Poor Sleep Habits May Cause Diabetes!

If you think lack of sleep only gets you uncontrollable yawns and bags under your eyes, take note, it may be more costly to your health than you think!

A study done by Sleep Heart Health has found more evidence of increased diabetic conditions related to lack of sleep. But it doesn't stop there; it also shows evidence of the same conditions with too much sleep.
These findings come from a study where 722 men and 764 women, aged 53 to 93 years enrolled in the study.

Working with a controlled sleep time of 7 - 8 hours a night and ruling out other potential issues such as sleep apnea, insomnia, obesity, sex, age and race. The study shows a strong link between Type 2 Diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance and amount of sleep.

* In those who slept 5 hours or less a night, Diabetes was 2.5 times more common. In those who slept 6 hours a night, Diabetes was 66% more common. In those who slept 9 or more hours a night, Diabetes was 79% more common.

Over the past 30 years or so the usual sleep per night has declined for adults aged 40 to 79 years of age. Near the end of the 50's, 8 hours a night was the norm with less than 15% reported sleeping less than 7 hours a night. Once we turned the new millennium, the usual sleep times dropped to 7 hours a night and approximately 35% of targeted adults reported sleeping less than 7 hours a night.

Although Insomnia plays some part in this equation, probably brought on by other sleep influences like kids awake at night or tossing and turning on the old mattress. It's amazing to see that the majority of sleep deprivation is voluntary. With 43% of adults polled saying they spend more time than they should to stay up either watching television or using the Internet, the other whopper being 45% reporting staying up later or getting up earlier to get more work done.

When most people see these numbers and results they think that you would have to do this over a lifetime to have these adverse affects. But the study also shows results of impaired glucose tolerance in healthy young adults when sleep was restricted to 4 hours a night for 6 straight nights, 6 nights, that certainly isn't a lifetime! Keep in mind that Diabetes carries a high risk of cardiovascular-related problems which can severely shorten your lifespan.

"This is one additional piece of information bolstering the common recommendation for sleeping 7 to 8 hours a night," says, Boston University's Dr. Daniel Gottlieb, study co-author.

I can deal with the bags under the eyes and the fly catching yawns but life's blowing by as it is and I certainly want to be around when my 6 and 8 year old kids graduate, at least. I realize that you can't always get the right amount of sleep but I know I can always try!

-- End You Insomnia Now --

Why Can't I Sleep well?

First things first, what is sleep disorder? This is where psychological and physical disturbance exists in sleep as well as in wakefulness as caused by specific abnormalities.

The patterns of sleeping of a particular animal or person is in disorder, therefore interfering with one's emotional and mental functioning.

Diagnosis that is true and accurate could be determined via a polysomnogram or through its regular name called sleep test.
Believe it or not, there has been an estimated forty million sufferers of sleeping disorder in America alone. While an estimated twenty to thirty million in America have sleeping disorders irregularly.

It has been calculated that the yearly productivity costs in safety and health care due to sleep disorders are in billions of dollars.

There are a lot of sleep disorders, the following are some of them:

Circadian Rhythm Disorder
Believe it or not, the body is actually set in its own twenty four hour rhythm. Scientists call this circadian rhythm. This rhythm influences the body's hormones.
These hormones play a significant role in one's wakefulness and sleep, body temperature as well as metabolic rate.

Jet lag
A condition, albeit a temporary one, where sleep patterns become out of sync due to rapid traveling across several time zones.

Narcolepsy
This is a condition where a person spontaneously and suddenly falls asleep unwillingly. Another characteristic of this sleeping disorder is one's overwhelming and excessive sleepiness during the day even if one has had adequate sleep during the night.

A narcoleptic suddenly and almost easily becomes sleepy, drowsy and fall asleep immediately usually during times, events and places that are inappropriate.

Night terror
This sleep disorder occurs abruptly thereby awakening the sleeper with a behavior that is consistent with that of terror.

Insomnia
Believe it or not, insomnia is actually not characterized by the quantity of hours a person sleeps but on just how long a person takes to get to sleep. All individuals have their own unique way of finding satisfaction when it comes to sleep. Insomnia sufferers may experience problems all throughout the day like tiredness, lethargy, concentration difficulty as well as irritability.

RED (Rapid Eye Movement Disorder)
This occurs when the sleeper acts out dramatic or violent actions during deep REM sleep.

Sleep Apnea
This is a disorder that is marked by the airway's obstruction during sleeping. This is usually accompanied by loud snoring. Constantly loud snoring could actually indicate a disorder that could potentially be life-threatening. One who is suffering from sleep apnea stops temporarily from breathing during sleep anywhere between ten seconds up until three minutes.

Somnambulism (Sleep Walking)
This is where one engages on activities normally connected with being awake (such as dressing or eating). A somnambulist could walk without consciously knowing that he is doing such. So how does one solve such sleeping disorders? Pretend that sleeping pills were not invented.

The following are some of the more natural ways and means to solve sleeping disorders.

Set A Routine Sleep Pattern
Consistency is the key. It is necessary that a regular sleeping routine is established so your body gets used to a sleeping pattern. In due time, the body learns on how to naturally fall asleep in manner that is easy and effortless.

To be able to do this, make sure you set a regular waking up time and a sleeping time. After which, sticking to this routine for two weeks is necessary. At first, your body may still find it difficult to adjust. Relax and try not to be discouraged. Your long term goal is to achieve a regular sleeping habit.

Make Your Bed
Comfort is the key. Avoid lumps, bumps on your beddings and blankets. Keep your sleeping abode as clean as possible. Nothing is as irritating as well as stressful than waking up or sleeping in a bed that is filthy.

All in all, sleep disorders are usually symptoms of a deeper medical condition. As much as possible, try to be aware of your own health and well-being and put taking care of yourself as priority.

-- Get A Good Sleep Tonight! --