From anxiety to insomnia, find out which style of yoga is best for you

From msn.com

We all know about the myriad benefits of yoga but gone are the days of a one-size-fits-all practice. Forget flexibility and looking good in leggings, a new wave of yoga classes is aimed at treating everything from IBS to insomnia, with studios offering classes and workshops to target specific health issues. So whether you want to boost your immune system, unwind your “text neck” or sort out your digestion, there’s a mat for that...

You’ve got: insomnia
You need: Yoga for Better Sleep at The Life Centre, Notting Hill and Islington (thelifecentre.com).
Lisa Sanfilippo is London’s leading expert on yoga for sleep — her workshops have been known to help life-long insomniacs finally get some shut-eye. “Over the past 15 years I’ve developed a sequence of poses, meditations and breathing exercises which release tension and settle the mind and body for sleep,” she says. And if you’re one of the one in three people in the UK who have sleep problems, you need to pick your yoga class wisely. “A strong vinyasa class late at night might make you feel tired but it will have the opposite effect once you’ve gone to bed,” explains Sanfilippo. “You need to calm the nervous system down and get it ready for rest.” For more information visit yogaforbettersleep.com.
Pose prescription: Buddha Belly Breath
“Before bed, breathe smoothly and evenly. As you inhale, relax your lower belly and allow it to puff out gently. Making the exhalation longer than the inhale — say a count of four to the inhale of a count of three — taps into the rest-and-digest function of your nervous system.”

You’ve got: IBS
You need: Love Your Belly at Triyoga, Camden (triyoga.co.uk).
Whether you have a bit of a stomach upset, or a more serious condition such as IBD or post-operative bowel cancer, Tanya Goodman Bailey teaches yoga techniques and gives nutritional advice to manage digestive health. “For many people, gut issues are a stress response, and standard yoga practice with deep spinal twists can be too much,” she explains. “This is a very nurturing, healing practice which aims to reset the nervous system and bring digestion back to normal function. We learn about self-massage and acupressure as well as various poses that target the digestive organs, calm the mind and settle the belly. We also teach distraction exercises, craniosacral therapy and meditation, which are very effective forms of pain- management.”
For more information check out thebellylovemethod.com.
Pose prescription: The Regulator
“Do this once a day to set the rhythm of your digestion and help things along. Put your hands together, one in front of the other, palm touching your belly. Do three circles in the upper belly, three circles in the lower belly and then one up the left- hand side — up your transverse descending colon — and then down the right side to complete the circle.”

You’ve got: anxiety
You need: Restorative Bliss at Good Vibes, Soho (goodvibesfitness.co.uk).
“Most of us spend our lives in a state of stress and anxiety,” says Nahid de Belgeonne, founder and director of Good Vibes. “In our Restorative Bliss class you are completely supported by props, which activate the parasympathetic nervous system and take you into a state of active rest, diverting oxygen from your overly busy brain into the rest of your organs.” The practice happens in a room heated with FAR infra-red panels, warmed to the temperature of a sunny day, which helps to open and soothe the body and can also help people suffering from SAD. De Belgeonne also teaches one-to-one classes for specific conditions such as fertility issues and eating disorders.
Pose prescription: Put your feet up.
“At the end of a stressful working day or after a flight, try putting your legs up the wall. Lie on your back with your sit-bones as close to the wall as is comfortable for you. From there, you extend your legs up the wall, so that the backs of your legs are resting fully against it.
This pose regulates blood pressure and is deeply calming for your nervous system so you can go into “rest and digest” mode. Stay here for 10-15 minutes if possible, but even a minute or two will have benefits.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/from-anxiety-to-insomnia-find-out-which-style-of-yoga-is-best-for-you/ar-AAmoOvN

