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Have you ever pondered the idea that perhaps Sleeping Beauty was just experiencing a normal sleep and merely “forgot” to wake up? Modern research into hypersomnia, or the condition of sleeping too much, indicates that it’s entirely possible for people, especially teens, due to modern ways of living, to sleep for prolonged durations, much like Sleeping Beauty. Indeed, almost 40% of US workers suffer from a sleep disorder of some kind.

Hypersomnia or hypersomnolence occurs under the category of sleep-wake disorders in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM – 5). Now, you may be wondering if the bouts of extended hours of sleep and daytime sleepiness you have been experiencing off late are signs of hypersomnia. Thankfully, not all episodes of excessive sleep fall under the category of this neurological disorder. Unless you have been suffering from repetitive bouts of extended periods of rest and excessive daytime sleepiness for the past three months, you do not have to worry at all. Sleep-wake disorders like this one usually have a lasting impact on a person’s thinking and cognition.

Due to modern lifestyle choices, almost 40% job holders in the US suffer from some form of a sleep disorder or the other. Interestingly, doctors, nurses, and researchers are no exception.

What is the Correct Definition of Hypersomnia?

The medical community refers to hypersomnia through various names including the more common hypersomnolence. One of the prominent signs of it includes excessive sleepiness during the daytime. This form of sleep disorder involves sleep drunkenness, disorientation, confusion, slowness, and poor coordination. However, hypersomnia does not include the classic sleep attacks usually seen in case of narcolepsy Type I and Type II.

There is a significant lack of immunogenetic features and polysomnograph evidence to characterize hypersomnolence. Sometimes, people with this particular disorder fall asleep during any time of the day, and they might also suffer from other sleep-related problems that begin with a chronic lack of energy during the daytime.

Case Studies of Hypersomnia

A recent publication by the Sleep Research Society studied the sleep disorder database of over 6000 patients from all states of the US. All of them had some form of sleep disorder that doctors had previously diagnosed.

The study involved a retrospective study of the 777 patients with idiopathic hypersomnolence. It showed that these people were more likely to experienced long duration of unsatisfactory daytime naps and slow-wave sleep. Most of the idiopathic hypersomnolence patients had a family history of sleep-wake disorders.

About 89% of the patients had a history that spanned several years, and only about 11% of them showed spontaneous remission. This kind of natural cure is absent from cases of narcolepsy. Several forms of hypersomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness show improvement over time with continuous medication and unique combination of sleep-modifying drugs.

What Causes Excessive Drowsiness During the Daytime and Hypersomnia?

There can be several causes of excessive daytime sleepiness and hypersomnia. The reasons can vary considerably depending on the age, profession, and lifestyle of the sufferer. It can result in an arbitrary classification of the disease, symptoms and their causes. Here are some of the more prominent causes of the disorder;

1. Several sleep disorders including narcolepsy and sleep apnea can give rise to this condition of excessive sleep.
   
2. Weight management problems and lack of exercise are other prominent causes.
   
3. Sleep deprivation can build the foundation for EDS in the long-run.
   
4. A long history of drug abuse and alcohol abuse can also contribute to hypersomnia.
   
5. Excessive use of tranquilizers, new antidepressants, and mood stabilizers often lead to EDS symptoms.
6. Excessive sleepiness can have a strong genetic influence as well.
7. Sometimes, EDS can be a symptom of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
8. New or old head injuries can lead to abnormally long hours of sleep.
9. Autoimmune diseases including Multiple Sclerosis can lead to hypersomnia in many.
10. Endocrine diseases and metabolic disorders.
11. Infections and toxin-induced hypersomnia like in the case of sleeping sickness.
12. Long recurrence of depression and depressive episodes can exacerbate EDS and hypersomnia.

In the general population, the complaints of excessive daytime sleepiness are often as frequent as 5 out of 100 adults. Between 5% and 10% of the people, who check into sleep clinics with complaints of excessive drowsiness during the daytime receive idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) diagnosis. It is only 0.5 times as common as narcolepsy.

In a study involving 77 patients, the mean age of diagnosis was around 30. The onset usually occurs between 10 and 30 years of age. The mean age of onset of IH among the observed group of patients was about 17. It has no gender bias, and in a larger group of subjects, hypersomnia usually affects 4% to 6%. As you can see, the epidemiology of hypersomnia is distinct from that of Idiopathic Hypersomnia. The latter is a subset of the sleep-wake disease, although several people use the terms synonymously.  

Why is the Differential Diagnosis of Hypersomnia Necessary?

Since this sleeping disorder can be of various types, medical professionals, sleep experts, and researchers often require learning the specific nature of the disease to treat it properly. Some individuals have more than one form of hypersomnia, and they need particular treatment that can address the causes at the very roots. Even when the reason for a specific case of excessive daytime sleepiness is apparent, the expert needs to assess the exact extent of the contribution of this cause to the EDS for dispensing proper treatment.

Hypersomnia can be primary or secondary hypersomnia mimics. Having more than one underlying causes often means juggling more than one type of the sleeping disorder throughout life. The complications due to multiple underlying conditions result in difficulties during diagnosis. For example, people suffering from obstructive sleep apnea may experience EDS due to obstructions in their airway, but there can be additional factors like obesity, brain hemorrhaging or narcolepsy that may contribute to the severity of their disease.

What are the Primary Hypersomnias?

There are only a few forms of true primary hypersomnias including narcolepsy, Klein Levin syndrome and idiopathic hypersomnia.

Primary Hypersomnia Mimics

Several genetic diseases can contribute to sleep disorders like hypersomnia. Norrie disease, Niemann-Pick syndrome, myotonic dystrophy and Prader-Willi syndrome are some of the most prominent causes of hypersomnia. The precedence of EDS in these cases usually occurs with other diseases that include several secondary objectives. For example, cases of myotonic dystrophy occur alongside sleep onset REM periods (SOREMPs) like narcolepsy.  

• Several neurological disorders often elicit EDS symptoms of primary hypersomnia.

• Brain tumors.

• Strokes and lesions in the brain.

• Disorders and diseases of the thalamus.

• Diseases of the brainstem and hypothalamus.

• Neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and multiple system atrophy.

• Head traumas and early stages of hydrocephalus can lead to severe cases of EDS.

In each of these cases, it is essential to rule out the secondary causes of the disease. There have been reported cases of secondary narcolepsy in individuals with a head injury that was initially asymptomatic.

What are the Frequent Cases of Secondary Hypersomnias?

Sleep quality altering diseases reduce the duration and frequency of restorative sleep. It leads to feelings of excess fatigue during the daytime, during which people find themselves dozing off without any preface.

• The secondary forms of hypersomnolence are widespread. It can be a secondary symptom of several related or unrelated disorders like multiple sclerosis (MS), epilepsy, obesity, encephalitis, and clinical depression.

• Sleep apnea, side effects of medication, autonomic nervous system disorder and central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction, breathing difficulty during sleep and physical trauma can all lead to EDS symptoms at one time or another in the future.

• Upper airways resistance syndrome (UARS) is a type of sleep apnea that causes hypersomnia most often in middle-aged adults. It coexists with EDS just like narcolepsy, in about 4% of the male US adults.

• Neuromuscular diseases, dystrophies of the spinal cord and other painful conditions leading to insomnia can cause hypersomnolence as a secondary effect.

• Autoimmune diseases like Grave’s, celiac disease and rheumatoid arthritis often occur with instances of secondary hypersomnia. Morvan’s syndrome and Lupus cause it too.

• Anemia, hypothyroidism, mononucleosis, Whipple’s disease, and Guillain Barre syndrome often result in EDS symptoms among adults.

• Restless legs syndrome (RLS) and periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD/PMLS) can cause secondary hypersomnia among young adults and middle-aged adults alike. There are a few studies that debunk the relationship between PMLS and EDS.

• People often report instances of secondary hypersomnolence due to increasing frequency of obesity, diabetes, acromegaly (too much growth hormone) and hepatic encephalopathy.

• Instances of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome often coincide with cases of secondary hypersomnia. Researchers and sleep experts have isolated abnormal activity of alpha wave activity during NREM sleep that is responsible for the EDS in these cases.

Over the years, scientists have also associated several mood disorders, chronic depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety disorders with EDS. Multiple medications, especially antidepressants and mood-altering compounds can interfere with sleep duration. It is essential to wean off these medicines to prevent any form of withdrawal. Chronic sleep deprivation as a result of lifestyle choice also contributes to symptoms of secondary hyper-sleep considerably.

What is the Treatment for Hypersomnia?

At present, there is no complete cure for the disorder. It is mainly due to the massive number of variations in the causes and the symptoms of it. However, research shows that management of lifestyle and improvement of sleep hygiene can make a huge difference in the quality of rest the patients get each night. It is quite the same for people with idiopathic hypersomnia (IH).

There are no specific cures since scientists and researchers do not understand the mechanism of this sleep-wake disorder completely. You will find several FDA approved the medication for narcolepsy, but there are hardly any of the different forms of primary hypersomnia and primary hypersomnia mimics.

There are several wake-promoting medications that doctors often prescribe for narcolepsy, but people often use them for treating their IH. The lack of documentation and studies on these treatments make the treatment quite risky for all. In fact, several patients do not achieve the same level of remission with the same medications that treat narcolepsy Type I and Type II.

Behavioral therapy does not work as well for IH as it does for other sleep-wake disorders. There is little evidence that proves the impact of sleep hygiene improvement on this disease. You might be tempted to try out polyphasic sleeping patterns and planned naps, but years of observation and investigation have shown that these naps are usually for long hours and unrefreshing. However, behavioral therapy can help in controlling the emotional responses to EDS.

Losing hours of work and social life to excessive sleep can invoke anger, frustration, and depression in many. Extensive counseling is often necessary for new partners of people suffering from prolonged episodes of IH. Children often require additional emotional support due to the lack of social life, and friends.

In several cases of idiopathic hypersomnia, experts have recommended the use of conservative behavioral therapy that focuses on behavioral modifications. Some of these behavior modification programs and counseling sessions often bear more significance with the simultaneous introduction of modafinil and atomoxetine like medications.

Some of the treatments need to be more aggressive with the introduction of wake-promoting agents like sodium oxybate and other high dose stimulants since CNS stimulants are lesser active than they usually are for narcolepsy. The approach towards the treatment and management of IH needs to be empirical and not generic.

Is there a Treatment for Recurrent Primary Hypersomnia?

While most of us would love to sleep on the weekdays and occasionally sleep until afternoon, we do not think that someone, somewhere in the world sleeps for 23 hours a day.

Imagine missing most of your life because you are sleeping all the time and when you are awake, you are dazed, and someone is force feeding you and keeping you clean. It is the “Sleeping Beauty” syndrome (Kleine-Levin Syndrome) we had referred to earlier. This syndrome can affect both boys and girls. The symptoms begin without any warning when they are in their early teens. As a result, they end up missing most of their school life, their friends, the Prom, and almost everything else. Even getting a driver’s license becomes impossible until the syndrome simply ups and leaves, as suddenly as it came.  

People suffering from Kleine-Levin Syndrome or the Sleeping Beauty syndrome often wake up to binge on high-calorie food, carry out compulsive behaviors and engage in childlike actions. Sometimes they have heightened sex drive and apathy to go with excessive sleep. The period between two bouts of Kleine-Levin Syndrome can last between 6 months to 12 months, during which the sufferer experiences regular rest. Although it is a rare disorder, keen observation and forum discussion at the Kleine-Levin organization shows that irritability, obsessive behavior, and lethargy often precede an episode.

It is indeed a form of primary hypersomnia that goes away on its own after the sufferer reaches adulthood. It is the only form of hypersomnia that goes away completely with time. The syndrome is common among men, although it lasts longer in women. There is no particular genetic link or infection related pathway that explains the occurrence of the Kleine-Levin Syndrome. The only known medication that works against the sleeping beauty syndrome right now is Lithium, the mood stabilizer doctors often prescribe for manic depression or bipolar disorder.  

What’s the Difference Between Narcolepsy and Idiopathic Hypersomnia?

Narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia are both diseases belonging to the class of primary hypersomnia. They are the central disorders of hypersomnolence (CDH) that share considerable similarities. For example, patients with either narcolepsy or IH exhibit EDS.

One of the best diagnostic tests that can distinguish between each disorder is by utilizing multiple sleep latency (MSL) tests and polysomnography. These tests elicit the number of sleep onset REM periods (SOREMPs) a patient experience. Patients with narcolepsy usually go through at least 2 SOREMPs, but patients with IH don’t.

There are several other diagnostic symptoms for each of these syndromes. Here’s a brief list of the symptoms for each.

Narcolepsy. Patients suffering from narcolepsy usually do not sleep for extended hours. They find small naps more refreshing. Sleep paralysis, sleep inertia, and other sleep-wake transition disorders are more common among people suffering from narcolepsy. Visual and auditory hallucinations during sleep onset-offset periods are very common for them too. People with narcolepsy often experience episodes of cataplexy (loss of muscle control) in response to sudden emotions.

IH. People with IH often suffer from sleep inertia and confusional arousal. However, they also sleep for more extended hours. Periodic napping hardly helps since these naps can extend for long hours and turn out to be utterly unrefreshing. They usually have problems waking up to alarm clocks and other external stimuli, although it is not a circadian rhythm disorder. In essence, their excessive daytime sleepiness is independent of the duration of their nighttime rest.

Is Idiopathic Hypersomnia the Same as Hypersomnolence?

Several blogs and articles on the web use IH and hypersomnolence interchangeably, although they are different from each other. IH is a subclass of primary hypersomnia. In a way, you could say that all cases of IH are also cases of hypersomnia, but all instances of hypersomnia are not IH. Medically, IH is the same as primary hypersomnia, HI, central hypersomnia and hypersomnia of the brain origin. For example – DSM IV defines idiopathic hypersomnia as EDS without the instance of narcolepsy. It is a subset of primary hypersomnia since it occurs without the cases of secondary hypersomnia causes.

Since it is the hypersomnia of the brain origin, GABA receptors may have an important role to play in this disorder. Although popular medications for other forms of secondary and primary hypersomnias are ineffective for IH, GABA-directed medications sometimes work in alleviating the symptoms of this sleep-wake disorder. These medications currently include variants of clarithromycin and flumazenil.

IH is a lifelong disorder, unlike the Kleine-Levin Syndrome. The symptoms usually begin with the onset of puberty, but unlike the latter, the symptoms do not disappear with age. It is a progressive disorder, but effective medication and improvement in sleeping habits can stabilize it. It has profound social and professional consequences just like any other primary hypersomnia. Therefore, it is easy to confuse IH with hypersomnia.

What is the Prognosis of Hypersomnia?

Hypersomnia is a heterogeneous disorder. Therefore, its prognosis depends on the cause of the particular case at hand. It is understandable that the prognosis of Kleine-Levin Syndrome will vary considerably from that of narcolepsy. As we have mentioned before, the cause of hypersomnia can be a tumor, stroke, head injury, autoimmune disease or a neurodegenerative disease. The only way to treat a complex disorder as this one is by addressing the cause at a grassroots level.

Most often, hypersomnia is not a life-threatening condition. However, this disorder has severe consequences including a higher risk of automobile accidents, higher risk during operation of heavy machinery, prolonged absence from work or school without legit explanation. In most cases, people are unsympathetic towards young students or adult job holders, who seem physically healthy, but sleepy all the time.

Modern culture has little tolerance for daytime sleepiness and the “laziness” that arises from it. It is also due to the lack of enough awareness about the disease. It can compromise one’s cognition and decision-making abilities as well. It takes a hefty toll on people’s social associations, career, and personal life. Educating relatives, friends, and colleagues or teachers helps the sufferer manage the disorder better than before.

What are Some of the Recent Research on Hypersomnia that Gives us Hope?

Research on the subject of hypersomnolence has been ongoing for the last several decades. There have been a few breakthroughs in the diagnostics, and treatment of the same. Here are the few examples from the scientific papers and recent publications.

L-carnitine

Recent research on several subjects suffering from Narcolepsy shows that their bodies have an abnormally low level of Acylcarnitine. In case of similar studies of hypersomnolence in mice, researchers have noticed a similarly lower level of acylcarnitine. In case of mice, the deficiency causes a significantly higher frequency of fragmented sleep and REM sleep. It also reduces locomotor activity in these subjects.

Another study on human subjects shows that when people suffering from hypersomnia received supplements of L-carnitine, they showed lesser hours of daytime sleepiness as compared to a control group, who received a placebo.

Melatonin

Melatonin has to be one of the most popular compounds that sleep experts and doctors use for the treatment of sleep disorders. Several studies have used slow release (SR) melatonin at a dose of 2 mg during bedtime. It has reportedly relieved daytime sleepiness and sleep drunkenness in the patient subjects about 50% of the times.

Levothyroxine

Off late, there have been several studies that suggest the use of levothyroxine for the treatment of IH. That is potential miracle molecule that can cure subclinical hypothyroidism in human beings. However, there is a massive caveat to this treatment that is keeping it from extensive human trials. Repetitive therapy with levothyroxine can cause cardiac arrhythmia in mammalian subjects.

Hypocretin Agonists

Hypocretin-1 is one of the most robust wake-promoting molecules in animal models of research. However, it does not cross the blood-brain barrier. Recent publications on the treatment of insomnia show the creation of a hypocretin receptor for the animal brain. It is indeed possible for the scientists to create something similar, but a hypocretin agonist for the treatment of hypersomnia.

Clarithromycin

In a world, where the treatments of central hypersomnia disorders are few, researchers have to make the most of what they have. Clarithromycin has recently become famous as the miracle drug that can treat and potentially control hypersomnia.

It is one unique compound that has GABA modulating qualities. However, it is still in phase 2 clinical trial levels, and not much is public about the effects of clarithromycin on the overall health of individuals suffering from hypersomnia.  

What is an Exceptional Case of Hypersomnia?

Very recently, the American Sleep Association has included the human form of African sleeping sickness or African trypanosomiasis. It is a disease that causes a hyperimmune reaction that keeps the sleep cycles undisturbed in the initial phases of the disease. It is entirely different from the immune response to HIV and Whipple’s disease cause.

During the infection of these two diseases, the auto-antibodies send the infected person to a sleepless hyperdrive in the initial stages of the disease. However, as the disease progresses and the trypanosomes enter the meninges, and the brain, auto-antibodies against the nervous system take over and send the patient into a stage of comatose sleep for long hours. The entry of the trypanosomes into the CNS disrupts the sleep-wakefulness cycles. It results in the disappearance of the circadian rhythmicity of the patient’s sleep-wake transitions. There is a general absence of conventional sleep structures, and the excessive sleep can occur at any time.

The treatment of this form of secondary hypersomnia usually depends on the kind of infection. For example, trypanosomiasis is a protozoan disease that requires intensive treatment involving several doses of strong antibiotics such as pentamidine, suramin, nifurtimox, and melarsoprol.

Similarly, if Whipple’s disease or HIV is the cause of hypersomnia in a patient, the treatment should be to treat and eliminate the causal organism, rather than to dispense symptomatic treatment.

Why is Learning About Hypersomnia so Important?

We have all heard about that one person, who falls asleep everywhere or the other person who slept at least 8 hours at night but was always tired. When we gossip about such individuals, we rarely take into account that this can happen to us tomorrow. Take for example the case of Danielle Hulshizer. She fell asleep before midnight, every night, but never felt fresh after waking up. She was one of those people, who are most likely to say “five more minutes” after the alarm went off. There were times when her fiancé would pick her up from bed physically to see if she would stand. Even that would be a failed attempt at times since she would slump right back on the mattress or on the floor and continue sleeping.

It seems fine as long as the person is living alone or has flexible job hours. For people with a family or a new partner, managing their sleep schedule along with meeting their family and social responsibilities become impossible. That is one of the reasons adults with flexible job hours often find it easier to manage their hypersomnolence without medical intervention. However, those are rare cases, since for most adults suffering from EDS it starts to interfere with their family life. Therefore, most doctors recommend family counseling along with other medication and behavior therapy as ways to manage instances of excessive daytime sleepiness.

More sleep is rarely helpful for these people. It causes more distress than de-stressing. It often leads to chronic pains of the lower back, stiffness of muscles on the shoulders and neck, terrible headaches and blood pressure problems. Imagine waking up tired after 12 long hours of sleep, or maybe you do not have to! If you recognize more than one symptom we have mentioned here, it is time for you to visit a sleep specialist.

As you can see, hypersomnia or excessive sleep is rarely a case of laziness. It is a severe disorder that affects every aspect of a person’s life. Visiting a doctor is always the best thing to do before you start taking stimulating medication. As we have mentioned before, hypersomnia can have more than one cause, the treatment of this disorder can be quite complicated. Although many forms of primary hypersomnia are not completely curable, they are easily manageable thanks to modern medical research and technology. You will need to undergo polysomnography and other SOREMPs tests to confirm the diagnosis, but at the end of it all, staying awake to appreciate an entire day is worth it!

Residing in a modern, urban environment increases the chances of experiencing insufficient sleep. Should your home be located within a city or its surrounding areas, there’s a 70% chance that you’re not getting enough sleep.

About 70 million people in the US suffer from sleep disorders. Sleeping disorders have graduated from being a lifestyle disease to an epidemic in the states in the recent years. Only about 10% of those people see sleep-wake disorders as a serious medical issue and seek treatment for the same. Most of the affected population does not realize the severity of the problem up until the deprivation interferes with the productivity of the individual.

A majority of the US population, who seek medical assistance for their sleep disorders rely on strong somnolent for their daily nightly slumber. It makes us question the long-term action of these chemical compounds. Is it possible for people to wean off sleeping pills? Can you switch to a healthier alternative for long-term relief from insomnia and sleep-wake disorders such as essential oils?

Why is this the Era of Essential Oils for Sleep?

Modern science allows people to restore their sleep-wake cycles and sync their circadian rhythms using natural hormone supplements. There are many sleep-inducing medications that not only help with reducing the latency period of sleep onset but also help with the quality of sleep.

There are sleeping aids that improve the duration of rest and allow people to get their complete rest on all nights of the week. Pharmaceutical sleeping aids are always instantly useful, but they might not be the long-term solution for you. If you do not get enough sleep, it might be time for you to make a few changes in your lifestyle and sleep hygiene.

Insomnia and delayed sleep phase disorder are the two most common sleeping problems that plague the modern population. Teenagers, young adults, and even the older adults suffer from various forms of sleep disorders that they believe to be insomnia. However, the lack of sufficient rest is not the same as insomnia. The latter is a chronic lack of sleep that can result in excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and fatigue.

Almost everyone has faced problems falling asleep or staying asleep in their lifetime. Once the challenges keep recurring, it becomes worthy of immediate medical attention. The most common effects of a sleeping disorder include;

 

• Decreased cognitive functions.

• Imbalance of mood and frequent mood swings.

• Addiction to caffeine, wakefulness promoting drugs and increased chances of alcohol addiction.

• Problem performing regular activities.

• Frequent irritability.

Can Caffeine Replace the Need for Sleep Therapy?

Many people refrain from all kinds of medical and OTC aid and rely on two solid cups of caffeine to boost their morning energy. A cup of coffee in the morning seems like the best way to drive drowsiness away, with another cup following it in the mid-afternoon. However, how good is that practice for you?

