-introduced into the body, thus bringing back the pH level to predominantly alkaline. So how do you incorporate an alkaline diet into your eating habits? First, you can start by cutting down your intake of processed foods. These type of foods contain chemicals that only increase the acidity of your body ones theyâ€™re digested. Second, steer clear of meat and meat products, dairies and alcohol. Third, load up on fresh fruits and vegetables, as they naturally are high in alkalinity. Even acidic fruits like oranges and lemons become alkaline after they have been digested and absorbed by the body. As a general rule, 75% of your daily food consumption should consist of alkalizing foods. The more alkaline foods we provide our bodies with, the more efficient the neutralization of excess acids will be. Discover how you can kick start alkaline diet at Emma Deangela's site at

Reiki Master -Reiki is the ancient art of healing- how to 'make' your body heal itself

2012-04-02T04:36:00.002-07:00

Hello, Reiki Master

Dear Friend,

It's not often that you can be called a 'master' of anything.

You will be glad that you received this email, because it is the first step along the road towards becoming a very real master of an ancient art. This art is one that can have tremendous benefits for you and your life.

And the life of others.

Reiki is the ancient art of healing. Through it's use, true masters can eliminate stress and fatigue. Some who have experienced it say it can remove disease from your life.

However, for centuries, mastering the art of Reiki has been practically impossible to outsiders (for 'outsiders' read anyone who has not got twenty years of their life to offer as training).

I said you'd be glad that you received this email, and there are plenty of reasons why, because Usui Reiki Healing Master will:

- Show you how to become a Reiki master in hours, not years
- Show you how to eliminate fatigue and stress
- Show you how to 'make' your body heal itself

Usui Reiki Healing Master is a unique product (with one extra special surprise, which I'll talk about in our next email), with proven results.

Why Learn Reiki?

To change your life, of course. You won't find many practitioners around these days because the secret was kept for so many years. This is why Usui Reiki Master Healing System is so powerful.

With this, you can change your life in hours.

But that's not all. You also develop the power to change other's lives. We will go through all the benefits of the system in the next email, but alongside changing the lives of your loved ones, you can also change the lives of customers.

That's right, many of our clients go on to become masters that charge for the unique benefits this ancient art provides.

Interested in becoming a Reiki master in hours?

Looking forward to talking to you soon,

Will Valentine's Day Ruin Your Marriage?

2012-03-29T05:09:00.001-07:00

Will Valentine's Day Ruin Your Marriage?Click Here!

Ah, February! Our minds start turning to thoughts of Valentine's Day.In the middle of winter, romance is suddenly in vogue. The stores are filled with cards, candy, jewelry, and any number of other products touting the opportunity to show your love how you feel.

Are we being set up? Have we bought into the idea of romance so much that we are literally destroying our relationships with expectations? I think we are. In fact, I think we have made a false idol of romance at the expense of true love. We have confused infatuation and erotic love with deep, abiding love that leads to successful marriages.

Let me be clear. I have nothing against romance and romantic gestures. But we have made this the lead, not the result of love. We want to be awash in loving feelings and attraction for our partner. Then we expect those feelings to be the cement, the glue that keeps us together. Hogwash!Click Here!

I just checked my email. In the last month, I have received 104 pleas for help from people hearing this statement from their spouse, "I love you, but I'm not in love with you." The translation is this: "I have a feeling of care for you, but I don't feel erotic emotions toward you." The problem is that this statement is a lie on the front end ("I love you") and a misunderstanding on the back end ("but I'm not in love with you").

The lie, I'll get to in a moment. The misunderstanding is this: being "in love" with someone is based on the nurturing of a relationship. It is not some emotion that is at the whims of Cupid shooting an arrow. Too often I hear, "I can't help how I feel." True, but people can choose how they act. And that is really the crux of the matter.

Love has been confused in our culture. The ancient Greeks were much more clear. They used three words to talk about love: Eros, Phileo, and Agape. Eros was about attraction (erotic love). Phileo was about friendship. And Agape was about commitment. Our society has segregated these three areas. Interestingly, we all want commitment and acceptance from our lover/spouse (Agape love), but too often want to feel attraction (Eros love) toward our spouse.

In other words, we want that attractive, successful, romantic, loving person to accept us, mistakes, shortcomings, failures, and all. We want what we have a hard time offering.

So what is the lie? Love is a commitment. It is an action verb, based on being loving and doing loving actions toward the other person. It is based on making a choice to love the other. Not for a moment, but for a lifetime.Click Here!

Brain scans show that people who are "in love" (caught up in the infatuation) have very similar patterns to those who are mentally ill. So being "madly in love" is not just a figure of speech. It is a physical reality.

The problem is that this is unsustainable. The love of infatuation has to temper into a choice to being loving toward another person. I love someone because I choose to act lovingly, not because of the constance of a feeling. That moves the whole possibility from being at the whims of Cupid to having a conscious choice over how I participate in a relationship.

Let me be clear here: I am not opposed to visits of Eros. In fact, I think this is a feeling that is important and necessary in a long-term marriage. But I believe the emotion emerges from acting in loving ways. In other words, when I make romance primary, I am lost when it is gone. When I make love a verb, and action I can choose, the romantic feelings will naturally emerge.

Valentine's Day is a threat to your relationship when you make the romantic feelings the goal. To paraphrase a commercial: card, $3.50; candy, $20.00; flowers, $50.00. Acting lovingly toward your spouse: Priceless (and free!). When Valentine's Day rolls around, make it an opportunity to show your love, not a day to judge your erotic feelings.

If you are ready to leave the myths behind and discover the relationship of your dreams, go to Click Here!

Panic Away -end Anxiety And Panic Attacks

2012-03-22T05:54:00.000-07:00

Panic Attack Symptoms that you should Know

Panic attacks are sudden feelings of terror that happen without warning. These episodes can occur at any time. With a panic attack the person may believe that they are having a heart attack or that death is imminent. The fear that a person experiences during a panic attack are not in proportion to the true situation and may be unrelated to what is happening around them. Most people with panic attacks may experience several of the following symptoms:

A"Racing" heart
A Feeling of weakness, faintness, or dizzyiness
A Tingling or numbness in the hands and fingers
A Sense of terror, of impending doom or death
A Feeling of sweaty or having chills
Having Chest pains
May have Breathing difficulties
Or Feeling a loss of control

Panic attacks are normally brief, lasting less than ten minutes, although some of the symptoms persist for a longer time. People who have had one panic attack are at greater risk for having more panic attacks than those who have never experienced a panic attack. When the attacks occur more than once a person is considered to have a condition known as Panic Disorder.

People with a panic disorder are extremely anxious and fearful, they are unable to predict when the next episode will happen. Panic Disorder affects about 2.4 million people in the U.S., or 1.7% of the population between the ages of 18 and 54. Women are twice as likely as men to develop the condition, and its symptoms normally begin in early adulthood.

It is not clear what causes this Panic Disorder. In most people, the symptoms develop in association with major life changes (such as getting married, having a child, starting a first job, etc.) and major lifestyle stress. There is also evidence that suggests that the tendency to develop Panic Disorder may run in the family. People who suffer from Panic Disorder also suffer from depression, attempt suicide, or abuse alcohol or drugs.

Panic Disorder is treatable. Psychotherapy and medications have both been used, for successful treatment of this Disorder. If medication is necessary, your doctor would prescribe anti-anxiety medications, antidepressants, or a class of heart medications known as beta blockers to help control the episodes in Panic Disorder.

FOR HELP:Click Here!

The 10 best proven Weight Loss Tips

2012-03-13T05:08:00.000-07:00

The 10 best proven Weight Loss tips: These 10 best weight loss tips that are really about improving overall fitness and increasing the body’s potential for burning fat and losing weight. These tips are practical and they work!

a. Be More Active – live an active lifestyle move your body, these will help park further away from grocery store, take the stairs instead of the elevator, walk faster on the sidewalk or jump rope for a few minutes in the morning. These will burn extra calories which means weight loss.

b. Stop using too much Processed Food – Processed Food are a major cause of obesity in the world, so avoid them .Use natural, whole foods whenever possible.

c. Exercise Alone will not help – Weight loss requires a combination of regular exercise and a healthy diet.

d. Streanous Workouts should be Short – Unless you’re an athlete, you’ll just burn out!

e. Eat Lots of Veggies, Protein, and Healthy Fats – Vegetables are good, but protein is better at curbing appetite and burning more calories.

f. Lift Weights – This is a must for any weight loss or fitness program, the more muscle mass you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate!

g. Sleep well – A regular sleep routine is good for your body to recover from your workouts and fight the daily effects of stress.
h. Aerobic Exercises – Aerobic exercises should be done on a regular basis it helps your body from all those intense workouts, and will keep your body toned and flexible.

h. Use less Salt – A high sodium intake contributes to high blood pressure, it causes your body retain water, which will make weight loss and toning frustrating!

i. Stay outdoors as much as possible – Getting active outside will improve your mood, you feel more motivated to live a healthy lifestyle.

FOR FURTHER HELP:Click Here!

Burn Fat the Easy way

2012-03-13T04:36:00.000-07:00

Burn Fat the Easy way:

Here is what works:

a. Eat Protein – Protein has a lot of benefits. It also takes longer to digest, which means it will consume more of your body’s energy and actually burn more calories as it’s digested! You also feel more satisfied from a high protein meal or snack.

Invest in a high quality protein supplement also consider a protein bar.

b. Be Active Every Morning – do intense exercise to rev up your metabolism, do jumping jacks, pushups, or even some yoga to jumpstart your day.

Jumping rope is an effective option because it’s a full body workout. 5-10 minutes of jump rope every morning will give your metabolism a major fat-burning boost.

c. Drink Green Tea – Green tea will increase your resting metabolic rate, which means you’ll burn more fat and calories throughout your day.

d. Take a Linoleic Acid Supplement – Linoleic acid is a naturally occurring essential fatty acid that will improve your body’s ability to burn fat AND build lean muscle mass.

e. Lift Weights – Weight training increases lean muscle mass, and this has a direct impact on your body’s ability to burn fat.So the more lean muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolic rate. So start lifting weights because it is one of the most common problems people have who are doing a lot of cardio but not seeing fat loss results.
FOR HELP:
Click Here!

abs exercise,The Reality Of Six Pack Abs- Proper Diet & Exercise

2012-03-07T09:07:00.002-08:00

You turn on the television and The well sculpted models using some new fangled invention that they swear will get you a six pack within a matter of weeks so you buy the machine, using it faithfully just as they did and yet nothing happens. Your belly remains the same way and you can’t understand why. Undaunted,you go to the gym. You just want to get your abdominals looking sharp and all the gym advertisements are filled with beautifully built people with the midsections of a Greek gods. You do everything you read about- thousands of crunches, sit ups and leg raises. You hit every ab machine in the gym every day, take every ab class and put in your time doing cardio to burn off the fat.You fell that you are making progress, you feel the burn when you train and are confident that the six pack of your dreams are just around the corner. But nothing happens. All that has happened is that you have spent good money on machines you don’t use and a gym membership that is becoming more and more of a reminder of how hopeless your quest has become.

The weeks turn into months and the months into years, and those blocks in your stomach remain elusive. You train longer and you do more exercises for your abdominal muscles, perhaps training them every day. Maybe even twice a day, yet your midsection still looks more like a spare tire rather than a carved piece of granite. What could be the problem? Why can’t you get the same abdominal definition as the people in the magazines? Why is there still a layer of fat where rippling muscles should be after all of your hard work? The answer has nothing to do with six packs and everything to do with economics

So how do you get those elusive Six Pack Abs? The answer is here Click Here!

http://www.dataentryjobs.us/72147.html

Eliminate Embarrassing Bad Breath In 3 Days

2012-02-23T04:12:00.001-08:00

How To Eliminate Embarrassing Bad Breath In 3 Days Using A Simple Formula Proven 96% Effective By US Government Scientists | This Is The Original Bad Breath Product In The CB Marketplace | Top Seller For Almost 10 Years!

Click Here!

