Sleep Disorders

Effects of an unbalanced cortisol level

5. October 2016 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

Cortisol is a so-called glucocorticoid, produced in the adrenal cortex which is reacting on physical as well as mental stress. As soon as our system registers “stress” production and release of cortisol are increased. To ensure an appropriate reaction things that are not vital during a stressful situation are withdrawn energy, like reproduction or immune system, for example. On the other hand, cortisol stimulates production of glucose in the liver as well spreading of stored glucose. At the same time, cortisol inhibits insulin from doing its task (intake of glucose into the cells). Result: a lot of glucose is swimming in our blood. Good and necessary when there is following some kind of action to stress, bad when we just remain sitting there and brood or even increase stress.

As mentioned, a too high cortisol level is also impairing our immune system. There is a reason why we often get sick after an especially stressful time. Most of us know one or the other: head ache after a week of intense work, a cold when the mental burden is prevalent. The blood pressure increases, the metabolism is disturbed and ravenous appetite arises. Due to the shutdown of reproduction testosterone production is lowered, the growth of muscles and bones disturbed.

Originally the effects of cortisol on our body are meant to be short term – just long enough to cope with the stressor. Due to the demands of modern life we constantly are at the mercy of a stressor. Once the cortisol level is too high over a longer period of time and a correspondent compensation in form of moderate physical activity (Be careful! Interrupt performance pressure and don’t demand maximum performance here as well!) is missing endogenous regulators are broken through – the complete balance of the hormonal system in the adrenal cortex is disturbed and all of a sudden we lack cortisol – tiredness and exhaustion are a direct consequence.

Break the vicious circle

Synthesis and release of cortisol are strongly connected with natural cycles which are associated with circadian rhythms. The so-called stress hormone increases in the morning until it reaches its peak at about 08.00 a.m. In the course of the day the cortisol level continuously decreases. The low cortisol level in the evening and night support falling asleep and sleeping through, the increasing cortisol level in the morning supports waking up as well as getting up full of energy.

When production and release of cortisol function so perfectly the most important natural process for physical and mental recovery is supported: our sleep. Healthy and restful sleep directly counteracts all negative influences of an unbalanced cortisol level: insulin resistance, high blood pressure, immune system, overweight etc.
More often, the situation is like this: during the night while we are trying to sleep, too much cortisol is produced and sleep becomes nearly impossible; in the morning on the other hand we have too few cortisol at our disposal and getting up becomes even harder.

Therefore take care that your cortisol level is balanced by focused physical activity and recurring breaks and make every effort to create perfect pre-conditions for a healthy, restful sleep. Like this you will enjoy the results of a successful and balanced life to the full!

Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.

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Job worries steal your sleep

3. October 2016 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

For more and more people it is becoming more and more difficult to draw the line between work and free time. Often they don’t succeed in turning off thoughts about work at home; this interferes with sleep. Psychologist Jolien Vleeshouwers of the National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, and her team tried to determine the job worries that keep awake the most. In the study, more than 5,000 men and women were questioned. Here, the top four kinds of worries that care for sleepless nights have been determined.

The four most frequent job worries

#1 Amount of work
An amount of work that is hardly manageable is the biggest worry of the people questioned.
#2 Low freedom of action
Restful sleep is impaired by the fact that people concerned have few independency in their company.
#3 Role conflicts
Disturbed role conflicts are a further massive sleep robber. Disturbed role conflicts are tasks and expectations of superiors that don’t reflect the personal targets and values.
#4 Missing manual and emotional support
The last of the four most frequent job worries is that the questioned people are missing a manual and emotional support of their employer.

This led Vleeshouwers and her colleagues to the conclusion that these four kinds of job worries could easily be prevented. It is up to the companies to individually fight the worries of their employees or on the basis of prevention programs.

Increased risk of accident due to lack of sleep

According to the Swiss Accident Insurance (Suva) not only exhaustion and disorders occur due to lack of sleep but also the risk of an accident increases. In a study conducted by the Suva it became visible that per year 53,000 occupational accidents happen because of sleep disturbances, mostly accidents by stumbling or falling as well as injuries by machines or tools.

Ways to counteract lack of sleep caused by job worries

If you lack sleep allow yourself a short time of regeneration during the day with a power nap. When you are troubled by job worries, try relaxation exercises like yoga, autogenous training, 4-7-8 breathing technique etc.

Often, a comfortable walk in the evening in fresh air is helpful in bringing the day to a relaxed end. Here you can think about distressing things – often solutions are much easier at hand in nature.

Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.

