What on earth is World Sleep Day?
WHY do we need a World Sleep Day?
WHY is Sleep such a big deal?
WHY is Sleep super important to us?
WHY do we ignore the value of sleep?
WHY do we bang on about wanting more sleep?
WHY do some of us feel exhausted after a sleep?
WHY do we need help to go to sleep?
WHY do we have sleep disorders?
WHY do some people have low Melatonin levels?
WHY are we struggling to fall asleep?
WHY are we not getting the quality of sleep we need?
WHY are we fighting our natural sleep rhythm?
WHY are our children taking sleep medication?
WHY are our teenagers ending up in hospital with lack of sleep?
WHY are some adults hooked on sleep medication?
WHY are sleeping pill sales increasing?
WHY are there so many things to help us sleep?
WHY are our pharmacies and drug stores full of sleep aids?
WHY has our world got sleep issues?
WHY is sleep no longer a natural normal thing in life?
In 2016, World Sleep Federation (WSF) and World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM) collaborated to found one International organisation called World Sleep Society. (1)
World Sleep Federation is an international organisation founded in 1988 and comprised of the following charter members who represented 53 sleep societies and organisations and over 12,000 individuals.
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Asian Sleep Research Society
Australasian Sleep Association
Canadian Sleep Society
European Sleep Research Society
Federation of Latin American Sleep Societies
Sleep Research Society
World Sleep Day is an awareness activity of World Sleep Society and their mission statement is to advance sleep health worldwide. (1)
Their goal and purpose is to advance knowledge about sleep, circadian rhythms, sleep health and sleep disorders worldwide, especially in those parts of the world where this knowledge has not advanced sufficiently.
World Sleep Society currently represents over 600 individual members, 19 societies and is located in over 50 countries and organises the World Sleep Congress.
Sleep Medicine is the official journal that focuses on the human aspects of sleep, integrating the various disciplines that are involved in sleep medicine: neurology, clinical neurophysiology, internal medicine (particularly pulmonology and cardiology), psychiatry, sleep technology, paediatrics, neurosurgery, otorhinolaryngology and dentistry. (2)
So this stuff is for the sleep medicine clinician and means little to most of us on the street wondering how on earth we can get to sleep like a baby.
So there you have it a quick snapshot of all the bigwigs and more, trying to sort out something that is natural for all of us called SLEEP.
What we can add up here is that many countries are involved, so it is a global thing and with the following statistics, we have confirmation that Sleep is a big issue and it is not going away.
UK (3)
2013/2014
1 in 4 adults are experiencing disrupted sleep. (3)
50% of Britons say that stress or worry keeps them awake at night. (4)
3.5 million people experience excessive sleepiness.
Most people blame the pressures of a 24/7 society. (3)
1 in 10 people ask their doctor for sleeping tablets. (3)
42% of people taking sleeping pills have been taking them for 11+ years. (5)
7.9 million have used alcohol to help them get to sleep at night whilst 6.8 million self-medicate with over the counter tonics. (4)
30% experience insomnia. (5)
Insomnia is difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep for long enough to feel refreshed the next morning. (6)
15% of children aged 5 – 12 have sleep walked at least once.
18% of children have night terrors. (5)
37% of adults snore. (5)
3.5 million people have frequent nights of disturbed sleep due to snoring. (3)
90% of patients seen at the Royal Brompton Centre for Sleep, London, are diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnoea. (3)
£432 million cost per year to NHS – Untreated obstructive sleep apnoea. (3)
40% oversleeping occurs in people with depression.
Oversleeping can result in extreme sleepiness throughout the day. (3)
11:15pm – average person goes to bed. (4)
39% of those that watch TV in bed sleep very poorly, most nights as do 16% of people who check their emails before going to sleep. (7)
38% watch television in bed.
12% use their laptop or tablet in bed.
14% check their emails in bed. (7)
USA (8)
2016
40 million people have a chronic sleep disorder.
5% of people have sleep apnoea.
62% of adults experience a sleep problem a few nights per week.
30% of adults experience insomnia during any one year.
37.9% unintentionally fell asleep during the day at least once in the past month. (Sep/Oct 2016)
4.5% nodded off or fell asleep whilst driving in the past month. (Sep/Oct 2016)
1,550 fatal car crashes and 40,000 non-fatal car crash injuries happen each year, because someone fell asleep.
50% more likely to get Diabetes when sleeping more than 9 hours a night than those sleeping 7 hours. This gives it a similar risk profile as under-sleeping. (3)
CANADA (9)
2011
40% adults are affected by sleep disorders.
20% unsatisfied with the quality of sleep.
13% displayed all the symptoms for insomnia.
AUSTRALIA (10)
2016
Problems with sleep and its daytime consequences have increased since 2010.
33 – 45% adults are affected by inadequate sleep.
8% have sleep apnoea.
Undiagnosed sleep apnoea is common.
76% of people that slept for less than 5 ½ hours reported frequent daytime impairment or sleep-related symptoms.
70% of people with frequent loud snoring, reported daytime impairment or other sleep-related symptoms.
26% of ALL adults both use the internet most or every night of the week, just before bed and have frequent sleep difficulties or daytime impairments.
16% of all working adults work just before bed and report frequent sleep difficulties or daytime sleep-related symptoms.
36% of 18 – 24 year olds work before bed.
28% of 25 – 34 year olds work before bed.
52% of people watch TV before bed.
23% said that their typical weekday routine does not allow them to get enough sleep.
17% missed work because they were sleepy.
17% had fallen asleep on the job.
29% said they had made errors at work due to sleepiness or sleep problems.
29% said they had driven whilst feeling drowsy.
20% had nodded off whilst driving.
5% had an accident in the past year whilst driving, because they fell asleep.
NEW ZEALAND
2012
25% have a chronic sleep problem.
55% never wake up feeling refreshed.
10-15% suffer from chronic insomnia. (11)
$40,000,000 a year is lost in productivity. (11)
2013
40% teenagers have a sleep disorder.
37% teenagers reported ‘significant sleep symptoms’ lasting more than a month.
21% teenagers do not get enough sleep. (12)
GLOBAL (13)
2012
150 million adults are suffering from sleep-related problems across the developing world.
There is a strong link between psychiatric conditions like depression and anxiety and sleep problems.
Bangladesh, South Africa and Vietnam had extremely high levels of sleep problems.
Bangladesh also saw very high patterns of anxiety and depression.
Old statistics so what is going on today 5 years later?
What are the real figures?
WHY has the whole world got sleep stuff going on?
WHY are we not demanding more research?
WHY have the researchers gone to sleep about sleep?
WHY is this not making it to big news headlines?
2015
Global Sleep Aids Market will reach $80,800,000,000 by 2020. (14)
So in the next three years we will be spending 80 billion dollars on finding ways to make us sleep.
That is a lot of money and would it be wise to stop and ask WHY do we need help to sleep?
What is going on inside our mind that is stopping us from sleeping?
How are we choosing to live every day that we need some aid to sleep?
WHY is this sleep aids’ market a multi multi billion dollar industry on the rise?
What is this spelling out to us?
What is it that we are simply not getting?
What is it that we just do not understand?
What is missing that is giving us a sleep issue?
More will be presented in our forthcoming book titled The Real Truth about Sleep including chapters on
Sleep Apnoea
Circadian Rhythms
Melatonin
References
(1) (2017). World Sleep Day. World Sleep Society. Retrieved March 11, 2017 from
http://worldsleepday.org/about-us
(2) (2017). Sleep Medicine. Retrieved March 11, 2017 from
http://www.sleep-journal.com/
(3) Bestic, L. (2014, January 22). Sleep Disorders Go Beyond Insomnia. Raconteur. Retrieved March 11, 2017 from
https://www.raconteur.net/healthcare/sleep-disorders-go-beyond-insomnia
(4) (2013, March 1). What You Need to Know about the Nation’s Sleep.
The Sleep Council. Retrieved March 13, 2017 from
http://www.sleepcouncil.org.uk/first-ever-great-british-bedtime-report/
(5) (2014). Raconteur. Retrieved March 11, 2017 from
https://www.raconteur.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/dashboard-2320.jpg
(6) (2015, December 9). Insomnia. NHS Choices. Retrieved March 12, 2017 from
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/insomnia/pages/introduction.aspx
(7) (2013, March 1). The Great British Bedtime Report. The Sleep Council. (p. 18, p.31). Retrieved March 13, 2017 from
http://www.sleepcouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/The-Great-British-Bedtime-Report.pdf
(8) (2016, October 7). Sleeping Disorder Statistics. Statistic Brain. Retrieved March 11, 2017 from
http://www.statisticbrain.com/sleeping-disorder-statistics/
(9) Université Laval. (2011, September 8). Sleep Disorders Affect 40 Percent of Canadians. Science Daily. Retrieved March 13, 2017 from
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110908104005.htm
(10) Adams, R., Appleton, S., Taylor, A., McEvoy, D., & Antic, N. (2016, March). Report to the Sleep Foundation – 2016 Sleep Health Survey of Australian Adults. (p. 2, p.8). Retrieved March 12, 2017 from
http://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/pdfs/surveys/SleepHealthFoundation-Survey.pdf
(11) Harper, P. (2012, March 16). Quarter of Kiwis Have Chronic Sleep Issues – Study. NZHerald.co.nz. Retrieved March 13, 2017 from
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10792536
(12) O’Keeffe, K. (2013, December 9). Sleep Disorders in New Zealand Teenagers. Sciblogs. Retrieved March 13, 2017 from
http://sciblogs.co.nz/sleep-on-it/2013/12/09/sleep-disorders-in-new-zealand-teenagers/
(13) (2012, August 1). Global ‘Sleeplessness Epidemic’ Affects an Estimated 150 Million in Developing World. The University of Warwick. Retrieved March 13, 2017 from
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/global_145sleeplessness_epidemic146/
(14) (2015, July 31). Global Sleep Aids Market Will Reach US $80.8 Bn by 2020: Persistence Market Research. GlobeNewswire. Retrieved March 12, 2017 from
https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/07/31/756724/10144080/en/Global-Sleep-Aids-Market-Will-Reach-US-80-8-Bn-by-2020-Persistence-Market-Research.html
Comments 164
This could definitely be the simple answer – the effects of changing our sleep patterns can have an almost immediate effect.
I had sleep problems, not sleeping at all every other night and only sleeping 3-4 hours on most of the other nights. Feeling completely shattered most of the time, trying all sorts of sleeping aids (except prescribed sleeping drugs), nothing seemed to work. At one point feeling the increasing blood pressure I had to have 1 week off work to just try to relax and unwind.
At this point I became aware of Serge Benhayon and his teachings and, almost as a last resort I started going to bed early, winding down prior to bedtime, reducing the time I spent looking at screens, cutting out caffeine and alcohol, gluten and dairy food. Low and behold, within just a few months, I was sleeping like a baby, my blood pressure was normal again and I was feeling more vital and vibrant than I had done for years.
So yes, the answer for me was quite simple, and completely connected to lifestyle choices. Thanks for writing this “simple” blog.
I did not realize that I had sleep problems most of my life. I did not know it because I had nothing to compare it to. I understand now that it was partially because I was afraid to go to sleep. There was something scary about letting go, surrendering to sleep. Like if I fell asleep I would lose control.
By doing the Back to Basics program, from Simple Living Global, I began to trust that I could deal with the sleep issue. There was a point just before I fell asleep that this intense fear, that I did not want to feel, would rise. I had to just allow myself to feel this fear, not push it away. It was very intense but my body was able to deal with it because of all the intensive self care I had done. It has been an ongoing process, but after 60 years of poor sleep, I am finally getting the deeper sleep I needed.
So much appreciation and thanks to Simple Living Global and Serge Benhayon for presenting another way to live that has totally changed my life.
Appreciation to you Ken Elmer for sharing the truth about your sleep issues.
The Simple Living Back to Basics Program is hot on the sleep stuff.
We know it is a priority to focus on this if there is to be a true foundation that supports our health and well being. Without a proper real sleep routine and rhythm things just don’t flow and it brings up all sorts of stuff – emotionally, physiologically and mentally.
We are spending billions on research for so many human ill conditions and yet more and more we are hearing that lifestyle changes would make a difference.
How about we start with getting this sleep stuff sorted?
Brilliant Blog, much needed conversation – sleep is so fundamental to our body.
In the NHS there has been an increased intensity and one NHS Hospital – Guy’s and St Thomas’ are implementing a new initiative called HALT (Hungry Angry Late Tired):
http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/news-and-events/2017-news/march/20170317-halt-campaign.aspx
Whereby – “Dr Mike Farquhar, Consultant in Sleep Medicine at Evelina London, which is part of Guy’s and St Thomas’, said: “Breaks for staff are not a luxury, especially when doing busy or intense night work. Regular rest is essential to ensure staff can provide safe, effective patient care to the best of their ability. The HALT campaign emphasises that, unless critically ill patients require your immediate attention, our patients are always better served by clinicians who have had appropriate periods of rest during their shifts.”
Sleep, rest, breaks are much needed not just for our quality and vitality but for the quality and vitality we offer others when we work.
Thank you Jane Keep for this link which is saying that our medical staff need to take breaks and in particular with night shifts.
Great that they have presentations and workshops to support them now.
Could we go one step further and question those who are teaching and presenting –
How is their sleep quality and have they mastered sleep?
Could it be possible that to have real change, those who are making suggestions, leading the way by teaching and presenting, are themselves masters of the subject. Not by theory or memory recall, but by simply living what is being presented everyday?
So the knowledge is there but is second to the lived experience.
Could this be the real way to have lasting results as it holds a different quality?
A bit like saying – give up smoking, but the person telling us is still smoking.
There was an article in the Guardian ‘Britons missing an hour’s sleep every night’
(https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/01/uk-hours-sleep-night-report-average-royal-society-for-public-health) where they state:
Colin Espie, report co-author and professor of sleep medicine at Oxford University, said: “The importance of sleep for individual and societal benefit has been almost completely neglected in both policy and practice.
“Insomnia, the most common expression of mental disease, is like a Cinderella disorder – seldom receiving proper attention, despite the fact that it is the most treatable precursor to depression.”
We really do need to look at this – as it is a public health issue and something that as this blog says has an enormous ripple effect of so many things – illness and disease, mental health, productivity etc.
Adding up the statistics of the 5 countries listed – the USA, Japan, UK, Canada, Germany – the total is eye-watering. The statistics show the cost of sleep deprivation for those countries last year was 2,280,000 working days and $680,400,000,000 lost.
I can’t even comprehend the enormity of that. And I doubt those statistics even include the earlier stage ‘Cinderella disorders’ you reference here, Jane.
To add to your comment, Jane Keep, another article from the Daily Mail, 21/01/17, says the complete opposite.
The article is asking, “Could you really stockpile sleep?”
It was thought that the only way to get over sleep deprivation was to catch up afterwards but a study by researchers at the University of Calgary in Canada suggests that getting an extra two hours sleep a night for a short period is just as good at improving physical performance, brain function and memory recall.
They had twelve healthy young men who normally slept well and kept them awake for 38 hours. The men did the experiment after getting their normal amount of sleep then repeated the experiment after going to bed two hours earlier for six nights.
The results, reported in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, showed physical and mental performance was better when they ‘banked’ sleep in advance.
The article points out that British sleep experts said the study was small and there is no scientific rationale behind this theory.
So, what constitutes a ‘normal sleep’?
Are they talking about quantity or quality?
Is it possible that everything we think, say and do, everything we eat or drink in the day has an effect on how we sleep at night?
How were the subjects of this study living in the daytime during the experiment?
Although the subjects of this study normally slept well:
Is it possible that, if the subjects could actually sleep for that extra two hours, then they NEEDED the extra sleep?
Is it possible that these men’s bodies were already exhausted so any increase in sleep was always going to have a positive effect?
Is stockpiling sleep really the answer?
From someone who does shift work, I have found that having a sleep in the day if I feel I need to, before or after work, helps me immensely.
If needed, I will even have a sleep in the day on my days off.
Our bodies are very intelligent and it is very good at telling us when it is tired and if it needs to rest.
Our only choice is whether we listen or not.
With support from Simple Living Global, I have been working with the concept of letting go. It has been easy for me to let go of all the physical things that I have, but letting go of the non physical things had been more difficult for me. This is part of my difficulty in falling asleep. I am afraid to let go. I am afraid something bad will happen if I lose control.
This process of letting go, was about feeling safe enough to let go. With all the incredible support from Simple Living Global and Universal Medicine, I have felt safe enough to let go and start trusting the world again. This has allowed me sleep and let the world in.
Not getting our sleep stuff right is causing so many problems for us and as most people are talking about not getting a deep quality sleep.
We seem to rely so much on research and science and wait until they tell us but what about some simple common sense?
What happens when we apply real common sense?
Think of a baby and how we bend backwards to ensure they get the sleep rhythm tickety boo with no disturbances. Pukka pukka and no compromise ever.
So what happens?
WHY and WHEN does it all change?
What would happen if we started treating our body like a precious tiny baby and got into a strong routine for bedtime and stick with it.
Talking from lived experience it works and there is truth in this science of early bed.
Those who think it is twaddle need to try it out and see and feel the benefits.
There is so much offered in this blog.
Reflecting on it, I have a LOT of conversations about sleep, especially at work. So many of us struggle with it – not being able to ‘switch off’ at night, difficulty getting to sleep, waking up in the night, going to bed too late, waking up tired etc. Everyone seems to know how critical it is, but deep, quality sleep with consistency evades us.
The information here about melatonin levels and the hypothalamus are fascinating and it makes perfect sense that early nights are the simple solution to regulating them.
I find it so fascinating that the two parts of the brain communicate with each other, the first shift being between 9 and 12 pm, filing Everything from the day. So going to bed late and stimulated doesn’t allow this to happen and the body doesn’t get the quality sleep it requires, or to do the filing. Surely there is then a heavy, foggy feeling in the morning from the congestion still in the body from the day before?
I can really relate to this as I used to watch TV into the evening often falling asleep whilst watching, but then wake up feeling dreadful and not able to sleep well after. No quality in my sleep there and a rough start to the next day.
When I started going to bed just before 9, after a proper wind down.. no stimulation, and then with a rhythm established, not only did I feel much more deeply rested but I didn’t need so much sleep and woke feeling much more refreshed and clear. No way would I go back to my old way now.
Deep restful sleep is so critical to our quality of life. No matter how healthy we are, if we have even one night of poor sleep, it totally effects our next day.
I remember how critical it was for my young children to get their nap. Without it they were a completely different person.
If we want to improve the quality of our life, take this blog seriously. The Back To Basics program has turned my life around.
No more dreading the thought of having to go to sleep. Now I go to bed with deep appreciation for myself for making the commitment to deal with my sleep issues.
I truly feel if we really want to make changes in our life, there is unlimited support available.
There was a study in 2012 (http://www.ishn.com/articles/94247-lack-of-sleep-linked-to-274000-workplace-accidents-a-year) suggested that lack of sleep/sleep issues were responsible in USA for “274,000 workplace accidents and errors each year” back then the study suggested employers pay more attention to it, and even screen employees for it, or ask them about it.
I wonder how many employers discuss sleep and rest with their staff?
Genuinely so – in terms of raising awareness of how foundational and fundamental sleep is in our life, health, and for productivity.
Some studies and articles have looked at sleep and work, and there have been cases where staff can have interventions such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) – and whilst this or sleep medication can support, as this blog says – there is something more going on here, and until we really look at why in our world today we are not sleeping, or we are not sleeping well, and we continue with fix it and short term solutions we will find ourselves continually to be a sleep deprived world.
On the other hand, if together we look at the way we are living our lives, why and how often we are going against the natural rhythm of our body, and the natural rhythm of who we are we may get to a deeper root cause of the planet’s sleep problems. Animals don’t have a problem sleeping – so why do we?
From Simple Living Global, Universal Medicine and especially my own process of healing my sleep issues I am understanding more of what sleep is all about.
Sleep is a incredible healing process much more complicated than I thought. Basically my sleep was bad and I was exhausted because of how I had been living my life.
I have been working on a huge backlog of ignoring my bodys signals to stop. It took me awhile to understand and except that my poor sleep was because my body was working hard healing me and some of the healings were very old stuff, so it takes time.
Rest was a critical part of my process. Because my sleep was so light from all the healing, I needed alot of rest, and this was very challenging for me after 60 years of motion. I feel the rest helped me slow down my raciness.
I now wake up in the morning ready to go out and make a difference in the world. So much appreciation for myself and all the amazing support I have received.
I just read an article called THE SECRET HORRORS OF SLEEP-DEPRIVED DOCTORS, written by Pamela Wible, (an MD herself) and I find this title to be terribly appropriate.
https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2017/03/secret-horrors-sleep-deprived-doctors.html
“Recently, the ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) made the reckless decision to increase work hours to 28-hour shifts for new doctors.” -Wible
…The consequences have been, as you might expect, catastrophic.
What I gather from this and from many other articles which have been emerging is that there is a brutal form of pressure in the medical world to succumb to the protocols, schedule’s and demands that the system throws at you even if it is literally killing you and your patients…
The pressures and bullying on medical staff and in particular interns and new doctors to take the abuse of sleep deprivation silently could be called unconstitutional, a crime or a human rights issue.
Sleep deprivation is an actual torture technique used by militaries because the symptoms cause not only pain but acute suffering.
There is something very wrong when doctors to be so tortured that they wish for a car accident so they can sleep or literally become suicidal.
Pressures to accept abuse are extreme when surgeons are falling asleep during surgery instead of demanding sleep time.
Social pressures are a problem when 4 hours of sleep in a 72 hour surgery shift is silently accepted and when doctors are working for 40 hours straight and have 80-100 hour work weeks.
What we have here is a sleep deprivation experiment being done on real people, our surgeons and doctors, while they are working with real patients…
How did it get this bad?
Why do we have a system that is supposed to care for the health and well being of people but it is, by policy depriving the carers themselves of a basic physiological need and in this jeopardizing their safety and the safety of those seeking help form them?
It is important to say out loud:
‘This is inhumane’ ‘
‘This is unsafe’
‘This is not only unsustainable but it is cruel’
‘This is irresponsible to the core’
AND
‘There is another way’…
I agree THERE IS ANOTHER WAY and this blog is presenting another way.
We put our medical doctors through years and years of training and studying and then expect them to work excess hours.
Imagine the pressures they undergo and ADD to that sleep deprivation and you have a deadly cocktail that harms ALL.
There is no getting away from the fact that if our medical doctors are going with less sleep then the body is going to cop it and they are not going to be alert and fully present to do their job which requires a finite level of precision and concentration to say the least.
They are RESPONSIBLE for the lives of other fellow humans and yet they are being told to go without sleep as there is a DEMAND for them to see more patients.
Is this crazy and who on earth thinks up this stuff and makes it policy?
We all need to start taking sleep seriously and not advising others without trial and test.
In other words, LIVE what we want the world to do as this brings about real change.
I am one person who has been applying the going to bed science of sleep as mentioned in this blog for over a decade and it works. I can honestly say I no longer have exhaustion in my body and most days I work a two day in one day and I am most certainly not whacked out or requiring substances to pep or prop me up.
By that I mean I work longer hours than the average, but without the need of stimulants that most resort to in order to keep pushing and going all day.
There is a huge difference in the quality of what we put out in a day’s work when we have a deep quality of sleep every night. It is priceless and the only way to get it is to get on with it and stay committed and consistent. No point doing early bed few nights and then blowing it all at the weekend as that does not work. Done it, been there and got nowhere, so sharing this just incase anyone was wondering if they can get away with the odd late night. Sorry mate its not how our body works.
It is no surprise sleep deprivation is a form of torture. Probably a well researched one, at that.
To know that someone will suffer hugely when deprived of sleep, we must know how important sleep is to the body and how it will break down without it, causing physical and psychological issues.
Why would we choose even a bit of that in our every day?
I have not put much value to my sleep in the past. Treating it as something I needed to do. Almost like a bother and because of this, my sleep became pretty bad.
I thought I could ignore my sleep.
It was not that important.
I felt that getting things done was the goal in life.
This did not work because no matter how much I got done, I did not feel okay at the end of the day. So I would push to do more.
An endless cycle.
With support from Simple Living Global and my body telling me I was doing something wrong, I began to understand that life is not about getting a lot of things done, it is about how you are doing things. When I am more focused on the activity of life, rather than getting the job done, I feel more complete at the end of the day. This allows me to except sleep as the next thing.
This simple realisation has totally changed my life just like a good night’s sleep can make your day.
28th March 2017
Research from academics at Surrey University and Harvard Medical School have found that teenagers turning lights down in the evenings, including switching off their tablets and smartphones at night would help them get up in the mornings. This is advocated over schools implementing later start times as a way to help them get to school on time.
https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/later-school-start-time-not-solution-tired-teens
Interestingly the research also states that a later school start time would affect teenagers’ body clock as it would drift later and later and so in a few weeks time, they would find it just as difficult to get out of bed.
This is really important research. When reading about the proposed later school start times, it never made any sense. What this research is showing is that what happens before we go to bed and how we spend our time in the evenings, all have an impact on our sleep and our ability to wake-up in the mornings.
I feel that this research applies not just to teenagers but to all of us.
Metro Newspaper – 24 November 2016
This news story is saying that women lose out on more than a week’s worth of sleep each year, according to the biggest ever study of our sleep habits.
It is based on ‘sleep debt’ – the difference between the amount we get and how much we feel we need to function.
77% wake up feeling tired
Clinical Sleep Research Unit, Loughborough University
So just this one statistic is speaking volumes to us about the state of our sleep in the UK.
Lets join some dots with our common sense hat on.
Sleep debt is a choice – we all have this Free Will business that allows us to do whatever we want, whenever we want and most of us if we are honest do not pay attention to the value and importance of sleep.
Taking it one step further –
Could it be possible that if we are not choosing to live with a deep regard for our body, then we might not be able to actually calculate how much sleep we feel we need to function?
In other words we may not have the clarity of mind to know what is the truth when it comes to sleep because we have a blind spot.
Next – the word ‘function’ when we talk about our body needs to be considered more deeply.
Is function the answer or does our body want more?
We all know if we eat or stick a blast of sugar in our mouth, or a dose of caffeine we can function and keep going. Is this simply a solution?
Do we need to ponder on getting more honest and perhaps looking at how function in the long term does not serve us as a race of beings because it does not expose the exhaustion that seems to be underlying unaddressed?
We can keep asking for more research and more gadgets and solutions to find ways to bypass what our body naturally demands of us – QUALITY SLEEP.
How much sleep do I need? The experts say 8 hrs. How do they know how much sleep I need? A baby knows exactly how much to sleep and no one told them.
So when do we start looking to the experts for answers? When our sleep is bad and we do not know why. And we think that someone else can tell us what is wrong.
If we do not take responsibility for our own lives, we start to lose trust in ourselves and our bodys natural ability to deal with life.