OVERCOMING INSOMNIA

2012-01-09T04:02:00.000-08:00

OVERCOMING
INSOMNIA
For our latest offers, free gifts and much more…
Click Here To Visit Us Now
You are granted full Master Distribution Rights to this ebook. You may give
it away, sell it, use it as a bonus or add it to packages or membership sites.
DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES:
The information presented herein represents the view of the authors as of the date of publication.
Because of the rate with which conditions change, the authors reserve the right to alter and update
their opinion based on the new conditions. The report is for informational purposes only. While every
attempt has been made to verify the information provided in this report, neither the authors nor their
affiliates/partners assume any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions. Any slights of
people or organizations are unintentional. If advice concerning legal or related matters is needed,
the services of a fully qualified professional should be sought. This report is not intended as for use
as a source of legal or accounting advice. You should be aware of any laws which govern business
transactions or other business practices in your country and state.
© Copyright – All Rights Reserved Worldwide
Table of Contents
Introduction
What is Insomnia
The Sleep Cycle
What Causes Insomnia
Who Has Insomnia
How Serious is Insomnia
Diagnosing Insomnia
Sleep Disorder Clinics
Medications That Can Help
Natural Cures for Insomnia
Sleep Hygiene
Stress Management and Relaxation
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Other Alternatives
Light for Healing
Pre-Sleep and When You Wake
Sleep Disorders in Children
Conclusion
Additional Resources
INTRODUCTION
We are all given the ability from birth to perform certain bodily
functions. While we won’t go into detail specifically, among those
functions like eating – is sleeping. When we’re newborns, we can
sleep – perhaps not for very long, but we know how to sleep.
Sleep is an innate ability that usually doesn’t take much effort at
all. I mean, how simple can it be to sleep? You just close your eyes,
relax and get taken away to dreamland. But for many, many people,
sleeping isn’t as easy as that.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, approximately 60 million people suffer from insomnia. The
inability to sleep affects approximately 40 percent of women and 30
percent of men.
It’s a perplexing condition that drives some people to the brink of
madness – nearly literally. Stephen King wrote a book called,
“Insomnia” in which the title character is driven mad by his inability to
rest and get enough sleep. The movie “Fight Club” was also heavily
based on a main character that has insomnia.
So many people have this disorder that there are sleep clinics all
over the country meant to help those who are afflicted.
Sleep is meant to revive us and get us ready to live for another
day. When people are denied sleep, the effects can be devastating.
Famous author, F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “The worst thing in the
world is to try to sleep and not to.”
There is hope, however, in overcoming insomnia. It’s not easy,
but it can be done – even without the help of a professional sleep
clinic.
Inside the pages of this book, we’ll explore insomnia in depth:
its causes and how to finally get a good night’s sleep!
WHAT IS INSOMNIA?
Insomnia is the sensation of daytime fatigue and impaired
performance caused by insufficient sleep. In general, people with
insomnia experience an inability to sleep despite being tired, a light,
fitful sleep that leaves them fatigued upon awakening, or waking up
too early.
Under debate is the question of whether insomnia is always a
symptom of some other physical or psychological condition or whether
in some cases it is a primary disorder of its own.
Common symptoms of insomnia include:
· feeling tired during the day
· having frequent headaches
· irritability
· lack of concentration
· you wake up feeling tired and not refreshed
· sleeping better away from home
· taking longer than 30 or 40 minutes to fall asleep
· waking repeatedly during the night
· waking far too early and being unable to fall back asleep
· being able to sleep only with the aid of sleeping pills or alcohol
Insomniacs often complain of being unable to close their eyes or
rest their minds for any period of time. This author certainly knows
what it’s like to have your mind racing at bedtime. In our stress-filled
world, we are often plagued with unfinished to-do lists in ur heads.
When it’s quiet and time for sleep, many people have problems
pushing those to-do lists aside in favor of dreamland.
Artistic types claim that they get their best ideas at night while
lying in bed trying to sleep. One scholar even said that if a man had
as many ideas during the day as he does when he has insomnia, he'd
make a fortune. That may be true, but eventually, the lack of sleep will
take its toll.
The worst part of insomnia is wanting to sleep but being unable
to. The mind races and is unable to rest and that makes you overly
tired and barely able to function the next day. Sometimes insomnia
lasts longer than just a few nights.
Insomnia, usually temporary, is often categorized by how long it
lasts:
Transient insomnia lasts for a few days.
Short-term insomnia lasts for no more than three weeks.
Chronic insomnia occurs when the following characteristics are
present:
When a person has difficulty falling asleep, maintaining sleep, or
has non-restorative sleep for at least three nights a week for one
month or longer.
· In addition, the patient is distressed and believes that normal
daily functioning is impaired because of sleep loss.
Chronic insomnia may also be primary or secondary, depending
on the cause:
· P rimary chronic insomnia occurs when it is the sole complaint
of a patient.
· S econdary chronic insomnia is caused by medical or
psychiatric conditions, drugs, or emotional or psychiatric
disorders.
Some common types of secondary insomnia include:
· S leep apnea is a sleep disorder caused by difficulty breathing
during sleep. Persistent, loud snoring and frequent long pauses
in breathing during sleep, followed by choking or gasping for
breath are the main sighs of sleep apnea. For more information,
visit www.sleepapnea.org.
· R estless Legs Syndrome is a sleep disorder characterized by
unpleasant sensations (creeping, burning, itching, pulling or
tugging) in the legs or feet, occurring mostly in the evening and
at night. Moving the legs around tends to relieve the unpleasant
sensation temporarily. For more information, visit www.rls.org .
· S leep-wake schedule o r c ircadian rhythm disorders are
sleep disorders caused by having sleep-wake schedules that do
not match up with your natural sleep schedule. People who work
the night shift may suffer from this problem
· I nsomnia due to medical conditions: Many common medical
problems and the drugs that treat them can cause insomnia,
including allergies, arthritis, heart disease, hypertension,
asthma, Parkinson's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, or hyperthyroidism. Physical discomfort (e.g. chronic
pain) may also cause problems sleeping.
· I nsomnia due to substance use or withdrawal: Many drugs
and medications can cause sleep disturbances, either while
taking them or while withdrawing from them. Alcohol,
stimulants, sedatives, and even long-term use of sleep
medications can cause insomnia.
· I nsomnia due to an emotional problem: Insomnia can be a
symptom of a number of emotional difficulties. If you find that
you worry excessively about numerous minor matters or if you
have experienced sadness or a loss of interest in activities for a
number of weeks consult your physician.
Insomnia may also be defined in terms of inability to sleep at
conventional times. The following are examples and are referred to as
circadian rhythm disorders.
· D elayed Sleep-Phase Syndrome:. Delayed sleep-phase
syndrome is the term for a circadian clock that runs late but
reliably. People who have this condition (usually adolescents) fall
asleep very late at night or in early morning hours, but then they
sleep normally
· A dvanced Sleep Syndrome. This syndrome tends to develop in
older people; it produces excessive sleepiness in the morning
and undesired awakening early in the morning.
It might be helpful for you if we look at the basic sleep patterns
and how doctors are able to identify specific problems based on what
they already know about sleep.
THE SLEEP CYCLE
Sufficient and restful sleep is a human need as basic as food,
vital to emotional and physical well being. In recent years, scientists
have made great strides in identifying patterns and functions of brain
activity in sleep.
The daily cycle of life, which includes sleeping and waking, is
called a circadian (meaning "about a day") rhythm, commonly referred
to as the biologic clock. Hundreds of bodily functions follow biologic
clocks, but sleeping and waking are the most prominent circadian
rhythms.
Light signals coming through the eyes reset the circadian cycles
each day. The response to light signals in the brain is an important key
factor in sleep and in maintaining a normal circadian rhythm.
Light signals travel to a tiny cluster of nerves in the
hypothalamus in the center of the brain, the body's master clock,
which is called the supra chiasmatic nucleus or SCN. This nerve
cluster takes its name from its location, which is just above (supra)
the optic chiasm. The optic chiasm is a major junction for nerves
transmitting information about light from the eyes.
The approach of dusk each day prompts the SCN to signal the
nearby pineal gland (named so because it resembles a pine-cone) to
produce the hormone melatonin.
Melatonin is an important hormone released in the brain that
some experts believe is critical for the body's time-setting. The longer
a person is in darkness the longer melatonin is secreted. Levels drop
after staying in bright light. Research is ongoing to determine if high
levels of melatonin cause sleep regardless of whether it is dark.
The sleep-wake cycles in humans are designed to produce
activity during the day and sleep at night. There is also is a natural
peak in sleepiness at mid-day, the traditional siesta time. The sleeping
and waking cycle is approximately 24 hours. If confined to windowless
apartments, with no clocks or other time cues, sleeping and waking as
their bodies dictate, humans typically live on slightly longer than 24-
hour cycles.
In sleep studies, subjects spend about one-third of their time
asleep, suggesting that most people need about eight hours of sleep
each day. Infants may sleep as many as 16 hours a day. Individual
adults differ in the amount of sleep they need to feel well rested,
however.
Daily rhythms intermesh with a number of biologic and physical
factors that may interfere or change individual patterns. For example,
the firing of nerve cells in the brain may be faster or slower in different
individuals. Such differences are fractions of a second but they can
cause variations in the type, timing, and duration of a person's sleep.
In women, their monthly menstrual cycle can shift the
sleep/wake pattern. Changes in season or various exposures to light
and dark often unsettle the sleeping pattern.
The importance of sunlight as a cue for circadian rhythms is
dramatized by the problems experienced by people who are totally
blind: they commonly suffer trouble sleeping and other rhythm
disruptions.
Sleep consists of two distinct states that alternate in cycles and
reflects differing levels of brain nerve cell activity. During a normal
night's sleep, one progresses through these stages about five or six
times:
Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (Non-REM) sleep is also termed
quiet sleep. Non-REM is further subdivided into three stages of
progression:
· Stage 1 (light sleep).
· Stage 2 (so-called true sleep).
· Stage 3 to 4 (deep "slow-wave" or delta sleep).
With each descending stage, awakening becomes more difficult.
It is not known what governs Non-REM sleep in the brain. A balance
between certain hormones, particularly growth and stress hormones
may be important for deep sleep.
Rapid Eye-Movement Sleep (REM) sleep is termed active sleep
and most vivid dreams occur during this stage. REM-sleep brain
activity is comparable to that in waking, but the muscles are virtually
paralyzed, possibly preventing people from acting out their dreams.
In fact, except for vital organs like lungs and heart, the only
muscles not paralyzed during REM are the eye muscles. REM sleep
may be critical for learning and for day-to-day mood regulation. When
people are sleep-deprived, their brains must work harder than when
they are well rested.
The cycle between quiet (NREM) and active (REM) sleep generally
follows the same pattern. After about 90 minutes of Non-REM sleep,
eyes move rapidly behind closed lids, giving rise to REM sleep. As
sleep progresses the Non-REM/REM cycle repeats. With each cycle,
Non-REM sleep becomes progressively lighter, and REM sleep becomes
progressively longer, lasting from a few minutes early in sleep to
perhaps an hour at the end of the sleep episode.
Seems pretty simple and basic, doesn’t it? After all, we don’t
have to learn how to sleep – it’s something we automatically know
how to do, but some people still have problems. Why?
WHAT CAUSES INSOMNIA?
While there is no one cut and dried reason why some people
can’t sleep, most experts agree that insomnia is brought on by stress,
anxiety, medications, and/or caffeine – among other things. Transient
and short-term insomnia has many causes.
A reaction to change or stress is one of the most common causes
of short-term and transient insomnia. This condition is sometimes
referred to as adjustment sleep disorder.
The precipitating factor could be a major or traumatic event
such as the following:
· An acute illness.
· Injury or surgery.
· The loss of a loved one.
· Job loss.
Temporary insomnia could also develop after a relatively minor
event, including the following:
· Extremes in weather.
· An exam at school.
· Traveling.
· Trouble at work.
In such cases, normal sleep almost always returns when the
condition resolves, the individual recovers from the event, or the
person becomes acclimated to the new situation. Treatment is needed
if sleepiness interferes with functioning or if it continues for more than
a few weeks.
Fluctuations in female hormones play a major role in insomnia in
women over their lifetimes. Such insomnia is most often temporary.
The hormone progesterone promotes sleep. Levels of this
hormone plunge during menstruation, causing insomnia. When they
rise during ovulation, women may become sleepier than usual.
During Pregnancy, the effects of changes in progesterone levels
in the first and last trimester can disrupt normal sleep patterns.
Insomnia can be a major problem in the first phases of
menopause, when hormones are fluctuating intensely. Insomnia during
this period may be due to different factors that occur.
In some women, hot flashes, sweating, and a sense of anxiety
can awaken women suddenly and frequently at night during the first
months of menopause. In such women, hormone replacement therapy
may be beneficial.
Insomnia may also be perpetuated by psychological distress
provoked by this life passage. In most cases, insomnia is temporary.
Cases of chronic insomnia in women after 50 are more likely to be due
to other causes
In one study, 20% of adults reported that light, noise, and
uncomfortable temperatures caused their sleeplessness. Depending on
the time of day too much or too little light can disrupt sleep. It is well
known that a person's biologic circadian clock is triggered by sunlight
and very bright artificial light to maintain wakefulness. One study
indicated that even dim artificial light may disrupt sleep.
Insufficient exposure to light during the day, as occurs in some
disabled elderly patients who rarely venture outside, may also be
linked with sleep disturbances. One study suggests that when a person
is exposed to bright daylight, melatonin levels increases in response to
darkness at night, which aids sleep.
Caffeine most commonly disrupts sleep. Nicotine can cause
wakefulness. Quitting smoking can also cause transient insomnia. In
fact, it has been suggested that if sleeping could be improved during
withdrawal from smoking, then perhaps it would be easier to quit
smoking.
Your partner’s sleep habits can also cause you to have insomnia.
In one 1999 survey, 17% of women and 5% of men reported that
their partner's sleep habits impaired their own sleep. Snoring can
certainly be a factor in a partner's insomnia. In fact, in the same
survey 44% of men and 36% of women reported snoring a few nights
a week and of those who snored, 19% could be heard through a closed
door.
Insomnia is a side effect of many common medications,
including over-the-counter preparations that contain caffeine. People
who suspect their medications are causing them to lose sleep should
check with a physician or pharmacist.
Chronic insomnia can also have deep seated roots. In many cases, it
is unclear if chronic insomnia is a symptom of some physical or
psychological condition or if it is a primary disorder of its own. In most
instances, a collaboration of psychological and physical conditions
causes the failure to sleep.
Psychophysiologic insomnia is the revolving door of sleeplessness:
· An episode of transient insomnia disrupts the person's circadian
rhythm.
· The patient begins to associate the bed not with rest and
relaxation but with a struggle to sleep. A pattern of sleep failure
emerges.
· Overtime, this event repeats, and bedtime becomes a source of
anxiety. Once in bed, the patient broods over the inability to
sleep and the loss of mental control. All attempts to sleep fail.
· After such a cycle is established, insomnia becomes a selffulfilling
prophecy that can persist indefinitely.
Sometimes anxiety and the inability to sleep dates back to
