Day: May 28, 2018

How Does Alcohol Affect Your Sleep?

Anyone who has ever had any experience with alcohol knows that it makes people drowsy. In fact, several people consume alcohol before bed to fall asleep. It is customary to drink a nightcap – usually an alcoholic drink – before bedtime because it is supposed to help induce sleep. Any warm drink before bedtime is known to soothe the nerves, induce relaxation, and bring sleep quickly. However, consuming alcohol before going to sleep also affects your quality and quantity of sleep. Although alcohol is a depressant and causes drowsiness, it has been found to contribute to poor sleep.

Although alcohol is generally known to aid sleep, it actually has the opposite effect. It can help people fall asleep quickly but later interferes with REM sleep. This is because consuming alcohol – be it beer, wine, or any other spirits – before bed has been found to cause slow-wave sleep patterns called delta activity. This is when memory formation and learning happens during deep sleep. But the problem occurs when alpha activity – the opposite of delta activity – is also turned on. This alpha activity interferes with sleep because it isn’t supposed to happen during sleep. When the alpha activity occurs during sleep, it interferes with restorative sleep and causes disruptions.

Alcohol before bedtime also affects your circadian rhythm. This is your biological clock that brings sleep at night and makes you wake up in the morning. When you drink alcohol before bed, it makes you wake up in the middle of the night, because alcohol affects the normal production of chemicals in the body that triggers sleepiness. Soon after consuming alcohol, the sleep-inducing chemical adenosine is produced, which makes people fall asleep quickly. But it the chemical soon subsides equally quickly, disrupting sleep and causing people to wake up in the middle of the night. That is the reason why people may feel drowsy and sleepy soon after drinking but become alright sometime later.

As mentioned in the beginning, alcohol also interferes with REM sleep. When alpha and delta activities occur together in the brain, it prevents REM sleep, which is the deepest part of the sleep cycle. With less REM sleep, people are more likely to wake up feeling tired, groggy and confused. Signs such as these indicate poor quality sleep.

There are other ways in which alcohol contributes to poor sleep quality. For instance, alcohol has been found to be a reason behind sleep disorders like sleep apnea and snoring. In fact, alcohol aggravates breathing problems during sleep because it helps the whole body relax, and when the whole body relaxes, the throat muscles also relax. This makes problems like snoring and sleep apnea worse and affects the quality of sleep. If you already suffer from sleep apnea, snoring, or other sleep disorders, drinking alcohol before bed is not a good idea because it makes those problems worse.

Alcohol also makes sleep time uncomfortable by waking you up for bathroom trips. Normally, we need to use the bathroom less when we sleep because the body knows its sleep time and makes the bladder go into hibernation for the night. But alcohol being a diuretic makes you need the bathroom more often at night, interfering with the quality of sleep.

Considering all these factors, it is safe to conclude that alcohol and sleep don’t go together. Therefore, cutting down on alcohol before sleep is the best way to get a good night’s rest. Alcohol has been consumed before bedtime for ages, and several people still like a glass of wine before they go to sleep. But then they wonder why they wake up tired and groggy in the morning.

If you consume alcohol before bed and wake up in the middle of the night or in the wee hours feeling worse, the drink was to blame. In that case, you must either not drink alcohol before bedtime at all, or even if you do drink, time it at least two hours before you go to sleep. Having a glass of wine at dinner is all right, but drinking right before you turn out the lights does more harm than good. This simple change can bring restorative sleep back to your life.

How Allergies Affect Your Sleep

Seasonal changes are the worst nightmare for people with allergies. Whether it’s autumn giving way to winter, or spring changing to summer, there are potential allergens in the air all through the year. While those who know about their allergies are better able to deal with changing seasons, the worst sufferers are those who have no idea if it’s allergies that keep them awake at night and uncomfortable through the day.

Although seasonal allergies (also called allergic rhinitis) aren’t a serious problem, they can lead to several problems in any season. Allergies can make sleeping difficult because nasal passages swell and become clogged, leading to breathing problems, snoring, and dry mouth and throat. Such sleep troubles can lead to sleepiness and fatigue during the day, affecting productivity and efficiency, and also leading to more serious problems like a foggy memory and disorientation.