People with Hashimoto’s, adrenaline fatigue, anxiety disorders, hormonal imbalance, hypertension, and unpredictable hot flushes often get to see the other side of regular coffee consumption. Here are a few reasons you should always reconsider your daily coffee habits.

1. It increases the blood sugar levels.
   
2. Coffee promotes cravings for carbohydrates.
   
3. It can stimulate adrenaline activity.
   
4. It can increase stomach acid levels and boost acid reflux.
   
5. It can exacerbate the effects of PMS.
   
6. Caffeine increases the inflammatory response in people.
   
7. It can cause poor sleep and increase the effects of insomnia.
   
8. Impacts on thyroid hormone synthesis and secretion levels.

These are only some of the more prominent effects of coffee on the human system. Several subtle interactions have a massive impact on the body including great fatigue and stress. One alternative to your mid-day caffeine shot is peppermint. Try taking a whiff of strong peppermint essential oil for sending a jolt of energy to your extremities and remain active throughout the day.

Why do you Need Natural Sleep-Inducing Components Instead of Sleeping Pills?

Chemical components like benzodiazepines pose a high risk of addiction in long-term users. Almost all sleeping medications have some form of side effect that takes a toll on the health in the long run. These medications can increase the chances of getting cancer later in life by 35%. They have strong interactions with neurotransmitters like GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid).

Xanax and Valium are common medications people use for improving their sleep duration and quality. However, the awareness lot are gradually replacing their sleep medicines with essential oils (EOs) that can show long-term improvement of sleeping habits. Since they can bind to olfactory receptors and act as the critical intermediates that can regulate neurotransmitters to boost sound rest, essential aromatic oils are becoming the favorite instruments of inducing proper resting hours and resetting the circadian rhythm among people of all ages.  

How do Essential Oils Work to Induce Calmness and Relaxation?

Essential oils for sleep are transdermal. They can cross the skin barrier, and they can work on the physio-chemical signaling process in multiple ways. Applying them during the day or night can have distinct effects on your homeostasis due to the biochemical effects they have. You can choose to mix a few drops of essential oil with your body lotion or inhale them via diffusion.

The presence of the aromatic molecules can change your fatigue levels instantly. For example, lavender essential oil molecules can enter the bloodstream in less than 5 minutes. It is especially useful when you massage it in with your body lotion. The calming effect of lavender or ylang-ylang essential oils is prominent when you directly massage them onto your skin or inhale them.

An initial study from 1992 showed that the concentration of lavender rose to a maximum after about 20 minutes of application or diffusion. The sedative effects stayed for 90 minutes and then subsided quickly. The impacts of most concentrated forms of essential oils are ephemeral. Therefore, experiencing side effects or unwanted symptoms is very uncommon for all aromatic oils.

What are the Essential Plant Oils you Must Try for Experiencing Better Quality Sleep?

Lavender is one of the most popular essential oils people use for relaxation. Every study since the dawn of essential oils for sleep shows that using essential oils have very few side effects. Since they are entirely natural and we often find ourselves among the natural sources of these aromatic oils like the lavender flower or jasmine flower, their results are controllable and positive. Almost no adverse effects were present during these prolonged studies on chosen test subjects.

Another research involving aromatic lavender oil shows that people who were initially on benzodiazepine could quickly switch to the essential oil therapy on a regular basis to restore optimum duration and quality of sleep. This study suggests the frequent use of lavender and other essential oils for temporary relief from the extensive use of strong sleep medications.

Essential oils can have more than one impact on human health. Anxiolytic oils can have stronger calming effects on the body that can induce healthy sleep. Almost all sleep-inducing essential oils can have stress-busting and anxiety-relieving effects. A few of the oils you can try for dual impact include;

• Angelica oil

• Orange bigarade

• Bergamot oil

• Palmarosa oil

• Sweet orange aromatic extract

• May Chang

• Geranium

• Valerian

• Patchouli

• Sweet marjoram

• Sandalwood

• Chamomile

• Basil

• Lemon-scented ironbark

You can choose to use these essential oils alone in the diffuser or mix equal parts of 2 or 3 essential oils with the carrier oil for enjoying the positive effects.

How can you Include the Aromatic Oil of Your Choice in Your Daily Routine?

Essential oils do not work independently of a human being’s biochemical metabolism. Therefore, the way a particular aromatic oil works for you will never be the same as it does for your friend or your acquaintance. Several people are allergic to the smell of rose or jasmine.

Using essential oil from these flowers or plants can be far from relaxing for the majority of the people. It is something we see in the effectiveness of medication as well. Some people may show a higher resistance to tranquilizers and sedatives. Either they take a higher dose of sleeping medication, or they switch to a newer compound that is more effective.

In case an aroma oil does not work for you transdermally, or via diffusion, you can always try utilizing other options. It can take some time for you to exhaust all the available relaxing and sleep abating aromatic extracts before you find the one that agrees with your system.

Here are the several ways you can enjoy the effectiveness of aromatherapy;

1. Diffusion. You can either create a homemade blend of your favorite oils and carrier oil (live virgin olive oil or linseed oil) in your diffuser. You can add two parts of the significant relaxing oil along with one portion of each sweetening oil for the best effect. For example, people find the blend of 2 drops of ylang-ylang, 1 drop of marjoram, and one drop of lavender very soothing before bedtime.
   
2. Topical application. Another way to enjoy the bliss of aromatherapy is by applying the critical oils on your body directly along with your moisturizer or body oil. There are several trigger points like the wrists, bottom of the feet, behind the knees and the ears and on the fold of the elbow. Applying the essential oils mixed with body lotion can trigger relaxation in less than 5 minutes.
   
3. Misting spray. Many DIY hackers are expressing their loyalty for the misting sprays during the hot summer months. Mixing a couple of drops of your favorite essential oils along with clean water in the right proportions can work as the miracle stress buster. A smart way to experience better sleep is by misting your pillow immediately before rest. Keep the DIY spray bottle by your bed, and once you wake up in the middle of the night, you can always spray some more on the pillow and your mattress.
   
4. DIY detox bath. Detoxifying bath recipes can be hugely diverse. The methods can vary from region to region depending on the availability of the resources. You can also choose to restrict your first DIY bath experience to hand and foot soaks. While you can get a detoxing foot spa and hand spa at massage centers for a fortune, you can always create one from the essential oils you have at home. Stock up on bath crystals or Epsom salts. You will still need it for starting your DIY home spa. Add one-fourth cup of apple cider vinegar, two drops of lemon essential oil and five drops of lavender essential oil. Replace the carrier oil with one teaspoon of liquid castile soap for a hand or feet soak recipe. Soak for 20 to 30 minutes.
   
5. DIY hand moisturizer or cream. A delicate blend of one-fourth cup shea butter, one-eighth cup carrier oil and one tablespoon of beeswax can contribute to an excellent hand cream or hand moisturizer base for all. Be careful of allergies while adding the beeswax or carrier oils to your cream base. You can add any relaxing essential oil (15 drops) to the mix for imparting healing and relaxing effects to it.

There are plenty of ways to make the essential oils a part of your regular life. Whether you like to smell fresh and zesty all day long or whether you like a beautiful aroma inside your house, there’s always a way of inducing relaxation. Other methods to enjoy the stress-busting effects of aromatic oils include DIY hand soaps, DIY body soaps and shampoos, skin serums and body lotions with infused oils.

What are the Most Straightforward Five EO Blends that Work for All?

There are a few sleep blends that work for everyone. Mixing more than one essential oil with carrier oils have become the popular practice nowadays. Each type of oil is a concentrated extract of plant chemicals that usually come from the flowers, leaves, barks, roots and even fruits. Due to their diverse sources and different nature of chemical constituents, each one has distinct effects on the nervous system and the endocrine system.

It is the principal reason why you need to try all the aromatic oils before you can go ahead and blend them. However, the following are the five most popular recipes that can help you rest better than before.

Recipe 1: This one works best in cases of insomnia. The effectiveness of the formula and the sheer lack of side effects make it ideal for children and grown adults as well.

1. Add a drop of rosemary oil.
   
2. Mix in three drops of eucalyptus oil.
   
3. Add two drops of lavender.
   
4. Mix this with 10 ml of carrier oil.

You can add this to your lotion directly or to a diffuser. The recipe is effective transdermally as well as olfactorily. Massaging it to a visibly tense area of the muscle always helps in relaxing the area.

Recipe 2: This one is the best treatment for insomnia that arises due to excessive anxiety and stress.

1. Add two drops of each – roman chamomile, sweet marjoram, and lavender.
   
2. Add this mix to 10 ml of any carrier oil.

You can try to massage this mix under your feet for instant relaxing effects. You may want to skip the carrier oil and add this to the diffuser for the traditional aromatherapy.

Recipe 3: There are times when stress, muscle tightness, and headaches make it impossible for people to sleep. Here’s a method for your stress-induced insomnia .

1. A single drop of sweet orange oil.
   
2. Add One drop of lavender to it.
   
3. Mix in Two drops of essential geranium extract.
   
4. Mix this with 10 ml carrier oil.

You can massage this onto your neck, shoulders, forehead and your feet. This one is an easy recipe that is one of the most effective in reinstating restorative sleep in children and adults.

Recipe 4: Beating nausea becomes a considerable factor after an evening of partying or a whole day of eating junk food. Insomnia due to nausea can be annoying and challenging. It is one recipe that works like a miracle for us.

1. Add two drops of sweet orange oil.
   
2. Include two drops of peppermint essential oil.
   
3. Mix this in with 10 ml carrier oil.

Massaging this mix onto your stomach and feet can drive away your nausea in record time.

Recipe 5: This “sweet sleep” recipe is one of our favorites due to the easy availability of all the components and the natural resolution of chronic fatigue syndrome.

1. Mix three drops of lavender.
   
2. Add three drops of Roman chamomile.
   
3. Add three drops of sweet orange.
   
4. Mix this with 10 ml carrier oil.

Skip the carrier oil if you are looking for a diffuser blend. You can add this directly to your massage oil or apply this directly on your chest, throat, neck, and feet.  

These are the five of the most straightforward essential oil blends that can relieve your regular stress, fatigue, anxiety and insomnia symptoms. The mixtures are great for diffusion or direct topical application unless you are allergic to any particular component.

How can You find the Best Carrier oil for Your skin, Hair and overall Health?

The most important part of any natural essential oil blend for sleep is the carrier oil. Whether you decide to make a mix for your electric diffuser or a hand cream for your family, you must consider the options of carrier oils. Research shows, several of these oils have specific effects on controlling acne, skin infections, the roughness of skin, and chronic rashes.

Without the proper knowledge about the irritating or soothing impacts of oils, you might spend years of a toxic carousal that can cause the skin to break out or worse. The base oils are usually nut derivatives. Considering the predominant nut allergy in the US population, it is imperative that you check their suitability for yourself and your family.

Different skin types have different base oil requirements. You can combine multiple base oils or use them as a moisturizer for your skin. Their fundamental role is as a dilution agent for the strong aromatic compounds present in essential extracts. Since the essential oils are products of repetitive extraction and partial distillation, the results are stronger than we presume. Applying essential oils directly to skin or hair can cause more harm than benefit.

Choosing the correct base oil can take sufficient time and a lot of hit-and-trial methods. It is entirely alright to engage in different skincare or healthcare routines around the year to suit the needs of the changing weather. The best quality carrier oils are not as volatile as the aromatic oils. They do not evaporate readily in heat. Here are a few carrier oils you can try this year for exacting the most out of your essential oil blends –

Grapeseed oil. It is perfect for massages since it is not as heavy or sticky. It is high in linoleic acid that makes it ideal for the dry and damaged skin. Although it has a short shelf-life, it is suitable as a moisturizing agent.  

Jojoba oil. The eponymous oil in almost all good shampoos, conditioners, and serums. It has a nutty smell and medium-light consistency. It has a long shelf life too.

Olive oil. It is the most common carrier oil in the entire world. We love it because it is easy to buy, store and use. You can use it without blending for conditioning your hair or soothing dry, irritated skin. It is thicker and hence better suited for the winter months. It has high omega fatty acid content.

Coconut Oil. The fractionated form of coconut oil is liquid and has no aroma. It is the best natural source of essential fatty acids for skin and hair. It has a long shelf life, and it is perfect for winter months.

Cocoa Butter. The smell is just incredible, although it is difficult to manage at room temperatures. You can easily blend it by heating it and then mix it with essential oils. The chocolaty aroma makes it perfect for making hand creams, face creams, and lip balms.

Shea butter. Another fantastic natural source of essential fatty acids that rejuvenates skin. It has a pleasant nutty smell, and it can moisturize your skin for long hours.  

Sweet Almond oil. Although this one is easy to find online, we do not recommend it for everyone. Almond oil comes from nuts, and it can worsen skin conditions in those with nut allergies. Always check for allergies before switching to this carrier oil.

You must experiment with the available carrier oils before settling for one. Skin texture can vary incredibly between people and what works for one does not necessarily work for another person. To find the one that suits you perfectly, give each type of carrier oil a chance for about two weeks before you shift to another.

Is it Safe to Ingest Essential Oils for Sleep?

A huge mistake people make is assuming the safety of products just because they are natural. Essential oils might come from plants and plant products, but that does not automatically make them safe for ingestion. There are several flowers, fruits and leaves in the wilderness that are severely poisonous for human consumption, although several medicines come from them. Anything that is natural does not have to be harmless.

100% pure and natural essential oils are in high concentration due to the repeated purification and distillation steps they go through. They contain a high consistency of aromatic compounds that contribute to their aroma and volatility. These are also the same molecules that give them their healing abilities. Nonetheless, we cannot ingest them and digest them without experiencing the adverse side effects. It might seem like swallowing a sleep-inducing agent is the best way to enjoy its calming effects but adding essential oils to your tea or drinking water might not be a great idea.

Unless you have a doctor or experienced aromatherapist telling you precisely what to do or how to prepare the delicious blend, there is no way you can be sure about the safety of the mix. Ingesting aromatic compounds in large amounts on a regular basis can compromise liver, kidney, stomach, and even brain functions in adults. Instead of using the aromatic essential oils, you can try using the source flowers or the roots to make tea. For example – check out the recipes for chamomile tea, valerian root tea, calming lavender water and lemon zest sleepy tea for shooing away insomnia.

It is best to restrict yourself to inhalation therapy and transdermal administration for the time being, in case you cannot find a proper guide for the process.

How are Essential oils Useful for Inducing Relaxation?

Some essential oils like cedarwood, vetiver, lavender, Roman chamomile, bergamot, wild sweet orange, and frankincense have a sound relaxing effect on the nervous system. They can diffuse through our skin, or they can bind the smell receptors inside our nostrils that start a cascade of reactions.

Over 6000 years of data on aromatherapy contributes to the collective knowledge about the therapeutic effects of these EOs. They contain a mix of saturated and unsaturated aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, esters, alcohols, terpenes, ketones, ethers, and phenols. These are the organic molecular structures that contribute to the distinct smell of each EO. The oils come from different plant parts like the specialized cells, root, root hairs, intercellular spaces and even reservoirs that store these compounds for either promoting communication or defense.

They have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, circulatory, emotional, calming and even energizing properties. Some of them can usually enhance sleep quality and duration due to their complex chemical structures. These EO molecules are parts of the several cascading and intertwined biochemical reactions that lead to muscle relaxation, unwinding of the nervous system and induction of sleep. They can mediate the release or suppression of neurotransmitters like serotonin, noradrenaline, and endorphins to alter the states of activity and rest.

Although scientists and medical researchers do not yet understand the complex mechanisms of the actions of these EOs, their studies prove the usefulness of EOs in treating sleep-wake disorders and circadian rhythm disorders.

Why Should you Give Aromatic Essential Oils for Relaxation and Sleep a Chance in your Life?

Research reveals the effectiveness of essential oils in replacing traditional sleep-inducing medication in children and adults. Unlike the barbiturates and benzodiazepines that the doctors prescribe at times, these natural EOs do not induce addiction among people. You can start with personal aromatherapy with a necessary dispenser, and you can stop it any time you want. Making blends of essential extracts that boost sleep is also cost useful and straightforward. Even children can enjoy the relaxing benefits of these blends without experiencing any addictive or adverse side effects.  

You can choose from among several procedures to include aroma oils in your daily life. You can pick between cosmetic aromatherapy, medical aromatherapy, massage aromatherapy, and psycho-aromatherapy to introduce serenity and repose. You can either pamper yourself a little by hitting the spa or save a fortune by making your DIY aromatherapy arrangement. Nonetheless, the EO industry is about to experience a boom of almost $11.5 billion by 2022.

Essential oils are your wholly natural and healthy reason to enjoy life to the fullest. There is no longer any cause for you to stay up all night and feel tired the next day. Your kids can now concentrate on their studies since they can sleep better, all naturally during the night. Thanks to the web, you can buy real and 100% pure natural EOs any time you want. Choose any calming natural oil blend you like, pick carrier oil and get your dispenser working for a complete night’s rest.

Ever found yourself jolted awake from a state close to sleep by a loud noise that apparently no one else heard? This phenomenon usually occurs at the moment one is drifting off to sleep or beginning to awake. It seldom happens in the depths of deep sleep. People frequently describe the experience of hearing loud sounds like screams, gunshots, crashes, bangs, or blasts. This experience isn’t just a product of one’s imagination. Rather, it’s a rare type of sleep disorder.

Scientists initially believed this problem to be unique among human beings, but off-late, a large percentage of adults are reporting experiences that point towards the precedence of exploding head syndrome. The experience of the loud noise or explosion gives the disorder its moniker. Experts call these loud explosion-like noises hypnagogic hallucinations or delusions that occur immediately before a person is about to fall asleep. These are in their auditory form, but at times they occur with visual hallucinations as well. It is not a part of paracusia that usually accompanies psychiatric disorders.

While auditory hallucinations may be a part of several psychiatric diseases, they do not serve as the only distinguishing factor for them. Therefore, people experiencing auditory hallucinations like explosions, gunshots or even loud voices do not necessarily have psychiatric disorders. Earlier, the scientists and doctors attributed auditory hallucinations to cognitive suppression, but newer research shows their co-existence with speech misinterpretations. Several underlying neural activity disorders might contribute to auditory hallucinations in all ages.

Over the last decade, psychiatrists and neuroscientists have tried to link several instances of auditory hallucinations during sleep with genetic components. The trials have remained unsuccessful till now. The non-psychotic causes of hypnagogia are still majorly unknown. The research on the causes and treatment of the same are ongoing. Some psychologists and sleep experts are of the opinion that sleep-related disorders are forms of dissociative disorders that people experience when they are about the fall asleep.

People with this complaint often have dissociative episodes during sleep-wake transitions. They are more likely to have a history of childhood trauma, PTSD, and borderline personality disorders. Experts often refer to exploding head syndrome as nocturnal disorders or dissociative pseudo parasomnia.  

What is Exploding Head Syndrome?

“Episodic sensory shock,” “resetting of neural pathways,” “snapping of the brain” and “sensory discharges,” many terms often refer to the same syndrome. The exploding head is a phenomenon a lot of people experience on a regular basis while falling asleep or while waking up from a deep sleep. Some of them have been experiencing this ever since they were children. As a result, they do not think of it as something extraordinary or a disorder.

Several studies over the last couple of years show that the exploding head syndrome is another parasomnia or sleep-wake transition disorder that manifests in the form of sudden loud sounds that jolt people out of their slumber. It is a sleep-wake transition disorder that usually takes place during hypnagogia or hypnopompia. These two phases occur during different stages of the sleep cycle, and they facilitate a plethora of auditory hallucinations.

Most people experience hypnagogic hallucinations on a regular basis, but the problem arises when part of it involves loud bangs or booms that disrupt their resting state and send them on a trip to sleep deprivation.  

Who is More Likely to Suffer From EHS?

The beginning of the episodes comes without any indication. Initially, this particular disorder did not have as many reported cases as insomnia, RBD or restless leg syndrome. It could be due to the taboo associated with mental disorders and people’s proclivity to believing that hearing “inaudible” noises is a sign of mental illness.

Experts found one of the first instances of EHS is in the biography of Rene Descartes dating back to 1691. Current studies on the epidemiology of the disease show that over 13.5% of the American population may be suffering from this nocturnal disorder.

• Women are more likely to experience exploding head syndrome (EHS) and other related parasomnias than men.

• Most patients begin to experience these episodes by the age of 54.

• It can occur as frequently as once a day or once a week.

• The incidence decreases with progressing years, even without extensive therapy.

It is everyday sleep-wake transition disorder experts have observed among children. People who experience EHS also experience isolated incidents of sleep paralysis and vivid dream-like hallucinations during their transition between sleep and wakefulness.

What is a Parasomnia? Does Explosive Head Syndrome Qualify as a Parasomnia?

Parasomnias are all the unnatural or abnormal things that can happen to people when they are falling asleep, waking up, or sound asleep. Apart from sleep apnea, other sleeping disorders including night terrors, sleep-eating, sleep-walking, and hypnic jerks are all forms of parasomnia. It can encompass all types of strange behaviors, emotions, and perceptions during different stages of sleep.

Most parasomnias are part of the transition between REM and NREM sleep. Some of the parasomnias disappear as they grow older. This class of sleeping disorder often causes people to hallucinate. It can even result to auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations. Exploding head syndrome falls under the category of parasomnia. It involves hearing unpleasant loud noises that do not exist.

It is a perfect example of a parasomnia that disrupts rest. It sometimes causes people to believe that they are suffering from a stroke or a heart attack. Further, it can result in physical distress due to the suddenness, but they rarely occur due to physical suffering. Therefore, it is a classic case of parasomnia in children and adults. Sometimes, it coincides with phases of sleep paralysis in children.

It can be quite disorienting and terrifying for a child. It can lead to further problems with sleep schedules, and sleep hygiene if recurrence of sleep paralysis in kids does not receive enough attention. Not all parasomnias have a medical cure. However, children might require counseling and extra care to help them get over the fear of auditory and visual hallucinations during the nighttime.

What are the Exact Symptoms of this Sleep-Wake

Transition Disorder?

EHS lacks diagnostic procedures due to the lack of observation or real-time testing. There are several symptoms and signs that people have reported over the last couple of years. There are several known and unknown genetic factors, environmental stressors and other causes of such sleep disorders. These are more common in children than adults due to the high plasticity of their brain structure.

Sudden Loud Noise

We do hear sudden loud noises when we are asleep from time to time. As long as it is our neighbor mowing the lawn at an ungodly hour, we should be thankful. People with EHS often hear loud sounds that are not even real. They seem to be coming from within their heads since no one else in the house, or the neighborhood can listen to them. People describe the loud noises in the following ways.

• Gunshot

• Bomb explosion

• Clashing cymbals

• Screaming or shouting

• Falling or crashing utensils

• Rushing sound

• Loud slamming of doors

 

• Electrical whirring and buzzing

A Fflash of Light

The brain works in mysterious ways. Some people experience just the sound, while others always see a flash of light accompanying it. There is no real source of light, just like there is no real source of the sound. There is no current explanation for this symptom of EHS.