childhood when parents used various threats to force their children
into sleep for which they may not have been ready.
Pain and discomfort from an injury, illness, or disability can also
impair sleep. Among the many medical problems that can cause
insomnia are: allergies, arthritis, cancer, heart disease, gastro reflux
disease, hypertension, asthma, and ADHD.
When people are in pain or sick, they general have medication to
help them through the uncomfortable symptoms. Unfortunately, many
of these medicines can also cause insomnia to onset or worsen. They
include: nicotine, some anti-depressants, beta-blockers, etc.
A large percentage of chronic insomnia cases prove to have a
psychological or even psychiatric basis. The disorders that most often
cause insomnia are the following: anxiety, depression, and bipolar
disorder.
It should be noted, however, that insomnia may cause emotional
problems, and it is often unclear which condition has triggered the
other, or if the two conditions, in fact, have a common source.
Anxiety accounts for almost 50 percent of the cases of chronic
insomnia. Feeling uptight and anxious can keep you from relaxing
enough to go to sleep.
A national survey by the US Department of Health and Human
Services found that 47 percent of those reporting severe insomnia also
reported feeling a high level of emotional distress. It could be that you
become so tense and restless during a hard day at work that you don't
even expect to sleep well at night.
An estimated 10% to 15% of chronic insomnia cases result from
substance abuse, especially alcohol, cocaine, and sedatives. One or
two alcoholic drinks at dinner, for most people, poses little danger of
alcoholism and may help reduce stress and initiate sleep.
Excess alcohol or alcohol used to promote sleep, however, tends
to fragment sleep and cause wakefulness a few hours later. It also
increases the risk for other sleep disorders, including sleep apnea and
restless legs. Alcoholics often suffer insomnia during withdrawal and,
in some cases, for several years during recovery.
A number of studies have reported that shift work throws off the
body's circadian rhythm and have suggested that such changes could
lead to chronic insomnia. One study found that 53% of night-shift
workers fall asleep on the job at least once a week, implying that their
internal clocks do not adjust to unusual work times.
They are also at much higher risk than other workers for
automobile accidents due to their drowsiness and may also have a
higher risk for health problems in general. A Japanese study reporting
on different aspects of insomnia found that excessive computer work
was associated with all forms of insomnia. People who were overinvolved
with their work tended to have trouble falling asleep and they
tended to awaken earlier than average.
Persistently high levels of stress hormones, particularly cortisol, may
be key factors in many cases of chronic insomnia, particularly
insomnia related to aging and psychiatric disorders. High levels of
cortisol reduce REM sleep. Abnormal levels of other biologic factors
may also a play a role in specific situations.
An imbalance in specific hormones important in sleep has been
associated with aging and may be partly responsible for the higher
incidence of insomnia in older people. Older people experience higher
levels of major stress hormones (cortisol and adrenocorticotropin)
during the night. Why?
Normal aging is associated with a blunting of regular, cyclical
surges of growth hormone. This hormone, which is normally secreted
in the late night, is associated not only with growth but with deep,
slow-wave sleep. Older people generally have less slow-wave sleep.
Melatonin levels, the hormone secreted by the pineal gland are
lower, in older people. Some research suggests that elderly people
may have lower levels in general simply because many stay mostly
indoors and out of normal sunlight.
In spite of such observations a number of studies report no
higher risk for insomnia in older adults who have no accompanying
mental or physical problems.
There may also be a genetic link to insomnia. Sleep problems
seem to run in families; approximately 35% of people with insomnia
have a positive family history, with the mother being the most
commonly affected family member. Still, because so many factors are
involved in insomnia, a genetic component is difficult to define.
So we’ve seen that there can be many reasons why some people
simply cannot sleep. Does this disorder affect certain people more
than others?
WHO HAS INSOMNIA?
Studies estimate that between a quarter and one-third of
American and European adults experience some insomnia each year,
with between 10% and 20% of them suffering severe sleeplessness. In
spite of this widespread problem, however, studies suggest that only
about 30% of American adults who visit their doctor ever discuss sleep
problems. Conversely, physicians seem rarely to ask patients about
their sleep habits or problems.
Studies report that the strongest risk factors for insomnia are
psychiatric problems, particularly depression, and physical complaints,
such as headaches and chronic pain that have no identifiable cause
(called somatic symptoms). About 90% of people with depression have
insomnia.
In addition, insomnia and depression often coincide with somatic
symptoms, particularly chronic pain. In fact, insomnia worsens chronic
pain even in people who are not depressed. Headaches that occur
during the night or early in the morning may actually be caused by
sleep disorders. In one study, patients who had these complaints were
treated for the sleep disorder only, and over 65% reported that their
headaches were cured.
Overall, insomnia is more common in women than men,
although men are not immune from insomnia. Sleep efficiency
deteriorates equally in men and women as they get older.
One major study suggested that as men go from age 16 to 50,
they lose about 80% of their deep sleep. During that period, light
sleep increases and REM sleep remains unchanged. (The study did not
use women as subjects, and there is some evidence to suggest they
are not as affected.) After age 44 REM and total sleep diminish and
awakenings increase.
Younger adult women suffer from insomnia because of both
cultural and biologic factors. As we’ve already examined, a number of
hormonal events can disturb sleep, including premenstrual syndrome,
menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. All these conditions are
natural, and in most cases the wakefulness associated with them is
temporary and can be ameliorated with sleep hygiene and time.
After childbirth, most women develop a high sensitivity to the
sounds of their children, which causes them to wake easily. Women
who have had children sleep less efficiently than women who have not
had children. It is possible that many women never unlearn this
sensitivity and continue to wake easily long after the children have
grown.
After menopause women are susceptible to the same
environmental and biologic causes of insomnia as men are. Older
women who are not bothered by sleeplessness tend to have longer and
better sleep than non-insomniac men their own age.
Other groups of individuals who are likely to suffer from
insomnia include those who travel frequently – especially when
crossing time lines, those with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and
individuals with brain injuries.
Most people sleep around 7 hours a night. Doctors suggest that
we get a full 8 hours of rest. The reason is because we are much
more mentally alert when we do get a good night’s sleep. Without
that sleep, the risks can be huge.
HOW SERIOUS IS INSOMNIA?
A 2002 study of sleeping habits in over one million people
reported that people who slept seven hours a night enjoyed the
longest lifespan. Those who slept 8 hours or more or 6 hours or less
had higher mortality rates. People with insomnia did not have elevated
mortality rates, which supported earlier evidence. People who took
sleeping pills, however, did have lower survival rates.
Insomnia is virtually never lethal except in rare cases, such the
genetic disorder called fatal familial insomnia. This rare degenerative
brain disease develops in late adulthood. It is progressive and the
individual develops intractable insomnia, which eventually becomes
fatal.
As many as 200,000 automobile accidents in the US and 1,500
deaths from such accidents are caused by sleepiness. Studies continue
to report that drowsy driving is as risky as drunk driving. Estimates on
fatigue as a cause of automobile crashes range from 1% to 56%,
depending on the study.
In a major 1995 poll, for example, 33% of those surveyed said
they had fallen asleep while driving and 10% of these people had had
accidents because of this. One study strongly suggested that it was
habitual sleepiness, however, and not just being sleepy at the time of
an accident that places people at higher risk.
Surveys in 2001 and 2002 reported that people with severe
insomnia had a quality of life that was almost as poor as in people with
chronic conditions such as heart failure. In these studies, people with
known depression or anxiety were not included.
In addition to more daytime sleepiness, people with insomnia
complained of more attention and memory problems compared to
good sleepers. Insomniacs also experience more irritability, mistakes
at work, and poorer relationships with their family than people who
sleep well.
Insomnia can have an effect on your waking behaviors such as
job performance and thinking. In fact, sleep disorders will probably
worsen some behaviors in the following way:
· Reduced concentration. Some experts report that deep sleep
deprivation impairs the brain's ability to process information.
· Impaired task performance. One study reported that missing
only two to three hours of sleep every night for a week
significantly impaired performance and mood. An Australian
study reported that 17 hours of sleep deprivation causes
impaired performance levels comparable to those found in
people who have blood alcohol levels of 0.10%, a level that
defines intoxication in many US states.
· Effect on learning. Whether insomnia significantly impairs
learning is unclear. Some studies have reported problems in
memorization, although others have found no differences in test
scores between people with temporary sleep loss and those with
full sleep.
We have already told you that stress and depression are major
causes of insomnia; however, lack of sleep may also increase the
activity of the hormones and pathways in the brain that can produce
emotional problems.
Even modest alterations in waking and sleeping patterns can
have significant effects on a person's mood. Persistent insomnia may
even predict the future development of emotional disorders in some
cases. Some investigators, in fact, are exploring the possibility of
preventing psychiatric disorders by early recognition and treatment of
insomnia.
In fact, the inability to sleep can be a major cause of depression.
Signs to look out for that link insomnia with depression include:
· waking in the middle of the night or early morning and being
unable to get back to sleep
· loss of interest, energy, and appetite
· aggression and anti-social behavior
· aches and pains that have no physical explanation
Although alcohol and substance abuse can cause insomnia, the
conditions may be reversed. For example, a 1999 survey reported that
14% of American adults use alcohol within a month to help them
sleep, with 2.5% reporting frequent use of alcohol to reduce sleep
Although there has been some concern that insomnia may
increase the risk for heart problems, little evidence has supported any
significant dangers. One study reported signs of heart and nervous
system activity in people with chronic insomnia that might place such
individuals at risk for coronary heart disease.
If it exists, however, this increased danger is very modest
compared with other risk factors for heart disease. Yet another report
suggested that sleep complaints in elderly people without coronary
artery disease predicted a first heart attack. Sleep disorders in such
cases may have been a marker for depression, however, which is a
risk factor for heart attacks in elderly people.
There’s no doubt that insomnia can take its toll on the human
body. Lack of sleep does more than make us tired. If the disorder
exists for a period of time, it can have serious health consequences.
We can give you all sorts of signs to look out for to see if you have
insomnia, but many times, going to a professional can help you find
out if you have insomnia.
DIAGNOSING INSOMNIA
Diagnosing sleep disturbance and its cause is the most important
step in restoring healthy sleep. There is little agreement, even among
experts, however, on the best methods for effectively assessing a
patient's insomnia.
A major difficulty in diagnosing this problem is its subjective
nature. One study showed that there was no difference in sleep
behaviors between people who said they were insomniacs and people
who said they weren't.
People who believe they have insomnia may have actually had
frequent brief awakenings during sleep that they perceive as being
continuously awake. Some experts recommend, however that any
individual should be treated aggressively if he or she believes they
have insomnia and also is suffering daytime fatigue and impaired
concentration and memory.
A number of questionnaires are available for determining
whether a patient has insomnia or other sleep disorders. For example,
the physician may ask the following questions:
· How would the sleep problem be described?
· How long has the sleep problem been experienced?
· How long does it take to fall asleep?
· How many times a week does it occur?
· How restful is sleep?
· Does the difficulty lie in getting to sleep or in waking up early?
· What is the sleep environment like (Noisy? Not dark enough?)?
· How does insomnia affect daytime functioning?
· What medications are being taken (including the use of selfmedications
for insomnia, such as herbs, alcohol, and over-thecounter
or prescription drugs)?
· Is the patient taking or withdrawing from stimulants, such as
coffee or tobacco?
· How much alcohol is consumed per day?
· What stresses or emotional factors may be present?
· Has the patient experienced any significant life changes?
· Does the patient snore or gasp during sleep (an indication of
sleep apnea)?
· Does the patient have leg problems (cramps, twitching, crawling
feelings)?
· If there is a bed partner, is his or her behavior distressing or
disturbing?
· Is the patient a shift worker?
It may be suggested that you keep a sleep diary to keep track of
your sleeping habits. Every day for two weeks, the patient should
record all sleep-related information, including responses to questions
listed above described on a daily basis. A bed partner can help by
adding his or her observations of the patient's sleep behavior.
Here’s what you should include in your sleep diary:
· Time you went to bed and woke up
· Total sleep hours
· Quality of sleep
· Times that you were awake during the night and what you did
(e.g. stayed in bed with eyes closed or got up, had a glass of
milk and meditated)
· Amount of caffeine or alcohol you consumed and times of
consumption
· Types of food and drink and times of consumption
· Feelings - happiness, sadness, stress, anxiety
· Drugs or medications taken, amounts taken and times of
consumption.
Believe it or not, there is a way to actually measure sleepiness.
It’s called the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and it uses a simple
questionnaire to measure excessive sleepiness during eight situations.
Here is the general form:
THE EPWORTH SLEEPINESS SCALE
SITUATION CHANCE OF DOZING
(Indicate a score of 0 to
3) 0 = no chance of
dozing, 1 = slight chance
of dozing, 2 = moderate
chance of dozing, 3 =
high chance of dozing
Sitting and reading
Watching TV
Sitting inactive in a
public place (e.g., a
theater or a meeting)
Riding as a passenger in
a car for an hour
without a break
Lying down to rest in
the afternoon when
circumstances permit
Sitting and talking to
someone
Sitting quietly after a
lunch without alcohol
Sitting in a car while
stopped for a few
minutes in traffic
Score Results
1-6 Getting enough sleep:
4-8 Tends to be sleepy but is average:
9 and over Very sleepy and suggestive of sleepdisordered
breathing. Patient should seek medical
advice.
You might also be given a Multiple Sleep Latency Test. The
multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) employs a machine that measures
the time it takes to fall asleep lying in a quiet room during the day:
The patient takes four or five scheduled naps two hours apart.
People with healthy sleep habits fall asleep in about 10 to 20 minutes.
The test can detect changes in sleepiness associated with sleep
deprivation in patients with insomnia.
It has limitations, however, and does not take into consideration
any situations that may affect the patients' mental state and therefore
their ability to fall asleep. It is used mainly after other sleep disorders
have been ruled out and the doctor is uncertain whether or not
insomnia is a correct diagnosis.
In cases where a physician is unable to help with your insomnia,
you may be referred to a sleep disorder clinic for diagnosis and
treatment.
SLEEP DISORDER CLINICS
As we’ve said, there are numerous sleep disorder centers
designed to specifically diagnose and provide ways for you to
overcome your insomnia. While the thought of going to a clinic and
having people watch you sleep is just a little much for you, fear not.
Actually, sleep disorder centers are there for that specific reason and
you will most likely get some answers to your sleeping problems.
Among the signs that may indicate a need for a sleep disorders
center are the following:
· Insomnia due to psychological disorders.
· Sleeping problems due to substance abuse.
· Snoring and sudden awakening with gasping for breath (possible
sleep apnea).
