Popular healthy snack that fights insomnia and helps you fall asleep at night

From dailyrecord.co.uk

Not getting enough sleep can be triggered by a number of different things such as stress, anxiety, or consuming too much alcohol or caffeine 

When thinking about ways to improve your health, the most common factors are often eating healthily and exercise - but getting enough sleep is also vital.

According to the NHS, the average adult should aim to get between seven and nine hours of sleep every night. Unfortunately, this is difficult for a lot of people due to factors like work, stress, anxiety or too much alcohol or caffeine.

If you regularly find it hard to drift off, or keep waking up in the middle of the night, you could be experiencing insomnia. However, experts say that eating one snack before bed can help you sleep easier and deeper, so you wake up feeling refreshed.

                                  Snacking on nuts may help you to sleep better at night (Image: Getty Images)

The Mirror reports that sleep experts at Bed Kingdom have recommended snacking on nuts before bed time as they are high in magnesium and zinc, which have been linked to aiding sleep disorders.

"While many people resort to a glass of wine or two to help them drift off in the evening, this can actually be detrimental to the quality of our sleep in the long run," said sleep experts from Bed Kingdom. "There are several much more sensible options that you can add to your diet to help boost your chance of getting some quality Zzz's."

Nuts such as almonds, pistachios, walnuts and cashews can all help to contribute to a better night's sleep. Other foods recommended by the experts include kiwis, cherries, malted milk, and oily fish.

You could also try chamomile tea, magnesium supplements or lavender scents in order to drift off easier at night.

The NHS does not explicitly recommend any particular food as a way of battling insomnia - but does urge sufferers to avoid eating a big meal late at night or exercising close to bed time. You should also aim to go to bed and wake up the same time each day, and make sure your room is dark and quiet.

If you are seriously struggling with insomnia, consider contacting your GP for additional help such as cognitive behavioural therapy or medication.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/popular-healthy-snack-fights-insomnia-32002662

Insomnia: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

From healthcentral.com

Occasional tossing and turning is one thing—but if you’re experiencing regular sleep disruptions at night and trouble functioning during the day, it could be a medical condition

You might toss around the term insomnia after hours of desperately staring at the ceiling but there’s a difference between a single sleepless night and a string of them (or even many months of them!) that typifies this sleep condition.

For sure, whether your restless nights are frequent or few and far between, it feels incredibly stressful when it happens. But there are differences when it comes to the long-term effects on your health. “One night of bad sleep will not destroy your life,” says Seema Khosla, M.D., the medical director of the North Dakota Centre for Sleep in Fargo, ND. But insomnia, she cautions, can have very deleterious effects, causing headaches, mood changes, and even contributing to chronic health issues like diabetes.

About 30% of adults have symptoms of insomnia, per the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, so sleeping is consistently difficult for you, you’re not alone. Here, we asked experts like Dr. Khosla what to know about insomnia, when to talk to a doctor, and how to get the sleep you so desperately need.

What Is Insomnia?

Insomnia is defined as either a short-term (acute) or longer-term (chronic) inability to get consistent sleep. Most adults need seven to nine hours of shuteye daily, though the right number for you can be highly individual. Insomnia is typically considered chronic when it happens at least three nights per week for three months or longer. However, Dr. Khosla notes that it’s worth talking to a doctor if your inability to get good sleep is consistently, negatively impacting your waking life, whether you meet an official definition or not.

Rather than clock-counting at night (which can hurt more than it helps) or relying on your smartwatch to track your sleep, she suggests people focus most of their energy on how they feel during the day. “Sometimes someone will come in who says they feel fine all day, but they’re concerned because their sleep tracker says they're only getting an hour of deep sleep,” she notes. Daytime impacts are the biggest tell-tale sign of an issue. Meanwhile, if you always feel tired and moody, and have a hard time waking up, Dr. Khosla says it’s worth talking to someone, even if your smartwatch says you’re getting a perfect eight hours each night.

Types of Insomnia 

The International Classification of Sleep Disorders, 3rd edition (ICSD-III) now classifies most cases of insomnia into two main categories, per StatPearls:

• Short-term insomnia. Insomnia that lasts under three months (also sometimes called transient or acute insomnia) fall into this category.

• Chronic insomnia. Insomnia that lasts for three nights per week for at least three months is considered chronic.