Like a child, we know exactly how to deal with our sleep issues, just stop, surrender and listen to our bodies infinite wisdom.
You are on your way home on a packed out underground train in London flicking through the freebie newspaper. There you have the solution, the so called answer to ‘sweeter dreams’ – a big page telling us how to have ‘better sleep’ and we have on offer silk eye masks with flowers and a bow, noise machine, sleep bath foam, sleep body butter, sleep pillow spray and sleep tea.
The products available at my pharmacy for sleep issues have gone off the scale. The world and its mothers, brothers and sisters want to get a deep night’s sleep and need the props to deal with the problem. We just want to fall asleep and it drives us nuts that we can’t.
I was one of those trying everything to just shut that mind up from jabbering on and racy thoughts that made no sense or a download of a stupid song I heard in the day.
It took time to master my sleep. So what do I mean master sleep?
I would claim that if we do something day in and day out then we have mastered it.
No certificate or award needed.
Just an authority coming from our body when we talk about it because it is lived.
Going to bed early for 12 years now is the answer. Paying close attention to the body at all times and honouring what I feel in any given moment sure helps.
So what if I mess up, fall off the wagon or get it wrong. That’s the human bit.
Who said we need to be perfect? Where did that nonsense come from?
A decent night’s quality sleep is normal for me and things on the outside no longer disturb me during the day as I don’t take them with me to bed.
Thank you Simple Living Global for this well needed blog highlighting a subject that is really not given the respect or consideration it deserves.
As a society, we are very nonchalant about the benefits or harm that sleep, or the lack of, can bring.
Lack of sleep in particular is very harmful and hence, sleep deprivation is used as a torture method.
Our bodies require sleep to rejuvenate but the focus is generally put on the quantity of sleep rather than the quality of sleep.
Quality of sleep is so much more important and as you have highlighted, too much sleep has a negative effect.
As someone who used to abuse my body with late nights of watching TV/DVD’s and using alcohol to numb myself to sleep, and then waking up only to feel like I could go back to sleep for a week, I can also attest to the teachings of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
To wake up, without an alarm clock, and to not feel tired and be ready for the day ahead, was something that I couldn’t imagine, after all, it was the norm for me to wake up exhausted reaching for my caffeine or sugar fix.
The presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine have given me a way of life that brings an immense amount of joy and in that way of life, a quality of sleep that I had never experienced before.
‘How many of us know that alcohol is affecting our sleep, but we need it?’ – Simple Living Global
Dr Max Pemberton, NHS Psychiatrist writing in the Daily Mail on 25th February 2017 writes about a woman who ‘thought’ she had found a solution to her sleep problems through alcohol. He was speaking with her at an alcohol detox clinic after routine blood tests at her GP surgery found that her liver was on the ‘brink of failure’. She was drinking 1 – 2 bottles of wine per night.
Dr Max shares that in his professional experience this is not unusual.
He also quotes a study released in February 2017, which stated that 25% of us regularly use alcohol to get to sleep. In 2013, the figure was just 15%.
When we are of sound mind this does not make sense, but I can understand the desperation we must feel being sleep deprived. Alcohol may knock us out the first night, but very quickly a dependency occurs and having one problem turns into two or three as an addiction develops plus consequential harm to the body.
Dr Max agrees stating ‘While alcohol undoubtedly has the ability to knock out even the most hardened insomniac, it doesn’t allow the body to go through a full sleep cycle.’ He also noted that waking up groggy is common among those of us that drink alcohol regularly, as our brain has not rested properly.
He also shares his experience of people using alcohol to self-medicate when we experience depression. Alcohol makes the mood of a depressed person worse as it is a depressant.
So here we have it, a psychiatrist letting us know that using alcohol to numb our problems is not the way – it never has been and it never will be.
As one reader, reading the story of the lady who ended up in alcohol detox is a wake-up call for the focus to shift from the management of sleep issues to us getting to the root cause through looking at the way that we live, as this article on Sleep by Simple Living Global is presenting.
I know that everything changed for me in my life once I started to go to bed early consistently. I became less moody and I no longer wanted to put harming substances into my body like alcohol as I so enjoyed (and still do) the benefits of waking each morning feeling rested, alive and ready to engage in the day ahead.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317735.php
This hot news story posted yesterday on Medical News says that the time we eat affects our biological clock.
The new research study from University of Surrey, UK is published in the Journal Current Biology.
The findings that were significant were that the participants’ blood sugar levels changed.
Late meal times delayed blood sugar rhythms by an average of 5 hours.
“Timed meals therefore play a role in synchronizing peripheral circadian rhythms in humans and may have particular relevance for patients with circadian rhythm disorders, shift workers and transmeridian travellers”.
These findings are giving us a clue about how our blood sugar is connected with our sleep and wake cycles.
How many of us if we were honest do not feel like we had a quality sleep after eating later or at odd times, which is not our normal routine?
How many of us feel a lot lighter and better for not eating a heavy meal in the evening?
How many of us benefit when we do not eat sugary foods before bedtime?
We could say common sense tells us all of this or we could wait for even more research to keep telling us what we all innately know makes sense.
Sleep is such a precious thing.
After a week of late nights and room sharing at a company event, I had a deep sleep at home. Waking up the next day was like having a big reunion with my body – it felt amazing and it was easy to stay connected with it as I went about my day.
Who would have thought sleep could do that – help you stay tuned in to what you’re doing when you’re awake, instead of functioning checked out, on autopilot?
An article from the BBC News, March 2017, talks about how Sleep loss ‘starts arguments at work’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-39444997?ns_mchannel=email&ns_source=inxmail_newsletter&ns_campaign=bbcnewsdaily
Researchers say that even a single nights loss of sleep can cause erratic and disruptive behaviour, which is linked to lower levels of self-control.
The study published by the Rotterdam School of Management says that this disruption can cause billions in lost productivity.
The study argues that sleep loss reduces peoples self-control and their ability to ‘regulate their impulses’, it could contribute to unethical behaviour and can also make it difficult for people at work to overcome feelings of failure which then contributes to workplace problems seeming to become overwhelming.
This study is simply stating what is fairly obvious.
I’m sure we have all experienced times when we have reacted differently than we normally would have done because we are irritable and snappy because we are tired due to another late night or being unable to sleep for some other reason.
On a personal note, although very rare, if I haven’t got adequate sleep I notice that my work output, whether it be at home or at work, is reduced slightly and I have less motivation to do things and I am pulled to eat things that I normally wouldn’t.
We are all individuals and sleep loss can affect us in many different ways, so this study is just a confirmation of the importance that adequate sleep is very necessary.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317780.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly
5 June 2017 – Medical News Today
New research suggests that going to bed and waking up later on weekends than weekdays may have negative health consequences.
“Social jet lag” is a term that describes what happens when people go to sleep and wake up later on weekends than they do during the week.
A new study assessing the impact of social jet lag on overall health was published in the academic journal Sleep.
Researchers found that with each hour of social jet lag, there was an 11.1% increase in the likelihood of developing heart disease.
The results did not depend on insomnia or sleep duration so the jet lag on its own may be responsible for these health outcomes.
There is more to read but is it all too complicated and could we just for a moment put our common sense hat on and join the dots?
This blog has given us much to ponder on and if we keep it simple – does it make sense to follow a natural cycle of sleep and wake times, take note of the science of going to bed early, cut out foods like sugar and caffeine which stimulate the mind, knock out screen time in the evening and stick to the plan. The plan is making sure we consistently have some quality preparing for bedtime and not just checking out with a full belly of food in front of the TV.
With due respect to all our researchers, WHY are we not applying common sense or at least giving this ‘going to bed early’ a go?
WHY are we demanding more and more research to catch up on the global issue we now have regarding our sleep.
When such a large percentage of people do not experience the deep restorative kind of sleep the body is designed to have we start to really lose our way; in other words we do not have role models and people around to show us what ‘true’ sleep is.
We need to see a problem and recognize it before we can begin to address it.
My life and how I feel in it, is night and day different when I am getting the kind of sleep I need.
I was talking about sleep with our grocery delivery driver this morning. He was sharing how he watches TV in bed to get to sleep and sometimes puts the radio on too.
He said he watches 5 minutes then falls dead asleep and has no idea what’s happening on the TV, but it soothes him.
He says it’s his habit now and he wouldn’t know how to sleep without it.
How many of us have lost connection like this, with something so natural as the act of going to sleep?
Thank you for this blog, which offers a way back.
Why are we waiting for more research? What a great question.
Why do we give away our own knowing and common sense this way?
There are many examples of this in life.
We all know vitality is linked to the quality of our sleep. To increase true vitality, we know where to start.
Cutting stimulants. Early nights. Consistency.
What if we all took a dose of this medicine? What sort of shift would we see?
Scientists have found that when we have a sense of purpose it aids our sleep
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jul/10/sense-of-purpose-aids-sleep-us-scientists-find
I can attest to that. The more that I have felt the reason why I am here on Earth and more so accepting the value that I bring to others and so adjusting my life so that I take care of myself so that I am fit to continue contributing to life and fulfill that purpose – the sounder I sleep at night knowing why I wake up each morning.
This sleep business I feel needs to be mastered and by that I mean LIVED every day to the best of our ability.
Taking into account the science of going to bed early, which is really just a bit of common sense if we think about it, we could all benefit from a quality that is not craving this and that but feeling more settled and steady.
Having practiced going to bed early for over a decade, I can say as a living science that I am proof – the evidence of what is possible with this amount of regular sleep.
You get to look and feel younger, things don’t irritate and bug you and above all you do not get sick as the immune system is strong. The fact I do not get a cold or sore throat says a lot from someone who had an asthma pump, cold hands and feet and bronchitis every year. That’s just a few of my symptoms – there are more.
Add to this my GP telling me recently I have perfect blood pressure.
Sleep quality and the way we choose to wind down before sleep is EQUALLY important if you ask me and it is for this reason that I have dedicated my life to writing and presenting Back to Basics stuff like this, so that humanity can have more awareness. I see no point taking all this great lived wisdom to my grave and not sharing it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38918056
I recall reading this news story earlier this year and was thinking how come kids are sleeping through the loud noise of a smoke alarm.
Forensic scientists and fire investigators have warned that smoke alarms may not wake children.
A research study confirmed how children tested REPEATEDLY slept through smoke detector alarms.
This is alarming news (pun intended) and a wake up call that something is seriously wrong.
Should we all be asking questions as to WHY our kids are not waking up?
Do parents need to look into this and take note as this is very very serious?
Are we raising our children in a way that leaves them exhausted during sleep time?
Are our youth living in a way that is not alerting them to danger like a loud alarm?
Are our kids so dis-connected with their body that they simply are not in touch with their senses?
Are we looking at what choices our children are making in daily life that may contribute to this?
Are we as adults being real role models for our children when it comes to rest and sleep?
Could it be possible that our children are sleeping repeatedly through alarms because something is deeply wrong with how they are living during the day?
Dr. Max in the Daily Mail on 6th May 2017 talks about a dummy sleeping pill which actually helped people sleep better and they felt rested in the morning.
How on earth can a placebo have this affect?
Dr Max thinks it’s because many people experience anxiety when they find it difficult to sleep and this is why they have insomnia.
The association of going to bed is linked to lying awake worrying about sleeping, so it’s harder to nod off.
But when people take the placebo, they expect to get to sleep. This relaxes them so they do actually sleep.
This says a lot if we stop and think about it.
We are so reliant on something on the outside to fix us and bring us the solution but is this the real answer?
Is this going to sort out our sleep quality for the long-term?
Are we happy getting a few winks a week and winging it for the rest?
Are we willing to make sleep a priority so we can have real vitality levels?
Most of us know there is a direct correlation with sleep and our immune system.
I am a living science and so I do not need to be stuck in a lab and tested.
I would claim I have a strong immune system as I have not taken any supplements for a decade and I do not rely on any stimulants or aids to help me sleep. I have not had a cough or cold in 12 years so that in itself speaks volumes. Not a sore throat or flu.
Add to that – I do not have tranquil countryside nature surroundings every night. I live off a very busy London high street and yes we have noisy neighbours. But that’s ok as it has zero effect on my internal state. I have done my best to apply the science of going to bed early as mentioned in this blog and I for one know it really does work and supports me in every area of my life.
Without sleep quality, I feel we are robbed of our natural way of living. It is so worth getting this sleep stuff sorted.
On this government website http://think.direct.gov.uk/fatigue.html it states that –
‘Research suggests that almost 20% of accidents on major roads are sleep-related’
‘Sleep-related accidents are more likely than others to result in a fatality or serious injury’
‘Studies have shown that drivers don’t fall asleep without warning. Drivers who fall asleep at the wheel have often tried to fight off drowsiness by opening a window, or by turning up the radio. This doesn’t work for long.’
In general tiredness affects our concentration and response time.. so does this mean that if we are more responsible with the time we go to sleep and our wind down before doing so.. how we go to bed.. we could reduce this percentage or even cancel it out? and have safer roads for us all?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/14/driver-m1-crash-killed-eight-people-did-not-have-lorry-licence/
The driver of a lorry was asleep on the motorway for 12 minutes before the fatal accident that killed 8 people.
We could just sit and blame or we could use this tragic story to start asking some very serious questions?
How on earth can someone with that amount of Responsibility ie driving a Heavy Goods Vehicle, even contemplate or consider sleeping on the road?
What was going on for this person that makes them want to just sleep literally at the wheel without any awareness of the consequences?
What was going on in the mind of this driver that just stops on a motorway lane to sleep?
Is the alcohol which we all know is a mind altering substance the reason this has happened?
Are we going to ban everyone from drinking alcohol when driving as no amount is safe?
Are we going to get real now and see the harm that is caused when someone is over the drink drive limit?
Are we ready to say No to a scientific proven poison called alcohol that can have such a devastating effect on us and others?
Are we going to join the dots and make simple sense that sleeping on the motorway is dangerous and anyone in their right mind would never attempt it?
Are we going to do something about this or just put it down to a terrible news story?
Are we going to realise that lack of sleep and alcohol abuse are a lethal cocktail?
Are we going to put our common sense hat on and see this all for what it truly is?
How do we as a nation get over the worse motorway tragedy in 25 years?
NOTE – this comment is also published on our Alcohol Blog
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-39232620
BBC news story – 11 March 2017
A prominent gamer has died during a live streaming when he popped out for a cigarette break after 22 hours into the gaming.
SLEEP or lack of sleep could be the most common sense answer here or we could wait for some studies and fund more researches and wait around to confirm what we know right now.
We all know about drugs and alcohol – they alter our natural state of being and are simply poison to our human body that is not designed to have these substances.
It is clear and obvious that if our natural state is tampered with then our sleep is going to be out.
We do not need any scientific study to tell us that immutable fact as common sense will tell us.
So could gaming be a drug?
Reading our blog on video games – https://simplelivingglobal.com/video-games-day-12-september/
– there is much being presented that would leave us in no doubt that we cannot sustain sitting in front of a screen without movement for long periods. ADD to that what this blog is saying about our circadian rhythm and BINGO we have the answers.
Just because the world of science is not bang up to date with research on this new modern day global epidemic does not negate the fact that we have a new legal drug called gaming and it’s taken off. Those investing are not going to be losers when it comes to money, but is that driving factor enough when we know the real Truth?
Can we blame them or anyone who creates all this stuff OR do we take a look at the supply and demand and wake up to see it is us demanding and so they supply. If we stop the demand then they have to cut the supply as no one wants it.
Are we going to take our SLEEP seriously enough to know that it needs to be a priority if we are ever going to stop the rise of illness and disease in our world?
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/06/lack-of-sleep-could-contribute-to-mental-health-problems-researchers-reveal?CMP=share_btn_tw
The Guardian- 6 September 2017
Researchers have revealed that Mental Health problems including psychotic experiences could in part be down to lack of sleep.
Having insomnia doubles our chances of developing depression says Daniel Freeman from the University of Oxford.
Reading this blog we know without quality sleep we are in deep trouble.
This study was conducted on students and if we read what our youth are up to these days it is no surprise that there is such a rise in sleep issues and insomnia is one of them.
There is no therapy on earth that is going to stop some people staying up late and doing whatever it is they want with zero regard for their health and well being.
There is also not enough on the ground, real life research spelling out to us that lack of sleep needs to be addressed if we are ever going to get on the front foot of the rise in illness and disease.
This blog is spelling out the dangers we have of ignoring our natural rhythms and cycles that we need to pay attention to.
It seems we do this easily and without effort for young babies and then somewhere along the line we lose the focus and things go off track.
Is it time we just apply simple common sense and start getting to bed early and developing a sleep routine that we stick to that actually supports our sleep quality?
Would we all benefit in the long-term if we got the basics in place like early bed?
More than third of older adults in the USA are taking sleeping pills amid catastrophic and deadly insomnia epidemic – new survey.
Chronic insomnia is causing potentially fatal diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity, poor mental health and Alzheimer’s.
A leading sleep scientist quoted in this news article that ‘an undervaluing of the importance of sleep by employers, politicians and society in general was partly responsible for the extent of the problem, along with other factors like computers, smartphones, alcohol and caffeine’.
The elderly people think that sleeplessness is a natural part of the ageing process which of course it not true.
No pill or sleeping aid is going to cure sleep problems – no matter what the ads on TV say says the lead researcher, Dr. Preeti Malani of Michigan University.
As with any drug there are side effects and there is no getting away from that.
What if we educated not just the elderly but ALL of society with this forensic blog?
What if we actually applied the science being presented in this blog and all the comments thus far?
What if we used the blogs on this website as part of our bedtime reading?
What if the author who is in her mid 50s and has no sleep issue whatsoever is a living science, who is coming from a body that knows the truth about sleep?
Would it be worth paying attention to what she had to say?
We all seem to know the simple basic common sense stuff and yet we do not follow it through and then instead expect to be ‘fixed’ and what is now happening is our solutions seem to be failing us.
The other thing we are great at is blaming and yet we have a hand in what goes on for us and we call the shots – in other words we make all the choices.
So why are we not making a simple choice to deal with our tiredness, lack of sleep and exhaustion that haunts us daily and disrupts our natural rhythm of life?
Do we need to ask the WHY questions to find out what is really going on, or do we just accept things and bop along in life hoping it might just get better one day but make no effort to take real action and follow through by living consistently a way of life that works for our body to give us the vitality levels that we deserve?
This blog is spelling out how serious our world sleep problem is. It is global and we are no where on the front foot to nailing this.
Is it time to wake up and take note of those who have mastered sleep and that means no Jet lag too !
https://simplelivingglobal.com/jet-lag/
The global market for sleep aids will reach $80.8 billion by 2020. It is already worth well beyond $58 billion.
The primary factor is considered to be ‘our stressful modern lifestyle’.
Apparently home sleep testing and wearing body monitors at night are now very common.
Perhaps it’s time to study those who have true rest and vitality and consider why.
An interesting piece here confirming what we probably know instinctively: sleep deprivation leads to higher mortality risk and productivity losses at work.
Apparently up to 3% of UK GDP is lost due to lack of sleep. Increasing sleep would amp a country’s economy.
https://www.rand.org/randeurope/research/projects/the-value-of-the-sleep-economy.html
This report details the factors associated with not getting quality sleep.
Factors like obesity, alcohol consumption, sugary drink consumption, smoking, lack of exercise, mental health problems and stress.
This is not surprising.
I know for a fact when I don’t get quality sleep, I make bad food choices and am in particular drawn towards sweet things. And one bad choice seems to lead to another.
In my experience the opposite is also true.
I had a crazy early night last night and I feel steady and focused.
Sleep is amazing medicine.
Metro News – 24 October 2017
A train driver on night shift ‘briefly closed her eyes’ before crashing and injuring 5 people.
It says the driver was at the end of a ‘relatively demanding night shift’.
So what is it about shift work that really affects those who have to do it.
My partner who works in transport has, if you ask me, mastered all shifts including night shift. He makes sure he rests on his rest days and he is focussed on taking deep care of himself with making his food for work and exercising. His priority is to ensure his body gets plenty of sleep regardless of what the clock time is saying and he does not rely on stimulants.
He is known for swapping straight from nights to early morning or day shift with no problem at all. All this has taken some time but well worth it as he can adjust and it shows us that it is possible.
What many people I know do is use stimulants like sugar, alcohol, caffeine to stay alert and awake. Over eating is not the answer and neither is drugs. I know heaps of people who work late in the restaurants who are taking drugs to keep going and stay awake.
It confirms that sleep is really needed and it comes to balance our waking life. Ignoring and overriding our body when it needs sleep is the cause of so many ills today in this world if you ask me.
I for one was overweight, moody, emotional and stressed for decades. Once the sleep thing got mastered, I am not craving sleep or needing any aids to make me sleep.
To me sleep is a priority and without that deep quality of sleep, life ain’t worth functioning as we miss out on the joy of actually breathing and living life to the full.
The commentary on circadian rhythms in this blog is so interesting – the information about them being generated in the hypothalamus in 2 groups of cells. With the SCN creating and maintaining a daily cycle based on data it receives about light levels from receptors in the retina – timing it passes on to the pineal gland. Then with the pineal gland releasing melatonin at night and suppressing it in the day.
This sounds like magic and yet it is happening inside us every day.
And it happens wherever we are in the world, even when moving across time zones.
I recently travelled to an 8 hour time difference timezone and my body tuned itself in to the circadian rhythm, meaning no symptoms of ‘jet lag’. Simply awake and vital during the day and sleeping deeply at night.
What if the magic of circadian rhythms is right there available to all of us, but we interfere with it in one way or another, with the choices we make in our daily living?
Good point JS about us making choices in our daily life that actually interferes with the natural cycles of circadian rhythms.
As humans we have made a real mess of this sleep business if you ask me and I am talking from lived experience.
I realise that my exhaustion was because I had no sleep rhythm and I lived on this nervous racy energy day in and day out and with acting like I was superwoman, I just kept going until illness forced me to stop. I always felt a constant anxiousness but could easily override it with my super busy life and eating copious amounts of sugar.
It was over a decade ago that a wise man called Serge Benhayon presented about sleep and it just was simple and making some sense to me. I felt I got an understanding and that it was possible to change as he was living proof of the fact that we can master our sleep where it is no longer an issue. So I started to apply what was being said and bingo ten years later, I could write a blog like this only because what is being presented is being lived. So there is no hot talk just a delivery with authority on a topic that remains very close to my heart.
WHY? It is because I say all the time that if we get our sleep sorted things would change in a true way and be of great benefit to our mind and body, our world and its brothers.
Many of the ills we have created today come from our lack of respect and honouring of our body and giving it the true rest it needs. We have become too reliant on wanting products as some kind of solution to fix our sleep as we demand it, but not once wanting to take responsibility and make changes that will not require any sleeping aid.
I recently changed jobs and left my job of 9 years to work closer to home. This is having a profound effect on my sleep quality. Now I have a 20 minute walk to work rather than a 90 minute underground journey.
This is my first week in the new post but what I have found already is that I now have the space to sleep until my body naturally wants to wake, rather than being concerned about the time and being late. Just having that concern allayed has meant that my sleep quality is much deeper and when I wake in the mornings my heart feels very much at ease, open, expanded and ready for the day ahead.
The quality of our sleep really does have an affect on our organs. It would be great for research to be carried out in this area.
As I prepare for sleep writing a daily comment on this website is part of my preparation. Some may ask why. My reason is because this is a website that I know through and through is about Truth and it presents that there is another way for us to live, in the wake of everything else in our world not working. This is very worthy of my time as I know so many others benefit because this website is up and running on the worldwide web.
The subject of Sleep is a huge one. A very important aspect of our lives that we do not pay enough attention to.
When I had a long period of sickness absence from work, sleep became one of my priorities and I found myself sleeping much more, especially napping in the day. I feel that this has gone a long way now in building a stronger body. I am currently working in a very intense job, but do not find that my energy levels are dropping. I definitely notice that the less I ‘take things on’ and ‘get involved’ in things that do not concern me, the less drained and tired I am at the end of the day. I feel that going to sleep at times that I know work for me, support me to be able to discern whether I need to get involved in x, y, z as opposed to suddenly finding myself landed in situations.
So I do have to question why the sleep aids industry is a multi-multi-billion dollar industry, when taking care of our sleep and having improved sleep, without aids is possible.
Do they work?
Will choosing sleeping aids make us happy, as some companies claim?
Will the right pillow spray, bath soak, moisturiser, cleanser, night oils, etc, etc, do the trick?
What is the measure of the claims from sleep aid companies of the percentage of people who slept better with the use of their products?
Could it be as crazy as sleeping for 3 hours instead of 2?
Are sleep aids yet another way that we avoid taking responsibility for making truly sustainable lifestyle changes?
I reckon we have got it all wrong with this focus on sleep aids as sleep issues are rapidly growing, affecting more people at younger and younger ages.
I know that sleep aids never did anything to support me with improved sleep. If anything I wasted a lot of time, energy and money trying to find a solution.
Today my relationship with sleep is very different.
The majority of the time I sleep soundly and I so look forward to going to sleep as well as waking up in the morning.
The best bit for me is waking up in the morning and feeling deeply appreciative of the restfull and deep sleep that I have had.
This has all come about as a result of listening to my body and taking more notice of what it has been telling me – not just with sleep but also with what to eat; when to eat; how I express myself with others; conduct myself at work, home and in my community as some examples.
How true we are to ourselves and our bodies, in the way we go about our daily lives, all contributes to the quality of our sleep.
Daily Mail – 3 June 2017
One in five will at some point be affected by Insomnia.
This news story is saying that more often than not, Insomnia is a symptom of an underlying problem, and a sleeping pill is little more than a band-aid that never really gets to the root of the issue.
Sleep researchers are warning us about the dangers of over-reliance on such pills, linking them with cancer, falls and even heart attacks.
Waiting lists are long for alternatives like talking therapy.
So can this blog help?
Does it present some valuable questions and theories that make sense?
As the author of this article, I can say with absolute confidence that I do not have a sleep issue of any kind. What has done it is living in a way where I value and respect the internal cycles and rhythms that I do know about and at the same time making sure I continue to commit to my sleep and winding down routine each day.
Of course there are times, because of work or social things, that means a late night but this is not a big deal as I make sure I plan as best as I can to support me.
I have also found that my choices during the day, what I reacted to and what I got involved in have an affect on my sleep. That staying awake insomnia stuff was also at crazy levels when I drank alcohol, ate copious amounts of sugar, stayed up late on that screen time, usually TV and listened to music on repeat.
To have zero sleeping aids for over a decade gives me the authority to write about a topic that may just inspire another, as it is coming from lived experience and that to me makes sense.
SLEEP!!!
Something I’m always craving but not always making effort to get enough of it!
Being a mom of 3, I always have a mindset got to do this, must do this etc.. but knowing deep down that to Live better and day by day the sleep will go a longer way for me.
Breaking thought patterns is hard! Working on it always.
An article in the Daily Mail, 8th April 2017, says: “Don’t feel guilty if you need a nap.”