· Severe restless legs syndrome.
· Persistent daytime sleepiness.
· Sudden episodes of falling asleep during the day (possible
narcolepsy).
. What can you expect when you go to a clinic like this? You will
be participating in a sleep study or polysomnogram which is a test that
will record your physical state during various stages of sleep and
wakefulness. It provides data that are essential in evaluating sleep and
sleep-related complaints, such as identifying sleep stages, body
position, blood oxygen levels, respiratory events, muscle tone, heart
rate, amount of snoring and general sleep behavior.
Usually you will make an appointment for your visit, which will
take place at night. The sleep center may send you forms requesting
your medical and sleep history prior to your appointment with the
doctor. The form may ask for your bed partner's responses to some of
these questions, since you may not be aware that you snore, stop
breathing (sleep apnea) or kick your legs when you sleep. It also may
provide tips and some special instructions for your sleep test.
Before your sleep test, you may meet with a physician or sleep
specialist, who will go over your medical and sleep history. You may
participate in a "split-night" test, in which half the night will be used to
diagnose your sleep problem, and the other half will be used to treat
the problem. This is sometimes done with patients who are being
tested for sleep apnea.
After your arrival at the sleep center, you may be asked to
complete a questionnaire on your sleep the night before. Many sleep
centers offer a video or other information about the sleep study or
specific disorders such as sleep apnea, since a significant percentage
of those who have sleep tests are suspected to have sleep apnea. The
video may also address what you should expect during the sleep test
to ease any fears that you may have. Then you will be asked to
change into nightclothes.
After changing, a polysomographic technician will connect you to
the electrodes that will record your brain waves and muscle
movements throughout the night. The electrodes are placed in specific
areas and applied with water-soluble glue and tape. The electrodes
record brain waves, muscle movement, rapid eye movement (REM),
air intake, and periodic limb movement.
A microphone attached to your neck records snoring, and two
belt-like straps around the chest and lower abdomen monitor muscle
movement during breathing. Despite all of the equipment, most people
say it doesn't disrupt their sleep.
After settling into bed, your technician may go to a monitoring
room and ask you over an intercom to perform certain tasks that will
show the electrodes are recording properly. You will be observed on a
television monitor during the night, but that is to allow the technician
to note your body movements during sleep.
When everything is working properly, the lights will be turned off
and you can go to sleep. Many patients are so chronically tired that
they have no problem falling asleep.
While you are sleeping, your brain waves will be recorded to
determine when you are awake or in Stage 1, 2, 3, 4 or REM sleep.
You will be awakened in the morning and the electrodes will be
removed. Since they are applied with water-soluble glue or tape,
removal isn't painful.
You will need to make an appointment with a sleep specialist to
review the results of your study. You might be asked to complete a
questionnaire concerning your sleep the previous night, and then you
can go home.
Based on the results of your sleep study, you may be given
treatment for a specific sleep disorder. For example, patients with
sleep apnea may be prescribed Continuous Positive Airway Pressure or
CPAP, which is a device that gently blows air into your nasal passages
to keep the airway open while you are asleep.
Here are some things you need to bring along with you for
your sleep test:
· Nightgown, pajamas or any comfortable sleep wear, preferably
with a button-down front.
· Your favorite pillow or blanket. Sleep centers provide bedding
including sheets, blankets and pillows, but yours may help you
sleep better.
· Toiletries such as a toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush or comb.
· Clothes for the following day.
· Any needed medications.
· A book or other reading material.
On the day of your test, wash and dry your hair. Try not to use
any hair products, such as gels, hairsprays or heavy conditioners,
because it may prevent the electrodes from sticking to your scalp.
Remove nail polish and/or artificial nails from at least two
fingers. The oximeter that is placed on your finger to monitor blood
oxygen levels reads this information through the nail, so any polish or
acrylic will not provide an accurate reading.
Do not wear make-up. Some electrodes are on the face, so this
area must be clean in order to get a good connection.
Generally, you are asked to obtain a normal night's sleep before
the test, unless instructed otherwise by your doctor. Continue to take
your regular medications and limit caffeine intake the day of your test.
Once you have the diagnosis of insomnia, you might be
wondering what you can do to overcome it. With the help of your
doctor or sleep specialist, you can work together to overcome your
sleeplessness. You should also be aware of the information you can do
yourself or ask your doctor about in treatment of this disorder. Drug
therapy is a popular method of overcoming insomnia.
MEDICATIONS THAT CAN HELP
According to a 1999 survey, about 30% of American women and
20% of men reported taking a medication to help them sleep at some
time during the course of a year. Over half of these drugs were over
the counter medications.
It should be stressed that only behavioral or psychological
techniques can actually cure insomnia, whereas prolonged use of
sleeping pills can only result in dependency. In addition, a 2002 study
reported lower survival rates in people who took sleeping pills,
although more research is needed to clarify this association.
Why do so many people want to take sleeping pills for their
insomnia? Many people experiencing sleep problems want a quick fix
for their problems. Several of the treatments that are often successful
are time intensive and require a lot of work on the part of the person
experiencing insomnia.
The thought of a pill or medication that can solve the problem
quickly and easily is very appealing. Unfortunately, the reality behind
the use of sleep medications is that they don’t solve the problem, and
can often exacerbate insomnia over the long term.
If you want to take medications to help you sleep because you
are in a great deal of pain, are traveling or just need to get some
sleep, pay attention to the type of medication you choose and try to
use the medication only when you really need it. Additionally, if you
can commit to making your sleep habits and sleep environment better
and more conducive to sleep, you have a greater chance of limiting the
effects of insomnia on your life.
Drugs used specifically for improving sleeping are called
hypnotics. Benzodiazepines are the ones most commonly prescribed,
but others are available that may be better tolerated and have less
risk of dependency. They should generally be used only to prevent the
vicious cycle of psychophysiological insomnia in people with transient
or short-term insomnia when non-medical treatments have failed.
Originally developed to treat anxiety, these drugs reinforce a
chemical in the brain that inhibits neuron excitability. Commonly
prescribed benzodiazepines include the following:
· Long acting benzodiazepines include flurazepam (Dalmane) and
clonazepam (Klonopin), quazepam (Doral).
· Medium- to short-acting benzodiazepines include triazolam
(Halcion), lorazepam (Ativan), alprazolam (Xanax), temazepam
(Restoril), oxazepam (Serax), prazepam (Centrax), estazolam
(ProSom), and flunitrazepam (Rohypnol). Short-acting
benzodiazepines are particularly useful for air travelers who want
to reduce the effects of jet lag.
Of course, as with any medication, side effects are to be
expected. When taking benzodiazepines, be mindful of what could
happen when you take them. Common side effects of these drugs
include:
· The drugs may increase depression, a common co-condition in
any case in many people with insomnia.
· Respiratory depression may occur with overuse or with people
with pre-existing respiratory illness.
· Long-acting agents have a very high rate of residual daytime
drowsiness compared to others. They have been associated with
a significantly increased risk for automobile accidents and falls in
the elderly particularly in the first week after taking them.
Shorter-acting benzodiazepines do not appear to pose as high a
risk.
· Memory loss (so-called traveler's amnesia), sleepwalking, and
odd mood states have been reported after taking Halcyon and
other short-acting benzodiazepines. These effects are rare and
probably enhanced by alcohol.
· Because these drugs cross the placenta and enter breast milk,
pregnant women or nursing mothers should not use them. An
association was reported between the use of benzodiazepines in
the first trimester of pregnancy and the development of cleft lip
in newborns.
· In rare cases, overdoses have been fatal.
Elderly people are more susceptible to side effects and should
usually start at half the dose prescribed for younger people and should
not take long-acting forms. Side effects may differ depending on
whether the benzodiazepine is long- or shorting acting.
Benzodiazepines are potentially dangerous when used in
combination with alcohol, and some medications, like the ulcer
medication cimetidine, can slow the metabolism of the benzodiazepine.
This type of medication can be highly addictive. When you stop
taking this medication, you will probably have some withdrawl
symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms usually occur after prolonged use
and indicate dependence. They can last one to three weeks after
stopping the drug and may include the following:
· Gastrointestinal distress.
· Sweating.
· Disturbed heart rhythm.
In severe cases, patients might hallucinate or experience
seizures, even a week or more after the drug has been stopped.
Rebound insomnia, which often occurs after withdrawal, typically
includes one to two nights of sleep disturbance, daytime sleepiness,
and anxiety. In some cases patients may experience the return of
original severe insomnia. The chances for rebound are higher with the
short-acting benzodiazepines than with the longer-acting ones.
In addition, the following precautions are important in taking
sleeping pills:
· Start with non-prescription medication.
· If prescription hypnotics are required, start with as low a dose as
possible.
· In general, do not take either prescription nor non-prescription
sleeping pills on consecutive days or for more than two to four
days a week.
· If insomnia is still a problem after stopping the drug and
continuing with good sleep hygiene, this pattern can be repeated
again, but for no longer than four weeks.
· Medication should be withdrawn gradually and the patient should
be aware of the possibility of rebound insomnia when stopping
medication.
· Alcohol intensifies the side effects of all sleeping medication and
should be avoided.
If chronic insomnia is a companion to depression or anxiety,
treating these problems first may be the best approach. Some newer
antidepressants may be effective at treating both depression and
insomnia at once.
Over-the-counter and prescription sleeping medications are very
commonly used medications.
Antihistamines cause drowsiness and many over-the-counter
preparations are available that might help transient insomnia. Most
over the counter sleep aids use antihistamines ingredients, most
commonly diphenhydramine. They may simply contain
diphenhydramine alone (Nytol, Sleep-Eez, Sominex) or contain
combinations of diphenhydramine with pain relievers (Anacin P.M.,
Exedrin P.M., Tylenol P.M.). Doxylamine (Unison) is another
antihistamine used in sleep medications.
Unfortunately, most of these drugs can leave patients drowsy
the next day and may not be very effective in providing restful sleep.
Side effects include daytime sleepiness, dizziness, drunken movement,
blurred vision, and dry mouth and throat.
In general, these types of medications should be avoided by
people with angina, heart arrhythmias, glaucoma, problems urinating,
or while taking medications to prevent nausea or motion sickness.
Some, such as those containing doxylamine should also be avoided by
patients with chronic lung disease.
Actually, for most people, over-the-counter (OTC) sleep
medications are not a good choice. These medications are not intended
for long-term use and rely on the sedating side effects of antihistamine
to facilitate sleep.
While taking an OTC sleep medication, avoid driving and other
tasks where mental alertness is required. The sedative effects of
antihistamines may increase your risk of falling as well.
Sleep experienced while taking OTC sleep medications is not of
the same quality as normal sleep. Some people who take OTC sleep
medications spend as little as 5% of their total sleep time in deep
sleep (compared to approximately 10-25% for healthy sleepers).
Only use OTC sleep medications for transient or short-term
insomnia and in conjunction with changes to your sleeping habits. Be
sure to pay attention to your body’s physical response to them.
Immediately discontinue use if you experience any severe adverse
effects such as forgetfulness, constipation, urinary retention, and
dizziness.
There are some medications on the market that do not contain
benzodiazepine. These pills are shorter acting and can induce sleep
with fewer side effects than the benzodiazepines. These hypnotics
include zolpidem (Ambien), zaleplon (Sonata), and zopiclone
(Imovane).
The brands have some differences, such as the following:
· Zaleplon (Sonata) is the shortest-acting hypnotic available. It
can be taken even in the middle of the night and if a patient
needs to awaken in only four hours. In such cases, the
medication is effective and still does not leave the person overly
sedated in the morning. It appears to have a better safety record
than other hypnotics and may be particularly useful for patients
in the younger and older age groups.
· Zolpidem (Ambien) may be useful for people who take it as soon
as they go to bed, since it is longer acting than Sonata. A 2002
study suggested that the drug might be used on an as-needed
basis, with up to five tablets taken a week. After three weeks,
two-thirds of the patients taking zolpidem in this way were able
to reduce their tablet intake by more than 25% without losing
improvements in sleep.
These agents can be particularly helpful for preventing jet lag.
They also may be beneficial for people who also have accompanying
mood disorders, such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
They also appear to be safe and effective for elderly patients, even
possibly those with chronic lung problems, but research is needed to
confirm this. They are expensive, however.
Of course, there will be some possible side effects that can come
about even with these types of pills. They have fewer morning side
effects than the benzodiazepines, including morning sedation and
memory loss (although they can occur to some degree). Ambien's
record of adverse effects is similar to that of triazolam (Halcyon), the
short-acting benzodiazepine. Sonata appears to have less severe side
effects. In general, for both drugs, the side effects are mild but can
include the following:
· Nausea.
· Dizziness.
· Nightmares.
· Agitation or antagonistic mood in the morning.
· Amnesia (in high doses).
· Headache.
· Rare fatal overdoses have been reported.
As with any hypnotics, alcohol poses a danger with these drugs.
The risk for rebound, dependence, and tolerance is lower with these
agents than with benzodiazapine, particularly with Sonata.
In one study, people who took this hypnotic every night for one
year had no evidence of dependency or withdrawal symptoms, but
more large studies are needed to confirm long-term safety. These
agents are still subject to abuse. In any case, no hypnotic should be
taken for more than a few days or at higher than the recommended
dose.
A combination of newer antidepressants and structured
psychotherapy is proving to be very effective for improving both
depression and insomnia in patients with both conditions.
Chloral hydrate is relatively reliable and has been in use since
1832. Many physicians prescribe it for short-term use if other
hypnotics cannot be used. It has significant adverse effects, however,
and some experts believe it no longer has a role in the treatment of
insomnia.
In any case it does not appear to be effective in the elderly.
Chloral hydrate poses a risk for addiction and it can be fatal in
overdose. It also has carcinogenic properties and can harm genetic
material.
Potential side effects also include irritation of the skin, mucous
membranes, and stomach. People with stomach, heart, kidney, or liver
disorders should not take this drug at all. If a child is given it (usually
for minor surgery), then that child should never be given chloral
hydrate again in his or her lifetime.
Since most of these drugs are available by prescription only, a
thorough consultation with your physician is necessary. When under
the care of a doctor, he or she can make sure that the medication is
working for you and they can even assist you with any withdrawal
symptoms should you stop taking the medicine.
The most significant concern about the use of medications for
treating insomnia is that medication does not address the root cause
of the problem, and instead becomes a crutch to lean on rather than a
cure. Just as you would not leave a cast on a broken bone indefinitely
because it would cause the muscle to atrophy, sleep medication should
be seen as a temporary aid for sleep problems and not a long term
one.
Other concerns about the use of over-the-counter and
