Wenatex Blog | Healthy Sleep for a Better Life

Sleep is vital for good health, and in our busy lives we sometimes forget just how important it is. On this blog, we rabbit on about all things sleep, but maybe it is time we go back and revisit the basics.

I found a great article that covers what happens during sleep and looks at all the different stages of sleep without all the scientific mumbo jumbo. Check out the article at http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/sleep-101. Essentially, you need to get all stages of sleep to get a good night’s sleep and most adults need 7 to 8 hours sleep per night. When you are deprived of sleep there can be impacts on your health, for example, impaired memory, depression, decreased immune response, fatigue, and increased pain are just of few of the potential consequences.

So if you are sleeping poorly, or you would like to find out more about getting a better, healthier night’s sleep, Wenatex runs free ‘Healthy Sleep for a Better Life’ seminars all over Australia. To find one at a location near you, you can register online at http://www.wenatex.com.au/seminars_registration.asp

Do you feel on some days that everyone and everything is irritating? Next time it happens to you, you should step back and consider how you have been sleeping. An article that I read recently from the Body Odd on msnbc.com in the USA talked about some research conducted in 2011 by David Mastin, Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas. It is believed that his research is the first to explore how people actually think when they are sleepy. It showed that sleepy people consider events and that when they go badly, they blame others and sometimes even take revenge. He describes this thinking as “counterfactual”.

Can you reflect on a time when you were feeling agitated with the whole world? Can you attribute it to a lack of sleep? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Read the article that inspired this blog entry at http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/07/19/7106894-sleepy-people-blame-others-for-everything

Wenatex conducts free seminars on how to get a better night’s sleep all over Australia. If you are interested in finding out more, you can register your interest at http://www.wenatex.com.au/seminars_registration.asp

An article I read this morning online from Reuters really caught my attention. The article talked about the decline in kids’ sleep and focused on three key points:

1. All the way back to the 1800’s, scientists’ recommendations on how long kids should sleep for has always been higher than the actual amount of sleep reported.
2. Doctors’ and scientists’ recommendations for the amount of time kids should sleep have also declined.
3. The actual amount of sleep that kids are getting is also declining. It has fallen by 73 minutes over the last century.

Our modern 24 hour society has meant changing societal expectations.Societal pressures on experts have meant their recommendations for sleep time has decreased. Combine this with the societal pressures on parents which has meant that kids are getting less sleep. Dr David Gozal, expert in child sleep problems, from the University of Chicago sums it up nicely and blames our shorter nights on the accelerated pace of modern society with its 24-7 demands on parents and kids alike.

Does anyone else think that this is a concern? What does this mean for the future of our children? What about their future health? If you are a parent, this article will no doubt make you consider how your kids are sleeping.

At Wenatex, our advice to parents is put your kids to bed early and maintain a regular sleep routine. We agree with the National Institutes of Health in the USA, quoted in the article, for the current recommendations on sleep time. They state that “newborns should get 16 to 18 hours a day. Children fall in between, with preschoolers needing 11 to 12 hours of slumber and older kids and adolescents 10 hours.

Read the full article at http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us-sleep-science-idUSTRE81C0IS20120213 and let us know what you think.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to get a better night’s sleep, come along to a free Wenatex seminar on the subject. We offer seminars all over Australia. You can register your interest at http://www.wenatex.com.au/seminars_registration.asp

This fantastic article http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sleep-t.html?_r=2 which appeared on the New York Times website, talks about some fantastic new research on restriction of sleep over a period of time and the effects (conscious or otherwise) on its subjects.

The key finding from the research - “…after just a few days, the four- and six-hour group reported that, yes, they were slightly sleepy. But they insisted they had adjusted to their new state. Even 14 days into the study, they said sleepiness was not affecting them. In fact, their performance had tanked. In other words, the sleep-deprived among us are lousy judges of our own sleep needs. We are not nearly as sharp as we think we are.”

What this means is that not only are we depriving ourselves of sleep, but we are deceiving ourselves as well. We think we are fine but we are unaware that our sleep deprivation is affecting us or by how much.