The article, by Dr. Max, talks about the myth that as we get older, the less sleep we need.
Extensive research from the University of California just published, shows that older people need just as much sleep as their younger counterparts.
Dr. Max says that until the invention of the electric light, people would typically have two sleeps rather than one.
Modern life has meant that we have to cram our sleep into one spell, which we are not naturally inclined to do.
What’s interesting is that, freed from the constraints of employment, lots of older people do seem to adopt this pattern of two sleeps.
They have a snooze mid-afternoon then they have a shortened sleep at night.
They are still getting their seven to nine hours a day, it’s just split up.
For me personally, I feel there is a lot of truth in this way.
I do shift work:
3am – 11am
11am – 7pm
6pm – 2am
When I do the 3am – 11am shift, I will have a nap when I get home for about 1-2 hours, get up and then go back to bed between 6 – 8pm and then get up about 1.45am.
When I do the 6pm – 2am shift, I will get home about 2.30am and go straight to bed. I will then get up between 7 – 8am, do what I need to do and then have a nap anywhere between 1pm – 4.30pm (min 2 hours).
This I find works very well for me and even on my days off, it is very rare if I don’t have a nap in the afternoon.
There is nothing wrong with having a nap when we feel tired, even if it is only for 20 minutes (when I was a Bus/Truck driver, I would have at least a 20 minute nap when I was on my break). It refreshed me and prepared me for the next stint. It also stops me from eating the wrong foods.
Try it, the next time you feel pulled to eat something sweet or that cup of coffee, try having a 20 minute nap instead.
It doesn’t matter what our age is, young or old, lack of sleep will affect all of us.
Sleep is probably more important than we realise, and even more so if we do shift work, so getting adequate quality rest, rather than quantity, is paramount.
Daily Mail – 2 December 2017
Not having a regular bedtime can harm pupils because their reading and maths could suffer says an expert on child development.
Dr Yvonne Kelly from University College London, carried out a four year research study on more than 11,000 children, published in the British Medical Journal.
Her findings show that three year old children are worse at regulating their emotions and more likely to be obese in later life if they do not go to bed at the same time each night.
Children can suffer ‘jet lag’ from going to bed at different times each night.
Those who did switch to having a regular bedtime showed improvements in their behaviour.
So here we have confirmation of what this blog is saying – it is important to maintain our circadian rhythms and this applies to any age.
If we think about what is being said here with regards to obesity –
Could it be possible that if the sleep is off kilter, so to speak then the child or any adult for that matter, would need an energy boost and eating foods that give the quick fix would be what most would go for?
Could it also be possible that parents are not educated in this field of sleep as they too suffer from irregular bedtimes?
Could it be possible that parents think it is ok to miss the odd day a week of regular bedtime, as it suits them with their lifestyle and this adds to the inconsistency of building a strong sleep rhythm?
Could it be possible that all sorts of emotions, behaviours and possibly other dis-eases in the body may come to the fore, if our sleep patterns are not in alignment and respect to our internal body clock, that knows what it needs and when?
Imagine the cost of studying over 4 years more than 11,000 children?
What do we then do – ask for more research, more studies and that means more funding.
When are we going to learn that a bit of old fashioned common sense and listening to those who have no sleeping aids for over a decade, like the author of this blog, might just do it, with zero cost to society?
This comment is well worth pondering on for all of us and not just parents.
Balance Magazine – April 2017, p.14
‘Our ancestors were probably polyphasic – they slept for shorter, yet more frequent bursts. We, on the other hand, try to sleep in a long, solid block, The Spanish, it seems, are on to something with the siesta. It’s not always possible to achieve, but a 30-minute nap between 1 – 3pm or at least a ‘zone-out’ time is the best way to cope with a demanding schedule.’
Polyphasic is when we have 2 blocks of sleep within a 24 hour cycle – the animal kingdom are known to sleep in this way. When we are babies – we also sleep this way.
So having read what Balance magazine are saying, the question arises –
Why have we shaped our society in a way that does not support polyphasic sleeping?
I know that when I have had naps during the day, it has been very beneficial to my general health. My ability to work and understand the world and myself is greatly increased.
Doing this on a daily basis is not possible with the work that I do, however on my days off I could definitely make this a priority.
What if we all made this a priority in our lives, would we then start to question the way that society is run, including our work places and industry?
Would we then write policies that truly support staff breaks and rest periods within the day, rather than have those that pay lip service to it?
I know for myself that I am making the steps now to prioritise rest in my day and even if I cannot have 2 blocks of sleep going for a short walk during the day and/or going to bed early are very supportive.
I know that if I want to bring about any change in the world I am to live that first – that is my responsibility.
I was reflecting this morning on the power of sleep.
It’s like we have the opportunity every day of our lives, to plug in to a deep source of energy and reboot.
An amazing source of natural healing for the body.
Yesterday was a busy, busy day. Putting myself to sleep with purpose last night, knowing my body needed to deeply rest, offered a reset and I woke up today recharged, connected and full of purpose once more.
Magical when you think about it.
One of my sons sometimes resists going to bed and he has been talking recently about how he likes to ‘stay up late’.
I remember this from my childhood – wanting to stay up beyond bedtime.
We know how awesome it feels to sleep well. Young or old. Why do we resist it?
Why don’t we just put ourselves to bed when our body tells us it is time?
For my son it could look like FOMO – fear of missing out on something. But I actually don’t feel it is that.
I’m wondering if the reason is the same for everyone, no matter what our excuse – things to do, wanting to relax etc.
It strikes me that it all boils down to lack of commitment to our own wellbeing.
A simple arrogance that our bodies are not a priority.
As this website so wisely often asks – could it be that simple?
This jet lag business is huge and I know in the past it used to knock me out and I needed a holiday soon as I got back from travelling.
Everyone I speak to was saying they suffer from this and it is what it is and just accept it.
But what if this is not the Truth and what if this blog is presenting another way?
Well as a living science I know there is another way.
I recently travelled overseas and stepped into a new time zone with zero jet lag and was busy and actively working, so there was no day off.
On my return I stayed super focused and allowed myself to rest deeply by going to bed in the new time zone super early. Bingo it worked and lots got done.
But these may just seem like words and I feel there is so much more to share about this, so a blog on Jet Lag will be posted one day on this website.
For now I can say that how we prepare for our journey starts way before the ride to the airport. How we then make choices all count towards our return too. So in my case I drank heaps of water on the night flight back and did not require lots of sleep, but instead chose to work which was deeply rewarding and I did not once do screen time TV and movies on any journey, which was around 24 hours in total. That’s a lot of hours without much to do, but always a choice.
Daily Mail – 13th January 2018 – ‘If counting sheep doesn’t work, try writing a to-do list to nod off.’
Researchers have found that writing down the things that we need to do over the next few days can help us to go to sleep up to 15 minutes earlier.
Counting sheep never worked for me. I remember trying it as a child and it was just another way to make my mind escape from acknowledging the anxiety my body was feeling. Now I am older I understand that the anxiety I lived with was the reason why I found it difficult to sleep.
This writing a to-do lists at the end of the day makes some sense – however, I have observed how I can do this in a frantic mode and so yes whilst all the things to do are on paper, if I check my body there is no difference in the anxiety levels pre-writing the list and after, if I am honest.
What I have found supportive is looking at how I wind down for bed and what supports me in its entirety. If I am to write things down so that I remember for the next day, doing it in a loving way to support me is the best approach – not dashing to the pen and paper and writing as quickly as possible, but moving in a way that is gentle and caring including how I pick up the pen and then write, not gripping it hard and writing hard.
There have been times for instances where I have left writing things down at the end of the day as I know that due to the way that I am feeling it will be done in a rush and so I have made the choice at those times to not write the list, take care and go to bed and the next day I am amazed that whatever I need to do I remember.
This tells me that it is far more important for us to look after our bodies than focus on the lists or what we have to do for quality sleep.
WORLD SLEEP DAY TODAY – 16 MARCH 2018
WE ALL KNOW JET LAG IS LINKED TO SLEEP
FORENSIC BLOG OUT TODAY PRESENTING ANOTHER WAY about JET LAG
https://simplelivingglobal.com/jet-lag/
Dear World
Today is WORLD SLEEP DAY
Has anything really changed or are things feeling like they are getting worse?
Are we struggling to get up in the morning because we were not getting the quality of sleep our body needs to rejuvenate and regenerate during the night?
Are we busy blaming the shift work, the other job, the finances, the relationships, the social media addiction or whatever else but never once asking WHY?
Would it be wise to re-read this supersonic blog like no other out there on SLEEP?
Would it be worth doing what others are now doing and that is paying attention to what this whole website is offering?
Would it be a smart move when next at the pharmacy checkout, buying the latest sleeping aid, to ask – is it really going to do the job?
Would it be true to look at the plethora of gadgets that we have accumulated to get this sleep thing right but it has not worked?
Is it time to be honest, really honest and say that SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT and then make a commitment to nailing this sleep stuff, so that it can bring the wisdom that we need and get us back on track to our natural state of being?
World Sleep Day 2018 yesterday and looking around on the London Underground this morning, it seems the whole carriage is tired.
I wonder how many people get regular, quality sleep.
I read recently the average person spends 7 years of their life feeling tired.
Why do we struggle so much with this?
I know for myself when I’m tired it is usually because I am overdoing it and that affects the quality of my sleep and how much I need. And the truth is that is always a choice.
During my days off I have started to sleep again during the day.
Sometimes they are short sleeps and sometimes they are long. I allow myself to wake naturally without an alarm letting my body guide the way on how much rest I need.
I am finding this very beneficial as I feel much more settled in my body, less rushed and more able to see and read more of life.
Sleep has so many healing benefits, much more than we have accepted.
Is this why we resist it so much?
Could making sleep a priority in our lives, including when we sleep support us to evolve?
Could many of the worlds ills be resolved if we all paid more attention to our sleep?
Metro News – 3 April 2018
For 10 million workers, bed is now the new office where an average of 5 hours a week is spent working.
One in 10 work in bed every day.
So what is this news story telling us?
What are we doing in a place where most of us need to get a decent quality sleep so we can be equipped to deal with the next day?
WHY is the bedroom now being used as an office?
What is the quality of our wind down rhythm if we have a screen coming in bed with us?
What exactly are we doing in the bedroom and does anyone see it as a sacred space?
Is the extension of the office into the bedroom a wise move and if we think it is, do we need to look at the bigger picture?
In other words why have we got work to do during our rest time and how does this affect other areas of our life?
If we are working in bed – what exactly are we doing and how productive is this?
What about the quality of what we are doing – how does this affect our health?
What if working in bed negates the fact that sleep and wind down is super important so that we can deeply rest and rejuvenate?
What if working in bed comes with a cost and that is we never get to deeply surrender and sleep because we have no boundaries when it comes to work?
Whatever our view is about this, we all need to read this blog and all the comments, then look at the ways in which we are choosing to live and then check in and see how our vitality levels are and what stimulants we use in daily life to keep going and function.
Then ask – what is the quality of the work we are doing in the bedroom and is it the Truth to do this?
I have noticed that if I eat in the evenings when I am tired, I will delay going to bed. Even if the delay is only 20 minutes or so, there is always delay.
I wonder how many people also eat when they are tired, instead of simply going to sleep.
It feels like such a silly form of self sabotage.
Currently my body is going through some changes which mean I am requiring more rest.
As I did not have to leave the house early this morning I was able to sleep more and then I also had a couple of naps during the day.
This I have found super supportive in not only supporting my body to rest and let go, but it also has enabled me to have wisdom and clarity on my life circumstances and what is needed next.
We really do underestimate the power of sleep.
I have noticed that sleep brings wisdom.
If I go to bed with a question, something I want to see more clearly, I often wake up with clarity.
It is like the space of sleep allows that to come through.
I have become more active with this; asking before I go to sleep for the wisdom to see what is needed next.
This makes sense for me – realising how resourceful we actually are and how much is there for us if we allow the space.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/staff-should-start-work-at-10am-to-avoid-torture-of-sleep-depriv/
We could say this is an old news story but for the purpose of this comment, it feels relevant and much needed.
A study is suggesting that staff should start work at 10am to avoid ‘torture’ of sleep deprivation.
Forcing staff to start work before this time is making employees ill, exhausted and stressed.
What if the ‘force’ here is not the Truth?
Has anyone bothered to challenge this?
What if our modern day lifestyle choices mean we stay up late and this leads to all the complications thereafter and the need to use caffeine, drugs, sugar, cigarettes and everything else to function and fight our natural sleep rhythm?
“Before the age of 55, the circadian rhythms of adults are completely out of sync with normal 9 to 5 working hours, which poses a ‘serious threat’ to performance, mood and mental health”.
HELLO – the fact we are way off with our circadian rhythms as adults speaks volumes.
Well worth re reading this blog and then every single blog on this website thus far.
Then reflecting on every question that has been presented throughout the blogs.
What if the academics are not right by suggesting society needs to move work and school starting times to later to fit with the natural body clock of humans?
What if there is another way and the majority of us will never ever challenge any Intelligence that knows their subject?
In other words, they are qualified in their particular subject and no one dares to question them.
What if the scientist Diane Trussell mentioned in this blog knows something that is not yet mainstream about the job of the hypothalamus and the best times for sleeping and waking?
What if there are those, like the author of this blog and website who are going against the trend and consistently having levels of vitality which allows for high productivity?
What if we studied those who are saying that the body has a completely different natural rhythm to what most of us live, which requires very little stimulation or any modern day apps to function in life?
What if our research studies are missing something because those carrying out the study have not LIVED more and so are blind to the more? Possible?
In other words if we are doing the very thing itself, we are getting those results in our study.
So how can we then be aware or even consider if there is another way?
Example – if we are night owls and stay up late reading and researching, chances are our study will limit us to that and not actually give us a bigger picture because we are capped by the very nature of not having the lived particles inside us that would give us more.
So if we have never lived as someone who has a strong sleep routine and rhythm and adheres to going to bed early, then how can we ever get to that or even consider it in our hypothesis?
Could it be possible that being a qualified academic in a certain field, knowledge becomes the first and foremost important thing and no one dares to challenge that Intelligence?
But what if there is more, what if we need to look at the bigger picture and what if we stopped taking on board and accepting everything that we read?
What if it is time to not just find solutions in our research studies, which does not allow for us to get to the root cause of WHY we have a sleep deprived society in the first place?
Thank you for sharing this very important news update and I agree that it is very relevant, regardless of the date.
This subject of staff starting later to avoid the torture of sleep deprivation, is something I would say does not work.
I work in an industry where to some degree we have flexible working hours and so we can start work at 10am as long as we work the required number of hours per day, but my observations over at least the last 5 years are that staff do not arrive at the office ready and able to work just because they start later.
In fact, in most cases I have observed that it can be harder for us to get going and we end up playing ‘catch up’ during the day as a result.
So – why is this the case?
From personal experience I would say that it is due to the way that we live outside of the office and so if we are living in disregard with a lack of care for ourselves, we are going to bed late, eating rubbish foods, having fights in our relationships, etc then we are not equipped to deal with the day regardless of the time that we start work – it could be 3pm and it would make no difference.
The only way that I have found supports me with getting to work earlier and having the stamina to work all day has been to address the disregard in my life outside of work and my relationship with myself and this includes having more sleep even if it is a nap on my days off.
There are still some things I have to address but what I do know is that on a daily basis I go to work with a joy and a vibrancy that is lacking enmasse amongst staff in our workplaces.
Imagine what we could achieve and how efficient our services would be if our staff were working to their full potential?
The Week – Issue 1173 dated 28 April 2018
430,000 people study over 6.5 years.
Night owls were more prone to depression, diabetes, neurological disorders and other health problems.
The researchers attribute the difference to society being organised around schedules that suit early risers. Forced to get up in time for work at 9am, night owls become chronically sleep-deprived, which has a knock on effect on their health.
A partial solution may be taking a low dose of the sleep-regulating hormone melatonin.
Dear World,
This is a huge study and have we stopped to consider how much resources are being used over a long period of time, to tell us that late sleep does not agree with our internal body clock?
Are we able to join the dots and use a dose of common sense here and realise that late nights ARE having an affect on our body with health problems and this is something we could avoid just by simply going to bed early and rising early?
Is society geared to support early risers because this is more natural for our human body?
Are we in anyway irresponsible by staying up late when nature has a different agenda to the one we have created?
Is taking a hormone the answer or a solution to support our lifestyle choice of staying up late?
If we read this blog over and over again, is it presenting another way that actually works because the writer is the science behind it?
In other words, living the evidence that our body does benefit from early bed because there is a job that it needs to do, which is simply not possible if late nights were the norm.
Are we really chronically sleep deprived?
What if we simply went to bed when our bodies were tired and stopped using stimulants and actually get a reality check of how exhausted we are if we had no buzz through food, drugs or drink to keep us going?
Is it high time we studied people who do go to bed early consistently and observe their life and check their vitality levels to see what we could all learn about the value of quality sleep?
The power of sleep was evident again today.
Our family went to sleep last night with some lessons from the day about the importance of team work and pulling your weight and taking care of each other and our home.
This morning, every one of us woke up centred, getting on with it and more connected. Like the lessons had been processed while we slept.
If this is a glimpse of what happens when we sleep, the possibilities are endless.
BBC News – 16th May 2018
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44137559
Experts have more evidence confirming the harm of disrupting our body clocks linking it to depression and bi-polar, amongst other things.
Few suggestions have been made in the article to improve our sleep:
Limiting evening light from our computers, mobile phones and TV
It says that the blue light released by these devices delays when we feel sleepy as it blocks the release of melatonin. The hormone that lets our body know that it is time for sleep.
A cut off time – 1 hour and 30 minutes before bed has been suggested by Professor Malcolm Von Schantz (University of Surrey)
Be consistent – meaning we are to go to bed at similar times every day of the week.
Making our bedrooms a place of rest with the suggestion to keep phones, laptops and computers in other rooms
Get morning sun by opening curtains
Having a pre-bed routine.
Dr Ben Carter (King’s College, London) says –
“Parents do this with their child to get good sleep. They have a set routine where they feed and bath them…”
Avoid caffeine and alcohol.
These suggestions make a lot of sense to me and many of them I do myself. Not just for sleep but alcohol and caffeine for example I do not include in my diet and this supports my overall health and well-being including my sleep.
One that is key for me is a bedtime routine. It’s not just a case of feeling sleepy and jumping into bed, but having a routine where one knows when and how to start winding down and what activities to do or not do that will either disrupt or support sleep.
This article on Sleep by Simple Living Global is well worth reading especially for anyone wants to know the science behind sleep and how our body works.
Independent – 23 May 2018
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/weekend-sleep-catch-up-lie-in-premature-death-reduce-risk-study-karolinska-institute-a8365026.html#gallery
Many people suffer from sleep deprivation due to busy lives. Not having sufficient sleep has been linked to a higher risk of developing diseases like Cancer, Diabetes and Heart Disease.
A recent study has shown that catching up on sleep at the weekend could actually counteract the damaging effects of sleep deprivation during the week.
The study led by Torbjörn Åkerstedt, a professor at Stress Research Institute at Stockholm University found that those under the age of 65 who has 5 hours sleep or less at the weekends had a 52% higher mortality (death) rate than those who had 6 or 7 hours sleep.
Those that slept for a short time during the week, but a longer time at the weekend were recorded as having the same mortality rate as those who consistently slept for 6 or 7 hours a night.
The study looked at information from 43,880 people over a 13 year period.
The researchers also found that regularly having more than 8 hours sleep per night could also be connected with a higher mortality rate.
This is interesting research as yet again it let’s us know that sleep has a significant impact on our health and this study has shown it through mortality rates.
What I find interesting is the weekend evidence.
I used to do that – work, work, work during the week with no regard for myself and then spend the weekend sleeping. Yes I would feel better but then I would do it all again the next week.
Nowadays I go to bed earlier Monday – Sunday and around the same times and this amongst other lifestyle changes has enabled me to have a more even mood and energy levels. I am able to work for much longer for example and am more focused.
My question is what would be the mortality rates of those who went to bed early 7 days a week be compared those who consistently sleep 6 or 7 hours a night?
Would we see a difference?
Does it make a difference to our whole wellbeing, what time we go to bed and when we have those 6 or 7 hours sleep?
What if it is not just about how much sleep that we get?
This news article ends by saying that in March 2018, a study commissioned by Healthspan discovered that the average British person spends more than seven and a half years feeling tired.
Monday was found to be the worst day of the week where people felt the least energetic.
Wednesday came in 2nd.
What if the working week could actually be a JOY and not a drag if we took care of ourselves much more?
Metro News – 21 June 2018
https://www.metro.news/one-night-on-the-booze-could-ruin-your-sleep-forever/1110911/
New research warns us that just one night of binge drinking could make it harder to sleep – for the rest of our life.
Scientists are saying that it damages a gene that regulates shut-eye, potentially causing permanent insomnia.
The lead author – Professor Mahesh Thakkar says the findings apply to humans and could shed light on how sleep problems may lead to alcoholism.
“Sleep is a serious problem for alcoholics. If you bing drink, the second day you will feel sleep deprived and will need to drink even more alcohol to go to sleep.
It is a dangerous cycle.”
The professor was shocked as they were expecting these results after multiple sessions of binge drinking, not just one.
Britain has the second biggest binge drinkers in Europe, Portugal is the first.
Please read our forensic blog on Alcohol for more about binge drinking and the facts and Truth about Alcohol, which is a scientific proven poison.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/the-real-truth-about-alcohol/
This in depth article on sleep is spelling out to us that we have an internal body clock that just knows the sleep wake cycle and if we choose to drink poison to alter this, then there are inevitably going to be consequences.
WHY do we still allow alcohol as a legal drug that alters our state of being?
Are we ready to be absolutely honest that many binge drinkers did not start off drinking poison in excess but something led to that ill choice?
Are we ready to accept that our ill choices have an impact on our human body, our relationships, our family, friends, work colleagues, our community and our society?
Are we ever going to stop and ask WHY we have a sleep issue and not look for self medication to override what our body is communicating to us?
Sleep is super important and we only need to look at babies and young children to know the value of this natural state that offers us a balance. Without sleep we are not truly able to operate and function in life.
Do we wait for even more research on mice or humans to tell us the common sense stuff that we can feel and just know, or do we take note right now and start asking serious questions?
https://simplelivingglobal.com/questions-questions/
Without the questions, we are not going to be open to the possibility that there is another way to live, where sleep is not a problem.
The author of this blog and this website is living proof there is another way and sleep can be mastered to the point where it allows the human vehicle to have increased vitality levels with no sleeping aids whatsoever.
I have this habit of looking at the adverts on the train and also what’s around when I travel.
There are always news things grabbing our attention.
We now have this new sleep aid to add to our plethora of what we can use to help us get to sleep. It was claiming to recharge us overnight, reduce our fatigue, help us stay alert and think on our feet, say no to tiredness and more …
When I checked this new website it tells us that without this bedtime 15 ml dose our glycogen levels will become depleted whilst we sleep.
So if we do not take note and take this latest sleeping aid from a bottle every night we are going to have disrupted sleep, remain restless, wake up feeling groggy with no energy to take on the day. Our glycogen stores will run on empty.
I have not gone to the store to check exactly what ingredients are in this honey and blackcurrant drink but whatever it is I will not be taking it.
How many of us will be feeling crap on the early morning train, think about doing something as we know our sleep is bad and bingo we see this invitation telling us here is the answer to everything we need?
It’s like we asked and the solution just appears and we can even order on line.
When are we ever going to stop and realise that we cannot nail our sleep issues without asking questions and being absolutely honest?
This blog is presenting heaps of questions for us to consider.
It is written by a woman who has mastered sleep and for me that holds a quality, a vibration so to speak. By that I mean that when someone lives what they write, others feel something that is real because it has been lived. It is not waffle or made up or copied from theories out there. The vibration is alive and it can be felt in all the other blogs on this website. ADD to that the quality of the comments from the author and one can be left in no doubt that there is something of value here.
What if we read this blog every night before bedtime as our FREE sleeping aid?
What if we done a study to see the real results of what is possible if we simply answered the questions and considered what is being presented?
Looking for the next solution to fix us and deal with our ill choices when it comes to sleep will never work.
It is high time we got real and honest by saying something is not working and keep asking questions until we get to the root cause.
The great thing is dear world, this website is on the front foot and has covered so much thus far so humanity need look no further – it is right here and it is FREE.
Over the last 10 days during my working week I have gone home to have a short nap in my break.
Today I could not do this but what was very interesting was that it was like I had a reserve of energy. So is it possible that the days that I had been able to go home and rest were in preparation for this day where I worked non-stop and at the end of the day I did not feel tired but refreshed?
I also noticed that this morning I also woke up later than usual and so could it be possible that the additional rest this morning and during the week were preparing me to be able to deal with today?
I feel that resting when possible has been a great support as I know that I wouldn’t have been able to make the decisions that I did today and deal with clients with the respect and consideration they deserve without giving myself those opportunities to rest and look after my body.
What if we do not always have to sleep just when we are tired but that there is a true purpose to having rest during the day as a way to rejuvenate and revitalise our bodies?
An article in ‘businessinsider.com, 20th July 2018, talks about a famous donut franchise buying a cookie chain with a cult following on college campus’s across the US.
This cookie company started in 2003 and now has over 135 locations, almost twice as many as there were in 2015 and most of which are near college campuses.
They are strategically placed near campuses to build a loyal following among students who are drawn to having warm, fresh cookies delivered to their doors at 3am.
This cookie chain sells all types of cookies from traditional, cookie cakes, chocolate chunk, sugar, M&M, white chocolate macadamia, peanut butter and a cookiewich sandwich. There are plenty of toppings from sprinkles, cookie dough and chocolate chips. It also sells “deluxe” cookies, which are twice the size of the regular ones.
The only drink’s this cookie company sells is milk, chocolate milk and water but the reporter found that the store they visited was out of water bottles.
Is it possible that when you are selling products that are mainly made from sugar and dairy, having a drink of water is not really going to cut it?
Is it possible that if we are consuming these comfort foods, then we need a comfort drink to finish it all off?
The basic ingredients of a cookie are sugar, dairy and flour. Then you add chocolate chunks, which is more sugar and dairy or another sugary product.
The first question that comes to mind, is, why are we needing all of that sugar at 3 o’clock in the morning?
What are we doing throughout the day that will keep us awake at that time of the day?
The second question is, when exactly do we sleep?
I presume the answer to that is that we would either sleep during the lesson or to keep us awake throughout the day, we would take even more stimulants.
Is it possible that this defeats the purpose of going to college?
We go to college to learn, but how can we learn if we are too tired to concentrate on what is being taught?
Is it possible that this could affect our future grades and performance?
Is it possible that this could lead us into a lifetime of bad sleep habits?
Is it possible that at some point, it will get to a crisis point where the lack of quality sleep starts to have a profound physical effect on our bodies?