Opinion: Trouble sleeping? Here's some advice

By Christopher Labos

I’m not a very good sleeper. I toss and turn for quite a bit before I finally nod off. I can put many a fussy baby to shame with my insomnia.
Sadly, more than 30 per cent of the population is similarly sleep deprived, and that has a profoundly negative impact on health. Inadequate sleep increases your risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and stroke.
Counting sheep would seem to be a sensible solution. It has been popularized by everyone from Sesame Street to Mr. Bean. But when it was actually tested in a scientific study, it didn’t work.
In 2002, researchers from Oxford split 50 insomniacs into three groups. They told one group to count sheep, one group to imagine relaxing scenes like a waterfall and told the third group nothing, to serve as a control. Those who pictured a relaxing waterfall feel asleep sooner, whereas the sheep counters did not. It turns out that counting sheep is simply too mundane to distract the brain into falling asleep. As the researchers put it, “Picturing an engaging scene takes up more brain space than the same dirty old sheep.”
Warm milk is another common and folkloric sleep aid. Tryptophan is an amino acid that is converted to the neurotransmitter serotonin, and serotonin does have a role to play in sleep generation. But you are unlikely to drink enough milk (or eat enough turkey) for the tryptophan to have any effect.

If warm milk fails, some may try a nightcap. Unfortunately, though, while alcohol may make you pass out if you drink enough of it, it actually decreases the quality of that sleep. So a drink before bed is best avoided.
Many people are reluctant to take sleeping pills for sleep, and with some justification. Benzodiazepines are commonly prescribed as sleep aids, and they will certainly increase both the quantity and quality of sleep. However, they come with some side effects, namely a persistent drowsiness the next morning. They are also habit forming and if combined with alcohol can lead to an overdose. In older patients, they can cause drowsiness that leads to an increased risk of falls and hip fractures, so they are best used with care. Fortunately, non-benzodiazepine sleeping pills do exist and offer a somewhat safer alternative for those who need them.
As well, so-called “natural” sleeping pills have become popular. One of the most popular is melatonin. Melatonin is made by the pituitary gland in our brains. During the day, light striking the retina of your eye, sends a signal back to the brain to suppress melatonin production. At night when it’s dark, that inhibitory signal disappears and melatonin is produced.
Melatonin levels regulate the diurnal sleep-wake cycle. Shift workers or people suffering from jet lag may get some benefit from melatonin because they are essentially out of sync with their sleep wake cycle. They are in effect trying to sleep while their pituitary is telling them to stay awake.
Melatonin, however, is not that effective for insomniacs.
In the end the best thing you can do if you want to sleep better, is to practise good sleep hygiene. That means go to bed early, avoid large meals late at night, don’t drink or smoke before bed, keep the room dark and put away your smartphones.
It’s tempting to check your phone at night, but our light-emitting smart phones are suppressing melatonin production just as we are trying to fall asleep and this is significantly affecting our sleep quality.
So the social media addicts can put their phones away. While I will get a vicarious thrill every time somebody posts, tweets, likes and shares this article, I for one will sleep better, if I turn out the light and wait till morning.

http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-trouble-sleeping-heres-some-advice

Struggling to sleep? This surprising fruit may hold the key to beating insomnia

From dailytimes.com.pk

If you struggle to sleep, it might be time to ditch the late-night tipple and sleeping pills - and try cherry juice instead.
The fruit drink is known for its high sugar content, but new research has revealed it could work to beat insomnia and increase sleep time.
The unlikely health concoction was used by professional athletes ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to reduce recovery time between events. And now, two studies have shown that cherry juice also has the ability to help with sleep-related issues.
Nigel Mitchell, performance nutritionist for Healthspan Elite, said he includes the drink "as an important part of the recovery protocol with all professional sports teams" that he works with.
He said, "Many athletes find that cherry juice also supports sleep when taken an hour before bedtime."
After two weeks of drinking cherry juice, people suffering from insomnia gained, on average, an extra of 83 minutes sleep a night, a study by Louisiana State University found.
Cherries are laced with tryptophan which turns into melatonin in the body, the hormone responsible for feelings of drowsiness.
Drinking two glasses of cherry juice a day could also increase your 'sleep efficiency' - a global measure of sleep quality, separate research by Northumbria University showed.

