Search Results for: sleep

February 16, 2018 By Palak Mittal 2 Comments

How smartphones and other electronic gadgets affects our sleep quality

Gadgets affect sleep

For most of us, our smartphone is the first thing we look at in the morning and the last thing we check before going to bed. But, is it a right practice? Well, it is not. As per a recent study published by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, using a smartphone right before bedtime actually reduces the overall quality of sleep.

Here’s how:

Difficulty in falling asleep – We feel sleepy when our brain releases a hormone called melatonin, which is determined by the body’s circadian rhythm. The blue light emitted by the screen of the smartphone interferes with this rhythm and the secretion of melatonin, which makes it difficult for us to fall asleep, even after we keep our phone aside.

Poor quality of sleep – Using a smartphone before going to bed also hampers the overall quality of sleep because, when we check an office email or a text message as the last thing before we sleep, it gets difficult for our brain to relax, due to which we are unable to sleep peacefully.

Decreased attention span – Our productivity suffers during the day, due to lack of proper sleep at night. Also, not getting enough sleep is known to hamper our decision-making skills, impair our long & short-term memory, which leads to unnecessary stress and anxiety

Increased risk of weight gain – Our body is more likely to feel hungry when we don’t get our due share of sleep, as sleep deprivation slows down our metabolism. Thus, use of smartphone right before bedtime can induce cravings, which lead to snacking and weight gain.

Weak immune system – While we are asleep our immune system produces antibodies that help fight infections, it also releases a protein known as cytokines. This protein not only promotes sleep but also fights inflammation and other problems caused by stress. Lack of sound sleep decreases the production of cytokines and increases the risk of falling sick, it also slows down our recovery cycle. Further, long-term sleep deprivation can raise the risk of diseases, such as diabetes, heart problems and obesity.

Skin damage – Sleeping late at night and not getting enough sleep can lead to dark circles, puffy eyes and fine lines across our face. The blue light emitted by our smartphones triggers the secretion of cortisol, which can damage our skin’s smoothness and elasticity.

Thus, even if we are spending only some time on our smartphone before going to bed, it affects our overall mental and physical well-being.

August 21, 2015 By Hetal Chheda Leave a Comment

Why and how much should your child sleep?

More often than not people do not consider sleep as an o important activity for good health. But, in reality sleep is a powerful tool that keeps your mind alert and calm. This is true for both elders as well as kids. Sleep should be considered as important as food.

Did you know that if you sleep well you can increase/build your brainpower just as you build muscles when you are weightlifting.

In this blog however, I am talking of how important is sleep for kids and how much they should sleep to be healthy.

Good sleep habits in kids help in;

Good health
Growth
Mental function.

BENEFITS OF SLEEP FOR KIDS

Increases concentration: Well slept kids are more receptive and interactive. These kids have good attention span and learn the most. Overall they become calmer, attentive, observant and also socially active.
Reduces behaviour problems: Sleep lets your entire body rest. Lack of rest makes kids hyperactive, fatigued, physically impulsive and agitated.
Reduces childhood obesity risk: Kids who don’t sleep enough are at higher risk for childhood obesity. Some researches prove that kids who slept only for an hour (Yes, Just an hour) they had increased their risk of obesity by 80 percent. This happens because the hormones that control hunger are directly related to sleep quality; with too little rest the appetite turns itself on and remains on.
Releases growth hormone: Quality sleep releases growth hormones. This hormone helpsin normal growth and other bodily and brain development.
Increases Immunity: Kids who sleep well do not fall sick very often.

HOW MUCH SLEEP IS NORMAL?

Toddlers – 12 hours till the age of three.
Four to six – 10½ to 11½ hours.
Six to Twelve – 10 hours.
Teenagers – 8 to 9 hours

FOODS THAT WILL HELP YOUR CHILD SLEEP BETTER

Dairy products:Dairy products produce the hormone serotonin that makes you feel sleepy. So foods like milk, cottage cheese, yogurt and cheese helps kids sleep better.
Bananas:Bananas are another easy bedtime snack option. Researchers conclude that bananas contain melatonin, as well as serotonin, which helps to calm you and regulate your sleep cycles. They also contain magnesium and potassium, both of which are muscle relaxers.
Oatmeal:Oats have an extremely high concentration of melatonin. A warm serving of oatmeal may help your toddler feel full and enjoy a longer duration of sleep.