Is it possible that, instead of providing easier access to stimulants that keep us awake, the colleges should start to take more responsibility and look at why we are needing all this extra sugar at 3 o’clock in the morning?
Today’s students are tomorrow’s bosses – we can either carry on the status quo or we can start to make changes now, so the future students wont need their 3am sugar fix!!
I have observed and also know people who work in the ‘health and beauty’ industry who really look exhausted.
Offering massage to uplift and rejuvenate you when they look so so depleted, leaves me thinking how on earth will it work?
If we simply join the dots and ask some questions – does it make sense?
What is the quality of a person who looks like they need proper sleep giving you a treatment that supposedly is going to relax you and de-stress you in an hour?
Are we being fooled or are we simply not aware, as it is a blind spot in us?
In other words – we are super exhausted so we just can’t see it in another.
Next – in the pool today I got talking to a regular swimmer who mentioned they have very poor sleep and how it drives them crazy.
I mentioned the forensic blog on this website about sleep and claimed I had mastered sleep because I now know how my body works and rests and sleeps.
Our body is so so advanced, most of us are just not aware.
If we plug in and connect (see our blog) we get to have a relationship with our precious body and it really does know what’s what and never lets us down. https://simplelivingglobal.com/plug-in-and-connect/
I have prepared my body by listening to it for a long haul flight and different time zone and the adjustments have been incredible. Subtle yet powerfull. No big deal.
It knocks out all the books we keep subscribing to in hope of nailing the sleep thing.
If we read a free blog – this one and apply what is being presented, it really is all there.
The reason this blog is different is because the author lives what is being expressed.
Could it be possible that this is the real game changer, because another gets to feel the vibration of a lived quality and that changes something inside them?
Of course we have free will and so the choice to align to what is being offered or not is down to us.
My take – nothing is working out there, so why not give this a go and have constant quality deep sleep every single night.
Goodnight x
Evening Standard – 4 September 2018
I read an article this week on nap pods in London, with exhausted new parents turning to these to catch up on their sleep during the working day.
£18 per hour is the cost, with the minimum booking time 30 minutes and the maximum 2 hours.
One pop up nap pod service moved to permanent residence a year later, following high demand for their service.
However, new parents are not the only customers – local business people and travellers also frequent. 4.30pm is a very busy time, as workers who need to take a nap before going out often stop by along with those with a long commute home.
Overseas travellers also use the pods when they land in London for –
Relaxing
charging devices
thinking of what they are going to next do in the city
As the original design was as a pop-up, the aim is to also continue this, making them affordable and easy to install, with the hope of setting up sleep pods in local libraries and shopping centres.
So, we are demanding more sleep – which is very clear from the popularity of these nap pods. Napping during the day is beneficial so I can understand why these are popular.
But what if there is more to getting more sleep than just having a nap.
Have we considered the quality of our sleep at any time of the day, if during our waking hours we are trashing our bodies by working excessively long hours or taking substances that are poisonous to the human body?
What if the science of sleep as presented by Simple Living Global in this article and the times that we are going to bed at night, are also important for optimum health?
What if the very practical tips in this stunning blog called 9 o’clock Hoover are something to consider, if we really want true vitality and to deal with our exhaustion?
https://simplelivingglobal.com/9-oclock-hoover/
I realise I have become a big proponent of napping – taking rest on days where this is possible.
I never used to be able to sleep during the day. I was always thinking and found it hard to settle into my body; my mind running away with me. Bed at night would be more about being exhausted than getting true, restorative sleep.
Prioritising quality sleep, has changed all that.
Regular early nights, a consistent rhythm, a wind down process – this is what turned it around. And it had an incredible impact on my vitality.
Because I am no longer wired and I understand sleep and what my body needs, when I feel to nap on days off, I will do so: give the body the boost or extra rest it needs.
I have been sharing these experiences with others and I realise how much of a difference that has made to them. Just this weekend, 2 different people told me about the adjustments they have or are making to their sleep regimes because of my sharings. They were inspired to try it for themselves and the impact has been huge. Positive changes to their family dynamic and relationships, more patience, more time for their children, more care for their partner … and themselves.
So that is 2 more people stepping away from exhaustion and stepping closer to true connection with their body – true rest.
It is incredible to consider what the impact would be if we all made that a priority, following the wisdom of this amazing blog.
Michigan State University Today – 26 September 2018
https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2018/sleep-research-uncovers-dire-consequences-to-deprivation/
Researchers at Michigan State University conducted the largest experimentally controlled study on sleep deprivation to date, revealing just how detrimental operating without sleep can be in everything from bakers adding too much salt to cookies to surgeons botching surgeries.
If you look at mistakes and accidents in surgery, public transportation and operating nuclear power plants, lack of sleep is one of the primary reasons for human error.
There are many people in critical professions who are sleep-deprived.
Kimberley Fenn – Associate Professor of Psychology |Director of MSU Sleep and Learning Lab
25% people with procedure-heavy jobs have fallen asleep on the job.
Published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Fenn’s research is unlike previous studies because of its focus on sleep deprivation’s impact on completing tasks.
The research suggest that sleep-deprived people should not perform tasks in which they are interrupted or only perform them for short periods.
The test carried out found a stark jump in errors for those who were sleep-deprived and also showed a progressive increase in errors associated with memory as they performed the task – an effect not observed in those who slept.
Memory maintenance was the real culprit keeping the sleep-deprived from completing tasks successfully. It then becomes difficult to pick up a task where you left off without mis-steps.
Fenn explained that distractions we face every day like a text message are unavoidable but especially harmfull to sleep-deprived people.
“Operating with reduced cognitive capacity has wide-ranging effects.
Students may pull all-nighters and not retain information for their exams.
Individuals working in critical jobs many put themselves and other members of society at risk because of sleep deprivation. It simply cannot be overlooked.” Fenn said.
So here we have it – the largest experiment in a controlled environment telling us something we all need to pay attention to.
Some of us could easily dismiss this because its not real life and they were tested in a lab.
But can we at least stop and pause for a moment to reflect on what has been presented.
How harmful is it to us to have lack of sleep?
Is this forensic blog and all the comments giving us clues to join the dot?
Is it simple common sense stuff that we have conveniently forgotten?
When did we stop valuing our precious sleep time and the quality of our sleep?
WHY are there more and more studies and sleeping aids for sleep?
Are we aware that many students take drugs to study and this artificially stimulates them and affects their natural sleep rhythm?
There is much for all of us to learn about the human frame. We simply are not going to get away with it in the long-term. Our bodies keep communicating to us and we can choose to ignore it until things go wrong or something happens that we don’t like or we are in pain.
What if sleep can sort so much out for us and get us back on track with life?
What if sleep and the quality of sleep becomes our number one daily medicine?
While we wait for even more research and our sleep deprived professionals to tell us what we want to hear, would it be wise to take some simple steps with our common sense hat on?
We always make sure babies and our young children get adequate sleep, so why does it need to stop there?
Is it time we as adults started taking deep deep care of our body and made sleep a number one priority every single day and not just the days it works for us in our busy lives?
CNN News – 1 October 2018
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/01/health/sleep-risky-behavior-teens-study/index.html
A new study is saying the amount a teenager sleeps is associated with how likely they are to engage in risky and suicidal behavior.
Few hours of sleep on an average school night were linked to a rise in unsafe behaviours, which included drunken driving, unsafe sexual activity, aggressive behaviour, use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
70% of high school students get less than the recommended 8 hours of sleep each night.
The director of the Attention, Behaviour and Sleep Laboratory who was not involved in the study advises parents to stay on top of their child’s sleep schedule, as teenagers are not always able to manage their own sleep and may not know when is the best time to turn out the lights.
He goes on to say his message is a priority and it will make a huge difference in their children’s lives and performance, mood and behaviour.
This is great advice most of us would say but the question is what is the Reality?
In other words, what is going on in real life and are we considering all the factors.
If parents themselves have an inconsistent sleep routine or have never made it their focus or priority in daily life, then how equipped are they really to then tell their teen children to do it?
Follow by example is not going to work as there is no one in the household reflecting another way when it comes to adhering to early bedtime routine which would lead to quality sleep over time if applied.
As this blog spells out in absolute detail, sleep is super important in our lives at all times.
For a teenager in the developmental stages, it is not to be taken lightly.
Next – we need to be asking the WHY questions and digging deep so we can get to the truth of WHY our teens are wanting to skip sleep hours and instead get involved in unsafe behaviours.
WHY are they making the choice to not go to sleep on school nights?
WHY are they seeking harmfull behaviour – there has to be a reason?
What is missing in their everyday lives that gives rise to this ill way of living?
Call it ill as it sure is not supportive to be missing sleep at any time, let alone school days.
We can keep reading more research studies and of course there will always be more as this is how we have run for aeons.
But what if there is another way and it means those who have the Responsibility make the changes and reflect those changes and lead the way so our kids can see it is possible?
Real role models who walk the talk, where true actions speak louder than words, needs to be the way of living for all adults who chose to be parents.
If not, we are assured that these types of seriously unsafe behaviours will lead to even more issues, as these teenagers grow up to become the adult generation of our future.
Metro News – 10 December 2018
page 23
Rooms designed to look like wombs is the latest in central London.
Rooms in serviced apartments feature cocoon like beds, high tech mattresses, pink walls and muted lighting – inspired by the womb.
The cost is just a bit under £200 a night and of course there has to be a demand to supply this kind of support for the city people.
What most of us know is that sleep is needed but we have too much going on and late nights are the norm and that’s not going to change.
What a solution to know you don’t have to travel home after a boozy night out in the weekday, get to sleep like a baby because these rooms offer the ‘best nights sleep you have had since you were born’.
Will people go for refunds if they don’t get the best sleep ever that they are promised?
Is it another one-minute wonder or will it take off on an epic scale and soon they will be in every city, as lack of sleep is a serious global epidemic in our world now?
What if absolutely nothing is going to change the quality of our sleep until we nail it?
As a sleep expert and the author of this blog, I know first hand that solutions, quick fixes, sleeping aids and everything else this world is suggesting to take and do or not do when it comes to sleep, are not going to work in the long-term.
WHY?
Because I have been there and am living proof those solutions do not work.
Today I am a living science that does not need to be tested in a lab that there is another way. I am confirmation of the fact that there is a science that we need to adhere to when it comes to our sleep wake cycle.
Understanding this cycle and living with cycles and rhythms is a natural part of life, which we have ignored for far too long.
Good old fashion going to bed early and reading the 9 o’clock hoover blog on this website would be a start…
https://simplelivingglobal.com/9-oclock-hoover/
Reading this blog every night and pondering on the questions presented would serve.
What if we need real life role models who walk the talk to lead the way, as nothing else seems to be working or sticking with us when it comes to making lifestyle changes?
In other words, they actually live what they are presenting and that vibration resonates with us because it is not hot talk or coming from the mental head recalling theory and knowledge but simply a lived way, that is consistent and can be felt because it comes with an authority.
Finally, ask a sensible question – WHY have we got a multi-billion dollar sleeping aids industry?
Is it telling us SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT when it comes to our sleep?
There are many things touted as sleep aids – hot herbal tea foot baths, special blankets, sleep pillows, eye masks, drinking less alcohol to name a few.
Hot chocolate is also one of those things and I remember growing up and right through to my twenties and early thirties I used to drink it too, especially before bed.
The question arises –
Are we actually drinking hot chocolate to help us sleep better or are we drinking it at night to help us deal with the day?
Hot chocolate is full of sugar, caffeine and milk.
Is it possible that the milk is there to help soothe any emotions from the day and dampen them down so that we are less aware of them?
Does the sugar and caffeine do something to our body that makes it speed up so that we are also less aware of how our day has been?
What if it is an illusion to believe that hot chocolate can help us to sleep better?
What if a lot of the sleep aids that we use do nothing to aid sleep and instead help us not deal with the day that we just had and so bury any emotions?
What if we would benefit much more from looking at how we have been living during the day and making small practical changes in order to improve our quality of sleep?
On a long haul flight I got talking to a couple on honeymoon.
What I found interesting about the conversation is how they had done two weeks travelling and because the country was huge and add the heat – they both admitted they were well and truly exhausted.
What makes no sense to me is why they are both geared up to watch movie after movie on a flight when there is a possibility for a shut eye rest, that may help and not add to the current level of fatigue and tiredness felt.
WHY would we say this and then switch off somehow and ignore our body’s messages by overdoing and ignoring the communication which is being offered?
In other words, our body is saying – well you overdone it guys, time to get back on track with sleep and deep rest so that we can continue.
What if our body could communicate and we listened and it was saying – slow down on the shots of black coffee as it’s just a drug keeping you wired and stimulated to a point where you don’t even know you have just gone beyond exhaustion.
WHY do we choose on some level to fight the rest and sleep our body is needing?
How does it serve us and who benefits from this ill way of living, which is crazy if we think about it?
Next – I feel our choice of food and drink on a flight also tells us a lot about where our body is at in any given moment.
For example – before the flight I had very little sleep and absolutely no regular sleep time for 6 days, due to caring for my dear mum who was ready to pass over.
On top of that, a foreign country I had not visited in 50 years, the food was not my usual choice, none of this mattered because I had prepared myself as best as I could before the short trip.
This meant upping the exercise and changing my food choices and eating less before I left for this trip.
All this came in handy whilst I was there, as it just helped me to flow and focus on the purpose of my trip, which was to take deep care of my mum and support her in whatever way that was needed, but without any compromise to my body.
Not having anything much to eat and keeping things super simple whilst I was there certainly helped. However, I was aware that my body was going to need extra attention to rest and sleep in the coming days post flight back home.
Back to the airport – I noticed a craving for sweet stuff and yet my body needed absolutely nothing sweet for the week I was there.
I clocked it – I was super tired and airport departure lounges are designed for eating and shopping.
I ordered hot water and rested my head in this quiet coffee shop as I told the staff what I was doing and why.
So here is a classic example the body wants sleep and eye shut time and if I don’t then it has to be stimulated to keep going and in my case that was the sudden sugar craving.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/14/health/poor-sleep-plaque-buildup/index.html?no-st=1551852851
CNN News – 14 January 2019
The headline title of this news story is –
“Poor sleep linked to buildup of dangerous plaques throughout body, study says”
Sleeping fewer than 6 hours a night or waking frequently raises your risk of developing damaging plaque in arteries throughout your body, not just your heart.
The increase of plaque in your extremities adds increased risk for strokes, digestive problems and poor circulation that leads to numbness and pain in the extremities as well as heart disease.
Previous research has shown poor sleep to be strongly associated with coronary heart disease.
“This is the first study to show that objectively measured sleep is independently associated with atherosclerosis throughout the body.” Jose Ordovas – Director of Nutrition and Genomics at Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.
4,000 adults meant the size of the study had strength.
Science has linked poor sleep with high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, weight gain, a lack of libido, mood swings, paranoia and a higher risk of diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease and some cancers.
A chronic lack of sleep is also closely linked to anxiety and depression and the body struggles to cope with the stress of sleepiness. There is growing evidence that poor sleep early in life can lead to the development of the plaques and tangles that cause Alzheimer’s and other kinds of dementia.
Sleep is critical to the body’s rejuvenation. Deep sleep comes only after a full cycle and is necessary for the body to release hormones designed to repair cells and build tissue in the body and brain.
Dear World
We have just got into the new year and here is a timely reminder about the importance of sleep and not adhering to our natural sleep rhythm will have consequences.
What is it about us humans that fights and resists something that is simply needed?
How come other animal species do not stay up late or even consider missing sleep time?
How many more research studies are we going to wait for and read about when it comes to sleep?
Do we need to ask – WHY do we avoid early bedtime, when we all know it has major benefits in daily life?
By reading this forensic blog on sleep, which is spelling out the facts, the stats and presenting another way through questioning, we could all have a deeper understanding.
We can then make the choice to continue to ignore what is being presented or we could take note or at least consider it.
So many of our current “ills” in this world could be knocked out just by listening to our own internal body clock that KNOWS when sleep is needed.
Would it be true to say that as a world we have failed in bringing the value and importance of sleep into life from day dot?
In other words we have not been teaching from the start to our young children to honour their sleep above all else.
Simple Living Global are leaders in the field of sleep because they walk the talk.
Those subscribing and aligning to this website are choosing to live in a way that supports their sleep cycle and rhythm, without perfection and all continuing to learn and evolve to the best of their ability.
What better evidence is needed when there are real people in real everyday life, living another way that goes against the trend when it comes to true health and wellbeing?
Daily Mail – 29 January 2019
Scientists have found that we feel less pain after a full night’s rest than if we are sleep deprived. There was less activity in the part of the brain that reacts to pain.
A survey was also carried out which found pain improved after good-quality sleep.
The study’s senior author – Professor Matthew Walker from the University of California, Berkeley said ‘sleep loss not only amplifies the pain-sensing regions in the brain but blocks the natural analgesia centres too.
If poor sleep intensifies our sensitivity to pain, as this study demonstrates, then sleep must be placed much closer to the centre of patient care, especially in hospital wards.’
Hello World
If we read this blog and the 106 comments thus far, could we agree that –
SLEEP IS SUPER IMPORTANT
Next – a professor is telling us something that is worth paying attention to.
We all know how we hate pain and the first thing we go to is ‘pain-killers’.
What a name – we want to kill the pain but the truth is it seems to go but then comes back for most of us, hence why the painkiller industry is growing so fast.
We all know about opioids being used to deal with our pain and the global crisis we now have.
Can we see this big problem we have created with our pain?
So what if this big issue of pain could be dealt with by getting our sleep thing sorted?
In other words we could keep it simple and just focus on deep sleep quality and see what happens to our pain levels.
If we go back in time, our ancestors did not pop down to the GP or the local pharmacy to deal with pain.
What we do know is they paid attention to the cycles and rhythms that were available and still are to us all, but today we choose not to go down that route.
We are happy avoiding pain and getting solutions to fix the problem, but what if just by listening to our body more and learning how to respond to it is the answer?
Working against our natural body rhythms and cycles is not working and everything is telling us and confirming this.
So what is it about us that continues to resist the obvious, the real, the natural, the easy way – which is another way to live that requires that word RESPONSIBILITY?
Talking to a stressed worker last week.
She said she often puts herself to sleep by watching a TV show.
She chooses one she knows well enough that she doesn’t need to watch it to know what is happening. She says she watches it for a while and drifts and then she can switch it off and go to sleep.
This is standard for her.
However, recently, this has not been working.
She said her brain won’t quit spinning and stressing, stopping her usual TV sleep technique from working.
She has instead ‘had to’ set her laptop to play the TV show on repeat all night. Only then has she been able to get some rest; with the comfort and distraction of the show constantly on in the background.
She said she knows this is unhealthy but she said nothing else works.
We talked about the source of the stress and how things are during the day that build to this nighttime misery – the different choices that could be made.
And we talked about the impact of stress and poor sleep on her health and well-being over time.
She said she doesn’t want to change anything, she wants to ‘just’ get over this stressful period so things can go back to how they were.
This conversation was a reminder for me of a few things:
1) How many people struggle with sleep. It is like we need to be taught again the basics so we can let go of the habits that aren’t supporting us and re-learn what we knew so naturally as young children. This blog is an excellent resource for that.
2) Many of us just want to keep things on an even keel, even if that even keel is not supporting us or involves zero progress, despite the fact that we are constantly moving.
3) We so often ‘compare down’ to feeling just ok and not terrible. If we do that, instead of considering that we could consistently feel vital and amazing won’t that stand in the way of making a different set of choices?
4) How the default can be to go with the quick fix rather than look at the systemic issues: the many choices we make that contribute to our state of being and our quality of sleep.
Daily Mail – 20 April 2019
Page 43
Dr. Max Pemberton is telling us about a famous billionaire and a president who brag about how little sleep they need and are fuelling an epidemic of sleeplessness.
Research this week from New York reveals that those living in the U.S. and UK, are among the most sleep deprived in the world. It blames celebrities for the belief that we need far less sleep than we really do and perpetuating the myth that getting a good night’s rest is somehow lazy or self-indulgent.
The World Health Organization says that the majority of us need at least 7 hours of sleep every night.
So here we have a doctor telling us that the No-Sleep braggers are wrong.
What if we simply read this blog, as the author is the living science when it comes to sleep?
They have mastered the sleep thing and do not suffer from insomnia, need excess sleep or have any sleep issues.
What if this blog is presenting some real truths about the science of sleep and WHY it is so important for our health and wellbeing and HOW we need to apply sleep when it comes to timing and staying in sync with our internal circadian rhythm?
Listening to the president of any nation or any celebrity, is not going to help us as we do not lead and live the same life as they do.
We seem to have a habit of jumping on the bandwagon or seeking stuff we want that suits us.
In other words, we want to have stimulation and distraction, as we like it and that affects us having a quality sleep every night. So of course we then seek and of course we find what we are looking for – others who endorse it and in this case celebs who say little sleep works.
What if we spent more time taking care of our bodies and applying practical stuff daily that supports us to ensure we get quality sleep every night – could that be the answer?
What if we have yet to discover that our body has no issue working long hours, but not under the pressure of living in an un-natural state?
That means using distractions and stimulants, be it drugs, alcohol, caffeine, food, overworking, creating drama or screen time which ALL guarantee a way of living that is not natural and hence will affect our sleep.
Independent – 20th May 2019
Special Glasses May Reduce Sleep-Disrupting Effects of Smartphones
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/sleep-phone-screen-blue-light-glasses-teens-health-a8919251.html
Researchers have said protective glasses that block out blue light emitted by smartphones could help tech-obsessed teenagers sleep better at night.
The researchers found that studying the effects of screen time on sleep patterns of teenagers found that those who spent longer glued to their phones were likely to struggle to drop off and have lest restful slumber.
But taking action in the evenings and switching off screens before bed helped reverse these effects. A similar affect was achieved by wearing special glasses that block out the blue light believed to disrupt the body’s internal clock.
Disrupted sleep impacts concentration and memory, and this can interfere with children’s learning, but longer term it has also been linked to higher rates of obesity, heart disease and cancers.
A doctor from Amsterdam University Medical Centre said: “Adolescents increasingly spend time on devices with screens and sleep complaints are frequent in this age group. Here we show very simply that these sleep complaints can be easily reversed by minimising evening screen use or exposure to blue light.”
The researchers studied a group of 55 teens aged 12-17, split between heavy and light screen users.
They found that those who spent four hours or more using screens each day took nearly half an hour longer to drift off at night than those who used screens for an hour or less.
This group also had more disrupted sleep and took longer to wake up in the mornings.
The study showed that one week of evening screen abstinence was enough to cut the time teens took to drift off by 68 per cent.
Daylight-mimicking blue light can interfere with sleep, preventing the production of the slumber inducing hormone melatonin.
Although the results are at a preliminary stage, a doctor from University of London who is a researcher on the study of cognition, adolescence and mobile phones said: “ The results suggest that wearing blue-light blocking glasses may reduce the impact of frequent screen use on adolescent’s sleep. Particularly interesting is that wearing these glasses had a similar effect to avoiding screen use completely, both allowing adolescents to fall asleep and wake up earlier.”
Researchers are saying that the wearing of these glasses has the same effect as not using a screen.
Is it possible that the fact that these glasses have been created, means there is a problem here?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to just not look at the screens before going to bed?
Why are we so adamant in trying to create solutions when the natural and true choice is right there in plain view?
Although we know the blue light from smartphones, tablets, etc. is detrimental to our sleep health, why is it that we would create a product that will see us being able to carry on using our technology, rather than opting for a decent night’s sleep?
Having something that allows us to do something that we shouldn’t be doing –
Is it possible that the logic here makes no sense?
BBC News – 19 May 2019
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48268110
This news story tells us that even short-term sleep deprivation significantly affects our wellbeing.
What if we just stopped at this sentence and considered what is being said here?
How many of us continue to override our tired body when it comes to bed time?
Next –
A study suggested that after 17-19 hours of staying awake, performance on cognitive tasks may be similar to having had too much alcohol.
While scientists have long understood the importance of getting enough sleep, the key part played by light exposure can sometimes be overlooked.
Our eyes detect the light and dark cycle within our environment and adjusts the body’s circadian rhythm so that the internal and external day coincide.
Jet lag today seems to be a huge problem for many and a clear example of the effect light can have. Exposure to light in the new time zone helps reset our body clock to local time and signaling the right time to sleep.
What if we started to educate people about the internal body clock and what exposure to light in the new time zone means and how they could benefit, if they adhere to their natural sleep wake cycle, regardless of what country they are visiting?
Is this basic education missing in our lives and is this what gives rise to the sleep issues linked to jet lag?
ADD to that – how many of us are using flights to go into holiday mode with excess alcohol and staying awake during the whole flight and then having minimal sleep, as we want to maximise our waking time on holiday – in the belief that we may be missing out on something?
With the questions presented in our Jet Lag blog on this website, https://simplelivingglobal.com/jet-lag/
it would be a wise move to take note of what is being offered as there is such a mis-understanding about the value and importance of preparing the body for any flight.
Next – this news article says 97% nightshift workers fail to adapt to the demands of their work pattern, regardless of how many years they have been doing the job.
Is this the confirmation that staying awake when it is night time is not a natural thing for any of us and yet our world wants things 24/7 so we have people working throughout the night?
Next – University students only experience part of the dawn-dusk cycle as they tend to start the day later and then spend more time outside in early evening. The dusk light delays their body clocks, meaning they get up and go to bed later.
Further research and greater awareness in this area could help individuals to make informed choices about prioritising their own sleep and getting enough sunlight.
If we read this forensic blog on sleep and all the comments added – would that be the simple awareness that would get us to question how responsible we are living when it comes to honouring our sleep wake cycle?
Is waiting for more research really needed as the next study will be asking for more research as this seems to be the way our current intelligence works – we want more and more evidence telling us the same thing over and over again in a different way?
What if we started to educate our kids from a very young age about the value and importance of the internal body clock and the plethora of health benefits, if we keep a consistent sleep routine and rhythm, regardless of what age we are?
Metro News – 21 May 2019
Page 2
Researchers are saying that teenagers should block out sleep-disturbing blue light from phones and computers by wearing sunglasses to bed.
Glasses that filter out the light have virtually the same impact on sleep as turning off devices entirely, a Dutch study found.
Screen light interferes with the natural body clock and makes it harder to get to sleep causing tiredness, which can be disruptive to mood and schoolwork.
WHY are we always looking for a solution to any issue or problem that we have?
If we read this forensic article on Sleep and then all the comments, we are left in no doubt that the value of sleep is not to be under estimated. We need a balance in life and our sleep wake cycle is super important for us to have optimum vitality levels and go about our daily life without any tiredness.
The sleep aids industry keeps on coming up with new things and it is no surprise we have a multi billion dollar industry. It confirms how desperate we are to get good quality sleep but we want the quick fix – whatever does it for us as we like our lifestyle and have no intention of changing anything.
Our teens want their screen time 24/7 and instead of bringing in good old fashion common sense, like we had in the olden days, we go for a gadget or something that is going to do the job.
