General

Do we need sleep?

28. October 2015 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

About one third of his life, a human being spends sleeping. Per year that are about four months. Already this shows how important this often “waste of time”-titled phase is. Body, mind and soul especially need one thing for their well-being: a recreational night’s rest.

During history, there were different views of sleep: the Roman poet Ovid called sleep “reflection of the death” and also for the Germanics sleep and death were siblings. The Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu (300 b.C.) considered sleep as being the actual, real being of the human being. He wrote: “All is one; during sleep the soul is undisturbed and absorbed in this oneness; during wake, on the other hand, the soul is deflected and sees different circumstances of the world.” The view from Hildegard von Bingen, Benedictine and mystic in Middle Ages (12th century) is quoted like this: “The human being consists of two parts: alertness and sleep …”.

Paracelsus clearly got closer to the modern perspective with his explanation that sleep removes the exhaustion due to work and refreshes the human being. His recommendation neither to sleep too less nor too much but to comply with the sun, to get up at sunrise and to go to sleep at sunset, is not really practicable in our modern life but already mentions the important aspect of day-rhythm.

With the invention of the electroencephalography (EEG) it was detected that sleep is representing an own dynamic process and has special brain activities. But, so far, science has not submitted a complete and full answer to the question of the function of sleep. Of course, science and studies have shown that our immune system, our learning ability, our participation on every day life and a lot more strongly are connected with our “having slept off”.

One thing is sure: everyone who already has had bad or too less sleep for a longer period of time is able to confirm out of own experience that lack of sleep is interfering with the whole being –- physically, psychically and willingness to perfom.

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Constantly tired

27. October 2015 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

You have found out your personal proper sleep duration, have sufficient sleep and sleep efficiently but still are constantly tired? Not only the most obvious reason -– lack of sleep -– is trigger of constant tiredness. Besides physical or psychological overstrain, chronical diseases and too less physical activity there is another possibility: your nutrition.

A balanced, healthy and natural diet is not only basic for a healthy living but also for good and recreational sleep. When you are able to exclude physical reasons for your permanent exhaustion it is advisable to take a gander at your living- and especially your nutrition-habits.

The most important meal of the day: the breakfast
Normally, in the morning our energy reserves we collected from the evening meal are consumed. To be effective we have to supply our body sufficient and especially high-quality food. So, don’t simply drop this meal because of lack of time. A large, energy-rich breakfast preferably with wholegrain products, fresh fruits, muesli, enriched with energy suppliers like chia-seeds, for example, fill and revive. By the way, a generous breakfast also supports losing weight, like a study of the Commonwealth University, Virginia, shows: the participants with the bigger breakfast were faster full at any further meal and had less ravenous appetite for sweets than the participants with a smaller breakfast.

Support attention
Researcher of the Penn State College of Medicine, Pennsylvania, found out that rich food is making sleepy during the day. Because of the necessary high fat burning the attention sinks, on the other hand carbohydrates support us in being effective and concentrated again. Rich nutrition is not suitable for this.

Minerals and vitamins
To a large extent it is known that iron deficiency can make tired. But, also a vitamin deficiency like vitamin B12 deficiency can cause tiredness, sleep disturbances, inattentiveness, lasting nervousness, depressive mood, numbness in the limbs and so on. It is advisable to clarify the own mineral- and vitamin-supply with a doctor, when tiredness is lasting. With the proper nutrition, you are able to take countermeasures to eventual deficiencies, too.

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Changing the clocks – hints of the sleeping expert

26. October 2015 von Schlafexperte Prof. Dr. med. h.c. Günther W. Amann-Jennson Leave a Comment

It is not only pleasant to sleep an hour longer

On the first of November, the clocks are going to be set back one hour again. A blessing for the owls, a curse for the larks. Because, changing to winter-time creates a one-time, artificially prolonged 25-hours-day. This complies with the inner clock of some people. The win of one hour in the autumn is an advantage for the so-called owls who like to go to bed and get up later. But, for a lot of people the change of the sleep-wake-cycle causes noticeable physical or psychological complaints. Sleeping expert Dr. med. h.c. Guenther W. Amann-Jennson knows how to lower the reactions.

