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The human brain is among the universe’s most intricate entities, with researchers globally dedicating themselves to deciphering the mysteries of our cognition. Initially, ancient philosophers and thinkers posited that the heart was central to controlling the body and spirit. However, it was only after some time that the critical role of the brain was acknowledged, ushering in the age of neuroscience.

Our central nervous system (CNS) is pretty much in charge of everything we do. Whether it is a simple hand movement, perception, and processing of the internal and external stimuli, or more complex thinking and planning, there isn’t a single thing you can do that doesn’t include your CNS. Your brain works all the time, and it is only during sleep when it takes some time to do a little maintenance, but your brain is still very active.

Since scientists have realized the importance of our nervous system, they have been working very hard to gain a little understating of it. The neuroscience has come a long way since its beginning and the first description of neuron in the 19th century, and today we know a lot about how our brain functions, and how it communicates with the rest of the body. However, there are still some mysteries. As it was profoundly put by the English philosopher Emerson Pugh: “If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn’t.” But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. 

Electroencephalography (EEG) was invented in 1924 by Hans Berger, and it represents a technique that measures the activity of the brain. It does so with electrodes that detect electrical impulses, and based on that, neurologists have learned a lot about how our nervous system works.

Brief History of Electroencephalography

The brain exploration using EEG has been going on for almost a century. It is an excellent screening method that is directly linked to neural activity. It is based on the fact that neurons communicate using electrical current, and when many are firing at the same time, electrodes can detect those signals, and we can start to look for the occurring patterns. That is how we detected brain waves, which are described as oscillatory neural impulses.

It all started with the Italian scientists Luigi Galvani in the 18th century. He showed that the electrical impulses could be used to flex a frog’s hindquarters. The current would excite the nerves, which would lead to muscle contraction. That was the turning point in understanding neuroscience, as there is no science class today where they don’t show the experiment with the frog, and how the muscles can contract if the electric current is applied. A German physician and physiologist, Emil du Bois-Raymond expanded the knowledge about electricity and cells as he was the first to describe the fundamentals on which the nerves communicate, known as the action potential. That meant that the cells in our brain and body were not only able to send and receive chemical signals but the electric ones as well. This seems to be a faster way to send information, and neurons work mostly based on that.

All of these discoveries led to the beginning of the brain electrical recordings, similar to today’s EEG. They were done on animals by Richard Catton. He attached electrodes to the brain hemispheres and showed that the electrical impulses changed when the animal behavior was different. Unfortunately, his findings weren’t such a hit, but he did lay stage for what was coming. 

A German psychiatrist Hans Berger is considered a father of the EEG. He performed his first human experiment in 1924, and five years later, he published his findings and presented the technique in a form that is very similar to the way we do it today. By the mid 20th century, the EEG was already used to describe alpha and beta waves, and there were a lot of experiments looking into the effects of different drugs on the brain.

Today, the EEG is cheaper and easier to use than ever, and it is a useful diagnostic tool for many conditions like epilepsy, stroke, brain abnormalities, sleeping disorders, tumors, and more. 

Brain Waves

Different patterns of neural oscillations are called brain waves. They are detected and described by EEG readings and based on the state of mind and activity, there are several different types:

• Beta waves can be detected while we are in the wake and active state. They occur when we are engaged in an activity, but interestingly, also when we observe other people’s actions.
• Alpha waves are characteristics of wake but a deeply relaxed and calm state. People engaging in meditation are often experiencing them.
• Theta waves happen mostly during the light stages of sleep. These transitional stages from wakefulness to deep slumber seem to have many benefits for our brains and bodies. It appears that this period of theta waves is connected to the integration of memory and that people who spend more time in the light stages of sleep have a higher ability to recall information.
• Delta waves are the lowest in frequency, and they are reserved for the deepest, most restorative sleep. It is clear by now that scientists have described sleep architecture based on the different brain waves that occur during the night. Because of that, Stage 3 is also called deep, or delta wave sleep. It is essential for the proper functioning of the body and mind, and during this period our brain does the needed housekeeping, and our muscles are repaired.

Besides these four basic types, there are a few other brain waves described, as well as other neural occurrences. For instance, sleep spindles and K-complexes are both found in the light stages of sleep, and it appears that they play a crucial role in the embedding of new information into our heads.

Other than general activity, EEG can also interpret which areas of the cortex are responsible for processing a different kind of information at any given time. For instance, the occipital region is responsible for visual stimuli, so this area will be active during the screening if you are looking at a picture or flashing light. The parietal cortex is responsible for motor functions and processing information that is essential to us. The temporal region is responsible for speech production and language processing, while the frontal cortex makes up the most significant part, and it is essentially responsible for what keeps us human. It is accountable for our behavior, ability to plan, and it helps us maintain control and analytically think about ourselves and the world around us.

Why Would You Need an EEG?

This method is used to diagnose several brain disorders. For instance, if the epilepsy is present, there are rapid spiking waves during the seizure episodes. It can also be used to locate brain lesions, which can be a result of certain tumors or a stroke. EEG is used to diagnose any other disorders that may affect neural activity and brain waves, such as Alzheimer’s disease and some psychoses.

The EEG can be used to evaluate the brain damage caused by various traumas, drug intoxication, or comatose state. It can also be used to track the blood flow through the head during specific surgical procedures. Since we are mostly interested in the field of sleep, it is important to state that EEG is an essential tool at diagnosing different sleep disorders. That happens during the overnight study in a special facility, but more on that later.

If your medical provider has instructed you to take EEG, don’t worry, as this procedure is harmless and causes no discomfort. It is a non-invasive method, meaning that the electrodes don’t penetrate your skin, but rest on the outside of your head, and there is no risk of getting an electric shock. 

There are certain risks of having a seizure for people who are suffering from epilepsy. Due to the nature of these tests, you may have to breathe deeply and look at the flashing light, which can trigger these events in some people. However, don’t worry, as the technicians are fully trained and should contain the attack immediately. Other risks are mainly connected to the use of certain medications, and that is why you should always discuss that with a medical professional before taking the test. Other factors can interfere with the EEG results, and they include:

• Low blood sugar levels caused by fasting
• Bright or flashing lights
• Drinking caffeine
• Excess eye or body movement during the tests
• Oily hair or the presence of hair products

How to Prepare For The EEG?

Your medical provider will usually talk you through all the preparation you need, but here is a list of things that you may be asked to do before the testing:

• You will be given a consent form you need to sign to confirm that you are giving permission for the procedure. You should read it carefully, and ask questions if something doesn’t seem clear. Your medical provider should be happy to explain any details that might be confusing to you.
• You must wash your hair the night before, or on the day of the procedure. Don’t use conditioner or the other hair products like gels or hairspray, as they can affect the results of the tests.
• Talk to your medical provider about the medications and supplements that you are using. In most cases, they will advise you to continue with it, but in a few rare instances, they might direct you to stop using certain ones.
• Avoid consuming any foods and drinks that contain caffeine for 8 to 12 hours before the procedure. That includes coffee, sodas, teas, and energy drinks.
• Avoid fasting the day before the tests, as low blood sugar levels may influence the results.
• If you are taking EEG as a part of the sleep study, your medical provider will probably tell you that you need to reduce your sleep during the night before the test. You are usually advised not to sleep for longer than 4 to 5 hours during that night. 
• Based on your medical condition, your doctor may request other specific preparations, so be sure to discuss it with them.

What Does an EEG Look Like?

The procedure may vary based on your condition and the practices of your healthcare provider. But it usually looks something like this:

• You will be asked to relax on a reclining chair or a bed, while the sleep technician measures your head and marks the places where he or she will attach the electrodes. They might scrub these spots with a special cream to remove any excess dead cells and improve the readings. 
• After that, they will attach electrodes to your scalp using a special adhesive paste. Sometimes they use elastic caps fitted with electrodes instead. Wires go to the instrument that amplifies your brain waves, and then it’s all recorded on the computer. 
• The test usually takes up to one hour, and during that time, you are supposed to stay motionless, relaxed, and with your eyes closed. The recording might be stopped from time to time, to let you re-adjust the position if you don’t feel comfortable. 
• After the initial readings in your resting position, the sleeping technician may ask you to perform various tasks. They can instruct you to read a paragraph of text, look at a particular image, breathe deeply and rapidly, or look at the bright or flashing light. 

The video is taken during the whole process so that they can compare your movements with the readings to get more accurate results. If you are instructed to get an EEG as a part of your sleep study, it will look a bit different.

Overnight Sleep Studies

To detect any sleep disorders, your medical provider may instruct you to take an overnight sleep study called polysomnography. It is done in a special facility called a sleep clinic, where you will be subjected to a series of tests including the EEG.

Before the screenings, you will be instructed to keep a sleep diary for a week or two. There, you will note your everyday sleeping behaviors like the time you went to bed, the time you woke up, how long it took you to fall asleep, if you had any interruptions during the night, and how rested you felt the following day. All of this is important to the sleep specialists, as they can detect any behavior that can be causing sleep problems, and then adjust the tests accordingly. 

When you enter the sleep clinic, they will first ask you to fill several questionnaires that should include the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. These tests serve to measure the overall sleep quality, and if the final results pass a certain threshold, it indicates a possible presence of a sleep disorder.

Then, it’s the time for actual polysomnography. Sleep technicians will connect you to many devices that will monitor you while you are sleeping. They include EEG that measures your brain wave activity, as well as other machines that track your heart rate, breathing patterns, nocturnal eye and body movement, snoring, and more. The medical professionals will then combine these results with the tests you have taken beforehand to make the right diagnosis and prepare you for the next steps. 

Usually, the polysomnography lasts until the morning when you will be discharged from a sleep clinic until your results are done. In some cases, this overnight study is stopped in the middle of the night as the doctors are already ready to give the diagnosis. That is mostly in the case of sleep apnea, and then for the second part of the night, sleep technicians can hook you up to a positive air pressure machine that is the part of your treatment. This way, you get the diagnosis and the plan of treatment during the same night.

What Happens After The EEG?

After the procedure, doctors trained to analyze EEG will need to take a look at your reading. It usually takes a team of medical professionals to interpret the results and then send the information to the doctor that ordered these tests. Sometimes a neurologist can give you some basic data about your readings on the spot, right after the exam. But you will more often have to wait a few days for a report and detailed results.

A doctor can instruct some additional exams to the EEG, like the MRI head scan. That can give them more details about what is causing your problems if the EEG screenings are not sufficient. 

Based on the results and your medical condition, your healthcare provider will plan the next steps and the treatment plan. You shouldn’t be afraid to ask them anything about your health or treatment. Don’t hesitate to ask them to suggest some credible sources where you can read about the condition that is causing you problems, and learn more about it. Make sure to follow the treatment plan they prescribe you and give them the feedback on how successful it is so that they can adjust it if necessary.

Do you ever notice your mood fluctuating with changes in the weather or as different seasons roll in? Many individuals report feeling gloomy during prolonged periods of unpleasant weather, particularly as fall approaches. Might there be a scientific explanation for this phenomenon? Historically, humans have been attuned to changes in the weather, with the earliest documentation tracing back to ancient Rome. Hippocrates, around 400 BC, was the first to note that various diseases seemed to be linked to shifts in seasons. However, it wasn’t until the late 1990s that the American Psychiatric Association officially recognized this condition. Currently, it’s estimated that this disorder impacts 4% to 6% of the population.

Meteoropathy is also considered a disease, type of weather-related pain, but it refers to a shorter period of time, and isolated pain in particular body parts, on the other side, seasonal affective disorder refers to the condition which lasts much longer, for months even, and it is attached mostly to winter and autumn season. 

If you have been down and grumpy all winter, it could be because of SAD, so stay tuned to find out more about the symptoms and other useful things.

Seasonal Affective Disorder Facts

SAD affects people who do not have any previously diagnosed mental problems, and they feel well during most of the year, but they tend to feel depressed or experience symptoms of depression throughout one particular season, usually winter each year. Although the term “winter blues” is often used when referring to this disorder, SAD is more than that, and it can even occur during the summer months. 

Even though a lot of experts were skeptical, this is now a recognizable and not so rare condition whose official status was changed and redefined from just a mood disorder to a more specific one by adding the “with seasonal pattern” suffix, which defines it more closely. 

Ten million Americans are affected by it, and approximately another 10 to 20 percent of the US population has a milder form of SAD. Interestingly, this is a condition that strikes women four times more often than men. When it comes to age, people who are between 18 and 30 years old are most liable to it. 

Many tend to neglect or not to take these symptoms seriously, but some people experience symptoms so severe that they hinder their daily functioning and lower the quality of their lives, and even 6% of them requires hospitalization. Although people with SAD usually do not have any other health problems, a lot of them has some close relative with a diagnosed psychiatric disorder, in most cases (55%) that is severe depression, but alcohol abuse is also frequent. 

Winter depression or SAD is pretty common among people who live in the Nordic countries, the first records of it go back to the 6th century when a Goth scholar named Jordanes described the people of Scandinavia in his Getica. In the US, the first proposition for an official diagnosis came at the end of the 20th century, when a psychiatrist and scientist Norman Rosenthal moved to New York from sunny South Africa. He first noticed the changes in its mood, and started experimenting with the exposure to artificial light, and noticed the improvement, which made him a pioneer in this field.