Anxiety and Fear

It is very uncommon for anyone to report the physical sensation of pain accompanying an episode of this parasomnia. However, they describe feeling anxious and afraid as a result of the sudden loud noise. The suddenness often causes considerable distress, which causes people to wake up feeling upset, disturbed or even scared.

Discomfort and Difficulty in Breathing

People often report feeling short of breath as the sound startles them awake. Some of them bolt upright that increases the heart palpitations. Experiencing faster heartbeat for an extended period can cause breathing difficulties that might require medical attention.

Sleep Paralysis Attacks

Some cases of EHS come with accompanying sleep paralysis. It is a popular sleep-wake dissociative disorder that gives people a feeling of OBE-ing or losing control of their limbs. Perceptions of a hefty weight on the chest and sensation of a supernatural presence in the room are standard parts of the audio-visual hallucination.  

People suffering from frequent attacks of EHS and other forms of hallucinations often feel paranoid. Some claim government conspiracies or even presence of alien beings in their neighborhood to explain their “unexplainable” auditory hallucinations. However, the episodes are the scariest for children, who are learning to sleep in their rooms alone. The confirmed diagnosis assures them that they are not alone in the world. There are thousands of ordinary productive people out there, who suffer from this nocturnal hypnagogia.

What Factors Cause People to Hear Loud Noises or Explosions in their Head?

The exact causes of this syndrome are still unknown. There have been several theoretical explanations that put forth neural misfiring, neurological disorders, psychological issues, and even stress as the probable cause of this disorder.

1. A neurological condition such as small seizures of the temporal lobe can potentially cause a person to hear sudden loud sounds.
2. Sudden compression or dilation of the tympanum or pressure changes in the tensor tympani can lead to loud noises only the person can hear.
3. People, who suffer from high levels of fear, anxiety, and stress, are more likely to experience frequent episodes of EHS.
4. The occasional impairment in calcium signaling pathways can lead to the same.

Some scientists prefer classifying the occurrence of EHS with hypnic jerks. These are common myoclonus or muscle jerk movements that occur when someone is in the process of falling asleep. According to Thorpy and Plazzi, authors of The Parasomnias and Other Sleep-Related Movement Disorders, 2010, exploding head syndrome is an amplified form of a hypnic jerk.

One of the most prevalent theories among the experts is the abnormality of the reticular formation in the lower part of the brain (brainstem) that is responsible for the transition. Other approaches include the antidepressant discontinuation syndrome, decline in delta sleep, and PTSD. The current research cites the issues with how a brain “shuts down” during sleep as the leading cause of hypnic jerks and audio hallucinations.

Other sleeping disorders, both REM and non-REM, underlying medical conditions, mental health challenges and history of substance abuse often contribute to exploding health syndrome among the adult population. In children, the causes are less well known, and experts believe it to be another parasomnia that can potentially disrupt their sleep quality and result in sleep deprivation.

Which Other Sleep-Wake Disorders Affect EHS?

Hypnagogic jerk is typical for all ages by several names including sleep start, sleep twitch, night start and myoclonic jerk. It usually results from involuntary muscle twitches that can make a person “jump” while falling asleep. It usually cause rapid breathing, excessive sweating, feeling of a “shock,” or falling from a great height.  

The incidences of the hypnic jerk usually increase in frequency with an increase in stress levels. People with irregular sleep schedules often suffer from sleep starts more often than those with regular sleeping habits. Improvement of sleep hygiene can improve sleep quality and reduce the frequency of sleep starts.

Sleep deprivation is a significant reason behind hypnagogic jerk. It usually occurs during a non-REM sleep cycle, and it is an abrupt movement of the muscles. They are very common during childhood. A child aged eight can experience over ten myoclonic jerks per hour. The occurrence decreases with age to almost 1 per hour by the time people are 65.

Interestingly, most cases of night starts occur without any particular signs or reasons. Research by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine cites caffeine consumption, stress, anxiety, and excessive strenuous activities post evening as leading causes, but these factors do not elicit sleep jerks in everyone. 

Other leading hypothesis states that the reflex might be evolutionary. The brain misinterprets the relaxing of muscles while falling asleep as the signal the body sends when a primate is dropping out of the tree. The hypothesis also states that it allows people to readjust their sleeping postures to something more comfortable than their initial one.

What are the Risks Associated with Exploding Head Syndrome?

The name might sound scary and dramatic, but it can be quite misleading. Yes. It is indeed frightening to hear sudden loud bangs and crashes immediately before falling into a deep sleep state, but it is more perplexing for the individual since they cannot find the source of it after they are wide awake. It often leads to a semi-groggy state of confusion.

From a physiological point of view, exploding head syndrome does not cause any physical harm. There is rarely any physical pain associated with these episodes unless there are additional complications that cause the sufferer to act out after the loud sounds. Other than the occasional hard knocks on the head on the bookshelf above or the stubbing of the toe on the bed frame, there are no reports of physical injury that the EHS causes.

However, people suffering from exploding head syndrome often lay awake after an episode. The trauma from the EHS experience can either last for the night or for coming few nights as well. People, who experience EHS on an almost regular basis often report accompanying insomnia and sleep deprivation that results due to the rapid breathing, anxiety, and shock.

Sleep deprivation can be a serious issue, depending on its extent. While some people report missing an hour of sleep each week due to recurring events of EHS, others lose between 60 to 90 minutes of sleep per day due to regular episodes. Lack of enough restorative rest can compromise cognition and decision-making abilities.

People operating heavy machinery, driving for long distances daily and making critical decisions on a regular basis either as a part of their job or life, often find it difficult to perform to their best abilities after extended periods of staying awake or losing rest. While EHS is a benign condition, its effects are not always that benign. It deserves medical attention and treatment due to its potential interruptive quality.

What are the Treatment Options for Exploding Head Syndrome?

Since most doctors and sleep specialists view EHS as physically harmless, finding a treatment can be difficult. There are not many options to treat a parasomnia like EHS, but it does help to know that you are not the only one suffering from it. Just learning more about the condition often allows people manage it better than before and find a way to reduce the frequency of these episodes.  

In case the condition becomes chronic, and you are crying for a good night’s sleep, here are some mind-blowing things you can try.

Talk to Your Physician Separately

A study on a group of 11 physicians revealed that 9 of them had experienced incidents like loud noises and flashes of bright light while falling asleep. Two of them experience these incidents on a regular basis and have been doing so ever since they were children. Therefore, there is still hope that your doctor will understand the seriousness of your complaint and take the latest research on parasomnias into account before giving you actionable advice.

Sometimes, doctors will prescribe tests to ensure that there are no minor seizures or headache disorders. They will likely reassure you that these processes are harmless. It is prevalent practice for all general physicians. Additionally, they might ask you to keep a personal sleep-log that will hold your day’s activity and sleep quality.

Try New Medication

It should be a step that follows the doctor’s visit. Ideally, you should never try taking medicines that promise to boost sleep quality or duration without expert advice. Additionally, medications are not a confirmed cure for EHS. Some investigations indicate that tricyclic antidepressants like clomipramine and calcium channel blockers might work in reducing the frequency of it.

Control Your Anxiety and Stress

People, who exert themselves more throughout the day are more likely to experience parasomnias while falling asleep. Sleep-wake transition disorders often coincide with nighttime anxiety, regular stress, and physical exhaustion.

Modern alternative treatments suggest the use of mindfulness techniques to boost positive energy and channel out the tension. Meditation before bedtime and working out in the mornings are beneficial for treating stress and anxiety in all ages. You can also try some simple relaxation workouts in bed to end the unpleasant saga of night starts.

Inculcate Good Sleeping Habits

Good sleeping habit is a broad term that encompasses everything from regulating a sleep schedule, maintaining a regular dinner time, practicing a healthy diet and maybe even meditating for 10 to 20 minutes before sleep.

A large number of people often complaint of insomnia, sleep deprivation, and excessive daytime sleepiness due to a severe lack of regular sleep time. Lifestyle choices and excessive use of electronic gadgets are making the problem worse for all ages.

Opt for Counseling

Although the taboo on mental illnesses and psychological care is receding, several individuals still shy away from asking for expert help from psychologists and psychiatrists. Since there are no apparent causes for the explosive noises, people often assume that they are suffering from one psychological disorder or another.

Incidentally, whether there is an underlying psychiatric condition or not, people often benefit from opting for regular counseling sessions. Firstly, these sessions help people express their feelings, fears, and trepidations about the EHS episodes. Secondly, they can understand that they are neither odd nor untreatable. Finally, talking about life problems and the challenges sleep-wake disorders pose in their lives can help them unwind. It reduces the stress levels significantly and automatically reduces the EHS incidents.

Stop Sweating It

People often spend many sleepless hours worrying about sleep. Checking your watch every 20 minutes and calculating the amount of sleep you will get before the alarm goes off hardly helps in calming you down. Research shows that when people worry more about their sleep onset or sleep duration, they end up staying up for long hours.

A fascinating study states that people often benefit from letting the thoughts and ideas flow before sleep. If there are a bunch of to-dos for you the next day, you might benefit from making a mental list of the tasks. Do not resist the process. The moment you stop worrying about sleep and start thinking about every other thing in that might flow through your mind. You will find the sleep-onset time coming closer than before.

Nightcaps Do Not Help

Stay away from alcohol for a while and see if that helps. Many people believe that nightcaps help them fall asleep quickly. What they do not realize is that the effect of alcohol is temporary. As soon as the ephemeral stupor passes, they might find themselves wide awake. Hypnic jerks and EHS can occur while they are falling asleep or waking up due to the effects of the liquor. Remaining well hydrated and drinking juices with a lot of Vitamin C often help more than drinking alcohol before bedtime.  

Sometimes, a few simple changes can help you embrace better sleeping quality. Sleep-wake transition disorders are characteristics of poor sleep hygiene. Taking a warm bath before bedtime, adding muscle relaxing bath salts, and massaging your calves and back with warm oil can help you enjoy your sleep. You can also try using lavender oil blends such as Roman chamomile blend with sweet orange blossom essential oil in your bath or your body lotion to induce relaxation of your body and mind.

Chamomile tea, jasmine tea, and lemon zest tea reportedly help people fall asleep faster without unpleasant episodes of nighttime starts or loud imaginary noises. Respected research papers on essential oils and their effects on sleep highlight the impacts of these aromatic compounds on decreasing the recurrence of sleep-wake disorders or parasomnias.

How can You Manage Your Auditory Hallucinations?

A list of essential precautions you must take to protect yourself, and your loved one include removing solid headboards, detaching sharp bed ornaments, moving the bed from in front of windows and by reducing the height of the bed. Sudden movements like sitting upright with a start or falling back on the mattress after the “spasm” ends, can cause the sufferer to hit his or her head on the hard headboard or bang his or her feet on the hard bed frame. To prevent them from taking a hard tumble, always prefer sleeping on a low bed that is away from open windows.

For children, you might want to keep the idea of a bunk bed or an open French window at bay for the time being. Sometimes, management of sleeping disorders like EHS is more important than finding a cure. Learning more about this particular parasomnia will help you take care of yourself and to keep your loved ones safe.

People who suffer from EHS do not realize that they fall in the broad spectrum of sleep-wake disorders. Sometimes, they drift into regular sleep and start dreaming. Occasionally, their common dream will turn into an episode of sleep paralysis that precedes a loud, horrific scream and maybe buzzing sounds. A few folks, who can control lucid dreaming and out-of-body experiences, believe these episodes of loud noises to be a part of their regular lucid dreaming. With practice, some of them can control the screams, explosions, bangs, and clangs, and channel them into more tolerable and less shuddering electrical whirring noises.

Sometimes, auditory hallucinations are as simple as rings of the doorbell, barking of dogs, and slamming of doors. If you live alone, and without pets, this can be terrifying indeed. However, forums for people who have experienced EHS before assuring others that there is always a way to control these instances.

The Last few Words About the “Mind-Blowing” Disorder

While reading about the explosive head syndrome, you will notice most blogs, articles and research papers stating that it is a rare disorder that only affects a few. It could not be more untrue right now. With the fast-paced lifestyle, almost 15% of the population report auditory hallucinations. It includes children, adults and seniors alike.

To understand the cause, you may want to think of your brain as a computer processor. When your mind prepares for the sleep mode or hibernation mode, several neural connections are still firing. There are times when the computer freezes while starting or shutting down. There can be the rare misfiring of neurons inside the brain. It results in small but significant kinks that manifest in the form of auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations.

A recent Journal of Sleep Research study showed that out of the 211 undergraduates who were a part of the survey, almost 18% had experienced EHS in the past at least once. 33% of the group stated that they had experienced sleep paralysis and visual hallucinations along with the loud noises. Psychologists further demonstrated that these episodes were not indicative of brain aneurysms, strokes, or epileptic seizures.

Further research has revealed that sleep experts indeed had no idea of how common this experience was since people usually did not approach their physicians with their bizarre and often scary accounts. Many people experiencing this sleep-wake disorder on a regular basis still believe they are alone and they do not want to attract undue attention to themselves.

In reality, EHS is a widespread phenomenon, especially among kids. It is utterly manageable since the introduction of a few good sleeping habits can alleviate the symptoms significantly. Many of the medications that claim to treat EHS, actually dull the noises instead of eliminating them entirely. There is always another way for beating the exploding head syndrome, recognize the category of sounds and not be afraid of them. This method can work better than medication for children and the elderly.

Some folks hit the sack and **bam**—they’re out cold in seconds. Yet, there’s a crew who’ve done everything for some z’s: running themselves ragged all day, dodging snoozes until it’s almost tomorrow, steering clear of naps, popping sleep aids, and even guzzling chamomile tea. Get this: over 60% of U.S. adults wrestle with sleep troubles at least once in a while. If you’re in the camp craving better sleep, stick around for some eye-opening tips that could be the game changer you’ve been looking for.

Now, the fast lifestyle that demands caffeine, alcohol and fast food have made sleep disorders a household issue for almost all families. People often expect adults to suffer the most from a plethora of sleep problems, but studies show that teenagers bear the brunt of a fast lifestyle the most. Extended school hours, extracurricular activities for extra credits and social media on electronic devices drive sleep away from them every night. The average high schooler faces about 90 minutes of sleep deprivation each night.

What is the Role of Melatonin for Sleep?

It is a time when sleep experts and general physicians have started considering sleep disorders as severe ailments, almost akin to an epidemic among the American population. While many primary and secondary factors contribute to the lack of proper rest in individuals, each case points towards one hormone that wreaks havoc to sleep schedules.

Melatonin or N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine is a natural biochemical messenger molecule that determines our quality and quantity of slumber. If you have fixed resting hours, but you wake up tired each morning, you might have to blame your melatonin metabolism. It is a hormone that your brain (pineal gland) synthesizes for your body. The generation process depends on the activity of the mammalian clock genes.

How Does the Sleep-Hormone Work?

The time and level of melatonin synthesis depend upon the internal body clock or circadian rhythm. The messenger molecule level in the system starts increasing immediately after sunset and during the evening. It is due to the action of the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN).

Those that have a perfect 24-hour circadian rhythm that is in sync with the external clock, often experience the higher concentration of melatonin at around 3 am. That is when the sleep is the deepest in human beings. It remains high enough up until this hour, and then it starts decreasing with the early hours of dawn.

By the time you wake up at around 6 or 7 in the morning, melatonin should be the lowest in concentration. People, who manage to wake up on time naturally, each day, often have optimal melatonin synthesis and break-down processes.

What Functions Does Melatonin Have Besides Controlling Sleep?

While this hormone is responsible for controlling sleep in higher mammals, it does have other functions that very few people know. These actions determine how much the supplemental doses of melatonin can react with other metabolic processes.

Here is a hint of the different roles this biochemical messenger plays in the human system.

• It is a potent anti-oxidant in our system.

• Melatonin plays a significant role in the protection of the liver from pancreatitis.

• It is one of the few hormones that have a preventive effect on several neurodegenerative diseases.

• It can regulate the formation of fat cells.

• Melatonin acts as a messenger between the brain, liver, kidney, and intestines. All these organs have melatonin receptors.

• It can form complexes with aluminum, copper, and cadmium. Although the biological implication of this is not well-known.

Currently, several researchers and organizations are running tests on the potential effects of melatonin and its regulatory effects on brain diseases, neuron aging, fat cell breakdown, and liver diseases.

What are the Therapeutic Uses of the “Sleep Molecule”?

Melatonin is a natural component of our biological system. Since each human being already has this bio-active agent present in their body, the side effects of introducing melatonin for therapeutic purposes are significantly low. Additionally, this compound is relatively easy to create in laboratory procedures.

Different kinds of insomnia and sleep disorders respond to this hormone upon conventional treatment. Interestingly, melatonin supplement for individuals, who have normal levels of the hormone, does not affect their sleep duration or quality. Over the last few years, researchers have been trying to treat many diseases with melatonin. Here are a few examples of the therapeutic effects of this hormone.

1. Cancer. Cancers of the colon, rectum, brain, breast, and lung respond to melatonin therapy. However, this natural hormone acts as an anti-cancer agent only when patients undergo supplemental melatonin treatment along with regular radiation and chemotherapy cycles. The hormone can reduce the adverse effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in patients upon conventional treatment.
   
2. Alzheimer’s. Melatonin not only prevents premature aging and early onset Alzheimer’s, but it also treats the disease. Several research papers show that the levels of this messenger decrease with increasing effects of the neurodegenerative disease. Introducing melatonin into the patient’s system slows the neural degeneration process of the brain.
   
3. Gallbladder stones. This is a unique hormone that has widespread effectiveness in treating several disorders and diseases, including gallstones. It can help in the conversion of cholesterol into bile. It mobilizes the stones through the bladder and out the urethra. There is a theory that states the contribution of free radicals in the body to gallstone formation. Melatonin has strong anti-oxidative properties, which can be beneficial for the prevention and treatment of gallstones.
   
4. Headaches. Several types of headaches, especially cluster headaches benefit the most from melatonin supplement therapy. However, it is essential that the individual suffering from migraines consult a doctor before starting their melatonin treatment. It is primarily because a headache is also a potential side effect of the hormone therapy.

Melatonin can offer the consumer protection from radioactivity. It is right for those undergoing radiation therapy for cancer or pain. Tinnitus is another annoying but persistent problem that affects several people across the country for unknown reasons. Research shows melatonin’s effectiveness in treating the eponymous ringing in their ears. It can either be due to better sleep or due to its antioxidant activities. Doctors don’t yet know much about the interactions melatonin causes that relieve tinnitus.

Are There Ways to Control Melatonin Levels Naturally?

There are several natural influencers of melatonin in our immediate environments. Since the synthesis of the hormone depends exclusively on the internal clock genes, there is an extensive relationship between the hormone and the amount of environmental light your body is receiving. People, who spend more time outdoors during the day and stay away from blue light in the evenings, experience standard melatonin actions that can support healthy sleeping habits.

Other factors like the duration of the day, artificial lighting in your office space and your bedroom, choice of food and drinks often influence the hormone levels. A drop or sudden rise in the level of melatonin can leave you feeling fatigued, drowsy, confused, and sulky. Here are a few natural ways you can boost maintain the melatonin synthesis-breakdown balance in your body.

1. Start eating melatonin-rich food like strawberries, tomatoes, rice, barley, olives, walnuts, and cherries. Adding these to your dinner menu, in their natural form, will help you fall asleep faster.
   
2. Cow’s milk has melatonin. If you are not lactose intolerant, you can consider adding cow’s milk to your daily diet.
   
3. Expose yourself to pleasant sunlight in the mornings to lower your melatonin levels.
   
4. Stay away from blue LED lights in the evening and switch to all-white LED in the house to boost a healthy spike in sleep hormone levels.
   
5. Remove caffeine and alcohol from your evenings to keep your sleep-hormone level regular.

Investigations show that when your body absorbs the melatonin levels from your food, you immediately begin to feel calmer and sleeper than before. Choosing the correct diet can significantly influence the quality and duration of your nightly rest.

What are the Potential Side Effects of Taking Sleep-Hormone Supplements?

There are people, who suffer from more severe forms of sleep disorders. For them, these natural processes do little good, due to prolonged negligence. Our system often becomes resistant to natural sources of hormones and supplements due to extended periods of deprivation. In such cases, doctors put them on regular melatonin supplements.

If you are one of the many, who are currently taking melatonin supplements for sleep, you need to stop worrying. It is a natural sleeping aid that has infinitesimally little side effects.

1. Melatonin is already available in the natural form of vegetables, fruits, and animal products. Your body needs volumes that are higher than the natural sources.
   
2. They now come in pill, tablet, chewable and liquid forms.
   
3. Even children can take melatonin for their extensive RBD, night terror, and sleepwalking problems.
   
4. The doses can range between 1 to 10 milligrams per individual, depending on preexisting health conditions, body weight, and age.
   
5. The ideal time to take the supplement is usually half-an-hour to an hour before sleep.

Even though melatonin has very few interactions and side effects, you need to ask your doctor for the complete information on the “drug” before you can start a course.

What are the Correct Dosages of the Hormone that can Treat Sleep Disorders?

The correct dosage of melatonin can help you fall asleep without sweating it. There are millions of people, who take the hormonal supplement for sound sleep each night. Thousands of them believe that increasing the dosage can help them fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. However, that is rarely true.

As we have mentioned before, melatonin for sleep does not support the cause. Instead, it can cause dizziness, nausea, and headaches. Although the side effects of this medication are limited, you need to take the possibilities of unpleasant impacts into account before self-medicating or adjusting the dosage.  

Here is a vague guideline for the dose of melatonin for various problems associated with sleep.

Insomnia and Occasional Sleepiness

These are very common afflictions among the regular American. Children and adults suffer from these problems indiscriminately. The typical dosage for insomnia is about 5 mg before bedtime for adults. Children should, of course, take a smaller dose as per the doctor’s advice. The presence of too much melatonin disrupts the sleep-wake cycle.

The prescription of melatonin to children with neuro-developmental disorders is widespread since they face the most difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep during socially accepted bedtime. Several children require higher than the recommended dosage, but this needs close monitoring and regular testing.

Extensive Periods of Wakefulness Each Night

Several studies suggest a dosage of 2 to 12 mg of melatonin on a regular basis for up to one month for combating delayed sleep phase syndrome.

Disturbed Sleep-Wake Cycle

There have been extensive studies on this form of sleep disorder. Many teens, young adults, and even the elderly population often find themselves awake in the middle of the night and overcome by drowsiness the next day afternoon.

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is usually a product of a disrupted circadian cycle. About 2 to 12 mg of melatonin is the ideal dosage for treating this disorder. The dosage varies significantly due to the tolerance of the individual and the effective minimal dose threshold.

Jet Lag

Jet lag sounds like a simple problem that is a product of extensive travel. It might look like one of those fancy “luxury lifestyle” problems that only affect the rich and the famous, but in reality, traveling outside the country has become extensively popular among all socio-economic classes. Jet lag is a real problem every traveler needs to face.

Sometimes, staying awake throughout the new daytime and only taking 20-minute naps in the afternoon can help you fall asleep at night. However, extensive studies show that jet-lagged travelers benefit more from taking 0.5 to 8 mg of melatonin on the night of landing. If you need, you can continue with a mild dosage of melatonin each night until the lag passes.

