Sleep Well, Sleep Now

More colors

2008-08-07T02:45:00.000-07:00

I had 2 people ask me about green, so I'll get onto that.

Green gives a feeling of nature, cheerfulness, growth and exploration. Green is a tricky color though because a dark green can make you glum, and a sea green can make you feel nauseous.

Orange is a fun color, it is used a lot in advertising, it is a bright and happy color with ties to both red and yellow that I mentioned earlier. The other thing about orange is that is gives you a slight feeling of hunger. You'll notice that a lot of cafeterias and restaurants may have a slight tinge of orange to their designs, your mind recognizes it even if your eyes don't.

Purple is a regal color. It makes people feel important, in charge, above worry.

With all these in mind, when I moved to Florida from California, I designed my bedroom in such a way for the maximum amount of comfort. I used to suffer horribly from insomnia, so I do everything I can to help improve my sleep. The walls of my bedroom are painted to look like a bamboo forest, the ceiling is bright yellow, and a lot of my pillows and my down comforter are dark shades of purple. My bedroom is on the corner of my house so I have one wall that's all windows to let the light in that faces to the east to get the sunrise in the morning, and the light on the ceiling makes the yellow very warm and comforting as I wake up in my royal colored bed.

I think I'll do for my next post other ideas to make your life at home less stressful. Including helpful information I learned from watching Mr Rodger's Neighborhood

Colors

2008-08-03T22:35:00.000-07:00

We all have our favorite colors. My favorite colors are black and red. This probably explains why I have a black dog with a red collar. The red collar is also because I have black rugs in my kitchen that my dog likes to sleep on and I accidentally stepped on him once there, so I got him a bright red collar.
But do you know that your favorite colors probably have to do with your personality type? Different colors will make you elicit a certain behavior, while subtle, it is a small change that can effect you over time. A lot of businesses will use colors in advertising and to make people feel a certain way about their advertisements. And it's very common for particular areas of buildings to be painted different colors for the what they're built for. It terms of sleep, sometimes you may not be getting a good night's sleep because of the color of your sleeping area, or because your work environment makes you sleepy there.

Red will make people feel stronger and more powerful, looking at the color elevates your heartbeat slightly creating a feeling of excitement. When I go out to my favorite nightspots, I like to wear red, not only does it draw attention in general, but the red adds a little more feeling of excitement to anyone who looks at me. Sleeping in an area with a lot of red is not recommended as a slightly elevated heartbeat will not help you sleep

Black also has a similar effect, black elicits the feeling of mystery and curiosity. It's a thought provoking color. And while it is a great color to wear and will never go out of style, I also wouldn't recommend this as a sleeping area color

Pink is a soft, nurturing and relaxing color. A light shade of pink is almost always used to calm people and make them feel weaker. You will find the most common place this happens is in prisons and the visiting team's locker rooms for sports arenas. Because of the effect of this color, it is a good color to use for a sleeping environment.

Taupe is a soothing color, other than being soothing it is supposed to elicit as close to no emotional response as possible. There are many shades of taupe and it's no surprise that a lot of a lot of offices and hallways are painted a light this color to keep socializing and activity to a minimum in them.

Yellow promotes warmth, happiness, and cheer. The nice thing about yellows are that they look more of the taupe color in low light and bright in high light. So they can work both ends of the spectrum

I'll do more colors another time, if anyone reading this wants to comment, please tell me what colors your office/sleeping area and I'll talk about that too.

Could I trouble you for a glass of warm milk?

2008-07-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Most people's mothers have told them at one point or another to drink a warm glass of milk and go to sleep. But really, what does it do?

A cup of warm milk will not drop you like a sack of bricks, but it may help. Milk contains substances that are related to sleep and relaxation; melatonin and tryptophan. The amount of melatonin in a glass of milk is minute, less than what would be taken in a supplement. The amount of tryptophan in milk is also small. In addition, our digestive process is complex. Considering these factors, it is unlikely that a glass of warm — or cold — milk would shorten the length of time that it takes to fall asleep.

Warm milk might have psychological significance on putting you to sleep, but temperature is not a factor in the sleep process. The routine of consuming a glass of warm milk may produce a feeling of nostalgia of your mom, home, childhood comforts that help relaxation. This is part of the natural transition from being awake to a sleeping state.

Of course as stated earlier, melatonin and tryptophan help promote a sleepy feeling and can be taken in the form of supplements. This can be taken an hour or more before bed time so you can ease the transition and go to sleep comfortably and peacefully.

Stories... Your Stories

2008-07-24T09:05:00.000-07:00

If anyone has any information or stories (funny or not) regarding a sleep disorder, leave me a message/comment on here and I'll try to post it up.

