We summarize the latest sleep research to help you overcome sleep difficulties — helpful for improving sleep troubles and mild cases of insomnia.
Periodic limb movements during sleep (PLMS) are often recorded on sleep studies.
They’re usually not the most important thing in sleep study results, but can be an indication of an underlying condition like sleep apnea or a neurological disorder.
Melatonin use is at an all time high.
It’s an effective, and relatively safe natural sleep aid with minimal side effects for most people.
Let’s take a look at some stats and trends about melatonin usage and effectiveness.
Sleep apnea often goes misdiagnosed and is much more common than most people think.
With global obesity rates still on the rise, sleep apnea will likely continue to become more and more common.
Let’s take a look at the most important statistics and facts about sleep apnea.
Ashwagandha has been used for over 3000 years to treat a wide variety of conditions.
So far, evidence seems to point towards ashwagandha being most effective at improving stress and anxiety symptoms.
Since insomnia is often caused by stress and anxiety, it’s reasonable to ask if ashwagandha could improve sleep quality.
It doesn’t get as much publicity as it should, but sleep issues like insomnia are some of the most common and dangerous that most people face.
Poor sleep affects daily energy levels, as well as both mental and physical health over the long term.
Let’s explore some facts about insomnia to get a clear picture of how prevalent it is and what effects it has.
Many people who take some form of medication for insomnia eventually reduce their dosage or stop taking it altogether.
In some cases, they develop insomnia even worse than it originally was.
This is due to rebound insomnia.
An electric blanket can be a solution, but they can break, and they can pose a fire risk. They’re also not very “green” since they consume a decent amount of electricity.
I’ve never liked the idea of electric blankets myself, so I’ve tried out many alternatives.
Here are the best alternatives that are as good or even better than an electric blanket.
If you’ve ever eaten shortly before sleeping when your food is still clearly being digested in your stomach, you might have had some trouble sleeping.
There’s actually quite a bit of evidence that eating before bed negatively affects sleep in most cases.
The exception is that being hungry can also make it harder to sleep.
Research suggests that there’s a correlation between sleep apnea and anxiety.
And since sleep apnea is a condition caused by physical abnormalities typically caused by weight gain, there’s no obvious way for anxiety to induce apnea.
That means that if there is a link between apnea and anxiety, the sleep apnea is almost certainly causing the anxiety.
Studies have found a correlation between hunger and overall sleep quality; specifically, hunger makes the time it takes to fall asleep longer, and lowers total sleep duration.
From a common sense point of view, your brain is going to want to wake you up to search for food if you’re hungry.
If this is a regularly occurring issue, it can have a significant effect on your health.
So what can you do?