It was found in a study that nearly half of the people who suffer from seasonal allergies complain of troubled sleep because of excessive sneezing and wheezing and breathing difficulty. Because allergies usually don’t have a long term cure, most people just suffer in silence. Allergic rhinitis can either be seasonal or perennial.  If it’s seasonally, it’s usually caused by dust particles in the air, as well as mold, ragweed, and pollen. When seasonal allergies occur throughout the year, they are usually caused by indoor substances like pet fur and dander, indoor mold, and dust in the carpet, bedding, and mattress.

Sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are aggravated by allergic rhinitis. Being unable to sleep night after night leads to chronic insomnia, foggy memory, disorientation, loss of productivity, and cardiac ailments. Allergic rhinitis doesn’t just affect adults; it also affects children and interferes with restful sleep.

Instead of suffering in silence, there are simple solutions to reduce the symptoms and promote better sleep. Some of the solutions are:

• Use a nasal rinse/spray before going to bed. A nasal spray gets rid of the congestion in the nasal passages and helps you breathe easy, promoting better rest and sleep.
• Keep windows closed, especially on windy days. This prevents the dust and other allergens from entering the house. If possible, also keep windows shut when going to bed.
• If you use an air-conditioner, make sure to change the filter or clean them periodically. When the filter is left unattended for a long time, allergy-causing dust can accumulate and spread in the room when the air conditioner is turned on.
• Don’t wear outside clothes to bed because dust and pollen that cling to them can transfer over to the bedding. This can trigger allergies and interfere with sleep.
• Try turning off the humidifier to stop the air from getting too moist. Moisture leads to the growth of bacteria and allergies, and a moist room can trigger allergic rhinitis.

Allergies can pose a severe problem to sleep, but with a few easy solutions it can be managed and kept under control. If allergies are persistent, consult a doctor for a medical solution.

You must have heard fancy things about meditation and how it helps calm the mind and relax the body. Now it has been found that those who meditate regularly are the world’s best sleepers. In fact, they are so good at sleeping that if sleep was a race their home would be full of medals and trophies. It has now been backed by scientific research that meditation indeed

A large section of the population suffers from sleep disorders, mainly insomnia. Not being able to fall asleep or stay asleep is one of the major reasons why people go about the day tired, groggy, and confused. It’s also why excessive daytime sleepiness occurs and interferes with normal activities. Insomnia is the primary cause of daytime sleepiness, and if left untreated, it can also be the cause of accidents and other fatalities.

Many people tend to think that insomnia doesn’t have a cure, but actually it does. Instead of popping sleeping pills or resorting to other artificial means for inducing sleep, making some lifestyle changes and adopting healthy habits treat insomnia naturally. Meditation is one such healthy habit that promotes sleep by calming the brain and inducing relaxation.

Let’s take a look at the four key ways in which meditation promotes better sleep.

1. Strengthen the sleeping brain

There’s a part of the brain that is directly responsible for sleep quality because it produces melatonin – the chemical that induces sleep. When this region of the brain is weak, it will prevent you from getting the amount of sleep that you need. If this is the cause of your insomnia, strengthening this key region in the brain is the cure. And meditation is the most important way to make this region of the brain stronger, remove abnormalities, and bring restful sleep.

2. Boost melatonin

As we already know, melatonin is the sleep chemical. The more melatonin your brain produces, the more your nighttime sleep will be. Those suffering from insomnia usually have lower levels of melatonin, therefore boosting this chemical before bedtime leads to better sleep. In a Harvard study, it was found that meditation is the ultimate melatonin booster because it lowered stress and balanced all the biological markers for quality sleep. Those who meditate enjoy a 98 percent boost in melatonin levels, resulting in better sleep, night after night. Boosting melatonin with the help of meditation instead of supplements is the healthier way to quality sleep.

3. Lower beta brainwaves

Insomnia is caused when there is an excess of beta brainwaves, the mental state in chronic anxiety and depression. When you meditate, you not only calm your mental activity but also boost alpha, theta, and delta brainwaves to induce sleep. These brainwaves cancel out the insomnia brainwaves, ensuring that you get restful sleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

4. Beat stress and worries

When you meditate, your mind enters a place of calm and peace. The mindfulness learned during meditation brings us to the present, making the brain stop worrying because the day is over and tomorrow is not here yet. This process of being present in the moment and being aware of your body and your thoughts is often the best and most effective way to calm your mind and fall asleep quickly. This is also a good way to retrain the brain and make it ready for bed. Doing this every night promotes a proper sleep cycle.

Instead of putting up with sleepless nights, try to practice some deep breathing and meditation. Download a guided meditation track on your phone or sign up for a meditation class to slowly master this simple yet highly beneficial habit.