Have we thought that wearing special dark glasses during sleep may not be comfortable or natural for us or do we just put up with it because we don’t want to stop our night time screen watching?
Has anyone thought about finding out why on earth we want to be on our computers or phones when it is time to go to bed, because our body tells us?
Does our body know what it wants all the time and we have this habit of just ignoring it until something really serious happens?
Why wait for a calamity of any kind when we can make sensible, responsible choices that may just give us a good night’s sleep and a better mood that supports us the next day?
Neuroscience News – 5 June 2019
https://neurosciencenews.com/sleep-disruptions-metabolism-14174/
A new study has found that irregular sleep patterns is linked to a higher risk for obesity, high cholesterol, hypertension, high blood sugar and other metabolic disorders.
This means not sticking to a regular bedtime and wake-up schedule and getting different amounts of sleep each night is having an impact on our health and well being.
27% greater chance of experiencing a metabolic abnormality for every hour of variability in time to bed and time asleep.
Many previous studies have shown the link between insufficient sleep and a higher risk of obesity, diabetes and metabolic disorders. But this study is telling us more about the impact of irregular sleep.
“Our research shows that, every one-hour night-to-night difference in the time to bed or the duration of a night’s sleep multiplies the adverse metabolic effect.” Tianyi Huang, Sc.D., – study author
Enough said to get the point that SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT
We know that obesity is on the rise
We know that high blood sugar is on the rise for many
We know that high blood pressure and high cholesterol is a problem for many
WHAT IF something as simple as getting our sleep sorted holds the answer?
WHAT IF we made sleep our absolute daily priority and made it not about the amount of hours we sleep but the QUALITY?
WHAT IF this forensic blog on sleep holds the key to the ills created by us from lack of sleep and our disregard and neglect when it comes to sleep?
WHAT IF the author of this blog claims to be a master of sleep simply because they have nailed it when it comes to the QUALITY OF SLEEP?
They know the what is and they know the what is not truth when it comes to sleep.
There is a science to this sleep stuff and we can all continue to wait for more and more research and another hypothesis or we can take note and make the necessary changes.
If we don’t then we can be assured that the sleeping aids industry will be on target to become a trillion dollar industry.
SLEEP REVIEW – The Journal for Sleep Specialists – 21 June 2019
http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/2019/06/sleepless-firefighters-exhaustion/
Burnout: Sleepless Firefighters at Risk of Exhaustion and Mental Health Conditions
49% of America’s firefighters exhibited high levels of physical and emotional burnout in at least one area.
Those who screened positive for a sleep disorder, in particular insomnia reported a threefold increased risk of emotional exhaustion.
Those with a self-reported diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression or anxiety had up to four-times the increased risk of burnout.
Sleepiness and short sleep even in firefighters who did not screen positive for a sleep disorder, were also associated with high levels of burnout.
Firefighters are frequently exposed to sleep restriction due to their work schedules, which typically involved 24-hour shifts.
The study stated that inadequate sleep during and after work and into rest periods may impair their ability to recover from occupational demands, potentially explaining the heightened burnout risk.
Enough said, can we see why our firefighters could be struggling if they have a job that requires them to be on call for 24 hours?
Firstly, who makes up the rules that allows any human being to do a job for 24 hours with no sleep?
For those who are experiencing burnout and not doing the 24 hour shift – is it time to ask some serious questions?
Can we start with how are they living in every day life?
What lifestyle choices are being made every single day to support this demanding job?
Are fitness levels in place and how is the consumption of food and beverages going?
What support systems are in place for them if they experience on the job stress which is probably going to happen?
What are the risks to the public and to the firefighters themselves, if they are being called out to an incident when they are feeling exhausted or struggling with lack of sleep?
What are the long term consequences when sleep deprivation is the underlying issue?
As with any job – do our firefighters need to prepare for long shifts and use their days off not only to rest deeply and have more sleep by going to bed super early, but also prepare for the coming week ahead with for example cooking foods that would nourish and support their body during work time?
Foods that will not make them feel more sluggish or exhausted.
Are we ready to begin with some honesty and admit things are not really working and they are getting worse?
Will we wait for more research studies or something bad to happen before we take note of what this news story is saying to us all right now?
Are we going to demand more studies and wait to see how our firefighters are affected with their mental health?
Have we ignored the sleep issues and this is why we now have a new epidemic called burnout?
Is burnout simply our body telling us it’s at the end of exhaustion and we just cannot continue ‘business as usual’?
Talking to a young man in the community who is an apprentice.
His colleagues were saying that he needs energy drinks first thing and he was telling me that he is always tired and does not sleep.
I used the analogy of a car, as that is his trade and he understood when I expressed that we need to look after the engine and how all the parts work together – if we want maximum benefit and for it to keep going in the long term.
These types of conversations are super important and it is very easy to dismiss or ignore what others are up to, as our life is ticking along and who has time to stop and have a real chat these days.
What I have realised is how geared our world is when it comes to solutions.
We always seek what we want so if we need to stay awake on the job, we go to foods and beverages that keep the energy up but not support the true health and well-being of our human frames.
I know as I was one of them. My diet was full of sugar and I was blind when it came to understanding what went into those favourite drinks and take aways that I used to live on literally. Cooking from scratch or having an early night was not even something that I would consider.
So what is missing and WHY have we got a serious Global 911 when it comes to sleep?
WHY is our world so focussed on keeping us going with solutions for our sleep but not getting to the root cause of WHY we have any form of sleep issue in the first place?
With lived experience I can speak from a body that walks the talk.
In other words what I have to say is not words taken from theory or hijacked from another person’s presentation or anything like that.
It is simple real life lived words and chances are others feel that.
Some may not be ready and others may oppose it, as it brings up the choices they have been making. Nevertheless, my job is to keep talking and presenting to anyone who comes my way that there is another way to live our human life on earth and Sleep is something we all need to master, as it is the cause of so many other symptoms that arise in the form of illness and disease.
I am no medic or academic professional and yet I make the above claim which is clearly not coming from our current form of intelligentsia. It is coming through a body that lives what it is saying.
When I talk about sleep I can feel the authority inside me expressing the truth and that is because I take sleep seriously and know what I am talking about and the evidence is not a scientific study – just me, my body which is a living science.
Could it be possible that this form of Intelligence will be known as the True Intelligence that many of us are currently not aware of?
Daily Mail – 24 August 2019
‘Tackling Our Sleep Crisis Will Save Cash’
Swedish researchers have found that people who have insomnia are much more likely to suffer from heart disease, strokes and heart failure.
It is estimated that 30% of the population struggles with their sleep, so this should be considered a public health emergency.
One problem is that people with sleep disorders are too often fobbed off with sleeping pills by their GP but because of the risk of addiction and the fact that the pills don’t provide proper sleep, they are only prescribed for a short period, which means the person soon goes back to where they started.
If this Swedish research is to be believed, why aren’t the findings being acted on?
We don’t really need to go as far as strokes and heart disease to see how a lack of sleep affects us in our everyday lives from waking up and the first thing we want is that hit of caffeine, the copious amounts of sugar we consume throughout the day, the lack of productivity we have in the workplace or at home, to the checking out we do with TV, social media and video games, to finally having our alcohol before we go to bed for another low quality sleep – only to wake up the next day and start all over again.
Of course, over time, this will then lead to the strokes and heart disease and other associated illnesses.
Do we really need solutions or would we be better off looking at the root causes of why we have these sleep disorders?
Is it possible that there is another way to look at our sleep disorders?
Is it possible that this blog from Simple Living Global is offering us another way?
CNN Health News – 2 October 2019
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/02/health/poor-sleep-link-heart-disease-diabetes-cancer-wellness/index.html
Having less than 6 hours sleep as a middle age adult with High Blood Pressure, Diabetes or existing Heart Disease could lead to Cancer or an early death.
A study of 16,000 people aged 20 – 74 over 24 years.
This is the fourth study clearly indicating that sleeping less than six hours a day can actually lead to the development of Artery Disease and death related to Cardiovascular Disease.
The new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, found people with existing High Blood Pressure or Type 2 Diabetes who slept less than six hours were twice as likely to die from Heart Disease or Stroke.
45% of Americans have Stage 2 High Blood Pressure or Type 2 Diabetes or both.
This is serious and giving us a snapshot of one nation.
What we do know is that our solutions are failing us, because sleeping aids are a multi billion dollar industry as we have not nailed the sleep thing.
Something so natural and needed and yet we are not able to administer this in daily life.
Modern day living has failed us in many ways and what we now need is real education and that means we need educators who are walking the talk. Those who can teach us HOW and WHY sleep is important and then take us through the steps of what they do and apply that.
Furthermore, these teachers of sleep need to show us vitality levels, good health and well-being consistently, without perfection, for a decade, before they can prescribe their way of living as evidence that it works.
The author of this blog and this website is one clear living example as they have no issues with sleep and has their own body as the living science which confirms this.
Back to the news story – are we aware that both Diabetes and High Blood Pressure can come from lifestyle choices?
Think about it, we live in a way that gives rise to our blood pressure, we then ignore it and continue living by doing what we want and how we want. Along the way we discover we have Type 2 Diabetes which is definitely related to our irresponsible lifestyle choices, but again we take the doctor’s advice and continue business as usual without really making any effort to change our behaviour – which would include consistent early bedtime.
It adds up that our lifestyle choices of late nights or excess screen time when it’s supposed to be sleep time affects us and now this study for the 4th time is telling us the same thing.
How many more research studies do we need and how much more data are we going to collate and examine to tell us the simple answer that is presented in this blog and throughout the comments, that there is another way when it comes to understanding the science of sleep and the importance of quality sleep?
Metro – 17th September 2019
This article talks about a study of 800 volunteers that have been tracked for 20 years in Boston, US. It shows that teens who drag themselves out of bed for school after late nights are more likely to get fat than morning larks, with girls being especially at risk.
Now 800 volunteers may not sound a lot, but these types of studies are designed to show a microcosm of the macrocosm, which means there are a lot of people in the world that may be a lot more overweight because of their choices regarding their sleep patterns when they were younger.
We may wonder to ourselves what all the fuss is about but what if this lack of sleep in our early years has a direct influence on our health today?
Reading this blog, it is clear that a lack of sleep has a detrimental effect in many areas of our lives.
This study shows just one aspect of what a lack of sleep can potentially result in and with that brings in all of the other potential problems of being overweight like diabetes, heart disease, etc.
Quality of sleep is what counts because if we are having 8-12 hours of sleep a night and still wake up tired, that should start the alarm bells.
Whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, sleep is a very important part of our lives and should not be taken lightly.
As this blog points out, the world is in a mess when it comes to our sleep issues, so isn’t it time we start to wake up to this?
Having a chat at the pool yesterday with a father struggling with sleep issues with three young children. It was clear he needed direction and support as to where to go with this problem, as it was affecting every part of their lives.
So how do we help another if we are not sorted?
My take is we can’t in truth as it would just be empty words.
As the author of this amazing article on sleep, I feel I have the authority to support others, simply because I live and breathe what I am presenting – nothing more and nothing less.
So I am saying to the world there is another way and that there is a science to sleep and it’s all in this tablet of truth, not because I read and then copy and pasted it but because I live it to the best of my ability.
On that note, anything that comes out of my mouth when it comes to sleep I am certain another will feel it by vibration, by the quality and by the very essence of how I deliver that from my body. It holds a power – an authority on a topic that is lived.
Back to the man at the pool – how did I deliver in a few minutes and leave it?
I said what I felt was needed in that moment and then gave him three words –
SIMPLE LIVING GLOBAL
Talking to a technician in the local community about his constant moan – lack of sleep.
What came to light is that he wants to go to bed early but gives in to the demands of his young children.
In my no nonsense style which he knows well, I told him that 9pm is way too late for a five year old to be going to sleep. I brought an understanding that children are at the developing stage and a strong bedtime routine and rhythm is needed if we are to support them in this.
Yes, we think we are doing our job by reading a story book but is it the best medicine for our child or is getting to bed early and sticking to that, more beneficial in the long term?
As parents we want to do our best in raising them, but does common sense need to come in and do we also need to look at our own behaviours?
What is our rhythm, in other words – our patterns when it comes to winding down and going to sleep?
Could it be possible that we can be blinded to what is needed for our children, if we ourselves are lagging in that department?
In other words, we have issues with our sleep due to late nights, excess caffeine and screentime so that in itself does not allow for the quality of sleep needed, when we do eventually get our head on the pillow.
So we are not masters of sleep or anywhere near nailing our sleep stuff, so how can we then be of true support to our kids or be real role models?
Back to the senior technician – a specialist in his field and a fine one most would say BUT not a specialist in living human life. With due respect to his skills and talents, why is it that he does not see that something like sleep requires fine tuning – same as his job?
Is it possible that not taking care of our sleep and consistently complaining about the lack of it and using cigarettes and caffeine to keep going during the day and evening will take its toll on the body as we all know?
Science Daily – 9th January 2020
Parents aren’t powerless when it comes to sleep –deprived teenagers
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200109130203.htm
Teenagers in the US simply don’t get enough sleep.
The consequences of this epidemic of sleep deprivation are extensive and include increasing rates of anxiety and depression among adolescents, as well as suicidal thoughts and actions. Sleep deprived teens are more likely to be involved in car crashes, and run a higher risk of injury during sports-related activities.
Experts have pointed to various reasons for this: growing homework loads, too many extra-curricular activities, caffeine consumption, school start times that run counter to middle and high schoolers’ natural circadian rhythms and the use of electronic devices and backlit screens.
But researchers at the University of Rochester have found that a simple and timeworn solution yields solid results: a clear bedtime that parents consistently adhere to.
An assistant professor of psychology at Daemen College and the lead author of a recent study which was published in the academic journal, Sleep, said: “Greater enforcement of parent-set bedtimes for teenagers aged 14-17 are associated with longer sleep duration.
Study participants included teenagers and their parents. The team asked their teenage participants to keep twice-daily sleep diary entries over seven days, collecting reports of sleep duration, daytime energy levels and depressive symptoms. The parents provided information about their enforcement of sleep-related rules and bedtimes.
The key findings of the study showed that parent enforced bedtimes – along with later school start times – are the greatest predictors of sleep duration, daytime energy levels and depressive symptoms.
In 2014, the American Academy of Paediatrics responded to the sleep deprivation epidemic by urging school districts to start classes no earlier than 8.30 am, especially for middle and high schoolers. But to date, only 14 percent of high schools have heeded the recommendation, which makes the rule-setting role of parents all the more important.
This report talks about teenagers in the US but this issue is worldwide.
Is it possible that, parents enforcing strict bedtime rules to ensure teenagers get sufficient sleep, is a no brainer here?
And what about having an electronic device-free space to sleep in?
Is it possible that using electronic devices has an impact on our sleep quality?
Using TV’s, phones, laptops, tablets, etc. before bedtime delays our bodies internal clock, suppresses the release of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, and makes it more difficult to fall asleep.
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/why-electronics-may-stimulate-you-bed
Just like us adults, we all need some form of guidance and discipline.
Teenagers are going to be teenagers – we have all been there – but, ultimately, it is the parents responsibility to look after the well-being of the children whether they like it or not and this means enforcing bedtime rules.
It may be that they don’t appreciate or thank us now, but looking at my own personal experience of discipline when I was younger, I know that it put me in good stead for my adult life.
Reading this blog is a must as it clearly explains how a lack of sleep affects our bodies.
Teenagers are at an age where they are very susceptible to outside influences so ensuring they get adequate sleep is paramount to their overall wellbeing.
Is it possible that, as parents, as adults, we have the responsibility of making this happen?
The Guardian – 7th March 2020
Hospitals See Surge in Child Sleep Disorders
Thousands of children and teenagers in England are being admitted to hospital for sleep disorders, with admissions for conditions such as insomnia almost doubling in seven years.
Experts have described the situation as a hidden public health problem, putting it down to rising obesity levels, excessive use of screens before bedtime and a mental health crisis engulfing young people.
The Guardian analysed data from NHS Digital, the national information and technology partner to the health and social care system in England, which revealed that hospital admissions for under 16’s with a primary diagnosis of sleep disorder rose from 6,549 in 2012-13 to 9,451 in 2017-18 and 11,313 in 2018-19.
The founder of the Children’s Sleep Charity, which is funded by NHS Doncaster and the only free specialist service that provides to families for children’s sleep, said the organisation was inundated with requests for help. She said: “We find it hard to meet the demand. The rise will be linked to a number of factors: firstly, sleep-disordered breathing issues in children, which is linked to obesity. It is commonly recognised that there is a problem around childhood obesity in the UK. What isn’t recognised is that poor sleep quality can be a driver.”
She also said that another area where the charity was seeing a significant rise was in children’s mental health issues. “There is a strong link between anxiety and sleep deprivation. Unfortunately sleep is not on the public health agenda, despite the huge impact it has on all areas of wellbeing, and when it goes wrong there aren’t specialist services for families to access.”
She also noted that there was a real lack of understanding around the impact that screens have on sleep. She said some research suggested the light from screens could suppress the sleep hormone melatonin.
The founder of a private sleep clinic in London said the Guardian’s findings were “very worrying” and appeared to be linked to increasing obesity rates in children. Research showed that not sleeping well also “creates an imbalance in our hunger hormones, ghrelin and leptin”. She said: “High levels of Ghrelin mean we are likely to eat more often, and low levels of leptin mean we find it hard to recognise when we’re full – when we are tired we are also more likely to make poor food choices, such as sugary, fatty and salty foods.”
The founder of another sleep clinic said: “I’m increasingly seeing more and more young children sent to bed with a screen to help them fall asleep, when it is in fact disrupting their sleep and making falling asleep more difficult.”
An NHS spokesperson said: “These figures show that more must be done to limit the dangerous drivers of poor health, including the increasing use of social media and the rising levels of childhood obesity.”
The Guardian has previously reported on the lengths parents go to help children sleep, including giving them melatonin, which is authorised for use by over-55’s. The number of children and young people given melatonin rose from 92,511 prescriptions in 2015-16 to 117,085 in 2017-18. But specialists have expressed concern about it being given to children “off label” – with little knowledge of the long-term safety or side effects.
The dearth of sleep specialists is quite staggering considering that the benefits of adequate sleep and the consequences of a lack of sleep has gained much traction over the past several years.
But yet, the fact there is only one free specialist service operating in England shows that sleep is not that high on the health agenda.
Is it possible that, the biggest concern here in the rising numbers of children seeking help for sleep disorders, is the fact that most of the issues could be resolved by parents taking more responsibility for their children’s wellbeing?
As this article states, children are going to bed with these screens – whether it is a well intentioned misunderstanding or a deliberate choice to keep the children quiet – children are also eating the wrong foods at the wrong time and children are being allowed to stay up late.
Is it possible that it makes sense that, if children are not having enough sleep they will start to eat the wrong types of food? So obesity is on the rise and because they are now deprived of true quality sleep and they are becoming obese, they will naturally start to feel anxious and the onset of mental health problems begin.
Hello – this is not rocket science!!
We say we love our children and we would do anything to protect them, but the fact that we allow them to carry on in this way clearly shows that we do not, in truth, love them.
Children DO NOT work
Children DO NOT pay the bills
Children DO NOT earn any money
Children DO NOT run the household
Parents do all that.
Children ARE NOT responsible for their parents.
Parents ARE responsible for their children.
Is it possible that we are very lacking in this department?
Daily Mail – 7 March 2020
Page 45 – Dr. Max Pemberton
A study published by the American College of Cardiology has found that middle aged shift workers who have erratic sleep patterns are twice as likely to develop heart disease.
This ADDs to the growing evidence that it is not just the amount of sleep someone gets that matters but the regularity of their sleeping pattern.
“I see many patients plagued with sleep trouble – either lying awake for hours or constantly waking up. I have written before how sleep deprivation is a National Crisis with consequences both for individuals and the NHS. I just wish it was being taken more seriously” Dr. Max says.
WHY are we not taking sleep more seriously and waking up to realise that without consistent quality sleep absolutely nothing will work in the long term?
So here we have shift workers of a certain age with double the chances of developing heart disease.
Do we need to stop and take a pause moment to consider some very sensible questions here –
Are these middle age people making lifestyle choices that suited them in a young age but now need to adjust, but they are not?
Is our precious and delicate heart communicating something well before it ends up as a dis-ease that the medics label and tell us we have that condition?
Are we living in a way that does not give a balance to life – in other words, we work hard and then we want the relief, the relax and the lifestyle choices that may not support our body and our heart goes off track to its natural rhythm and flow?
Are we unaware of what our heart needs to not create a dis-ease inside our body and this is where we need to put our focus and find out more and above all connect to our body so we can feel everything – just like we did when were young children?
What if we did not have to be ‘plagued with sleep trouble’ because there was another way to live and be in life?
What if there are many blogs in our Sleep category on this website that are spelling out to us that there is another way and we can end our own suffering and agony linked to our sleep lifestyle choices?
https://simplelivingglobal.com/category/sleep/
What if our multi billion dollar sleeping aids industry is confirming that no matter how many solutions they supply us with, because we demand that we want – our sleep sorted, it will never work?
How we know this is because current stats may already confirm it is now a trillion dollar industry and with the conferences, journals, studies and research, we do not seem to have got that far if Dr. Max is telling us what goes on with his patients.
This is one doctor – a microcosm. ADD to that the rest of the world and here we have it – the macrocosm in a deep state of despair with sleep issues ‘plaguing’ us.
Daily Mail – 14 March 2020
Dr. Max Pemberton – NHS psychiatrist tells us that Insomnia in children has doubled in the past 7 years as record number of children are being admitted to specialist sleep units because of sleep disorders.
Social media is being blamed as children spend more time on tablets, laptops and mobile phones – all of which impact sleep.
The new NHS figures show that most of the admissions were for sleep apnoea, which is a serious disorder that interrupts breathing. The condition can be a result of obesity as the weight of fat around the neck causes the throat to close.
Without blame or giving an opinion here – would it be a wise move to just examine the facts and begin a line of questioning that is surely needed as before we know it, more kids will need hospital beds just because they can’t sleep?
Before we join the blame game brigade, what if we start taking some responsibility here and ask some sensible questions like –
What is going on at home that our children have become addicted to their screens?
Where did we drop the ball – in other words, where did we let go of our standards?
Have we ever bothered to be a real role model or are we too busy trying to fit in?
At what point did our youngsters have access to gadgets that keep them quiet?
Did it suit us and our lifestyle to not have them engaging us or asking questions?
Did we on some level contribute to the sleep issues our kids are currently having?
Are we used to barking out the rules, but never living by example and doing the same?
Are we trying to buy our kids the love they crave with various forms of screens?
Is social media to blame or are we the ones subscribing and aligning to it in the first place?
In other words, there would be no social media if they did not have the subscribers.
Next –
If obesity is behind the majority of cases where children are being hospitalised, then why are we not up in arms about this and getting to the root cause of WHY our children are obese?
Is it just excess eating or the wrong foods and lack of exercise or is there more?
Are our children being met and honoured for who they truly are or do we have a hidden agenda?
Are we secret comfort eaters and when we look at our kids, we see ourselves in the mirror, as they seem to be reflecting the choices we are making?
Are we deeply removed from a natural way of living and is all this fast life in the fake world we have created, showing up as excess weight in our kids?
Are we buying food without any thought for the nutrition value?
Are we big into late nights and noticed we munch away and our kids are just following our habits?
Are we ones who never express how we feel and it looks like our overweight children are acting in the same way and it could be affecting their sleep?
Could it be possible that our children were not born with insomnia and neither did they have obesity and that means something happened?
Would it be a wise move to stop and consider where and how this could have happened and at what point?
In other words when was the sleep issue or obesity triggered?
Asking no questions, trying to get on with ‘business as usual’ is simply not working.
We know this because our hospitals are having to take on more kids for sleep issues.
Where is this going to end and at what cost?
Was our NHS designed to cope with children with sleep disorders that could easily be changed with lifestyle choices?
Common sense would tell us – NO.
The NHS requires all of us to use common sense, work things out by asking questions, apply the wisdom that we all have and some good old fashion back to basics way of living.
Common sense would say, this means start with getting an early bed time routine and rhythm going every day and make that the same for adults and children.
PLOS BIOLOGY JOURNAL – 4 June 2020
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000726
Broken sleep predicts hardened blood vessels.
Insomnia may trigger inflammation that leads to heart disease, according to this research study.
Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley say these findings may help inform public health guidelines that seek to increase the continuity of sleep as a way to improve health and decrease the burden of heart disease on society.
“Improving sleep may offer a novel way to reduce inflammation and thus reduce the risk of atherosclerosis” said study author Professor Matthew Walker.
https://uk.style.yahoo.com/insomnia-sleep-heart-disease-inflammation-180049291.html
Sleep disruption is associated with atherosclerosis, which is a disease of the arteries that become damaged due to factors like smoking, high blood pressure, high levels of glucose, fat and cholesterol in the blood. This damage allows plaque to build up in the artery wall.
As with all research studies, they are not easy to understand and are super complicated to the simple mind that is not interested in the essence of what is being communicated.
As this whole website is about keeping things simple, our aim is to report what may be of interest to the reader by way of comment to expand the blog.
If we re-read this blog and then ALL the blogs in our Sleep category, there can be no doubt of the value and importance of sleep.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/category/sleep/
What if we carried out research by having a large group, across all ages and used the template that Simple Living Global present regarding sleep and see what happens?
What if smoking, high blood pressure, what we eat and ingest daily has an affect on our sleep?
What if we need to nail the sleep thing to see changes in our diet and blood pressure?
What if we all need a new medicine that is free and it’s called “get to bed early everyday”?
What if we are spending far too much on resources trying to work things out, when the obvious is under our nose and staring us in the face?
The author of this website will one day be studied in the future.
These scholars will know that it was possible to have consistent vitality levels that allowed the space for high volumes of writing and publishing blogs without the need of stimulants to keep going and substances that alter the natural state of being. Instead a solid and strong sleep rhythm was adhered to which confirmed that the human frame can work long hours consistently without needing solutions to be fixed and repaired.
For the record – to date the author, age 58 has no heart condition or any other illness or dis-ease.
SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT when we continue to study animals to get a result that is for human beings.
Rats are nocturnal and yet we have new research for sleep with a link to high blood pressure.
What would common sense be telling us ?
Let’s ask common sense to respond, as we know that it will be coming from simple wisdom and above all it will make sense to us…
Firstly, rats do not go online shopping at night or overeat before bedtime.
Neither do rats react as human beings or communicate as we do.
Next – rats are not likely to know that we humans sleep at a different time to them.
WHY waste a nanosecond doing more research when we already have the answers.
In the past, going to bed with the natural cycles of nature worked.
Modern day today has altered that simple way of living and back then there were no sleep solutions or millions being spent on sleep research. We now have a trillion dollar sleep solutions industry which tells us we are way off the mark and something is clearly not working.