Doctors used to categorise insomnia by its cause, the National Library of Medicine notes. It was usually divided into two categories:

• Primary insomnia. This type of insomnia is not linked to medications, a health condition, or a specific problem.

• Secondary insomnia. This refers to having trouble sleeping as a secondary issue to another health condition or issue (such as pain, restless leg syndrome, sleep apnoea, asthma, depression, anxiety, arthritis, cancer, or heartburn, a medication, or substance used).

Meanwhile, Dr. Khosla also breaks down chronic insomnia for her patients by how and when it impacts their sleep:

• Sleep-onset insomnia: Trouble with falling asleep.

• Sleep-maintenance insomnia: Problems staying asleep, a.k.a. waking up for long period in the night.

• Mixed insomnia: Having issues with both falling asleep and staying asleep.

It can be hard to define what it means to have “trouble” falling asleep, as the amount of time that constitutes “trouble” can feel arbitrary, says Angela Holliday-Bell, M.D. a board-certified physician and certified sleep specialist in Chicago. But she says a good rule of thumb is that it should take about 10 to 20 minutes to fall asleep. Since you’re likely not aware of exactly how long it took you to drift off, how you feel during your waking hours may be the ultimate judge.

It’s entirely possible to believe you haven’t slept when you actually have. This is known as paradoxical insomnia, which falls under chronic insomnia but usually indicates poor quality sleep rather than wakefulness. People with paradoxical insomnia feel like they’re awake when they’re asleep, so they underestimate how many hours they slept and can feel like they’ve hardly slept despite logging a standard night’s sleep, according to The Sleep Foundation. “Sometimes there is a sensation of I'm awake,” Dr. Khosla explains. “You’ll tell your spouse you got 15 minutes of sleep, but they say you were snoring the second your head hit the pillow. There’s a disconnect between their subjective experience versus the objective experience and a lot of the time, it’s because they’re getting super light sleep, so the brain doesn’t feel like it’s asleep.” This can also be due to sleep apnea, Dr. Khosla cautions, so it’s important to seek help if this happens to you regularly.

                                                               GettyImages/urbazon

Symptoms of Insomnia

Unsurprising to anyone who’s ever slept badly, insomnia can make you feel wretched. Per Mayo Clinic, symptoms include:

• Brain fog

• Fatigue or low energy

• Feeling cranky, depressed or anxious

• Feeling exhausted during the day

• Having a hard time falling asleep (obviously)

• Having a hard time focusing

• Making more mistakes

• Memory problems

• Ongoing worries about sleep

• Waking up during the night

• Waking up too early

As someone who’s experienced insomnia herself, Dr. Holliday-Bell is empathetic toward those who are struggling with it. “Insomnia can include waking up with headaches, experiencing a lack of motivation, falling asleep when you’re not meaning to, feeling the need to nap, and craving multiple cups of coffee,” she adds.

Daytime Effects of Insomnia 

How you sleep (or don’t) at night massively affects how you function during the day, explains Dr. Khosla. Some daytime impacts of insomnia include:

• Decreased functioning or productivity in an academic or work setting

• Difficulty with concentrating, brain fog, or impaired attention or memory

• Impacts on interpersonal or social interactions

• Susceptibility to errors and accidents

Causes of Insomnia 

Getting to the root cause of an ongoing sleep issue can be the first step in scoring a better night’s rest. Researchers have identified the most common triggers.

Genetics

Research has shown that genetics play a major role in ongoing sleeplessness. “If both your parents have [experienced] insomnia, there’s a good chance you’ll have it [at some point],” Dr. Holliday-Bell notes. “Though there’s a higher tendency towards females having it than males.”

However, even if family history makes you prone to insomnia, it often takes a combination of factors—including lifestyle habits—to trigger it. “Things like stress or drinking lots of coffee to stay up and work will throw you over the threshold that's already lower just because of your genetics,” Dr. Holliday-Bell says.

Brain Activity Differences

Research in the last decade out of Johns Hopkins University of Medicine found that differences in brain functioning may also play a role in chronic insomnia. A study in Sleep found that the motor cortex in the brain of those with chronic insomnia tended to be more adaptable to change, while the neurons in that region were more “excitable.” This furthered research that showed that those who have insomnia may be processing information more constantly, which may interfere with sleep. “Insomnia is not a night time disorder. It’s a 24-hour brain condition, like a light switch that is always on,” according to study co-author Rachel E. Salas, M.D.