Causes

Like with many other disorders, the exact cause remains unknown, despite continuous ongoing research and effort. There are some theories, but they are not wide enough to reach to the root of the problem, but then again, it could be that many different things are capable of triggering this condition. We always expect from medicine and science to give us exact and concrete causes, or answers, but when it comes to conditions such as this one, expecting one precise and unique answer could be illusory.

According to one theory, SAD occurs due to the increased production of melatonin in our body during winter days. Melatonin is a hormone in charge of our sleep-wake cycle, and it is produced in the brain’s pineal gland. As the night falls, the production of melatonin rises, reaching its peak in the middle of the night, while in the morning with the sunrise, its level goes down. Since the dark surroundings can stimulate the production of melatonin and prepare our mind and body for sleep, a lot of scientists noticed the natural connection with shorter and darker days during the winter and blamed them for winter blues and lethargy.

The same thing is with another hormone called serotonin, which is a brain chemical, a sudden drop of it affects our mood significantly; hence, scientists believe that it can be connected to SAD. Less exposure to sunlight can lower the level of serotonin and trigger depression, but it also reduces the production of vitamin D, which also plays a crucial role in the activity of serotonin. In a lot of cases, lack of vitamin D is clinically connected to signs of depression.

Animals who hibernate represent the extreme example of this condition, and their activity is completely diminished during the winter months due to the lack of sunlight, food, and change of surroundings. There are species who do not hibernate, but they go through some changes during the winter in order to survive and accommodate better.

Symptoms

In the vast majority of cases, symptoms will start showing during the late autumn or beginning of the winter, and they will naturally go away with spring. But, although it is much less common, the reverse case is also possible, meaning that some people experience SAD during the summer months. With the wake of spring, their symptoms rise and become more severe during the summer, in the autumn they should be okay again. Regardless if you are a summer or winter type, the symptoms of SAD should appear at the same time each year. 

Some of the most common signs of SAD include:

• Feeling depressed almost all the time, each day
• Low life energy
• Lack of interest in the things you use to enjoy
• Appetite changes
• Issues with establishing a sleep routine
• Struggling to concentrate
• Feeling of hopelessness, worthlessness, guilt, etc.
• Thinking about death and suicide

Since the symptoms of summer and winter SAD are specific and different, we decided to share both lists separately; however, both types can also experience some of the common symptoms of depression, for example, the feeling of guilt, helplessness, loss of interest, etc. From the below-listed symptoms, you will notice that some signs are opposite, and go from one extreme to another, which shows how we all are prone to the things we cannot control, such as seasons.

Winter SAD Symptoms:

• Oversleeping
• Low energy and a constant feeling of tiredness
• Cravings for high-carb food and a gain of weight

Summer SAD Symptoms:

• Problems with falling or staying asleep, in most cases insomnia
• Lack of appetite and loss of weight
• Anxiety or agitation

How to Diagnose SAD?

Due to the high number of similar mental health disorders, sometimes it can be challenging to diagnose SAD because it has a lot of the same symptoms as some other types of depression, but it is also a lot of times misdiagnosed as mononucleosis, hypoglycemia, or hypothyroidism.

The process of setting a diagnose includes several evaluations and tests, and the most common combination of them consists of:

• Physical exam. The very first step in diagnosing SAD is a physical exam, followed by some thorough questions about the patient’s health since in a lot of cases depression is a manifestation of some other, underlying mental health problem.
• Laboratory. All kinds of lab tests come in option, from the initial blood test to the thyroid function one, if the doctor considers that it is necessary. 
• DSM 5. DSM stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, in which the criteria for SAD are descriptive, and in a lot of cases, doctors will reach for this guide in order to be sure they are setting the right diagnosis.
• Psychological questionnaire. To detect any signs of depression doctors will ask a series of questions about your mental health, feelings, thoughts, to try to find any possible symptoms of depression, and even give you to fill a questionnaire, which will help them determine whether or not it is SAD.

Treatment

Treating this disorder is not easy, and there are several ways in which you can alleviate the symptoms, so be prepared that you might not find the solution in your first attempt. If waiting for spring seems too long and unbearable, try considering some of the most recommended treatments, which include vitamin D supplements, light therapy, counseling, and antidepressants. 

Since the decreased exposure to sunlight has been recognized as one of the main factors for SAD, light therapy became pretty popular and used in the purpose of reducing the symptoms of winter depression. The treatment implies regular exposure to artificial light during the morning hours, to mimic the effects of natural, outdoor light. Usually, the person needs to sit in front of a lightbox or to wear a light visor each day from 30 to 60 minutes during the fall and winter season. The exact duration of the therapy varies from one person to another, but if you notice the improvements in terms of energy and other symptoms, you should continue with it until the springtime arrives, and then gradually stop using it, if you stop your therapy too early, the symptoms can return.

Side effects of light therapy are not often discussed since its benefits are much more significant, but we would like to mention some of them here briefly. Patients claimed to have fatigue, headaches, eyestrain, or irritability; hence this form of treatment may not be suitable for patients who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder, or for those who have very sensitive skin and eyes. 

If you do not notice any improvement after a few days of practicing light therapy, then you should try with some medications or CBT behavioral therapy, individual or even in combination with light therapy. People with SAD often experience insomnia and its symptoms so CBT therapy can be pretty useful for them too. The therapist will work with patients in order to help them to be able to recognize some things and patterns which are preventing them from falling asleep so that they can change them and develop more healthier habits which will induce sleep instead of postponing it. 

Besides this, there are some behavioral changes that everyone can do with the power of will, try spending more time outside, walking, jogging, or even exercising which will raise the energy level, and clear up your mind. When indoors, you can also increase the amount of daylight in your home by opening the shades and removing curtains as much as possible, so that your home is bright and sunbathed. One study was researching how the exposure to sunlight effects on sleep of people who work in offices, the results showed that people who were working near the windows had a better sleep due to the higher exposure to daylight.

On the other hand, people who are dealing with summer SAD will probably need to do the reverse thing, buy some blackout curtains and limit their exposure to sunlight. For them, it is highly recommended to wear sunglasses when outside, and to turn off or stop using all electronic gadgets at least one hour before the desired bedtime. 

If you are into traveling, SAD can be the perfect excuse to go on an extended holiday and spend more time in the conditions you prefer, which can be particularly tempting during the cold winter days.

Besides these, it is essential to do some basic self-care precautions measures such as:

• Take notes of your mood and energy level on a daily basis
• Try taking the most of available daily sunlight, and exposing yourself to it
• Make in advance a plan of joyful activities for the upcoming season
• Try approaching the winter season with a positive attitude
• Start practicing some physical activities
• Once you start feeling the symptoms, seek help immediately, do not wait for them to aggravate

SAD and Sleep

SAD can be the cause why some people developed other sleep problems, or why their existing ones became even worse, and since sleep issues are one of the first signs of depression, it is not a surprise that they go along with SAD. 

People dealing with SAD are usually one of the people who divide into two major groups known as night owls and early birds, meaning that they either sleep for more than 9 hours, or less than 6, and none of those options are not considered to be healthy.

Most people with seasonal affective disorder develops hypersomnia or insomnia, but hypersomnia is more dominant as it strikes around 80% of people with this disorder. Another reason why people with SAD are struggling with the amount of sleep they get is that they tend to spend the majority of their time in bed, but they are not sleeping effectively for the most of time. They think that they are getting enough sleep and rest, but that is only an illusion, which later leads to misleading estimations and diagnosis. 

Since Nordic countries are particularly affected by this disorder, one study focused on people in Finland and the sleep problems that were common among people with SAD, in the chart below are their conclusions.

SAD Risk Factors

Interestingly, in a lot of disorders, there is no difference among sexes, and usually, the older we get, the more we are prone to various symptoms and diseases. But, seasonal affective disorder strikes women more often than men, and the younger population is more liable to it than seniors, which is more an exception than a rule. 

Although we do not know what causes it, there are some, generally speaking, common risk factors, which may indicate if a person has predispositions for SAD or not.

• Family medical history. Although it has not been proved that SAD can be transferred genetically, we are familiar with the cases in which a person suffering from SAD has relatives who struggle with other types of depression.
• Distance from the equator. We cannot choose where to be born; hence, people who were “unlucky” enough to be born or to live too north or south from the equator have higher chances for developing SAD. The number of people living remotely from the equator, and dealing with SAD should not be neglected since it shows how geographic location impacts people’s overall health. In such areas, during the summer months, the days are incredibly long, and during the winter the amount of sunlight on a daily level is not enough and can cause health-related problems.
• Already having depression or bipolar disorder. People who are diagnosed with some similar mood disorders can experience an aggravation of their symptoms during the problematic seasons.

Possible Complications

Symptoms of SAD should not be neglected, and even when they go away with the change of seasons, they will come back next year at the same time. Hence, if it is not treated, SAD can progress over time and even trigger some other conditions and problems.

• Problems at work or in school. Moodiness can cause problems if you are out of focus, alert, or you are not interested in participating in your daily obligations at work. Since younger adults are the major risk group, their scores at university could be jeopardized.
• Social withdrawal. People with depression tend to act like introverts; they refuse social contact, and always have an excuse for not showing up. However, social isolation is not the solution, the best is to inform your close people and coworkers about what is going on, and they will show more understanding of your condition.
• Substance abuse. A lot of people try to lift their mood with different substances, which inevitably leads to addiction. The thrill they can provide comes with a time limit, and as soon as it expires, the depression will hit back even harder. That is how many people get addicted to these substances, and start using them even after the season changes.
• Eating disorder or anxiety. Anxiety and depression often go hand in hand, but an eating disorder is not lacking behind a lot. Depressive people often search for comfort in food and overeating, since it is one of the rare things that can provide them comfort and satisfaction. 
• Suicidal behavior and thoughts. Unfortunately, this is also possible, and it happens sometimes. Depression is a dangerous condition, but since the term is so overused these days, we tend to forget how serious its consequences can be.

Frequently, one ailment can lead to another, culminating in a combined effect that plagues us. This is seen in the relationship between diabetes and sleep disturbances. Insufficient sleep may raise the risk of developing diabetes, whereas individuals with diabetes frequently struggle to get adequate sleep.

Diabetes occurs when the body is not able to respond and produce insulin, which leads to a higher level of sugar in the blood and urine. It is estimated that currently, around 30 million Americans have some type of it, which is approximately 28% to 32% of the population, but what is concerning even more is the fact that around 83 million have a prediabetes condition, which if it is not treated correctly can cause Type 2 in the next five years.

Today we will be discussing the relationship between diabetes and different sleep disorders, how can they be treated, how they interfere with one another, and what are the possible treatments.

Types of Diabetes

This title stands for a group of conditions or disorders, which hinders the body’s ability to process glucose, which is blood sugar. This condition requires constant maintenance, control, and careful observation, without it, the sugar will start piling up in the blood, and increasing the risk of various dangerous complications such as heart diseases and stroke.

Some types of this illness can appear in childhood, and they do not depend on the weight or inactive lifestyle, so each case should be treated individually. There are three main types of it, and we will now explain them briefly, but besides them, some more rare types are cystic fibrosis-related and monogenic diabetes.

• Type 1 is also called juvenile and occurs as a consequence when the body stops producing insulin. People who suffer from it depend on insulin, and they need to take its artificial forms daily; otherwise, they would not survive.
• Type 2 is also known as insulin resistance, and it impacts how our body uses insulin. The main difference in comparison to the Type 1 is that in this case, the body is producing insulin, but the body cells are not responding to it in a way they should be, or as they did before. This type is usually connected to obesity, and according to the data provided by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, this is its most common type.
• Gestational diabetes is a specific type which can strike women during their pregnancy when the body is less sensitive to insulin. However, this is not something which will happen to all pregnant women, and it usually goes away after they gave birth.

Prediabetes is a term which many doctors use to define the condition of a person who has borderline diabetes, which is usually when the blood sugar level is between 100 and 125 mg/dl. So the glucose level is not too high, but not low enough to be in the safe zone. Anything between 70 and 99 mg/dl is considered normal, while everything above 126 is considered as diabetes. People who have this borderline diabetes have a higher risk for Type 2, but they will not experience all the symptoms of it. Most common risk-factors for this condition are:

• Obesity 
• HDL cholesterol level below 40 or 50 mg/dL
• History of PCOS or high blood pressure 
• Medical family history 
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Being older than 45

The exact cause of Type 1 is unknown, while for the Type 2 things are much more introduced, so the resistance to insulin occurs as a consequence of some of the following things:

• Due to the genetics or environment, a person cannot produce enough insulin to cover the amount of glucose they intake.
• The pancreas cannot stand the increasing demands, and excess glucose starts circulating through the blood.
• The body is trying to produce more insulin to cover the extra glucose.
• Over time, insulin can become less effective; hence, the level of blood sugar will rise.

Can Lack of Sleep Cause Diabetes?