Good old fashion common sense has been ignored and apps and gadgets to name a few are now the number one choice.
One more thing – back in the old days people stayed connected by talking face to face but today screens are the way to go and we ought to consider their impact on our sleep quality.
Daily Mail – 7 November 2020
A super model launches an app to help us with our insomnia as people are struggling during the pandemic. Married to a billionaire with 5 children, the looks and the body many women want, we can be assured this app will be selling fast.
The question that comes to mind is how does a billionaire have sleep issues that they wake up 5 or more times every night?
Surely all those who wish they had that kind of money would automatically think it is a licence to have any gadget or sleeping aid, so how comes he can’t have proper quality sleep?
Will his wife’s new app be the answer or will it be another sleeping solution for him and that means it won’t work because he knows solutions do not work?
On that note, a suggestion – read the blog called Solutions, Solutions on this website.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/solutions-solutions/
Most of us want more money and these days we want to become millionaires and those who are want to become billionaires. But at what cost?
What is life really like if you simply cannot get to sleep as there is a constant disturbance, which does not allow you to rest and deepen in your sleep quality? What is the quality of your next day if the body is depleted because of another sleepless night?
No amount of wealth or bank balance can buy us the depth and quality of sleep that we need to evolve as a human being. Getting back to basics would be a start but it does require that word Responsibility and a big dose of medicine called Honesty.
We need to get honest about our lifestyle choices and what is getting in the way of having a daily routine and rhythm when it comes to our sleep. We have advanced in so many fields on earth as humans and yet something so innate and needed is having all sorts of problems for the masses when it comes to sleep.
Something super simple and basic.
Could it be possible we need to get back to basics and make life about Simple Living?
Nothing out there is consistently working for our true health and well-being so why not give it a go.
This website is dedicated and committed to presenting simple and practical ways to live human life which is opposite to our current trends.
Came across this list recently online and I was digging deep to see where on earth does such a sophisticated professional looking website with lots of content and images actually come from relating to sleep.
First we need a market that the world and its brothers are subscribing to right now. Bingo.
Sleep – who hasn’t got a sleep problem of some kind these days we might say. When you are a jumbo retailer for the world online it is probably easy to create websites by the sheer volume of customers acquired and the profits that keep on rolling.
Then you create by way of acquisition more of what the demand is and then rate it – for example:
8 Highest Rated Sleep Headphones (Earbuds)
5 Highest Rated White Noise Machines
Best Rated Eye Masks for Sleeping – guide
3 Highest Rated Night Guards (For Bruxism / Teeth Grinding)
Highest Rated Pillow Speaker List
6 Highest Rated Space Heaters for Large Rooms
8 Highest Rated Quiet Fans for Sleeping & White Noise – rated
6 Best Rated Sleep Trackers & Monitors (+Wearable Options)
6 Highest Rated Earplugs for Sleeping
6 Highest Rated Light Therapy Lamps
8 Highest Rated Heating Pads – Top Picks rated
In-Depth Good Morning Snore Solution
5 Top Rated Snoring Mouthpieces
6 Highest Rated Bed Fan – mini
8 Top Rated Smart Alarm Clocks
5 Highest Rated Sunrise Alarm Clocks
Hello
For the record, this list is a tiny spec on this website and there is so much more with categories like sleep hygiene, sleep science, mattresses and of course sleep accessories. Solutions solutions to help us sleep and of course a section just for the kids. We have got videos, mattress shopping guides and it just goes on and on. A one stop platform where you can read until you fall asleep.
Back to the list – what next is the question?
When are we going to stop searching for sleep solutions?
When are we going to stop and ask WHY is our sleep off?
What is going on in daily life that affects our sleep at night?
Have we checked in with common sense and asked why?
Are we seeking sleep solutions to fix us because it’s quick?
Are we wanting websites like this to guide us to sleep better?
Are we jumping on the bandwagon of what others get up to?
Are we fully aware our lifestyle choices have a hand in all this?
Are we all over the place with our sleep rhythm and routine?
Are we relying on sleeping pills and it just ain’t cutting it?
Are we hoping that the highest rated earplugs will do it?
Are we wishing that the highest rated therapy lamp is it?
Are we going to spend more because it’s highly rated?
Are we going to fall for these top rated products again?
What if we just stopped for a moment and considered – what are these websites intending to achieve?
Simple really – they want our business and they will do very well thank you very much if we keep buying without ever asking why on earth we need all these gadgets and products to help us sleep, which is supposedly very natural for us. Something is not making sense.
We have become reliant on things outside of us to give us something that is natural.
We get hooked into the narrative of what is being sold to us and we seek more and more but never ever stop to question if there is another way that could be simple and easy and not bring on more tension, stress or a financial cost.
It would be wise for any reader to go through the whole Sleep category on this website and read all the comments thereafter on each blog.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/category/sleep/
After all of that put your honesty hat on and go for a long walk with common sense to answer the questions presented in those sleep articles.
Then live it and by that it means zip up, get on with it and feel the difference once you get consistent with a sleep routine and waking up ritual. No need to honk your horn and get others to do the same but if others see you are no longer subscribing to the late night brigade or caffeine club, they may ask and you tell them exactly what you live – nothing more and nothing less.
If we all make insomnia and other sleep issues normal then why are we surprised when we see websites like this selling us what we need. They are the suppliers making heaps of money because we put them there with our demands.
And Finally, I am no halo head or sleep expert but it would be true to say that I have mastered sleep and rely on nothing out there to naturally sleep and wake.
Coming from a lifetime of exhaustion and a push push work life, I would say I had burnt out in my 40s. However, once I got to know the real science of sleep and made some practical changes then committed to remain consistent, I felt great and lasting change. That was 15 years ago.
What I have realised is that no amount of budget used for sleep solutions will work unless we get to the root cause of why we have a sleep issue. I had no idea that our body had an internal sleep wake clock.
WHY does our school agenda not teach kids more about sleep and foods that stimulate the mind and affect our sleep quality, that would be a great start?
Science Magazine – 10 December 2020
https://scienmag.com/obstructive-sleep-apnoea-puts-a-strain-on-the-heart-too/
According to new research from the University of Eastern Finland, longer nocturnal respiratory events in patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) cause higher immediate heart rate variability and greater changes in beat-to-beat intervals, which are associated with reduced daytime alertness.
1 billion people worldwide are affected by Obstructive Sleep Apnoea.
This news article tells us that OSA is one of the most prevalent sleeping disorders, putting a great strain on national economies and on public health.
Be it complete or partial blocking of the airways tells us something is not natural and so it can be no surprise that our sleep is interrupted when we have OSA. This leads to abnormal nervous system function.
How serious is all this?
1 billion of us have a serious sleep issue.
We all know that as humans we need proper sleep and the quality of sleep is important even if we think it is not or we are a bit superhuman and can get away with it.
We know it is paramount that we get our sleep in order and stick to a daily routine and rhythm that supports our body to rest, regenerate and re-vitalise, so we can be equipped for the next day.
Re-read this blog and then all the comments. Then read every blog in our sleep category and whilst doing so, suspend all ideals and beliefs that your mind has been fed on the topic of sleep.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/the-real-truth-about-sleep/
During this important phase, our sleep cycle has a job to do and if we are not honouring and deeply respecting this aspect of well-being then chances are we are going to come up against problems relating to our sleep.
While we wait for solutions, more sleeping aids to tempt us (from the industry that makes billions because we cannot get our sleep right) and more research on the medical procedure to fix our OSA, why not consider everything that Simple Living Global is presenting with a deeply honest approach and see what unfolds.
We tend to all rely on a diagnosis and then a ‘fix me’ from the medics that do a grand job, but we ought to wake up and ask if we had a hand in the illness in the first place. If not, we remain the forever victim and continue to find ways to function in life when it could possibly be different. In other words another way to live human life.
This website is full of articles presenting another way to live, which is opposite to the current model of life we have all subscribed and aligned to.
Mail Online – 16 January 2021
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9153627/Parents-face-SIX-YEARS-disrupted-sleep-birth-baby-study-finds.html
Parents face up to 6 years of disrupted sleep after the birth of their first baby, according to a new study by McGill University in Canada which was published in the Journal of Sleep Research.
Mothers with one baby had less interrupted sleep than those with more than one. They take on more parenting work and spend many nights up with the new baby. 96% of fathers in this study were working.
Sleep disruption is often due to infants sleeping in short periods.
If wannabee adults read this, it could put them off or they hope it won’t happen to them.
It is great that we have research yet again telling us about the knock on effect when we have disturbed sleep.
Lets just re-wind for a moment with our common sense hat on.
Read this article – The Real Truth about Sleep and then move on and read every single comment made thereafter. Then go to our Sleep category on this website and read through ALL the blogs on this much sought after topic and take the time and space to consider and ponder on ALL the questions from each and every article. There will be without doubt some that you can relate to. https://simplelivingglobal.com/category/sleep/
Now what have we learnt or what understanding do we have, as a result of reading on this website, which is simply to bring more awareness about everyday human life and that how we choose to live really does have consequences?
So we want a baby and we do little or nothing to truly prepare to adjust our lifestyle in order to support what is coming into our lives. We may give up the obvious like caffeine or pot smoking, but we plan to go back on it soon as the birth is over. We may go over the top and start our google searches and order online everything we can to consume and ingest how, what and when we do something for our baby and what to expect. We find solutions rather than find another way that may be more natural and real for what we do need to prepare for.
With a multi billion dollar sleeping aids industry, it would be true to say that the masses in our world have some kind of sleep problem. That means before we even get pregnant our sleep is off track and no amount of solutions will fix it after the baby arrives.
Back to the study – could it be possible that the only reason why it is easier after there is one baby is because a routine and rhythm is in place?
In other words, there is some experience about how to ensure the early and consistent bedtime routine is followed and the wind down leading up to it. Also how baby is raised thereafter that may mean some adjustments were made to the previous lifestyle choices that were before becoming a parent? Possible?
What if the reaction to being disturbed at night is what creates more sleep-less-ness, because we have not had the awareness to know that parents also need to nap when baby is napping instead of wasting that moment to hop on social media or any of our other self-medications that we go to.
What if we as a world actually need natural parenting classes to educate us – not some books where we take on every word that may not even apply to our own personal circumstances?
What if we need to be supported by real life mothers and fathers that we can sense and feel are raising babies and children in a way that is makes sense to us, so we are more likely to align and subscribe to this type of parenting?
What if our ill behaviour (because that is what it is) before becoming a parent is still around and suddenly it is ten-fold now with a new born baby and we feel exhausted and instead of the picture perfect image we have, we are the opposite – exhausted and overwhelmed to say the least?
What if we made no effort to adjust or adopt a new sleep rhythm during pregnancy and the only effort we did make is party party and celebrate which knocked our sleep out even more?
What if the lows that we feel after the birth are because we did not make the necessary natural steps that were needed before conception, which then continued in pregnancy.
We have come to a point dear world where research is telling us stuff that common sense would have us all know, but without the millions that are spent in the name of evidence based science.
Our grandparents and their parents lived another way and their lives were simple and they just got on with it. They were not bombarded with so much information that their heads would explode with the dos and don’ts of how to be a perfect parent. They had way less choices than we do and they also did not create an almost trillion dollar sleeping solutions industry.
It is time for change and we all know it. Until we get our sleep on track and take note of why we have a circadian rhythm, apply it and that means stick with it daily, we can forget about quality sleep or any rhythm, which we innately need for true health and vitality.
Insider – 17 January 2021
https://www.businessinsider.com/melatonin-sales-spiked-coronavirus-pandemic-2021-1?r=US&IR=T
$825,559,397 – American consumers spent on melatonin supplements in 2020.
Representing a 42.6% year-over-year increase.
Industry analysts expect the melatonin market to continue to grow but a lack of federal oversight of supplements and sparse research into melatonin’s long-term effects may harm consumers.
Doctors are asking Americans to use caution when shopping, as more sellers look to cash in on the melatonin hype.
Emotional wellbeing was at an all time low in 2020 and psychiatrists said trauma from job loss, losing loved ones and isolation has led to rises in anxiety and depression. For relief many Americans have turned to melatonin. It serves as a cheap, easy solution to fixing declining sleep habits. The supplement costs as little as $5 a bottle in some cases.
Experts warn that the surge in melatonin sales in 2020 could have long-term consequences. One major concern with the rising melatonin demand is the lack of Food and Drug Administration oversight into the dietary supplement industry compared to medications.
According to a 2017 study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
https://aasm.org/study-finds-that-melatonin-content-of-supplements-varies-widely/
the amount of actual melatonin in 71% of supplements is off by a 10% margin, meaning the majority of sellers mis-label how much of the hormone is in the pill. The same study found the amount of melatonin within pills in a single jar can vary by 465%.
As melatonin is not regulated, there is no guarantee about the purity of what we are buying. There is no guarantee that each pill in a bottle has the same amount of melatonin in it.
The demand for melatonin shows no signs of slowing. As the industry explodes, analysts predict melatonin lattes and kid gummies are on the horizon.
Claire Morton Reynolds, a senior industry analyst at Nutrition Business Journal said Melatonin’s rise could be likened to CBD, a part of the cannabis plant. Analysts predict the CBD market could grow to $5.3 billion by 2025 as the industry swells with start-ups selling infused coffees, oils, make-up and hand sanitizer.
Melatonin could expand into food and beverage.
Reynolds has seen an increase in kid-specific sleeping aids and gummies marketed toward children.
Spikes in younger consumers purchasing melatonin-based sleeping aids through advertising on social media sites has been seen by Irene Chang, a researcher analyst at Euromonitor International. Chang added that over-the-counter sleeping medication companies might even rebrand to cash in on the melatonin hype.
One company has found a new way to sell melatonin: inhalation pens.
These resemble vapes or e-cigarettes but contain no nicotine or tobacco.
Dear World
No long term study on the effects of melatonin exists.
When a drug is not regulated, it can be manufactured in a room.
Demand for melatonin is showing no signs of slowing down.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine does not recommend the hormone supplement for insomnia but for changing the timing of our sleep cycle.
Question: How many taking melatonin are using it for insomnia?
If we have no understanding of the effects of this hormone medication used to aid sleep for the long-term – is that saying we are not taking this seriously?
We have a natural sleep wake cycle and we are making choices to not live naturally and we require assistance for something that should be very normal and natural – sleep.
Are our lifestyle choices the reason WHY we have a huge surge in melatonin and even our kids are taking it or is it just the pandemic?
What will happen to children who are taking melatonin?
Do we wait for research studies to tell us down the road or are we going to consider a common sense approach now?
Something is clearly not right if so many are now reliant on taking melatonin as they are unable to sleep.
What if we just asked a few questions first?
How are they living?
What are they doing?
What are they not doing?
What are their movements (behaviour) during the daytime?
What if our daytime behaviour affects our sleep quality?
What if relying on a pill to do a job that should be natural cannot be sustained in the long-term?
Then what happens?
Have we stopped to consider that, or are we just into fixing it now with our solutions?
Do we want the medics to tell us what to do once we have done the damage?
In others words, we live in a way that trashes our natural sleep wake cycle and we want to find a pill to sort it out and put an end to sleep-less-ness.
The whole category on SLEEP on this website is worthy of a study and no doubt scholars of the future will come to realise in the years ahead that the author was not banging on about sleep habits but living in a way that most were not, at the time of writing – c2022.
The author would always express “Get your sleep sorted and the rest will unfold…”
Mail Online – 21 April 2021
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9493693/Music-holds-key-good-nights-rest-soothing-tunes-beneficial-scientists-say.html
Scientists from the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan found that older adults who listen to music before bed had better sleep.
This new study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society is saying we need to tune into the dulcet tones of soothing and sedative music. The reason suggested for this is because this type of music may reduce nervous system activity, which promotes relaxation and calmness.
We are also told that 40 – 70% of older adults are estimated to have sleep problems.
“Music therapy might be the first line of therapy to recommend in older adults with sleep disturbances, which would reduce the need for dependence on sedatives and sleeping medication.”
Daily Mail – 3 July 2021
Listening to music at bedtime may be bad for your sleep, according to a new study by researchers at Baylor University in Texas.
25% woke up with earworm, which is a mental impression of the tune they had listened to before bed. Instrumental music had a much stronger effect. The study, published in the Journal Psychological Medicine found the instrumental versions also triggered shifts from deeper to lighter sleep.
The researchers played music that were ‘known to lead to earworms’. Electrodes recorded brain activity, heart rate and breathing.
A separate study by the same researchers found that 87% of people believe music improves sleep or at least, does not disrupt it.
2 different studies, 2 different months and 2 different countries.
One saying this music before bedtime is beneficial and the other saying it can be bad to have music at night, especially the instrumental stuff.
Let’s just get a dose of common sense going here and focus on the important facts:
40% – 70% of our older generations have sleep problems.
87% believe music improves their sleep or does not disrupt it.
Really?
It would be beneficial if we swapped music per se and read blogs like this and then the whole category about Sleep that Simple Living Global are presenting. This not only gives us some facts and stats and the science of the sleep wake cycle but some questions that get us to consider if we have really nailed it within the sleep department.
The fact that the majority of us are thinking music improves our sleep is way off the mark and how we know that is because we have created a multi billion dollar industry for sleeping aids and its still growing fast. This tells us that something is clearly not right and we have not got even close to living what our natural sleep cycle needs to be. In other words, our way of living, call it our lifestyle choices are just not allowing us to have the deep and restfull quality of sleep needed.
What we ought to be asking for is that our researchers go back and work together and find the root cause of WHY such a large proportion of our older adults have sleep problems.
What are the younger generations up to before bedtime and do they have a routine for winding down, or is that just not what they do as nightclubs and loud music is where they hang out? And those who don’t, are they under other stress and tension like studying to prove something or be recognised for their achievements?
If most of us (87%) believe music is good for our sleep or at least it does not disrupt our sleep – this is very serious. Where do we get these beliefs from? Where did they come from in the first place and what are we subscribing to as it is clearly not true?
Until our evidence based scientific world that dictates what is true and what is not is questioned, we can be assured that more of these so-called maybe, might and could be studies will be coming out, which let’s face it confuses us as they are saying the opposite. One is good and one is bad.
What if neither are true as that is where we need to go – find the Truth and that means a one-unified Truth, where we ALL agree and WHY we all agree is because we live it and then it becomes the Truth as we are the living science. Our body is the science, thus the living evidence to confirm the Truth.
Until then, we can expect more and more studies and at the same time more and more solutions with no real change to turn the tides on our global epidemic of sleep dis-orders.
Sleep is now such a huge topic around the world as so many of us have some kind of sleep problem. Those of us that are convinced we sleep well may be unaware that their quality of sleep is not determined by the fact they zonk out until the morning.
The tabloids of today are covered with those fix it solutions for our sleep issues.
We blame anything and everything but rarely do we stop and question how and why it has got to the point where something that is natural is simply not happening on a daily consistent basis.
We get told repeatedly that stress, anxiety and depression are causes for insomnia.
We all know that or a junk food diet, alcohol, drugs, tea, coffee, energy drinks and sugar affect the quality of our sleep.
Add to that social media, television and all the other distractions we seek out and say we love and bingo we have a new global epidemic – sleep issues.
Online searches in the United States show 237 million are asking Dr. google to help them find information about their sleep issues. The analysis tells us Americans seek to find answers 5 million times every month.
Sleep Apnea was the most frequently googled term in 2019
https://amerisleep.com/blog/google-searches-and-sleep/
Insomnia had 13 million searches.
Narcolepsy is the 3rd most frequently googled subject with over 9 million searches.
A study this year highlights the impact of a pandemic on sleep health. Further studies will be needed to determine whether the increase in insomnia symptoms will persist and lead to higher rates of chronic insomnia in the population.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32975191/
While we wait around for more research studies – is there anything we can get on with before things escalate even further?
This website has 30 categories relating to health and lifestyle choices – presented in a way that offers the reader questions to consider.
We created all the ills and that includes our sleep issues. That means we must as human beings have the antidote – the answers to those ills.
How many of us are prepared to get Absolutely Honest and begin the first steps to true healing by admitting that how we are living is not contributing to our natural health and wellbeing?
Until then, we can enjoy the merry go round of human life that is getting us nowhere when it comes to health and vitality levels that are consistent daily.
Medical X press – 28 December 2021
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-12-teens-consume-extra-pounds-sugar.html
Teenagers are not getting enough sleep.
73% of high school students are getting less than the recommended 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night.
Prior research has linked lack of sleep to increased risk for poor mental health, poor academic performance and behavioural problems.
This new research study from Brigham Young University, conducted at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center says insufficient sleep also increases the risk of weight gain and other cardiometabolic diseases among teenagers because they have worse dietary habits when they sleep less.
“Shortened sleep increases the risk for teenagers to eat more carbs and added sugars and drink more sugar-sweetened beverages than when they are getting a healthy amount of sleep” said Dr. Kara Duraccio, lead author of the study.
The results found that teenagers undergoing short sleep consumed more foods that were likely to spike blood sugar fast, like foods high in carbs and added sugar or sugary drinks. These changes occurred later in the evening – after 9pm. These children also consumed fewer fruit and vegetables during the day.
Duraccio states that it is difficult for teenagers to maintain a healthy sleeping schedule with rigorous academic schedules and extra curricular activities compounded with early start times for school, which result in short and ill timed sleeping patterns that become a habit.
Dear World
How far are we off the mark when it comes to our sleep health?
Have we bothered to educate and bring into the school agenda the science of sleep and everything that we need to know about our natural sleep wake cycle?
What if we gave all our children the opportunity to have the “9 o’clock hoover” blog on this website presented to them and let them make the choices thereafter?
https://simplelivingglobal.com/9-oclock-hoover/
If sleep is not seen or taken seriously then chances are we are going to see more of the above and will send our researchers out to tell us the same and then more research and more solutions, meanwhile no real change.
Science Tech Daily – 17 January 2022
Just came across this article by Baylor College of Medicine about the disruption of our circadian rhythms, which do change naturally on a 24 hour cycle and has been implicated in heart disease.
Scientists have not yet worked this out as they are ‘unclear how it leads to the condition’.
With due respect to science and all that it provides us with, what if we are not looking at the obvious and going first and foremost to common sense. In other words, what would granny have to say? Probably or more likely “sort your sleep out”.
For me personally, this article is not easy to read or comprehend but what stuck out was this – “the resting phase for humans is at night and for mice it is in the day. In the active phase, which is during the day for people and at night for mice, the heart has some resistance to dietary carbohydrates”.
Something does not make sense to me. Why do we continue with our sleep experiments on mice if they are living opposite to us humans, when it comes to our internal body clock which we call circadian?
Whilst we continue to hypothesise and entertain all those that need and require more evidence, we forget that we could just listen to good old fashion common sense and start with consistent early bedtimes and develop a routine before going to bed at night.
What if we did that and got the researchers to study the outcome?
Imagine all those resources going into more and more research studies telling us our sleep is out of sync because of our lifestyle choices and we could knock it all out and turn it on its head and go super basic and simple with the old fashion way.
Would that be way too simple and is this WHY we avoid it or is there more at play?
As a race of beings, our sleep – something so vital and super important is being dis-regarded and neglected, like it is not important.
Is it any wonder that we have an almost trillion dollar sleeping aids industry?
What will it take to wake up from our ill behaviour that we have a responsibility to look after the human body that we move around with on this earth and sleep needs to be a priority?
We have this habit of going to HOW in our questioning but what if we went to WHY in the first place do we avoid, ignore, deny and negate something that is natural and needed for our wellbeing?
I had something to share with my friend but it would mean a phone call and conversation that means coming out of my zone, which was nil by mouth – no talking, eating or anything. Just some silent ‘go inside me’ time.
I stopped and did not pick up the phone. Instead I just took a pause and asked “what would happen if I did not make the choice to talk?
Well, this is worth noting.
I felt the impulse to research news stories which is something I do most days.
Wait for this…I found 8 and that is HUGE.
I also caught up on other world news and what’s going on.
The following morning, I got up naturally with much less sleep and was able to do far more work and this told me that our choices in any given moment do have a knock on effect.
How many of us are aware that even a late evening conversation may be un-necessary or not needed or that it can wait?
The funny thing is I have no idea what I wanted to share and that tells me it was a load of twaddle and I was being goaded to do it but I was saying no. What I mean is the thought coming in to act on making a late call was not me in my natural state. Something I am starting to clock more and more.
The Guardian – 14 March 2022
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/mar/14/sleeping-with-light-on-linked-to-higher-risk-of-heart-disease-and-diabetes
According to a new study, sleeping with the light on is linked to a higher risk of Heart Disease and Diabetes.
The study found that people who spent a night with lights on had a higher insulin resistance in the morning, higher heart rate and lower heart rate variability.
Other studies have revealed that keeping the lights on is associated with Obesity in women and Type 2 Diabetes among elderly people.
A new Pre-Diabetes study finds benefit in boost of daytime light exposure and keep lights dim during evening can improve blood sugar control in people with pre-diabetes.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/mar/14/sleeping-with-light-on-linked-to-higher-risk-of-heart-disease-and-diabetes
Researchers in the U.S have now found that people who are exposed to artificial light at night show worse glucose and cardiovascular regulation which they say is because the body is being kept more alert. Even a modest amount of light increases activation of the autonomic nervous system.
GALLUP News – 15 March 2022
https://news.gallup.com/poll/390734/sleep-struggles-common-among-younger-adults-women.aspx
SLEEP STRUGGLES MORE COMMON AMONG YOUNGER ADULTS AND WOMEN
61% of adults under 30 report trouble sleeping prior night
68% of younger Americans report sleep has a major impact on their mood
Women are more likely to prioritise their sleep but there is no difference in sleep quality. Their sleep outcomes are no better and in some cases they are worse.
60% adults aged 18 – 29 said they had trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or both.
64% of adults aged 18 – 29 experienced stress “a lot” of the prior day, compared with 37% of adults aged 50 – 64 and 24% who are 65 and older.
The connection between stress and sleep quality is seen among Americans, as those who reported feeling stress a lot of the day before were twice as likely to report not sleeping well that night compared with those who did not experience a lot of stress – 45% vs. 23%.
Experiencing stress a lot of the day increases the chance of low quality sleep that night by 96%. Significant daily worry increases the chances by 69%.
The research conducted for the State of Sleep in America 2022 Report by Casper/Gallup found that younger Americans and women have more trouble with sleep than older adults and men.
The evidence indicates that simply “prioritising” sleep more does not necessarily translate to better sleep outcomes for certain segments of the public.
Trouble sleeping is the highest among young adults and women. The data suggests a connection between their sleep quality and their elevated levels of worry and stress the day before (compared with older Americans and men).
The central finding from the data presented in the full report states that mental health and sleep quality are strongly related.
https://www.gallup.com/analytics/390536/sleep-in-america-2022.aspx
BBC World News Asia – 6 April 2022
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60703300
South Korea is known as one of the most sleep deprived nations on earth and this has taken a huge toll on its population.