The study of healthy volunteers revealed that that people consuming tart Montmorency cherry juice twice a day for a week enjoyed 25 minutes of additional sleep, as well as an increase of up to six percent in 'sleep efficiency'.
While cherries won't knock you out like a strong drink, they work by stabilising sleep patterns by regulating the chemicals in the body that make a person feel either drowsy or alert.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/infotainment/18-Jan-17/struggling-to-sleep-this-surprising-fruit-may-hold-the-key-to-beating-insomnia

Getting Older, Sleeping Less

From nytimes.com

Insomnia is like a thief in the night, robbing millions — especially those older than 60 — of much-needed restorative sleep. As the king laments in Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Part 2”: O sleep, O gentle sleep, Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frightened thee. That thou no more will weigh my eyelids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulness?

The causes of insomnia are many, and they increase in number and severity as people age. Yet the problem is often overlooked during routine check-ups, which not only diminishes the quality of an older person’s life but may also cause or aggravate physical and emotional disorders, including symptoms of cognitive loss.

Most everyone experiences episodic insomnia, a night during which the body seems to have forgotten how to sleep a requisite number of hours, if at all. As distressing as that may seem at the time, it pales in comparison to the effects on people for whom insomnia — difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or awakening much too early — is a nightly affair.

A survey done in 1995 by researchers at the National Institute on Aging among more than 9,000 people aged 65 and older living in three communities revealed that 28 percent had problems falling asleep and 42 percent reported difficulty with both falling asleep and staying asleep. The numbers affected are likely to be much larger now that millions spend their pre-sleep hours looking at electronic screens that can disrupt the body’s biological rhythms.

Insomnia, Dr. Alon Y. Avidan says, “is a symptom, not a diagnosis” that can be a clue to an underlying and often treatable health problem and, when it persists, should be taken seriously. Dr. Avidan is director of the sleep clinic at the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine.

So-called transient insomnia that lasts less than a month may result from a temporary problem at work or an acute illness; short-term insomnia lasting one to six months may stem from a personal financial crisis or loss of a loved one. Several months of insomnia are distressing enough, but when insomnia becomes chronic, lasting six months or longer, it can wreak serious physical, emotional and social havoc.

In addition to excessive daytime sleepiness, which can be dangerous in and of itself, Dr. Avidan reports that chronic insomnia “may result in disturbed intellect, impaired cognition, confusion, psychomotor retardation, or increased risk for injury.” Understandably, it is often accompanied by depression either as a cause or result of persistent insomnia. Untreated insomnia also increases the risk of falls and fractures, a study of nursing home residents showed.

There are two types of insomnia. One, called primary insomnia, results from a problem that occurs only or mainly during sleep, like obstructive sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome (which afflicts 15 to 20 percent of older adults), periodic limb movements or a tendency to act out one’s dreams physically, which can be an early warning sign of Parkinson’s disease.

Unless noted by their bed partners, people with primary sleep disorders may not know why their sleep is disrupted. An accurate diagnosis often requires a professional sleep study: spending a night or two in a sleep lab hooked up to instruments that record respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, bodily movements and time spent in the various stages of sleep.

The other, more common type of insomnia is secondary to an underlying medical or psychiatric problem; the side effects of medications; behavioural factors like ill-timed exposure to caffeine, alcohol or nicotine or daytime naps; or environmental disturbances like jet lag or excessive noise or light — especially the blue light from an electronic device — in the bedroom.

Among the many medical conditions that can cause insomnia are heart failure, gastroesophageal reflux (GERD), lung disease, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease and incontinence. Treating the underlying condition, if possible, often relieves the insomnia.

Regardless of the reason for insomnia, it can become a learned response when people anticipate having difficulty falling asleep or returning to sleep after middle-of-the-night awakenings. They may spend hours lying awake in bed worrying about being unable to sleep, and the anxiety itself impairs their ability to sleep.

The more one frets about a sleep problem, the worse it can get. When on occasion I awaken in the wee hours of the morning and can’t get back to sleep, I usually get up and do something useful, which takes the curse off my insomnia. If I’m worried about forgetting something important, I write  it on a pad kept next to the bed, taking care not to turn on a light. (Bright light in the middle of the night can reset your biological clock; if you get up to use the bathroom, use a night light near the floor.)