SLEEP TIPS FOR CHILDREN

Introduce good sleep habits right from the start.
Create an environment that helps the child to sleep. Keep the lights minimum, room cool and quit.
Make sure that there is no TV or computer switched on which will distract sleep.
Avoid caffeine.
Put your child to bed at the same time on all days.

Encourage importance of sleep in your children at an early age. This will help your child be happy, social and intelligent. The best part is you yourself might get some good deep sleep.

May 5, 2014 By Vrushali Athavle 3 Comments

Ways to improve sleep

How many of us sleep well at night or rather get a good undisturbed sleep. I was kind of horrified when I realized that my younger sister was readying herself to go to a doctor, thinking she is facing some dreadful sleep disorders. I asked in astonishment what made her think so. She told me that she is experiencing disturbed sleep with frequent awakening and sometimes she stays awake in bed at night for a long time, frequently checking the clock. This affects her whole next day as she feels tired and exhausted.

In today’s hectic and busy life, disturbed sleep is a common issue. I told there was no need to panic, instead make certain lifestyle changes. 90% of the time, the issue gets resolved without actually requiring doctor’s advice.

In this blog I have tried to list down as many possibilities, I could see which when modified in to our routine can give you a good night’s sleep. Based on your lifestyle and routine you can start working on it and see the difference.

For better understanding, I have categorized “Ways to improve sleep” into 3 major categories

1) Foods to eat and avoid

2) Relaxation techniques

3) Sleep environment

Foods to eat and foods to avoid

Avoid having stimulants like tea & coffee, smoking, drinking alcohol too close to bedtime. While alcohol is known to speed up the onset of sleep, it disrupts the sleep in the later part causing frequent waking up.
Pay attention to what you eat. Avoid spicy foods, especially at night. Don’t go to bed hungry or stuffed as it may cause discomfort and might keep you awake.
Also limit drinking too much water before bed, to prevent disruptive middle-of-the-nights trips to toilet.
Include carbohydrate and calcium rich foods like wheat, rice, pasta, milk and cheese, as they promote the release of serotonin, which is a sleep inducing hormone.
Green leafy vegetables especially lettuce have opium related substances which acts as a natural sleep aid.
Twitches and cramps can keep you awake during the night. You can have magnesium rich food sources like sunflower seeds, almonds and cashews to relax your muscles and hence get a good sleep.

Relaxation techniques

A relaxing exercise like yoga can be done before bed to help initiate a restful sleep. If you are planning a vigorous workout then it has to be complete 2 to 3 hours before going to sleep. A heavy workout will make it difficult for you to go to sleep, causing muscle soreness.
5 to 10 minutes of meditation with deep breathing can help you decrease your stress, relax your mind & body and help you get a sound sleep.
Getting indulged in some activities which make you happy like listening to music, reading a book, planning for the next day’s work, spending quality time with family or any of your hobbies puts off your whole days stress, relaxing your mind and hence getting a good night’s sleep.
Taking a warm bath just before going to sleep, also induces a good sleep because the sudden rise and then fall of body temperature makes you feel drowsy.
Try to avoid emotionally upsetting conversations or thoughts which may give you stress and affect your sleep. Instead you should try this one which works for me. I just write down all my stress causing thoughts on a paper and tear off the paper.
Do not turn on any electronic devices televisions, mobiles or tablets because the blue spectrum light emitted from such objects is known to impede sleep.

Sleep environment

Noise: Abrupt, loud noises from inside or outside the home like someone talking in the other room, noise of television or barking of a dog, traffic can upset sleep. Steady and low sounds such as the whir of a fan or air conditioner, can be soothing because they help block the distracting noises. One can also put up heavier curtains on your windows, replace windows with double or triple paned glass or invest in some ear plugs to listen these disturbing noises.
Mattress and Pillows: Make sure your mattress and pillow meets your needs for both comfort and support.
Light: Light is one of the body’s most powerful time cues. The rising sun can wake up the brain long before the alarm goes off. A dark room is the most conducive for sleep – day or night.
Temperature: The ideal bedroom temperature is 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit (16 to 18 degrees Celsius). A room that’s too warm or too cool can disrupt comfortable sleep.

