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About Marc

Marc has been a member since June 12th 2010, and has created 16 posts from scratch.

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Sleepless In America: Some Stunning Facts about Insomnia

published Monday, September 26th, 2011 at 2:26 am by acruzie

Every year chronic sleeplessness makes an American lose 11.3 days or $2280 in terms of productivity.
According to the September 1 issue of Sleep journal, this is costing the nature a total of 252.7 days and $63.2 billion.
Americans and not missing work but they are achieving less because of daytime fatigue.
The statistical figures are a result of computation done from a national sampling size of 7428 employees and part of the larger American Insomnia Study. Earlier studies involved smaller sample size.
Insomnia is lower (14.3%) among people who are 65 years or age and older.
It is higher in working women (27.1%) than men (19.7%)
Because insomnia is still not conserved as an illness, employers tend to ignore its consequences.
Those with high school education (25.3 percent) or some college education (26.4 percent) displayed higher rates of existing insomnia

For more information visit http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110901093653.htm

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Assured Insomnia Relief: One Stop Shop for Yoga Poses

published Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 at 3:55 pm by acruzie

When it concerns treating insomnia, doctors who are believers of alternate medicines recommend yoga, meditation, etc to soothe the nerves and calm the body. But not many know how to do them safely and in the recommended manner. This is because accessing easy ways to practice such exercises is often difficult. Here is some online help.

Some easy-to-follow yoga tutorial lessons are available on this site http://www.fitsugar.com/Yoga-Poses-Better-Sleep-18801800 that can be helpful for anyone wanting to practice yoga.

The site quite simply describes 10 yoga poses with the help of extremely lucid videos. The postures are gentle on the senses and easy-to-follow. They do not involve doing complicated limb maneuvering, which scare many people. The poses are designed to control the mind and make it focus inwards – a cue to a sustainable relaxation. They also show several stretching postures that can help relax and ease the muscles that are most prone to get tensed.

The one that is particularly appealing is called ‘Seated Heart Opener’ designed to stretch the abs and the neck very gently. Since the neck is usually the most stressed out, this particular exercise can help with the relaxation of this area. Instructions are simple – start by sitting on the heels (one could also extend the legs straight out, incase sitting on heels is painful). Then the hands should be placed about a foot away behind followed by leaning backwards slightly. Follow the video and lower the head between the shoulders. Count up to five breaths and you can instantly feel something good happening.

This is a site worth visiting if one is looking for easy-to-follow video instructions for doing yoga.

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Insomnia Statistics: Alarming Facts That Every Sufferer Should Know

published Friday, December 3rd, 2010 at 6:09 am by jmendoza

Knowing that insomnia is a common sleep disorder is not enough for someone who simply cannot get a good nights’ sleep.

There are insomnia statistics that reveal much more – and when you go through them, it can shed more light on your own condition. Through these alarming yet informative insomnia statistics you’ll know why you or your love one is suffering one of the most distressing conditions in life.

Here are some important and revealing insomnia statistics pertaining to Americans:

Insomnia statistics (General):

10 to 20% people in the U.S. suffer from insomnia.
Only 35% of Americans sleep 8 hours or more per night in an average work week.
Elderly people are usually on prescription drugs many of which have insomnia as a side effect.
Elderly people are also prone to depression, anxiety and grief all of which contribute to insomnia.
According to the National Institutes of Health, around 60 million Americans experience chronic insomnia.
According to the National Sleep Foundation’s 2009 Sleep in America poll, the odds an adult have difficulty falling asleep at least a few nights a week is 1 in 3.45. And 1 in 6.25 adults have difficulty falling asleep every night or almost every night.
About 35% of people with insomnia have a family history of insomnia, with the mother being the most commonly affected family member
Insomnia statistics reveal that in spite of this widespread problem, only about 30% of American adults ever discuss sleep problems with their doctors. Doctors also rarely to ask patients about their sleep habits or problems.
20 to 40% of all adults encounter insomnia problems during a year time.
60% of Americans have admitted to have driven even they were sleepy and almost 37% of them actually fallen asleep while driving, according to a National Sleep Foundation Poll in 2008.
More than 70 million Americans suffer from various sleeping disorders insomnia being one of them.
Approx 90% of those who suffer from depression also experience insomnia.
America is No. 1 country in the world for insomnia followed by Germany and the UK.
85% of insomniacs state that they had various other health problems that had their roots in insomnia.
According to hospital insomnia statistics, more than 90% of people seeking medical treatment for their insomnia are hospitalized.
The hospitalization period for insomnia is about 7 days.
More than 10 million Americans use prescriptions sleeping medication to sleep.
27% of insomniacs are overweight.
The American industry loses approximately $150 billion due to workers that have insomnia, that miss work or that do not work their maximum productivity.