Researchers were able to find a link between poor sleep and Type 2, several studies have confirmed that not enough sleep, or sleeping less than 5 hours per night, increases the risk of this disease. People who sleep little, usually also have a below average tolerance on glucose even though they were not diagnosed or had any symptoms of illness. 

Some studies found the connection between lack of sleep and insulin resistance, or Type 2. One case study presented at the American Diabetes Society showed that healthy youngsters who sleep less than 6.5 hours regularly have higher chances to become insulin resistant. On the other hand, sleepers who spend at least 7.5 hours snoozing have significantly lower risk to get it. 

The enchanted circle involves diabetes, poor sleep, and obesity. Lack of sleep can cause obesity, which is one of the primary causes of this illness. Missing sleep regularly affects our appetite and glucose level and causes our body to struggle when controlling hunger or having to recognize satiation. Also, sleep-deprived people are usually exhausted at the same time, which hinders their intentions and readiness to exercise and fight with their weight loss. Sleeping more than 7 hours per night is essential for the prevention of obesity and other illnesses, including diabetes. 

Diabetes Sleep Problems

Most of the people with it usually struggle with some other disorders at the same time, and it is confirmed that insomnia runs among them more often since the symptoms of their condition cause them problems with falling asleep quickly and the lack of sleep only aggravates their symptoms.

A higher level of blood sugar during the daytime will hinder the body’s ability to rest at night, and being tired all the time will have a negative impact on the body’s ability to control the glucose level.

Some of the common sleep disorders which diabetic experience are:

• Sleep apnea, a breathing disorder, which results in occasional breathing stops during the sleep, is particularly common among obese diabetics, so it usually goes hand in hand with sleep apnea.
• Restless leg syndrome is also common among diabetics, and it contributes to their poor sleep.
• Insomnia, or difficulty with falling or staying asleep
• A higher level of glucose can lead to many painful and uncomfortable sensations such as tingling or burning in the toes, fingers, feet, and hands.

Restless Leg Syndrome

One of the sleep disorders which is often experienced among diabetics is the RLS if your legs get twitchy during the night, and you feel the urge to move them, most likely it is RLS. The uncontrollable urge to move the legs, and the uncomfortable feeling in them at the same time are the main symptoms of RLS. It usually feels like something is crawling over your leg, or tickling it from inside, and it can be very intense. However, if a pain in your feet wakes you up, it should not be RLS, neuropathy, or nerve damage, which also strikes diabetics and causes them many sleep problems, but the condition can be controlled with prescribed medications.

In the case of RLS, the tingling sensation will disappear when you start moving your legs, but it tends to get back quickly once you stop. The itchy symptoms usually begin around the evening hours and bedtime, and become more present during the night, hindering the patients sleep or preventing him from falling asleep. It has been stated that RLS runs more often among diabetics than among the healthy people, it could be that it is a feature of diabetic neuropathy, but it is also common among the patients with Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis or kidney diseases.

The way in which RLS should be treated depends on how often the symptoms occur, how severe are they, and how much they hinder your sleep. Some patients claim that taking a warm bath, or stretching and doing some light exercises helps with keeping the symptoms under control, but medications or iron supplements should do the work. 

Sleep Apnea

Once the patients get their diabetes diagnosed, the danger of getting some other illnesses or disorders on the way only rises, so diabetics also have a strong predisposition for developing sleep apnea. Having sleep apnea means that you will occasionally stop breathing while you are sleeping and being unaware of it. Although the sleepers with this disorder are having no clue about what is going on with them, these breathing pauses are preventing them from entering into a stage of deep sleep. The good news is that there are successful treatments for sleep apnea, and they include the CPAP machine, weight loss, change of sleep position, or allergy treatment; it depends on the severity of the disorder and other individual properties.

It is very hard for an individual who is single to know if he/she has sleep apnea, but if you are waking up often throughout the night, or you feel tired during the daytime, and most importantly, your bed partner claims that you have been snoring, it is sleep apnea. Also, some of the symptoms are morning headaches and gasping for breath, but not everyone will have the same signs or combination of them. Usually, most people find out that they have a nocturnal sleep problem only when someone else suggests them that they have been snoring, that is when they start researching and usually undertaking sleep studies, which is the only way to be diagnosed with sleep apnea. Sleep studies for sleep apnea can be done in two ways, you can do it in your home, with a device which will record your breathing, and you can do it in a lab in a sleep clinic.

The most effective type of treatment for sleep apnea is the CPAP machine. CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure,  and it is a machine which blows the air through a hose to the mask on the patient’s face. Patients need to wear this mask every time they go to sleep because it will keep their throat opened, and their breathing will be back to normal. This treatment is working, but for some patients, it could be an issue to get used to sleeping with a mask on. Masks come in various types; some go to the nostrils, some will cover only the nose, or the nose and the mouth, etc. There is also another treatment called oral appliance, and this is done by a dentist who needs to take a mold of your teeth, and in its most common type, the dentist would use patients upper teeth as a brace, to pull closer the lower jaw.

A part of therapy for those with mild types of sleep apnea is weight loss and visiting a psychologist. Another option is positional therapy, which means that the patient has to avoid sleeping on the back and find a new preferred position instead. In many cases, patients tie something to their pajamas so that if they accidentally fall asleep on their back or they turn around during the night, this object will make them feel uncomfortable, forcing them to change the position. Some people even used tennis balls and sewed them to their pajamas, and you can try this too, or use something smaller and lighter. Apnea can also be treated surgically.

Sleep apnea should not be neglected. Even though patients are not aware of it most of the time, it affects their daytime, and by treating it they will have more energy, less fatigue, and be able to deal with their illness better. Especially patients coping with Type 2 should treat their sleep apnea, because it will decrease their resistance to insulin, and lower the risk of stroke and heart attacks.

Insomnia

Studies have confirmed the connection between Type 2 diabetes and insomnia, which was not a surprise, and the longer the person has symptoms of insomnia, the higher the risk of diabetes. The population of younger people with insomnia is particularly liable to developing some type of this illness; everyone who has less than 40 years, and has insomnia should consider changing their lifestyle.

A large study gathered the data from 28,000 people of both sexes, who were diagnosed with insomnia from the beginning of 2001 till the end of 2004, and none of them had diabetes when they were diagnosed with insomnia. Researchers were following their data and sleep disorder progress for six years on average, or until they were diagnosed with the illness. In the end, they concluded that the risk of getting diabetes is 16% higher in people who were diagnosed with insomnia since the data of participants were compared to the data of millions of healthy people from the National Health Insurance base. 

When it comes to age, among insomniacs, people younger than 40 had a higher risk of getting Type 2, than those who were older, regardless of their sex. The younger group had a 31% higher chances of Type 2, than the people of their age who were free of insomnia. Diagnosed insomniacs between 41 and 65 years old have 26% more chances for diabetes than healthy people of the same age, and those older than 66 are only 6% more likely to get another diagnose. 

The duration of insomnia played a key role according to the researchers; patients who were living with it for eight years had a 50% higher risk of diabetes. The risk was around 14% higher at those who had insomnia for less than four years.

The clear answer to the question of how insomnia increases the risk of diabetes does not exist, but scientists have a few ideas. Since lack of sleep is connected to glucose metabolism, and balance of hormones ghrelin and leptin, that can affect appetite and take over control of it, and lead to overeating. 

Irregular sleep pattern also triggers unhealthy eating habits, such as the intake of too many calories and fats, but sleep deprivation also decreases our sensitivity to insulin, affecting the way our body uses insulin in the reduction of glucose level.

In diabetics with insomnia, insomnia is treated as a primary cause, and many scientists believe that most of its symptoms come from bad habits, unhealthy lifestyle, etc. That is why they all first start recommending a change in lifestyle and sleep hygiene. Make sure that a night of good sleep becomes your priority, and that you have comfort, darkness, optimal temperature, quiet surroundings, etc. 

Keeping Diabetes and Sleep Disorders Under Control

Since these conditions cannot be cured with a single treatment or medication, they require maintenance and proper care, to prevent their aggravation. 

One of the essential things that anyone can do is pretty simple, and it is based on healthy and regular meals. Eating healthy food and maintaining the glucose level during the day will ease the body’s duty to keep them under control during the night and provide better sleep quality. Keeping the sugar level under control will reduce the intensity of RLS symptoms and neuropathy. A night of quality sleep will, in return, lower the blood sugar level and ease diabetes symptoms.

As we get older, we become more susceptible to various diseases and conditions that are commonly associated with later stages in life. Among these is dementia, which serves as an umbrella term for several specific types of this condition. While dementia may be seen as a natural aspect of aging, it doesn’t affect everyone equally or manifest with the same symptoms. In fact, there are individuals in their 80s or 90s who show no symptoms whatsoever. The reasons why dementia affects some and spares others remain puzzling. Symptoms such as loss of memory, impaired thinking, and diminished mental abilities are among the primary signs of this disorder or condition, which frequently occurs alongside other illnesses.

Since we were born, sleeping was a substantial part of our lives, and it is still essential even for seniors, but the problem is when some other condition disrupts our sleep, and by doing that it also tackles our health and everyday functioning. Sleep disorders have become our reality, and the more they interfere with other conditions, the harder it is to find the real cause and treat things separately.

So we are going to start from the primary cause, which in this case is dementia. We mentioned that there are a few types of it, but they all represent a pathophysiological condition. The most common type of it, and the one about everyone has at least heard of, is Alzheimer’s disease, some other not so common examples include Lewy body dementia; Parkinson’s disease, vascular dementia, Huntington’s disease, Shy-Drager syndrome, alcohol-related dementia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and AIDS-related dementia. 

In today’s post, apart from the usual, we will also go through some of the most common questions people have on this topic, hoping this will help you understand this complicated condition a bit better.

What Is Dementia?

We know that it runs among the elderly population, and some of the latest data provided by the Institute for Dementia Research and Prevention show that every sixth woman, and every tenth man older than 55 years, will have some of the symptoms which are related to this mental illness. Although it covers a lot of different diagnoses, in its core, it represents the loss of cognitive functions such as remembering, thinking, reasoning, talking, and also some behavioral features which can aggravate the normal daily functioning. There are a lot of stages of this disease, but while in some more mild phases the patient can keep up with regular operations, in the more severe cases, patients have to depend on someone else, even for the most basic daily things because they are no longer capable of taking care of themselves.

So how this happens? Once our brain nerve cells stop working, they lose the connection with other brain cells, and eventually they die, we all lose some number of brain cells as we get older, but people with this illness lose a significantly higher number of these cells; hence, they develop these symptoms. 

We mentioned that dementia is used as a term which covers several diseases; they differ by their cause or the type of brain change. The most known and common type of it, the Alzheimer, effects from 60% to 70% of all patients who suffer from it, and it is connected to the loss of cognitive functions. To get the idea how widespread Alzheimer’s disease is in the US, we would like to share the data that currently around 5.5 millions of Americans are living with it, and experts predict that by 2020. that number will increase up to 14 million. Vascular dementia is also a common type of it, and it affects the blood flow going to the brain, and in the worst case scenario, it causes a stroke. Lewy body dementia is also quite often, around 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed with it, but because of the high resemblance with Alzheimer and Parkinson’s disease, many patients are often misdiagnosed, so it is estimated that the number of people is even higher.

When it comes to predispositions, age is the primary factor, and the senior population is the category of people who are mostly suffering from this disease. Besides age, people who have cognitive impairment or neurodegenerative diseases are also at a higher risk of this disease.

About Dementia and Sleep Disorders

These two have a very complicated relationship, in most cases, they go together, and often cause each other’s symptom, which means that patients who suffer from one of these two have a higher chance for developing the other one.

Patients suffering from this disease usually have a poor sleep, and those who are already diagnosed with some sleep disorder will likely get some symptoms of dementia. Researchers are generally struggling to give the right answer because they also are not sure how it works, so the situation between these two reminds a little bit on the tale as old as time, what is older, the chicken or the egg?

Seniors usually have a poor sleep, and they tend to sleep less, wake up often, or go to sleep with a lot of worries on their mind, even 40% of them have some sleep-related problems. Insomnia is, of course, the predominant disorder among seniors, followed by sleep apnea, RLS, RBD, PLM, etc. which all start to develop as we age. For people who have a mental illness, two sleep disorders are symptomatic. 

For example, RBD denotes Lewy body syndrome, but it can also be observed as an early indicator of Parkinson’s disease. It is the same with Alzheimer and obstructive sleep apnea because OSA can contribute to Alzheimer’s pathopsychology. 

Patients with this illness who have done the polysomnogram tests have increased sleep fragmentation, longer sleep latency, decrease in sleep time, and sleep efficiency. Their main symptoms are excessive daytime sleepiness, confusion, nighttime wanderings, and sundowning, for which the causes are still unknown. They progressively have an increased time of nighttime awakenings, and less and less REM sleep during the night. People living with Alzheimer’s have the neuronal degeneration which damages the forebrain and reticular region of the brain system, which are the two areas in charge of regulating sleep, that is why their sleep patterns go through substantial changes.