Melatonin is entirely different from any other sleep medication or tranquilizer you may have taken this far. Since it is a natural component of our biological system, you are at lesser risk of facing side effects. It helps to restore your sleep-wake cycle of 24 hours. If your body fails to produce enough melatonin per night after dark, the supplement can make up for it. Although it is a natural hormone, you should not exceed nine months on melatonin therapy for effective treatment of any sleep disorders.

Why Should Children try Therapy for Better Rest?

Children who sleep soundly perform better than those who suffer from sleep deprivation. Several pediatricians recommend some form of the calming agent for children who have trouble falling asleep on time every night. Youngsters can suffer from over 1 hour of lost sleep for weeks during school. Poor sleeping hygiene and lousy choice of food often affect their sleeping hours.

Proper rest has a strong relation with ADHD and excessive daytime sleepiness in all age groups. Children often benefit from small doses of liquid melatonin. The dosage depends on their daily need, and usually, a sleep specialist or a doctor provides the necessary advice on the same.

Your child might benefit from readjusting their daily schedules, improving their sleep hygiene and adjusting their bedtime. Engaging in regular physical activity can help children with their sleep-wake cycle beyond belief. Since melatonin treatment should never be a long-term solution for sleep disorders in children, you must always emphasize more on their light exposure, physical activity levels, and diet.

What are a Few Safety Tips you Must Always Remember About Melatonin?

Children, pregnant women, lactating mothers and the older population must exercise extra caution while taking melatonin for sleep. Here are a few things you must ensure during your sleep improvement phase.

1. You should never take melatonin for extended periods. There can be severe side effects for prolonged use since these are usually hormonal effects and they can persist for years. Several times, these side effects stay dormant for months or even for years before surfacing.
   
2. This hormone can increase blood clotting. It can be a serious health challenge for those suffering from heart ailments. Several people recovering from thrombosis use anti-clotting medication to dissolve blood clots. Doctors usually do not recommend melatonin for them. You should always be careful if you are taking medication similar to warfarin.
   
3. Pregnant women and lactating mothers should not use this treatment. If the use is unavoidable, you need to stay under a doctor’s observation for the treatment period.
   
4. Patients with a history of depression or a high predisposition to familial depression should refrain from using melatonin to treat their sleep disorders.
   
5. People who have to drive long distances regularly or operate heavy machinery should not undergo melatonin treatment. The effect of these supplements can interfere with your cognition and decision-making abilities.

Animal-derived melatonin from the pineal glands of cows has been in use for several years now. Although several countries like Germany and Canada have banned the sale and prescription of this supplement since it increases the chances of certain viral infections, you can find it today in the US. Interestingly, in the US, you can buy it as an OTC supplement instead of a medicine or drug.

How Does the Sleep Signaling Molecule Help to Restore Your Sleep?

Melatonin does not work alone to boost your sleep duration and quality. This natural supplement works towards the restoration of your body’s circadian rhythm. By setting the right time for sleep, your body can go back to feeling hungry at the right times and sleepy during bedtime.

1. Melatonin levels increase as the sun goes down and the rise signifies a sharp decrease in core body temperature.
   
2. It lowers your blood pressure and helps your muscles relax by releasing a sleepiness response.
   
3. Melatonin receptors in the brain bind to the rising levels of the hormone to reduce the neural activity. It also decreases the dopamine levels that boost calmness.

The specific cell signaling process melatonin induces, and the mechanism of this hormone’s action is unclear to the research community and medical practitioners. However, they are sure that bright light can suppress the hormone synthesis.

The blue light wavelength can reduce the level of the hormone in the body, and this makes us feel awake. Staying away from bright light, either by replacing your home light with softer mood lighting or by using blue-light blocking goggles can help you maintain a regular melatonin rise and breakdown cycle for a long time.

How do Researchers Know the Effects of Melatonin on Sleep?

There have been several studies that elicit the relationship between this hormone and rest. Research under Dollins et al. showed that the minute quantities of melatonin could improve sleep onset time significantly when the environment was sleep-inducing as well. The studied doses reduced oral temperatures among the subjects and shortened the sleep latency.

A recent 2017 study by Xie and Chen shows that melatonin can improve sleep onset time, sleep duration and rest quality in people without creating dependence. Benzodiazepines, antihistamines, and antidepressants can result in prolonged addiction problems among the users. N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine is a natural hormone that our pineal gland produces. Therefore, the chance of developing an addiction to it is doubtful.  

Melatonin is an alternative to current therapies that address sleeping disorders, with fewer side effects and dependence problems. This hormone is also seeing extensive use in the treatment of hypersomnolence, breathing disorders, and parasomnias. Research shows that it might be useful in treating eye problems, hypertension, and heartburn in chronic cases.

Recent research highlights the potential use of N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine in the treatment of seasonal depression. Winter blues are typical in countries and regions that experience almost six months of darkness during the winter months. This disorder impacts nearly 20% of the adults in the US. The hormone reduces the effects of seasonal depression naturally for long-term redressal and helps reinstate the regular sleep cycle in spite of the extended periods of darkness outside.

What is a Long-term Solution that can Work After You Stop the Sleep Hormone Treatment?

Since all research articles and health magazines are screaming about restricting melatonin use to only a couple of weeks or a couple of months, there must be some way to restore your sleep in long-term without the interference of other chemicals.

Once you are on melatonin, you can experience child-like slumbers and pleasant dreams. But, once the doctor or sleep specialists take you off it, you will revert to old sleeping problems. Withdrawal and reversal of symptoms are bound to happen if you do not make the necessary changes to your diet and lifestyle.

Here are a few things you can try to spruce up your mornings post melatonin therapy.

1. Try working out every morning for a while. Meditation of course helps, but you need to mobilize your body to send the message that it is time to be active. It can boost your morning metabolism and use up the leftover melatonin from the previous night.
   
2. You should welcome the morning by stepping outside. It is challenging for homemakers and home-based freelance workers to spend time outside daily during the mornings. However, research shows that sunlight is vital for establishing the natural rhythm in our body. The internal clock genes depend on sunlight for their regular functions to a great extent.
   
3. Eating healthily throughout the day, keeping your bowel movement timely, and detoxifying whenever necessary can help you reduce excessive daytime sleepiness. If morning sunlight cannot prevent you from feeling sleepy by 10 am, you need to consider blue-light boxes for mornings. You can switch to green tea, lemon-ginger tea and protein-rich breakfasts for giving your body the necessary zest.
   
4. Avoid caffeine after the evening. Ideally, switch to decaf if you love the taste of coffee. Tea has a significant concentration of caffeine, and you can prevent nighttime sleep deprivation by avoiding all sorts of caffeinated products after 6 pm. the normal metabolism requires about 4 hours to flush out 100 grams of caffeine. Remember to never consume more than 100 grams of caffeine in the form of tea, coffee or energy drinks on a regular basis.
   
5. Go to bed at a regular time each night. Some people find it easy to fall asleep by 11 pm, but you might not be one of them. If you finish work by 9 and you want to eat slowly, then enjoy some time with your friends or family, your daily bedtime might be. There is no need to feel guilty about a later than usual night, as long as you are getting full sleep. Going to bed at a regular hour helps your body understand what’s the appropriate time to feel sleepy.
   
6. Most importantly, you need to limit your blue-light exposure throughout the evening. Post 6 or 7 pm, you should try to avoid using your PC or laptop. We know how ridiculously impossible that sounds, but even taking a break every 15 minutes helps. Two hours before bed, keep your mobile phone away or at least install a blue-light blocker. Several Android and Apple applications now claim to block blue wavelengths of light, but their efficiencies are debatable.

Try to continue without melatonin supplements for as long as possible after a course of treatment. You can always start taking them when you have to travel overseas, or the sleep-wake disorder becomes chronic once again.

Correcting sleep-wake ailments can be tedious. It takes a lot of tenacity and patience to perfect an already askew routine. Some people have to try for over a year to come back to a regular 24-hour sleep-wake cycle. The only secret to success is never giving up.

How to Know When to Stop Taking the Supplements?

Melatonin levels are difficult to ascertain or assume in an individual. If the melatonin supplement does work, you must not continue for longer than two months. It is safe for an individual to regularly take the recommended dosage for only two months at a stretch. In the meanwhile, if you become pregnant or develop other health complications stop taking melatonin immediately and contact your doctor.

There are times when doctors presume a lack of enough sleep hormones in the system since the patient exhibits a lack of regular sleep patterns. In reality, there are several reasons why a person can experience extended periods of wakefulness. From lifestyle disorders to benign tumors in the brain, there can be various reasons for prolonged and unnatural wakefulness in human beings.

You must stop taking the hormonal supplements if they show no improvement of sleep in 2 weeks. Increasing the dosage is risky, and you must never attempt it on your own.

Why Should you be Very Cautious About Melatonin Treatment?

Melatonin is not another sleeping pill you can pop before bed. It might not be that simple. Since it is a hormone, it has several underlying effects and interactions that experts are still exploring. Parents must be cautious while giving melatonin to their children. Children and the elderly require round the clock observation when the begin melatonin therapy for sleep.

Since it is a readily available OTC medication, people tend to treat it like aspirin or Advil. However, the repercussions of wrong dosage or unnecessary treatment with a hormonal supplement can be deleterious for the health of the consumer. Any form of treatment for any disease or disorder involving melatonin requires close examination, tests, and advice by a doctor or a specialist.

Melatonin does not have the same effect on everyone. It can be due to genetic differences between the receptors of the particular hormone, increased resistance to the sleep-molecule or due to other unknown factors. Several researchers have shown that for several test subjects with insomnia, this sleep hormone does not do much to improve sleep quality or duration. It is useful in treating circadian rhythm disorders by strict regulation of administration time and quantity, as per the instructions of a sleep specialist.

The issue of sleep disorders is becoming more widespread, affecting over 40 million people in the US alone who struggle with a range of problems related to sleep. An estimated 60 million Americans experience difficulties either initiating sleep or maintaining it at least once every week. Behaviors including sleepwalking, talking while asleep, engaging in eating during sleep, and experiencing partial awakenings are all forms of parasomnia. These disruptions are involuntary and can occur in individuals of any age or lifestyle.

People over the age of 65 years are more likely to experience an episode of parasomnia in their lifetime. However, it is more common among children. This term refers to every strange thing that can happen during sleep, except incidents of sleep apnea. Sleep paralysis, sleep aggression, as well as sleep sex, are cases of parasomnia that occur in the general population.

What is Parasomnia? When Does It Occur?

Parasomnias are usually more likely to occur when a person is falling asleep or during any particular sleep cycle. The kind that happens while a person is falling asleep usually accompanies hallucinations. It can be quite disturbing and scary. Sleep paralysis is quite common for this type of disturbance. If you frequently have trouble falling asleep due to recurring incidents of immobility and hallucinations, you might be suffering from a form of parasomnia.

All kinds of abnormal movements, perceptions, emotions, and behaviors can be a manifestation of the sleep disorder. The result of almost all symptoms of parasomnia is the lack of proper restorative sleep. While a person may not be able to remember what they did or said during their episode of parasomnia, they feel tired from the activity and the lack of enough rest.

What are the Most Common Signs and Symptoms of Parasomnia?

Since parasomnia can occur at all ages, it is difficult to diagnose it without proper tests conclusively. The epidemiology of this sleep disorder is diverse, and there are hundreds of different symptoms that can point towards it. The sign and symptom of parasomnia can be different for each. Here are some of the most common symptoms that characterize this disorder.

•    The affected person can wake up feeling disoriented or confused.
•    Complex motor behaviors always accompany arousal from sleep.
•    Waking up inexplicably at night.
•    Sleep-talking, sleep-walking, and sleep-eating are telltale signs of parasomnia.
•    Sleep paralysis during sleep or towards the end of a REM cycle.
•    Hallucinations and teeth grinding while asleep.
•    Almost regular night terrors and nightmares that make staying asleep almost impossible.

As you can see, different signs can all signify the incidence of parasomnia among children and adults alike. Therefore, it is essential to classify the cases of parasomnia according to the causes, times of occurrence and types of activities.

What are the Types of Primary Parasomnias?

Primary parasomnia defines the undesirable actions that can result in sudden arousal from sleep. It can occur during any sleep stage or while transitioning from an awake to sleep stage. All REM sleep disorders are cases of primary parasomnia. The sleep-wake transition issues include night leg cramps, restless leg syndrome and sleep paralysis. These are all classic examples of the primary type of the sleep-wake disorder.

It can occur among children and in infants as well. There have been several documented cases of children suffering from parasomnia due to rapid oscillation of the non-REM and REM sleep stages. Therefore, experts classify the primary instances as per the stages of sleep they affect (non-REM or REM) or as per their symptomatic presentation.

What are the Secondary Parasomnias?

Secondary parasomnia is usually the manifestation of an existing psychological problem or an issue of an organ system during sleep. This form is quite common in adults. Since this kind of sleeping disorder is usually a result of some other pre-existing problem, experts refer to it as secondary. Experts typically classify the secondary forms of the disease according to the organ systems involved.

Some of the symptoms of primary and secondary parasomnias do overlap, but it does not mean they have the same causes or deserve the same treatment. Bed wetting among growing children and adults is a classic example of secondary parasomnia. Seizures, gastro-esophageal reflux, cardiac arrhythmia and respiratory dysfunction can all give rise to secondary sleep-related disorders in the adults.

What are the Different Classifications of Parasomnia?

The most common classification system of parasomnias depends on the sleep stages during which they occur. As a result, there are two broad classifications, non-REM or NREM parasomnia, and REM parasomnia. During sleep, our brain goes through 4 stages of the REM cycle and 1 phase of the non-REM cycle. As a result, sleep progresses from one step to another throughout the night as the duration of the REM stages increases. Ideally, we go through 4 to 5 sleep cycles per night for full restorative sleep.

People suffering from sleep disorders that cause them to wake up frequently throughout the night are unable to complete the REM and non-REM stage cycles. The lack of 4 or 5 cycles of sleep compromises the restorative power of the brain and body. That can lead to excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and lowered productivity. Sleep disorders like parasomnia can jolt an individual awake from any of the five stages of NREM or REM sleep.

Non-REM Sleep Disorders

The non-REM related parasomnias can occur during any of the four phases of non-REM sleep phases 1, 2, 3 and 4. They are more common during the early parts of the night than in the early mornings. NREM parasomnias have further classifications that help sleep experts and doctors diagnose and treat a patient more effectively.

SleepWalking

Doctors and sleep experts often refer to it as somnambulism or noctambulism. Irrespective of the number of syllables in the name, they all mean the same thing – getting out of bed while asleep and moving around. People with somnambulism usually walk around with their eyes open, but they are unaware of their movement or whereabouts.

People often find out about their sleepwalking problem when they wake up outside their bedroom or somewhere else in the house. It can be quite dangerous as people can open doors and windows, walk in the middle of the street, or start driving. People often complete complex tasks during this phase. Strangely, sleep-walkers have no memory of the activity after waking up.

Night Terrors

Night terrors or sleep terrors are very different from nightmares. They usually happen during the first phase of the night. In the event of experiencing nightmares, people often wake up from sleep gasping for breath, crying or screaming. They have full recollection of the unpleasant dream and their reaction the next morning.

During episodes of night terrors, people seem to wake up scared, screaming, crying, or even pointing towards imaginary people. However, they have no recollection of the events the next morning. Night terrors are terrifying for the family members, sleeping partners, or roommates of the individuals.

Confusional Arousals

Waking up in the middle of the night and saying strange things might seem comical. You will find elaborate sub-Reddits on people “waking up,” saying funny or meaningless things and going right back to sleep. However, this is a severe disorder.

During the state of confusional arousal from slumber, people can respond to questions, but the answers can vary from somewhat funny to utterly absurd. While these people seem to be awake, their thinking is confused. This phase can last from a few seconds to a few hours. Just like the other types of parasomnia, the affected individual has no recollection of the event.

Sleep Eating

We find it hilarious when Peter Griffin sleep eats. After all, eating while sleeping does sound funny, but it can happen to anyone. Just like sleepwalking, people can wake up partially to binge on junk food or drink.

The sleep eating diet usually consists of items that they would never consume when fully awake. It can include a whole bag of chips, chocolate syrup, frosting, peanut butter, and any other high-calorie food you can imagine. These binges can last for as long as 10 minutes, but people with this disorder do not remember these incidents at all. It is very dangerous since binging does not involve edible items only. They can consume toxic substances.

In some cases, people suffering from sleep-related eating disorders have also tried to start a fire to cook while asleep. It is a bizarre but genuine sleep disorder that commands immediate attention.

REM-related Sleep Disorders

These are more common during the later hours of the night than when the person is falling asleep. The REM sleep disorders only affect the REM phase of sleep or the stage where people are more likely to dream.

Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis can affect you while you fall asleep, but that does not mean this disorder cannot alter your REM sleep. If you have found yourself awake and aware of your surroundings at night, but unable to move or speak, you might have this particular REM-related parasomnia.

In most of the cases, the experience is terrifying due to the presence of an accompanying hallucination. These episodes can last for only a few seconds or longer. These episodes usually end on their own or when someone touches the sleeping person. Sleep paralysis is undoubtedly scary, but it is not necessarily dangerous for everyone. It can disrupt sleeping habits since a scared person is more likely to stay awake for a long time after an episode due to the fear of a recurrence.

Nightmare Disorders

Everyone has one or two nightmares once in a while. However, imagine experiencing one or two scary dreams every night for weeks on end. If you do not have to picture it, because you are living it, then you might have what experts refer to as a nightmare disorder.

Since it only occurs during the REM phase of sleep, it is a primary REM parasomnia. It can prevent the individual from falling asleep due to increased anxiety levels or physical discomforts like rapid heartbeats, dry throat, and excessive sweating.

REM sleep Behavior Disorder

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) encompasses all kinds of in-dream actions that people carry out while they are asleep. For example, you may experience a violent dream where you are thrashing goons. During this dream, if you thrash around in bed or act out the movements, it is likely that you have a case of RBD.

An increasing number of physicians and sleep experts now consider RBD to be a severe brain disorder. While people suffering from this parasomnia have higher risks of hurting themselves while thrashing around, they also have a high chance of hitting their sleep partner in their sleep. If you recognize the symptoms, you should visit a sleep specialist immediately for proper diagnosis and treatment.

Other Types of Parasomnias

Researchers, sleep specialists, and doctors have observed and classified the parasomnias as mentioned earlier over the last couple of decades. Documentation of cases, observation in sleep clinics and thorough checkups of the individuals affected have given them the chance to learn about these types of disorder over time.

There are several other lesser studied instances and types of parasomnias. These include sleep talking, bruxism, exploding head syndrome, and sleep sex. Some of them occur during REM as well as Non-REM sleep. Hence, completing the full list of unusual sleep-related behaviors is quite impossible due to the heterogeneity of the risk groups and symptoms.

What are the Causes of Parasomnia?

Parasomnia can be of various types, and it can have myriads of symptoms on people depending on their age, psychology, and physical conditions. It points towards a plethora of causes for abnormal sleep-related behavior. Different preexisting medical disorders and diseases can also contribute to the beginning of parasomnia in people. The roots of secondary parasomnia can be an infection of the urinary tract or the kidneys. People with heart problems, respiratory tract blockages and diabetes experience frequent incidence of parasomnia.

People with alcoholism or history of drug abuse usually suffer from nightmare disorders, night terrors, bruxism, sleep talking, and RBD more frequently. Adults who take psychoactive medications for mood disorders and other psychological disorders experience recurring episodes of sleep disorders. However, that is not enough reason to call any parasomnia a lifestyle disorder.

According to recent research, parasomnia in a family can be hereditary. The effects of genetics can vary between the types of parasomnia in families. Scientists have finally located the genetic factors responsible for enuresis. Sleepwalking has a strong association with the HLA system. As per the recent findings, the incidence of parasomnia in family depends on the environmental factors and the genetic environment to a significant degree.

Several REM parasomnias and NREM disorders have a genetic predisposition. Hublin and Kaprio, the sleep researcher duo showed that sleep talking has a high reliance on multiple inheritable genetic components in 2003.

Who Can get Parasomnia?

Anyone can experience sleep-wake disorders during his or her lifetime. Although adults are more likely to seek treatment for any form of sleeping disorders, children suffer from parasomnia more frequently. Since it can happen to anyone, it is imperative for you to find out your chances of experiencing a REM or non-REM sleep disorder.

Children. Interestingly, the developing minds of children are more prone to sleep disorders during the REM phase. Bedwetting, sleep talking, sleepwalking, and night terrors are very common among children. More often than not, children naturally grow out of this phase, and they are more likely to forget the traumatic experiences if they occur early in their lives.

Sleepwalking is common among children between 5 and 12 years of age. Sleepwalking and sleep talking go away in the early teenage years. Night terrors are the real menace since they can disrupt REM sleep and Non-REM sleep. Night terrors affect only 6% of the children. Causes of parasomnias can be genetic, or they can be a result of some medication.

Adults. There are several cases, where the parasomnias continue well into adulthood. Several adults experience night terrors, frequent nightmares, sleepwalking, sleep eating, painful erections during sleep and RBD. Periods of excessive stress at work often exacerbates the cases of parasomnia. Unaddressed trauma including untreated PTSD can cause chronic nightmare disorder in adults. It is very common among veterans in the USA.

More frequently than not, parasomnias in adults occur as a result of genetic mutations they have inherited from one or both of their parents. However, the symptoms of different kinds of sleep-wake disorders can be results of other underlying health conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s. Therefore, if you are experiencing unexplainable episodes of sleep disorders, book a sleep specialist’s appointment immediately. Parasomnias occur in about 4% of the adults.

The elderly. The elderly are more likely to experience age-related changes in sleep-wake patterns. Aside from advanced sleep phase syndrome and insomnia, they show sure signs of several REM sleep disorders and non-REM parasomnias. In subjects older than 50 years of age, REM sleep-awake disorders like RBD are more common.

The prevalence of parasomnia in the elderly community is around 5% to 7% in the USA. Early-onset of RBD has an association with antidepressant use in the test subjects. Members of the elderly community with a history of alcohol abuse, smoking, and drug abuse have more chances of suffering from early onset REM sleep disorder, as compared to the healthier 50-year-olds.

How do Specialists Diagnose Parasomnias?

The differential diagnoses for REM and non-REM sleep disorders consist of nocturnal seizures, panic attacks, dissociative disorders, confusional arousals and medication-induced complex behavior. Clinical history is vital for decisively diagnosing parasomnia. It includes careful timing assessment and expression. There are a few things a physician or a sleep specialist should do for proper diagnosis of the disorder.

• Rule out sleep deprivation by carefully maintaining and studying a sleep log. The doctor should also exclude all external causes of sleep loss.
• The doctor should be able to rule out the effects of drugs and alcohol abuse. Ruling out effects of both intoxication and withdrawal is necessary for definitive diagnosis.
• Sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and restless legs syndrome are not cases of parasomnia.
• Sleep experts often need to rule out diseases that can cause pain and discomfort during sleep. Alerting medications including antidepressants can create disruptions during sleep.
• Determining the characteristics of sleep terrors, the onset of sleep paralysis, sleepwalking and traits of confusion on awakening.