Feed Shark

INSOMNIA

2008-07-23T02:52:00.000-07:00

Insomnia is the most common of all sleeping disorders. It is estimated by the National Institutes of Health (NHI) that nearly 60 million Americans suffer from some form each year and that more women are effected than men. This was further broken down by the Standford University School of Medicine to be 40 million with chronic insomnia and another 20 million with occasional bouts, but nothing systemic. This is due to the numerous causes and symptoms not to mention the range of severity of the condition. Insomnia can be having trouble falling asleep at night, not being able to sleep the whole night, waking up continuously during the night, or just the quality of your sleep isn't good enough to keep you going when you're awake.

There are a lot of factors that can contribute to insomnia, the most common are:

-Stress: Persistent stress from any source can keep you from getting good sleep. Stress can come from any source. Work, school, relationships, family, children, bullying, finances, and just general worry can all cause stress.
-Consumption: Consumption of different foods/drinks can keep you awake. The first to mind is of course caffeine. Caffeine during or after dinner is not recomended if you suffer from insomnia. We all know about tea and coffee, but other foods such as chocolate, some ice cream, sodas, and candy bars all have some caffeine in them too.
-Alcohol: While, after drinking alcohol, you will feel dizzy tired, or simply just pass out, your sleep cycle will not be as satisfying and you are much more likely to have interrupted sleep during the night.
-Inactive Behavior: If you're not active enough during the day, you may have hard time falling asleep at night.
-Irregular Work Times: Shift work for example can lead to insomnia conditions. Regular sleeping times promote better, more fulfilling sleep. Irregular work times or staggered times of work will make a irregular sleep cycle. Excessive napping can also cause insomnia conditions.
-Sleeping Environment: Sleeping environment can be a large factor in your sleep cycles. Temperature, light, size and type of bed, and other objects in your room can affect your sleeping. I will do a specific entry about all of this another time.

Sleeping Disorders

2008-07-23T02:13:00.000-07:00

For starters, I would like to go over some of the different types of sleep disorders as there are many different kinds. Some are psychological in nature while others may relate to physical problems. So here goes.

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a common, serious disorder that can be life-threatening. In sleep apnea, your breathing stops or gets very shallow durring sleeping. Each pause in breathing can last up to 10 to 20 seconds or more. These pauses can occur 20 to 30 times or more an hour.

The most common type of sleep apnea is called obstructive sleep apnea. During sleep, enough air cannot flow into your lungs through your mouth and nose, even if you are trying to breathe normally. When this happens, the amount of oxygen in your blood stream will decrease. Normal breaths then start again with a loud snort or choking sound.

Symptoms can be scary - frequent waking episodes at night, usually accompanied by a feeling of “choking” or gasping for air like you had been held underwater and are coming up for breath. People living with others suffering form sleep apnea will often hear gasping, gagging, or choking sounds from the person they are living with. The severity of this disorder makes treatment essential. Treatment may include behavioral changes, physical and mechanical devices, and in some cases, surgery.

Restless legs syndrome (RLS)

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sensory disorder causing an almost irresistible urge to move the legs or less often the arms as well. The urge to move the legs is usually due to uncomfortable, tingly, or creeping sensations that occur when at rest. Movement eases the feelings, but only for a while. Like you have the feeling that you need to move even when you should be relaxing/sleeping.
RLS is not necessarily confined to your sleep time. Symptoms most often occur when you are relaxed or lying down. You may also notice small, jerky movements of the toes, feet, and legs as you are trying to fall asleep. This order is involuntary but can be treated.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a disorder that causes a person to have difficulty staying awake. Narcolepsy can cause a person to suddenly fall asleep during the day.
These “sleep attacks” can happen even if you are getting enough sleep at night. The unusual sleep pattern that people with narcolepsy have can affect their lives in many ways; schooling, work, social life and anything else.
Falling asleep during activities in public places like when walking, driving, cooking, or talking can have dangerous results, both professionally and personally.

Symptoms can include:

Uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during times outside of your normal sleeping times
Excessive daytime tiredness and general grogginess
Sudden, short loss of muscle control during emotional situations (cataplexy)

As narcolepsy involves your nervous system, treatment of it requires a combination of medication, behavioral treatment, and counseling sessions.

Sleep Well, Sleep Now

2008-07-23T01:56:00.000-07:00

So, I was in California this past week and I bumped into an old friend of mine from college. Well, truthfully I was looking up old friends and then showed up at his work. We hung out a bunch the next few days and he showed me his blog so I can keep tabs on him from here in Florida, so I decided to start my own blog too.
I had met my friend Kevin due to a related condition, we both had problems sleeping. When you're young, not being able to sleep at night is cool. In high school I had my whole nocturnal and goth stage, then early in college I was a raver, then later started to work night jobs, but by my 28th birthday, I was realizing that not sleeping wasn't my lifestyle choice it was something I just had a problem with. So after doing a lot of research into sleeping disorders and insomnia related conditions, I thought it might be a good idea to help other people out as well. I hope it all helps.