Excessive daytime sleepiness hits from 30% to 50% of all Alzheimer patients, and as the disease progresses, this symptom becomes more prominent and aggravates, the same is with Parkinson’s patients and insomnia, for example, in one of the studies which focus on the relationship between Alzheimer and sleep, the connection between elderly population and insomniacs has been found in a higher rate of beta-amyloid plaques in their brains, in comparison to those of healthy people.

Sleep Apnea and Dementia

Snoring as the typical sign of sleep apnea can also be something that patients with mental illness will experience. Sleep apnea cannot be the direct cause of it, although many claim that it can. A study which caused many controversies states that sleep apnea drains the oxygen away from the brain during the night. This study included 83 participants who all had problems with memory or the first potential sign of Alzheimer’s. Since this was a small study, with a lot of limitations, it is hard to take their conclusions for granted, for example, although all participants reported having issues with their memory, their memory and sleep were measured only one time, and the most important thing is that no one of them was officially diagnosed with sleep apnea. This study was performed in Australia, and publishing of its results lead to many premature conclusions and misunderstandings because when we consider all the information, we cannot rely on those results. The results were accurate, but they failed to prove that sleep apnea caused patients symptoms.

Insomnia and Dementia

The idea that people who have insomnia have a higher risk of dementia has been a subject of many studies, a more recent one, suggests that that connection could be possible. The link lies in the number of amyloid-beta proteins, which rises when we are awake, and goes down during sleep. This protein also creates some of the brain plaques, which were found in patients with Alzheimer’s.  

Irregular sleep can be one of the early signs of this disorder; patients who noticed changes in their sleep reported having restless nights, excessive daytime sleepiness, and extended naps. Healthy people take daytime naps that last around 20 minutes, but people with Alzheimer’s can have naps, which can last even 3 hours, and that is the main predictor of this disease.

A team of Canadian researchers was trying to determine when and how early will the symptoms of Alzheimer’s start showing off. Their study processed data from more than 14,000 healthy people who were included in the extensive international health survey in which people older than 50 years old from 12 countries were included. They concluded that the participants who have had restless nights, tiredness during the day and the need to use sleep pills, are more liable to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at some point in the next two years.

A neurologist from Missouri, dr Holtzman agrees that sleep disturbances are the first sign of the brain changes which cause the disease. Together with colleagues researchers, Holtzman performed a study on mice, the mouse with Alzheimer had an irregular sleep-wake cycle and increased number of amyloid-beta plaques, when the plaques were eliminated, the course went back to normal, which leads to the conclusion that plaques cause sleep irregularities. However, to prove if this is the case with humans as well, would require plenty of long-term studies.

How to Diagnose a Sleep Disorder in Patients With Dementia

It is never an easy task to set a diagnosis of some sleep disorder, a lot of them have similar features, but they can also be easily confused with other conditions. But, with patients who suffer from mental illnesses, the situation is even more tricky since there are a lot of underlying causes, too common symptoms and mitigating factors. When we speak about patients with this disease, sleep regulations splits into four categories:

• Excessive daytime sleepiness, also known as hypersomnia
• Issues with falling and staying asleep
• Unusual behavior and nocturnal hallucinations
• Troubles with breathing during sleep, such as sleep apnea, and restless leg syndrome

Of course, patients can have one, or more of these symptoms combined, to be diagnosed with this mental illness. A complex of different symptoms complicates the road to diagnosis.

Next, we will like to present the diagnostic criteria which are used to evaluate sleep disorders among seniors and patients who have been diagnosed with dementia.

Insomnia

The intensity and symptoms of insomnia tend to vary from one person to another, but this disorder can usually split into two groups, one is called sleep onset insomnia, and it refers to people who have problems with falling asleep, while the other one is sleep maintenance insomnia, and it stands for inability to stay asleep during the night. Insomnia is usually considered for an initial condition, since it develops independently, as an initial condition, but it can also coexist with many other disorders.

Many people are struggling with their sleep, but to be diagnosed with insomnia, a patient must be experiencing insomnia symptoms or problems with staying and falling asleep for at least a month. There is also an option to be diagnosed with chronic insomnia, which happens rarely, and usually among older adults. Since many of seniors use a lot of different medications, that has to be taken into consideration as well, so the diagnosis requires a detailed inspection of the patient’s medical history with all of its prescriptions and previous conditions.

Hypersomnia

Hypersomnia is another broad term which can cover a lot of different conditions which cause excessive daytime sleepiness but are not connected with sleep deprivation and insomnia. Some of them are idiopathic hypersomnia and narcolepsy, which can show off on their own, but they can also be triggered by some other substances or medications with side effects. People who suffer from hypersomnia cannot stay awake and alert during the usual morning waking hours. There is not a lot of studies of hypersomnia among seniors, and the doctors have to use the same diagnostic criteria which they use for the younger population, they usually inspect the patient’s medical history and some of the symptoms which often follow narcolepsy. Some of them are cataplexy and weak muscles, but mostly the patients will be asked to create a sleep journal in which they will note all of their sleepy episodes during the day, and the amount of sleep they get during the night.

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is one of the more severe types of sleep disorders cause it involves occasional breathing stops during sleep, and we differ two main types of it. Obstructive sleep apnea, which refers to the obstruction of the upper airway, and the central sleep apnea, which occurs because of some cardiovascular problems or due to the issues in the central nervous system.

Common signs and symptoms of sleep apnea include severe snoring, choking, and nocturia, and they are pretty often among the elderly and obese population.

Restless Leg Syndrome

RLS is a sleep disruptive disorder; people who suffer from it experience painful and tickling sensations in their legs, and those sensations are so intense and persistent that they can wake up the sleeper. RLS can be developed independently from other conditions, but in the vast majority of cases, it is a secondary condition which most likely occurs due to the iron deficiency. 

Diagnosing RLS can be challenging since there are no proven lab tests which can diagnose it; instead, the doctors have to rely on patients reports and based on that to determine whether or not is RLS a proper diagnosis for them. RLS patients feel very intense pain during the night, and an urge to move their legs while their body is resting, so physicians focus on those symptoms when trying to identify and seclude RLS from other similar disorders that cause leg pain.

Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders

This group of disorders manifests in regular sleep patterns which happen at unusual times, mostly because the patient’s internal circadian clock is in disbalance. Some of the common types of CRSD are irregular sleep-wake disorder and advanced sleep phase disorder. ASPD patients are mostly known as early birds since they tend to go to sleep earlier and wake up before others. ISWD patients have fragmented sleep because they can hardly pull off full 7 or 8 hours of sleep at night, and their rest is split into several portions during the 24-hours. 

CRSD especially hit the senior population, because of the natural aging changes which occur in their circadian rhythm, lower level of physical activity, and also less exposure to sunlight. Researchers rely on body temperature and the level of melatonin to determine if the patients have a disorder of their circadian clock. Since a lot of sleep disorders share similar symptoms, and these symptoms can sometimes be misleading, doctors have to do a full screening to exclude the possibility of other sleep disorders, and some psychological ones such as anxiety, depression, etc.

Parasomnia

Parasomnia is a category of sleep disorders or a parachute-term which covers disorders with abnormal behavior, movements, emotional or physical reactions, and perceptions which can occur during sleep. The most common type of it which strikes seniors and patients who have a mental illness is a REM sleep disorder or REM behavior disorder. RBD is characterized by physical movements which are usually violent and can harm the sleeper or its partner. Other types of parasomnias are sleepwalking, night terrors, and enuresis, but these disorders typically strike children and teens, and they are rare among adults.

RBD is diagnosed after a detailed inspection of patients medical history, tests which show the level of muscle activity during sleep, but it often goes hand in hand with dementia, Shy-Drager syndrome and Parkinson’s disease. 

Essential Questions

Due to the vast number of similar conditions, symptoms, diagnosis, and also the complicated relationship between a lot of these disorders, most of the doctors agree that the patient’s answers and experience are crucial for setting a proper diagnosis. A specific study even published a list of questions that can be of vital help to the doctors to determine a sleep disorder and eliminate other similar ones. Here we share the list of notes and questions, so you can think about them, prepare the answers, and have enough time to remember all the details.

• At what time do you usually go to bed at night and when do you wake up in the morning?
• Estimate, how many times do you wake up during the night?
• Have you ever had some struggles with falling asleep at night?  
• When you wake up at night, how long does it take before you fall asleep again?
• Does your partner claim that you are moving or kicking in your sleep?
• Does your partner claim that you have issues with snoring, breathing stops, or gasping for air? 
• Are you aware that you tend to move, walk, talk, kick, or punch while you are sleeping?
• Do you feel tired or sleepy most of the time?
• Do you ever involuntarily doze-off during the daytime?
• How many naps do you usually have during the daytime?
• How much sleep do you need to feel functional and alert during the day?
• Are you taking any medication or other things that are helping you with your sleep at the moment?

How to Treat Sleep Disorders in Patients With Dementia

Even though modern medicine is very advanced, and researchers are working hard on discoveries each day, there are still no effective cures for both, only the treatments that can alleviate these conditions to some point. Some medications are capable of improving cognitive abilities of patients with this condition, but the remedies for reducing symptoms of sleep disorders in people with mental illness are still not pinpointed.

Many effective treatments for sleep disorders include significant lifestyle changes; however, it has not been researched how that works on people who also have a mental illness, and if it would mild their other symptoms. 

Sleep-disordered breathing or sleep apnea is pretty often among patients, but it can be treated with CPAP machines, which patients with dementia can only stand for around five hours each night. The CPAP treatment has proven to be useful since it lowers the number of SDB episodes from 24 to 10 during each hour of sleep. Other benefits of this therapy are less snoring, better mood, and improved quality of life, but there are also some indications that it can slow down the process of cognitive impairment. 

Bright light therapy is getting more and more popular, and it is being used for various reasons. A study gathered 8 patients with Alzheimer’s, 4 with vascular dementia, and 5 with LBD, to explore how light therapy can improve their sleep patterns. The participants had only one task, to sit in front of a light box for one hour, every morning for two weeks. A slight improvement was noticed in 4 participants with a more mild type of Alzheimer who were diagnosed in the near past. In conclusion, further and larger studies will be needed, to determine in which stages of illness light therapy can be beneficial. Melatonin and melatonin supplements are also effective for improving the symptoms of sleep disorders, especially insomnia, but also for some signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

Today the precaution measures have become essential, especially for patients with RBD, because the risk of injuries during the night is always present. It is necessary to create a safe sleep environment, to remove any dangerous objects, weapons, lock the doors and windows, and visit a doctor for regular check-ups so that the progress of brain diseases can be monitored and recorded. Sedatives are widely used in many nursing homes because they can ensure the night of full sleep, but they should not become a habit because they can further damage the cognitive functions.

Tips For Relieving Symptoms of Dementia

Besides already mentioned treatments and medications, there are some beneficial things that every patient can do to mitigate the symptoms of sleep disorders.

• Create a sleep schedule. For regular circadian patterns, the most important thing is to maintain a healthy sleep routine. Patients should try to go to bed and wake up at the same time. It will be difficult in the beginning, but soon they will get used to it, and start noticing the benefits. 
• Natural light therapy. We mentioned indoor light therapy, but the outdoor therapy with natural light is just as efficient. Studies have shown that exposure to sunlight is highly beneficial for older people with Alzheimer and their sleep.
• Physical activity. Even though seniors are not able to be active as when they were younger, they can still do some lighter exercises, or walk, because that could exhaust them and make them sleepy.
• Personalized diet. Eating balanced and healthy meals is always a good thing, but there are some diets composed of sleep inducing foods. Calcium-rich products such as milk, cheese, and other dairy products can induce sleepiness, and oatmeal raises the blood sugar level, which causes drowsiness. 

It’s 5 PM. You have just returned home from work. After taking a shower and eating a healthy meal, you decide it’s the perfect time to do some reading. An hour later, there’s a knock at the door. As you get up to answer it, something unusual happens. You’re taken by surprise as the room starts to spin. Your balance is completely thrown off. While placing your hand on your head to try and understand what’s happening, you suddenly feel nauseous. Staggering toward the bathroom, you call out, “I’ll be right there!” to your friend waiting outside.

If this scenario means something to you, you’ve probably had a close encounter with none other than Count Vertigo himself. Yeah, DC Comics found inspiration for a character in this vestibular disorder.  

Apparently, 40% of the population in their mid-life age will have an encounter with vertigo at least once in their lifetime. Experiencing vertigo even for a minute is a panic-inducing sensation that will feel surreal, almost uncanny. 

Furthermore, if vertigo happens to creep in on you during the night, you’ll probably have a harder time sleeping. As concerned about your sleep as we are, we’ve wanted to give you insight into what vertigo is, what causes it, and what you can do to keep it from inducing sleep deprivation. 

Vertigo 101

When vertigo gets a hold on you, you will feel a sudden dizziness that can last minutes or days. That’s an understatement. You will feel more than dizzy. You will feel off-balance, and you won’t be able to regain it. It either feels like you’re spinning or the world around you is spinning. If that isn’t enough, the usual vertigo symptoms include vomiting, nausea, irregular eye movements, headaches, sweating and tinnitus. 