Insomnia statistics for Men

One study reveals that men, as they go from age 16 to 50, they lose about 80% of their deep sleep. After 44 years of age, REM and total sleep reduce and wakefulness increase.

Insomnia Statistics for Women

Women suffer more from insomnia than men. However effective sleep worsens with age for both men and women.
Temporary sleeplessness may occur because of menstruation, premenstrual syndrome, pregnancy, and menopause. Such types of insomnia usually get cured with time and improved sleep hygiene.

Insomnia Statistics for Children

60% children, especially teenagers report of being tired during the day.
More than 2 million children suffer from various sleep disorders.
Only 30 to 40% of children can actually get the required 9-10 hours of sleep every night.

When you study insomnia statistics, you have to keep one curious fact in mind: some people overestimate the time it takes for them to doze off to sleep. For example, some who actually falls asleep within 20 minutes of hitting the pillow may thing that it took him or her more than an hour. This kind of paradoxical interpretation may render insomnia statistics unreliable. To get an accurate estimate, you need a lab test to gauge how long it takes for you to go to sleep.

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Cause of Insomnia: Know the Causes So You Can Cure Your Condition

published Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 at 6:07 am by jmendoza

You cannot fall asleep even when you are tired and sleepy; you wake up frequently and cannot go back to sleep; you wake up too early for your standards…if you are experiencing any or all of these symptoms – you might be suffering from insomnia. While it is alright to know the insomnia symptoms, but more important is to know why you cannot go to sleep. As once you know the cause of insomnia – you are a couple of steps ahead on your way to recovering from the distressing condition.

If you believe in the saying that there is no smoke without a fire, then you should also realize that insomnia symptoms will not happen without a cause. Broadly speaking the cause of insomnia can be broken down into two classes: psychological or non-medical and medical cause of insomnia.

Insomnia can be classified according to the duration of the symptoms as well as according to the causes. In the second category, there can be primary cause of insomnia and secondary cause of insomnia. The primary causes include those not related to any other medication or psychological disorder and the secondary causes of insomnia have a direct bearing to medical issues.

What are the non-medical causes of insomnia?

Bedroom environment including room temperature, lighting, noisiness, unfamiliarity are some of the causes of insomnia. Working in different shifts often disturbs the circadian rhythm, disturbing normal sleeping patterns. Jet lag could also be a culprit.

There are several emotional issues which may leave us mentally devastated resulting in insomnia. Job loss, death of a spouse or a child, divorce, marital disharmony, family disputes are some of the common causes of insomnia, which are non-medical by nature.

Stimulants like methamphetamine hydrochloride, excessive use of caffeine, tobacco and alcohol can be viable causes of insomnia.

This category also includes substance abuse and use of narcotics.

What are the medical causes of insomnia?

There are several health disorders which can be the cause of insomnia. These include respiratory disorders or conditions affecting your breathing patters. Other disease conditions which can provide causes of insomnia include diabetes, arthritic pain, heart ailments, asthma. Health conditions like obesity can be responsible for your insomnia. This health condition often leads to another condition called GERD or gastroesophageal reflux disorder and heartburn, both contributing factors to insomnia. Chronic pains, hyperthyroidism, Parkinson’s disease are other medical causes of insomnia.