Medical Conditions

Beyond sleep apnoea, many other medical conditions can interfere with sleep. For example, “chronic pain is so hard because it may cause arousal that keeps waking you up,” Dr. Khosla says. Conditions that can steal your sleep include:

• Acid reflux

• Alzheimer’s

• Asthma

• Cancer

• Diabetes

• GERD

• Overactive thyroid

• Parkinson’s

“Historically, sleep is something that has been relegated to its own little corner in the outpatient world. We haven't fully grasped this idea that sleep trickles into everything,” Dr. Khosla says, adding that trouble with any organ system can have an impact on your sleep.

Medications or Substances

In addition to everyday culprits like alcohol and caffeine, the medications you take can impact your sleep, causing insomnia, Dr. Khosla explains. “If you have COPD or asthma, medications we use to treat those disorders can lead you to stay awake,” she says. “When we use beta blockers for heart failure or atrial fibrillation, those can cause nightmares that impact sleep.” Similarly, antidepressants, some pain, allergy or cold medications, and weight-loss drugs can disrupt sleep, per Mayo Clinic.

Mental Health Conditions

Anxiety and depression can be both symptoms and causes of insomnia. “There’s that ‘chicken vs. the egg’ relationship there,” Dr. Holliday-Bell says, noting that, in some people with both insomnia and anxiety, it can be hard to tell which came first. Similarly, post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders can also impact sleep negatively. About 40% of adults with insomnia also had a diagnosable mental health disorder, most often depression, an article in The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine notes. If you’re struggling with your mental health and it’s impacting your sleep, talk to your doctor.

Life Circumstances and Habits

The circumstances and stressors in your life are going to play a major role in your insomnia Dr. Khosla says. For instance, if you have a super important project coming up at work or school, you might experience short-term insomnia. Likewise, if you have a new baby in the house, or you’ve recently moved, or you’ve changed time zones, these can all lead to sleeplessness, typically short-term.

Meanwhile, your daily habits also have an impact, Dr. Khosla adds. If you’re scrolling on TikTok, basking in blue light before bed, it might negatively impact your sleep. If you’re super inconsistent on what time you hit the hay, you might also have more issues with insomnia.

Risk Factors for Insomnia 

Several risk factors predispose you to chronic insomnia, per The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, including:

• Age (older folks are more prone)

• Gender (cis-women are more likely to have insomnia)

• Having comorbid medical or mental health conditions

Complications of Insomnia 

“The biggest danger of insomnia is an acute complication—say, falling asleep at the wheel,” says Dr. Holliday-Bell. “A lot of traffic accidents are due to drowsy driving or falling asleep while driving. If you operate heavy machinery at work, you're more prone to accidents if you have insomnia.”

But insomnia can also jeopardize your health over the long haul. “Chronic insomnia increases your risk of significant longer-term conditions like cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and diabetes,” Dr. Holliday-Bell adds.

The National Library of Medicine notes that complications of insomnia can include:

• Cardiovascular disease

• Dependence on sleep medications or similar drugs

• Hypertension

• Mood-impacting disorders such as anxiety and depression

• Type 2 diabetes

How Is Insomnia Diagnosed?

Dr. Holliday-Bell notes that no one test that reveals insomnia—it’s a clinical diagnosis made by your doctor. You also might do a sleep study where you’re hooked up to an EEG machine while you stay overnight in a clinic, so doctors can study your patterns and help figure out what’s happening.

Treatment and Prevention of Insomnia 

Some approaches to treating insomnia are more effective long term than others. Let’s look at the most popular options.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Dr. Holliday-Bell says CBT is the “gold standard” for treating insomnia. “It’s a therapeutic process that focuses on the underlying cause of insomnia,” she says. “It’s unpacking and addressing the roots—the maladaptive thoughts surrounding sleep that ultimately lead to sleep anxiety. It addresses the cognitions and then the behaviours that have resulted in insomnia.”

Medications

Supplements like melatonin and magnesium are options but you should always talk to your doctor before trying them and know that results are mixed on many of them. “It’s not uncommon for a doctor to give a prescription for a sleep aid short-term, as someone starts to try behavioral therapy, but it’s with the ultimate goal of weaning off of sleep medications,” Dr. Khosla says.

Habit Changes

Dr. Khosla says changing your habits may help, although even with a change in behaviour, for some people, insomnia persists. For example, getting into bed at the same time each night, eliminating screens an hour (or even two) before bedtime, adjusting your phone settings to eliminate blue light-specific exposure after sunset, nixing your afternoon coffee, or working out in the morning instead of at night can help. You also might try meditating before bed.