prescription sleep medications include:
· development of drug tolerance and/or dependence
· reduced effectiveness of drug
· physical side effects
· interactions with other drugs or chemicals in the body
· withdrawal symptoms
· rebound insomnia
There are obviously some natural ways to help you sleep. Let’s
take a look at those non-prescription methods of sleep inducement.
NATURAL CURES FOR INSOMNIA
Herbal remedies such as valerian root, kava kava, chamomile,
lemon balm, St. John’s Wort, and passionflower have been used for
insomnia for many years. However, the effectiveness and safety of
these products has not been documented. Studies done on herbal
remedies are often hard to interpret because they are inconsistent
with standards of studies for regulated substances like prescription
drugs.
According to the National Institute of Health, although the
results of some studies suggest that valerian may be useful for
insomnia and other sleep disorders, results of other studies do not.
Interpretation of these studies is complicated by the fact the studies
had small sample sizes, used different amounts and sources of
valerian, measured different outcomes, or did not consider potential
bias resulting from high participant withdrawal rates. Overall, the
evidence from these trials for the sleep-promoting effects of valerian is
inconclusive.
Many people with insomnia choose herbal remedies for treating
their insomnia. Some such as chamomile tea or lemon balm are
harmless for most people. It should be strongly noted that a being
labeled "natural" is neither equal to being safe or necessarily to even
being natural. Herbal remedies are not regulated. Some even contain
conventional medicines.
You may want to give melatonin a try. Melatonin is the best
studied natural remedy for insomnia, although in the US it remains
unregulated. Evidence on its effects remains unclear. Some studies
have found that although many people fall asleep faster with
melatonin, it has no effect on total sleep time or daytime feeling of
sleepiness or fatigue. Some studies suggest that it may help specific
individuals, such as the following:
· Elderly people. It may help certain older people with insomnia,
such as those with evidence of low melatonin levels and those
dependent on prescription sleeping medications. It is not clear,
however, how significant the benefits are.
· People without sight. A 2000 study reported that melatonin can
help people without sight retrain their circadian cycle so that
they can sleep at regular hours. The best dosages and timing,
however, need to be clarified. High doses (10 mg) may be
needed to start with, but can probably be reduced over time.
· Travelers and Jet Lag. Some studies have reported that
melatonin may help prevent jet lag in some travelers. The
optimal dosages or timing for preventing jet lag are still unclear,
however.
· During withdrawal from prescription sleep medication. Melatonin
may help people who are dependent on sleeping medications
withdraw from these agents and maintain good quality sleep.
· People with delayed sleep syndrome. It might be somewhat
helpful for people with who fall asleep very late at night or in
early morning hours but then they sleep normally.
One difficulty in assessing study results is that there are no
consistent standards on melatonin dosages or usage. Some studies
suggest that 0.3 mg may be the most effective dosage in many people
with insomnia. In fact, higher doses (3 to 5 mg) may keep some
people awake. (A study on blind people, however, suggested that
much higher doses may be needed for this group, at least at the
beginning of treatment.)
High doses of melatonin have been associated with the following
adverse events:
· Mental impairment.
· Drowsiness.
· Severe headaches.
· Nightmares.
· It may increase the risk for seizures in children with existing
neurological disorders.
· Interactions with other drugs are not completely known.
It should be stressed that melatonin is currently classified as a
dietary supplement and not as a drug, so its quality and effectiveness
is uncontrolled in the US. (The United State is the only developed
nation that does not regulate this agent.) Melatonin is a powerful
hormone that can have major effects, many still unknown, on all parts
of the body. The bottom line is that at this time, people who take
melatonin are experimenting on themselves.
Keep in mind that alternative or natural remedies are not
regulated and their quality is not publicly controlled. In addition, any
substance that can affect the body's chemistry can, like any drug,
produce side effects that may be harmful.
Even if studies report positive benefits from herbal remedies, the
compounds used in such studies are, in most cases, not what are
being marketed to the public. There have been a number of reported
cases of serious and even lethal side effects from herbal products. In
addition, some so-called natural remedies were found to contain
standard prescription medication.
The following warnings are of particular importance for people with
insomnia:
· C hinese Herbal Remedies. Studies suggest that up to 30% of
herbal patent remedies imported from China having been laced
with potent pharmaceuticals such as phenacetin and steroids.
And one study reported a significant percentage of such
remedies containing toxic metals.
For example, the herbal remedy Sleeping Buddha was recalled in
1998 because it actually contains a benzodiazepine, the major
ingredient in many prescription sleeping pills, and also appeared
to increase the risk for birth defects in pregnant women. Reports
of a few cases of acute hepatitis have occurred from Jin Bu
Huan, a Chinese herbal remedy sold as treatment for pain and
insomnia.
· V alerian root. A number of studies suggest that valerian may
be helpful for insomnia. Side effects include vivid dreams. It
should be noted that high doses of valerian can cause blurred
vision, excitability, and changes in heart rhythm.
· K ava kava. Kava kava has sedative actions and studies have
reported that it helps improve stress-induced insomnia. The
most common side effect reported is dizziness. It should be
noted, however, that kava kava has been associated with liver
failure in some cases.
It also interacts dangerously with certain medications; including
alprazolam, an anti-anxiety drug. And it increases the potency of
certain other drugs, including other sleep medications, alcohol,
and antidepressants.
· T ryptophan and 5-L-5-hydroxytryptophan (HTP).
Tryptophan is an amino acid used in the formation of the
neurotransmitter serotonin, which is known to promote wellbeing
and has been associated with healthy sleep. L-tryptophan
was marked for insomnia and other disorders but was withdrawn
from the market after a contaminated batch caused a rare and
even fatal disorder called eosinophilia myalgia syndrome.
5-htp, a byproduct of tryptophan, is still available as a
supplement. There have been reports that some brands contain
a substance called Peak X, which some evidence suggests may
be harmful. To date, no serious adverse effects have been
reported and reliable brands are available. Evidence that 5-HTP
alleviates insomnia is scant.
You don’t have to use drugs – whether natural or chemical to
help you beat insomnia. There are some great behavior therapies that
can be implemented to help you get to sleep.
SLEEP HYGIENE
Sleep hygiene refers to sleep habits and conditions which
promote sleep as opposed to habits such as drinking alcohol or
caffeine in the evening, which make it hard for you to unwind and get
to sleep.
Sleep hygiene should be your first line of attack against
insomnia, and it is often used in conjunction with stimulus control and
cognitive behavior restructuring (see below). Review your habits and
make some changes in your routine to see if behavioral and
environmental changes improve your sleep.
Here are some tips for effective sleep hygiene habits:
· Establish a regular time for going to bed and getting up in the
morning and stick to it even on weekends and during vacations.
· Use the bed for sleep and sexual relations only, not for reading,
watching television, or working; excessive time in bed seems to
fragment sleep.
· Avoid naps, especially in the evening.
· Exercise before dinner. A low point in energy occurs a few hours
after exercise; sleep will then come more easily. Exercising close
to bedtime, however, may increase alertness.
· Take a hot bath about an hour and a half to two hours before
bedtime. This alters the body's core temperature rhythm and
helps people fall asleep more easily and more continuously.
(Taking a bath shortly before bed increases alertness.)
· Do something relaxing in the half-hour before bedtime. Reading,
meditation, and a leisurely walk are all appropriate activities.
· Keep the bedroom relatively cool and well ventilated.
· Do not look at the clock. Obsessing over time will just make it
more difficult to sleep.
· Eat light meals and schedule dinner four to five hours before
bedtime. A light snack before bedtime can help sleep, but a large
meal may have the opposite effect.
· Spend a half hour in the sun each day. The best time is early in
the day. (Take precautions against overexposure to sunlight by
wearing protective clothing and sunscreen.)
· Avoid fluids just before bedtime so that sleep is not disturbed by
the need to urinate.
· Avoid caffeine or other stimulants in the hours before sleep. A
general recommendation is not to consume anything that might
hinder your sleep 4-6 hours before your anticipated bedtime.
· Don’t drink alcohol before going to bed.
· If one is still awake after 15 or 20 minutes go into another room,
read or do a quiet activity using dim lighting until feeling very
sleepy. (Don't watch television or use bright lights.)
· Give yourself a quiet time right before bed. One or two hours
before you retire, take a few moments to spend quietly relaxing
and meditating.
· Your bedroom should be exclusively for sleeping. Well, maybe
one other activity, but avoid eating, reading, smoking, drinking
or watching television in bed. The bedroom should be a peaceful
place and when it is,
· If distracted by a sleeping bed partner, moving to the couch or a
spare bed for a couple of nights might be helpful.
· If you can't sleep -- don't stay in bed. Get out of bed, move to
another room, and return to your bed when you are tired.
Sleep hygiene is just one of the behavioral techniques you can
use to help with your insomnia.
STRESS MANAGEMENT AND
RELAXATION
Learning to be physically and mentally relaxed before going to
bed will help you fall asleep more quickly. Additionally, many
relaxation techniques can be put to use when you wake up in the
middle of the night and need to get back to sleep.
Quieting your mind and body is not something that can be done
immediately, so you should try to start winding down at least an hour
before bed. Some people find that reading a book, taking a bath,
playing solitaire or working a crossword puzzle are good ways to slow
down from activity of the day.
You may want to try one or more of the following activities:
· Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) – PMR is a set of
exercises you can use to reduce anxiety and stress at bedtime.
PMR is a two-step process where you first tense certain muscle
groups and then relax them. As you go through the process, you
should be focused on actively tensing and then relaxing, helping
to relax your mind as well as your body.
The procedure takes some time to learn, but after learning it,
you can practice a shorter version of the exercises. When
practicing PMR to help with sleep, you should plan to fall asleep
before finishing all of the exercises.
See the next chapter for a quick course on PMR!
· Diaphragmatic breathing – Learning to breathe slowly and
deeply from your belly or diaphragm is a good way to slow
down. To practice belly breathing, put a hand on your stomach
and take slow breaths, letting your stomach expand as you
breathe in. As you breathe out, relax your chest and shoulders.
Concentrate on your breathing as you do it to encourage your
mind away from stressful or anxious thoughts.
· Visual imagery relaxation – Practicing visual imagery means
choosing peaceful, soothing thoughts to focus on which calm you
and allow you to stop thinking of your to do list. Everyone’s
peaceful situation is different, and you can choose to think about
things that personally soothe you – a walk in the mountains,
canoeing on a lake, swimming, petting your dog, etc. As long as
the image doesn’t excite your mind, it should work.
You might also choose to focus on something that is very
repetitious as a way of relaxing. For example, if you are a skier,
you might imagine going to the slopes, zipping up your jacket,
putting on your gloves and hat, tightening your boots, riding the
chairlift and then the smooth and rhythmic motion of sinking
your poles in and turning side to side as you ski down the
mountain. Slowly going over every detail of a repetitious activity
can be soothing and relaxing.
· Stress management – If you learn to deal with stress more
effectively through meditation or self-guided imagery, you
should be able to fall asleep more easily. Try the following
suggestions to help reduce your stress:
 Change or resolve the things causing you stress
when possible.
 Accept situations you can't change.
 Keep your mind and body as relaxed as much as
possible throughout the day.
 Give yourself enough time to do the things you need
to do -including eating.
 Don't take on too much and avoid unrealistic
demands.
 Live in the present, rather than worrying about the
past or fearing the future.
 Talk to your partner if there are problems in your
relationship.
 Have some relaxing, non-competitive activities -
something you do just for pleasure, for fun.
 Give yourself some 'quiet time' each day.
 Practice a relaxation technique or breathing
exercises regularly.
· Anger management – Anger, anxiety and frustration can stand
directly in the way of getting a good night’s sleep. You may feel
angry or anxious when you go to bed or you may become angry
and frustrated when you can’t go to sleep.
Regardless of the source of the anger, recognize that it keeps
your mind occupied and your body tense, two conditions which
don’t encourage sleep. A few things that might help you deal
with your anger or anxiety:
 Exercise daily – it will help you release excess anger
and frustration.
 Think about the cause of your anger. If there isn’t
anything you can do to resolve it, move on. If you
can resolve it, make steps to do so.
 Develop a method of releasing the anger by the end
of the day, before you try to relax or go to sleep. For
example, you might choose to write it down in your
journal or talk to a spouse or friend about it. After
you have processed the anger and let it out, try to
move on
· Word and imagination games – For some, playing mental
games at bedtime may not be helpful at all. But others find that
engaging their mind in something unimportant can be a good
way to unwind and shift attention away from actively trying to
fall asleep. Try playing some mental games:
 Spell long words and sentences backwards.
 Think of a poem or song and then count how many
a’s or b’s there are in it.
 Work your way through the alphabet thinking of a
four-letter word beginning with each letter
 Repeat long pieces of poetry or prose.
 Recall in great detail a favorite painting, a piece of
music or place.
Self-help strategies are usually effective and aren’t addictive.
Using these alternatives to over-the-counter or prescription medication
are less expensive than pharmacological treatment, have fewer side
effects, and can provide longer lasting relief particularly when
behavioral treatments are used as well.
Consider, too, altering your sleep environment. Put a board
under your mattress if it sags or try putting your bed in a different
position. Make sure your bedding is clean and that you are warm
enough but not too hot.
If light troubles you, use thicker curtains or put a scarf or sleep
mask over your eyes. If you feel more comfortable with a little light,
leave the curtains open a little or use a night light.
A common cause of sleeplessness is noise. Use earplugs if it’s
noise you can’t do anything about. Change your attitude toward the
noise, too. People can sleep through high levels of noise. It’s not so
much the level of the noise as it is how you feel about it that keeps
you awake.
Use relaxation exercises to calm yourself and take your mind off
of it. Take some diplomatic action to combat the noise that’s
disrupting your sleep. If your family is being noisy while you’re trying
to sleep, talk to them calmly about your need to sleep and ask them to
please curtail the noise during bedtime hours.
Keep a radio or tape player by your bed and use it to mask other
noise. Try playing a relaxation tape or CD such as nature noises that
can put you in a calmer mood and make you better able to cope with
distractions.
You may want to look into hypnosis for your sleeping problems.
Self-hypnosis is especially helpful. This can be done online at many
different sites that will allow you to download hypnotic sessions
tailored to your specific problem. They are extremely relaxing and
definitely worth the small investment!
Research suggests that people who suffer from insomnia tend to
be less confident and have lower self esteem than others. Therefore
anything that you can do to increase your confidence or improve your
self esteem is likely to help you sleep better. Once again there are
very many self-help books available, or you may prefer to consult a
counselor.
Another way to alleviate your insomnia is to practice cognitive
behavioral therapy. This works with animals and we are, after all,
animals too.
COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) tries to reduce a person's
misconceptions about sleep, as well as teach more positive sleep
behaviors. The therapy consists of talking with a therapist (alone or
with a group) to address your beliefs, assumptions and behaviors