DC Comics aren’t the only ones who introduced the idea of vertigo to pop culture. Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary movie that’s symbolically named Vertigo is a true cinematographic masterpiece; however, it puts the wrong idea about vertigo in people’s heads. The movie describes vertigo as a fear of heights, which can’t be farther from the truth. To put a stop to misconceptions, we’re here to tell you that vertigo is a vestibular condition caused by “malfunction” in your inner ear. Since the inner ear’s primary function is to maintain balance, anything that messes up its functioning will leave you with vertigo as a result. 

Anything that can be described as an inner ear issue is better known as a vestibular disorder. When it comes to vestibular disorders that have vertigo as a symptom, we’ll be discussing  Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, Meniere’s disease, Labyrinthitis, and vestibular neuritis.

Affecting 2% of people, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is a disorder associated with small calcium deposits developing in the inner ear canals. 80% of all vertigo cases fall under BPPV’s jurisdiction. 

If your doctor tells you that you’ve got fluids building up in your inner ear, the diagnosis will turn out to be Meniere’s disease. The pressure from the fluid build up is what’s inducing vertigo and might even trigger hearing loss and tinnitus. 

Finally, if there’s any inner ear inflammation as a result of a viral infection, you’ll be diagnosed with labyrinthitis or vestibular neuritis. What the inflammation basically does is interfere with the vestibular system’s proper communication with your brain. 

Understanding Vertigo’s Effect on Sleep 

Your head is going to change positions in the process of falling asleep and waking up. Such a change in position can very well be what gets vertigo all riled up, especially in cases of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. 

All of this is not good news when it comes to sleep. Trying to get shut-eye while experiencing vertigo is virtually impossible. The next thing you know, you are looking in the mirror with the dark circles around your eyes the next morning, witnessing first-hand what just a little bit of sleep deprivation does to your day. 

As we’ve discussed million times earlier, a sleepless night is so much more than being sluggish and groggy the following day. Being affected by sleep deprivation, even for one night will shut down your zap your mood, and make even the easiest of tasks prone to errors. Sleep deprivation can amplify the hold vertigo has on you. Just imagine what would happen if your case of sleep deprivation and vertigo lasted for days. 

Abruptly waking up from sleep is also a catalyst for vertigo onset in both benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and Meniere’s disease. The sudden change in position of your head when you jump out of bed can potentially trigger BPPV. The change in position can also trigger a fluid build up in your inner ear and potentially trigger Meniere’s disease. 

Prevent Vertigo During Sleep 

Don’t worry. We didn’t get you all concerned just to leave you hanging. What would a good article be without good advice and sleep tips that can, in this case, help you reduce the chances you ever encounter vertigo. The following list will all go a long way in vertigo prevention and avoiding vertigo-induced sleep deprivation. Let’s begin. 

1. Get to rehab  

Constituted as a form of physical therapy, Vestibular rehabilitation focuses on regaining your balance and equilibrium, thus obtaining optimal functioning of your vestibular system. You see, the vestibular system is a network of all these sensory organs, and while they all have separate roles, when connected, they turn into a network that establishes a communication funnel between your brain and said sensory organs. When you go to vestibular rehab, your therapist will work with you towards regaining your balance through exercises that promote hand-eye coordination, stronger muscles and joints, and overall improved fitness. Repeat these exercises enough, the communication funnel will strengthen, which results in a healthier vestibular system. 

2. Give canalith repositioning maneuvers a go  

If canalith repositioning maneuvers sounds too complicated for you to comprehend what the term means, you’ll crack a smile when we tell you they’re just head exercises. Also known as the Epley maneuvers, these exercises are specifically constructed to break up the calcium deposits that are typical to benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. 

Caution: The exercises should be performed under the supervision of trained professionals. The pun aside, the American Academy of Neurology does recommend that you first pay a visit to a professional before attempting to do these exercises on your own. You first have to learn to do CRP correctly before you can continue practicing them in your home. 

The results of CRP are considered miraculous. The exercises will devoid you of vertigo symptoms so quickly you won’t have time to snap your fingers. In fact, the percentage of people who get cured by CRP is incredibly high – 80%. In cases where Epley maneuvers fail to cure BPPV, the exercises significantly reduce the recurrence rate.  

Following the completion of CRP, the American Hearing Research Foundation clearly states that you should sleep in a semi-recumbent position for the next two nights. Using an adjustable bed to tilt yourself about 45 degrees will do just fine in doing your best to follow the doctor’s orders. 

3. Select the right sleeping position 

Since sleeping on your side can trigger BPPV and exacerbate its symptoms, it’s a position you should certainly avoid. Even tilting your head to the side or rolling in your bed is a big no-no. Unfortunately, research shows that a lot of people suffering from vertigo somehow gravitate towards this sleeping position. 

On your back. You should sleep on your back if vertigo is making your head spin. This sleeping position doesn’t allow the calcium deposits shifting when it comes to BPPV, or the fluid deposits building up when we’re speaking of Meniere’s disease. 

There’s no denying it – we’re creatures of habit. As such creatures, getting used to one sleeping position when we’re already used to another is an incredibly annoying process. To help you out with the shift, try using body pillows to prevent you from rolling, while your brain picks up the new habit. 

4. Elevate your head 

If you are set out to keep vertigo from messing with your head, keep your head on a higher level. It will keep your inner ear in place when getting in and out of bed. 

There’s plenty of pillows to choose from to help keep your head elevated. While wedge pillows are specifically designed to keep your head on a higher level, travel pillows will also help all of you suffering from vertigo because of their ability to get you into a habit of sleeping on your back. 

Last but not least, consider buying an adjustable bed. Yeah, just like the ones they have in hospitals. And yeah, unlike in the hospital, you’re allowed to play with your adjustable bed and button mash your way up and down all you want. 

5. Slowly, get out of bed slowly

How you get out of bed is essential to vertigo prevention. While jumping out of bed might be a great way to kickstart your day, slowly doing it will allow your inner ear to adjust to all that moving properly.  Gradually getting up, then sitting for a minute or two before walking is the best recipe to reduce the risk of vertigo. 

6. It all starts with the stomach 

The food you put in your stomach directly impacts the quality of your sleep. A healthier and balanced diet will affect your sleep, your overall health, but anti-inflammatory foods can be exactly what you’ve been looking for to stop vertigo from making your all nauseous. So, if vertigo ever occurs, include leafy greens, bananas, avocados, and foods rich in omega-3 fatty acid. 

Since drinking plenty of water and limiting your caffeine and liquor intake is also crucial for vertigo prevention, it also promotes better sleep. 

7. Make good sleep hygiene a priority 

We’ve been over this one many times. Good sleeping hygiene has all sorts of benefits on your overall health, and it’s no different with preventing vertigo too. Since sleep deprivation amplifies vertigo symptoms, be proactive about behaviors that promote quality sleep. Have at least 7 hours of sleep each night and ensure you sleep in a cool, dark, and quiet bedroom. Follow a bedtime routine that will calm you down and avoid intense exercises or heavy meals late at night. Shut down all your electronic devices at least half an hour before you go to bed, and keep them away from the bedroom. Finally, reserve your bedroom for sleep and sleep only. 

Conclusion

There you have it, ladies and gents. We hope we covered everything we promised in the introductory paragraph, so we’ll leave you with this – if you’ve ever experienced vertigo, you are aware that it not only interferes with your day-to-day life but significantly impacts the quality of days in question. That’s why it’s imperative to visit your doctor, even on the slightest hint of vestibular disorders. Seriously, we can’t stress this enough. There are cases where vertigo was just a stepping stone for other, much more severe health issues, such as low blood pressure or even a brain tumor. 

Numerous neurological disorders are linked to sleep, and in this discussion, we’ll focus on one specific condition known as RMD. RMD, or Rhythmic Movement Disorder, is a neurological issue where individuals tend to rock or move their bodies while asleep or on the verge of falling asleep. These movements are repetitive and often accompanied by sounds like humming. While more commonly found in children under the age of 5, adults can be affected too. The disorder was first documented and described by Zappert in 1905. Despite over a century having passed since its first documentation, the cure and exact causes of RMD remain elusive, attributed to a variety of potential factors. In 1990, the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD) officially recognized it as the rhythmic movement disorder. Most instances of RMD occur during the NREM sleep phase, although there have been occurrences during REM sleep as well.

A Brief History of RMD

When Zapper described these repetitive motions in 1905, he conceived the term jactatio capitis nocturna, and around the same time, Cruchet of France called it rhythmie du sommeil. The usual symptoms such as head rolling, or headbanging were also used to determine this condition until it got its official name in 1990. It was first categorized as a parasomnia, in the subcategory of sleep-wake transition disorders, because these motions usually occurred in the phase of switching between wake and sleep.

In 2005 the disorder was renamed by ICSD to avoid common confusions with stereotypic rhythmic movement which occurs during the daytime. These motions include shaking, head banging, body rocking, self-biting, and they are all repetitive, purposeless actions, which can be potentially dangerous. In the same year, RMD was reclassified under a new nosological category dedicated to sleep-related movement disorders which also includes disorders, such as periodic limb movement, restless leg syndrome, sleep bruxism, leg cramps, etc. 

One unusual thing about RMD is that around 60 years before Zappart first described this condition; it was depicted in Walt Disney’s greatest cartoon hits, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This theory was published in 2007 and claims that one of the dwarfs called Dopey was performing these repetitive motions back and forth with his head and producing sounds when he was laying down in its bed. Once someone touched him, he opened his eyes, and the motions stopped, later he happily sighs while falling back to sleep. It is an interesting observation, and although we can only guess what was on Walt Disney’s mind, this theory seems to fit well to what we today identify and diagnose as RMD.

What Causes Rhythmic Movement Disorder?

The exact cause or pathophysiological basis of this disorder is unfortunately still unknown. This condition can strike children and adults, whether they are healthy or not. In some rare cases among the adults, the RMD can be triggered due to stress, head traumas, or herpes encephalitis. There is no proof that this disorder can be related to genetics, although we are aware of few cases in which RMD runs in families, that theory was never researched well enough, and those cases are usually considered for an exception rather than a rule. The vast majority of patients does not have this disorder in their medical family history.

There is a theory that RMD is a form of learned self-defense mechanism to reduce tension, stress, and induce relaxation, something very similar to tic movements.

Since the majority of patients are children, another theory suggests that these repetitive movements are helping the children’s vestibular system to develop, which can be a reasonable explanation because many children whose vestibular system was underdeveloped, benefited from these repetitive movements which are in charge to stimulate the vestibular system. 

There is no difference in sex because this disorder strikes boys and girls equally. Body rocking usually starts when infants are only six months old, head banging can be noticed around nine months, and at that age 59% of infants perform either body rocking, head rolling or head banging. But most of these movements go away naturally by the third year of the child’s life.

Although RMD is rare among teens and adults, it can appear if some injury of the central nervous system occurs. In adults and older children, RMD can be connected to mental retardation and autism.

Symptoms of Rhythmic Movement Disorder

People who have RMD experience repetitive movements which are mainly related to the motions of their upper torso. These uncontrolled movements can occur just before falling asleep, or while the sleeper is in the first stage of NREM sleep. These moves may continue into the REM stage, but in those situations, they could be considered as symptoms of REM behavior disorder. Most patients have symptoms which include moving the entire body or head motions when it comes to particular body parts. There are some theories that the body’s sleep position may determine the type of actions that will be performed, but since this disorder is still not researched enough, and we do not know its cause, we cannot also be 100% sure in this.

The RMD “attack” or an episode can last up to 15 minutes, the moves are very rapid and often, repeating every 1 to 2 seconds. In some rare conditions, these episodes can last even for hours. Around 46% of RMD episodes happens only in the NREM phase, 30% in both, REM and NREM, and 22% only REM stage of sleep. During the seizure, it can be hard to wake up those people and make them stop, and in most cases, they will not remember what they did or how did it happen.

The three most common types of moves performed during the RMD episode are:

• Body rocking. Almost every second patient with RMD does this; hence, this is the most common type of movements. As the name itself says, the people who go through this will rock their entire body while sitting or lying down, and it usually happens during the night, but it can occur during the daytime when the patients are tired. 
• Head is rolling. Every fourth patient performs this type of moves, and it usually occurs when people are lying on their backs, their head starts rocking back and forth.
• Headbanging is also not so common because only a quarter of patients have this symptom, and it can occur in two situations. In the first one, the patients are sitting upright, and their head is banging against the head of the bead, or the wall. In the second situation, patients are lying on their stomach, and they are hitting their head or entire upper body, by lifting them and banging down upon the mattress or pillow, repeatedly.

All of these three ways of movements can be accompanied by sounds similar to humming, but also by loud noises which are produced as a consequence of head banging. The actions will stop once the patients reach the second phase of sleep, or if something or someone wakes them up.

Besides these primary symptoms, there are also several less common ones, which include body rolling, leg rolling, and leg banging. The humming sound, which often goes hand in hand with these symptoms, can often make your family members worry or stress, which is expected, especially for parents. That is why it is essential that parents inform their close friends, babysitter or other family members, who will perhaps be in a position to stay alone with the child, about what has been going on, how to react, etc.