Imagesource: @fotolia

Sources: Study „Effects of Psychological and Social Work Factors on Self-Reported Sleep Disturbance and Difficulties Initiating Sleep“ (http://www.journalsleep.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=30538); Study Suva (http://www.20min.ch/wissen/news/story/53-000-Arbeitsunfaelle-pro-Jahr-wegen-Schlafmangel-23297725)

Reactions of the body on weather changes and how to prevent them

22. September 2016 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

Weather sensitivity is influencing the general well-being. Weak spots often become visible in times of weather changes.

Weather change and physical reaction

Air pressure fluctuations in the atmosphere especially concern the circulatory. Dizziness, disturbances of blood pressure or drowsiness might be the consequence. People with a low blood pressure often are especially sensitive to weather changes. Often, this is expressed by nervousness and tiredness.

During foehn, the adrenal cortex produces more adrenalin which leads to a rise of the blood pressure and the pulse. This might lead to disturbances of concentration, stress, head ache and irritability. When suffering under depressions, foehn often does the opposite: depressive people often feel better then.
Humid-warm weather often leads to more head ache and exhaustion.
Humid-hot weather can lead to water deposits (edemas) in feet, legs, hands and face. Edemas lead to swellings and pain in the concerned body regions.
Wet-cold weather: Especially for people suffering under fibromyalgia, disturbances of blood pressure or joint pains, cool and rainy days care for physical strains.
Heat by itself is no indicator for a weather sensitivity. Decisive is the personally experienced temperature which also is influenced by the clothing and the actual activity.
Cold is especially risky for people with a high blood pressure. Due to the contraction of the blood vessels the risk of suffering a stroke, infarction or a thrombosis increases.
Temperature fluctuations: generally, it is easier to adapt to cold than to heat. A significant change of warm to cold might lead to heart problems resp. to an increase of already existing heart diseases.

How to prevent

Strong weather changes are very stressful for the organism. Keep a diary to find out which weather is stressful for you. To train your organism, go for a blow, even in for you bad weather conditions. Thus, your organism will adapt easier to changes of temperature. Largely, a good physical condition is positively influencing a stress-free change of the weather. Vascular- and circulatory-training in form of contrast showers, Kneipp-baths or sauna too might contribute in counteracting weather sensitivity. And – no matter what weather conditions there are, there are perfect materials like sheep wool that care for a perfect bedding climate and a restful sleep, in which you can relax from any stressor.

Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.

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Sleep disturbances of school-aged children

14. September 2016 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

The holiday season is over, school life starts. This also brings a change into sleeping times of our children. If you haven’t changed the to-bed-go-time of your offspring a couple of days before school started, it’s advisable to do that now, at the latest. Children of preschool and primary school age need from nine to eleven hours sleep. Here, the individual sleep need can differ.

The time to sleep should be selected according to the time to get up. Meaning, if your child has to get up at 6.30 a.m., for example, you should take care that it sleeps at about 8.30 p.m. Don’t forget to consider the time for the ritual to fall asleep and the fall asleep time itself.

How can you tell whether your child has slept sufficiently?

Do you have to wake up your child several times in the morning? Is it difficult for your child to concentrate during the day, is it short-tempered and inattentive? Is there an increased urge for movement and your child can’t sit still? All these might be signs for lack of sleep.

Sleeping problems?

Sleep disturbances don’t arise all of a sudden, so take to above mentioned signs serious and try to solve the sleeping problems before they increase.

Rituals to fall asleep: Does your child try to frequently test the boundaries and refuses to go to bed at night? Hold firm! Develop binding rules which ensure that your child sticks to a regular sleep-wake-cycle and goes to bed at the same time. Rituals to fall asleep significantly facilitate going to bed. Read out some short and nice stories to your child before going to bed, tell a story, let it read something itself or let it listen to an audio book etc. No matter what you choose, best is to do this when your child already is in bed.
Exercise in the fresh air: Observe the daily routine of your child. Often children lack exercise and therefore still have a lot of energy in the evenings – and consequently are not tired enough for sleeping. Therefore take care that your child has sufficient exercise in fresh air.
Discuss fears and sorrows: In case you notice that something is bothering your child (a fight with a friend, an oncoming test etc.) – try to discuss it with your child. But, this discussion should not take place right before falling asleep. Otherwise your child will take its fears and sorrows into bed.
Leisure time stress, overstimulation and media consumption: Is your child watching TV or playing Video games in the evening? There are some points to consider: take care that the games or shows are not to stimulating and that they stop at least one hour before going to bed. Otherwise they might negatively influence falling asleep or lead to nightmares. Nightmares not necessarily have to be triggered by an exciting TV show. They also can be caused by stress and overstimulation. Try to quiet the everyday life of your child.

Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.

Image source: @fotolia

Secret robbers of sleep #1

9. September 2016 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

Sleep disturbances diminish our quality of life and may lead to health problems. Our body and mind are not able to sufficiently regenerate. Besides known causes like stress there are numerous secret robbers of sleep that deprive us from sleep.