regarding sleep, and is often used in conjunction with stimulus control,
sleep restriction and good sleep hygiene. Several studies have shown
that CBT is an effective way of treating insomnia and that the therapy
can reduce the number of long term medical issues associated with
insomnia.
Cognitive behavioral therapy addresses a person’s beliefs about
sleep and helps replace negative or unhelpful behaviors with positive
ones. The significance of one’s thinking about sleep is often
underestimated. Sleep problems which start as isolated incidents can
become chronic because of mental hang-ups.
How we think about sleep can play an important role in how we
deal with sleep difficulties. For this reason, an essential part of your
sleep treatment involves identifying your thoughts about sleep that
tend to make sleeping more difficult and replacing these thoughts with
more helpful thinking.
One technique for examining your thinking is to treat your
thoughts as scientific hypotheses or ideas. You may have had certain
beliefs about your sleep for a long time. At this time you are being
asked to consider alternative beliefs and determine which of these
beliefs is best supported by the information available to you.
As you pay attention to your thinking about sleep and consider
alternatives, you will probably notice two issues to address:
1. The more important it is to get a good night's sleep, the less you
sleep. Believing that a poor night's sleep is a disaster only
generates more anxiety and worry about your sleep. Challenge
this thinking and consider alternative thoughts that reduce the
importance of sleeping on the rest of your life (i.e. "It's no big
deal", "I'll be a little tired and cranky tomorrow but nothing I
can't handle.").
2. The more you try to control your sleep, the less you sleep. Sleep
is a natural body response. Telling yourself that you must sleep
and trying to force yourself to sleep only puts pressure on you
and makes your sleep worse. Focusing on what you can control
(sleep habits, schedule, when you are in or out of bed) and
letting go of what you can not control will allow falling asleep
and staying asleep to happen naturally.
Now that you've become aware of the thoughts that make your
sleep worse and have considered alternative ways of thinking, the next
step is to practice these new thoughts. This challenging of new
thoughts replacing old thoughts will take some effort because our
thoughts are typically automatic and we are not accustomed to
deliberately noticing them.
Scheduling a time each day to examine the ways you think about
your sleeping will be helpful in getting you to notice and challenge any
maladaptive thought patterns. It is important to do this on a regular
basis, as it can be easy to fall into old thought habits if you are not
actively monitoring your thoughts.
Like any new skill, it is important to practice it. Keep a diary of
your sleep-related thoughts and your ideas on how to think differently.
Once you have become accustomed to examining your thoughts, you
will find that this is an excellent skill that will prove useful for helping
you to approach your sleeping difficulties differently as well as for
learning a healthier approach to other life problems as well.
We strongly advocate progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) not
only to combat insomnia, but to combat stress as well. Here’s how to
do it.
PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE
RELAXATION
One of the most simple and easily learned techniques for
relaxation is Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR), a widely-used
procedure today that was originally developed in 1939.
The PMR procedure teaches you to relax your muscles through a
two-step process. First you deliberately apply tension to certain muscle
groups, and then you stop the tension and turn your attention to
noticing how the muscles relax as the tension flows away.
Through repetitive practice you quickly learn to recognize—and
distinguish—the associated feelings of a tensed muscle and a
completely relaxed muscle. With this simple knowledge, you can then
induce physical muscular relaxation at the first signs of the tension
that accompanies anxiety. And with physical relaxation comes mental
calmness—in any situation.
Before practicing PMR, you should consult with your physician if
you have a history of serious injuries, muscle spasms, or back
problems, because the deliberate muscle tensing of the PMR procedure
could exacerbate any of these pre-existing conditions. If you continue
with this procedure against a doctor’s advice, you do so at your own
risk.
There are two steps in the self-administered Progressive Muscle
Relaxation procedure: (a) deliberately tensing muscle groups, and (b)
releasing the induced tension. This two-step process will be described
after you are introduced to the muscle groups.
After learning the full PMR procedure as follows, you will spend
about 10 minutes a day maintaining your proficiency by practicing a
shortened form of the procedure. As you practice the short procedure,
you will be simultaneously learning cue-controlled relaxation.
Ultimately, you will acquire something that will probably become
an indispensable part of your daily life, and the initial drudgery of
practice will be long-forgotten.
It is recommended that you practice full PMR twice a day for
about a week before moving on to the shortened form (below). Of
course, the time needed to master the full PMR procedure varies from
person to person.
Here are some suggestions for practice:
· Always practice full PMR in a quiet place, along, with no
distractions like television or phones. We don’t suggest even
using background music.
· Remove your shoes and wear loose clothing
· Don’t eat, smoke or drink right before practicing PMR. It’s best
to practice before meals rather than after to avoid problems with
digestion.
· Never practice this while under the influence of any intoxicants.
· Sit in a comfortable chair or lying down in bed.
· Plan on falling asleep before the cycle is complete if you do this
in bed
· If you are doing PMR just to relax instead of falling asleep, after
you are done, relax with your eyes closed for a few seconds and
then get up slowly. If you stand up too quickly, you could
experience a sudden drop in blood pressure which could cause
you to feel faint.
Some people like to count backwards from 5 to 1 timed to slow,
deep breathing and then say “Eyes open, supremely calm, fully
alert.”
You will be working with most all the major muscle groups in
your body, but for convenience you will make a systematic progression
from your feet upwards. Here is the most popular recommended
sequence:
· Right foot
· Right lower leg and foot
· Entire right leg
· Left foot
· Left lower leg and foot
· Entire left leg
· Right hand
· Right forearm and hand
· Entire right arm
· Left hand
· Left forearm and hand
· Entire left arm
· Abdomen
· Chest
· Neck and shoulders
· Face
If you’re left handed, begin with your left side.
Here is how to perform the tension-relaxation procedure.
Step One: Tension. The process of applying tension to a
muscle is essentially the same regardless of which muscle group you
are using. First, focus your mind on the muscle group; for example,
your right hand. Then inhale and simply squeeze the muscles as hard
as you can for about 8 seconds; in the example, this would involve
making a tight fist with your hand.
Beginners usually make the mistake of allowing muscles other
than the intended group to tense as well; in the example, this would
be tensing muscles in your right arm and shoulder, not just in your
right hand. With practice you will learn to make very fine
discriminations among muscles; for the moment just do the best you
can.
It can be very frustrating for a beginner to try to experience a
fine degree of muscle separation. Because neglect of the body is an
almost universal cultural attitude, it is usually very difficult to begin
learning how to take responsibility for your body’s mechanics.
Take heart and realize that learning fine muscle distinction is in
and of itself a major part of the overall PMR learning process. PMR
isn’t just about tension and relaxation – it’s also about muscle
discernment.
Relax and realize that no part of the body is an isolated unit.
The muscles of the hand, for example, do have connections in the
forearm, so when you tense your hand, there will still be some small
tension occurring in the forearm.
When PMR asks that the hand be tensed without tensing the
arm, it is really speaking to the beginner who, out of unfamiliarity with
the body’s muscles will unthinkingly tense everything in the whole
arm. If you accept the fact that you are in the beginner phase and not
inept at practicing the procedure, then you will begin to patiently
discover the fine muscles with practice.
It’s important to really feel the tension. Done properly, the
tension procedure will cause the muscles to start to shake, and you
will feel some pain.
Be careful not to hurt yourself, as compared to feeling mild pain.
Contracting the muscles in your feet and your back, especially, can
cause serious problems if not done carefully; i.e., gently but
deliberately.
Step Two: Releasing the Tension. This is the best part
because it is actually pleasurable. After the 8 seconds, just quickly and
suddenly let go. Let all the tightness and pain flow out of the muscles
as you simultaneously exhale.
This would be imagining tightness and pain flowing out of your
hand through your fingertips as you exhale. Feel the muscles relax and
become loose and limp, tension flowing away like water out of a
faucet. Focus on and notice the difference between tension and
relaxation.
The point here is to really focus on the change that occurs as the
tension is let go. Do this very deliberately, because you are trying to
learn to make some very subtle distinctions between muscular tension
and muscular relaxation.
Stay relaxed for about 15 seconds and then repeat the tensionrelaxation
cycle. You’ll probably notice more sensations the second
time.
Once you understand the muscle groups and the tensionrelaxation
procedure, then you are ready to begin the full PMR
training. Simply follow the list of muscle groups in the sequence given
and work through your entire body. Practice twice a day for a week.
Spend extra time, if necessary, until you can achieve a deep sense of
physical relaxation; then you can move on to the Shortened PMR
schedule.
In the shortened form of PMR, you will work with summary
groups of muscles rather than individual muscle groups, and begin to
use cue-controlled relaxation.
The four summary muscle groups are:
· Lower limbs
· Abdomen and chest
· Arms, shoulders, and neck
· Face
Instead of working with just one specific part of your body at a
time, simply focus on the complete group. In Group 1, for example,
focus on both legs and feet all at once.
Cue-controlled relaxation:. Use the same tension-relaxation
procedure as full PMR, but work with the summary groups of muscles.
In addition, focus on your breathing during both tension and
relaxation.
Inhale slowly as you apply and hold the tension. Then, when you
let the tension go and exhale, say a cue word to yourself (below). This
will help you to associate the cue word with a state of relaxation, so
that eventually the cue word alone will produce a relaxed state.
Many people find that cue-controlled relaxation does not have to
depend on only one word; it may actually be more helpful in some
situations to use a particular phrase. Some suggestions for cue
words/phrases include:
· Relax
· Let it go
· It’s OK
· Stay calm
· All things are passing
· Trust in God
Initially, you should practice the shortened form of PMR under
the same conditions as you practiced full PMR. After about a week of
twice-daily practice you will then have enough proficiency to practice it
under other conditions and with distractions. Or you might want to
move on to the final process of Deep Muscle Relaxation.
Once you have learned PMR and are familiar with the feeling of
muscle relaxation, you can then induce relaxation without even
bothering with the tension-relaxation process.
All you need to do is use your imagination to think of and then
relax the various muscle groups using your cue word(s). Usually this is
done by starting at the top of your head and then working down
through your body, as if relaxation were being poured over your head
and flowing down over all of your body. This process is called Deep
Muscle Relaxation.
And, anywhere, anytime, you can simply perform a quick “body
scan” to recognize where in your body you might be holding muscle
tension and then, using imagery and your cue word/phrase, let it go.
There are other approaches toward combating insomnia that can
work well too.
OTHER ALTERNATIVES
Other techniques that can help you improve your sleep habits
are stimulus control, paradoxical intention and sleep restriction. All
three techniques have to do with changing your habits and reframing
your current way of thinking about sleep. As you sleep better, you will
create positive associations with sleep based on your new practices.
· Stimulus control
Stimulus control therapy derives from the idea that a person
with chronic insomnia associates bedtime and the bedroom with
not being able to sleep. The technique limits the amount of time
spent in the bedroom for non-sleep activities to retrain the brain
to associate bedtime and the bed/bedroom with successful sleep
attempts rather than sleeplessness. The general guidelines of
stimulus control are:
o Go to bed only when you are sleepy.
o Don’t read, watch television, eat or do other non-sleep
things in bed.
o If you are not asleep within 15 minutes, leave the
bedroom and don't return until you are sleepy.
o If you are awake at night for more than 15 minutes, get
out of bed.
o Have a consistent wake time every day, regardless of how
much sleep you got.
o Avoid naps.
· Paradoxical intention
Paradoxical intention is a psychological approach that is based
on doing the opposite of what you want or fear and taking it to
extreme. Some people who experience insomnia may continue
to experience insomnia because they fear another sleepless
night or they fear the thoughts and worries that accompany
going to bed, and their fear keeps them awake.
Paradoxical intention focuses on confronting, and hopefully,
eliminating the fear so that it stops getting in the way of sleep.
This approach is used for other fears as well. Rather than trying,
unsuccessfully, to go to sleep night after night, try to stay awake
and do something instead. Turning your attention to something
else removes the fear of not being able to sleep and may allow
you to relax and eventually go to bed.
· Sleep restriction
Sleep restriction is based on the idea that people require
different amounts of sleep, and that often, a person with
insomnia stays in bed thinking that they will get more sleep,
when staying in bed really just increases frustration and sleep
difficulty. Sleep restriction therapy reduces the amount of nonsleeping
time a person with insomnia spends in bed.
To practice sleep restriction, you determine your average total
sleep time by keeping a log of your sleep habits for two weeks.
If you usually sleep 6 hours per night, but spend 8 hours a night
in bed (tossing and turning, watching TV, reading, staring at the
ceiling for the other 2 hours), sleep restriction therapy will only
allow to spend 6 or 6 1/2 hours in bed at first.
In the beginning, you might not sleep all of the time, but
gradually, the time spent sleeping should increase. If you
continue to have trouble sleeping, the time allowed in bed is
further restricted to encourage sleep when you are in bed. The
overall time spent in bed is adjusted as it becomes clear how
much sleep you need.
And then, there’s light therapy. Let’s re-visit the circadian
rhythm and how light affects that rhythm.
LIGHT FOR HEALING
The circadian rhythm is more a function of darkness and light
rather than actual time of day. Bright light can discourage drowsiness,
and darkness can cause sleepiness, day or night. Light therapy is a
treatment used for people who suffer from circadian rhythm sleep
disorders. Your body has an internal clock that tells it when it is time
to be asleep and when it is time to be awake.
This clock is located in the brain just above an area where the
nerves travel to the eyes. This area is called the SCN. Your clock
controls the “circadian rhythms” in your body. These rhythms include
body temperature, alertness and the daily cycle of many hormones.
The word “circadian” means to occur in a cycle of about 24
hours. Circadian rhythms make you feel sleepy or alert at regular
times every day. Some people have a circadian rhythm sleep disorder.
This causes their natural sleep time to overlap with regular awake
activities such as work or school.
Among other factors, your clock is “set” by your exposure to
bright light such as sunlight. Exposure to bright light or “light therapy”
is one method used to treat people with a circadian rhythm sleep
disorder.
The goal for treating patients who have circadian rhythm
problems is to combine a healthy sleep pattern with an internal clock
that is set at the right time. This will allow them to enjoy the benefits
of good sleep.
Light therapy can help someone “re-set” a clock that is off.
Regular sleep patterns help to keep the clock set at the new time.
Light therapy is only part of a treatment plan that should be guided by
a doctor who is familiar with sleep disorders.
The use of a special light box may be helpful.
The procedure is noninvasive and simple. The patient sits a few
feet away from a box-like device that emits very bright fluorescent
light (over 4,000 lux) for about 30 minutes every day. The following
people might benefit from light therapy in specific ways.
· Shift workers. Light therapy should be maximized during hours
they are at work and minimized when they need to sleep.
· Frequent travelers. Light therapy may be useful for adjusting to
