Sleep Step 9

Step 9: The Rest of Your Life
Give your body some time to adjust to the changes you're making: cutting caffeine, quitting smoking, limiting alcohol consumption, establishing a patterned bedtime, incorporating exercise into your daily routine and transforming your bedroom into a sleep sanctuary.

Getting 7 hours of sleep a night will help you look and feel younger, improve circulation, help lower blood pressure, reduce levels of stress and inflammation, strengthen your immune system, improves memory and helps to control body weight.

If after 4 weeks (longer if you're attempting to quit smoking) you don't see a marked improvement in your sleep pattern, speak to your doctor about your circumstances. If you're taking medications, that could be affecting the way you sleep - or you could simply need professional help to de-stress and identify those life factors that are prohibiting you from getting the sleep your body so desperately needs.

Step 8

Step 8: Find Fatigue Fighters

Replace your afternoon caffeine lift with something that is not only better for you, it's cheaper! Aromatherapy can wake up certain parts of the brain, and by inhaling some fresh lemon you can give yourself a lemon lift without spending $5 at Starbucks. If you're also trying to lose some weight to improve your sleep hygiene, squeeze that lemon into hot water in the winter or seltzer in the summer for a calorie-free afternoon pick-me-up.

Another Dr. Oz fatigue-fighting tip is to counteract the energy drain caused by a heavy lunch with a preemptive multivitamin. Vitamins C and E open arteries and increase circulation; heavy meals laden with fat constrict arteries and make you sleepier.

Boost your energy by taking D-ribose, or ribose, daily. Some research has found that natural D-ribose supplements can significantly improve energy. It's available in pill or powder form and is an essential energy source for your cells.

Sleep Step 7

Step 7: You Snooze; You Lose

One surefire way to fight your fatigue is to ban the snooze button. You've decided what time you are going to get up every day - and that does not mean 15 minutes early and snoozing until it's time to get out of bed.

Sleep involves several stages: REM sleep is accompanied by vivid dreams and memory consolidation; the third and fourth stages of sleep are deep and restorative. Each night you cycle through these stages. When you hit the snooze button, you alternate between wakefulness and light sleep, which might feel comforting - but there is no physical or mental benefit from this. Set your alarm later and get more REM or quality sleep.

Step 6

Step 6: Go Back to Sleep
More often than not, we are awakened at least once a night: we can't keep ourselves from waking, but we can help ourselves to go back to sleep.

Here are some tips to keep minor disturbances from interfering with a full night's sleep:
Keep a notebook and pen on your bedside table. Begin writing to-dos and reminders an hour before bed so that you aren't compiling a mental list for the next day. If you awake suddenly remembering an important task, write it down rather than trying to commit it to memory.
Keep a glass of water on your bedside table so that you don't have to get up and go to the kitchen if you are thirsty.
Try counting backwards from 300 by 3s. Simple math can keep our thoughts from wondering and yet isn't so difficult that it will frustrate you.
Use progressive relaxation, a technique that involves tightening and relaxing groups of muscles. Start with the hands and move up to the arms, shoulders, neck, and head, and then down to the legs and feet.
If you're still awake after 15 minutes, get up and do something quiet, like reading a book. Don't turn on the TV or read the latest Facebook updates. You have to let your body and mind slow down to be able to slip into sleep - so that means quiet activities only.

SLEEP to SKINNY

wow if it were only that easy
I found a great article while looking for ways to go to sleep and stay that way :)
http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/jacob-teitelbaum-md/sleep-your-way-skinny

Sleep Your Way to Skinny
By Jacob Teitelbaum, MD
Obesity is an epidemic and has many causes. One of them is that the average night’s sleep has dropped from 9 hours a night to 6.75 hours a night over the last 100 years, and sleep is responsible for many weight and appetite controlling hormones, such as the growth hormones, leptin, phrelin and ghrelin. So can you really sleep your way to skinny? Many studies suggest you can.

How much sleep is optimal for staying thin? Between 7 and 9 hours is best. Less than 7 hours increases the risk of obesity approximately 30% and adds an extra 5 pounds on average.

According to Jean-Philippe Chaput, MSc, from Laval University in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, and colleagues, "Current treatments for obesity have been largely unsuccessful in maintaining long-term weight loss, suggesting the need for new insight into the mechanisms that result in altered metabolism and behavior and may lead to obesity."