Stop Overthinking It

Sleep is having a major moment right now in the wellness tech space. You can buy blue-light shielding glasses. You can track your shuteye with your smart phone or myriad other devices. You can even order an actual bed to tuck your phone into to stop you from the blue light exposure.

Dr. Khosla thinks a lot of modern wellness tools are causing folks to overthink their sleep routines. “With all of these wearables, a lot of people have been a little bit more focused on sleep, which, in some ways, is great—except for when it becomes a problem,” she says. A hyper-focus on sleep, she notes, can ironically stoke the anxiety that keeps people awake.

Outlook

The vast majority of people experience the occasional sleepless night, and as many as one in three adults have varying degrees of insomnia. Given how common it is, perhaps it’s no surprise that there are multiple effective strategies to combat it.

If you get prompt treatment and intervention, especially with shorter-term insomnia, the prognosis is quite good. As Dr. Khosla says, if insomnia is impacting your waking life, it’s worth reaching out and getting help. Feeling tired all day isn’t normal and retreating to bed for a nap isn’t necessary—you have more important things to do, and with the right interventions, you’ll be on your way.

https://www.healthcentral.com/sleep/insomnia

Energy drinks linked to poor sleep quality and insomnia among college students

From medicalxpress.com

Knocking back energy drinks is linked to poor quality sleep and insomnia among college students, finds a large Norwegian study published in the open access journal BMJ Open.

And the higher the frequency of consumption, the fewer hours of nightly shut-eye the students clocked up. But even just the occasional can—1–3 times a month—is linked to a heightened risk of disturbed sleep, the findings indicate.

Energy drinks contain an average caffeine content of 150 mg per litre as well as sugar, vitamins, minerals and amino acids in varying quantities, note the researchers. Marketed as mental and physical pick-me-ups, they are popular with college students and young people in general.

While there is some evidence to suggest that they reduce sleep quality, it's not clear exactly which aspects of sleep might be more or less affected, or whether there are any sex-specific differences in these effects.

To explore these issues further, the researchers drew on 53,266 18- to 35-year-old participants of the Students' Health and Well-being Study (SHOT22 study)—-the most recent wave of a large national survey of college and university students in Norway.

The students were asked how often they consumed energy drinks, with the response options of daily, weekly (once; 2–3 times; 4–6 times), monthly (1–3 times), and seldom/never.

They were also asked detailed questions about their usual sleep patterns: when they went to bed and got up; how long it took them to fall asleep (sleep latency); wakefulness after going to sleep. Sleep efficiency was then calculated from total nightly hours of sleep vs. time spent in bed.

Insomnia was defined as experiencing difficulties falling and staying asleep and waking early on at least three nights of the week, plus daytime sleepiness and tiredness for at least three days of the week, for at least three months.

                                                                                Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The survey responses indicated clear sex differences in patterns of energy drink consumption. For example, women were more likely than men to report never or seldom consuming energy drinks: 50% vs. 40%.

Of those who said they did drink these beverages, 5.5% of women said they drank them 4–6 times a week and just over 3% reported daily consumption. The comparable figures for men were 8% and 5%, respectively.

But there was a clear dose-response association for both sexes between energy drink consumption and fewer hours of sleep. Both men and women who reported daily consumption slept around half an hour less than those reporting only occasional or no consumption. Similar associations were also observed for waking after falling asleep and taking longer to fall asleep.

And increasing consumption was associated with a corresponding increase in both nocturnal wake time and time taken to fall asleep—poorer sleep efficiency.

Insomnia was also more common among both women and men reporting daily consumption than among those reporting occasional or no consumption: 51% vs. 33% (women) and 37% vs. 22 % (men).

Overall, higher energy drink consumption was associated with an increasing risk of sleep problems across all the aspects studied, with the strongest associations for short sleep duration.

Compared with those reporting no or only an occasional energy drink, men who reported daily consumption were more than twice as likely to say they slept fewer than six hours/night, while women were 87% more likely to do so.

But even those reporting having an energy drink just 1–3 times a month were still at heightened risk of sleep problems.

This is an observational study, and as such, no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause. And the researchers acknowledge that reverse causality—whereby energy drink consumption might be a consequence of poor sleep rather than the other way round—might explain the associations found.

