Struggling With High Blood Pressure? Your Sleep May Be To Blame

By Alena Hall

 

 

Looking to lower your blood pressure? Fix your poor sleep habits first, suggests a new study.

Mayo Clinic researchers recently set out to find how reduced sleep quantity and quality could affect a person's blood pressure. After monitoring their eight participants for 16 days, they found that when their subjects experienced prolonged periods of shorter sleep, they also registered substantially higher blood pressure numbers at night. While the size of the study was small, they presented their findings at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session in San Diego, California, on March 15.

The eight healthy, normal-weight participants with ages ranging from 19 to 36 experienced a 4-day acclimation period before being split into two groups: one set who slept only four hours each night for nine days, and the other who slept for nine hours each night for those same nine days. They all also completed three days of recovery. Throughout the 16-day period, the researchers monitored each subjects' blood pressure 24 times throughout a daily cycle.

Blood pressure levels naturally rise and fall in a circular pattern throughout the day. They tend to peak in the middle of the afternoon, and reach their lowest points in the middle of the night during one's deep sleep. Now in this study, the sleep-restricted participants registered an average of 115/64 mm Hg during the nighttime while their well-rested counterparts registered an average of 105/57 mm Hg. In addition to confirming that inadequate sleep limited the anticipated decrease in blood pressure with these figures, the experiment revealed a higher nighttime heart rate in sleep-deprived subjects than those who experienced normal sleep.

"We know high blood pressure, particularly during the night, is one of the major risk factors for heart disease, and Americans typically do not get enough sleep,"lead author Naima Covassin, Ph.D., said in a statement. This new study could also further demonstrate why sleep apnea is considered a common contributor to high blood pressure. According to the National Sleep Foundation, this often-undiagnosed sleeping disorder creates pauses in a person's breathing that lead to snoring and restless nights. That resulting decrease in sleep quantity and quality can lead to hypertension and heart disease, as well as possible mood and memory problems.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/18/sleep-blood-pressure-health_n_6881274.html?ir=Healthy+Living

10 Reasons Your Child Should Be Outside Right Now

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that kids these days just aren’t getting outside very much. Drive through any suburban neighborhood on a Saturday and the groups of bicycling youngsters and impromptu street football games that were so common just a couple of decades ago just aren’t there.

Corralled indoors by over-protective parents and the allure of passive electronic entertainment (Did you know that the average American kid spends 53 hours a week using entertainment media? Where do they find the time?), today’s kids are missing out on the vast benefits of being outdoors. Here are some reasons to make Little Johnny back away from the game controller, slip on some shoes (or not… but it might be cold outside), and head out into nature. He might grumble and complain, but someday he’ll thank you for it.

And you should probably get up and head out there with him. There are plenty of benefits for adults, too.

1. Exercise. Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic that has more than doubled in the past decade and is the most visible symptom of sedentary indoor life. Children’s bodies were made to move, to run and jump and climb, not sit for hours on end with only thumbs in motion over game controllers or tapping out texts to their “friends”. It is in the outdoors, where big movements don’t threaten expensive furniture, fragile heirlooms, or parental sanity that children are likely to burn the most calories.

2. Sleep. Exposure to sunshine stimulates the pineal gland, a small endocrine gland located deep in the brain, releasing melatonin which helps to regulate sleep patterns. It’s not just an old wives tale that playing outside makes children sleep better. It’s a biological fact.

3. Happier Mood. Sunlight also boosts the body’s level of the hormone seratonin. Seratonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood, memory, and appetite. More sunlight means less depression and happier kids. So if your kid is feeling sulky or irritable or just generally grumpy, he might just need a trip outside. There was a reason our mothers sent us to play outside when we were sullen and grouchy. They knew what they were doing without reading all the newest scientific research.

4.Healthy Immune System. Playing in the dirt actually makes kids healthier. The body learns by doing (just like the brain) and early exposure to germs teaches the body the proper immune response to foreign invaders. As an added bonus, sunshine on bare skin stimulates the body’s production of Vitamin D which helps the body fight off infection and helps prevent the development of autoimmune diseases (like rheumatoid arthritis). Research in adults suggests that Vitamin D helps lower the chance of developing heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. (Really great reasons to get outdoors ourselves. Playing outside isn’t just for the very young.)

