This week I will be discussing ways to take care of yourself as a mom... You can't take care of everyone if you can't seem to find time to care for yourself. Sometimes as a mom we forget that we need to take a moment for ourselves and our well being. Much love, Bridget
Sleep
Importance of Sleep
Sleep
is essential for a person’s health and wellbeing, according to the National
Sleep Foundation (NSF). Yet millions of people do not get enough sleep and many
suffer from lack of sleep. For example, surveys conducted by the NSF
(1999-2004) reveal that at least 40 million Americans suffer from over 70
different sleep disorders and 60 percent of adults report having sleep problems
a few nights a week or more. Most of those with these problems go undiagnosed
and untreated. In addition, more than 40 percent of adults experience daytime
sleepiness severe enough to interfere with their daily activities at least a
few days each month - with 20 percent reporting problem sleepiness a few days a
week or more. Furthermore, 69 percent of children experience one or more sleep
problems a few nights or more during a week.
Signs
of Excessive Sleepiness
According
to psychologist and sleep expert David F. Dinges, Ph.D., of the Division of
Sleep and Chronobiology and Department of Psychiatry at the University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine, irritability, moodiness and disinhibition are
some of the first signs a person experiences from lack of sleep. If a
sleep-deprived person doesn’t sleep after the initial signs, said Dinges, the
person may then start to experience apathy, slowed speech and flattened
emotional responses, impaired memory and an inability to be novel or multitask.
As a person gets to the point of falling asleep, he or she will fall into micro
sleeps (5-10 seconds) that cause lapses in attention, nod off while doing an
activity like driving or reading and then finally experience hypnagogic
hallucinations, the beginning of REM sleep. (Dinges, Sleep, Sleepiness and
Performance, 1991)
Amount
of Sleep needed
Everyone’s
individual sleep needs vary. In general, most healthy adults are built for 16
hours of wakefulness and need an average of eight hours of sleep a night.
However, some individuals are able to function without sleepiness or drowsiness
after as little as six hours of sleep. Others can't perform at their peak
unless they've slept ten hours. And, contrary to common myth, the need for
sleep doesn't decline with age but the ability to sleep for six to eight hours
at one time may be reduced. (Van Dongen & Dinges, Principles &
Practice of Sleep Medicine, 2000)
How
to get a good night sleep
According
to sleep researchers, a night's sleep is divided into five continually shifting
stages, defined by types of brain waves that reflect either lighter or deeper
sleep. Toward morning, there is an increase in rapid eye movement, or REM
sleep, when the muscles are relaxed and dreaming occurs, and recent memories
may be consolidated in the brain. The experts say that hitting a snooze alarm
over and over again to wake up is not the best way to feel rested. “The
restorative value of rest is diminished, especially when the increments are
short,” said psychologist Edward Stepanski, PhD who has studied sleep
fragmentation at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. This on and off
again effect of dozing and waking causes shifts in the brain-wave patterns.
Sleep-deprived snooze-button addicts are likely to shorten their quota of REM
sleep, impairing their mental functioning during the day. (New York Times,
October 12, 2004)
Certain
therapies, like cognitive behavioral therapy teach people how to recognize and
change patterns of thought and behavior to solve their problems. Recently this
type of therapy has been shown to be very effective in getting people to fall
asleep and conquer insomnia.
According
to a study published in the October 2004 issue of The Archives of Internal
Medicine, cognitive behavior therapy is more effective and lasts longer
than a widely used sleeping pill, Ambien, in reducing insomnia. The study
involved 63 healthy people with insomnia who were randomly assigned to receive
Ambien, the cognitive behavior therapy, both or a placebo. The patients in the
therapy group received five 30-minute sessions over six weeks. They were given
daily exercises to “recognize, challenge and change stress-inducing” thoughts
and were taught techniques, like delaying bedtime or getting up to read if they
were unable to fall asleep after 20 minutes. The patients taking Ambien were on
a full dose for a month and then were weaned off the drug. At three weeks, 44
percent of the patients receiving the therapy and those receiving the
combination therapy and pills fell asleep faster compared to 29 percent of the
patients taking only the sleeping pills. Two weeks after all the treatment was
over, the patients receiving the therapy fell asleep in half the time it took
before the study and only 17 percent of the patients taking the sleeping pills
fell asleep in half the time. (New York Times, October 5, 2004)
According
to leading sleep researchers, there are techniques to combat common sleep
problems:
-Keep
a regular sleep/wake schedule
-Don’t
drink or eat caffeine four to six hours before bed and minimize daytime use
-Don’t
smoke, especially near bedtime or if you awake in the night
-Avoid
alcohol and heavy meals before sleep
-Get
regular exercise
-Minimize
noise, light and excessive hot and cold temperatures where you sleep
-Develop
a regular bed time and go to bed at the same time each night
-Try
and wake up without an alarm clock
-Attempt to go to bed earlier every night for
certain period; this will ensure that you’re getting enough sleep
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