Other conditions which can be related to rhythmic movement disorder as their possible symptom, cause, or indicator include autism, Tourette syndrome, sleep apnea, Rett syndrome, ADHD, and Angelman syndrome. 

Diagnosis

Many parents will be able to notice and track the changes in their child’s behavior, in this case, it is crucial to talk with a pediatrician about it to explain how and when the changes in movements occurred. These things can be essential for setting the proper diagnosis since there a few conditions with similar symptoms but with different treatments.

For example, uncontrolled moves of some body parts may be a symptom of a nocturnal seizure. Muscle contractions, also known as dystonia, are very similar in appearance to this disorder. And then there are some sleep disorders which are particularly common among children and can look the same at first glance, such as confusional arousals and parasomnias.

There is also the possibility that the use of particular medication triggers these moves, many children take medicine to treat vomiting, allergies, and even some psychiatric conditions which means that they will be using narcoleptics and antidepressants. In situations like this, it is best to talk with your pediatrician to change the medications and therapy.

Often to be 100% sure in their diagnosis, doctors will ask your child to perform specific tests such as electroencephalogram (EEG), and polysomnogram if they determine that child’s sleep should be examined more thoroughly by performing a sleep study.

It is essential to mention that although this condition is treated as a disorder, most children do not need any professional help since this is considered a somewhat regular part of the development of their sleep process. Anyhow it is always recommended to consult your doctor about any changes or new things you have noticed. If the performed motions caused some injury to your child or prevent him/her from sleeping well, then it is better to consult a sleep specialist. Doctors will want to know several things, when these motions began, and what else has been happening in the life of your child. The best is to prepare for that by creating a two-week long sleep journal in which you will write down exact times of these episodes. This will be extremely helpful to the doctor for setting the diagnose because it will give them some clue about what has been going on. Child’s medical history and potential history of other sleep disorders can also be helpful to doctors.

Unfortunately, there are no tests which can determine this disorder in children. Perhaps if the motions are more severe, the doctor will want to perform an overnight sleep study to measure a child’s heart beats, brain waves, and breathing while he/she sleeps. This sleep study will also show if there is some other sleep disorder involved, such as sleep apnea. Probably the best “sleep study” which parents can do on their own, is to record their child during these episodes or if they notice any unusual moves throughout the night. Medications will be prescribed if these movements are disrupting the child’s sleep or causing injuries.

Treatment Options

Although in most cases, this condition will eventually go away on its own, there are some things which can be done to protect the child from injuries during these seizures. You should ensure that your child has a proper sleep schedule and sleep hygiene to prevent aggravation of this condition and sleep deprivation.

More violent and extreme motions can lead to some severe injuries, so it is better to take some measures of safety precaution. For example, placing a second mattress on the floor, right next to the child’s bed will keep him or her safe in case of rolling over the bed as well as setting the pads around the bed. Moving the bed away from walls will protect your child’s head from hitting into the wall, and there are even special protective helmets for headbanging. Installing rails or bed frames will also prevent your child from rolling over if it has the symptom of a rocking body, do not forget to place pads around the rails to minimize the chance of injury. If the bed has a headboard, pad it as well, it will prevent any injuries from banging head. Also, particular body pillows and neck ones can help your child to stabilize its body during the episodes and to induce sleep right after them

Sedating medications can be used to reduce the intensity of movements. One of them is clonazepam, which is usually prescribed for anxiety, but the doctors can also prescribe citalopram which will lower the strength of motions. Some other relaxation therapies have also been provenly efficient in reducing the symptoms.

Usually, the most challenging thing for parents is to observe these situations and remain calm and stress-free, but they are mostly harmless and not as scary as they appear, and children are not much aware or bothered by it. Since most of them will outgrow this condition, it does not require any long-term therapies. However, if it remains persistent, even then it could not be such a big problem for the person going through it if the symptoms are milder.

Rhythmic Movement Disorder Among Children

If you have noticed that your child is performing some motions while sleeping, it is most likely that those are the symptoms of RMD. This disorder is pretty common among children, and it affects girls and boys equally. Only 6% of children will still have to deal with this disorder after the age of five, and 3% after they turn thirteen years old. Among the older kids, this condition is so rare and almost benign in the vast majority of cases. 

This condition strikes healthy children as well as the ones who have been diagnosed with autism or have some disabilities.

Here we would like to point out one huge mistake which all parents make while their child is having an episode of motions; they all tend to wake up their child immediately. This will stop their seizure but only for that brief period because as soon as the child goes back to sleep, it will continue. Interfering with these episodes is recommended if you notice that the child is going to get injured, or fall out of the bed.

Rhythmic Movement Disorder Among Adults

People who continue to deal with this as they age and grow into adults are usually more aware of what is going on to them. While they are perfectly aware that this is not harmful or too dangerous, they know that it is not normal and that most people of their age have already outgrown this condition, which is why some of them may feel embarrassed. In most cases, this does not cause any harm to adults, but it can be irritating or stressful to the partner who shares the bed with them, which stresses out the patients even more because they are aware that their condition is disturbing to their dear ones. It is always the best idea to be honest with yourself and your partner and to inform them on time about what is going on, to avoid any uncomfortable situations. You can also place cushions around the bed, or pads on the headboard.

Most adults who have to deal with this disorder are doing that since their childhood, and it can occur in seniors too, in that case, it is usually a sign that this disorder was triggered by some injury of the central nervous system.

As circumstances change swiftly, our aspirations for experiencing a perfect day persist as merely fanciful hopes. We spend the night wide awake, pondering our actions for the upcoming day, and exhaust ourselves throughout the daylight hours contemplating our plans for the evening. However, in our eager pursuit of crafting that perfect day, we overlook the foundational reality that fulfilling dreams starts with ensuring a restful night’s sleep.

Ironically enough, some of that constant thinking includes worrying about our sleep. We create our own kinds of ‘no-sleep-loops’ in which we constantly think about wishing we’d just fall asleep, which, paradoxically, stops us from actually falling asleep. You see, we’re in this constant bubble of worry while falling asleep thrives on a relaxed state of mind. 

In fact, up to 75% of people report worrying about their sleep at least some of the time, and nearly a quarter say they worry about it a lot and often. 

Yeah, it’s no wonder it takes you a while to get to the dream world… 

What is the Ideal Sleep Latency? 

You see, everything is good in moderation, and it’s no different for your sleep latency. Better known as sleep latency, the amount of time it takes you to fall asleep shouldn’t be on either side of the two extremes. 2 minutes to fall asleep? Far too quick. Three hours to fall asleep? Far too long. 

Let’s discuss this further. 

Give your average night some thoughts. How fast or how slow do you fall asleep? 

If the scenario turns out to be, it takes you somewhere between 10 to 20 minutes to fall asleep, your sleep latency is just where it’s supposed to be – at the sweet spot, balanced. Taking between 10 to 20 minutes to go from full alertness and sink (dive) into the lightest stages of sleep is ideal. Whatever bedtime routine you are following or the morning exercise regime you’ve constructed that balanced your sleep latency out, keep with it.  

On the one hand, if you take an hour or even longer to fall asleep, you very well may have already fallen prey to sleep-onset insomnia. Being one of the most common sleep disorders, insomnia is described either as the difficulty to fall asleep, also known as sleep-onset insomnia, or the difficulty to stay asleep also known as sleep-maintenance insomnia. The symptoms have to persist for at least three times a week for a period of three months or longer in order to be diagnosed with insomnia. 

On the other hand, if your sleep latency allows you to fall asleep by the 5-minute mark, this quick of a sleep-onset can also be a sign that something is going on with your sleep and health. 

To help you figure out why you are experiencing irregular sleep-onset, we will have to discuss all the causes that can make a turmoil out of your sleep latency and all the effects that come along with it. 

Let’s get to work. 

Cause and Effect – Stress delays sleep-onset

While delayed sleep-onset does have a habit of developing in combination with other health conditions; diabetes, sleep apnea, or heart disease, the number one reason for it occurring is still worrisome thoughts. While these negative thoughts might just be a consequence of modern-day life taking its toll with all the stressors, they might also be a sign and a symptom of underlying anxiety or depression. 

The solution? 

Give your doctor a visit and discuss your options. Consult your doctor on any medication you are currently taking and check if there’s any medication he recommends to help you deal with delayed sleep-onset and insomnia. 

If you are currently on the couch and partaking in psychotherapy to manage your anxiety or depression, your therapist is a vast source of knowledge about all these therapeutic techniques that will help you deal with insomnia as well. 

Poor Sleep Hygiene Leads to Sleep-Onset Insomnia 

Cases have shown that the causes triggering sleep-onset insomnia can be much more benign. Something as simple as not paying attention to your sleep hygiene for a while can develop into something as problematic as sleep-onset insomnia. 

Since regularly drinking caffeine past the early afternoon, stuffing your stomach with huge meals late in the evening, or hitting that high-intensity workout at night can all mess with your sleep latency through over-energizing your system, do try to steer clear of these activities at given times. 

Furthermore, scrolling through Facebook or binge-watching the 4th season of Californication on Netflix before bed is also a major cause of sleep utterly destroyed. Since the screens on any technological device emit blue light that gets perceived as daylight and excites your nervous system, which in turn prevents regular sleep-onset. 

The solution? 

Construct and design a bedtime routine filled with enough calm to bore someone to death. All the relaxing activities will do the job just right. Meditate away. Read an encyclopedia. Take a warm bubble bath. Listen to Claire de Lune. Breathe.   

Oversleeping and Sleep Latency 

Squeezing in too many naps throughout the day, or sleeping more than the standard recommended amount of time does your overall sleep health no good as well. Trying to fall asleep, when you’ve already satisfied your sleeping needs, won’t yield any rewards. It’s only natural that it takes a longer amount of time to glance upon the gates of the dream world if you’re oversleeping. 

Remember – the average adult needs anywhere from 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. 

The solution? 

First and foremost, get to collecting the data on your sleep, then break it down and analyze it, and finally make the behavioral changes needed to regulate your sleep and achieve the ideal sleep latency. Keep a sleep diary. Use a smartphone app. Track how long it takes for you to fall asleep and how much time you spend asleep, and measure it across time to get an average. This will provide you with the data needed to work out a solution. If you’re sleeping more than the recommended amount and it takes forever for you to fall asleep, cut back on those naps or that late night cup of coffee. If, on the other hand, you end up sleeping way less than the recommended and it still takes forever to fall asleep, it can be a sign insomnia is creeping in on you. 

Either way, if your own efforts and changes in behavior and bedtime routines just don’t seem to work, it’s imperative you speak with your doctor. They’ll not only hold you accountable for your choices, but they will also work with you to diagnose and treat the underlying, root cause that’s making your insomnia come out of the closet. 

Sleep Deprivation and Sleep Latency

Getting fewer than 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night is a sure-proof way to allow sleep deprivation coming from around the corner and knocking on your door. As we all know, when sleep deprivation starts knocking on you, it knocks hard and merciless. 

Living with the burden of sleep deprivation on your shoulders not only makes it hard to maintain optimal function throughout the day; slow reaction time, focus and memory impairment, weakened immune system, it also has an effect on your sleep latency. Being in a state of chronic sleep deprivation can make you fall asleep rather instantly since your body and brain are exhausted, fatigued, and burnt-out. It can even trigger involuntary ‘microsleeps’. These are lapses in consciousness that go undetected and unnoticed by both you and the people around you. We can’t dread the idea of experiencing an involuntary ‘microsleep’ in a dangerous situation enough. Imagine driving and having ‘microsleeps’. Not only do you compromise your own safety, but you also threaten the safety of everyone in your vicinity. Having these happen frequently is a ‘must visit your doctor’ scenario, because they might be linked to an abundance of sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy.  

The solution? 

For the most extreme cases of sleep deprivation, it’s recommended that you pay a visit to a sleep lab. Let the experts with all their knowledge about sleep do the renowned multiple sleep latency test. Undergoing this method of testing out your sleep latency will measure how easy and quick you fall asleep when forced to take a series of 20-minute naps. The results of the test show if a person with their sleep debt maxed out will have no issues falling asleep in a matter of seconds, indicating how sleep deprived that person actually is. The multiple sleep latency test is one of the most effective ways of diagnosing sleep deprivation, and it’s also often used to test for excessive daytime sleepiness or narcolepsy. 

On the other hand, the people dealing with not as extreme cases of sleep deprivation will find sleep tracking to be beneficial in their journey towards healthier sleep latency. Download a sleep tracking smartphone app. Try keeping a sleep diary. Collect the data on your sleeping patterns and mark how fast you fall asleep for a period of time. Analyzing the data will point out to any sleeping issues – the less time it takes to fall asleep, the more likely you are dealing with a case of sleep deprivation. 

Furthermore, make the standard behavioral changes that are known to promote healthier, high-quality sleep. Make a sleep schedule that will allow you to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day and make sure you follow it to the letter, even on weekends. You should be seeing positive effects over time. 

Takeaway

Everything points in one direction – having an ideal sleep latency and regular sleep-onset is at the core of your holistic health. Having high-quality sleep is essential to everything from healthy brain function to overall wellbeing. Missing sleep regularly can affect your cognitive performance and worsen all other aspects of your life. 