This news story talks about a public relations officer who works from 7am until 10pm but when it was busy, she would be in the office until 3am. Her boss would call in the middle of the night expecting that she actions his request and her words “It was almost like I forgot how to relax”.
Dr. Ji-hyeon Lee, a sleep disorder psychiatrist states that clients take up to 20 sleeping pills a night. This is because Koreans want to sleep real quick and so they take medication” – they do not want to take the time to wind down and fall asleep.
Addiction to sleep medication is a national epidemic and without official statistics we are told there are around 100,000 Koreans addicted to sleeping pills.
When they still can’t sleep, they resort to drinking alcohol on top of their medication which comes with dangerous consequences. People sleep walk and go to the fridge and eat a lot of things unconsciously, including uncooked food. There were even cases of car accidents caused by a sleep walking patient says Ji-hyeon Lee.
Dr. Lee sees chronic insomniacs suffering from what is known as hypo-arousal. Some patients inform her that it has been decades since they have slept more than a few hours a night.
South Korea also has the highest suicide rate among developed nations, the highest consumption of hard liquor and a huge number of people on anti-depressants.
The reasons cited are – over a few decades this country has gone from being one of the poorest countries on earth to the world’s most technologically advanced nations. It also wields considerable soft power, with its growing influence on pop culture.
The drive has been a collective push to work harder and faster. One result is people are overworked, stressed out and sleep deprived.
The sleep industry in this country has grown and was worth $2.5 billion in 2019.
Dear World
What if we educated this nation with blogs like this one and the whole category about Sleep on this website?
What if those presenting about sleep were they themselves not experiencing sleep issues for over a decade consistently?
In other words, people like the author of this blog and this website that do not have a sleep disorder of any kind and are demonstrating that there is another way to live and support the human frame to work long hours but not in the hard work, effort and drive that most, like this nation are used to.
Possible?
Worth pondering deeply as something is seriously not right when we have a whole nation sleep deprived, with the highest rates of suicide and hard liquor.
We have a 911 and most of us are not even aware this is going on right now in our world.
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/risky-driving-behaviors-increase-as-common-sleep-disorder-worsens/
Risky driving behaviours increase as common sleep disorder worsens.
A new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that the chronic tiredness from adults with sleep apnea can have serious implications for road safety.
For every 8 additional breathing interruptions per hour, the odds of making a dangerous driving move such as speeding, braking hard or accelerating suddenly increased by 27%.
Older adults are more likely to develop sleep apnea. They are also more likely to be seriously injured or killed in a car accident.
People age 65 and over are the most responsible drivers on the road. They obey speed limits and avoid driving at night in bad weather and in unfamiliar places.
The changes that come with advancing age, such as deteriorating vision, slower reflexes and difficulty sleeping, can undermine even the safest habits.
Dear World
Studies of this kind make suggestions and then we go with that until another study shows up and we have even more evidence to confirm that something is not right. But WHY are we not going to the root of the matter and in this case the sleep apnea?
WHY does anyone go from sleeping like a baby, as the saying goes to sleep apnea?
What happens and what has got into them that changes their breathing in the night?
Is it lifestyle choices or is it something else?
Can we explore this and get all our researchers worldwide to nail this sleep stuff as it’s costing society billions and our bodies are not in a great place, knowing we have a multi-billion dollar sleeping aids industry which continues to grow.
This is serious as is any other illness or dis-ease in the human body and it is high time we turned our focus and put the emphasis on the root cause, so that we can get back on track and evolve out of our un-natural way of living.
Our health systems cannot cope and yet we seem to have continued bringing out more and more scientific based evidence, whilst negating or even considering another way.
Science Daily – 20 April 2022
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220420170509.htm
Up to 50% of older adults may have sleep apnea – a condition in which breathing and sleep are briefly interrupted many times a night.
The percentage of older adults with mild sleep apnea is 30% – 50% but if they do not have daytime sleepiness or other evidence of impairment, they may not come to medical attention.
According to a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, chronic tiredness can have serious implications for road safety.
Older adults are more likely to develop sleep apnea and they are also more likely to be seriously injured or killed in a car accident.
According to the findings, for every 8 additional breathing interruptions per hour, the odds of making a dangerous move such as speeding, braking hard or accelerating suddenly increase by 27%.
Although people over age 65 are the most responsible drivers on the road, the changes that come with advancing age – such as deteriorating vision, slower reflexes and difficulty sleeping, can undermine the safest habits.
Science Magazine – 3 May 2022
https://scienmag.com/children-without-diapers-sleep-poorly/
According to a study by Rutgers School of Nursing, published in the Journal of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics – children whose parents cannot afford diapers do not get quality sleep.
This is the first study to examine the relationship between diaper need and sleep
“Children with compromised sleep are more at risk for childhood obesity and emotional and behaviourial problems.
One third of U.S. mothers report difficulty affording diapers and prevalence during the pandemic is likely much higher.
Diaper need is associated with an increased incidence of irritated skin and urinary tract infections. It is also related to increased maternal mental health symptoms.”
Sallie Porter, co-author – Associate Professor at Rutgers School of Nursing
88% of the participating families were food insecure
76% were without diapers at least once a year
More than one third reported not having diapers monthly
33% of the children had a diagnosed developmental disability
47% of the parents had concerns about their child’s development
Global Newswire – 17 May 2022
https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/05/17/2444571/28124/en/The-Worldwide-Sleeping-Aids-Industry-is-Expected-to-Reach-118-Billion-by-2030.html
THE WORLDWIDE SLEEPING AIDS INDUSTRY EXPECTED TO REACH $118 BILLION BY 2030 https://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/683cf8b0-ca40-409e-9c69-249a8f77ce7c
According to a new study, the global sleeping aids market size is expected to reach USD $118.31 billion by 2030. The report gives a detailed insight into current market dynamics and provides analysis on future market growth.
The growing number of patient base suffering from respiratory issues, cardiovascular illnesses and Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA), coupled with the rising occurrence of insomnia, are the primary factors that are likely to accelerate the industry demand across the globe.
Moreover, factors such as rising consumption of alcohol and tobacco, sedentary lifestyle, stressful working hours are further attributed to the global industry demand in the forecasting years.
Based on sleep disorders, the insomnia segment is dominating the global industry with the highest revenue shares owing to the irregular sleep schedule, stress, poor sleeping habits and many others, coupled with the rising incidences of these disorders among young people and millennial population, may lead to the segment demand. Whereas the sleep apnoea segment is showing the highest CAGR (compound annual growth rate) that leads the industry demand.
The growing prevalence of sleep apnoea and insomnia among the population is a major health problem, which acts as a major driving factor for the industry’s growth.
Lack of sleep is decreasing productivity, causes stress, depression, physical illnesses and pain, medications and other neurological problems. Therefore, the industry is gaining huge traction among the population to cure their sleep disorders.
Also advancements in the types of sleeping aids such as mattresses and pillows are also propelling the global demand in the near future.
Dear World
This snapshot of what is happening in our world when it comes to our sleep is a 911.
We have major sleep issues and the sleeping aids industry are supplying more and more solutions to help us sleep or deal with our sleep issues.
It is inevitable that this industry is heading towards becoming a trillion dollar market as we, the masses want the quick fix or are convinced that an expensive gadget or a new mattress is going to sort the problem out.
What If we start with the Basic 101 question – WHY do we fight sleep when it our natural state of being and without it, we simply cannot function in daily life?
This article and the whole Sleep category on this website is present the facts, the stats and asking us ALL to consider some valuable questions.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/category/sleep/
UPI news – 3 June 2022
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/06/03/melatonin-poisoning-kids/7911654275113/
The number of children in the U.S accidentally poisoned by the over-the-counter sleep aid, melatonin has soared by 530% over the past decade, according to a new study.
Researchers found that for most children the overdose only causes excessive sleepiness but for some, it can result in hospitalisation and even death.
Dr Karima Lelak from the Department of Paediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit said the largest increases were unintentional ingestion or accidental ingestions in children less than five years of age.
The most common symptom of a melatonin overdose is excessive sleepiness which can range from being able to easily awaken the child to not being able to rouse them.
According to Lelak, the cause of these dramatic increases in accidental poisonings is the growing stress levels in the United States, which make it harder to sleep and the stresses have made the sleep supplement melatonin more common and easier for children to access. This was particularly true during the pandemic which had parents and their children reaching for the melatonin said Lelak.
“I think more people were requiring melatonin to fall asleep just with the day-to-day stresses of going through the pandemic”.
Lelak and her colleagues collected data on more than 260,000 children poisoned by melatonin who were reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centres National Poison data system from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2021.
Over that time poisonings increased from about 8,340 in 2012 to 53,000 in 2021.
The biggest increase 38% were seen from 2019 to 2020 during the height of the pandemic.
Over the study period, more children needed hospitalisation for serious consequences of melatonin overdoses especially children age 5 and younger.
Lelak said the parents need to treat melatonin like any other drug and keep it out of the reach of their children. It is not just a gummy vitamin, so they need to store it appropriately within the medicine cabinets, as opposed to a nightstand.
Dr Matthew Harris an Emergency Room Physician at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Queens, New York said he has seen increases in melatonin overdoses in the ER.
“This study is worrisome from the perspective that any medication overdose increases by 530% should raise some flags. Most kids require just a period of observation in Emergency Departments, if they even require evaluations at all.”
Melatonin can also cause nausea, vomiting and stomach pain. Lelak added that melatonin is not a benign drug and can be dangerous if one takes too much. Melatonin is not as safe as people might think she said.
Parents to be aware that like any other medication, melatonin should be out of reach of children at all times.
UPI Health News – 24 June 2022
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/06/24/insomnia-sleep-aids/2011655993552/
2 in 3 Americans use sleeping aids.
23% use prescription medications.
27% use melatonin.
20% use marijuana or CBD.
28% say insomnia is taking a toll on their daily lives.
37% said use of sleep aids increased during pandemic.
64% take sleep aids to help fall asleep or stay asleep.
“Chronic Insomnia is a dangerous public health problem. When left untreated, chronic insomnia can lead to a range of long-term health issues, including Depression, Alzheimer’s Disease, Type 2 Diabetes and more and can impact nearly every aspect of your life.”
Jennifer Martin – President of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
The AASM said Melatonin should not be used to treat adults with chronic insomnia.
They added that developing healthy sleep hygiene habits can help with mild or short-term case of insomnia.
European Society of Cardiology – 24 August 2022
https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/Insufficient-sleep-in-teenagers-is-associated-with-overweight-and-obesity
Insufficient sleep in teenagers is associated with overweight and obesity.
According to a new research study, adolescents who sleep less than 8 hours a night are more likely to be overweight or obese. Shorter sleepers were also more likely to have a combination of other unhealthy characteristics, including excess fat around the middle, elevated blood pressure and abnormal blood lipid and glucose levels.
The researchers are now investigating whether poor sleep habits are related to excessive screen time, which could explain why older adolescents get even less sleep than younger ones.
Study author Jesus Martinez Gomez said parents need to set a good example by having a consistent bedtime and limiting screen time in the evening and that public policies need to tackle this global health problem.
Dear World
WHY do we keep allowing more and more research studies to explore, find and tell us what we do really know?
For example – read our in depth article called SCREEN TIME on this website and there will be no doubt left as to the correlation between sleep and screen time.
The research has already been done and Simple Living Global have presented it in a very easy to read format so that we ALL get it.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/screen-time/
Next – parents setting a good example
Bit like asking a doctor who smokes to tell his patient to give up smoking as it’s bad for our health. Well it ain’t gonna work is what we could say. WHY?
Because the guy dishing out the advice is not clear or free in his own body from the very ill he wants others to stop.
That means parents scrolling every evening and at every opportunity on their smartphones with ad hoc irratic sleep times, will not and cannot ever bring about real change for their teenage children when it comes to less or no screen time and a consistent bedtime routine and rhythm. Impossible.
Time to wake up, face the facts and admit we are not great examples to our kids and then we want to fix them, wait for more research studies to tell us what common sense has said all along.
UPI Health News – 19 September 2022
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2022/09/19/traumatic-brain-injury-circadian-rhythm-healing-study/1081663601119/
According to a new study, an injured brain’s ability to heal may hinge on the time of day. Researchers say a type of brain cell able to renew itself is regulated by circadian rhythms, giving more insight into how the body’s internal clock may promote healing after traumatic brain injuries.
Traumatic brain injuries affect 2.8 million Americans annually, including 630,000 children. These are managed only with supportive care and rehabilitation because no targeted drug treatment options are available.
Many of the body’s cells follow a 24-hour rhythm driven by their genes known as the circadian clock.
It is essential for researchers to know that cell renewal is co-ordinated with the time of day.
The investigators underscored how widespread traumatic brain injury is.
69 million people worldwide are affected each year, resulting in conditions that range from mild concussions to severe injuries that may cause death or lifelong disability.
In the United States, brain injury is the leading cause of death in people under the age of 45 and survivors may be left with persistent physical, cognitive and psychological disabilities, the researchers said.
With little of no real policing on our social media platforms, news like this becomes a sensational story for some and the seriousness is not taken by those that can do something.
Mouth taping is a trend gaining traction on a popular social media platform right now.
Of course we all know that our breathing is super important and playing with this in any way will most certainly have an effect on our natural state.
The reasons given for the mouth taping trend include trying to achieve beauty sleep.
“I tape my mouth shut every single day. Sleeping properly is really important to anti-ageing and looking and feeling your best.”
“Truth be told, I don’t remember why I started taping my mouth and what the benefits were. But it helps me stay asleep.”
Doctors tell us mouth breathing can be prevented in a safe way by not sleeping on our back. Could it really be that simple?
More importantly, does it really matter if our body wants to sleep on the side or on the back and would it not be wiser to get to the root of WHY we have so many sleep disorders currently in our world?
Going for solutions when it comes to our disturbed sleep or any sleep issue has now become a multi-million dollar industry. We have sleeping aids consistently being sold to us and that is because we are making the demand.
Rarely do we want to address our sleep ‘properly’ and these quick fixes trending on social media confirm that we are desperate to find ways to not accelerate the ageing process but yet our approach is so off the scale, we are ensuring it does happen.
What if we started with admitting we are exhausted and that our sleep needs to be addressed with a new approach?
The author of this website has written a book on Sleep and the whole sleep category on this website gives some insight into the content.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/category/sleep/
When someone has dealt with their sleep issues and consistently has vitality levels, it brings an authority when they write about the subject matter as they are coming from their own experience – their body, which is a living science.
Those that genuinely want to nail this sleep stuff will pay attention and take note and others that want the trashy lifestyle, which means ‘do what we want, when we want and how we want’ will not be interested.
If anti-ageing was to be considered regarding sleep, then the author is the living proof!
National Library of Medicine
National Center for Biotechnology Information – 1 November 2022
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36413369/
Association of Benzodiazepine Treatment for Sleep Disorders with Drug Overdose Risk Among Young People.
Benzodiazepines are prescribed for the treatment of adolescent sleep disorders; however, benzodiazepine overdoses occur, often in combination with opioids.
The findings of this study suggest that benzodiazepines, compared with alternative pharmacologic treatments for common sleep disorders, were associated with an increased risk of drug overdose among young people during the following 6-month period, especially among those with a recent opioid prescription.
Dear World
While we wait for more research and even more evidence, can we ask a sensible question –
WHY does any adolescent have a sleep dis-order and is this where we need to start before we keep going further and further away from the root cause with our solutions?
Of course drugs are important, but not if the root ill has not been addressed. In other words, find out why this young adult is having any sleep problem and what is behind it. That way we can change the current trajectory, or at least put a stop to the upward rise.
UPI Health News – 8 November 2022
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/11/08/sleep-habits-study/4581667915778/
3 IN 10 U.S. ADULTS HAVE SLEEP DISTURBANCES, DAYTIME SLEEPINESS AND MANY PLAY CATCH-UP ON DAYS OFF WORK TO ERASE SLEEP DEFICITS
Scientists said the study’s results underscore that sleep disturbances remain a major challenge for promotion of healthy sleep in the U.S.
High percentages of U.S. adults experience long-term sleep deprivation and chronic “social jet lag”.
46.5% experience one hour or more of “social jet lag” calculated as the midpoint between sleep and wake time on workdays versus free days.
30.5% experienced at least one hour of sleep debt, defined as the difference between how long people sleep on their days off work and mean weekly sleep duration.
Scientists found sleep and wake timings were much later on free days.
The proportion of people going to bed at midnight or later increased from 25.4% to 40.9% and those getting up later increased from 21.4% to 47.7%.
A growing body of evidence suggests that maintaining optimal sleep-wake timing may be an important factor in managing Obesity, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease.
The Pharmaceutical Journal – 24 November 2022
https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/number-of-children-prescribed-melatonin-up-170-in-seven-years
168% RISE in number of children prescribed melatonin in 7 years.
Sleep issues are on the rise across ALL age groups, partly due to pandemic, which resulted in children having a lot more screen time than usual, reduced exercise, loss of routine and there was increased anxiety.
The rapid increase in synthetic melatonin prescriptions for children and young people in England has increased rapidly, prompting concern from experts that it is being overused to treat sleep problems in the young.
60,000 aged 0-17 were prescribed melatonin and this figure was described as “shocking” by experts.
“It is ‘far too easy’ for children to continue on with using melatonin once it has been tried because it has had some effect. That does not mean it is needed long term.”
Steve Tomlin – Director of the Children’s Medicines Centre and Associate Chief Pharmacist | Great Ormond Street Hospital
Dear World
The chapter on Melatonin in our forthcoming book – The Real Truth about Sleep will present in detail what most of us are probably not aware of.
In the meantime, what ought to be considered is that the stuff we are prescribed is to mimic the real melatonin that our body produces naturally. Just knowing this is a game changer as it is communicating to us that we are moving away from our natural way of being when it comes to sleep.
For anyone interested in nailing the sleep issues and locking in QUALITY SLEEP daily – go to our category on Sleep and there is plenty to keep applying in a practical way before our book is published.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/category/sleep/
Note – this comment has been posted on our Diabetes article as it serves equally there, as it does for this sleep article.
University of South Australia – 2 December 2022
https://www.unisa.edu.au/media-centre/Releases/2022/trouble-sleeping-you-could-be-at-risk-of-type-2-diabetes/
TROUBLED SLEEP ASSSOCIATED WITH RISK FACTORS FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES
In the 1st study of its kind, researchers found that people who reported trouble sleeping were on average more likely to have indicators of poor cardiometabolic health – inflammatory markers, cholesterol and body weight, which can contribute to Type 2 Diabetes.
Australia
1 million adults have Type 2 Diabetes
Global
422 million affected by Type 2 Diabetes
“Everyone knows that sleep is important. But when we think about sleep, we mainly focus on how many hours of sleep we get, when we should also be looking at our sleep experience as a whole.
How soundly we sleep, when we go to bed and get up and how regular our sleep habits are, may be just as important as sleep duration.
It is important to think about sleep as a whole and not just one aspect.”
Dr. Lisa Matricciani – University of South Australia researcher
The Guardian – 28 January 2023
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/28/nhs-begins-treating-sleep-apnoea-with-pioneering-chest-implant
NHS doctors have begun treating people with one of Britain’s most common sleeping disorders with a chest implant.
The small device is already used in Europe and the U.S and works by making the tongue contract and move out of the windpipe.
Doctors estimate that 1.5 million have sleep apnoea in Britain.
85% of them are thought to have not been diagnosed and so are not receiving treatment.
The condition leaves people tired, cranky and susceptible to accidents and can increase the long-term risk of a stroke and heart disease.
Symptoms include low libido and mental ill-health.
The device is known as a hypoglossal nerve stimulation implant because the hypoglossal nerve controls the movement of the tongue. Size of a pacemaker, it is inserted under the skin on the chest wall in an hour long operation. It is then connected to a cable 2mm in diameter and 30cm long that is tunnelled under the skin and connected to the nerve that moves the tongue.
It works by stimulating the tongue muscle to contract forward and drawing the tongue out of the windpipe to allow normal airflow in and out of the lungs. Nothing is visible outside the skin.
Patients use a handheld controller the size of a computer mouse to turn the device on 30 minutes before they plan to sleep and off again when they wake up.
How interesting is this Internet when it comes to ‘selling’ us what we are already seeking for.
Today I am on an official Diabetes website and reading about the first study of its kind where researchers in Australia have found that our poor sleeping habits increase the risk of Type 2 Diabetes.
Whilst reading the news story, I have a whole list in bold capital letters with arrows and it looks like they are linked to the research study but oh no – it’s a marketing thing.
Yep, we click the arrow and we can have any of the following:
BEST SLEEP SUPPLEMENTS
BEST SLEEP MEDICINE
10 BEST SLEEPING PILLS
SLEEP APNEA MOUTHPIECE
SLEEPING PILL THAT WORKS
MELATONIN FOR INSOMNIA
I stopped reading and immediately felt to put this comment online as this is what we are demanding.
Imagine if the list to buy was replaced with FREE articles that present another way when it comes to SLEEP and written by a true Master of Sleep. Yes this author of the whole Sleep category on this website and everything else knows what’s what when it comes to our Sleep, true health and wellbeing.
Instead we continue to feed the multi billion dollar sleeping aids industry that does what it needs to and that is supply because we, yes we the collective, call us the masses are demanding it. We want a pill – let’s not look at the side effects to knock us out as we have insomnia and we don’t like it. We want a mouthpiece or the best there is out there to sort this annoying and inconvenient issue we have with lack of sleep.
Dear World
Could it be possible that our lifestyle choices are the reason WHY we have a sleep issue in the first place?
What if our daytime has something to do with our sleep quality at night?
What if the way we prepare for sleep (or not) has an effect on our sleep?
What if being awake at night and unable to sleep is because we are off track in life?
These questions and the long list presented in each of the articles from our Sleep category on this website would give us something to consider and allow us to make changes, if we are serious about nailing this sleep thing and knocking out whatever is in the way.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/category/sleep/
What this website is calling others to is taking Responsibility. Not many of us want that and this is where we just need to get honest. Most of us like the way we live and do what we want, when we want, with little or no regard for the body and then we seek the quick fix solutions and there are plenty of those around.
What we forget is the short term ‘fun’ or whatever it is that we seek never lasts and we are left in a body that cops the consequences of our choices. Worth remembering these words of wisdom, as that is what good old fashion common sense would tell us.
For the record – this comment equally serves on the Internet blog, so it has also been posted there too.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/internet/
And finally, we have come to use the Internet not to evolve as a species but to bring harm to the human frame, when we seek out anything that is not for our true health and wellbeing. Worth noting.
American Heart Association News – 15 February 2023
https://newsroom.heart.org/news/irregular-sleeping-habits-may-increase-risk-of-atherosclerosis-in-older-adults
Irregular sleeping habits may increase risk of atherosclerosis in older adults, according to a new study in the journal of the American Heart Association.
Maintaining a consistent sleep pattern may play an important role in preventing cardiovascular disease among adults.
Variations in sleep duration of more than two hours a night within the same week were tied to developing hardened arteries, known as atherosclerosis, in a racially and ethnically diverse study of more than 2,000 adults in six large U.S. communities.
This study is one of the first investigations to provide evidence of a connection between irregular sleep duration and irregular sleep timing and atherosclerosis.
Atherosclerosis is the buildup of fatty deposits, known as plaque, on the artery walls. The plaque can cause arteries to narrow, reducing blood flow and the amount of oxygen and other nutrients reaching the body. Or the plaque may burst and create a blood clot that blocks the artery, which could lead to a heart attack or stroke.
European Society of Cardiology – 16 March 2023
https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/short-night-time-sleep-linked-with-nearly-doubled-risk-of-clogged-leg-arteries
SHORT NIGHT-TIME SLEEP LINKED WITH NEARLY DOUBLED RISK OF CLOGGED LEG ARTERIES
Sleeping less than 5 hours a night is associated with a 74% raised likelihood of developing peripheral artery disease (PAD) compared with 7 to 8 hours.
200 million people globally have Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), where arteries in the legs are clogged, restricting blood flow and increasing the risk of stroke and heart attack.
“Insufficient night-time sleep and daytime napping have previously been associated with a raised risk of coronary artery disease which, like PAD is caused by clogged arteries. In addition, sleeping problems are among the top ranked complaints in PAD patients…”
Faculty of Social Sciences
Charles University – 16 March 2023
Title
Sleep Quality is Significantly Associated with Quality of Life Indicators, Over Time
https://fsv.cuni.cz/en/news/sleep-quality-significantly-associated-quality-life-indicators-over-time
Unlike sleep duration and “social jetlag”, self-reported sleep quality is significantly linked to quality of life for individuals over time, and also when comparing between people, according to a new study published from faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University and from the Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences.
Although there are many studies that link sleep quality to overall quality of life, there is little research on the relative impact of changes in sleep duration, quality and timing on an individual’s quality of life over the long term.
The authors analysed responses to questions covering life satisfaction, well-being, happiness, subjective health, and work stress alongside responses on self-reported sleep duration, sleep quality and sleep, timing or “social jetlag”.
Social Jetlag is when someone’s socially directed to sleep rhythms and innate biological sleep rhythms are mismatched.
This is the first study, which has tested the longitudinal effect of social jetlag on quality of life.
Following 4,253 people for 3 years, researchers found that those whose sleep improved also had an improved quality of life.
Science Tech Daily – 3 April 2023
https://scitechdaily.com/brains-ability-to-clear-protein-linked-to-alzheimers-disease-controlled-by-circadian-cycle/
According to new research published in PLOS Genetics, the brain’s ability to clear a protein closely linked to Alzheimer’s disease is tied to our circadian cycle.
Circadian rhythms control the removal of a key protein. The ability of the immune system to destroy Alzheimer’s-related protein oscillates with daily circadian rhythm.
This research study underscores the importance of healthy sleep habits in preventing the protein Amyloid-Beta 42 (AB42) from forming clumps in the brain and opens a path to potential Alzheimer’s therapies.
Jennifer Hurley – an expert in circadian rhythms and Associate Professor of Biological Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute says:
“Circadian regulation of immune cells plays a role in the intricate relationship between the circadian clock and Alzheimer’s disease. This tells us a healthy sleep pattern might be important to alleviate some of the symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease and this beneficial effect might be imparted by an immune cell type called macrophages/microglia.”
The circadian system is comprised of a core set of clock proteins that anticipate the day/night cycle by causing daily oscillations in the levels of enzymes and hormones, ultimately affecting physiological parameters such as body temperature and the immune response. Disruption of the circadian system is increasingly associated with diseases like Diabetes, Cancer and Alzheimer’s.
Dear World
Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of Dementia.
We have worldwide news telling us Dementia is on the rise.
We have this study informing us of the “importance of healthy sleep habits”.
We have this website dedicating a whole category about all things relating to Sleep.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/category/sleep/
Question – WHY are the majority of humanity not interested in taking care of their body when we know what we know?
WHY is it not making sense?