5. Social Skills. Free and unstructured play with peers outdoors helps children develop problem-solving and cooperation skills. Even if neighborhood playmates just aren’t available, playing alone outside improves self-awareness and self-discipline, handy tools in later interpersonal relationships.

6. Improved Learning. Studies have shown that being outside, even for just a few minutes, helps people diagnosed with ADHD to better focus. Other surveys indicate that schools still offering students free-play recess have higher test scores (While admittedly not always the best indicator of actual learning, it is the one most readily available). Being outside also helps improve memory, which proves that trees and fields and flowers are the best cognitive enhancers.

7. Free Thought. Spontaneous, self-initiated play outdoors fosters independence, ingenuity, and resourcefulness in a way that structured and supervised play does not. Highly structured rote learning (like the kind seen in most modern classrooms) creates a population of factory workers prepared to follow instructions. Unstructured play develops creativity and sparks imagination. It inspires individual problem solving and self-directed exploration. Free outdoor play produces innovators and pioneers, people who aren’t afraid to step outside the accepted boundaries of conformed thought and make groundbreaking discoveries.

8. Stress Relief. While it might seem absurd to suggest that children suffer from stress, you might want to consider the pressure they experience daily to test well, get good grades, and sit still and quiet for hours on end in the school environment. For a kid, school life can be incredibly stressful. Studies have shown that people spending time in nature have lower levels of cortisol (a hormone released during times of stress). Also, among office workers (and our kids’ classrooms are often very similar to sterile office environments), even a glimpse of nature through a window is associated with lowered stress and higher satisfaction.

9. Better Vision. A rather large body of research proves outdoor play has a protective effect on children’s eyesight. “Increasing time spent outdoors may be a simple strategy by which the the risk of developing myopia (nearsightedness) and its progression in children and adolescents,” concluded one 2012 study published by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

10. Hope For The Future. In a world where the important things are often cast aside for what we want right now, it’s important to develop forward thinking, especially in the future generation. One study suggests that exposure to nature helps us to focus into the future, perhaps helping develop real solutions to long-term problems like resource exploitation, population growth, substance abuse, and the obesity epidemic. So while Little Johnny is focusing on rolling in the grass at this very moment, he may actually be developing the kind of forward thinking that just might save us all.

Image credits: ShutterShock

http://themindunleashed.org/2015/03/10-reasons-your-child-should-be-outside-right-now.html

Things You Didn't Know About Sleep

Here's A Horrifying Picture Of What Sleep Loss Will Do To You

By Laura Schocker

If you don't snooze, you lose. Skimping on sleep can wreak havoc from head to toe. In fact, one study published last year showed that just one week of sleeping fewer than six hours a night resulted in changes to more than 700 genes. That's alarming news, considering nearly half of Americans don't bank the recommended seven or more hours of shut-eye a night, according to a recent survey. Read on for the nightmare-inducing truth about what could be happening to your body when you don't get enough sleep, starting the very first night.



Infographic by Alissa Scheller for The Huffington Post

After one night you're...

hungrier and apt to eat more. Studies have linked short-term sleep deprivation with a propensity to load up on bigger portions, a preference for high-calorie, high-carb foods and a greater likelihood of choosing unhealthy foods while grocery shopping.

more likely to have an accident. Getting six or fewer hours of shut-eye a night triples your risk of drowsy driving-related accidents,according to the National Sleep Foundation's Drowsydriving.org. Plus, just one bad night's sleep can affect a driver's eye-steering coordination, according to research from Manchester Metropolitan University. And sleep deprivation can just make you generally more clumsy, whether you're behind the wheel or not, reports Prevention.

not looking your best -- or your most approachable. Beauty sleep is legit. A small study published last year in the journal SLEEP found that sleep deprived study participants were rated as less attractive and sadder, HuffPost reported at the time. A different study from the Medical Institutet Karolinska in Stockholm, Sweden found that exhausted people are also judged to be less approachable. And the problem only gets worse over time: Researchers have linked chronic sleep deprivation with skin aging.