Polysomnography is not very cost effective in the diagnosis of non-REM parasomnias. It can only rule out cases of additional physiological problems including narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, and sleep apnea.

The diagnostic criteria for REM parasomnia require polysomnography to establish the presence of REM without atonia. This test can rule out obstructive sleep apnea and other co-morbid sleep disorders that can interfere with sleep quality.

Are Parasomnias Treatable?

Sometimes, parasomnias are not curable but manageable. Non-REM sleep disorders are very different from REM sleep disorders in symptoms, but there are a few standard treatments that work for both.

Confusional arousals, sleep terrors and sleepwalking are the three main types of NREM parasomnias.

Treatment of confusional arousals. Control and management of confusional arousals involve improving sleep hygiene, maximizing the understanding of sleep, management of stress and anxiety. Research shows that scheduling regular awakening during sleep can also be helpful. For any form of confusional arousal among adults, it is of paramount importance to maximize sleep stability.

Treatment of sleepwalking. This is one of the most well-known forms of NREM parasomnia among children and adults. Children usually grow out of their occasional episodes, but it is a severe problem for adults. Some people have a genetic predisposition towards somnambulism.

The patient should speak with their family members about the threats of sleepwalking. Avoidance of sleep deprivation and agitation of co-morbid disorders in patients often reduce the instances.  Psychotherapy, hypnosis, and relaxation exercises can be helpful depending on the other factors that might be triggering the unrest.

Treatment of sleep terror. Although common in children, it can persist in adulthood as well. Sleep terror is often prevalent in people with chronic depression, obsessive-compulsive traits, and predominant phobias.

There is a robust correlation between sleep terror and psychiatric disorders. Benzodiazepine and tricyclic antidepressants are useful in the treatment of night terrors. There are three parasomnias under the REM category, and some of their management is very similar to those of NREM sleep disorders.

RBD. REM sleep behavior disorder can be acute or chronic. Polysomnography and electromyography are necessary to establish the occurrence of RBD. It is also a sign of several neurodegenerative diseases. People with RBD have a good 60% chance of developing a neurodegenerative disease in the next ten years. A long history of research shows that clonazepam can be useful for the treatment of RBD. Melatonin is a clonazepam alternative that works wonderfully to stabilize sleep quality as well.

Sleep paralysis. The pathophysiology of sleep paralysis is still mostly unknown. Irregular sleep-wake schedules, jet lag, sleep deprivation and high levels of stress can contribute to sleep paralysis. Other secondary causes include narcolepsy and neuropsychiatric diseases. Selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can be useful for the treatment of sleep paralysis since they can suppress REM sleep. People can also opt for psychotherapy for the control of sleep paralysis episodes.

Nightmare disorders. Nightmares can evoke feelings of fear, anger, and disgust that can prolong periods of awakening in people. Nightmare disorders can be results of PTSD, depression and other psychological disorders. They can be part of REM or NREM sleep. Therefore, both psychological and pharmacologic approaches are necessary for the management and treatment of nightmare disorders.

Other parasomnias including exploding hear syndrome, sleep talking and sleep eating are often difficult to categorize, diagnose and treat. While sleep experts often consider sleep-talking and sleep eating as forms of sleepwalking, their treatments require extensive psychological counseling and psychotherapy.

How can You Protect a Person with Parasomnia During an Episode?

The only way to be helpful to a person suffering from any form of parasomnia is by gaining more knowledge about the particular type of disorder they might have. For example, people living with someone with sleepwalking disorder might want to turn the main valve of the gas off and lock all doors and windows before hitting the hay. They might want to make sure that all knives and guns are out of reach from the patient while they sleepwalk through the house. They should also try to keep the car keys away from plain sight to prevent the person from starting the car or driving during one of their episodes.

It is not always helpful to jostle the person awake while they are having an episode of sleepwalking, sleep talking, confusional arousal, or night terror. It often helps to touch their arms or legs gently. Using force can be counterintuitive since the person can move their limbs forcefully without control. Waking people up from sleepwalking or night terrors can be harmful to both the patient as well as the co-sleeper.

You can always help your family or friend by addressing their sleep hygiene issues. Encourage people suffering from parasomnias to stay away from substance abuse. In case of frequent, intense episodes you should always suggest medical care, therapy and medication for promoting sleep quality. The improvement of sleep quality and continuity can prevent the instances of all forms of parasomnia in adults.

A Few Things You Must Never Forget About REM and NREM Sleep Disorders

Parasomnias are more common than most people believe. They often do not have any association with psychiatric disorders, especially in children. Most children under the age of 12 suffer from night terrors, sleep talking, sleep movements and even sleepwalking. Most parasomnias that occur in children are NREM like night terrors, confusional arousal, and sleepwalking. Although there is a genetic factor that can contribute to one’s predisposition towards noctambulism, there is no clear pathophysiology of the disorder.

In most cases, parasomnias have a long history since it goes on for years without a confirmative diagnosis. In the younger risk group, researchers often find a link between ongoing medications and REM sleep behavior disorder. RBD in the younger population can also be an effect of a disease of the central nervous system. REM sleep disorders in younger patients might dissolve as they grow up.

Certain parasomnias like sleepwalking in an adult can be potentially harmful. There have been cases of adults handling loaded firearms during a sleepwalking phase or that of adults walking on highways in one of their stupors. These are severe cases of sleepwalking, where psychologic and pharmacologic interventions are mandatory. Evaluation of the disorder and its treatment is a must when parasomnias are potentially deleterious to the patient and others.

Any unusual or undesirable movements and actions during sleep can be a symptom or a result of parasomnia. Several cases also include unwanted emotions that keep a person from falling asleep night after night. However, most parasomnias include dissociative stages of sleep that can result in partial arousal during the transition between sleep and wakefulness. These disorders can occur during REM sleep or non-REM sleep. Some people experience only one parasomnia, while there are multiple cases where doctors have diagnosed people with several distinct parasomnias that occur together.

Since REM and NREM disorders are often premature signs and symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s, sleep experts always recommend a thorough checkup to highlight the possible causes of the parasomnias. It is especially true for adults around the age of 40. People above the age of 50 often suffer from at least one instance of parasomnia per week.

Timely diagnosis and treatment can prevent psychological harm and physical injury that several sleep-wake disorders can cause. Some of the parasomnias require medication, while others often respond to regular psychotherapy. Depending on the severity of the disease, you might find simple improvements in sleeping habits, like when you switch off the bright LED light in your room, which can be helpful for experiencing sound sleep without episodes of parasomnia.

Having a brief sleep daily is akin to treating your brain to a short holiday. In the present times, the majority believe that napping is only suitable for children or those who are retired. However, adults require them as well, correct? Picture yourself in Japan, where taking a snooze at 2pm is completely ordinary.

Even households in Spain stick to their siesta hours between two and four every afternoon. However, in the US, it is very unusual for adults to nap in the afternoons. A midday snooze can become your day’s guilty pleasure or the reason for a notice from your boss. Nonetheless, it feels good to doze for a couple of minutes in the middle of the day when work is slow, and the belly is full.

An Interesting History of Napping

Sleep specialists recommend naps for everyone. Individuals of all ages and professions can benefit equally from developing a healthy napping habit. A nap can be a short snooze between a couple of minutes to an hour long.

Dali may have perfected his nap regimen where he fell asleep with a key in one hand and an upturned dish under it. As he dozed off, the key slipped from his grip and landed on the plate creating a thud. Those couple of minutes was enough for the father of surrealism to get a fresh start and create new masterpieces.

From Einstein to Beethoven, all master inventors and genius creators believed in the power of catnaps. Interestingly, they all had individual napping times, durations, and habits. Short duration sleep that can take, you to the REM stage has the power to recharge your creativity and restore your cognitive abilities.

What is a Nap?

A pro rata sleeping session during the daytime can be a nap. You can choose to switch off the world for 5 minutes or 1.5 hours. As long as it is shorter than four complete sleep cycles and it is during the daytime, it becomes a snooze. Midday breaks only remain beneficial till they do not interfere with your nightly slumber. You can think of your afternoon forty-winks to complement your night’s sleep.

Today, chancing upon a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow is more realistic than getting 8 hours of sleep on weekdays for most people. It is very common for people to feel groggy during afternoon work hours or the evenings. While most of us choose to shoo away our drowsiness with caffeine, sleep experts recommend welcoming it with a comfortable pillow and an alarm.

Napping vs. Polyphasic Sleep: Are They the Same?

Napping can be synonymous with polyphasic sleep. Did you know that almost 85% of the mammalian world prefers sleeping in several phases throughout the night and day? There is no reason for us to go against nature and deny ourselves the siesta we deserve! Some people are diehard polyphasic sleepers, and they get their regular doses of sleep by napping for 90 minutes at a time throughout 24 hours.

The more common form of multi-phasic rest is when people get their core sleep for about 6 hours and supplement this with 90 minutes of nap during the day. This form of sleeping habit is biphasic sleep. Spacing out your shut-eye can help you experience better REM sleep per day. This slow-wave sleeping phase is vital for the body to engage in restoration of the immune system, removing accumulated toxins and boosting brain power.

Napping can be a form of biphasic sleep, but not all patterns of segmented sleep are napping. For example, there is a concept of sleeping multiple times, where the sleeper engages in 20-minute snoozes throughout the day. The numerous phases amount to only 3 hours of sleep in 24 hours. The efficacy of this pattern of rest is doubtful, and not all people benefit from this rather harsh practice.  

On the other hand, extensive research shows that segmented sleep is beneficial for almost everyone. Toddlers, adolescents, young adults, adults and the elderly benefit equally from practicing biphasic sleep.

Snoozing vs. Sleeping: Which One is Better for Your Health?

Getting enough sleep is a daily struggle for most children, adolescents, and adults. That might give a lot of social media users the chance to create super funny videos and “epic fail” gifs, but it is a problem people should begin to address with seriousness. It might not be possible for you to stay asleep for more than 5 to 6 hours per night but fitting in a break of 90 minutes for hitting the hay every afternoon can give a significant boost to your energy level. Complete sleep usually consists of 4 to 5 REM cycles.

The body and brain enter about five slow-wave sleep cycles per night for completing the restoration work. However, a power nap does not consist of more than two stages of sleep. Interestingly, it takes our brain only 20 to 30 minutes to access the first two stages. Those, who sleep for a more extended duration experience deeper sleep than those who practice shorter naps. By napping for 90 minutes, your mind can enter the final REM stage. Perfecting the length of your rest will depend on the duration of your nightly slumber.

Although there is no strict timing for naps or a stringent rule for the duration, people usually tend to get sloppier 8 hours after waking up. In case you feel tired, drowsy or confused immediately after waking up each morning, you might be suffering from a sleep disorder or the side-effect of a medication you are taking. In that case, you need to consult with your physician and a sleep expert to develop a healthy sleeping schedule. Usually, our bodies follow a 24-hour sleep schedule.

As per the rest requirements of our system, scientists and sleep specialists have narrowed down the typical catnap duration to between 15 and 30 minutes. A long duration nap that allows you to access a complete sleep cycle needs to be about 1.5 hours long. However, finding 1.5 hours per day for an adult is nothing short of impossible. It is one of the reasons most sleep experts recommend a quick power nap.

More extended hours of sleep have the power to reinstate the body’s stamina one has lost throughout the day. Deep slumbers help increase brain power, repair the body and enhance the body’s defense mechanism. Muscle repair, tissue repair, fighting infections, redressing pain, and memory consolidation are a few necessary actions that take place during deeper and longer nightly rests. During these hours, the core temperature of the body reduces, and more energy goes into remedial and repair actions.

Similarly, during a power nap, the core temperature of the human body, and the muscles relax. A power nap can relieve pain, diminish muscle tension, alleviate headaches, and lower stress levels. However, naps cannot replace a good night’s sleep. Some people have mastered the art of sleeping for only 3 hours per day by splitting their rest into 90-minute cycles, but that is a feat for superhumans!

Ideally, there should not be a comparison between core sleep and snooze. The latter is like fast charging your phone’s battery. It takes a shorter time than 4 or 5 complete cycles of sleep, but it can only recharge you fractionally. Getting 4 or 5 full sleep cycles each night is imperative for everyone. In case you do not find enough time at night, you can make up for the lost rest by getting some shuteye later on during the day.

What are the Ultimate Benefits of Napping?

There are proper ways to hit the snooze button every afternoon. Depending on your stress level, work pressure and available places to nap, you might be reaping between one to an uncountable number of benefits from biphasic sleep.

According to an internet-breaking study by NASA, dozing for 20 minutes in the right setting can be more effective than drinking 200 mg of caffeine. If you can sneak in 40-minutes of rest per day, you can increase your midday alertness by almost 100%. It will not only make you feel on top of the world, but it will also improve your productivity levels.

• Saves you money. Napping can save your hard-earned money. Instead of paying for coffee and energy drinks, you can give your body and brain a rest they deserve. We know how alluring the new flavors at Starbucks or the adjacent craft coffee store can be, but none of them can be as pocket-friendly as a short lie-down.

• Reduces stress. Small power naps can reduce your stress level significantly. It decreases the chances of depression, anxiety, fatigue and stress disorders in adults. Several studies have shown that adequate rest can protect your mind from depression.

• Improves memory. We are all aware of the memory making, storing and maintenance tasks of night-time sleep, but power naps are equally effective in boosting new memory formation and old memory maintenance. Snoozing between 60 and 90 minutes can give your brain the time it needs to restore memory functions and eradicate mental fatigue.

• Boosts creativity. Your creativity depends a lot on your ability to perceive the external stimuli or inspirations. Taking a break from the mundane work for about 30 minutes can refresh your sensory perception. It will improve your work performance, especially if your job requires you to think up something new, unique and creative every day.

• Slows down dementia. Napping on a daily basis can reduce the rate of neural degeneration. With aging, the neural networks suffer structural damage that can cause memory problems. It is one of the reasons older folks often have trouble remembering simple details. Additionally, people who do not get enough sleep have more chances of getting late-onset Alzheimer’s. Sleeping helps your brain remove the accumulating beta-amyloid proteins that create the plaques responsible for Alzheimer’s. Researchers from John Hopkins have shown that even a short nap can help your brain clean these plaques and stay healthy.

• Reduces anxiety levels. People who get enough sleep on a regular basis have minimal anxiety levels. Snoozing for a couple of minutes can help you unwind. It reduces activity in the areas of the brain that are responsible for creating anxiousness. People, who do not get enough rest every day, often develop anxiety disorders later in life. Taking short pauses from work to snooze a little can significantly lower the levels of anxiety.

• Keeps you mentally healthy. Lack of good night’s rest can create problems that are beyond the reach of a general physician. Being tired day after day from sleep deprivation have higher chances of developing stress disorders, anxiety disorders, depression and compromised logic. A recent study by the University of California showed that people who don’t get enough rest are less likely to correlate correct facts with figures. They are prone to seeing imaginary details in images. The lack of enough sleep can jumble understanding and cognition significantly.

• Improves understanding. Understanding is fundamental in almost all relationships. For maintaining a friendship, it is crucial for two individuals to understand and respect each other’s perspectives. A good night’s sleep can prevent you from falling out with your friends, colleagues and significant other. Keeping a cool head almost depends on a well-rested brain. You will find it extremely difficult to be patient and tolerant after a long week or after several sleep-deprived days.

• Prevents weight gain. There is a long-standing myth that warns people about falling asleep during the daytime. Several people around the world believe that sleeping more promotes weight gain. In contrary to this myth, napping prevents unwarranted weight gain. Less sleep triggers a hormone cascade that promotes hunger and binge eating. Napping can keep these “hunger hormones” in control. Your body will always be able to tell you when you have had enough to eat.

• Controls information overload. There are a lot of times students feel blank, or project managers naturally lose track of what they were presenting. These are equivalent to an HDD crash. Your brain takes in too much information hours on end, and finally, it crashes under the weight of all the unprocessed new information. It happens more frequently when students are pulling several all-nighters before their exams or when people are working night after night on some important project. Depriving yourself of adequate rest will ultimately lead to plummeting daytime performance in all spheres. Boosting your day with a 20-minute nap can prevent these unwanted episodes from happening. Power naps can improve performance and productivity levels on a daily basis.

• Improves mood. It is true for children and adults alike. Catnaps are powerful mood boosters. When something does not go the way, you expected it to, go ahead and “sleep” on it. Waking up after a 30-minute nap is like getting a fresh start. Besides, sleep-deprived people are often moody and sulky. Taking a small snooze-break can help you refocus your priorities and lift your mood significantly. That is a magic mantra almost all toddlers know by heart!

• Maintains hormonal balance. A good night’s sleep always maintains the average levels of hormones in your body. Hormones are the chemical messengers that keep the organ systems in sync. You should consider Getting a 30-minute nap can restore the balance of hormones. Sleeping for 2-3 hours per night often causes a spike in the norepinephrine levels. It can increase heart rate and blood pressure. People who do not pay enough attention to their rest schedules have higher chances of getting heart problems in the future. Sleeping for 30 minutes per day can reduce the risks by over 50%.

• Repairs the immune system. Sleep has a restorative and boosting effect on the immune system. Not sleeping for two nights in a row can compromise the Interleukin 6 levels. It is an antiviral component in the blood. The lower levels of IL-6 can increase the chances of getting a viral infection significantly. That is one of the reasons well-rested folks often find themselves safe from the flu. Sleeping also restores other components of the immune system that fight bacterial and fungal infections. Not resting for long enough can compromise the balance in the immune system.

• Helps control diabetes. A little doze between the busy hours can help you feel better physically and mentally. It has a significant impact on the cortisol levels. Cortisol secretion can increase significantly with lack of sleep. That can create glucose intolerance and increase fat storage in the body. This further increases the chances of diabetes in adults.

• Prevents heart problems. A regulated biphasic sleep can reduce adrenaline levels in the body. It can also control the stress signals that trigger palpitations and high blood pressure. Additionally, it can help with weight loss and tissue repair as well. Studies have shown that people who nap for about 30 minutes a day have 64% lesser chance of heart attack later in life.

• Boosts libido. Sleeping correctly always helps in maintaining healthy testosterone and estrogen levels. Research shows that people who add an extra hour to their daily rest each day enjoy a better sex life. Being tired mentally and physically are not at all helpful for having great sex. Enough sleep can increase your chances of having sex by 14%.

There are many benefits of regular, timely napping. Everyone can enjoy these by regulating the nap space, environment and time.

What are the Different Types of Naps?

Different nap types depend on their duration, timing and other secondary factors. Today, we will discuss the nine different types of nap that can help you turn your life around.

• The CEO nap. Your daily activity, energy level, concentration power, and mental performance will get a healthy boost from the CEO nap. That is a power nap that returns the control of your life to you. You can be the CEO of an office or your household. This nap requires you to rest between 1 and 3 pm. You will feel more alert during the rest of the day. Go ahead and try this one, as long as it does not disturb your night’s rest.

• The new mom nap. This is a great napping technique for new moms and dads. One of the most tiring parts of being a parent is not sleeping through the night to provide care to your newborn. Every night your bundle of joy turns into an attention-Zilla, who hogs up all your legit resting hours. The only way you can manage to catch up with your sleep is if you follow your child’s regimen. Nap precisely when your child naps. It might be difficult in the beginning, but with time (and surmounting tiredness) you will find it easier to fall asleep multiple times a day in coordination with your little one.

• The sports nap. This is very popular among almost all sportspersons. Whether you are playing an intense match of baseball or running a 10k marathon, all you need is well-timed nap to leave your competition behind. Catnaps are instruments of success for sports performances. Resting your eyes for 15 to 20 minutes can help you feel recharged physically and mentally. Longer naps are good as well but finding the time to fit one can be a bit challenging. It is imperative to control or avoid the sleep inertia phase after a sports nap entirely.

• The coffee nap. Several new studies show that drinking a small amount of caffeine can boost the effects of a powernap. You need about 90 to 100 mg of coffee in your system. After drinking the coffee lie down in a comfortable place and snooze for 20 minutes. Always carry a timer or an alarm clock with you to your nap spot. You will be asleep for as long as the caffeine takes to kick in. When you finally wake up, you do so with a jolt. However, the coffee nap should not be your common nap strategy. You can use it about twice a week, on hectic days for adding an extra kick to your wakefulness.

• The siesta. Siesta is a Spanish term for short-duration sleep. People in Greece, Mexico, and Costa Rica practice afternoon rest on a regular basis. Not following a biphasic sleep pattern is awkward and weird for them. These countries usually experience hotter afternoons, when resting make complete sense. Several workplaces in Japan and even in the US are trying to incorporate the practice of siesta in their everyday routines.

• The teen nap. Teenagers experience a lot of trouble adjusting to new sleep-wake schedules due to changes in their body. The hormone levels often fluctuate significantly during adolescent years making it difficult for them to stick to society-approved sleep-wake schedules. Additionally, the surmounting pressure at school and increasing amounts of physical activity lead to higher levels of fatigue. Lack of proper rest puts them on edge. They suffer higher risks of mental disorders and disturbances due to lack of sleep. 90-minute naps after school or during the weekends can help them perform better at school. Regular 20-minute naps can make them more emotionally mature and make up for their sleep debt.

• The jet lag nap. Travel related tedium is the worst kind you can get, especially if you are traveling from one country to another or across time zones. You can transition into the new time zone by scheduling naps throughout the day. You may be moving to a new place for office conference or meets. You can find out about the conference schedule and sneak in 20 to 30 minutes of nap during the break. Even if you are not staying in the new time zone for long, you can adjust to the time difference by allowing yourself a short 20-minute nap after you reach your hotel. It will keep you alert and yet in sync with the local time.

• The shift worker nap. Jobs in the 21st century are diverse. Each one has its demands and quirks. The most demanding are the shift jobs. Here the people are more likely to feel sleep deprived due to rotating shifts at their workplace. Factory workers, maintenance workers, healthcare officials, and even some government employees face the brunt of shift working. Their schedules change either every two weeks or every month. Their bodies often lose control of the internal clock. As a result, they face significant health risks. While they are always at higher risks of heart diseases, they are also more prone to depression and mood disorders. Studies on shift workers show that they can benefit to a significant degree by resorting to strategically-timed naps. Here’s what you can do if you find yourself in a similar predicament.

1. Take a catnap before your shift.
2. Snooze for 5 minutes during your break.
3. Sleep in two segments when you get home. Rest for a longer duration after your time ends (4 to 5 hours) and take at least one 90-minute nap anytime during the day.

• The disco nap. The name is as impressive as the practice. The classic style comes from the Disco era where the BeeGees and Donna Summer ruled. Combining the coffee nap with this one has excellent benefits. It gives you the energy to pull all-nighters with little sleep during the day. Always remember;

1. Disco nap is only for special occasions.
2. You must get up at regular times every morning.

Napping is an exciting concept and a prevalent practice. Several schools, colleges, and offices are finally catching up to the ideas of two-phased sleep. However, if you are new to this practice, you must know that it is not for everyone. People suffering from depression and mood disorders may experience an upheaval of their circadian rhythm. Insomniacs often find it extremely difficult to fall asleep at night, if they get some rest during the day. Additionally, your power naps should always work with your night-time routine. If it pushes your bedtime further back, you will not benefit much.