What is running the show here as something is clearly not adding up?
We know the facts and yet we also know that we have a multi-billion dollar sleeping aids industry. That tells us we are seeking aids, solutions and the quick fix but not willing to look at the obvious – change our sleeping habits.
The Guardian – 4 April 2023
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/04/sleep-lower-asthma-risk
Asthma affects 300 million people worldwide.
Scientists do not know why some people develop asthma and others do not.
A large study for more than a decade has found that poor sleep patterns may bolster genetic susceptibility to asthma, potentially doubling the risk of being diagnosed with the condition.
Researchers suggest that detecting and treating sleep disorders early on may lessen the risks, irrespective of genetic predisposition.
A healthy sleep pattern was defined as being a morning person, never having insomnia, sleeping for 7 to 9 hours, no snoring and no frequent sleepiness during the day.
Over the decade of follow up – 55% with a poor sleep pattern were more likely to be diagnosed with asthma.
A healthy sleep pattern decreased the risk of asthma by 44%.
The results showed that a healthy sleep pattern could significantly decrease asthma risk in any genetic subgroup.
Researchers concluded – “Unhealthy sleep patterns and sleep traits…were significantly associated with the risk of asthma in adults. The combination of poor sleep pattern and high susceptibility could lead to additive asthma risk.”
The Guardian – 19 May 2023
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/19/exhausting-search-for-solutions-to-uk-rise-in-tiredness
Exhausting search for solutions to UK’s sharp rise in Tiredness.
Cost of living crisis, mental health issues and long covid all thought to be factors, but researchers still know too little about fatigue.
$40 billion cost each year to the UK economy from sleep deprivation.
Aberdeen GP Rosalind Adam and colleagues are dealing with more people than ever reporting extreme tiredness, even taking into account their increased workload. She says “I think we are seeing just the tip of the iceberg”.
Everyone it seems is absolutely shattered and it is doing us no good at all. We know we ought to be exercising and eating well to keep healthy and help us sleep.
A survey published this week says one of the main reasons the British do not live healthier lifestyles is because they are too tired.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/may/17/people-too-tired-to-lead-healthier-lifestyles-uk-survey-finds
The number of Britons too sick to work at all is at a record high.
https://www.independent.co.uk/business/unemployment-statistics-sickness-ons-b2339882.html
Extreme tiredness can be a symptom of many conditions including heart disease, head injuries, cancer and depression. In many cases, lifestyle factors are important too.
Medically, fatigue is poorly understood and doctors do not even have an agreed definition. They also have very few options for treating a problem.
Serious mental health problems often associated with extreme anxiety and sleeplessness have exploded in adults and children in recent years, with the pandemic and cost of living factors identified as key factors. Poverty is significant as people in the poorest areas are twice as likely to need mental health services as those in the richest.
There is plenty of anecdotal and scientific evidence too of the link between the time spent on screens and increased tiredness.
“The chaoticness of our daily lives and the constant connection we have to technology does mean that we struggle to decompress at the end of the day” says Lisa Artis of The Sleep Charity.
Dear World
WHY are we consistently told that we need to eat well and “think about your alcohol” or consume less and reduce caffeine when we ought to consider an absolute No and that means none, zero intake?
Those that dish out advice may not be the experts we need to rely on and its high time we did our own research and apply another way that may not be what we keep reading or seeking.
This website is dedicated with one purpose – to bring awareness to ALL of us and we are doing a grand job thus far with almost 300 articles published on health and well being.
For the record, the author has zero fatigue and has no sleep issues, stress or mental health problems. Nothing super human but simply another way of living that most of us have yet to discover. Call it anecdotal or dismiss it all but we are here for the long haul and so far it is working.
This is a website for the future – a go to library that presents question after question in the knowing that some may one day ‘give it a go’ and benefit from what is being expressed. It is simple and it makes sense – is this why we are not ready for it yet?
Uppsala University – 31 May 2023
https://www.uu.se/en/news/archive/2023-05-31-junk-food-may-impair-our-deep-sleep
In a new study, researchers investigated how junk food affects sleep.
After the unhealthier diet, the quality of the participants’ deep sleep had deteriorated, compared with those who had followed a healthier diet.
Several epidemiological studies have shown that what we eat is associated with changes in our sleep.
“Both poor diet and poor sleep increase the risk of several public health conditions. As what we eat is so important for our health.”
Jonathan Cedernaes – Physician and Associate Professor in Medical Cell Biology at Uppsala University.
This randomized trial concludes that short term consumption of a more unhealthy diet alters sleep oscillatory features that regulate the restorative properties of sleep.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.23787
Psychiatric News – 27 June 2023
https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.pn.2023.07.7.2
Sleep problems in late childhood, early adolescence linked to psychiatric symptoms.
Children aged 9 to 13 who experience sleep problems maybe more likely to experience internalising symptoms (such as depression and anxiety) and/or externalizing symptoms (such as aggression and rule-breaking behaviours) than children who do not experience sleep problems, according to a report in JAMA Psychiatry.
Problems with falling and staying asleep are particularly prevalent as children transition to adolescence.
The study found that those who had greater sleep problems had a greater risk of both internalizing and externalizing symptoms at baseline and at the 2 year follow up.
The strongest associations were observed for somatic distress, with 60% increase in symptom severity between the low disturbance and high disturbance groups.
“For some young people, treating or focusing on their sleep, rather than their mental health symptoms may be more achievable. It is also something that parents can be active participants in.”
American Academy of Sleep Medicine – 10 July 2023
https://aasm.org/over-a-third-americans-opt-sleep-divorce/
Over one third of Americans opt for a “sleep divorce” to help improve their nightly sleep.
According to a recent survey by AASM, more than one third say they occasionally or consistently sleep in another room to accommodate a bed partner.
45% males report sleeping in another room occasionally or consistently.
“Poor sleep can worsen mood and those who are sleep deprived are more likely to argue with their partners. There may be some resentment toward the person causing the sleep disruption which can negatively impact relationships.”
Dr. Seema Khosla – Pulmonologist and spokesperson for AASM.
43% Millennials occasionally or consistently sleep in another room to accommodate a bed partner.
33% of those in Generation X
28% in Generation Z
National Institutes of Health – 26 July 2023
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-funded-study-explains-link-increased-cardiovascular-risks-people-obstructive-sleep-apnea
NIH study explains the link to increased cardiovascular risks for people with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
A leading factor emerges that this is due to reduced blood oxygen levels, largely attributed to blocked airways.
Physiological features of Obstructive Sleep Apnea assessed included hypoxic burden, which is a reduction in blood oxygen levels during sleep; ventilatory burden, which are interruptions in breathing due to airway obstruction; and night-time arousals, which are when a person suddenly wakes up from sleep due to interrupted breathing and that can cause their blood pressure or heart rate to rise.
Industrial News – 10 August 2023
https://industrialnews.co.uk/sleep-deprivation-affects-cardiovascular-health-even-when-caught-up-on-weekends/
Sleep deprivation affects cardiovascular health even when caught up on the weekends.
A new research study led by Penn State reveals that cardiovascular health measures, including heart rate and blood pressure, worsen over the course of the week when sleep is restricted to 5 hours per night and attempting to catch up on sleep over the weekend is insufficient to return these measures to normal.
“65% of adults in the U.S. sleep the recommended 7 hours per night and there is a lot of evidence suggesting that this lack of sleep is associated with cardiovascular disease in the long term.
Our research reveals a potential mechanism for this longitudinal relationship, where enough successive hits to your cardiovascular health while you are young could make your heart more prone to cardiovascular disease in the future” said Anne-Marie Chang, co-author and Associate Professor of Biobehavioral Health.
Chang added “Not only does sleep affect our cardiovascular health but it also affects our weight, our mental health, our ability to focus and our ability to maintain healthy relationships with others, among many other things”.
The Guardian – 25 August 2023
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/25/sleep-apnoea-greatly-increases-risk-of-stroke-us-scientists-find-stanford-atrial-fibrillation
Stanford study shows that people with the common sleep disorder, sleep apnoea are also 5 times more likely to develop Atrial Fibrillation and 60% more likely to experience a stroke later in life.
Snoring loudly and feeling tired even after a full night’s sleep could leave people at an increased risk of a stroke.
Hundreds of millions of people globally have sleep apnoea, a disorder with symptoms including stopping and starting breathing, making snorting noises, waking up a lot and loud snoring. Many have the condition but are undiagnosed.
The condition is already know to heighten the risk of serious health problems such as High Blood Pressure, Type 2 Diabetes and Depression. Now U.S. researchers have uncovered more evidence about its impact on the heart.
Sleep apnoea significantly raises the risk of Atrial Fibrillation and stroke, they say.
“Sleep apnoea is really common but we sort of ignore it because we think it is trivial or just a little bit of a nuisance. Until now no one has really shown the magnitude of the size of the risk.”
Sanjiv Narayan – Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University.
National University of Singapore – 29 August 2023
https://medicine.nus.edu.sg/news/sleep-data-from-over-220000-people-reveal-global-differences-in-weekly-sleep-variability-and-sleep-extension/
People in Asia have fewer weekend lie-ins and more variable sleep on weekdays, according to new research.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389945723003003?via%3Dihub
They go to sleep later and have shorter sleep.
They also have lower sleep quality than those in other parts of the world.
Additionally, their sleep during the work week is more variable and they do not extend their sleep as much at the weekend.
50 million nights of anonymised sleep data was analysed, contributed by over 220,000 users of a consumer sleep tracker, from across 35 countries.
Most of the users were working adults between ages 30 and 55.
The results showed people in Asia have shorter sleep and display higher variability in both sleep timing and duration on weekdays. They also fall asleep later than those living in Europe, Oceania and North America.
Previous evidence from time use studies have demonstrated a strong association between long work hours and short sleep.
Additionally, there is evidence that pre-occupation with work demands and the inability to stop thinking about work contribute to sleep disturbances.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital – 11 September 2023
https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/press-releases-detail?id=4521
A new study has found people with later sleep and wake up times had less healthy lifestyles and were at a greater risk of developing Diabetes than those with early bird sleep habits.
Researchers found evening ‘chronotype’ or going to be late and waking up late was associated with 19% increased risk of Diabetes after accounting for lifestyle factors.
Data from 63,676 female nurses was collected from 2009 – 2017.
The evening chronotype was associated with 72% increased risk for Diabetes before accounting for lifestyle factors.
Those with evening chronotypes were found to be more likely to drink alcohol in higher quantities, have a low-quality food diet, get less hours of sleep per night, currently smoke and have weight, BMI and physical activity rates in the unhealthy range.
Dear World
This website rarely duplicates a news story unless it serves.
This research study is posted both on our Sleep and Diabetes posts.
What is evident and repeatedly coming up for ALL of us is how we are living in daily life and that means our lifestyle choices have consequences and we simply cannot get away from this fact.
Not having a sleep routine because we simply do not care enough or care very little or not at all about our body is not a wise move. Our body is our vehicle that we have until our last breath and we can ignore the signs or wait for more evidence based research before we make any changes, or we take some simple steps to make changes that support and nurture our body.
What we have yet to expose is that most of us do not have the awareness that basic 101 tips for living daily life actually benefit us and others too.
This website is a great example of that.
The author got the sleep thing locked in and nailed it and so it is no surprise that they can not only write but present to absolutely anyone that sleep is super important, why and how this can be done, regardless of where we live or what job we do.
For the record – there is no Diabetes on the radar for the author of this website.
This is the confirmation that lifestyle choices work when they are used to support and deeply nurture the body. Not disregard or indulge, as that brings in serious consequences.
Harvard Gazette – 2 October 2023
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/10/insomnia-linked-to-increased-risk-for-hypertension-in-women/
According to a new study – as a woman’s sleep goes down, their blood pressure goes up.
Women who sleep less than 7 or 8 hours at night had significantly higher risk of developing hypertension or high blood pressure.
Data analysed revealed that women with sleeping difficulties had higher BMIs, lower physical activity and poorer diets on average. They also were likelier to smoke and drink alcohol and had previously gone through menopause.
American Academy of Sleep Medicine – 9 October 2023
https://aasm.org/potential-recession-and-job-security-worries-are-keeping-americans-up-at-night-survey-shows/
According to a new report from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
69% of U.S. adults reported losing sleep due to worries over job security.
75% lost sleep due to worries about a recession.
“Persistent, anxious thoughts can make it difficult to fall asleep and impact sleep quality, so it is understandable Americans are losing sleep during this period of economic instability, inflation and job market insecurity” said Dr. Sushell Patil – Sleep Medicine Physician.
Columbia University – 12 October 2023
https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/not-getting-enough-sleep-your-vascular-cells-are-drowning-oxidants
Even mild chronic sleep deficit may heighten the risk of developing heart disease later in life, according to a new study.
The study found after 6 weeks of shortened sleep, the cells that line our blood vessels are flooded by damaging oxidants. Unlike well rested cells, sleep restricted cells fail to activate antioxidant responses to clear the destructive molecules.
Cells that are inflamed and dysfunctional, an early step in the development of cardiovascular disease.
“This is some of the first direct evidence to show that mild chronic sleep deficits cause heart disease.
Many problems could be solved if people sleep at least 7 to 8 hours per night.
People who are young and healthy need to know that if they keep getting less sleep than that, they are aggravating their cardiovascular risk.”
Sanja Jelic – Director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Columbia and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine.
AAAS – American Association for the Advancement of Science – 12 October 2023
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1003677
Half of patients with skin disease experience sleep disturbances, according to a major study presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress 2023.
49% with these sleep disturbances reported reduced productivity at work compared to 19% of participants without a skin disease.
The main symptoms that impacted the sleep of patients with skin disease were
60% Itching
17% Burning Sensations
81% more frequently experienced a feeling of fatigue as soon as they woke up
83% experienced periods of drowsiness during the day
58% tingling of the eyes
72% repeated yawning
The study author, Dr. Bruno Halioua added that Healthcare providers should be encouraged to integrate sleep disturbance questions into the examinations of patients with skin conditions.
UPI Health News – 3 November 2023
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2023/11/03/teens-report-drowsy-driving/4931699016673/
Drowsy driving causes thousands of car crashes a year and teenage drivers say they are often sleepy behind the wheel.
In a new survey, teenagers reported high rates of drowsy driving.
School and job commitments were factors keeping them up at night.
https://www.thensf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-Drowsy-Driving-Survey-Report.pdf
A corresponding survey of U.S. adult drivers showed similar trends.
Both teenagers and adults called drowsy driving “highly risky”.
Previous studies have established that young people are at high risk for drowsy driving.
Teenagers know the risks of drowsy driving but do not think it is as risky as other forms of impaired driving.
6,400 a year are killed with drowsy driving in the United States, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Crash and fatality data are likely underestimated, the Sleep Foundation said.
6 in 10 adult drivers said they had driven a car when they were so tired they had a hard time keeping their eyes open.
In their first 2 years of driving, 1 in 6 teenagers said they had already driven while drowsy.
95% of teenagers consider drowsy driving risky but most rate drunken, drugged and distracted driving as more dangerous.
Teenage drivers with jobs are more than twice as likely as others to have driven when they could barely keep their eyes open.
Dear World
Is this a 911 wake up call – pun intended
It is high time we got real and honest about our sleep issues.
Teenagers are spending excess time on screens – from social media to video gaming or other internet related activities. Add to late nights a job where they having to work and also study, then we have a combo that is going to have consequences.
Sleep is a priority but we have not been educated or schooled to why this is important for our health and vitality levels. We cannot blame parents as they seem to be in the same situation and it is almost impossible to tell a teenager to do something, like go to bed early when the adult parent does not consistently go to bed early.
What if many of our so called ills start with the lack of sleep factor that has yet to be addressed by the masses and that means the majority of us?
Columbia University – 13 November 2023
https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/shortening-sleep-time-increases-diabetes-risk-women
A new study at Columbia University has found that shortening sleep by 90 minutes for 6 weeks increased insulin resistance in women who are accustomed to getting adequate sleep.
The effect was even more pronounced in post-menopausal women.
One third Americans get less than the minimum recommended amount of sleep for optimum health, which is between 7 and 9 hours per night.
The findings are the first to show that even a mild sleep deficit that is maintained for 6 weeks causes changes in the body that raise the risk of developing Diabetes in women.
Previous trials have shown the adverse impact on insulin sensitivity, mostly men and the studies focused on the effects of very severe sleep restriction over a short period of time.
This new study looked at women in particular because studies suggest that poor sleep may have a greater impact on women’s cardiometabolic health than men’s.
Pennsylvania State University – 13 December 2023
https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/interactive-screen-use-reduces-sleep-time-kids-researchers-find/
New research suggests that interactive screen time engagement, such as texting friends or playing video games, delays and reduces the time spent asleep to a greater extent than passive screen time, like watching television, especially for teenagers.
The research, which was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, demonstrates that adolescents at age 15 who used screens to communicate with friends or play video games in the hour before bed took 30 minutes longer to fall asleep than if they had refrained from interactive screen time.
The researchers found that teenagers spent an average of 2 hours per day communicating with friends via email, instant messaging, texting on the phone or through social media.
1.3 hours playing video games
1.7 hours watching TV or videos in the hour before bed
77% of the time, they communicated or played video games via a phone, computer or tablet
69% of the time watched television or movies
It was not just interactive screen time before bed that affects kids’ sleep. For each hour during the day that kids spent playing video games beyond their usual amount, their sleep was delayed by about 10 minutes.
“If teenagers typically play video games for an hour each day, but one day a new game comes out and they play for 4 hours, that is 3 additional hours more than they typically play. So that means they could have 15 minutes of delayed sleep timing that night.
For a child, losing 15 minutes of sleep at night is significant. It is especially difficult when they have to get up in the morning for school; if they are delaying their sleep, they cannot make up for it in the morning. Without adequate sleep, children are at increased risk of obesity, as well as impaired cognition, emotion regulation and mental health.”
David Reichenberger – postdoctoral scholar at Penn State and Lead Author on the study
American Academy of Neurology – 13 December 2023
https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/5133
New research has found that a rare sleep disorder is more prevalent than previously thought.
The neurological sleep disorder is called Idiopathic Hypersomnia.
Symptoms of Idiopathic Hypersomnia include not only being very sleep during the day but also sleeping excessive amounts of time, having difficulty waking up and waking up disorientated. This makes it difficult to complete day to day activities, decreasing a person’s quality of life.
This is different to narcolepsy, which is feeling sleepy during the day but usually do not sleep excessive amounts of time and may wake up feeling refreshed after naps.
“It has been difficult to determine the prevalence of Idiopathic Hypersomnia because expensive and time-consuming sleep testing is required to make a diagnosis.
We examined data from a large sleep study and found that this condition is much more common than previous estimates and as prevalent as some other common neurologic and psychiatric conditions, such as epilepsy, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.”
David T. Plante, D, PhD – University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Houston – 21 December 2023
https://uh.edu/news-events/stories/2023/december-2023/12212023-alfano-sleep-research-compilation-decades
University of Houston publishes the most thorough compilation of Sleep and Emotion Research to date.
A systematic review and Meta-Analysis of over 50 years of Research on sleep deprivation and mood.
https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-bul0000410.pdf
Loss of sleep does not just make us tired – it can increase Anxiety, degrade mood and altogether undermine our emotional functioning.
The study was published by the American Psychological Association in the journal Psychological Bulletin.
154 studies were analyzed over 5 decades with 5,717 participants.
Overall, the researchers found that all 3 types of sleep loss resulted in fewer positive emotions, such as joy, happiness and contentment among participants, as well as increased anxiety symptoms, such as a rapid heart rate and increased worrying.
This occurred even after short periods of sleep loss – staying up an hour or two later than usual or after losing a few hours sleep.
Research has found that more than 30% of adults and up to 90% of teenagers do not get enough sleep.
“The implications of this research for individual and public health are considerable in a large sleep-deprived society. Industries and sectors prone to sleep loss, such as first responders, pilots and truck drivers should develop and adopt policies that prioritize sleep to mitigate against the risks to daytime function and well-being.
University of California San Francisco – 3 January 2024
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2023/12/426901/dementia-prevention-sleep-quality-midlife-matters-more
A new study, led by University of California, San Francisco, reveals that Quality of Sleep and Not quantity in midlife matters more, as it may play a part in the development of dementia decades before symptoms start.
Unlike previous research that focused primarily on sleep disturbance and cognitive impairment in later life, this study had an average age of 40.
The study was published in the journal Neurology.
https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/5136
“Given the long, symptom-free window of Alzheimer’s disease and the high prevalence of sleep problems, the understanding of midlife sleep disturbances has significant public health implications.
1 in 9 Americans aged 65 and older suffer from Alzheimer’s.
Recent studies show that up to 40% of cases may be prevented or delayed by making health changes, including practicing good sleep hygiene.
American Association for the Advancement of Science – 18 January 2024
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1031236
Sleepiness while driving is potentially fatal and it is recommended that a driver who starts to feel tired should stop and have a rest. However, some people may use various countermeasures to try and stay alert.
Frequently using more than 3 strategies to stay alert while driving could be a sign of excessive sleepiness due to OSA – Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, according to a new study.
https://openres.ersjournals.com/content/10/1/00638-2023
People with OSA often snore loudly, their breathing starts and stops during the night and they wake up several times.
1 in 5 people have OSA but the majority of sufferers do not realise they have a problem. OSA causes excessive sleepiness and people with untreated OSA are at a higher risk of collisions on the road.
30% said they frequently used more than 3 coping strategies to stay alert while driving.
22.8% used more than 3 strategies and felt sleepier in general, more sleepy while driving and were more likely to have experienced a crash.
Strategies most often used by those with OSA were –
Opening the window
Drinking tea or coffee
Turning up the radio
Singing
Talking to themselves
Shifting positions in the seat
Chewing gum
Eating
Stopping for a walk
Fidgeting or exercising
Stopping for a nap
Stopping to wash face in cold water
“Obstructive Sleep Apnoea is of high public health relevance due to its high prevalence, symptoms that impair quality of life and potential cardiovascular consequences. In addition to choking, fragmented sleep and unrefreshing sleep, possible symptoms include difficulty concentrating, tiredness and a tendency to fall asleep during the day.”
Dr. Esther Schwarz is a member of the European Respiratory Society’s group on sleep-disordered breathing.
University Hospital – Zurich, Switzerland and was not involved in the research.
MAIL ONLINE – 26 January 2024
Many couples are opting for a SLEEP DIVORCE, which is sleeping in separate rooms to enhance and help strengthen their relationship.
Relationship experts note that it can help with connection and solve sleep issues.
Social media users are sharing that at nighttime they kick their partners out of their bedrooms to get a better night’s sleep.
Unlike an actual separation, Sleep Divorce does not involved the paperwork and couples move into 2 different rooms due to snoring, body heat, varying schedules and insomnia.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11676283/Is-sleep-divorce-secret-lasting-relationship-couples.html
The Guardian – 21 February 2024
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/21/binge-tv-watchers-nocturia-multiple-night-time-loo-breaks-study
Watching at least 5 hours of TV a day is associated with higher risk of nocturia – the need to get up and urinate twice or more in the night.
Researchers say increasing public awareness of the potential health risk may encourage people to be more mindful of their TV time.
For some, binge watching the latest TV drama is the perfect way to unwind but spending lengthy periods in front of the television is linked to nocturia.
32% of participants age 20 and older reported experiencing nocturia.
45% higher risk in those who spent 5 or more hours watching TV or videos a day.
This study represents the first exploration of the correlation between TV and or video viewing time and nocturia.
Lengthy sessions of TV viewing have been associated with an increased risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes, which is a risk factor for nocturia.
TV watching typically aligns with beverage consumption, leading to an elevated fluid intake and a decrease in sleep quality is closely linked to experiencing nocturia.
Dear World,
The study relied on self-reported data, including TV watching habits. For this reason, many would dismiss the study as we are not keen on real life self reporting. We prefer numbers, laboratory, double blind testing and all that goes with the science research that makes us what we seem to want.
But can we really afford to ignore this study because of the “limitations” or would a dose of common sense assist us here?
What is very possible is that most binge TV viewers are more likely to play it down and say they watch x amount of hours when it is actually much higher and that means we have probably not got the correct evidence but at least it has been brought to the public awareness.
This website has many articles published within the SLEEP category and they are backed up by news stories like this that link research, to continue keeping readers up to date with what is going on.
We all know that most of us have some kind of sleep issue.
Quality sleep does not seem to be on the radar or the PRIORITY list but endless TV watching is.
This in itself tells us what we the masses, the people demand and it will be of no surprise that we seem comfortable in the knowing we can do what we want even if our body is saying this is not of any benefit.
How we bothered to stop long enough to consider that something as simple as consistently going to bed early and sticking to that time (like we do with your babies and young children) can work for us at any age and bring us vitality levels that will support our body – the body we have to move around until our last breath?
Independent News – 23 February 2024
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/sleep-work-gen-z-bed-rest-timing-age-b2501463.html
9 o’clock is the new preferred bedtime for young adults in their 20s and they are prioritising sleep above all else – new study published in The Wall Street Journal.
https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/early-sleep-bedtime-6ecd1d67
According to research on 10,000 adults aged 18 – 65
46% of Generation Z struggle to fall asleep on more than half the days in a week.
35% are sleeping more than 7 hours a night.
Poor sleep has been linked to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and a shortened life span.
Prescriptions for the sleep aid Melatonin has increased rapidly among children and young people in England.
170% increase in the last 7 years, according to a 2022 study by The Pharmaceutical Journal.
https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/number-of-children-prescribed-melatonin-up-170-in-seven-years
American Association for the Advancement of Science – 3 March 2024
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1035692
Sleep Apnea symptoms linked to memory and thinking problems, according to a new study.
“Sleep apnea is a common disorder that is often under-diagnosed, yet treatments are available. Our study found participants who had sleep apnea symptoms had greater odds of having memory or thinking problems.” Study Author –
Dominique Low MD, MPH – Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts
33% of those with symptoms reported memory or thinking problems compared to 20% without sleep apnea symptoms.
Researchers found that people who reported sleep apnea symptoms were 50% more likely to also report having memory or thinking problems.
Uppsala University – 6 March 2024
https://www.uu.se/en/press/press-releases/2024/2024-03-06-too-little-sleep-raises-risk-of-type-2-diabetes
Too little sleep raises the risk of Type 2 Diabetes.
Adults who sleep 3 to 5 hours a day are at higher risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. This is demonstrated in a new study from Uppsala University.
The study also shows that chronic sleep deprivation CANNOT be compensated by healthy eating alone.
462 million suffer from Type 2 Diabetes, according to a report dated 2022.
Over time, the disease can cause serious damage, particularly to nerves and blood vessels and thus represents an escalating public health problem globally.
Data from one of the largest population databases in the world was used for the study.
Even those that ate healthily but slept less than 6 hours a day were still at higher risk of Type 2 Diabetes.
“ …a reminder that Sleep plays an important role in health.”
Christian Benedict – Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University