The increase in body weight in the US population has been paralleled by a reduction in sleep times. For the past 4 decades, daily sleep duration has decreased by 1.5 to 2 hours, and the proportion of young adults sleeping less than 7 hours per night has more than doubled, from 15.6% in 1960 to 37.1% in 2002.

Studies in adults and children have repeatedly shown that reduced sleep is associated with increased weight.

To determine the relationship between sleep duration and weight, researchers followed 276 adults aged 21 to 64 who were enrolled in the Quebec Family Study, a 6-year study in a community setting. The investigators compared weight gain relative to 3 categories of sleep duration ― short (5-6 hours), average (7-8 hours), and long (9-10 hours).

Compared with average-duration sleepers, short-duration sleepers gained 4.4 pounds more in a 6-year period. At 6 years, short-duration and long-duration sleepers were 35% and 25% more likely to experience a 12-pound weight gain, respectively, compared to those who slept 7 to 8 hours a night.

Compared with average-duration sleepers, short-duration sleepers had a 27% increased risk for the development of obesity, and long-duration sleepers had a 21% increase in risk. Adjustment for caloric intake and physical activity did not affect these connections.

Love & Blessings,
Dr. T

Step 4

All health improvements benefit from keeping a schedule. Whether that's working out everyday before work, stretching every night before bed or automating your meals, creating a schedule helps you to be prepared, and therefore, less susceptible to excuses, lapses and temptations.

This is your schedule:
Set a bedtime that works with your schedule, both during the week and on weekends, and stick to it
4-6 hours before bed, do not eat or drink anything containing caffeine
2-3 hours before bed, do not eat a full meal
60 minutes before bed, turn off all electronics (unless you are a doctor on call, blackberries, cell phones and pagers should not enter the bedroom) and dim the lights. In the middle of your brain is something called the pineal gland. It releases melatonin, the hormone that readies the mind and body for sleep in response to lowered light levels.
30 minutes before bed, have something to drink. Water is preferable, but warm milk can help soothe you to sleep.
5 minutes before bed, make sure your bedroom is dark, quiet and slightly cool. The ideal sleeping temperature is 65F.
Wake up at the same time every day, during the week and on weekends
Helpful hint: Reserve the bedroom for sleep and sex only. You are strengthening the association between your bed and sleep. Do not bring work into the bed, watch TV, talk on the telephone or perform any other wakeful activities.

***i always thought that reading before bed was a good thing but from reading this i am not convinced. Turning off all electrical things is a challenge, i now get off the computer at 10:30 - 11 shower, pack lunch iron, and then hit the hay, if i am waiting for hubby to get home i might turn on the DS and play a few puzzles (i am thinking that this isn't a good idea) but i am finding that being unplugged is a good thing and No cell phone in the bedroom and we have not turned on the bedroom tv in a few months so now i am use to sleeping without noise ... there might just be something to this preparing for bed thing :)

Step 3

Recently, the National Sleep Foundation asked people what kept them up at night, and it's no surprise that the most popular answers included financial worries, job stress and relationship stress. At the most basic biological level, the brain perceives these problems as threats it needs to process, deal with and solve; it can't turn off its alert system so that your sleep drive can take over.

Eliminating the stress in your life might seem like an impossible task. And it is. Instead of eliminating stress, trying minimizing it by employing effective coping mechanisms. For some, stress can be handled with meditation, yoga, walking or jogging. Ten-thousand steps a day (combined with a healthy diet) will help you lose weight, but stress reduction can be gained in short bursts of activity, like 10 quick jumping jacks or push-ups, or stepping away from your workday stress with a short walk. For more tips on coping with stress in your life, visit the Stress-Proof Your Life Challenge.

Bookend each night's rest with some light physical exercise: before you go to bed, do a soothing, 20-minute yoga routine to stretch your muscles and free them from the stress of the day, each morning, try Dr. Oz's 7-minute workout.

Step Two - Sleep

Step 2: Keep a Sleep Diary

Part of your sleep surveillance includes keeping a sleep diary. Get a handle on your sleep patterns and expose unhealthy habits. Make sure to note:
What you are doing before bed
The time you went to bed
When you woke up
How long it took you to fall asleep
What time you awoke
The time you spend, if any, napping during the day

***this may prove to be a bit challenging for me. I already have a bunch of notebooks and i blog about my day. I have never noted how long it took me to go to sleep on occassion i have said that i saw every hr on the hr ... which stinks and i do not nap unless i am sick.

