Monthly Archives: January 2015

Though it has been well-established that alcohol consumed too close to bedtime will have a disruptive effect on sleep quality, little research has been done into exactly what the mechanism is that causes this disruption. But now a team of researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia has determined that drinking alcohol creates a specific and unusual pattern of brain wave activity, and it is to this that the disruption can be attributed. Continue reading →

Seems like everywhere you look there is some kind of news flash about how important sleep is. Maybe it’s an ad for the latest fitness tracker that measures how much REM sleep you get. Maybe it’s your physician telling you that you could lower your blood pressure if you got a few more ZZZs … or your mom sending you some kind of link about how getting eight hours of sleep is the best way to get better grades or a career advancement. No matter where you see it, it seems like some kind of conspiracy against the good time of staying up and binge-watching television series or late night partying. But if you listened to a recent Inquiring Minds podcast of UC Berkeley sleep researcher Matt Walker, you got an earful about how not getting the sleep you need can impact your life. Walker says, “Sleep is a time of immense benefit for your body. Every one of the basic homeostatic systems within your body take a huge hit after just one night of short sleep.” Continue reading →

An alarming new study based on information collected in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health has discovered a link between being sleep-deprived as a teen and the potential for developing drinking problems later in life. The study compiled data collected from over 6,000 teens between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, and found that those who reported having difficulty in either falling asleep or staying asleep were fifty percent more likely to binge drink, while fourteen percent were more likely to drive while under the influence. The study was reported in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Continue reading →

It’s a frightening scientific fact that people who are truly sleep deprived are largely unaware of their precarious condition. It is this lack of ability to assess the degree to which their alertness is compromised that has led to the increase in serious accidents attributed to drowsy driving. But somewhere under the level of exhaustion seen in these tragic incidents is where the majority of us fall – in need of more sleep and aware of it, but not sure how to go about getting it. Sleep experts have indicated that there are three basic tenets of sleep, and that making changes to any or all of the three will make a dramatic difference in the way that you perform and feel. These three areas are: Continue reading →

After choosing a mattress, selecting a pillow that matches your sleep style and comfort needs is probably the most important decision you can make that will contribute to your nighttime comfort. Though choosing a pillow may seem as easy as strolling into your local discount store and picking the first one you see, the truth is that there are a lot of factors that need to be weighed, most notably regarding what kind of material it is filled with and how thick it should be based upon your sleeping style. Continue reading →

If you’re having a hard time falling asleep at night, or staying asleep, there are a lot of possible causes. The most serious of these would be a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea or chronic insomnia, and if you have any of the risk factors for these then you should definitely go see your doctor. But there are many more benign reasons that you may be having a hard time getting your daily eight hours, and some of them may have to do with the tools that you’re working with. Continue reading →