To conclude, I asked my sister does she really need a doctor. She can be her own doctor. What she needs to do is to maintain a diary and keep a track of her lifestyle activities and use this blog as a checklist. This way she can find solution for her own sleep problem and so can all. But if the sleeping issues continue then it calls for doctor’s intervention.

Photo Credit: healgrowtransform.com.au

October 2, 2023 By Shilpa Govindan 1 Comment

Cue to happiness

Happiness is a very subjective matter and differs from person to person and ultimately all our efforts and desires lead us to one underlying fact of attaining happiness in life. Don’t we all live to be happy?

Many thought processes exist within us. These ‘thoughts’ create our belief systems, these beliefs urge us to have ‘emotions’, these emotions seep into our ‘energy body’ or the ‘aura’ and then finally settle down in our ‘physical body’ or ‘physical world’.

To elaborate, the brain sends out electromagnetic waves to the body for any action or reaction and basic functions of the body, including breathing, heartbeat, hormone secretion etc. are controlled by the mind whether we are awake, asleep or in a state of trance.

So, if the Mind can do all this, it would be natural for us to assume that the mind is also capable of restricting the blood flow, heart rate and movement. It can even restrict the functioning of the digestive and liver thereby decreasing metabolism and adding weight, causing BP, Cholesterol etc. At the end of the day, we may call this Disease and one of the most important factors of its cause is dependent largely on our thought process or rather how we think.

Disease originates from our mind-activity and it has been researched subjectively that worry affects your spleen, fear affects the kidney, and grief targets your heart and so on. The impact of our thinking mind has a resultant effect on our physical body, good and bad.

Therefore, when it comes to healing yourself, you have to also sort it out at the thought level and soon you will realize that it will have a positive and long-lasting effect on your physical body. The same goes with your physical world and surrounding. It is the inner workings that have the most result.

All this energy and thought process also reflects our real-life circumstances. You may have experienced that if you feel upset one morning, there is a chance that your entire day would be bad. Repeated negative thinking, once ingrained into the mind can create repeated negative experiences outside control. The good news is that it is not permanent and can be changed!

Here’s why and how,

Happiness in itself is a HABIT- a conditioning or association the Mind has received from a very early age through REPETITIVE thinking. All habits are created through repetition. So, learning to be thankful and having gratitude for simple things, even the very oxygen we breathe, is essential, so as to understand how not react to troubled situations but instead respond with ease, peace and compassion.

With our awareness and understanding and wisdom to respond positively to a situation, we find that the issues in life that used to upset us miraculously feel minuscule and sometimes even disintegrate. Our energy body changes in frequency and vibration thereby attracting more positive opportunities and experiences to us.

How we cultivate this habit of happiness, can vary widely, we can choose to;

1) Meditate regularly teaching the body and mind to regularly let go of stress and create an environment of peace and calm

2) Use a hobby as a trigger for happiness

3) Use a technique called ‘Affirmations’; where we use a statement that is completely opposite to our current limiting belief, and repeat the sentence as many times with feeling. It is to pass a command from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind has the ability, to accept anything as true, to do whatever it takes to turn it into reality, creating a new neuro-pathways in the brain. For eg; Limiting belief – It’s hard to lose weight. New belief you want to cultivate – Losing weight is easy for me

4) Express gratitude or keep a journal of thankfulness

5) Not to identify with suffering, loss, or illness as being who you are. Being kind to yourself and others is a skill and developed with practice and mindfulness, which leads to happiness.

Lastly and most importantly, is to keep consistent because we are all human. Emotions and experiences are a part of growth and learning and wisdom of a wonderful life, meanwhile, we can always train our minds to ‘let go’ of things that affect us adversely.

Learn Happiness!

We hope this article helps you become your health detective. If you found this information valuable, share your thoughts in the comments below. You can find more articles to help you manage stress here. For further guidance on managing stress and lifestyle, speak to a certified expert by subscribing to GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here.

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