Step One - SLEEP

Step 1: Go On Sleep Surveillance
Now's the time to identify your biggest lifestyle choices that could be affecting how you sleep. Are you a smoker? If so, then this is just another reason why it's time to quit. Several studies have linked cigarette smoking with instances of disturbed sleep. This includes the effects of nicotine and nicotine withdrawal on sleep, the link between smoking and snoring and a tendency for non-smokers to be more alert and energized in the morning.

Giving up tobacco is the single most important thing you can do for your overall health. We're not asking you to go cold turkey - we're not even asking you to do it alone. The success rate of quitting jumps from 2-5% to 30-65% with professional help. Follow Dr. Oz's Kick the Habit Challenge for a flexible timeline that eases you out of nicotine addiction.

Smoking isn't the only lifestyle factor that can drastically affect how you're sleeping; alcohol consumption, anxiety, stress, being overweight or obese, lack of physical activity, certain medications and caffeine intake can all prohibit a sound sleep.

Examine your daily routine. Do you have coffee everyday at 4pm to beat the afternoon slump? Do you have more than 1 alcoholic beverage a day? Do you eat dinner after 8pm? Do you workout? Do you generally go to bed/wake up at the same time each day? Take note of these behaviors. Identifying them now will help you along your search for sleep.

****my factors
anxiety
stress
overweight
caffeine
I do often eat a late dinner
I do go to bed at approximately the same time daily

Step 5

Step 5: Position Yourself for Sleep Success
The one-third of our life that should be spent sound asleep can cause serious harm to your back and your overall health. Whether you're a side sleeper, stomach sleeper or back sleeper, here's a breakdown of how to get in a prime position for better sleep.
Side Sleepers
This is the best position for a healthy night's sleep. It helps protect the alignment of your back's 3 major curves: the lower back, middle back and lower neck. Improper side sleeping can result in the over-constriction of shoulder and neck muscles. To avoid pelvic rotation and lower spine contortion, place a fluffy pillow between your knees. A second fluffy pillow can also be used to fill the space between your ear and the outer edge of your shoulder to equally support both sides of the neck.
Back Sleepers
Never use a fluffy pillow if this your favored sleeping position - it pushes the head forward in an uncomfortable reversal of your neck's natural curve, resulting in neck pain, headaches and decreased breathing capacity. Use a thin pillow under your head and a lumbar pillow to maintain the natural curve of your spine. Money-saving tip: create your own by rolling up a bath towel.
Stomach Sleepers
This is the worst sleep position for your spine. Turning your head to one side distorts the alignment of the spine and neck, leading to chronic lower back pain, neck pain and headaches. In addition, your body weight compresses the lungs impeding the ability to breathe fully and deeply. The best solution for stomach sleeping? Change to side- or back-sleeping if you can. If you can't use a very thin, flat pillow to minimize the above side effects.
For more helpful hints on sleep positions, click here.

Sleep

I have been struggling to go to bed and then i struggle to get up and then i fizzle mid day. I stayed home on monday and Dr Oz did a segment on preparing going to be so i decided to look into it because i need some help with this ... this is what i came up with

Every one of us should be getting 7 hours of sleep per night; it's essential for our physical health and mental state, helping you look and feel younger, improving circulation, lowering blood pressure, reducing levels of stress and inflammation, strengthening your immune system, improving memory and helping control body weight.
However, only a slim minority of the population tucks itself in at night for a blissful, restorative and essential 7-hour recharge. Sleep deprivation: it's written on our faces, it shows in our job performance and goes hand in hand with America's obesity epidemic.

Fifteen percent of insomnia, defined as difficulty falling or staying asleep, is caused by physical-neuro dysfunctions, or sleep disorders, like narcolepsy, sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome. Individuals suffering from these disorders should see a sleep specialist and be under a doctor's watchful care. However, the other 85% of insomnia is disordered sleep, a similar sounding medical condition that defines the more common and widely felt lack of quality sleep.

This is your wake-up call. It's time to make the lifestyle and diet changes necessary for your best night's sleep.

http://www.doctoroz.com/challenges/dr-ozs-ultimate-sleep-challenge