There was no information either on the timing of consumption or the exact quantities drunk, and the study relied on self assessment rather than objective measures of consumption and sleep patterns.

Nevertheless, the researchers conclude, "The results from the current study show that there is a robust association between the frequency of [energy drink] consumption and the different sleep parameters.

"Identifying modifiable risk factors for sleep problems among college and university students is vital and our results suggest that the frequency of …consumption could be a possible target for interventions."

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-energy-linked-poor-quality-insomnia.html 

"I’m a sleep doctor — I never make this common morning mistake, here’s why"

From nypost.com

The perfect night's sleep begins the morning before.

No, really, experts say — thanks to the way our biological clocks tick, how we start our waking day can have a significant impact on how it ends.

“The circadian rhythm, your internal biological clock, operates on a roughly 24-hour cycle and dictates when you feel awake or sleepy, largely influenced by light exposure,” Dr. Chester Wu, a double-board certified psychiatrist and sleep medicine specialist, told HuffPost.

“Health behaviours in the morning reinforce a strong circadian rhythm, promoting wakefulness during the day and sleepiness at night,” he said.

And while we all know the rules for winding down at night by now — distancing ourselves from screens, choosing the same bed time every night, getting enough exercise so we’re tired at day’s end, etcetera — what are the morning health behaviours we should be making a habit of?

What you do in the morning has a surprising impact on your next night's sleep, experts say.Hero Images/Hero Images - stock.adobe.com

“I try not to linger in bed because I definitely feel like that causes me to feel more lazy or groggy,” Wu said.

And while putting off the start to your day might feel too luxurious to give up, Wu isn’t the only expert declining to indulge — HuffPost interviewed multiple sleep gurus, who all agreed.

“I never stay in bed and do activities that aren’t related to sleep and intimacy. This means when I wake up, I get out of bed immediately and go somewhere else in my house,” said Chelsie Rohrscheib, a neuroscientist and sleep expert. “This helps to maintain my brain’s association that the bedroom is only a place of rest, which promotes high-quality sleep.”

“I never remain in my dark bedroom,” Dr. Chris Winter, a neurologist and sleep health expert, added. “It is essential to get into the light. Light effectively shuts off your brain’s production of melatonin and lets your body know the day has begun.”

Carleara Weiss, a sleep specialist and research assistant professor at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York makes sure not only to bolt out of bed first thing — but also resists the urge to sleep in, even on her days off.

“The reasoning for that relates to the circadian rhythms,” she explained. “Regular wake-up times help the biological clock regulate physiological functions, not just sleep. Sleeping in on the weekends leads to social jet lag and causes difficulty concentrating, fatigue, irritability, and headaches.”

Regular sleep habits can help combat common problems like insomnia.terovesalainen – stock.adobe.com

Dr. Raj Dasgupta, a quadruple board-certified physician in internal medicine, pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, had a similar warning.

“While occasionally sleeping in is unlikely to have a lasting impact on your overall sleep quality, it may affect your ability to fall asleep later in the evening,” he pointed out.

“Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, where you wake up and go to bed at the same time every day, is really important for ensuring you have a good night of quality sleep,” he said.

Duly noted, no laying about, no sleeping in — what should those looking to up their sleep game be doing in the morning, instead?

“One of the first things I do in the morning, usually within 30 minutes of waking, is exposing myself to natural sunlight by going outside or sitting by a window,” said Rohrscheib. “Light during the day is very important for keeping our circadian rhythm well-regulated. Studies have shown that a lack of sunlight exposure can reduce the quality of your sleep, contribute to insomnia, and negatively impact mood.”

Sun exposure is on Dasgupta’s mind, too.

“Getting sunlight exposure first thing in the morning upon waking up can increase alertness and energy during the day, leading to improved sleep at night,” he said.

And then — no groaning, please — there’s exercise.

“Getting active quickly is a fantastic way to signal to your brain that the day has begun,” Winter said.

“The exercise does not have to be particularly intense. I start my day off by walking my dogs every day or walking with my wife to work,” he revealed.

Also? Make your bed — but not just to be tidy.

“It’s not only symbolically powerful, but it’s also a great deterrent for individuals who might want to slip back into bed during the day and feel the napping might adversely affect their sleep the upcoming night,” Winter said.

https://nypost.com/2024/01/20/lifestyle/sleep-doctors-never-make-this-common-morning-mistake-heres-why/