ANCSLEEP BLOG

Trauma is an experience that one has in their life that leaves them with negative effects to their well-being and ability to function. One traumatic event can lead to psychological trauma, and it can build up over time so it is ongoing background stress. 

Most people experience trauma, with 90% of people exposed to at least one potentially traumatic event in their lives. Experiencing trauma can lead to increased risk of mental and physical health issues, including suicide. Continue reading to learn the effect of trauma on the body and sleep.

Getting sleep as an essential part of life. However sometimes their interruptions that cause us to wake up in the middle of the night. This is known as wake after sleep onset, or WASO.  Sleep quality is as important as sleep quantity.  If you are waking up repeatedly throughout the middle of the night and you are not going to get the good sleep that you need. It is recommended that adults receive 7 to 8 hours of sleep period this does not just count as time in the bed but it also counts as actual time sleeping. So if you're in the bed for eight hours, but you wake up repeatedly throughout the middle of the night calm and then you are actually only getting maybe 6 to 7 hours of sleep. This can be detrimental over the long term as it can lead to mental health disturbances, mood disturbances, excessive daytime sleepiness, among other symptoms of sleep deprivation.

Therefore if you do wake up in the middle of the night, whether that's due to a baby crying or some other interruption, it's important that you learn how to fall back asleep. Here are 8 tips for how to fall back asleep after you wake up in the middle of the night.

Quitting smoking is the best thing you can do for your health. But, the side effects of it can be unbearable. That's why so many smokers fail to quit smoking. One of those horrible side effects is insomnia. Around 2% of people who quit smoking struggle with insomnia and 80% of preexisting sleep disturbances worsened during abstinence. A lack of sleep negatively impacts so many areas of one's life, including their mood, productivity and attention. Due to these side effects, the rate of successful smoking cessation goes down. 

However, if you could find ways to overcome this insomnia, then your chances of quitting smoking could hopefully increase. Insomnia is a very common symptom, but there are ways to overcome it that don't involve starting over on all the hard work you've done. Here are tips for overcoming insomnia while giving up smoking!   

Student athletes are a particular subset of people with special needs. They have to balance their school, athletics, and extra curricular activities. This can make it difficult for student athletes to obtain the number of hours of sleep that they need. 

On average, college athletes spend between 27-41 hours per week on training and competition. They also have high pressure to perform academically well, and have to attend class, office hours, tutoring sessions, and academic advising. At least 42% of student athletes report getting poor sleep every day, with 3 in 5 students getting less than 7 hours of sleep a night. 

Guidelines state that adolescents and teens should be averaging 8-10 hours of sleep a night. For student athletes, the bottom number actually increases to 9 hours of sleep a night. 

A study found that 72% of them nap on a regular basis, but napping can interfere with sleep schedules and cause insomnia at night. Therefore, it's important to find the best time to nap, and not snooze for too long. 

Sleep varies according to level of activity of a particular student athlete. More strenuous sports require longer sleep for full recovery. Therefore, there isn't a single recommendation for sleep that covers all student athletes. Given the many variables that go into one's sleep requirements, it's best for student athletes to analyze their own sleep patterns and determine what amount of hours makes them feel good.  

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep disorder. It involves several episodes of apnea throughout the night, or episodes of complete cessation in breathing. To receive this diagnosis, one must undergo a sleep study where one of the parameters is apnea-hypopnea index, or AHI. It's important to understand what this is and what is measures so you're more knowledgeable about your sleep study results. 

At night are supposed to breathe anywhere from 12-20 times per minute. When we breathe less than that rte, our brain does not receive the appropriate amount of oxygen that it needs. These breaths need to be deep and filling our lungs about 6 liters, which is the average volume of air in our lungs following an inhalation.  

When we have a really shallow breathing episode, that is called hypopnea. Any time we breathe slower than what we are supposed to, that is called bradypnea. Both of these put our bodies at risk for receiving a suboptimal amount of oxygen at night. Too many episodes of hypopnea mixed with apnea - episodes of complete cessation of breathing - can lead to a diagnosis of sleep apnea. 

Sleep apnea is a serious sleeping disorder that requires immediate treatment to avoid long-term sequelae. Continue reading to learn more about hypopnea, and determine if you need further work up for your sleep challenges.

Many Americans struggle to get the minimum recommended number of hours of sleep, especially during the week. Weeks can get so crazy, with work, families, and commitments. It can be hard to get into bed at the right time to feel alert to get up in the mornings. 

This is why so many people use the weekend to "catch up" on sleep. The main issue with this is that you can't catch up on sleep over just a couple of days. Especially if your deprivation takes place over five days. But does this mean that once you get behind, you're just out of luck? Not necessarily. Continue reading to learn more about your sleep debt, and how to overcome it. 

Getting a good night's rest requires cooperation and coordination of hormones released from your brain. One of the key hormones required for getting good sleep is melatonin. Melatonin is released when your eyes sense low light. That triggers a cascade of other hormones that help your body prepare for bed.

When this process is interrupted, then you may experience challenges with falling asleep. Disruption can happen when you expose your eyes to high levels of light late at night. Screen from cell phones, tablets, and televisions can contribute to this. Continue reading to learn about the effect that blue light has on sleep, and how you can reduce the amount disruption to your melatonin release. 

Sleeping issues have been a staple of conversation surrounding the pandemic. COVID-19 is far from over, just as far as people still contracting the disease. However, the social ramifications of the pandemic will probably far outlast the dangers that the virus pose.

One of those consequences is sleep. Coronasomnia is a term used for the new onset of sleep issues that correlate specifically with the onset of the pandemic. Sleep deprivation was already a problem prior to the onset of the pandemic. However, since COVID began, the additional stress, grief and anxiety that has come with the pandemic have compounded these sleep issues even further. Four out of ten people have reported sleep trouble during the pandemic, leading health experts to term this issue "coronasomnia".  Continue reading to learn more about what coronosomnia is and what you can do about it if you are impacted.  

Postmenopausal women go through significant life changes. Their hormones are unregulated, they may be retiring from work, experiencing body changes that are harder to manage, and the emotional toll of going through menopause can be extreme.

However, for women who are postmenopausal, a new study has found that disrupted sleep is related poor mood, or depressive moods, in postmenopausal women. Postmenopausal women are more likely to have interrupted sleep due to life changes, hormone imbalances, and just age-related sleep changes. 

Continue reading to learn more about sleep in postmenopausal women, and ways for them to improve their sleep for improved mood and mental health.