Feeling Tired? – Get More Energy By Sleeping Less!

In today’s quick paced society a lot of people suffer from tiredness. Fortunately, tiredness is not something you have to live with for the rest of your life. For most people it is possible to sleep less and have more energy.

The reasons for tiredness vary depending on the individual. Sometimes it is simple to find the cause, for example illness or anxiety. But sometimes it is not possible to find the cause or it may be a combination of different factors. Some people feel tired once in a while but some others are feeling tired most of the time.

Most of the well loved ways of getting rid of fatigue don’t work. A lot of medication is available but as a long term solution medication has a lot of disadvantages. Sleeping more sounds like the best solution but for many that does not help. Sleeping more can really make you more tired. It is not the quantity of sleep that is vital, the quality is much more vital.

There are a number of people who reckon the way to get rid of tiredness is to drink more coffee and other drinks containing caffeine. While caffeine delivers a quick energy boost, it is a small-lived boost. After a while you feel even more tired than before. If you try to get more energy by drinking coffee or using medication, you are trying to fix the symptom, not the cause. This is the incorrect way, it is always better to try to fix the cause rather than the symptom.

One very fascinating solution is to pay attention to your sleep cycle. A sleep cycle is made up of different sleep phases. For most people a sleep cycle last about 90 minutes, so during the night a number of sleep cycles are completed. By waking up at the end of a sleep cycle you feel much more energized than if you get up in the middle of a sleep cycle.

Sleeping during the day is generally a terrible thought, you don’t get more energy and you may have distress falling asleep in the evening. But small naps, often called power naps, done the right way can boost your energy.

The main benefit of sleeping less is that you have more time for other activities. But not only that, you have more energy to get more things done during the day. Given such advantages, it is well worth trying to optimize your sleep, even if it can be uncomfortable in the beginning.

CPAP Machines Offer Help Sleep Apnea Patents Sleep Easy

Sleep apnea deprives many people of restful sleep

CPAP machines help people with sleep apnea rest simple

Many people suffer from sleep apnea and don’t even know it. This is because sleep apnea happens while the person is asleep, and the only effects people generally feel from it are increased sleepiness. Sleep apnea can cause larger problems though, such as increased blood pressure. Fortunately, it can be treated once diagnosed.

“Apnea” literally translates as “without breath”, which describes what happens during sleep apnea. The soft tissue in the airways relaxes during sleep and restricts breathing. The restriction isn’t enough to make the person wake up, but it does restrict how much oxygen gets to the brain during sleep. This causes the brain to not get the full benefits of sleep.

CPAP Treatment

Fortunately, there are a number of treatments for sleep apnea. Most of them involve a device worn while sleeping which enables air to circulate through a patient’s respiratory system. One of these machines is a CPAP machine. CPAP stands for “continuous positive airway pressure” which accurately describes what the machine does. CPAP machines consist of an air compressor which circulates the air, a mask which goes on the patients face, and a hose which connects the compressor to the mask. When turned on, the compressor circulates air through the mask. This keeps the airways open by keeping a continual flow of air going through the airways.

There is some variation available in the CPAP machines on the market. There are slight variations in the main compressor unit including units that can be used internationally, and ones that come with a 12 volt cigarette adapter. There are also some variations on the mask. Depending on the size and shape of the patient’s head certain straps will fit better than others. There are also cloth CPAP masks which have cloth over the front instead of the common hard plastic.

Question Your Doctor if you reckon You Might Have Sleep Apnea

If you reckon you may have sleep apnea, your primary care physician should be told. Your physician is most qualified to determine what the best course of action would be. If you already have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, there are a number of options for treatment. Even if you already have a CPAP machine there are other replacement CPAP masks you can use for greater comfort. So regardless of your situation, there is a solution for better sleep.

This flu season protect yourself better by making sure you get enough sleep

The talk this flu season is about how to best protect ourselves from the N1H1 flu. So while you are making an appointment to get your flu shot, if you believe its appropriate for you or rushing to the drug store to load up on Vitamin C  – take stock of one more thing.  Are you sleeping well? As someone who is in the sleep business I have learned well the benefits of sleep – primarily this most vital fact; while we are snoozing our bodies are boosting our immune system to help us fight off colds, flu viruses and much more serious health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure and weight gain. It needs to be appreciated that along with eating well and exercising, sleep is the most vital thing you can do to ensure you stay healthy and are able to resist whatever is lurking in the air and waiting to pounce.

As the weather gets colder and we are confined inside more, breathing circulated air, getting less natural vitamin D from sunshine, doing less walking outside and relying on our cars more – we are more susceptible to becoming run down and exposing our weakened immune systems to illness.

The body uses sleep to restore itself physically and mentally. While sleeping cell and tissue hurt is repaired. Not enough sleep leaves you with less protection against infections and weaker muscles and organs. It also makes you more likely to reach for alternative energy sources such as sugar rather than sticking to a balanced and vitamin enriched diet composed of fresh foods that you select and prepare yourself. Denying our body the healthful food it needs further compromises the immune system.

This year take a excellent look at your sleep habits and make sure that you are getting at least 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep 7 days a week, that you are preparing as many meals as you can using fresh ingredients (including lunch) and that you make time to walk at least half an hour daily in the fresh air if you can’t get to a gym.

its smarter and simpler to take action to prevent an illness than to deal with its effect, small and long term, after you have become ill. And if you are a woman who works outside the home while raising children you owe it to them to avoid catching a cold or the flu which can be easily passed to them. You are already at heightened risk of infection of you have children between the ages of 2-6 who are in childcare or school. During these years they are themselves building their own immune systems as they get exposed to all kinds of bugs from their school age friends. Mothers of young children are sick more than the general population for that fact alone so it is more vital that we maintain a healthy lifestyle, with as small added stress as possible, so that we and our children don’t end up passing sickness back and forth like a boomerang.  You and your children need to develop a disciplined sleep routine that allows you to wind down at night and sleep well to keep your bodies strong.

And keep in mind that a sleep deprived person takes much longer to recuperate from illness than a healthy well rested one. And it is also the run-down individual that is least likely to take the time needed to rest and heal – instead seeing themselves as a hero for taking as small time off work as possible. If you or anyone in your family falls ill take it as a sign that you need to rest and heal and examine your lifestyle to lessen the chance of a reoccurrence.

So sleep adequately, eat well balanced meals and rev up your engine once a day. Set a excellent example for everyone around you and we can all ensure that this flu season won’t be any worse than any other – maybe better as a result of all this heightened vigilance and awareness. Knowledge is power. Use it wisely.

Tova Greenberg is President of The Sleep Genie. For more information on how to sleep well go to: http://www.TheSleepGeniec.om

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