Posts Tagged ‘ Medicine ’

Broad Daylight–Saving Time and Sleep

Sunlight-saving time doesn’t have to disrupt your zizz schedule. A few simple tips help ensure unmarred sleep during daylight-saving time and beyond. For most of us, the springtime birch from standard to daylight-saving time is solely an inconvenience. It might be the cause of skipped appointments if we make out to miss all those reminders telling us to move our clocks into the open one hour on the second Sunday in March.

But for others, the initially few days of daylight saving time can mean sleepiness and reduced concentration. “It exceedingly does damage some people’s sleep,” acknowledges James A. Davis, superintendent of the Anderson Hospital Center for Sleep Medicine in Maryville, Ill. A fourth of the far-out observes daylight-saving time, and researchers participate in documented that some people never surely get into the swing of it.

Daylight Saving Time: Protect Your Sleep

To accept how to avoid sleepiness around the start of proceed from, it helps to understand exactly how daylight-frugal time affects the body, Davis says. Our internal clocks are governed by our circadian thesis, the 24-hour cycle that determines our rest and wake periods, as well as other biological mechanisms. The first day of sun-saving time realigns how we synch our routine clocks with our “internal clock,” in another manner known as the circadian rhythm.

People who sooner a be wearing a problem with daylight-saving space are those who adjust by sacrificing an hour of take a nap. Davis doesn’t recommend following this practice of action and, instead, says you should compliments your sleep time and your band’s need for it. Here’s how:

1. Reset all your clocks on the Saturday ahead of the switch. Divers computers automatically adjust to daylight-saving conditions, but make a note to check.

2. Get a full night’s snooze during the switch.

3. Plan on your conventional time for rising on the first day of daylight-saving time.

4. If you’ve already set your clock onwards by Saturday evening (see step 1), following your received bedtime will ensure you get a full night of slumber. In any event, get a full night’s sleep by adjusting the at all times you hit the hay. “Essentially, you’re going to be getting up an hour earlier, so you take to go to bed an hour earlier,” Davis says.

5. Resist the temptation to catch a nap in the middle of the day on Sunday.

6. Retire on Sunday at your conventional bedtime.

Sheilagh Weymouth, DC, a chiropractor who provides holistic leading care in New York City, is so sensitive to the change-over to and from daylight-saving time that she reorganizes her day when she gains an hour each slump. When she started to align her workday to the handy daylight in winter, she found the switch “much more beneficial to my body.”

When daylight-scraping time rolls around again, her maven schedule, not her body, will adapt. “I’m not flourishing to offer those 8 a.m. appointments then. Our bodies not unexpectedly start to awaken with the light of day, and I’m thriving to use this as a teaching moment with my patients.”

2011
08/22
CATEGORY
Sleep
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2 comments

AASM On Sleep Medications And Insomnia Treatment

Insomnia and Sleep Medications

Insomnia occurs when people have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, and it is a common sleep compliant. While a brief case of insomnia can arise due to temporary stress, excitement or other emotion, more than 20 million Americans report having a chronic form of insomnia that keeps them from sleeping well nearly every night. As a result, the insomnia, which is a serious and often debilitating condition, can lead to severe daytime fatigue, poor performance at school and work, physical symptoms such as headaches, and in some cases depression.

People suffering from insomnia need to know that there are effective insomnia treatments and their sleep can improve. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that people who experience insomnia see a sleep medicine specialist or primary care physician for proper diagnosis and to discuss treatment options before treatment with medications is undertaken. This evaluation should also look for specific causes of insomnia such as restless legs syndrome or depression.

Sleep medications are often used for the short-term treatment of insomnia and, on occasion, for more chronic insomnia. Medications that currently are available by prescription are known to improve sleep by reducing the amount of time it takes to fall asleep, increasing sleep duration and/or reducing the number of awakenings during sleep. While modern hypnotics are considered safe, individuals should be aware that, like all medications, side effects may occur in a minority of patients. These side effects can include sleep walking, sleep eating and other complex sleep behaviors as well as difficulty with memory.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PATIENTS

Behavioral therapies and medications have been shown to be effective therapies for insomnia. Behavioral therapies use nonpharmacologic methods to improve sleep and are effective and long lasting. Sleep medications are effective and safe treatments for insomnia when used properly and judiciously by a patient who is under the supervision of a sleep medicine or primary care physician.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine offers the following recommendations for individuals who use sleep medications:

  • Read carefully the package insert and all information provided by your physician and pharmacist for your sleep medication. This information will help guide you in the safe use of the medication.
  • Especially read the package insert and all information to learn the side effects of the medication.
  • Adhere strictly to the indicated use of your sleep medication. Do not take it for purposes other than to sleep.
  • Follow the prescription carefully and do not take more than the dosage your doctor prescribes.
  • Allow time for a full night of sleep when using sleep medication to avoid morning or daytime drowsiness.
  • Avoid combining sleep medication with alcohol.
  • Ask your doctor any questions you have about the intended use, dosage and side effects. Communication with your physician will help ensure safe use of the medication.
  • Inform your doctor right away of any problems you have while taking a sleep medication.
  • Make your doctor aware of any other medications, prescriptions or over-the-counter, that you use. Mixing medications may cause adverse effects.
  • Make your doctor aware of other medical conditions, including other sleep disorders, you may have. Sleep medications can be dangerous when treating sleep disruption that may arise from another disorder.
2010
11/23
CATEGORY
Insomnia Treatment
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