Think about it and let me know your thoughts.

If you would like to get some tips on how to get a better night’s sleep, you should consider attending a free Wenatex “Healthy Sleep for a Better Life” seminar. They are free to attend and conducted all over Australia. To register your interest, go to http://www.wenatex.com.au/seminars_registration.asp

We know that severe sleep deprivation can make you forget even the most important things, we have been banging on about it for a while now, but here is proof. There was a story that appeared on ninemsn yesterday about a woman who was so sleep deprived that she went to pick up her son at kindy and left her baby at home. It wasn’t until she got to kindy 25 minutes away that she realised what she had done and called 000.

Read the story and see the video at http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8211948/sleep-deprived-mum-forgets-her-baby

If you would like to know how to avoid sleep deprivation and get tips on how to improve the quality and quantity of your sleep, you should attend a free Wenatex ‘Healthy Sleep for a Better Life’ seminar in your area. You can register your interest at http://www.wenatex.com.au/seminars_registration.asp.

Please let us know your experiences with sleep deprivation, we would love to hear from you.

Image is courtesy of ninemsn.

Do you answer yes to any of the following?

• Do you have difficulty falling asleep?
• Do you wake up often during the night and have trouble going back to sleep?
• Do you wake up too early in the morning?
• Do you feel tired upon waking?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, the chances are you have insomnia and you might want to read this inciteful article that I read today. http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/insomnia-symptoms-and-causes?page=2 The article discusses the types, causes symptoms and treatments for this sometimes debilitating disorder. It also gives some great tips as to how to overcome insomnia.

If you wish to learn more tips about how to get a good night’s sleep, Wenatex conducts free healthy sleep seminars all over Australia. If you are interested, please check it out and register at http://www.wenatex.com.au/seminars_registration.asp.

Tokyo business people get the least sleep compared with their peers in all other major cities. They have a culture of working late, drinking after work, and long commutes home. They only get just under six hours of sleep per night on average.

The lesson to be learnt from the japanese - stay busy but make sure you give yourself every opportunity to get a good night’s sleep.

If you would like to read the article, go to http://www.timescolonist.com/Tokyo+business+people+least+sleep+survey+finds/3949984/story.html

If you are interested in finding out more about how to get a good night’s sleep, you should attend a FREE Wenatex ‘Healthy Sleep for a Better Life’ seminar. They are held all around Australia and New Zealand. To register, go to http://www.wenatex.com.au/seminars_registration.asp.

Please make a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Image courtesy of Tinou Bao  

Soccer fans are eagerly anticipating the start of the World Cup next weekend. However, because of the time difference between Australia and South Africa, the matches will be shown on television here in the middle of the night.

The World Cup goes for a month which is a long time to be continuously sleep deprived!

I read an article today that gives some good advice on how to deal with the stresses on the body as a result of staying up and watching late night and early morning games. The article comes from Korea but it is still relevant to us here in Australia as they face similar problems with time differences. Check it out at http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2010/06/147_67158.html and soccer fans out there, please let me know how you plan to deal with sleep deprivation during the World Cup.

Go the Socceroos!!!

Hi Ladies, Ever felt guilty about taking a nap when there are so many jobs around the house waiting for you to do? If so, you are not alone.

I read an interesting article this morning about feminine “guilt” being the cause of sleep deprivation in women. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-trice/feminine-or-yin-guilt_b_417512.html

Please share your experiences on the topic.

Astronauts at the International Space Station recently had to sleep in escape pods while a piece of potentially dangerous debris floated past. The space junk missed the station this time but it will become a more frequent occurrence as the volume of space junk floating around the Earth increases!

 

 

How do you think the astronauts slept that night? Were the escape pods comfortable? Were they up all night worried sick that there would only be half a space station left when they woke up?

 

 

Do you think sleeping problems go away in space? I am sure they don’t! Let me know what you think.

 

 

You can read the article I read this morning at http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/too-much-space-junk-makes-astronauts-sleep-in-escape-pods.php.