From experience, for older people, infants and children the adaption to the changing of the clocks is more difficult and therefore they often are stronger affected. The changing of the clocks in the autumn brings some kind of “jet-lag”, out of this reason, the symptoms of the change are very similar to the symptoms of a jet-lag. It may take several days until the body has adapted to the changed sleep-wake-cycle, in worst cases even a couple of weeks. For every human being, the adaption runs different. Even a seemingly tiny variation of 60 minutes can lead to reactions like tiredness, cardio-vascular-problems, digestion difficulties and of course fall asleep- and sleep-through disturbances. About one fifth of the people is directly affected by such complaints. But, the change of the sleep-rhythm is not health-supporting for anyone else, too. “According to a comprehensive chronobiologic study, the organism is not able to get accustomed to the change of the clock taking place twice a year. Even when the majority of the people is not reporting about lasting problems”, explains sleep scientist Amann-Jennson. The reason for that is, that the change of the clock abruptly interrupts the adaption of the inner clock to the variance of the day-night-change due to the time of the year. By the way, in Germany 91 % believe that the change has an effect on the human being, so the result of a survey of the market research institute “Earsandeyes”, Hamburg, Germany.

“During the first week after the change of the clock, a lot of people will wake up earlier than necessary and will be tired earlier in the evening”, summarizes Amann-Jennson out of long-time experience. “Instead of tossing and turning awake in the bed it would be better to get up and use the time for a early-morning walk. When you are feeling tired during the day, take short recreation breaks or a brief walk in fresh air”, so the advice of Amann-Jennson.

If you carry out the following easy hints of sleeping expert Amann-Jennson you may avoid or at least “soften” conversion reactions and impairments of well-being:

To perfectly prepair to the change of clock, go to bed later a couple of days before the change -– 15 minutes per day will do. Especially on Saturday go to bed later than usually.
Light is an important timer to “calibrate” the inner clock. Out of this reason, a walk during the weekend as late as possible but still in daylight helps. Visits to the cinema or a candle-light dinner in a restaurant better do another time!
Bright, artificial light in the evening helps to better deal with the change to winter-time.
During the first days of the change take light meals in the evening and drink only little alcohol. Do without coffee, tea or other stimulating beverages up to three hours before going to bed.
When you are having a sensitive digestion, adapt meal-times step by step.
On Sunday better get up half an hour earlier than usual, take a short walk before breakfast –- which should not be too lush.
When feeling tired, poor circulation or lacking in concentration occur, immediately take a short break. Move in fresh air and care for enough liquids.
When falling asleep early is difficult, don’t just take sleeping pills. It is better to try herbs like valerian, hops or balm either in form of a tea or sugar-coated tablets, first.
Relaxation techniques like progressive muscle relaxation according Jacobsen or autogenic training can be an effective help for falling asleep problems.
Don’t take a lunch-time-nap during the time of the change. When feeling tired, better take a recreational break. So, the inner clock will even out again and your nightly sleep improves.
When driving a car be twice as careful. Car drivers not only have to deal with small “jet-lag-symptoms” but also with earlier rising darkness which especially affects evening rush hour. During this time of the year, rain, fog and leaves on the street are a further risk. Also when working on machines and when dealing with tools you should be twice as careful during this time.
In winter-time, it is hormonally caused that we are less enterprising, often melancholic and subdued as well as our need for sleep and warmth is increased. Is there something more beautiful in the icy time of the year than slip under cuddly blankets of sheep wool and enjoy sleep? Out of this reason it pays off to modify your bedding to “winter-sleep” on time.

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How much sleep do I need?

