ANCSLEEP BLOG

Sleep Trouble – Could it Be Your Nightcap?

Do you frequently wake up feeling particularly tired? Does it take your brain quite a while to dispel the fogginess of sleep? Feel like you are easily forgetting things? It might be that nightcap before bed.

The fact is: alcohol disrupts important sleep activities, like getting a full night's rest, uninterrupted sleep, and restorative sleep. This is because alcohol blocks REM sleep, and can interrupt your circadian rhythm by breaking your sleep throughout the night. Continue reading to learn about the effects of alcohol on sleep.  

Alcohol Blocks REM Sleep

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is the deepest phase of your sleep. It is the mentally restorative phase of sleep, keeping your brain primed for [National Institute of Health]:

• Memory retention
• Learning

Alcohol suppresses REM sleep, especially in the second half of the night. This means less restoration/stimulation on the parts of your brain needed for learning and memory retention. What this usually ends up looking like is general, decreased performance during the day at work or in school.

If you are one of the 22 million Americans that suffer from sleep apnea, it is likely that you own a CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) machine. CPAP therapy has positively impacted hundreds of thousands of patients who have experienced life-changing results as result of a better night's sleep.

If you have a CPAP machine, your sleep consultant has likely taught you how to use it. However, many people who own CPAP machines do not know how to properly care for their device. Some individuals who don't know who to clean their equipment properly are at risk for potential dangers such as:

• Exposure to bacteria
• Exposure to mold
• Developing allergy symptoms
• Catching pneumonia
• Being at risk for sinus infections

Therefore, knowing exactly how and when to clean your CPAP machine is of the utmost importance for your health.

Are You of the One in Three Who Don’t Sleep Enough

More than a third of adults in the United States don’t get enough sleep on a regular basis [Centers for Disease Control]. Are you in the 33%?

It’s not a surprising statistic. As things like electronics make their way into normal everyday life (and our bedroom) and most of us sit all day long at work, there are more sleep disruptions now than at any other point in history.

In nearly every facet of your life there is a sleep disruptor lurking in the shadows. It could be your home, your body, your brain, your possessions, or your work – the point is that they are everywhere and you need to know what to look for.

Here are our top ten most common things that sabotage sleep.

 

Many individuals diagnosed with sleep apnea are unaware of the fact that their sleep disorder may be impacting their sight. Sleep apnea is clinically defined as a disorder that occurs when a person's breathing is interrupted during sleep. The condition is commonly linked to symptoms such as snoring, sleepiness during the day, morning headaches, waking with a sore throat, waking with choking sensations, and insomnia. However, sleep apnea has also been linked to the development of visual conditions that can impair eyesight.

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), there are five major ocular conditions that can occur due to sleep apnea.

What is a Travel CPAP Device?

CPAP therapy is saving countless people from the negative effects of sleep apnea all over the world. A travel CPAP device is a smaller, lighter, easier-to-carry, and more discrete CPAP machine. Other travel benefits include the fact that they are:

• Are TSA friendly
• Can be FAA approved for in-flight use
• Are easy to disassemble and reassemble
• Portable! They fit into a carry-on bag

One of the reasons they are more travel friendly is that they tend to:

• Use smaller tubing
• Have fewer components
• Are battery powered, and don’t require power cables

Travel CPAP machines are made specifically for traveling, and though they are a bit more expensive than regular CPAP machines they are not made to “replace” your regular CPAP.

Overlap Between ADHD Symptoms and Sleep Deprivation Symptoms

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms and symptoms of sleep deprivation tend to overlap. An interesting question to consider is can sleep problems result in ADHD? If the answer is yes, there may be treatments available for some people with ADHD that are non-pharmacological.

Right now, there is no answer to this question. It is something that researchers, such as professor Sandra Kooij (Associate Professor of Psychiatry at VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, and founder and chair of the European Network Adult ADHD), are only just beginning to tackle.

Consider for a moment though, some of the most common symptoms of sleep deprivation [Brandon Peters, MD] that are also symptomatic of ADHD [WebMD]:

• Difficulty remaining attentive
• Lack of focus
• Impulsiveness
• Forgetfulness
• Impaired performance on common activities
• Poor prioritization/planning
• Disrupted sleep cycle

If you or your child struggle with ADHD you might also check in and see how your sleep is too.

 

Many individuals face the frustrating dilemma of working towards their weight loss to no avail. Although they follow the most common methods to shed pounds like dieting and exercising, they see no difference on the scale.

If you or someone you know can attest to this experience, there's a chance that a lack of sleep may be contributing to your inability to lose weight. Many aspects of achieving a good night's rest directly affect the body's potential to slim down.

 

If you're getting insufficient sleep, there's a good chance you're suffering from a number of symptoms making life more challenging. In addition to feeling fatigued, you may be experiencing headaches, lack of concentration, and feeling more moody and irritable than usual. However, you might also find that your memory isn't as sharp as always. Many individuals may be shocked and surprised to learn that medical studies have proven that loss of sleep can lead directly to loss of memory.

In the life of an average woman, she will experience 7 significant hormonal shifts. These shifts occur during puberty, during adult menstrual years, during pregnancy, postpartum, twice during perimenopause, and post-menopause.

It's no surprise, then, that the National Sleep Foundation reports that women are much more likely to report sleep problems than men. Hormones may be entirely to blame for this phenomenon given that hormonal fluctuations have a direct relationship with quality of sleep.