new time zones and reducing jet lag.
· Nursing home patients.
· People with delayed sleep-phase syndrome. (These people have
a natural tendency to fall asleep very late at night or in early
morning hours, but then sleep normally.)
Everyone should check with their physician before using light
therapy. The following people should avoid it or use it only under a
physician's direction:
· Anyone with eyes or skin that is highly sensitive to light.
· Anyone taking medications that increase the risk for
photosensitivity.
· People with bipolar disorder.
Timing of the therapy depends on the type of insomnia or sleep
schedule of the individual. For example, in people who cannot get to
sleep at night, light therapy in the morning and restricting bright light
at night may be helpful. People who wake up early in the morning may
benefit from light therapy performed in the evening, although a 2002
study reported that it had no effect in this group. Some light boxes
have dawn/dusk simulators that help determine the correct brightness.
Patients typically receive bright light therapy at home, with the
use of a light box. The light box emits a standard dosage of 5,000 to
10,000 lux (a measure of illumination) of white light while you sit in
front of the light, at a specified distance, for approximately 30-60
minutes after waking in the morning. Light therapy should always be
used within the proper limits for light intensity and duration of
exposure.
Bright light therapy has not been known to show any major side
effects. Some patients have reported minor side effects including: eye
irritation and dryness, headache, nausea, and dryness of skin. To
reduce the chance of experiencing these minor side effects, it is
recommended that you begin light therapy very slowly and consult
your doctor before use.
Finally, there are some general tips that you can practice that
can help with your insomnia.
PRE-SLEEP AND WHEN YOU WAKE
The following suggestions are in general and can help you have a
good night’s sleep.
· Keep a regular schedule. Try to go to bed and wake up at the
same time everyday, even on the weekends. Keeping a regular
schedule will help your body expect sleep at the same time each
day. Don’t oversleep to make up for a poor night’s sleep – doing
that for even a couple of days can reset your body clock and
make it hard for you to get to sleep at night.
· Incorporate bedtime rituals. Listening to soft music, sipping a
cup of herbal tea, etc., cues your body that it's time to slow
down and begin to prepare for sleep.
· Relax for a while before going to bed. Spending quiet time
can make falling asleep easier. This may include meditation,
relaxation and/or breathing exercises, or taking a warm bath.
Try listening to recorded relaxation or guided imagery programs.
· Don’t eat a large, heavy meal before bed. This can cause
indigestion and interfere with your normal sleep cycle. Drinking
too much fluid before bed can cause you to get up to urinate.
Try to eat your dinner at least two hours before bedtime.
· Bedtime snacks can help. An amino acid called tryptophan,
found in milk, turkey, and peanuts, helps the brain produce
serotonin, a chemical that helps you relax. Try drinking warm
milk or eat a slice of toast with peanut butter or a bowl of cereal
before bedtime. Plus, the warmth may temporarily increase your
body temperature and the subsequent drop may hasten sleep.
· Jot down all of your concerns and worries. Anxiety excites
the nervous system, so your brain sends messages to the
adrenal glands, making you more alert. Write down your worries
and possible solutions before you go to bed, so you don't need to
ruminate in the middle of the night. A journal or "to do" list may
be very helpful in letting you put away these concerns until the
next day when you are fresh.
· Go to sleep when you are sleepy. When you feel tired, go to
bed.
· Consider avoiding "over-the-counter" sleep aids, and make
sure that your prescribed medications do not cause insomnia.
There is little evidence that supplements and other over-thecounter
"sleep aids" are effective. In some cases, there are
safety concerns. Antihistamine sleep aids, in particular, have a
long duration of action and can cause daytime drowsiness.
Always talk to your doctor or healthcare practitioner about your
concerns!
· Get into a calming bedtime routine that you start 30-60 minutes
before your desired bedtime. Avoid watching tense or scary
movies, or other highly stimulating activities.
Find some activities that you find calming, and that take your
mind off of things that are bothering you. This could include
using a relaxation CD, reading, taking a hot bath, having a warm
drink (such as decaf tea or milk), or listening to music. Avoid
using alcohol to feel drowsy — it tends to contribute to waking
up in the middle of the night.
· Earlier in the evening, before you go to bed, make a list of things
you will need to do tomorrow or in the near future. Once you
have made the list, put it away and focus on relaxing. You can
start working on your list again tomorrow, and you will have
more energy to tackle your list if you get some sleep.
When you wake in the middle of the night, you CAN get back to
sleep.
· Do visualization. Focus all your attention on your toes or
visualize walking down an endless stairwell. Thinking about
repetitive or mindless things will help your brain to shut down
and adjust to sleep.
· Get out of bed if unable to sleep. Don’t lie in bed awake. Go
into another room and do something relaxing until you feel
sleepy. Worrying about falling asleep actually keeps many people
awake.
· Don't do anything stimulating. Don't read anything job
related or watch a stimulating TV program (commercials and
news shows tend to be alerting). Don't expose yourself to bright
light. The light gives cues to your brain that it is time to wake
up.
· Get up and eat some turkey. Turkey contains tryptophan, a
major building block for making serotonin, a neurotransmitter,
which sends messages between nerve cells and causes feelings
of sleepiness. Note that L-tryptophan doesn't act on the brain
unless you eat it on an empty stomach with no protein present,
so keep some turkey in the refrigerator for 3am.
· Consider changing your bedtime. If you are experiencing
sleeplessness or insomnia consistently, think about going to bed
later so that the time you spend in bed is spent sleeping. If you
are only getting five hours of sleep at night, figure out what time
you need to get up and subtract five hours (for example, if you
want to get up at 6:00 am, go to bed at 1:00 am).
This may seem counterproductive and, at first, you may be
depriving yourself of some sleep, but it can help train your body
to sleep consistently while in bed. When you are spending all of
your time in bed sleeping, you can gradually sleep more, by
adding 15 minutes at a time.
Our final chapter will deal with a problem that is very common –
sleep disorders in children.
SLEEP DISORDERS IN CHILDREN
Many children at some point in their young lives will have
problems with sleeping. There’s nothing more frustrating for a parent
than a child who won’t sleep or sleeps irregularly. Is there anything
you can do? You bet!
The most common sleep problem with infants, toddlers, and
preschoolers is sleep-onset association disorder sometimes
accompanied by issues of parent and child sleeping together
Children who have this type of disorder just don’t sleep. Parents
often describe a child who insists on being nursed to sleep or on
having a parent lie alongside until he or she falls asleep. Parents are
often unaware that their well-meaning habits have created the
difficulty.
The problem occurs when the child awakens fully if the parent or
other condition he or she has learned to associate with falling asleep is
not present. The child has learned to rely on the parent to fall asleep
and may lack the self-soothing skills necessary to settle back into
sleep independently. Sleep-onset association disorder can lead to
frequent nightly arousals for both child and parent.
Management of sleep-onset association disorder involves two
critical elements. First, you must gain an understanding of your child’s
“brain clock” or typical time of sleep onset and morning awakening. It
might be helpful for you to keep a sleep log to accomplish this.
Then, you must undertake a period of training the child to shift
from wake to sleep independently. Making this transition requires that
parents put the child to bed when he or she is drowsy but still awake--
in other words, at a time that coincides with natural sleep onset rather
than at an arbitrary hour they have chosen as bedtime.
Even when timing is optimal, most children protest when their
bedtime routine is changed. Parents vary in their ability or willingness
to allow their child to cry for brief intervals during this period of
training. Simply allowing infants to cry themselves to sleep is
unnecessary and potentially harmful, particularly in babies with
daytime symptoms of separation anxiety.
Try also using a delayed-intervention method. This only works in
children older than ten months. This method gradually increases the
time parents remain away from a crying child at bedtime--from several
seconds to 2 minutes on the first night depending on the child and
parent comfort level and up to 5 minutes on subsequent nights. When
they return to the room after each interval away, parents are advised
to reassure the child over the crib rail or at their bedside, without
picking him or her up, and without turning on the light.
Talking in a slow, quiet voice to a child who is distressed or
angry can help calm both the parent and the child. After comforting
the baby for a minute or two with endearments (e.g., "I am right here
with you, you are okay, sleepy baby, slow down"), the parent may
need to again step out of the room while the child is still crying. Many
parents find looking at a watch with a second hand during these
intervals helpful, because listening to their baby cry for just 1 minute
feels like an eternity to many parents.
The goals are to offer nurturance, comfort, and safety; to enhance
the baby's self-soothing skills; and to set a clear, consistent limit
regarding sleep location, assuming the parents choose not to have the
child sleep with them.
For many cultures around the globe and for many families in the
United States, parents sharing their bed with their infants and children
are the norm and a strongly felt personal preference. This is a sound
option when both parents are agreeable to it and commonsense safety
precautions are observed. Whatever the sleep location, supine sleep
positioning is recommended in babies.
Nighttime snacks and drinks, with the exception of water, should
be avoided, because these can exacerbate nocturnal arousals from a
physiologic standpoint and negatively affect dental health.
During the middle-childhood years, short sleep requirement,
sleep-onset anxiety, and obstructive sleep apnea are commonly
encountered problems. In these cases, making a sleep chart is very
helpful both for parent and doctors if the problem becomes persistent.
When dealing with sleep-onset insomnia caused by anxiety,
physicians will ask about daytime complaints, fears, or worries, which
may suggest a more pervasive anxiety problem warranting referral to
a children's mental health professional.
Exposure to frightening media events and a history of stressful
events such as a death in the family or the arrival of a new sibling
should be explored. More severe stressors, such as enduring sexual
abuse or witnessing family violence, are considerations in some cases.
A simple but common cause of sleep-onset insomnia in children
is rumination on issues of the day at bedtime. This problem can often
be settled with a small amount of extra attention and conversation
with a parent at bedtime.
Anxious children are best treated with a combination of
therapies, including a cognitive-behavioral approach that empowers
them to generate solutions and gain mastery over their worries. For
example, the physician might say to the child, "Adults sometimes feel
nervous, too. Let's make a list of the things that could make you feel
safe and brave and strong."
In persistent and difficult cases, a 1- to 3-month trial of the
short-acting benzodiazepine alprazolam (Xanax) may be indicated,
along with referral to a mental health professional.
Obstructive sleep apnea is seen in as many as 3% of preschool
and school-age children. Parents often complain that the child snores
nightly in all positions, perhaps worse when lying on their backs.
Parents may also observe choking spells or what they refer to as
breath holding or a halting pattern in the snoring.
Children may assume a position of neck hyperextension during
sleep. Sleep fragmentation caused by obstructive sleep apnea may
lead to daytime sleepiness, manifested as increased napping or falling
asleep at school or while watching TV. Alternatively, children may
show changes in daytime behavior, including hyperactivity,
distractibility, and mood changes.
Common childhood causes of sleep apnea are inflammation of
the tonsils or adenoids. These can usually be removed in a simple
operation and give your child some relief.
Sleep disorders to watch for in adolescents are delayed sleepphase
syndrome - a disorder of circadian rhythm and narcolepsy.
Delayed sleep-phase syndrome is common among teenagers,
although some delay in sleep phase is considered normal in this agegroup.
These teens often describe feeling wide awake in the lateevening
hours, with a delay in sleep onset until 3 or 4 AM.
When they manage to drag themselves to school, their
performance is impaired, and they may fall asleep in morning classes.
Accordingly, the young person often presents with academic failure,
truancy, or tardiness. Their sleep debt accumulates until the weekend,
when they may sleep until early afternoon, further disturbing their
circadian clock.
Changing a delayed sleep cycle is usually a challenge. It
consists of setting the morning wake-up time 15 minutes earlier each
successive day until the desired target is reached. This procedure is
accompanied by exposure to bright natural light or use of a highintensity
(2,500-lux) light box in the morning.
Other measures that may be beneficial in resetting the brain
clock are minimizing exposure to evening light, a trial of melatonin 4
to 5 hours before desired sleep onset, and a short course of sedative
medication in the evening. Strict adherence to the new sleep schedule,
even on weekends and holidays, is usually necessary to prevent
relapse to previous patterns.
CONCLUSION
Insomnia is a common problem, especially with individuals who
are suffering from pain or illness. Insomnia has been shown to be
associated with a variety of health problems, including reduced
functioning of the immune system, increased irritability, increased
pain, difficulties with concentration and weight gain.
Fortunately, there are many effective treatments for insomnia.
Some of the treatments rely on medications, while others involve the
use of a variety of self-management techniques. Recent research has
shown that self-management techniques for controlling insomnia in
some cases can work even better than approaches using medications.
After dealing with many stressful situations during the day, you
are eager to get home and rest. But when you crawl into bed you face
an-other dilemma-you can't sleep. Frustrated, you toss and turn for
almost an hour, only to fall into a fitful sleep. By morning you feel
worse than you did the night before.
Sleeping, like all other body functions, is a natural 'program' that
our own inner computer, our subconscious mind, runs - which means it
can be restored very easily with natural means. Insomnia is just a
temporary program that runs while we are feeling overly stressed or
fatigued, and so with some minor changes, natural sleep can replace it
again very easily.
Sleeping is one of our most basic, natural and instinctive
functions we possess, yet due to stress and problems in our lives, this
program can become interrupted and prevent us from sleeping
properly, deeply, or sometimes even at all.
It can be extremely frustrating to be so tired that you want to
sleep but just can’t. The added stress just adds to the sleeplessness
causing a vicious cycle.
By paying close attention to your daily life and identifying the
reasons why you are unable to sleep, you will be on the way towards a
more restful night along with rejuvenating sleep. Taking some steps
toward self-healing is well within your power.
If you try the self-help techniques outlined in this book and still
get no relief from insomnia, go see your doctor. He or she will be able
to assist you with some medications that will combat your sleep
problem and get you on the road to dreamland.
If you have insomnia, all hope is not lost. You can overcome it
with some personal reflection and a little work. Then you can enjoy
sleeping through the night and waking feeling rested and refreshed.
Additional Resources
The ultimate insomnia treatment: fall asleep
fast, get rid of sleep problems and solve the
causes of insomnia, without drugs –
guaranteed
Keep in mind that this is a completely drug-free solution. Not only is this a healthy
alternative, but ask yourself how much money will you actually save when you no longer have
to pay for sleep drugs, expensive therapists, and other sleep remedies?
CLICK HERE...You have nothing to lose except those sleepless nights!
The one time investment in this course is really a drop in the bucket compared to the ongoing
costs of sleeping pills and other remedies with questionable results and long-term effects.
You will have Access to a Truly Powerful Sleep Program that will Smash Your Insomnia
and Ensure that You Fall Asleep Easily Every Night and Wake Up Feeling Refreshed and
Energized!
At Last! You Can Beat Insomnia with this Intensive Drug-
Free Program!
Now You Don’t Have to Experience Sleepless Nights Any More!