Nonmedical causes of insomnia are often successfully treated by practicing “good sleep hygiene,” a concept developed by the late Peter J. Hauri, a sleep specialist at the Mayo Clinic. That means limiting naps to less than 30 minutes a day, preferably early in the afternoon; avoiding stimulants and sedatives; avoiding heavy meals and minimizing liquids within two to three hours of bedtime; getting moderate exercise daily, preferably in the morning or early afternoon; maximizing exposure to bright light during the day and minimizing it at night; creating comfortable sleep conditions; and going to bed only when you feel sleepy.

If you still can’t fall asleep within about 20 minutes in bed, experts recommend leaving the bedroom and doing something relaxing, like reading a book (one printed on paper, not on a brightly lit screen), and returning to bed when you feel sleepy.

Many people mistakenly resort to alcohol as a sleep aid. While it may help people fall asleep initially, it produces fragmented sleep and interferes with REM sleep, Dr. Avidan and others report.

For those who still need help with insomnia, cognitive behavioural therapy has proved most effective in clinical trials, though finding a specialist may be challenging in some parts of the country.

Sleeping pills can be problematic, especially for older people who are more sensitive to their side effects, including daytime hangover. Even short-acting drugs like zaleplon (Sonata), zolpidem (Ambien) or ramelteon (Rozerem) can have side effects.

Alternatives include over-the-counter remedies like melatonin or valerian, which have more anecdotal evidence than research to attest to their efficacy. The brain makes melatonin, the body’s natural sleepiness hormone, in response to darkness.

There may also be some useful dietary aids, like bananas, cherries, kiwis, oatmeal, milk and chamomile tea, though evidence for these is also primarily anecdotal. One friend told me she solved a longstanding sleep problem by eating a banana two hours before bedtime.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/well/live/getting-older-sleeping-less.html?_r=0

Does exercise late in the day cause insomnia?

From mayoclinic.org

Regular exercise reduces stress and anxiety, and generally improves sleep. But for some people, exercising within a few hours of bedtime may cause problems getting to sleep. Keep in mind, everyone's different. For some people, late-day exercise isn't a problem.
It may require some trial and error to see how working out affects the quality of your sleep. Without making any other changes that are likely to affect your sleep, take notes on how well you sleep after working out at different times. This can help you determine the time of day that's best for your workout and the least disruptive to your sleep.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/expert-answers/exercise/faq-20058462

Health Matters: Sleep Apnea VS Insomnia

From nbc-2.com

If you’re having trouble sleeping, you’re not alone. Health experts say more than 25 percent of people are diagnosed with insomnia, while 20 percent are diagnosed with sleep apnea.

Dr. Imtiaz Ahmad, a pulmonologist on staff at Lee Health, says different types of sleep disorders can come with many different symptoms. “In terms of insomnia, usually it’s a difficulty in falling asleep or difficulty in staying asleep.”

Dr. Ahmad says insomnia can affect people throughout the day. “You may have impaired productivity, lack of concentration, unexplained fatigue, and a memory issue.”

Debra Peck, a nurse practitioner with Lee Health, says other sleep disorders, like sleep apnea, can have similar symptoms to insomnia where patients wake up multiple times during the night. “Are they waking up choking or gasping? Do they wake up and think they have to go to the bathroom multiple times during the night? Do they think their mind is racing?” All can be signs of sleep apnea.

Insomnia can be a lifelong problem, typically starting at an early age due to family history; whereas, sleep apnea can often begin at middle age and be triggered by irregular sleep patterns or health problems.

“Cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure, and different kind of arrhythmia, stroke, diabetes, or hypertension are a driver for sleep apnea,” said Dr. Ahmad.

Patients shouldn’t wait to talk to their doctor about participating in a sleep study. “When it’s interfering with your daily life and your activities of daily living, or when you come home from work and you don’t have the energy to do cooking or cleaning you just want to sit in a chair and fall asleep,” said Peck.

Finding a treatment to help patients get a better night’s sleep depends on the type of sleep disorder they have.

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/34183687/health-matters-sleep-apnea-vs-insomnia