Let’s take a closer look

Allergies

You are going to bed at night. All of a sudden your nose is running, your eyes are itching, you are coughing. A calm sleep becomes impossible. When you are not having a cold these might be signs for a dust mite allergy. Covers, pillows, carpets, textiles and mattresses are the habitat of dust mites. Human and animal skin scales are the nutritional basis for the microscopic tiny spiders. The allergen excrements the dust mites defecate mingles with dust. Now, once an allergic person inhales this mixture cold-like reactions occur. Through the years, this might lead to asthma and chronic inflammations of the nasal mucosa as well as of the sinuses.

If a dust mite allergy is suspected, first do an allergy test at an ENT doctor or an allergist. Since mites develop especially well in a warm and humid bedding climate, you should pay special attention to the proper bedding content. Here, especially covers made of bio-sheep-wool are ideal. Bio-sheep-wool is able to create a dry-warm bedding-climate and therewith deprives the mites from their base of life. Regularly change your linen and wash them with 60 °C. Ideal room temperature is from 61° to 64°F as well as a relative humidity between 40 and 60 %.

Medicines

Some medications contain caffeine or influence the release of certain hormones or neurotransmitters in the brain and therefore might lead to sleep disturbances. Examples include medications with active substances against high blood pressure and heart problems, appetite suppressants, some antibiotics, cortisone preparations etc. Furthermore, some birth control pills, cough- and cold-preparations as well as medications causing heartburn or stomach trouble might impair with healthy sleep. Furthermore, it is suspected that a range of neuroleptics and antidepressants cause restless legs syndrome. Migraine drugs, high blood pressure medicine and some antiallergics should only be taken in the evening since they might cause tiredness.

In case of increasingly often occurring sleep disturbances check whether a regular medication intake increases resp. causes the disturbances. It is advisable to thoroughly check the package insert for side effects as well as for the ingredients.

Cigarettes

In a US-study it was found that smokers suffer more often under sleep disturbances than non-smokers. 40 smokers as well as 40 non-smokers participated in the study. The scientists of the University of Baltimore observed the sleeping phases, brain waves, breathing, circulation, activity of heart, muscles and eyes as well as snoring. Furthermore the participants were asked about their recovery during sleep. Subsequently, the results were compared. The evaluation of the results revealed that the sleep of a smoking person is much more superficial than the sleep of a non-smoker. Nicotine disturbs the change from light slumber into deep sleep and leads to nightly withdrawal symptoms which will influence decisively healthy sleep.

Read in #2 why dark chocolate might impair sleep.

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Puberty – a challenging time

5. September 2016 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

All persons involved are going to confirm that the journey from childhood to adulthood is a challenging one. Frequent side effects like irritability, mood swings and lack in self-confidence are even enhanced by an often occurring lack of sleep.

A lot of things change – so does the inner clock, too. The fact that teenagers go to bed later and like to stay in bed longer is no act of rebellion, it simply is a biological process. Besides the sexual hormones, the release of the sleeping hormone melatonin experiences a change, too. Amongst other things, the hormone is also responsible for our sleep-wake-cycle. During puberty it is released at a later time. Therefore, teenagers are simply not tired at their usual go-to-bed time, often not until 11.00 p.m. or even later. The early start of school often prevents the adolescents from receiving sufficient sleep. At this age, up to nine hours of sleep would be perfect – when the alarm goes off after seven short hours of sleep, two important hours of rest are missing. Every night. Added up, as much as ten hours until the weekend comes. It is thus hardly surprising that performance capabilities are missing and often bad mood prevails. But, what to do, when educational obligations prevent sleeping in late?

Healthy sleep makes attractive – make healthy sleep attractive

Stop the nightly discussions about bedtimes and indicate understanding. Unpleasant conversations and disputes are preventing sleep in this age, too. Show your adolescent that you take him serious and inform him about the influences of too few sleep on his everyday life:

Too few sleep makes unattractive. Studies clearly prove that slept-off people look more attractive.
Too few sleep makes more prone to pimples.
Too few sleep increases mood swings and bad mood. Conflicts and discussions with friends, parents and teachers are a consequence.
Too few sleep decreases performance and concentration. Bad marks mean more time for learning and increased pressure – times for friends and hobbies decrease.
Too few sleep induces to eat more and unhealthy. Often, overweight is the consequence.
Too few sleep weakens the immune system and leads to depressions.
Too few sleep leads to the same behavior like too much alcohol. The risk for an accident massively increases.

The oncoming article contains some tips for healthy sleep. If you succeed in integrating some of them into the everyday life of your teenager nothing stands in the way of managing this challenging time effectively.

Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.

Imagesource: @istock