Since people experiencing inconsistent, insufficient and low-quality sleep are at risk of developing an array of problems ranging from depression and anxiety to having their own safety compromised, knowing what we now know about sleep latency and delayed sleep-onset makes us one step ahead to prevent and stay proactive about our sleeping hygiene. 

That’s it, ladies and gentlemen. We hope we’ve delivered on what we promised to explain all the causes of taking too little or too much time to fall asleep and all the effects that follow along. 

We will end this with an important paragraph from the beginning of the article that we hope will always remind you of the importance of high-quality sleep. 

With rapid turnabouts of circumstances, our dreams of living on a perfect day remain a dream. We stay up all night thinking of what to do in the morning and toil all day to figure out what we plan on doing during the night. But in our desperation to make that elusive perfect day happen, we forget that dreams begin with a good night’s sleep. 

Taking a deep breath in and letting it out – it’s what keeps us alive. Indoor air quality plays a huge role in many health areas, especially how well we sleep at night. Imagine all vehicles, factories, and more pumping out pollution, which sneaks in through our windows. We’ve also got to think about people as pollution sources, especially when we’re cooped up in spaces without much fresh air.

Well, now that we’ve got you all concerned about maintaining your sleeping hygiene, it’s prime time to ask us what you can do to help purify the air in your bedroom naturally. It’s simple, actually. Instead of putting your phone on the nightstand, put a houseplant on it! Certain houseplants not only help you maintain fresh air in your environment, but they go a long way in calming you down, thus helping you fall asleep faster. The list we’ve prepared for you below will go over the top 10 houseplants that induce sleep and act as “natural” sleeping aids. Reading this will give you into why and how can certain houseplants help you in your quest towards better sleep.

Without further ado, let’s give it a whirl. 

How did we figure this out? 

Among the first studies to embark on an expedition to discover what houseplants can do for our environment and overall health was the NASA study done in 1989. They thought of it like this – if a man’s bare existence on this planet depends upon an intertwined connection with nature and the ecological system, then problems will occur when a man starts living the “civilized” life and isolate himself in solitaries and buildings.  They sought out a solution, and that came with the bright idea to test houseplants as a possible way of improving indoor air quality and remove traces of organic pollutants from the air. The study went great, and they concluded that houseplants are one of the most promising means of alleviating in-door pollution, be it cigarette smoke or any other airborne pathogen. NASA well reminds us of our dependence on plants for our continued prosperity and well-being on our planet.

Following in their footsteps to uncover more benefits houseplants have on our health, the Journal of Physiological Anthropology wrote an article on the never-breaking link between indoor houseplants and mental health. Since the technological revolution allows us to connect and remain connected with each other through a computer environment, we tend to forget that being in interaction with nature is the key to overall holistic health. Moreover, our 24-hour access to technology causes a great deal of psychological stress, causing fatigue, anxiety, and faulty sleeping patterns. Since the interaction with plants helps relieve the psychological symptoms of hectic lives we lead today, they will also help you get better and calmer sleep. 

If we add a study that set out to prove that houseplants can improve the rehabilitation process in patients recovering from surgery, we are confident you won’t have any doubts of introducing plants to your bedroom that not only calm you down, but induce sleep as well. The study found that patients that had the pleasure of interacting with a houseplant or two reported a range of benefits – from less pain and anxiety to positive feelings and better sleep.

Now that we’ve sorted out that houseplants not only aid in repelling indoor pollution but induce sleep too, we believe it’s time to list out the top 10 plants that just might help you get rid of any sleeping issues and the stress bad sleep comes with. 

Top 10 Plant that Induce Sleep

• Lavender 

We know – the feeling that you get from a restless night is quite aggravating. You try so hard to fall asleep.  You twist, and you turn in your bed, and just as you finally reach a dream-like state, you wake up again. If that happens all too often, we suggest you try putting a lavender plant on your nightstand. Appreciated for its pleasant scent and calming effects, lavender is a kind of houseplant that can induce sleep and help you towards insomnia-ridden, good ol’ beauty sleep. 

In fact, a 2013 study in the Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine explored the idea that lavender aromatherapy can significantly impact the quality of your sleep for the better. What they found is that lavender has a number of therapeutic properties, from helping you to relax to treating infections, burns, insect bites, and much more. To top that off, growing evidence suggests that lavender oil may be an efficient cure when it comes to mental health, and even treat several neurological disorders. Finally, we come to the million-dollar conclusion – lavender not only induces sleep and helps fight off restless nights and insomnia, but it will do a thing or two to stabilize your mood as well. 

• Valerian 

While true scientific evidence that valerian helps you sleep still eludes us, this plant boasts a long history of usage for its sleep-promoting effects. Going back thousands of years to Galen’s practice in Ancient Greece tells us he personally prescribed valerian to treat insomnia. It doesn’t stop there. Valerian has been part of our culture as a plant that promotes quality sleep. Actually, it is being used as part of all sorts of different dietary supplements and herbal remedies you can find on the market today. 

While it seems valerian is popular with the people as a plant that promotes quality sleep, a study in Sleep Medicine Reviews’ journey states that valerian is safe to use, but not nearly as effective as we thought it to be. On the other hand, the study in Chemical Senses’ journal wanted to determine would the plant have a beneficial effect in inducing sleep if used as an odorant and inhalant. While the study doesn’t say if the plant helped people fall asleep quicker, it says a thing or two about helping people sleep better.  

While we are unable to take sides at this moment and tell you who’s right and who’s not, we’ll tell you this much – It certainly won’t hurt your sleep one bit to have valerian on your nightstand. 

• Chamomile 

According to a study in the journal Molecular Medicine Reports, chamomile has amazing medicinal properties. The plants’ dried flowers are rich in terpenoids and flavonoids, which give it its medicinal properties. The herb is used to treat various ailments, such as insomnia. 

Chamomile has been used as a medicinal plant for centuries. Since the most popular use of chamomile is stress and anxiety management, the very soothing nature of this plant can help increase the levels of serotonin and melatonin in your body. And we all know what happens when we have a high melatonin count, don’t we? Right you are! When it’s given as an aqueous extract, it goes a long way in inducing sleep, thus treating insomnia and irregular sleeping patterns. It will help you sleep no matter the form of it, actually. Prepare it as a tea, use it as aromatherapy – you will experience the calm chamomile comes with. 

• Aloe Vera 

If Ancient Egyptians claim Aloe Vera to be ‘the plant of immortality’, we wholeheartedly believe them. Known for its multiple medicinal properties, this plant is well, just ancient. It’s been around for thousands of years helping us overcome our maladies. 

The interesting thing about Aloe Vera is that it doesn’t directly do anything to help induce sleep. What it does do is purify the air around you, and it does that extraordinarily well. This plant will act as your bodyguard against the harmful toxins that float around you, thus improving the quality of the air while you sleep. 

To back this up with some science, we’ve consulted an article that explored how aloe vera impacts the sleep of rats. The article showed that this plant has some sedative and hypnotic effects in rodents. More importantly, the article contains a reference to another research where topical moisturizer made from this amazing plant was used to treat patients with skin conditions. Interestingly enough, all the people in the study said their sleep improved by 100 percent. 

Who knew we could fight insomnia with fresher air? 

• Chinese Evergreens 

Since Chinese Evergreens are popular amongst houseplants, we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s already sitting in your living room’s corner. But, did you ever think about moving it into your bedroom if restlessness and insomnia ever creep in on you? 

Studies show that Chinese Evergreens do great in purifying the air in your environment. As we discussed it earlier in this post, the better the quality of the air we breathe in our bedroom, the better we can sleep. Following this line of logic, Chinese Evergreens are another type of houseplants that help induce sleep. 

• English Ivy 

Not only does English Ivy climb mountains to purify the air of toxins, but it will also go the distance to reduce mold spores in the air. While people with allergies will undoubtedly want this plant in their home, people looking to improve their irregular sleeping patterns and insomnia will also see a lot of benefits from it. Since it can be conveniently placed in smaller areas out of reach, English ivy makes for an ideal bedroom companion. 

• Peace Lily 

Rated as one of the best houseplants for purifying the air by NASA, Peace lilies detoxify the air of pollutants such as formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene. It’s actually been found that this plant can improve air quality by as much as 60 percent. 

To top it all off, Peace lilies will bloom even if they don’t get enough light, making them an excellent choice for bedrooms with smaller windows. 

• Snake Plant

Being another plant that’s used to purify the air and improve indoor air quality, the Snake plant is a sturdy, easy to care for plant. The way it works when it comes to helping people sleep is that it releases oxygen at night time while simultaneously absorbing carbon dioxide. Last, but not least it filters air pollutants such as formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene from the air. All of this helps you breathe easily, therefore adding it in your bedroom will go a long way in establishing regular sleeping patterns and better sleep. 

• Golden Pothos

NASA’s study on how to tackle indoor pollution that decreases the air quality in your house, clearly states Golden Pothos as one of the houseplants your sleep can benefit from. Not only does it purify the air, it looks amazing and is easy to care for. You only need to water it weekly and give a few hours of sunlight a day. With its ability to produce oxygen at night, it can help you breathe better, thus sleep soundly and with a smile on your face. 

• California poppy

California poppy has been traditionally used as an analgesic, sedative and sleeping aid for a while now. The study in European Medicines Agency’s journal backs the tradition up and indicates that this plant can be used in the management of chronic pain and as a hypnotic-mild-sedative for the management of pain-related insomnia. With its various therapeutic properties, we deem this plant as one of the best plants to have on your nightstand. 

Takeaway 

Well, this concludes it. These are the best plants to aid you in your quest towards better sleep. Whether you choose just one or all then to have in your bedroom, we are positive on the fact that they will have a beneficial effect on your nighttime journey to dreamland. 

Ah, the delightful thought of summertime. The sun beams brightly. The birds sing. The water glistens. You and your beloved are dreaming of taking your holiday at that charming bed and breakfast spotted on the roadside in Vermont during a trip to see your sister. Just when the image of a romantic summer retreat, complete with moonlit evenings and casual attire, began to take shape, you recall with a look of horror – “But, darling, what about the children?”

It’s so simple – send them packing to summer camp. Expect some screaming and shouting, begging and pouting when you go in to adamantly tell them a decision has been made, especially if it’s their first time attending summer camp. This is the time to tread carefully. What you say in the moments they’re rebelling against the idea is crucial if you want your kid to continue loving you when it gets back from camp. Tell them a story about how good you had it in your adventures during summer camp on that hot summer of 69’. Invent one, even. Describe it all. They get a thing or two out of this deal, as well. Their own „freedom“ away from you. Meeting new friends. Swimming, learning new skills, playing all sorts of fun games. Spooky nights filled with ghost stories by a bonfire while roasting marshmallows. Who knows, they might even get a first kiss out there too. 

Phew, it’s over. Not only does your kid agree, but it’s also happy to let you two have your secret getaway to get its own. You smile and give your kid a kiss on the forehead telling him it’s time to go to bed. 

Just as you uttered the word ’bed’, the worry starts to kick in. Is everything going to be okay? Will he get along with other kids? Will he eat right? But most importantly, what about his sleep?

“Relax”, your boo tells you. “We’ll just google it – how to ensure your kid gets good sleep at summer camp.” 

And here you are. So, let’s not waste any more time. Let’s start with the advice and send your kids up, up and to summer camp safely and responsibly. 

Summer Camp Sleeping To-Do List

• Research potential camps

Since you will definitely be concerned about your child’s overall wellbeing and his sleeping hygiene, get to browsing and find camps educated enough to provide your kid with adequate nurture. Since prepubescent children need more sleep than adults (somewhere between 9 and 10 hours of sleep), contact the camp’s counselors and ask about their sleep schedules and other policies. Ask about the rooms. With how many kids will yours sleep with? Take the time to tell the camp counselors about any sleep disorders or issues your child has, too. It’s imperative to keep them informed about your child’s needs in order for them to be able to tend to their specific needs. Be honest – tell them all about your child’s nightmares, their bed wetting problem, or whatever they need to know, as well. Lastly, don’t be surprised if the counselors tell you that kids will be kids and that they’ll probably end up trading off dreams for slumber adventures on some nights. 

Well, as long as they don’t stay up too late. Relax, everything will be just fine.

• Tour the camp in advance 

Create an opportunity to schedule a visit with the camp and the counselors in-advance. This will give you and your kid a chance to get to know the place before it’s time to actually go. This will get your child a lot less afraid of a new, unknown situation and excited about going. 

Tour the campsite. Visit the rooms, take a look at the beds, mattresses, and other amenities, so you’ll have an idea of what the experience will be like for your kids. Let your kid ‘test out’ the beds and ask them if they’re comfortable and cozy enough for them to sleep in. 

Since sleeping can be a daunting task when dealing with allergies, wounds, tree cuts or rashes (all more than common summer camp experiences), pay a visit to the camp’s ambulance. Ask the doctor on duty about first aid procedures and take the time to educate your kid on injury prevention and first aid. 

Lastly, have a talk with the counselors about their approach and experience with kids and parents, see what activities are included in the pricing, and ask about anything else you might have doubts on.