more likely to catch a cold. Proper rest is one of the building blocks of a healthy immune system. In fact, one Carnegie Mellon University study found that sleeping fewer than seven hours a night was associated with a tripled risk of coming down with a cold. What's more, the Mayo Clinic explains:

During sleep, your immune system releases proteins called cytokines, some of which help promote sleep. Certain cytokines need to increase when you have an infection or inflammation, or when you're under stress. Sleep deprivation may decrease production of these protective cytokines. In addition, infection-fighting antibodies and cells are reduced during periods when you don't get enough sleep.

losing brain tissue. A small, recent study of 15 men, published in the journal SLEEP, found that just one night of sleep deprivation was linked with signs of brain tissue loss, measured by blood levels of two brain molecules that usually increase after brain damage.

more likely to get emotional. One 2007 study from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Medical School used functioning Magnetic Resonance Imaging to show that after sleep deprivation, the brain's emotional centers were more more than 60 percent more reactive. "It's almost as though, without sleep, the brain had reverted back to more primitive patterns of activity, in that it was unable to put emotional experiences into context and produce controlled, appropriate responses," senior author Matthew Walker, director of UC Berkeley's Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory, said in a statement. "Emotionally, you're not on a level playing field."

less focused and having memory problems. Being exhausted zaps your focus, and can render you more forgetful (no wonder you keep misplacing your cell phone after a bad night between the sheets). On top of that, sleep is thought to be involved in the process of memory consolidation, according to Harvard, which means shortchanging it can make it more difficult to learn and retain new things.

After a while your...

stroke risk quadruples. Research presented at the SLEEP 2012 conference suggested that getting fewer than six hours a night can ratchet up stroke risk for middle- and older-aged people. "These people sleeping less than six hours had a four times increased risk of experiencing these stroke symptoms compared to their normal weight counterparts that were getting seven to eight hours," study researcher Megan Ruiter, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told HuffPost at the time.

obesity risk jumps. Not only can short-term sleep loss lead to increased caloric consumption, but multiple studies have suggested a link between chronic sleep deprivation and increased obesity risk over time. One 2012 research review from Penn State, for instance, found that sleeping fewer than six hours a night was linked with changes in levels of the appetite hormones ghrelin and leptin. Another 2012 study published in the American Journal of Human Biology showed that too little sleep was tied to changes in appetite regulation, which could trigger people to eat more. And yet another study from the University of Pennsylvania found that study participants who were sleep deprived for five nights in a row gained about two pounds, perhaps because of late night snacking.

risk of some cancers may increase. One Cancer study of 1,240 participants who underwent colonoscopies found that those who slept fewer than six hours a night had a 50 percent spike in risk of colorectal adenomas, which can turn malignant over time. Another 2012 study identified a possible link between sleep and aggressive breast cancers. Researchers have also suggested a correlation between sleep apnea and increased cancer risk of any kind.

diabetes risk goes up. A 2013 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that too little (and too much!) sleep was linked with a host of chronic diseases, including Type 2 diabetes. And the same 2012 study that found that sleep deprivation was linked to hormonal changes associated with obesity also found that too little sleep was tied to decreased insulin sensitivity, a diabetes risk factor.

heart disease risk increases. Chronic sleep deprivation has been associated with high blood pressure, atherosclerosis (or cholesterol-clogged arteries), heart failure and heart attack, Harvard Health Publications reports. A 2011 study from Warwick Medical School researchers found that inadequate shut-eye was tied to heart attack risk, as well as cardiovascular disorders and stroke. "If you sleep less than six hours per night and have disturbed sleep you stand a 48 percent greater chance of developing or dying from heart disease and a 15 per cent greater chance of developing or dying of a stroke," lead author Francesco Cappuccio said in a statement on the findings, which were published in the European Heart Journal. "The trend for late nights and early mornings is actually a ticking time bomb for our health so you need to act now to reduce your risk of developing these life-threatening conditions."

sperm count decreases. Besides the obvious fact that exhaustion isn't typically conducive to getting busy, skipping your Zzs can take a hit on fertility. A 2013 study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology of 953 young men in Denmark found that those with high levels of sleep disturbances had a 29 percent lower concentration of sperm in their semen.

risk of death goes up. A SLEEP study evaluating 1,741 men and women over the course of 10 to 14 years found that men who slept fewer than six hours had a significant increase in mortality risk, even after adjusting for diabetes, hypertension and other factors.