There is no denying that the causes of insomnia are difficult to find and takes time and energy but they are critical for the right diagnosis of the underlying condition. Many causes of insomnia can be traced back to poor lifestyle choices, stressful work environment, imbalanced diet, lack of exercise, past trauma or mental problems, chemical imbalances in the brain, etc.

What are the most common causes of insomnia?

Rampant and excessive use of stimulants like coffee, tea and aerated sweetened drinks in the late evening or afternoon. Tobacco products also stimulate the heart and brain. Alcohol may induce sleep initially, but will wake you up from the deeper sleep stages.

Stress and depression might go hand in hand resulting in insomnia. People suffering from one or both these conditions would find it difficult to go to sleep and may resort to temporary measures like alcohol, etc, which further aggravate the situation.

Medication and health problems can be viable causes of insomnia. In case you are currently on some set of medications, you must talk to your doctor about how they may be interfering with your sleep. Your doctor may then adjust the dosage or completely change the medication.

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Insomnia Symptom – How To Know Whether You Are Suffering From Insomnia?

published Wednesday, December 1st, 2010 at 6:05 am by jmendoza

One of the most important factors to know about insomnia symptoms is that they are never stand alone features. This means that they usually co-exist with some other symptoms of other mental or physical conditions.

What are the initial insomnia symptoms that can tell you that something is amiss? Other than, inability to fall asleep, remaining asleep or when you are not getting quality sleep, you might show concentration problems, restlessness, irritability, etc. These are considered to be symptoms of an existing insomnia condition, but the real issue is to locate the underlying causes behind these initial symptoms.

When you are looking for insomnia symptoms, you need to remember that in most cases, insomnia itself is a symptom of some underlying physical, medical or psychological problem. Insomnia symptom could also be a result of side effect of certain mediation that you are currently on.

It is also important to remember that it is perfectly normal for anyone to suffer from short term insomnia some time or the other in our lives. However, when such insomnia symptoms persist for longer than a week, we need to get concerned and attempt at curing the condition.

Perhaps the first insomnia symptom is when you find it difficult to go to sleep, though you may be feeling extremely sleepy. You might also wake up frequently and subsequently fail to go back to sleep again. The other initial insomnia symptom is when you wake up too early in the morning feeling tired and exhausted.

There are a few daytime insomnia symptoms, including fatigue, anxiety and depression, etc. Anxiety and depression may be insomnia symptoms but may well be the cause of insomnia perpetuating the whole situation further. Irritability, offensive social behavior, lack of concentration, unjustified accidents or errors in judgment while operating vehicle and machinery, headaches and muscle pain, forgetfulness, frequent mood changes, confusion and mental instability, delayed response to external stimuli are some of the other common daytime insomnia symptoms.

Duration of any insomnia symptom may vary according to the type of insomnia that you are suffering from. For example, in transient insomnia, the insomnia symptoms may show up only for a few nights and then disappear. Short term insomnia symptoms last less than a month and chronic insomnia symptoms may continue for a month to 6 months.

Why is it important for you to keep a close watch on the insomnia symptoms? Once you note down all the changes that are happening in your normal sleeping patterns and discuss each and every insomnia symptom with your doctor, it is then possible for the doctor to arrive at a proper diagnosis of the condition and recommend treatment.

To summarize, the first point to remember is that insomnia itself is a symptom of some underlying mental or health issues. Therefore, to cure insomnia, it is not enough to simply study the insomnia symptoms but a detailed and wider investigation might be necessary:

The first common insomnia symptom is when you cannot fall asleep for about 45 minutes after you have gone to bed. You are tossing and turning but not being able to even doze off.
The second insomnia symptom is waking up frequently and finding it tough to fall asleep again.
The third symptom is waking up too early.
The fourth insomnia symptom is having poor quality of sleep. Here you have to remember that sound sleep consists of four stages and rapid eye movement (REM). Stages 3 and 4 are important phases as these actually rejuvenate the mind and the body. If these stages are not reached, then the quality of sleep is considered to be poor.

At the end of the day, it is important to relate many of the insomnia symptoms to your perception of the quantity and quality of sleep.

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