The Diet Solution

2010-12-19T02:05:00.001-08:00

The Shocking Truth About Diabetes!

2010-02-24T23:23:00.000-08:00

“The People” have had enough apparently!Here's the Truth

About Curing Your Diabetes!

Here's the Truth
About Curing Your Diabetes!

The “World of Medicine” is scamming people – and even worse: with the help of “law-makers!”

It seems that “money” (as usual) has blinded doctors and medical practitioners to the degree that they are now willingly *suppressing* the truth regarding diabetes – its control and even its cure!

That’s right: I said it ... “cure!”

And this should shock you even more:

Here's the Truth
About Curing Your Diabetes!

It seems that it’s against the law to say the word “cure” when describing anything that actually cures you.

Yet it’s very much okay to say that something “treats” or helps “offset” the symptoms of some health condition or disease.

But if you say “cure” (and this even includes when you in fact have a real and bona fide cure for something and can even prove it!) you can get arrested.

Ever wonder why no one ever talks about “curing diabetes”? Everyone seems to be content with finding ways to “control diabetes” or “live with diabetes”. And for good reason.

No one’s out to “cure” anyone because there’s little money in doing so.

Here's the Truth
About Curing Your Diabetes!

Instead, keeping you sick and marginally pain-free is all anyone’s really out to do for you these days – as doing so means you being “forced” to buy all the same drugs over and over again, and again, and ... (you get the point!)

Of course, if a cure came along it would mean you buy it one time, and then you’re cured – and that’s that (over and done!)

Listen, if somebody showed you how to cure diabetes… they wouldn’t make very much money off of you. Right? But if somebody invents a pill or a shot that helps you live with diabetes… they’ll get your money week-after-week, month-after-month, year-after-year until the day you die. Make sense?

In fact, there’s a saying in the drug industry:

Cures Kill Profits!

Here's the Truth
About Curing Your Diabetes!

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to depend on some big drug company to keep me alive and comfortable just so I can give them more of my hard-earned money every month.

I’d much rather take control of my own health and find a way to banish diabetes.

Now a number of doctors, medical scientists and researchers armed with “real answers” and “real solutions” are stepping up and are NOT afraid of “Uncle Big-Bully Brother!”

One courageous fellow by the name of Matt Traverso is doing exactly this!

Not only that, but Matt Traverso has lectured and personally helped individuals beat the disease to the point that proven sufferers have actually gotten re-diagnoses as “no longer having the disease at all!” (Something that’s pretty much always been ruled out as a possibility altogether! – and now which may even be against the law!

Here's the Truth
About Curing Your Diabetes!

But why don’t we hear about this information from the American Diabetes Association? The truth is, the American Diabetes Association are benefiting hugely from the current trend in diabetes. They are funded by pharmaceutical companies who would lose out if people reversed there diabetic conditions.

The treatment of Diabetes brings in over $10 Million Dollars EVERY SINGLE HOUR of the day to Doctors, Pharmaceutical companies, and testing supply businesses. With that kind of money at stake Big Pharma is going to extreme lengths to silence information about natural cures and alternatives for treating diabetes.

Therefore it’s not certain how long Matt will be allowed to do this because “Uncle Sambo” has actually started using “Gestapo” tactics whereby people and businesses truly offering “cures” have been raided with masked armed police who even go to the point of forcing customers in the stores to get down on the floor at gunpoint!

So, if you’re wise and want to find out about this while it’s still possible for you to do so, then just visit this link now:

Here's the Truth
About Curing Your Diabetes!

But don’t be surprised if one day soon you return to find this site completely removed with a US Flag waving in its place (in the name of “freedom” no less!)

The Vagina Bible will have you tightening your vagina within minutes

2010-01-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

Make Your Man Come Instantaneously! Develop A Vagina So Tight & Strong That He'll Lose Himself In Ecstasy!

Tighten & Strengthen Your Vagina Or Your Money Back!

Develop an extremely TIGHT and POWERFUL vagina

Discover How To Find Your PC Muscle (Pubococcygeus)

Discover how to do exercises that will make your vagina

Tighter and StrongerClick Here!

Experience more frequent & more powerful orgasms

as a result of stronger vaginal muscles!

When you tighten your vaginal muscles, your entire life changes! Your orgasms will be exponentially stronger, more intense, and far more satisfying. Not only will you have stronger orgasms, but you will have more of them!

If you're one of the millions of women suffering from a lackluster sex life, then conditioning your vaginal muscles is a sure-fire way to bring the pleasure back to unimaginable, almost heavenly levels.

Never again go to bed horny, disappointed or frustrated! Click Here!

Don't let bad sex end your relationship. Tightening your vagina will not only make you more orgasmic, but the control you will develop over your vaginal muscles will have your man's eyes rolling in the back of his head each and every time you make love.

A sizzling sex life is a must, and developing awesome control over your vaginal muscles is the ONLY way to ensure that your sex is absolutely mind-boggling each and every time!

You'll be capable of making your man come INSTANTANEOUSLY!

. . . Tease him and make him BEG for more . . .

The power and skill you develop will make you an absolutely GODDESS in the bedroom. You will be able to control your vaginal muscles with such precision that you will be able to make your man come INSTANTANEOUSLY. Click Here!

You'll make him lose his mind when you clamp down on his penis, milking his member as he begs you for more each and every time!

This is one of the most empowering things a woman can experience.

This is not only about pleasure. This is about being confident and competent in the bedroom. It's about being an INCREDIBLE LOVER that your husband or boyfriend will tell all of his friends about.

GREAT SEX MEANS A GREAT RELATIONSHIP.

IT'S THAT SIMPLE!

Click Here!

Have you ever wondered about female ejaculation?

What on earth is that fluid?

Can all women ejaculate?

Why would I want to ejaculate?!

If you mention female ejaculation to most women, you'll likely be met with an

"Eww!"

The truth is that ejaculating is extremely pleasurable! The release associated with ejaculating is said to be one of the most fantastic, body-jolting sensations a woman can experience. Once women learn how to do it, they do it night after night. The pleasure is unparalleled! The combination of conditioned vaginal muscles coupled with ejaculation is the holy grail of female sexuality. Discover how to do it in The Vagina Bible.

Stronger Vaginal Muscles Means Better Sex For You!

Your orgasms will rock your entire body!

The Vagina Bible will have you tightening your vagina within minutes . . .

Follow this site

Reference:thevaginabible.com