How is the Contemporary Sleep Culture Shifting?

Several cities across the world are experiencing a culture shift, where office-going adults and college goers are paying for resting quarters. Some people prefer calling these places as their “recharging rooms” since they doze here regularly to boost their energy levels. People have finally found out that snoozing a little is more effective than drinking a Red Bull or coffee. It includes workplaces like the New York Police Department Midtown South station. They have recently installed a nap pod inside the premises to promote wellness among their recruits.

Emerging mobile applications like Recharge allows the users to book hotel rooms for little amounts to sleep. That’s right! People are ready to pay as much as $10 per half an hour in NYC to get some well-deserved sleep. People have finally understood how a 30-minute catnap can improve the rest of their days. Sleep schedules have been a part of social construct for a long time, and the sleep culture is finally changing. People are finally ready to move on from the more conventional and more western monophasic sleep to biphasic and polyphasic patterns.

A Little bit More About Napping and You

Investigations into sleeping quality and sleeping hygiene show that coupling the right sleep schedule with the right kind of food and drinks helps in improving rest. People who refrain from using their mobile phones at least 3 hours before bedtime or do not drink coffee late in the evening often find it easier to fall asleep. If you are new to napping, you might find it very difficult to fall asleep on command for 20 or 30 minutes.

Believe it or not, even power naps take a lot of practice. To perfect the art of enjoying small breaks during the day, try to stick to strict timings and use an alarm clock. For the first few days you might find it impossible to doze off, but gradually, it will come to you! One day you will see yourself waking up to the alarm, fresh like it’s the first hour of the morning.

Finding the right mattress can be bewildering. Adding a box spring to the mix only makes the shopping process more complex. You may be tempted to skip over the box spring section on the website or in-store; however, depending on your selected mattress and the manufacturer’s advice, forgoing a bed base might not be an option. This introduces an additional challenge to your shopping experience.

You will find hundreds of blogs and online guides that will tell you how to choose the right mattress for your health, bed type, and sleeping tendencies. However, there are not many experts to guide you through your box spring shopping process. Choosing a box spring becomes even more challenging when a mattress manufacturer deems it necessary to couple their mattresses with bed bases to avail their warranty offers.

What is the Actual Purpose of a Box Spring?

The name is quite self-explanatory. It is a wooden or a steel box-like structure with springs in the middle to add that extra bounce to the mattress. Do you remember how your parents and grandparents would always scold you when you jumped on your bed? That was because when you did jump on the beds, you would risk busting these springs out of the frame and breaking the box spring.

Modern beds do not always come with box springs, and even when they do, their basic integrity is different from the older ones. The presence of the springs in the bed base helps the mattress absorb the pressure evenly across the surface. The extra bounce you feel on box spring beds adds to the support and aids the long lifespan of the mattress. You should be able to find the ideal bed base between the wooden bed frame or the metal bed base and the mattress. Some people also forego the bed frame and couple the mattress with the box spring for convenience.

Do you Think you Need a New Divan?

Box springs often do not exhibit the same levels of wear and tear as the mattresses do. Therefore, it is difficult for a user to understand when it is time to replace their old bed bases. We often see several customers using their brand-new mattresses with their old divans. It makes us wonder if they know how much stress they are about to expose their mattress to.

The average lifespan of a box spring is usually between 8 and 10 years. The exact level of wear at the end of a decade will depend upon the level of use, the weight of the sleeper, and the quality of the mattress. Ideally, you should use your old divan as long as your old mattress lasts. That can be lesser than 8 years, but as soon as you get a new mattress, you should look for a new bed base as per the specifications of your new mattress and the manufacturer’s requirements.

In many cases, people suffer from sore necks, stiffened backs and numbing shoulder pains in the mornings even after changing their old mattresses. It might be a sign of an old sagging box spring that is crying for change. Therefore, you should consider changing your bed base if its recommended lifespan has expired to get better sleep each night.

What is the Correct Way to Use a Box Spring?

A box spring usually goes between the metal or wooden bed frame and the mattress. Experts generally recommend the use of a bed base with a stiffer mattress. The firmest of all mattresses can feel a little softer with the use of a divan. Since the box spring acts as a direct support to the mattress, you should use it immediately underneath it.

Like many US citizens, you can choose to omit a bed frame altogether. However, adding a bed frame to your bed gives it the extra couple of inches (a foot minimum) and keeps it way above the floor dust. It is very crucial for you to buy your divan from a reputed retailer or the mattress manufacturer of your choice. Since the primary task of the bed base is to provide support that conserves the integrity of the mattress, it is of utmost importance that it has a good design.

How to Turn your Platform Bed into a Divan Bed Without Gaining the Extra Height?

Very few people go ahead and invest in bed bases nowadays. Platform beds are all the rage, and mattress manufacturers often omit the necessity of divans in their manuals and warranty cards. A platform bed is a plain cabin bed with a raised and flush rectangular frame. The solid structure usually consists of wooden slats that support a mattress which eliminates the old practice of adding a box spring to the bed.

The other problem is the set-up process. Do you know how it feels to sleep on a bed that has a platform base, a box spring and a mattress on top? If not, picture the illustration from Princess and The Pea! It’s exactly what it looks like and feels like. To find your way out of this problem you can slightly modify your platform bed. It comes as great news for all the DIY project lovers.

• Check your new platform bed frame for expendable height. You will usually be able to do away with a couple of inches from each of the 4 sides of the frame. Start by taking out the wood strip support on each side and cutting the frame down to lower the strip position. The strip will act as support to the divan, and our primary goal is to do away with as much extra height as possible.
• Check each of the (presumably) 4 legs that attach to the frame. There should be two to three pre-drilled holes that secure the legs to the edges. Since you have reduced the height of the structure, you may need to do away with one or two of the holes. It means you need to cut down the notches, so the tops of each leg are smooth against the wood strips you have lowered.
• Now, it is time to cut off the extra inches from the legs. Depending on how tall your bed frame legs are, you can get rid of about 4 to 6 inches. Measure very carefully and preferably use a circular saw for this process. You don’t want a lopsided bed that wobbles (gives you Exorcist nightmares!) when you sleep.

During the process, do not worry if you chip the polish or veneer inside. No one can see it. Be careful during reassembly. Once you have put the “new” platform bed together, you can effortlessly use your old high-profile divan to find the same old comfort on your new mattress.

Why are Bed Bases Losing Their Popularity?

Divans were once indispensable to every household. If your home had a bed, it was sure to have a bed base as well. However, off late, people have been shying away from buying box springs. Box springs come with several drawbacks that have caused people to question their necessity and usefulness.

They take up a lot of space. Almost all homes have platform beds or some form of solid horizontal bed frame with a significant height. Adding a divan to the bed frame not only raises the height of the bed but it makes it difficult for the user to get out of bed every morning. Also, a lot of space is used up.

They do not help with extra storage space. Box beds and even good old platform beds have storage space underneath. Bed bases are lower due to height constraints and do not provide storage space under the bed.

Replacement and rotation. Box springs lose their supporting quality over years of regular use. It can be tiring to rotate them from time to time to even out the stress. Bed bases usually require replacement after 8 to 10 years.

They are costly. Divans can cost you above $200 which is a significant amount to pay immediately after mattress shopping.

People love staying trendy. When it comes to decorating their house, they prefer more stylish and compact designs that provide them with more storage space and design options. The traditional box springs are too passé for the DIY interior designer.

What are the More Popular Divan Alternatives?

Since the primary work of any good box spring is to absorb the shock on a mattress, several people are choosing alternate solutions that can serve the same purpose. Here are the top 5 alternatives to divans almost every homeowner considers at least once during mattress shopping.

Innerspring Mattresses

These come with an inherent structure and integrity. While buying an innerspring mattress, you can eschew bed bases. They are cost-effective solutions for almost all kinds of beds since they come in several shapes and sizes.

Innerspring mattresses are quite similar to traditional mattresses, but the former offer more support. They do not sag without the use of a box spring. Additionally, they retain more body heat, which is excellent for people who reside in the colder regions and often feel cold in bed. They are the cheapest alternatives to box springs, and they are known to have an average lifespan of about 6 to 8 years.

Memory Foam Mattresses

They are not a cheaper alternative, but they are ideal for light sleepers. Memory foam mattresses have viscoelastic foam that can “remember” your favorite sleeping postures. They are perfect in case you have been suffering from backaches, neck stiffness, and leg pains after waking up each morning.

They provide enhanced support and are often the solution to a mattress (or bed) that does not give enough support. Memory foam mattresses are usually softer than the traditional mattresses at the bottom. Therefore, they perform better on flat platform beds. Although memory foam mattresses are costlier, they are bound to last much longer than their cheaper counterparts.

Platform Beds

Platform beds (of wood or metal) with slats are the go-to alternative for those, who do not like the idea of sleeping on a divan. While the wooden platforms are both cheaper and easier to make, they add aesthetic value to your bedroom. They also provide better air circulation under your mattress.

Wooden platforms with slats are much lighter than bed bases. They are ideal for softer mattress variants and double-sided innerspring mattresses. Your platform bed will not need a bed skirt, and it will be much easier to change the orientation of your bed from time to time to spruce up the look of your bedroom.

Hybrid Mattresses

If you cannot stop feeling guilty about not getting a box spring, you can go for a hybrid mattress. It is indeed the best of both worlds. It has a memory foam gel layer on top and an innerspring structure at the bottom which provides you the comfort and the support you have always wanted. They make it super easy to get out of bed every morning with a spring in your step.

In fact, they have one of the best shock-absorbing qualities that allow two different types of sleepers in the same bed without bothering each other. Although they seem costlier than the average mattress types, you must remember that you are adding the perks of a divan and memory foam to a single mattress design.

Adjustable Beds

These are the costliest of the lot, but indeed the most comfortable. The only con of having one is turning into Homer Simpson instantly. The comfort is so elite that you might not want to step out of bed at all. It adjusts to all your needs. It can reduce inflammation of joints, improve cases of spondylosis, and help you sleep in healthier postures. These beds allow the occupants to selectively adjust the head and the foot of the mattress as per their need. Several of the newest models also provide features of massage, under-bed lighting, and wall-hugging. They last longer and entirely obliterate the need for any bed base in the near future.

These are not the only alternatives you can pick, but these are 5 of the most popular ones. Bunkie boards and slats are the leading substitutes you can buy to cut down on your bed upgrading costs. Nonetheless, if you are about to design your platform bed with slats, make sure you find the correct DIY guidelines. Some people go right ahead and put their new mattresses on the floor! It provides enough support but invites a lot of dirt and dust. Not providing the right kind of support for your mattress can cause it to sag or form lumps, and void the warranty.

Which Mattresses Need a Divan?

Healthy living advocates, who often decide to go with an all-natural mattress type, may find the use of a box spring necessary. Since traditional mattress types are usually harder, these springs-in-a-wooden-frame structures add that extra bouncy comfort to natural mattresses. Not having a bed base can give you a poor sleeping experience.

Mattresses with springs on a single side ideally do well on box springs. They do not have enough inner strength to prevent “sinking.” No-flip coil mattresses make the bed bases a necessity in the bedrooms. If your mattress is a thin one, it will likely need external support to boost its height. Softer mattresses without enough internal support require divans too. They preferably need a low platform as well to complete the support structure and keep the mattress in good shape for the coming few years.

Several mattress manufacturers stress on the use of proper box springs. Not using a foundation or a bed base with your mattress can void its warranty. Instead of wondering if your mattress type requires a box spring, you should check if the manufacturer needs you to get a divan with the mattress for providing warranty services.

What are the Different Dimensions of Box Springs for Modern Beds?

Several leading mattress manufacturers engineer ergonomic box springs. Today, you can find a mattress for almost every bed dimension. You can even design your mattress as per custom measurements of your bed. Therefore, there is no reason why you should not be able to find a divan that fits your needs perfectly and enhance the look of your home.  

There are 3 profiles of box springs you can choose from.

• High profile. These box springss are bouncy, and are about 23 cm in height. You can use them with thick no-flip mattresses with single side coils.
• Medium profile. These type of box springs are between 15 cm and 21.5 cm in height which makes them ideal for thicker mattress types on low bed frames.
• Low profile. These are ideal for taller platforms. They are tough, and they are usually between 13 cm and 14 cm in height.

This categorization of the box springs according to height makes it much easier for the buyer to choose one as per their support requirements. The easiest way to find a box spring that exactly matches your mattress dimensions is by referring to your mattress manufacturer’s size chart. It should look somewhat similar to this.

Size	Width (inches)	Length (inches)
California king	72	84
King	76	80
California Queen	60	84
Queen	60	80
Full	54	75
Twin XL	38	80
Twin	38	75

 

We have come across several customers demanding split-spring structures for their mattresses. While the bed base you choose is entirely your discretion, we must inform you that a split divan can cause your mattress to sink in the middle. We always recommend a standard King or a Queen box spring for twin-mattress beds.

What are the Different Types of Box Springs?

Modern technological advancements have brought a flurry of new box spring types for every bed in every home. These suit the need of each mattress type without the need of adjustments and compromises. Latex, memory foam, and inner-spring type mattresses have all found their due support thanks to the variety of bed base types in the market.

Coil on coil box springs: These are the closest to traditional box frames. They have a wooden frame containing equally spaced coils. They are the most primitive of all divan designs since their engineering is ideal for older mattress designs that needed more support and more flex. They are obsolete right now since new mattresses require a more solid foundation.

Knock-down foundation. The knock-down foundations are the easiest to transport and assemble. They need on-site assembly. They are ideal for small apartments and shared rooms. Smaller beds or mattress types are often better suited for this foundation.

Zero deflection box spring. Modern mattresses use a new generation of box springs, the zero deflection box springs. Their use keeps the transfer of motion to a minimum. They usually use wooden foundations with wire support. The costlier and more ergonomic designs can use a wooden frame and fiberboard supports.

Semi-flex grid box spring. The semi-flex models use wooden bases topped with metal wires. It offers more flex than knock down models, but they can be quite costly. Even the basic semi-flex grids are suitable for memory foam mattresses and all kinds of beds.

A standard box spring is a single piece structure that provides uniform support to your mattress. You will not be able to fold or efficiently resize a bed base for a smaller bed or a smaller room. Larger mattresses on smaller bed bases will sag at the corners. They will also tend to shift on the sides and compromise integrity. Although split box springs are not ideal for the health of your mattress, you should consider one in case you need to fit one through a narrow passage, small doorway or up the stairs.

Why Does your New Mattress Warrant a New Bed Base?

You might be wondering if at all you need a new box spring since your old one seems to be just fine. You are already buying a new mattress and purchasing another bed base seems like such a waste of the pretty dollars. However, if you already have a box spring that is a couple of years old (or came with the older mattress), it needs replacement.

There are quite a few reasons why your old mattress is not cutting it anymore, and your old bed base might be one of those reasons. While you are spending a couple of hundred dollars on a new mattress, would you want to take a chance with your divan?

The rule of the thumb says that you must replace your bed base at least once every 8 to 10 years. It has a slightly longer lifespan than the average double-spring mattress. However, if your box spring is missing the springs or broken slats, it demands immediate change. Corrupt support will compromise the internal structure of the mattress quickly. Most manufacturers will consider their mattress warranties void, in case you do not get a new divan for your new mattress.

What Factors Should you Consider Before Buying a Box Spring?

By now it is quite understandable that shopping for a box spring may not be as complicated as you deemed it to be. You need the right guidance to buy a product that will offer endless years of structural support to your prized mattress.

Here’s a comprehensive look at the factors you must always consider before investing in a divan.

Size of mattress and foundation. We have already covered the variations of box springs in size depending on the size of the bed and the mattress. To ensure that their sizes match flawlessly you can buy the mattress and the bed base from the same brand. Alternatively, you can take accurate measurements of the same to ensure a perfect match.

Warranty terms and conditions. Depending on the manufacturer, the terms and conditions of your warranty will vary greatly. While some require you to steer clear of all stains on the mattress, others will need the compulsory use of box springs. Always make sure you do not remove the law tag on your mattress to enjoy the warranty services. Removing the label instantly voids all warranties irrespective of other terms.

Check the reviews and ratings. Just like any other services, you can pick the best mattress manufacturers and divan companies online. Always check the reviews of the company, verify their ratings, and look for authentic customer testimonials. Reading genuine reviews will give you an idea about the brand as well as the product type. Several brands use distinct product names depending on distinct features and sizes of their mattress-box spring combos. Several others give out seasonal offers on their products.

The only way to avail the best brand and best offers is by staying in touch with their online profiles. A box spring is a costly buy. It is not going to be like buying a pillow or a new set of bed sheets. You must weigh your pros and cons before investing in a particular model. Read the fine print for guarantee, warranty, and exchange before you pay the dealer.

How Much Should a Box Spring Cost in 2018?

A good quality bed base can set you back by a good couple of hundreds. Like the cost of any bed frame, foundation or mattress, the box spring cost will depend on its quality, the manufacturer’s profile, their target market and the size. While some manufacturers base the prices of their divan by their height, others price them by their dimensions.

You may even find a box spring for $70 online, but you should always double check its quality, reviews, and warranty considerations before purchasing. Check the base type, material, and support quality in detail for each model you pick, compare their prices online and then hit the “Buy” button. Today, a good design can cost you anything between $150 and $350, depending on the myriads of factors we have mentioned above.

So, box springs and mattresses are what dreams are made of!

Budgeting is very crucial for any shopping process. Unless you are an Instagram celeb or a reality TV star, it is indeed difficult to shop on a shoe-string budget, when you are looking for ergonomic options to help you sleep better. Mattresses can cost you between $400 and $4000, depending on what kind of comfort you are looking for. Latex ones are the cheapest, while memory foam adjustable mattresses tend to be the costliest.

The costlier your mattress gets, the more necessary it becomes for you to ensure that it comes with a replacement warranty. As per warranty conditions, any snags in the mattress, sinks or lumps within the next one year (or two years, depending on manufacturer) will warrant an immediate exchange. However, not using a recommended or approved bed base under the mattress can completely make the warranty invalid and render the mattress useless.

Most people do not take this risk. Old beds without enough slats or old box springs with broken coils can bust new mattresses faster than you can say “replace.” After all, you will be spending close to $1000 or even more for a new mattress, spending a couple of hundred more for guaranteeing better sleep and better customer service is the smartest thing you can do!

Your bed should be your haven. You should be the most comfortable in your bed, and each morning you should feel well rested and fresh to start a new day. Before you buy a costly mattress and a divan, you must try it out at the stores. You must never complete a purchase online without the verification of the therapeutic claims of the mattress and bedspring duo. It is important that you do not buy a design, type or style because it is the latest trend or because an expert is telling you to. You should buy one only after trying it out, so you get the comfort and rest you deserve every night for at least the next one decade.

In today’s world, there are countless comforts at our disposal. Yet, what appears to be out of reach for members of contemporary society is a significant amount of personal time. Many urban employees manage to carve out some personal time at the expense of their sleep. As a result, it’s typical to witness people in their twenties binge-watching series, browsing through Facebook, or checking the latest updates on Instagram well into the night. This practice shifts their regular sleep schedules, leading to avoidable tiredness the next day.

A huge portion of modern society complains about poor quality sleep. In fact, it is not insomnia that plagues the bigger chunk of the adult earning members of the society. It is the lack of quality sleep at night that poses a serious threat to their next-day productivity. Even with 6 hours of sleep, it is entirely possible to feel tired the next morning due to repeated interruptions during the night.

Monophasic Sleep, Biphasic Sleep, and Polyphasic Sleep

Most people prefer monophasic sleeping patterns. This is where the subject goes to bed for 6 to 8 hours at a stretch. Either due to the lack of available time or due to personal choice, they do not take a “nap break” during the day-time. They stick to a single sleep and wake time that is a result of the modern day work hours. In fact, most people have been a slave to monophasic sleep routines ever since they stepped out of kindergarten. Except for toddlers, the elderly, and the residents of a few nations of the world, no one practices biphasic sleep anymore.

Biphasic sleep or sleeping in two phases is very common in certain regions like Spain. The residents of the country are popular for their regular practice of “siesta” or afternoon naps between 2 pm and 4 pm in the hot afternoons. Several countries in the east are reintroducing the concept of diphasic sleep among students and office workers alike. You might run into office places with nap desks and schools with nap hours in Japan and Singapore. In accordance with research, these offices and schools believe that practicing biphasic sleep increases the productivity of the people involved.

Biphasic sleep usually involves 5 to 6 hours of continuous sleep at night and 20 minutes to 90 minutes of sleep in the afternoons. While ultimately it can take up the same amount of time per day, segmented sleep can help you redistribute your household chores, office work, unavoidable errands and personal time much better throughout the day.

Segmented sleep can refer to polyphasic sleep, where most people stick to three or more sleeping phases throughout the day. A number of patrons like Dubovoy, who has slept for less than 4.5 hours for the last couple of years, assert the time-saving quality of this kind of sleeping patterns. When one can adopt multiple sleep phases or segmented sleep like Dubovoy did, one can find more time for several new hobbies, finish tons of pending work and still feel energized throughout the day.

When are Segmented Sleep Patterns Unhealthy?

Sadly, for many around the world, polyphasic sleep is not a choice. People often practice polyphasic sleep out of compulsion from sleep deprivation or due to hypnotic effects of psychoactive medication. Hence, most people experience exhaustion instead of relaxation from their polyphasic sleep phases. This classifies as irregular sleep wake disorder, and people suffering from this usually have very scattered sleep hours throughout the day.

A huge difference between polyphasic sleep and irregular sleep-wake patterns is the lack of planned sleeping in the latter. This does not facilitate the long-term memory formation process in the brain, and it does not allow the body to feel rejuvenated over time. This kind of unpredictability in sleep patterns can lead to chronic fatigue syndrome. This can further lead to muscle fatigue, confusion in thoughts, slow decision making process and compromised cognitive analysis. The precedence of chronic fatigue in the millennial workers shows how acute the problem of quality sleep has become today.

How to Distinguish Diphasic Sleep from Other Sleeping Habits?

A person practicing diphasic sleep often breaks his or her sleep schedule up into two parts. Sleeping at night for a shorter than usual phase and practicing siestas in the afternoon is a characteristic feature of bimodal sleep. Here are two ways you can start your bimodal sleep pattern as well;

• You can sleep for 6 hours each night and then refresh yourself with a 20 minutes nap in between.

• You can sleep for about 5 hours each night and then set apart 1 hour or 90 minutes in the afternoon for a long nap.

Spanish and Greek communities practice the custom of siesta. Several blogs and popular science articles claim that people often perform better with a diphasic sleep pattern. Taking short or long naps in between work helps to refresh memory, gain new perspectives and think of new solutions for persisting problems more efficiently.

There is another, not so popular kind of bimodal sleep that segments the usual 6 to 8 hours of sleep into two equal phases. As a result, the individual gets two almost equal periods of sleep. With this kind of a segmented diphasic sleep, you will get to experience 3 to 3.5 hours of sleep during each phase with 2 hours of “rest” between them. It is no longer popular in the modern society because it is not conducive to the modern work hours or socially accepted sleeping schedules. It was quite popular during the times of pre-industrialization in England and France.