How Long To Nap For The Biggest Brain Benefits

by Joe Martino

Napping can be great! But sometimes when you wake up after a nap, you feel groggy and almost as if you are more tired now than you were before taking the nap. Why does this happen? According to Dr. Michael Breus “If you take it longer than 30 minutes, you end up in deep sleep. Have you ever taken a nap and felt worse when you woke up? That’s what’s happening — you’re sleeping too long and you’re going into a stage of sleep that’s very difficult to get out of.”[1]

Benefits of Naps

So what are the most ideal ways to nap? Napping can be seen as a quick reboot or boost for the brain. Think of when your computer is starting to perform slowly and things aren’t responding up to par, after you shut everything down and do a reboot, things are back up to speed. The brain is quite similar in that, as you nap, even for very short periods of time, benefits can be seen in a number of areas.

Sleep experts suggest  that taking a 10-to-20-minute power nap can give you a quick burst of alertness and mental clarity when you don’t have much time. This can be used throughout the day, late at night, before something important or right before you are trying to beat the final boss of a video game you’ve been playing all night right and you know you need the extra quickness.

When I was interested in trying to maximize my time awake (which I still am, but haven’t tried much lately) I did some research into sleeping cycles and how to minimize the amount of sleep you need while still being able to function well. I ended up choosing a cycle that gave me a core sleep and then several naps throughout the day that lasted about 20 minutes. I found that after the 20 minutes naps, I felt great. Very alert, mental clarity was high and I was ready to go for the next 3 or 4 hours easily.[2]

I found though, that near the beginning of my experiment with cycles, I would start to lose cognitive clarity as I got closer to the end of the day. While this was part of the transition portion of the cycle, I got to feel what its like when the brain just isn’t getting enough deep sleep. According to Dr. Mednick, this is where longer naps of 60 minutes or so are said to be good for increasing that cognitive power again. [1] Mednick also states that the 90-minute nap will likely involve a full cycle of sleep, which aids creativity, emotional and procedural memory, such as learning how to ride a bike. Waking up after REM sleep usually means a minimal amount of sleep inertia.

Naps Summarized

A study evaluating the recuperative effects of short and ultra short naps found that napping for 5-10 minutes can create a heightened sense of alertness and increased cognitive ability when comparing to not taking a nap at all.

If you are looking for a quick recharge: nap for 5 – 20 minutes.

If you are looking for deeper sleep rejuvenation: nap for 60 – 90 minutes.

Final tip: When you take your shorter naps, sit up slightly as it will allow you to avoid falling into a deeper sleep. If you dream during these power naps, it could be a sign that you are sleep deprived.

The Scientific Power of Naps:

Sources:

1. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323932604579050990895301888

2. http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/07/13/alternative-sleep-cycles-7-10-hours-is-not-needed/

http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/how-long-to-nap-for-the-biggest-brain-benefits/

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/02/17/how-long-to-nap-for-the-biggest-brain-benefits/

HOW TO NOT GET SICK

Prevent the flu without becoming a hermit. Six ways to stay healthy.
We've all been there: seated next to a snotting, sneezing, coughing person with no escape route available, worried that the next day we'll be the one hacking. But the truth is, catching an illness can't always be blamed on the obvious offenders. Though you can pick up germs just about anywhere (disturbingly, viruses can linger on surfaces such as ATMs and checkout-aisle pens for 48 hours), actually coming down with a cold or flu is a complex process--one that you can outsmart by following these stay-healthy tips. 