23. October 2015 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

When you are constantly feeling tired, are troubled by lacking performance and are fighting the whole day long with yawning chances are high that you are either sleeping too much or too less. On long term, both is harmful for body and soul and may lead to serious health problems. The perfect sleep duration differs from person to person. Here, different factors like physical activity, age or the own genes are playing a role. With a simple test it is easy to find out how much sleep is perfect for the own body.

The following recommendation indicates which sleep duration fits for which age and offers an orientation: Babies need the most sleep -– from 14-15 hours, small children about 12-14 hours, school children only 10-11 hours and teenagers even only 8-10 hours. The sleep need of grown-ups is the smallest one, ideally between 7-9 hours. When getting older, the sleep need is growing again. Seniors need about the same amount of sleep like young grown-ups, but since they often are not able to sleep through resp. often wake up early, short naps during the day are advisable. But take care! If you are sleeping too much during the day or too late –- don’t sleep after 3 p.m. — the sleep need in the evening is low –- and this consequently makes it difficult to fall asleep. Pregnant women tend to sleep more, since they are exhausted quicker. For people who are suffering under a lack of sleep and its consequences it is important to get more sleep.

In spite of these rough guidelines, every human being needs a different amount of sleep during the night. By following some simple instructions you will easily find out your perfect sleep duration.

Ideally, several hours before going to bed you should not eat any more and make no more sports. Furthermore, one hour before going to bed you should not drink anything and go to the bathroom right before going to sleep. Otherwise, the full bladder will make itself noticeable and it is not possible to sleep through disturbance-free. Before going to bed, avoid activities that tax your brain! This includes reading, watching TV or listening to music, for example. Try to do something tiresome and relaxing instead. Meditation and autogenic training are helpful for falling asleep. During execution of this test you should completely avoid alcohol, caffeine and nicotine, as well as waive after-lunch-sleep or power naps so that the ideal sleep duration is not distorted by sleeping during the day.

There are two possibilities to find out the ideal sleep duration. Depending on how the course of the day looks like, you are following the appropriate instructions of the respective tests. During the test, fix falling asleep resp. waking-up-times have to be planned and complied with, if possible, so that the sleep rhythm doesn’t get disturbed.

Test 1
Here, it is important to get up at the exact same time every day. It is secondary when, but you should not wake up yourself or be waken up earlier. You get up, as soon as the alarm clock rings at the same time every day or (better) as soon as you wake up yourself at the same time every day. In the evening, you go to bed when you are tired. It doesn’t make sense to go to bed when you are feeling too alert or to force yourself to stay awake. If you are consequently following this for about two weeks, your body is used to always get up at the same time. By getting tired, your body is sending signals for going to bed at a certain time. For example: when you get up at 6 a.m. every day and get tired at 11 p.m., your individual sleep duration is about seven hours.

Test 2
Here, the going-to-bed-time has to be fixed. It should be possible to sleep through about nine or ten hours. Best would be, that you are already tired at this time so that you don’t have to lie awake for too long. Do without an alarm clock during this phase of the test. If there is a risk that you might oversleep although having slept 9-10 hours, you may set an “emergency-alarm-clock”. But, waking up with an alarm clock falsifies the test, in this case better do test 1. If you stick to the same time to go to bed, after some time you will wake up at the same time. So, if you are going to bed around 10 p.m. and wake up at 6 a.m., your ideal sleep duration is about eight hours.

When your body is signalizing that your individual sleep duration strongly deviates from the norm and for example in the long run feel alert and fit with a sleep duration of -– let’s say -– for hours per night, listen to your body!

Of course, these are rough guide lines and no fix rules. Give your body the time it needs and it will find out how much sleep you need by itself!

Hidden stimulants – are your sleep disturbances due to your nutrition?

22. October 2015 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

Meanwhile it is very well known, that caffeine and energy drinks are keeping us awake during night and care for a bad sleep. But, we are not aware of the fact that there are numerous further foods that may prevent us from sleeping. If you are having trouble to fall asleep at night, it might be due to your nutrition.