What does History Have to Say about Bimodal Sleep?

Without the intervention of electricity and artificial illumination, people were more likely to sleep in biphasic patterns before the 19th century. In fact, literature, court records, and public records from 17th century England, 16th century France and even anthropological tribes from Nigeria show evidence of bimodal sleep. The references to the research by historian Roger Ekirch went on to change the modern world’s perception of 8-hour sleep. The records showed that people did not just fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning to bird songs. They usually fell asleep two hours after dusk, woke up for an hour or two, and then prepared for a second sleep that lasted till dawn. In fact, a number of prayer manuals from the late 15th century showed the development of a number of new prayers for just this 1 to 2 hour period.

These waking hours were not unproductive or lethargic in any way. People indulged in reading, writing, music or acts of conception, as per a doctor’s manual from the 16th century France. By the end of the 17th century, the practice, concept and even the memory of biphasic sleeping patterns were becoming quite obsolete from popular culture. It was partly due to the introduction of street lights and domestic lighting, and partly due to the rising popularity of coffee houses in the late 18th century Europe. Nonetheless, we find the mention of segmented sleep or biphasic sleep in Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens (1840) and Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes (1615). According to the highly acclaimed historian, there are more than 500 literary references that point towards the predominance of bimodal sleep system before the industrial revolution in Europe.

How Does Biphasic and Polyphasic Sleep Affect our Memory?

According to data and research from National Institute of Health (NIH), we spend nearly one-third of our lives sleeping. A lot of people will find that hard to grasp and reel from the sheer “waste of time” each day of our lives. Nonetheless, sleep exists in nature, and different patterns of sleep exist due to its necessity in the animal kingdom. Almost all animals have distinct sleep patterns depending on their body’s heat generation capabilities, feeding habits, and mating necessities. While some animals follow regular monophasic or segmented sleep patterns, others feel the need to hibernate or aestivate during certain seasons.

Research has been emphasizing the role of sleep in memory formation, cognition and behavior for quite a few years. The impact of sleep is not only physiological, but also psychological and it affects animals higher up in the food chain like the human beings. Yet, another question remains, why does the sleeping pattern change with age? Does failing memory or old-age related dementia have anything to do with sleep quality?

In reality, sleep has a lot to do with almost everything in our lives. From healing injuries to replenishing our “thinking juice,” sleep covers all these tasks while we sleep. So, thinking that our brain completely shuts down or only screens amazing dreams, while we sleep is a mistake. While we sleep, our brain converts short term memory to long term memory.  It links relate memories, solves unsolved problems and of course helps you learn new things faster the next day.

You experience about five 90-minute cycles each night, with the recurrence of REM sleep phase, where you dream fervently. During your non-REM sleep, your brain waves break down to slow waves and fast waves. Slow wave sleep is critical for declarative memory (recognizing and recollecting facts or incidents). Good quality sleep is very necessary for slow wave sleep and the formation of new memories.

This clearly shows a necessity for long naps during the afternoon to boost cognition and analytical prowess of our noggin. It is NOT very necessary to go into REM sleep (or dream of your celeb crush) in the middle of the day, but you can definitely give your central processing unit a much-needed reboot by going into hibernate mode for 60 to 90 minutes per afternoon. A recent study from a group in UC Berkeley shows that people who slept for 90 minutes exactly at 2 pm in the afternoon performed much better than the ones who did not, during a learning exercise at 6 pm.

It does not mean REM sleep in completely unnecessary. You need REM sleep to rejuvenate your mind and body. It is the recuperative part of our daily sleep cycle, and it occurs about 90 minutes after you first fall asleep. The average human being experiences about five such REM cycles and you need 4 to 5 REM cycles to feel fresh the next day. In case of diphasic sleep patterns, people go through about 4 REM cycles at night and can experience one more during a long siesta. However, for polyphasic sleep cycles, it becomes difficult to accommodate more than 1 or 2 REM cycles at a stretch, and there is no chance of the recurrence of the non-REM slow wave sleep stage.  

Therefore, there is a strong link between your sleep quality and your memory or your sleep quality and your learning ability. Aging comes with a lot of sleeping problems, and the memory problems that come along are not just a grave coincidence. Sleep is very necessary for your health, and it may even make you smarter. Before adopting a polyphasic sleep pattern, you should read up on the pros and cons of it, analyze your health risks and only then embark on the brave journey.

Is your Insomnia a Telltale Sign of a Natural Diphasic Sleep Pattern?

There are a number of people out there who lie awake at night for hours wondering if they should take sleeping pills or if they should see a doctor about it. According to the Dr. Richard Friedman’s years of observation, most of these people do not actually have insomnia. A number of them have a natural bimodal sleep pattern etched into their genes.

Since the intricacies of circadian genes, their heredity and their effects on natural sleep patterns are not yet fully understood, it becomes very difficult for people to understand if their insomniac nature is actually a prevalence of a bifurcated pattern.

If you have been asking the same question for months now, you should find out a few facts before you call yourself an insomniac.

• Is the delay in sleep onset regular?

• Do you feel sleepy throughout the day?

• Do you become sleepy only during the afternoon at a fixed time every day?

If you have been falling asleep 2 hours later than expected bedtime, not feeling sleepy and fatigued throughout the day and yet feeling excruciatingly sleepy at a fixed hour in the afternoon, then we have great news for you, you do not have insomnia at all! You may have your circadian clock set to a diphasic sleep pattern, and you need to pay attention to it.  

What Triggers a Bifurcated Sleep Pattern in People?

According to data from Dr. Richard Friedman, a huge part of the population shows a distinct split between the non-REM sleep patterns. In fact, several studies have noted the body temperature fluctuations between people who stick to a monophasic sleep pattern and people who stick to polyphasic sleep patterns. People with a naturally bifurcated sleep pattern, show two distinct temperature drop phases throughout the day. Researchers and psychiatrists do not yet know if the brain simply follows the temperature cues of the body or there are more intrinsic factors that cause the brain to lower the core temperature.

Back in 1992, Thomas Wehr tried to recreate polyphasic sleep in human subjects by manipulating the photoperiods. It turns out, external cues can truly have a serious control over human circadian clock genes. Human sleep can become biphasic and polyphasic just like other animals (why else do you think people call it “cat nap”?) upon the shift of the photoperiod from 16 hours to 10 hours. During these experiments, Wehr saw that the level of melatonin secretion also increased along with the duration of secretion. The increase in melatonin levels corresponds with the onset of sleep. As the photoperiod became shorter, the melatonin secretion period became longer, and people automatically shifted from a monophasic period to a segmented sleep pattern.

External cues and internal factors contribute to inherent sleep patterns in individuals. Although scientists have successfully isolated the two genes that are responsible for the maintenance of circadian rhythms in human beings, each pathway and how each component of the circadian signaling occurs are still not clear. Several parts of the circadian cycle and the allied signaling systems in human beings are still shrouded in mystery. Therefore, there might be other, unknown factors, which govern the biological clocks in human beings. Diphasic sleep patterns can be a result of a combination of genetic factors, acquired habits or external signals in multiple subjects.

Can You Benefit From Diphasic Sleep?

As you must have already understood, diphasic sleep involves sleeping in two distinct phases throughout the day. This can help you find more time for self improvement and help you complete a lot of outstanding work. Bifurcated sleep has a number of other benefits that individuals, who practice it over time can enjoy.

Creativity

Majority of the subjects, who have engaged in diphasic sleep have reported feeling more inspired and creative at the end of the process. Just like monophasic sleep, diphasic sleep allows 4 to 5 REM cycles, but with a break before the last cycle that occurs during the afternoon nap.

The nighttime REM sleep is especially great for creative boosts. People have restarted their video projects, writing projects and performed better in academics after participating in bifurcated sleep experiments.

Time for Personal Growth

As we have discussed before, there are two types of bifurcated sleep. If you are engaging in the segmented diphasic sleep with two equal sleep periods divided by a waking period, you can utilize the time for painting, practicing a musical instrument, reading new books and learning new facts or simply meditating.

For those engaging in a short nap or long nap diphasic sleep cycles, the time immediately after the nap is ideal for engaging in creative activities and arts that stimulate the right side of the brain. People report feeling calm and one with their surroundings immediately after their afternoon nap. It might be a result of the quick relaxation and the boost your think-machine receives after the brief sleep.

Lucid Dreaming

People have written books about it, scientists have made research careers out of it, and Keanu Reeves has starred in a movie about it! The lucid dream has been a topic of discussion at academic sessions and at parties alike. While people are busy trying to master the art of controlling their dreams, let us tell you a secret – even you, can do it.

For the lucid dreaming novices, it is where you are “awake” during a dream, and you can control it. So, no more falling off cliffs or waking right before you take a bite of the 3 pound chocolate cake! You can control your dream any way you want during lucid dreaming and make them end wherever or however, you please.  

Diphasic sleep patterns enhance lucid dreaming abilities. For people who have already tried it, this is your chance to master it. In case you do not want to control your dreams and you are perfectly happy with how they proceed, no worries! You will experience some pretty interesting dreams anyway. Bifurcated sleep has a strong relationship with the REM sleep cycles, and it boosts the brain’s creativity to an extremely high level. It also increases your brain’s restoring activity and helps your body heal much faster.

However, all these perks come with one annoyance, you might have to give your ongoing projects a rest for the first couple of days to hit the hay in the afternoon. You will have to reorient your day’s plans around your afternoon nap and set a number of new alarms to get in touch with your new body clock. Social deprivation is a real risk if you fail to reorganize your planner successfully. These are a few risks you must weigh before you commit to a bifurcated sleep pattern during adulthood.

How to Switch to a Bifurcated Sleep Pattern?

After knowing all the benefits that come with biphasic sleep, you might want to switch to a new sleep pattern. A lot of friends and family might want to dissuade you and call it impossible, but experts, life hackers, and sleep bloggers have shown that it is totally possible with a little planning and dedication. Here’s how you can do it like a pro.

• Find out the best bedtime for you. This should be around 6 hours from your alarm time. So, you should be in bed by 12 am to 12:30 am. The latest you can go to bed will determine your morning wake-up time.

• Find the earliest morning wake-up time for you and set the alarm. For example, the ideal wake-up time for a lot of adults is around 6:30 am or 7:00 am, but with diphasic sleep, you can push it back to 5:30 am or 6:00 am.

• The best way to control your sleep during the rest of the day is by increasing your exposure to natural light, bright light sources and blue light. It will block the generation of excess melatonin in your body. Ideally, the time for an afternoon nap is between 2 pm and 4 pm. Try keeping your phone in night-mode to minimize all distractions during this time.

• Keep aside an hour or two for your afternoon nap, depending on your preference for a short nap or a long one. Initially, you might find it difficult to fall asleep in the afternoon, so try refraining from caffeine and energy drinks in the late morning.

• In the evening, reduce your exposure to bright lights and blue light and stick to natural light sources including yellow lights. It will help you stick to your 12 am bedtime and early morning wake-up time for years to come.

The change should be a gradual one if your body needs more sleep you should adjust your sleep phase and nap phase accordingly to accommodate more non-REM sleep. To understand the difference, you need to try segmented sleep at least four weeks. While practicing a diphasic sleep pattern, you should pay attention to a few things.

• How are you performing at your workplace? Is your work suffering due to your new schedule?

• Are you feeling groggy throughout the day?

• Are you feeling any weaker during your regular workouts? Are you feeling lethargic?

• Are you catching a cold or suffering from an upset stomach more often than usual?

If the answer to all four questions is a resounding “no,” then you are doing great, and you should definitely go ahead with your biphasic sleep shift.

How to Improve Your Sleep Quality?

A better night’s sleep is a result of a lot of praying, wishing and hard work for some. For others, it is just the norm of life. They can close their eyes and drift off to fairyland in less than 10 minutes each night. In case, you belong to the former group, we know exactly what can help you improve your sleep quality.  

Irrespective of your biphasic or monophasic sleep patterns, these hacks will help you experience a better quality of sleep.

• Avoid caffeinated food and drinks right before each sleep phase. Give your system at least 3 hours to flush out the caffeine from the morning latte.

• Engage in a little workout each morning. Meditation and jogging help with early onset of sleep.

• Before you go off for your nap or your sleep, give yourself about 30 minutes without blue-light emission from electronic devices.

• You can try using white noise machines at night and brown noise machines in the afternoon for better sleep.

• Keep your room quiet. Switch the TV off and draw the curtains before you go to sleep. At night, keep the lights off (you can keep the hallway or bathroom lights on) while you are in bed.

People who are trying bifurcated sleep in the afternoons can find it especially annoying with all the honking, people talking, neighbor’s whipping up a racket and the light outside. The trick is to use an eye mask and preferably invest in a white noise, brown noise machine to help you calm down. A lot of people use pleasant fragrances and essential oils like lavender and ylang ylang to help soothe their worn out nerves. Once you are in the habit, you will find it easy to fall asleep each day without any help!

Is it time to go nap: should you try a new biphasic or polyphasic sleeping pattern?

You must remember that each individual’s body has an intrinsic clock that depends on a number of factors apart from external photoperiods and scotoperiods. In fact, for academicians, students and office goers, it might be quite impossible to experiment with biphasic and polyphasic sleep patterns right now. People who have the luxury of 14 hours of uninterrupted darkness and solitude can easily experiment with their sleep patterns. However, that does not mean that your natural or adjusted sleeping pattern is in any way inadequate for you.

Your current sleeping pattern may be a result of your work hour compulsion or the result of the natural needs of your body. Either way, changing to a new sleep cycle takes time, perseverance and planning. If you do not have the time to plan or the time to make up for things that can go wrong during this change, you should not attempt such a big shift.

People, who are completely unsatisfied with their sleep quality or individuals facing the need to cut down their sleeping hours drastically at night, should definitely try biphasic sleep or polyphasic sleep for a month. Taking up a segmented sleeping schedule helps in saving more time, getting more work done and finding more relaxation during the day due to interjected afternoon naps. Understanding what your body wants is the key to a successful shift from a monophasic sleep routine to a biphasic or polyphasic sleep routine.

A study indicates that the average urban resident spends more than six hours a day looking at digital screens, a practice common among at least 60% of Americans. While mobile gadgets have greatly eased our everyday lives, they’re also quietly impairing our health.

The same time you are saving a lot of work by not stepping out in the cold and ordering your dinner using your smartphone, you are exposing yourself to a lot of blue light coming from the mobile screen. You may have been thinking about catching a nap while your dinner cooks in some remote kitchen and someone brings it to your doorstep, but all the light from the screen of your smartphone is making that less and less likely.

Blue light is not the newest fad. It is indeed causing a stir in the scientific community as well as among the common people. Blue light is not a discovery, but its effects on human health are opening new avenues for the understanding of light energy in eye physiology, human circadian rhythms, and behavior. Getting to know about something as common, yet less understood as blue light is very important since flipping the light switch on, checking the messages on your phone or stepping out during the day can instantly expose you to a deluge of blue light.

You may want to believe that you can limit your exposure by staying indoors, applying screen filters or switching to yellow lights, but how much of it works? How can you ensure that your health and your eyes are not always at risk of blue light exposure? Keep reading to find out about the true nature of blue light and what you can do to keep yourself safe from it.

How are Blue Light and Sleep Connected? How are You Increasing Your Daily Exposure to It?

The truth is blue light is not just the forte of digital screens. It is everywhere since it is a part of the natural visible spectrum of light. It is the part of the low frequency and high energy spectrum that has the power to disrupt our circadian rhythms. You can probably apprehend the dreadful truth by now – blue light is natural and it is everywhere around you!

The sun’s light delivers the most amount of blue light to your immediate surroundings. Even with adverse weather conditions, it is highly unlikely that the sunlight around you does not expose you to blue light. Natural blue light has wavelengths between 380 nm and 500 nm. The blue-violet wavelengths are right next to ultraviolet (not visible to human eyes) in the spectrum.

Then there are the artificial sources of blue light, so even if you have heaved a premature sigh of relief, you need to straighten up and read on. The leading artificial sources of light include the compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) and light emitting diode (LED) light sources.

So, even if you work in an artificially lit environment throughout the day or late into the night, you are not limiting your exposure to blue light in any way. Over the years, working in blue light rich environments can lead to long-term eye damage. Modern research has linked several cases of age-related macular damage (AMD) to long-term exposure of the eyes to blue light.

Additionally, almost all digital devices with LED screens or LCD screens emit blue light. This includes your PC monitors, laptop screens, TV, mobile phones, and tablets. That’s bad news for the night owls who like stretching their daily work into the late night and enjoy a little late night social hobnobbing on their mobile phones. No matter how advanced your mobile, tablet or laptop is, it is a strong source of blue light.

If you were telling yourself that you are using the best of the best devices to protect your health from the ill-effects of technology, you need to do a double check about the facts. CFLs emit about 25% of the blue light, LEDs emit about 35% of it, but the majority of the exposure comes from gadgets with screens we use on a daily basis. In case you are suffering from poor sleep quality or recurrent bouts of delayed sleep onset, you need to rethink your pre-bedtime gadget use routine.

Over the last decade, LEDs have become the illumination of choice for a lot of industries and sectors. From artificial indoor lighting to lighting up the mobile device screens, scientists, tech experts, and developers have used light emitting diodes exhaustively for various purposes. Right now, blue light prevails across the lives of several individuals using the latest gifts of technology regularly.

RGB and SSL illumination systems are the most responsible among the lot to introduce blue light into our daily lives. Several offices and individual homeowners invest in white-light LEDs to minimize their exposure since the combined blue LED with a yellow phosphor to reduce blue light emissions. However, over time, the while LEDs deteriorate due to bleaching of the phosphor. They revert to emitting blue light within a year or so.

How Does the Blue Region of the Visible Light Spectrum Affect Your Health?

You may wonder how a certain portion of the spectrum can cause more harm to your retina than the others. The early concepts started back in the later 1990s when research proved that mice retina without the presence of rod photoreceptors could detect the presence of light. The use of double knockout mice showed that these rod cell lacking mice were capable of sensing the dark and light phases. They could successfully reorient their circadian clocks to respond to the changes in the photoperiod and scotoperiod (dark-period) just like a control mouse without any mutations in their rod photoreceptors.

Further research showed that photo-protein melanopsin is responsible for the action of recognizing light particles from certain regions of the visible spectrum. This melanopsin or Opn4 is also responsible for papillary reflex actions in mammals. Now, this is suggestive of the fact that melanopsin and rod/cone cell photoreception are complementary to each other. Melanopsin plays a significant role in the circadian rhythms in the human population. It is critical for the production and regulation of melatonin, the hormone that controls our sleep-wake cycles. Melatonin suppression occurs at high levels when melanopsin absorbs light with a wavelength average of 460 nm.

Blue light and sleep elicit a very intricate circadian rhythm control mechanism in human subjects. Since this region of the visible spectrum has been the subject of several studies, scientists can confirm that the blue region of the spectrum is more active than monochromatic light in the suppression of melatonin production. In fact, e-readers and mobile phones emit a high flux of blue light that interferes with the circadian rhythms of the users. It becomes especially difficult for individuals living in regions that experience six months of light and six months of complete darkness to orient their circadian rhythms effectively after repeated exposures to the blue light emitting digital devices and artificial lighting.

The eventual lack of good quality sleep, insomnia or delayed onset of sleep can have deleterious effects on the individual’s daily performance. Lack of sleep affects long-term memory, cognitive abilities, alertness and decision-making mechanisms. In fact, increasing exposure to blue light can also lead to reduced healing powers, increase in fatigue and a drastic increase in the chances of getting cancer. Researchers have also found blue light’s relationship with eating disorders, obesity, diabetes and depression in their subjects.

Several types of research show that continued exposure to blue light can affect retinal health and functions in individuals irrespective of age. The most common form of retinal damage is photochemical. This occurs when the individuals expose their eyes to high-intensity light (wavelength of 390 nm to 600 nm). Investigations prove that the presence of blue light in high intensities can worsen the damage of external light receptors in the retina. Blue light damages the cone cells of the eyes as well. This can compromise the fine ability of individuals to perceive the intensity of colors.

While some reactions at the cellular level are responsible for the way your retina suffers damage from blue light exposure, the result is always the same. Blue light can damage vision, and it hastens the onset of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

What are a Few Good Things About the blue Light-waves of Visible Light?

In short, the disastrous effects of blue light are plenty. It only makes one wonder why blue light is so common in our immediate environment and if there is at all anything good that can come from it. Since every black cloud has a silver lining, we were interested in looking for a few ways in which blue light might be good for you. However, always remember to limit the exposure and not overdo it.

Have you ever heard of season affective disorder (SAD)? It is when a person’s mood depends on external cues. The lack of sunlight, persistent cold and months of snow are highly responsible for depression in the Scandinavian countries. This is a recurring disorder that begins with fall and lasts throughout winter for many. Psychiatrists and therapists are using blue light to treat depression caused by seasons and the lack of natural light. Since blue light can stimulate the synthesis of melatonin to promote sound sleep, increase alertness and improve morning-time wakefulness, it gives the therapists a new and non-intrusive way to control the circadian rhythms of their subjects.

Blue light therapy has fewer side-effects as compared to the standard medication for depression and sleep disorders.The next time you need to wake up early and be at your alert-best, you should consider standing under the brightest LED light or CFL light you can find to drive the sleepiness away!

How are Changes in Lifestyle and Evolution of Technology Increases the Blue Light Effect?

Sources of blue light include the sun, LED and CFL light bulbs, computer screens, tablets, mobile phones and even our good old television sets. You could say that blue light is everywhere. Where there is light, there is a small percentage of blue light.

As per the Vision Council of America, almost 75% of the population wears glasses or contact lenses. A lot of this population has to do with the regular use of electronic screens either for hobby or work. The percentage of people using gadgets for vision correction is increasing by the hour and some investigations point towards the increasing number of blue light sources as its cause.

In the US, 7 out of 10 urban parents allow their two-year-old kids to play with tablets. By the time kids are four years old, they develop an addiction to smartphones and tablets. Over 90% of modern kids know how to use smartphones. Almost 88% of the teenagers in the US own more than one smartphone that they use for over 4 hours a day. The average person spends one-fourth of their day on a smartphone and considering 81% of the US adults do so, the raging number of people suffering from sleep disorders is not a surprise at all.

• Continuous use of mobile phones, gaming consoles and laptops has led to increasing incidents of sleep deprivation in young adults.

• Adults report feeling increasing levels of fatigue following persistent use of LED technology in daily lives.

• Regular use of electronics and resulting sleep disorders increase the risk of obesity in the present American population.

• Children indulging in long hours of gaming on consoles or computer show increasing signs of fatigue and slow learning abilities.

• Increasing exposure to electronic devices increases the onset and progression of AMD and other retinal disorders.

• Blue light exposure directly dictates the maturity of cataracts in adults.

• There is a connection between blue light exposure and incidence of cancer in all age groups. It increases the chances of breast cancer and prostate cancer in women and men respectively.

• It can have a long-term effect on memory functions in both adults and children.

The ill-effects of blue light outdo the pros of it. Unless you are opting for a controlled blue light therapy session under expert care, you should think about minimizing your daily exposure.

How can You Counter the Harmful Effects of the Blue Region of the Visible Light Spectrum?