Wash, Rinse, Repeat
"The number one thing you can do to protect yourself from a cold or flu is to wash your hands thoroughly and frequently," says microbiologist Andrew Pekosz, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University. Lather up with running water and soap (antibacterial soaps are no better than the regular stuff) and scrub your palms, between your fingers, and the backs of your hands for a minimum of 20 seconds. In a pinch, you can use hand sanitizer that's at least 60 percent alcohol, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Moisturize Your Air

Turns out, very humid air might be toxic to flu viruses. Scientists aren't quite sure why, but one possibility is that droplets that contain the virus shrink quickly in arid environments, allowing them to float around longer; in moist air those same droplets might remain heavy and fall to the floor faster, says Ted Myatt, Sc.D., an environmental scientist in Boston. Invest in a humidifier that keeps the humidity level between 40 and 60 percent.

Skip That Second (and Third) Drink

Alcohol can impair your white blood cells' ability to combat viruses for up to 24 hours after you overindulge, according to a study in BMC Immunology. Keep your imbibing to a reasonable one drink per day during cold and flu season, says Pekosz.

Don't Rely on C

Yes, you read that right: Though it's been touted as a cold fighter for decades, vitamin C has never been proven to fend off a cold or flu. And multiple studies show it does zilch to speed up recovery if you're already sick.

Sleep More

People who routinely get fewer than seven hours of shut-eye a night triple their risk of developing a cold compared with those who doze for eight or more hours, according to the Archives of Internal Medicine. When sleep-deprived, your body may produce too many cytokines, the proteins that trigger cold symptoms when you're sick.

Taste the Rainbow

Immune-boosting antioxidants in brightly colored fruits and veggies battle the free radicals that dampen your natural defenses, says Josh Miller, D.O., an internist at the Cleveland Clinic. Eat plenty of fare such as red beans and berries (the brighter the hue, the higher the antioxidant count) and drink green tea.

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/prevent-the-flu

Take Advantage Of Natural Lighting For A Better Life.

by Michael T. Murray


Introduction:

In a breakthrough study, office workers with more light exposure at the office had longer sleep duration, better sleep quality, more physical activity and better quality of life compared to office workers with less light exposure in the workplace.

The study highlights the importance of exposure to natural light to health, and stresses the need to switch the workplace lighting with the equivalence of natural daylight exposure for workers.

Background Data:

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is associated with winter depression and feeling “normal” or very happy in the summer. Typically, individuals with SAD feel depressed and generally slow down, oversleep, overeat, and crave carbohydrates in the winter. In the summer, these same people feel elated, active, and energetic.

Although many variables may be responsible for SAD, lack of exposure to full-spectrum natural light appears to be the most logical explanation. Full-spectrum light therapy, designed to replicate natural sunlight, has been used to treat both seasonal affective disorder as well as clinical depression.

These benefits may not be limited to SAD and depression. There is a growing body of data showing that exposure to full-spectrum natural light may help anyone feel better. The explanation given is that without natural light exposure, there is a reduced secretion of melatonin by the pineal gland, and an increased secretion of cortisol by the adrenal glands. These hormonal changes are associated with poor sleep quality, stress, and an increased appetite.

New Data:

In a study conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois and Northwestern University, the impact of daylight exposure on the health of office workers from the perspective of subjective well-being and sleep quality, as well as nighttime activity and sleep-wake patterns were examined.

Participants included 27 workers working in windowless environments and 22 comparable workers in workplaces with significantly more daylight. Windowless environment is defined as one without any windows or one where workstations were far from windows and without any exposure to daylight. Employees with windows in the workplace received 173 percent more natural light exposure during work hours.

Workers in windowless environments reported poorer scores than their counterparts on physical activity and vitality, as well as poorer overall sleep quality. In contrast, workers with windows at the workplace had more physical activity and better sleep quality. Employees with windows in the workplace slept an average of 46 minutes more per night, than employees who did not have the natural light exposure in the workplace.

The researchers concluded that the architectural design of office environments should place more emphasis on sufficient daylight exposure of the workers in order to promote office workers’ health and well-being.

Commentary:

Another option for the workplace (and home) is to replace typical lighting with full-spectrum alternatives. The latter is a bit more expensive, but the payoff in health benefits, especially mental health and physical energy, appears to be worth it.

http://www.curejoy.com/content/take-advantage-natural-lighting-better-life/