• Help them create a home-like experience

Let’s not kid ourselves – even adults have trouble sleeping for the first few days of visiting a new place. Just imagine the amount of sensory overload adults experience when encountering an unknown situation. Double that and you’ll begin to form a pretty good idea what’s it like for the kids. Add all the excitement and anxiety to the mix, and it will be enough to induce a panic attack, let alone make falling asleep more difficult. 

So, what can you do to help them have a home-like experience at summer camp? Pack their favorite t-shirts and pajamas. Pack the blanket they’ve slept with since they were two. If there’s a toy or a stuffed animal your kid adores to pack up too, all the better. 

If there are camp-outs included in the activities, suggest to have a camp-out in the backyard a week before going to camp. Your child will be able to get used to sleeping in a sleeping bag that way. On a side note, if they find the sleeping bag you do have just not right for them, you’ll be able to buy them a new one before they set out on the real adventure.

• Get them going on sleepovers

Taking measures to properly prepare your kids for the experience ahead of them will ensure they have a good time, and if that means asking your family friends and relatives to have your child over for a night or two at their place, so be it. You can actually go ahead and ask the parents willing to do that to host a group sleepover. Not only will your child be able to see what it’s like to share a room beforehand, but they will get excited about going too. 

Of course, promise to repay the favor with a sleepover hosted at your place. 

• Educate your kids about a healthy bedtime routine

Make the necessary efforts to educate and help your kid establish and maintain a healthy bedtime routine. Explain why will having regular sleeping patterns and following the same bunch of activities every night benefit their sleep. Go over the usual things to do before bed and hold them accountable for it. See to it that they shower, brush their teeth. Suggest that they read a page or two of a book or write in their diary as part of their bedtime routine. And if you have a strict no-lights policy in your home, tell them that counting sheep is effective when it comes to falling asleep faster. 

Not only will having a clear routine make it easier for your kid to uphold good hygiene, it will help train their brain to see all these activities as a sign it’s time for bed, which will in turn result into melatonin activation, making your child that much sleepier.

• Keep their expectations set in stone

Go over the story of your experience with summer camps as a kid again, whether the stories are real or make-believe. Having them understand and know what to expect out of the experience will go a long way in keeping all their possible worry and anxiety at bay. All of this will help them arrive at camp fully prepared and therefore help them sleep better too. 

Be honest with them. Have them understand loud and clear that the first few days of summer camp will probably feel a tad weird, confusing and riddled with questions. Let them know that once the initial shock passes and they successfully make it through that, the rest comes as a breeze. Assure them that it will be an experience to remember for a lot of years to come and that you can’t wait to hear all about it when they come back. Share a few tips and tricks on how to successfully make friends and get to know other people better. Finally, tell them how proud you are about their whole new level of independence.

• Prepare yourself too 

Every good summer camp story we know has a “Mom, dad, I am really homesick, can you come and pick me up?” somewhere in there. Since this is well expected, have a plan prepared for when it happens to help your child successfully overcome their fears and return to their camp activities feeling comfortable and carefree. 

Set a communication plan that will include how and how often you will talk to each other while they are away. After the plan is devised and set in stone, do everything in your power to stick to it. This might take a few hours out of your romantic getaway, but showing up for your homesick child in need will make them a lot less worried, which can result in a lot less calls down the road. Don’t be surprised if they miss a call or two themselves. They’re out there going on adventures and doing all these new things after all. Another thing you can do is help them create a scrapbook that will remind them of you and your home if they get homesick. 

• Go shopping

Since your kid probably already has a list of toys and all the gadgetry a child’s heart desires, it can be a good idea to go shopping. Cross off a few items on their list while you’re at it, but more importantly, buy all the necessities your child might need. Make a shopping list of your own. New sheets and bedding, a sleeping bag, camping mattress, extra pillows, a flashlight, clothes, toiletries – whatever you deem necessary. 

Keep a checklist of all the items you’ve bought and packed in their luggage and make a copy of it for your kid to have too. This will go a long way in making sure you don’t forget anything and ensure that they don’t leave anything behind. 

Takeaway

That’s it, folks. We hope we gave you insight into how to prepare your kids for summer camp and ensure they stay safe and healthy. Furthermore, not only will you be able to get that ever-elusive getaway you’ve always dreamed of, you’ll be able to relax while basking in the summer sun knowing your child is getting all the care he needs. Most importantly, you’ll be able to sleep well and uninterrupted, knowing your child is getting good quality sleep too. 

Don’t you agree that sleepless, restless nights have become a common affliction in today’s world? The frantic pace of our current lifestyles frequently leaves us feeling overwhelmed and exposed, wreaking havoc on our ability to sleep. Rather than effortlessly drifting off to sleep, we find ourselves tossing and turning, unable to slip into the realm of dreams. 

Let this happen for a few nights, and you will slowly start to experience the effects of full-blown sleep deprivation and the raging onset of insomnia. 

That’s what got you looking into different solutions for your sleep in the first place, right? While behavioral lifestyle changes and learning different relaxation techniques are all crucial for you to achieve quality sleep, many people go for sleeping pills instead, but we also recommend opting for natural supplements instead. 

Navigating through the vast, overcrowded market of natural sleeping aids can sometimes be tough and overwhelming, and often quite unnecessary. 

Why? 

Well, while there’s a lot of different natural supplements out there, you might just need only one – magnesium. 

Magnesium’s sleep-promoting qualities are rising in popularity, and the supplement is quickly ascending to the throne of natural sleeping aids. The power of this common mineral not only helps you fall asleep quicker, it gives you deeper, more restful slumber as well. 

Having this in mind, we wanted to give you insight into what magnesium is, how exactly is it connected to your sleep, and what can it do to improve it. 

Let’s dive right in. 

Magnesium 101 

As one of the most widespread minerals on the planet, our health thrives on high levels of magnesium. In fact, it’s one of the seven macro-minerals that the human body needs in large quantities. Our bodies use it in over 600 biochemical reactions, making it an essential electrolyte for our holistic health. From every cell to every organ, our bodies desperately need this mineral to maintain proper function. Bone health, brain, heart, nerve, and muscle function – magnesium regulates it all. 

Since our bodies do not produce it, we must do our due diligence and be on the lookout for foods rich in magnesium. So, legumes, dark green veggies, whole grains, nuts, fish – all of these foods will go a long way in keeping your magnesium levels high and happy.

On top of all these health benefits, let’s add contributing to better sleep to the mix! There is increasing interest in how maintaining good levels of magnesium can help sleep issues like insomnia, delayed sleep-onset, and sleep deprivation.   

Let’s take the time to examine the connection between this mineral and sleep from multiple angles.

Magnesium and Sleep – Overview 

The benefits magnesium holds for our sleep come through helping our bodies and brains relax. How does it do that exactly? First and foremost, it activates the parasympathetic nervous system – the part of our autonomous nervous system that regulates our fight/flight response. Second, it regulates your melatonin levels. As we’ve discussed millions of times before, melatonin is responsible for your regular sleep-wake cycles in your body. 

Let’s say all this simpler – by giving your nervous system piece of mind and regulating your melatonin levels, magnesium helps you relax, thus preparing you for sleep. 

Since falling and staying asleep majorly depends on your ability to relax, taking magnesium supplements instead of sleeping pills now seems to be the better choice, doesn’t it? 

What the Research Says

If you’re still not sold on the idea that magnesium is an effective sleeping aid, we’ve got some research to back up our claim. 

The Journal of Research in Medical Sciences clearly shows that magnesium, used as a supplement, was able to promote better sleep through increasing sleep time. 

Furthermore, the Oxford Academic Journal Sleep states that using magnesium as a supplement is effective in helping people suffering from restless leg syndrome fight off insomnia. 

Taking it even further, a comprehensive MIT report exploring the interaction between magnesium and fibromyalgia shows magnesium as a mineral able to reduce chronic body pain almost always associated with insomnia. 

Vitamins and Minerals provided a report that magnesium improves cognitive functioning, including enhanced mood, sleep, and lower stress levels.

Last, but most important, the National Sleep Foundation study shows that both calcium and magnesium are crucial when it comes to promoting high-quality sleep in adults. The study also points to magnesium used as supplementation is a lot safer than sleeping pills. 

Two questions arise from all this information – How does the interaction between both magnesium and melatonin and nervous system work? Let’s take a peek.  

The Interaction Between Magnesium and Melatonin

The idea is fairly simple. As your magnesium levels go up, so do levels of your neural activity. Neurotransmitters further pulse their messages and establish communication between your brain and your nervous system – charging up all that needed melatonin and sparking it into active production. making all that needed melatonin sparking to get activated.   

Based on the interaction between magnesium and melatonin, researchers conclude that magnesium is closely linked to your circadian rhythms. 

While we won’t elaborate on that, we’ll tell you this much – the lesser your magnesium levels, the poorer your sleep. 

The Interaction between Magnesium and the Nervous System

This is where neurobiology comes into play, making the link between magnesium and the nervous system a little bit complex. Since the neurotransmitters that get activated as your magnesium levels increase reduce neural activity by binding to GABA receptors, you can think of magnesium as this instigator of all these other chemical processes that have a calming effect on your brain as a result. 

To put it simpler – the more GABA levels go up, the less neural activity there is in your brain. This inhibitory process is responsible for making you sleepy. It’s no wonder that some sleeping pills have a little bit of something in them that jumpstarts GABA levels.

Furthermore, being the potential inhibitor that it is, magnesium served its greater purpose and made for a few studies that ended up suggesting that magnesium might be what people have been looking for when it comes to treating underlying depression and anxiety that are fueling one’s insomnia. 

Now that we’ve explained how this mineral intertwines with melatonin and our nervous system, we’ll walk you through how magnesium levels affect sleep and the recommended amount of magnesium you should be taking in daily. 

How Magnesium Levels Affect Sleep? 

Since people approaching their golden years or people suffering from diabetes, ADHD or alcohol addiction are prone to magnesium deficiency, all of them stand to benefit from supplemental magnesium. 

You see, having insufficient magnesium levels means you’re more than likely to experience disturbed sleep and insomnia. Relevant enough, research on mice suggests it too – mice kept on a diet that had little to no magnesium intake not only had disturbed sleep, but they also experienced more frequent awakenings. 

However, having too much of something creates an equal problem. Think of it as a ‘magnesium rush’.  Having an abnormally high magnesium count means sleeping problems, as well.

Finally, we get to the million-dollar conclusion – everything is good in moderation. Finding the right balance and keeping your magnesium levels at just the right spot translates into improved quality of your sleep.

Magnesium for Sleep: What’s the right dosage?

As far as the right dosages go, according to the National Institute of Health adult men should intake between 400 and 420 mg, and adult women should intake 310-360 mg. When it comes to children, The Food and Nutrition Board suggests that supplemental magnesium doesn’t go over 350 mg for males and females 9 years and older, 110 for children between 4 and 8, and 65 mg for toddlers. 

On the other hand, you could choose the alternative path and get all that precious magnesium the natural way. The abundance of foods and liquids that practically ooze magnesium (that contain high amounts of magnesium) includes nuts, whole grains, green vegetables, meat, fish and fruit.

As we’ve mentioned above, finding a sweet spot and having just the right daily dose of magnesium helps you regulate your nervous system, minimize the stress, improve your mood and last but not least, helps you come out as a winner in your battle with sleeping problems. 

Winning that battle with sleeping problems won’t be possible if you don’t show on the battlefield at the right time, so to use magnesium as a sleeping aid, take that sweet spot dosage somewhere between 1 to 2 hours before the desired sleep time. 

Since everything comes at a price, with supplemental magnesium come common supplement side effects, such as nausea or diarrhea. To prevent the trouble these side effects can get you in, take the following note to heart – don’t take magnesium on an empty stomach, and take it with a glass of water. Go and schedule an appointment with your doctor as well to discuss whether or not magnesium supplements are right for you and whether they will interfere with any other medication you are taking – if you’re taking any for other health conditions.  

Takeaway 

The evidence is clear – sleep is vital for your wellbeing. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s research tells us sleep is vital from everything from healthy brain function to emotional wellbeing, putting sleep at the center of our holistic health. People who aren’t getting consistent, continuous, sufficient, and good-quality sleep can experience all these different consequences, including emotional disturbance and safety risks. 

Since magnesium plays an essential role in regulating your nervous system and calming it down, this mineral can improve the overall quality of your sleep. 

Now that you are armed with enough knowledge about magnesium as a mineral, its interaction with our nervous systems’ and the part it plays in promoting high-quality sleep, it’s time to make an informed decision whether you will continue using the sleeping pills, switch to supplemental magnesium or travel the natural path and get your daily dose of this mineral via your diet.

If you end up deciding to give magnesium as a supplement for sleep a go, we recommend that you schedule an appointment and talk with your doctor first. Since it can interact with other medications, or produce side effects such as nausea, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea, your doctor will be able to make an educated decision and a plan on how much supplements to take daily. 

Finally, always keep in mind that lifestyle choice and making behavioral changes will also go a long way in improving your sleep. The typical activities for promoting sleep are warm baths, exercise, and relaxation techniques.