Generally, the last meal should be three hours before going to bed. Additionally, there are some hidden stimulants you should avoid from the late afternoon on. One of it is dark chocolate, for example. The higher the share of cocoa, the higher the share of contained caffeine might be. If you want to have something sweet at night, better eat some cherries. Since they are having a high share of melatonin they support falling asleep.

If you don’t want to waive coffee in the late afternoon or evening some drink decaffeinated coffee. But, take care! The caffeine content of decaf is not zero, some sorts even contain a lot of caffeine. Better is to drink a chamomile-tea that calms the body and makes tired.

Tyramine-containing foods hinder sleep
Above all sausages contain the biogenic tyramine. Under certain circumstances it might not only be the cause for food allergies and migraine but also keeps us from sleeping.

Light meals in the evening are good for our sleep
The wide spread mistake that salad or raw fruits and vegetables are healthy in the evening very often is the reason why people have a bad sleep. Crudités lay long and heavy in the stomach. So, the digestion has quite some work to do and our body doesn’t come to rest. If you absolutely want to eat something raw at night we recommend bananas. Bananas contain a lot of the soporific tryptophan and is easy to digest.

If you want to fall asleep quickly, keep your fingers off fatty food. Especially fast-food is a dangerous stimulant-trap. It not only makes us fat it also disturbs our sleep. Another trap a lot of blunder into are party snacks. Especially at night the desire for chocolate, ice or fatty chips arises. They not only contain billions of sugar and calories but they also keep us awake and bring bad sleep.

Fit and efficient through sleep

20. October 2015 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

Being really fit -– that is something, everyone wishes for. Because, physical and mental fitness is part of a healthy and successful life. And right here can be said: sleep really is the best medicine. That is not just a common saying, also modern science re-discovers sleep and its forces as a preventive medical tool. Healthy sleep is wellness at home and proves the trend towards making sleep aware. Studies and experiences with top-athletes show, that sleep is perfectly suitable to enhance fitness and performance.

More and better sleep brings athletes forward
Since a couple of years, sports science is interested in these connections. Because, findings of sleep research and sleep medicine prove the intuition of top-athletes to turn the focus on recreation, regeneration and sleep, too. Numerous studies proved that lack of sleep has a negative influence on performance ability of athletes. Now, they have turned the tables and found out that athletes not necessarily have to train more to enhance their performance. US scientists found out that only some additional sleep makes a big difference -– as well physically as mentally.

The study was conducted with a University-Basketball-Team. At first, the team players kept their usual sleep rhythm for two weeks. But then they were told to sleep as much as possible. Regular tests revealed a clear effect: not only the sprinting speed improved by 7 % on an average but the players also made significantly more free-throw-hits. Furthermore, they were in a better mood and felt less exhausted than at the beginning of the examination.

The study was focused on a prolongation of sleep –- in long term, this leads to a contrary, meaning negative, result. Too much sleep is just as problematic as too less sleep. The perfect way is to improve as well the awake-sleep- as the activity-recreation-rhythm and thereby the improvement of the sleeping quality with the bioenergetic sleep-healthy concept®.

This too is a reason, why nowadays numerous top-athletes take advantage of the bioenergetic sleep-healthy concept®. By that they are using the focused optimization of sleep like the “most natural, best and cost-effective doping”, so to say. And this with just positive side effects: a variety of world records, personal bests and gold medals!

Sleep-doping
So, it is possible to use healthy, recreational sleep as natural and side-effect-free doping for enhancement of performance. But, the other way round should not be disguised: more and more people try to dope the sleep with medics. Surely, there exists medical necessity to use sleeping pills. But, in any case this should be only a temporary solution since sleeping pills are not able to influence the actual cause of bad or disturbed sleep. Furthermore, since long sleep medics turn the attention to the fact that sleeping pills often are ineffective but create side effects and addiction. Here, herbal medicines offer more effective as well as side-effect-free alternatives! And at this point briefly mentioned: like sleep-analysis and HRV-measurements verifiably proof, sleep medics biologically impair sleep.