Blue light affects different people in different ways. While some can experience deleterious effects within a short period, others may not face the harmful effects for years to come. You should minimize your exposure level irrespective of the effects you are experiencing right now.

It is always smarter to find a way to control your exposure levels than make up for it later on. Scientific and technological advancements have helped us protect us from blue light exposure in certain ways.

Carotenoid supplements. Our eyes have their light shield near the retina – retinal pigment epithelium. It provides us protection from intense light of various wavelengths. Research shows that increasing the percentage of carotenoid in our daily food can help our eyes maintain this natural shield and bounce off the harmful blue light waves from the surface of the epithelium before it hits the retina. The absence of this epithelial layer or its degeneration over the years increases the chances of AMD in people.

We can absorb carotenoid from our regular diet, but the inclusion of supplements in our food improves our ability to protect ourselves from the blue wavelengths of the visible spectrum. Any yellow and orange vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, and apricots are natural sources of carotenoids. Lutein and zeaxanthin are useful supplements that can help maintain the pigmentation of the retinal pigment epithelium. This can help protect you from the unwanted harmful effects of blue light.

Blue-light blocking lenses. Filters and lenses that can successfully block blue light have been around for ages now. You may have noticed that the regular sun protective eyewear that you use outdoors, usually does not work well indoors. They block all visible spectrums of light and decrease the total intensity of light reaching your eyes. So, if you were planning to use your regular shades to minimize blue light reaching your eyes while working on your PC or laptop, you should think again.

There are several brands of scientifically developed and ophthalmologically approved blue-light blocking glasses you can find at the pharmacy or online stores. They can cost you over $80, but they can also buy you a great night’s sleep! At the same time, try to find blue light blocking screen filters for your TV, monitor, and laptop to minimize your exposure. A recent publication from the American Academy of Ophthalmology lays stress on the amount of blue light emission from street lights. Blue-light blocking lenses can help you block light as you travel back home from work, and help you get a good night’s sleep.  

Specialty light bulbs. If you stay indoors during most of the evening, you may want to reconsider your home lighting. LED light bulbs are definitely energy friendly and environmentally friendly, but are they friendly towards your health? LED and CFL light bulbs emit high levels of blue light, so you need to check if your brand thinks of human circadian rhythms as well.

The new-age energy efficient light bulbs minimize the blue light exposure at night and increase the emission of blue light during the morning. Knowing blue light’s melatonin suppressing effect, it is easy to understand how that might be beneficial in regulating the circadian rhythm of the homeowner. In fact, while opting for night-time, blue-light minimizing bulbs, why don’t you check out the new day-time bulbs as well? The perfect balance of blue-light exposure can help you get back in sync with your biological clock.  

Blue-light filter applications and software. Some smart devices now come with reading filters. These are add-on filter options that can cut down blue light emission. This does not need you to attach a physical filter to the device, but you can switch on the tool or application to reduce the emission. Some mobile makers including Apple now offer blue-light filters for their device users.

There are several open source applications for Android users as well that can auto adjust the levels of blue light emission from the devices as per the natural or ambient lighting of the user. This can significantly cut down the total blue light from your devices and the total emission you are exposing yourself to, by using electronic gadgets with screens every day.

Try the 20-20-20 rule. According to this lifehack, you need to look away from your monitor or your phone screen every 20 minutes. Look at an object at least 20 feet away for about 20 seconds. At the same time, blink more often to keep your eyes moist. Artificial tears can help minimize digital strain on your eyes. Not exposing yourself to natural light can have adverse effects on your health and circadian rhythm. So be very careful about the changes you introduce in your daily life to avoid blue light exposure.

Maximize exposure to natural light during the day. To experience life to the fullest and live a healthy life, you should maximize your exposure to natural light in the mornings. If possible, shift your work-desk near the window or invest in a bright light that emits at least 1000 lux of light. Modern offices are not nourishing towards the internal body clock. You need to take a few extra measures to ensure that your circadian clocks stay in tune with the external clocks.

Enjoy life outdoors. Enjoying outdoor life is a splendid way to boost your health. Start by going for camping on the weekends or going on hikes with your friends and family. You need to spend as little as two days in the woods or in the wilderness to restore the natural life-force you need to plow through a month’s blue-light infused slogging. Camping and hiking promote a more natural setup that is devoid of bright lights post-dusk. This can expose you to over 13 times more light naturally in the daytimes and a natural scotoperiod, devoid of artificial lighting. This can shift the sleep cycle to 1.4 hours in advance. The study also outlined that these campers felt fresher and more active on the following weekday as compared to the individuals who stayed back.  

Of course, the most useful way of cutting down blue-light levels from your life is by limiting your screen time. However, if you work on the PC or the laptop on a regular basis, you will indeed find it very difficult to do so. At least try to limit your cell phone and laptop usage to 3 hours before bedtime and limit your television time before bed too. A short trip to the mall or the arcade right before bedtime can also increase your alertness due to the bright lights. You need to control the kind of light you are exposing yourself to every evening and immediately before sleep. So, plan your day wisely, get off the laptop, phone, and computer at least a couple of hours before bed, and try to use dim red lights or green lights as your night-light.

Here are a Few Facts About the Blue Light you Need to Know to Stay Healthy

Digital strain is real. Over 60% of Americans report feeling the strain in their eyes at the end of the day. People spend over 2 hours at an average using two electronic devices simultaneously. The symptoms of digital strain include dry eyes, fatigue, blurred vision and pain around the eyes. The contributing devices include televisions, gaming consoles, e-readers, tablets, computers, laptops and mobile phones.

Blue light is taking a toll on your eyesight. Do not pass this over as a fad. It is a scientific fact that international research institutes have backed up over the years with thorough investigations. Blue light is the biggest culprit behind digital strain. Aside from drying up the aqueous layer in the outer region of the eyes, it causes considerable retinal strain and damage.

Children are exposing themselves to blue light. The exposure to blue light is not a reality for adults only. Children are choosing tablets and mobile phones for outdoor games every day. Toddlers are reporting symptoms of digital strain as a result of increased exposure to blue light from smart devices. Switching one device to another rarely helps your cause in case your child has been reporting strained vision or fatigued eyes.

Our natural blue light defense is bad. Even with extra carotene intake, our blue light defense is not as strong as it should be to protect our eyes from the daily dose. All visible blue light easily passes through the lens and reaches the retina. This has been causing increased incidences of cataracts, chronic dryness, impaired vision and even retinal cancer.

Blue light can challenge health. Aside from ocular health challenges, blue light can pose several threats to your heart, liver, and brain. Studies have linked increasing exposure to blue light with depression, heart diseases, obesity and different types of cancer in the patients. Understanding the relationship between blue light and obesity was quite recent. Research shows that increasing exposure to blue light at night causes cortisol levels to rise boosting hunger. If you have been feeling the inclination to binge at midnight, now you know whom to blame!

The impact of blue light on circadian rhythm is so profound that NASA went to the extent of changing all the blue light emitting light sources in their international space station with those that emit longer wavelengths at night. That was not a budget venture, but the gravity of the impact of the blue light waves led the experts to take such an expensive step.  

Do You Need to Feel so Blue?

Taking care of blue light emissions within your immediate environment may not be as difficult as you imagine it to be. Switching out your current LED and CFL light bulbs with the newer white light emitting light bulbs may sound like an expensive affair initially, but the newer light bulbs promise better energy efficiency. In the long run, the new LED technology will not only preserve your eyesight and good health, but it will also help you save more on your monthly energy bills. Powering your day with brighter LEDs can also counter the effects of post-dark melatonin suppression by the prevalence of blue-light-emitting diodes to a certain extent.

Cutting down blue light in your environment will also boost your psychological health. Sleep is responsible for a lot of mental and physical restorative processes. Once you switch from the blue light emitting diodes to white light or more natural light sources, you will gradually feel the recurring depression recede. Light makes us feel better during the day but depriving yourself of darkness 24×7 can have some side effects and depression is just scratching the surface. Powering down a little after dusk and switching to the low-blue light emitting light bulbs across the household can do the trick for you.

A study inside a sleep lab showed that people who engaged in reading or socializing on the digital devices often experienced a drop-in melatonin levels. After five days of using e-readers for 2 hours before bedtime, their melatonin levels dropped by 55% or even more. They experienced lesser REM sleep. REM sleep is necessary for its restorative actions on human physiology and psychology. People engaging in e-reading right before bedtime often experienced disrupted non-REM sleep as well. As a result, they were more prone to feeling groggy, taking longer time processing new information and faltering with remembering facts. Blue light disrupts more than sleep. It has the power to usurp the natural circadian rhythm and upset the restorative balance in the natural human body. 

Prior to making an investment in a new mattress, a common consideration is its durability. This is a question that should be raised with experts as you hunt for the ideal mattress. Depending on what you want, need, and can afford, the cost of a high-quality mattress might vary between $150 and $4000. Regardless of the expenditure, buying a mattress is a significant financial decision, rather than merely an additional expense on your monthly budget.

How long a mattress will last depend on its brand, make and more. Even today, there is no substantial answer to how long should a mattress last. The lifespan of any mattress signifies how long it will conserve its shape, support, and comfort. Sometimes it is only about 3 or 4 years, while for the luckier (and smarter) homes it can be up to one decade. On average mattresses that cost over $150 should last you at least 6 to 7 years but depending on the daily “abuse” they withstand the lifespan will vary. Not using a mattress topper or using a new mattress with an old box spring can reduce its life force significantly.

A recent study by a team of researchers in Oklahoma State University reports that the quality of mattress determines the quality of sleep in people. Necessary and timely replacements of all kinds of mattresses facilitate restorative sleep. Older mattresses with broken innersprings or multiple saggy spots often cause back pain. In fact, constant use of a mattress that does not offer comfort and support to the sleeper can increase the chances of spondylosis and lumbago.

Sleep is possibly the most essential “chore” we perform every day. Without proper 7 to 8 hours of restorative sleep, your body and mind functions can deteriorate over time. Sleeping on a proper mattress not only improves your joint health, but it also improves your brain function for the next day. We need sleep to restore our lost energy and “repair” the immunity challenges.

That is why you need to know about the different natural life of the different mattress types you might be using or purchasing right now.

How Long Should a Mattress Last?

The high-end mattresses have an average lifespan of about 7 to 10 years. Some families claim that their mattresses are heirlooms and they have been “excellent” for the last 15 years or so. Our knowledge about the properties of old innerspring mattresses and latex mattresses makes us question their judgment.

Even the best of the higher-end mattresses do not hold their integrity for more than a decade. Foam and latex mattresses usually fair better than innerspring and double-sided innerspring mattresses. Here’s a detailed comparison of the longevity of the mattresses depending on their composition and type.

Memory Foam

Let us start with the bed that people love most. It might be one of the costliest options for all homeowners, but it is also one of the most long-lived. Memory foam has the power to hold impressions and provide complete support by “remembering” your weight distribution. It offers ultimate comfort for the sleeper.

It is quite ideal for all ages and weights. You need to flip it once in a couple of months to keep it in shape. They retain their shape and comfort for a decade almost. Even then experts deem memory foam mattresses to have a mid-length lifespan.

Latex Mattresses

Latex mattresses can be quite diverse in cost and firmness. They are one of the most long-lasting mattresses. With regular use, latex mattresses can last for about 15 years. So, unless you are a latex mattress owner, saying your mattress has been in your family for 15 years is concerning. Investing in a mid-range latex mattress is a smart decision.

As one layer of the mattress wears out, you can replace it with a fresh coat. You can keep doing this endlessly and experience new comfort and support for over the next decade. Most importantly, you can flip each section of the mattress individually to even out the wear and tear on your latex mattress.

Innerspring Mattresses

No one dedicatedly shops for innerspring mattresses anymore, unless they have more traditional foundations or slat beds. A large number of the new bed designs can make do with memory foam mattresses and latex ones without the requirement of a separate box spring. Innerspring mattresses have coil springs on both sides to evenly distribute the weight of the sleeper and provide optimum support. To prevent a Princess and the Pea reiteration, the innersprings are usually thin metal coil springs.

Although the mattress is comfortable due to the use of light coil springs, they quickly lose strength and cause the mattress to sag in places. Even the costliest of the innerspring mattresses do not last beyond 7 to 8 years in a family home. The average lifespan on an innerspring mattress does depend upon the weight of the users.

Hybrid Mattresses

Bloggers and homeowners will often tell you that hybrid mattresses combine the best of both worlds. It has pocketed coil support core and a comfortable soft layer. Hybrid mattresses are a neat mix of innerspring mattress properties with memory foam or latex mattress traits. They provide excellent support as well as the comfort of a soft mattress. Since both the coil layer and the memory foam or gel layer are thin, the wear shows more prominently on these mattress types.

The longevity of hybrid mattresses depends upon the core material. Polyfoams tend to extend the support and comfort lifespan of this mattress type. Hybrid mattresses do not last more than six years. They might be costlier than the innerspring mattresses and latex mattresses, but they need replacement once the bed begins to sag in places.

Air Mattresses

Determining the lifespan of an air mattress is dicey. Air mattresses are suitable for sleepers, who need customizable support. The lifespan of an air mattress depends mostly on maintenance. It is not ideal for children or households with pets.

The outer material’s toughness determines how long it will last. This type of a mattress usually lasts between 3 to 5 years, after which the air starts leaking. They can come with inbuilt air pumps or external air pumps. After the initial five years, the air pump can finally give up.

Waterbed Mattresses

These mattresses depend on proper maintenance for lasting long. Since they do not have innerspring, you can expect one to provide optimum service for about 8 to 9 years. However, their lack of innerspring or a firm core signifies the lack of concrete spinal and skeletal support.

Although Hollywood and Rock-n-Roll lifestyle made the waterbeds famous among the everyday folks of the US, they are not the ideal kind if you are looking for a solution to your hip pain and joint pain.

Futons

Futon mattresses are very common in the East Asian countries. These tend to have below-average longevity. With proper care, they can last up to 5 years. This mattress type is not well-suited for children or the elderly. Futon mattresses do not make for smart investments, and you should only get one as a backup for your guestroom or your bedroom cot.

What Factors Affect the Longevity of a Mattress?

Have you ever wondered why the same mattress has a different lifespan in different households? That is because how long a bed will last depend on multiple factors. The cost rarely indicates how long the mattress is going to serve you or your little one.

Any expert can only give you his or her best guess when it comes to foretelling the longevity of a mattress. Here are a few factors you need to take into account while estimating the lifespan of any mattress.

Frequency of Use

A mattress that you use less will last longer. That is probably the reason the more pocket-friendly bedding in your guest bedroom outlasts your bedroom mattress or your kids’ mattresses. If you buy a new mattress today and only start using it three years from now, the lifespan will automatically increase by approximately three years.

Activity

Eating in bed or drinking in bed is not very uncommon for people, especially if their televisions are directly in front of their beds. Most mattress companies and experts scoff at the practice of eating and drinking in bed. If you have the habit of putting piles of books, exercising weights or your bulky electronic gadgets on the bed, you need to stop now.

You may counter it by stating that human beings weigh more than the average pile of books or computer, but our weight-pressure distribution is very different on a mattress. Spillage with weaken the mattress and void the warranty. A combination of both will devitalize the innerspring and harm the integrity of the mattress.

Body Weight

People with substantial bodyweight have a more significant impact on the mattress. They exert more pressure than lightweight sleepers, and this can reduce the lifespan of their mattresses. Lighter bodies are more comfortable on the innersprings and the foam layers. They exert significantly lesser pressure on the mattress and contribute to a longer lifespan.

Maintenance

Mattresses need the occasional dust and flip. They absorb a lot of sweat, bodily secretions and some amount of dead skins throughout the night. That makes these mattresses a perfect breeding ground for bacteria, fungi and dust mites. Have you ever noticed how some of the older mattresses smell funky? The smell usually emanates from the dust and microbe build-up inside the bedding.

What are the Signs of an Expired Lifespan?

Mattresses deteriorate over time. Sometimes, the signs are not as blatant, and during the other times, the symptoms are right there under our noses, but we choose to ignore them. A damaged mattress usually has the following signs;

Sagging

Older beds and damaged mattresses do not usually retain an even surface anymore. Some places on the surface can become lumpy and raised, while other areas can become saggy from breaking of the innersprings. Memory foam mattresses usually have a longer average lifespan because they are capable of restoring their original shape within a short period.

No matter how much weight or pressure you put on memory foams, they always restore themselves back to a smooth contour in almost no-time. Innerspring mattresses and hybrid mattresses experience a sagging effect. That is especially true for couple’s beds. Couples tend to stick to their “own side” of the bed, and they sleep in the same positions as well. Repetitive use can wear down the springs and foams at particular places, leaving the surrounding region firm.

Excessive Softening

Innerspring mattresses sag, and latex mattresses weaken over time. Foam and latex usually soften upon prolonged use. As a mattress starts losing its natural firmness, it also loses its pain-relieving property. People with joint problems and hip pain often suffer more when they sleep on older mattresses that have become softer in places over time.

You should remember that a bed does become softer with regular use as a high-quality leather shoe. However, it is excessive softness that you need to check. The increasing softness signifies a loss of integrity and indicates the ideal time to replace a mattress. When mattresses are firm, medium firm and very firm, their chances of softening over time also increases.

Impressions

Over years of use, the posture of the sleeper will make a distinct impact on the mattress. This impression can range from being semi-permanent to permanent. This usually happens in latex mattresses. Memory foam mattresses start preserving body impressions only on the last leg of their lives.

Hybrids, airbeds and foam mattresses often protect body impressions to create uneven sleeping surfaces. The loss of a smooth surface compromises the support system and the comfort level. Once you can understand the increasing unevenness of the mattress surface, you need to start thinking about upcoming mattress replacement.

Mechanical Damage

Mechanical impairment can include visible breakage in the innersprings or the failure of airbed pumps. The kind of mechanical damage usually varies between different mattress types, but these are visible damage that you can see on/in your mattress. Adjustable mattresses, waterbed mattresses, and airbeds are more susceptible to breaking down as compared to memory foam or latex mattresses.

When Do You Need a New Mattress?

People often realize that they need a new mattress when they suffer from back pains, a stiffness of the neck and recurring aches all over the body. These happen due to decreasing support and evenness of the mattress. Lumps and sags come in the way of proper comfort. Staying up till late, tossing and turning to find your sleep posture may be an indication of the lack of support.

Additionally, old mattresses sometimes also exacerbate allergy symptoms. Frequent allergic reactions happen when the latex or the foam absorbs allergens over time and finally becomes saturated enough to emit them. Any movement on the mattress can mobilize the allergens including animal dander, dust mites, and mold. The level of allergies and incidences of asthma increases in frequency with constant use.

Most importantly, if you are sleeping better on your couch or your guestroom, it might be time to reconsider a mattress change for your main bed. Waking up with sniffles and a frozen neck cannot be pleasant for anyone. Spending a couple of hundreds for a good night’s sleep, every night is the least you can do in today’s hyper-fast world.

What are a Few Things You can Try to Improve the Lifespan of a Mattress?

Most mattresses do not last long as you expect them to last because people do not take proper care of them. So, what can you do to make them last longer?

Regular Cleaning

Mattresses demand some love and care too. They are not as taxing when it comes to cleaning, and you can use robust dusters to get the dust and dirt off them every morning and before you go to bed. Throughout the day the air settles on the mattresses, and they end up collecting a lot of dust. Unless you clean them properly before sleep, you can experience bouts of sneezing, allergic rhinitis and even breathing difficulty at night.

Regular cleaning is necessary to prolong the life of your mattress, as well as maintain your health. Not cleaning your mattress frequently enough will make it a haven for bacteria, fungi, and mildew. Vacuuming it with the special mattress-friendly attachment works wonders to address allergy problems. Some mattresses come with cleaning service.

Even if your bed does not cover a periodic cleaning warranty, you can always opt for a professional cleaning to extend its longevity. Be sure not to use liquid detergent or other household cleaning products on your mattress, if you are not sure about the techniques.

Opt for a Mattress Topper

A good mattress topper can set you back by close to a hundred dollars, but you will be investing a lot more on a new mattress, so buying a topper to protect it makes sense. It is like buying a UPS or a battery for your PC. It will protect the mattress and ensure that you get the proper service the brand promised.

Keeps sweat a layer away. Body odor and pit stains are repulsive on an individual as they are repulsive on a mattress. You can end up voiding the mattress warranty, in case you do not pay attention to the stains your sweat is forming on top of the foam or latex layer. A mattress topper helps stop the sweat from reaching the mattress. This prevents weakening of the mattress core, and it ensures that you will get warranty services for your mattress for a long time in the future.

Dead skin cells. Dead skin cells are ubiquitous inside the household. In spite of the luxury skincare range, you are partial to; you shed skin on a regular basis. In fact, with the amount of skin that flakes off our bodies each year, we can effortlessly put an anaconda to shame. Have you seen the tiny little particles glisten in the sunlight each morning? Those are skin cells too. Using a mattress topper keeps dead skin away from the mattress. This prevents organic material build-up, and it also inhibits the growth of microbes that thrive on it. This adds about a couple more years to your mattress’ life.

Keeps it smooth. Mattresses can lose shape over the years but using a mattress topper usually delays it. The mattress topper absorbs a large part of the pressure. This acts as an added layer of protection to the mattress underneath and prevents sudden sagging. A mattress topper can share the stress on your new mattress and breathe a new lease of life into those innersprings.

Flipping is Good

Irrespective of what your parents might have told you, flipping is right, at least as far as mattresses are concerned. Regardless of the type of mattress and its size, you need to flip it from time to time. Unless you have a built-in pillow or a raised top, you should rotate it too. Flipping and turning will help you distribute the weight and pressure on the mattress from time to time. In case you do not flip your mattress enough, you will end up with lumpy or sagging mattresses.

Contrary to popular belief, the first year demands the most frequent flipping. Flip your mattress at least once a month. From the next year onwards, you can reduce the frequency to once every 2 or 3 months. Air mattresses and water mattresses do not need any flipping since they do not have any core material. Flipping ensures even wear and tear over the next few years.

Invest in a Mattress Protector

Yes, mattress toppers and mattress protectors are very different from one another. It adds a waterproof and dirt-proof layer to your mattress. Using one provides ultimate protection to your mattress from spillage accidents.

A good quality mattress protector can extend the lifespan of the average mattress by at least 2 to 3 years. In fact, most mattress shoppers buy protectors along with their mattresses so as not to void the warranties accidentally.

Keep your Pets Off

Here is one point of advice a lot of people with fur babies will not like. You can love your pooch to the moon and back, but you must get them their bed. Make it a habit for them to stay off your bed even when you are not around. We know a lot of pet owners, who have found out that their naughty pets jump up on their beds the moment they exit their homes.

First, your pet will drag up dirt, mud, and food on the bed. Second, they will accidentally spill juice, lotions, makeup and everything else nearby. Third, accidents happen! No matter how well you have trained your dog or your cat, they can end up peeing on the bed without you noticing. To prevent all these from happening, training your pooch to stay off the bed is very necessary. You can help them by moving their bed to your bedroom but always follow a strict ‘no pet on the bed’ policy.

What do Warranties Say About the Lifespan of a Mattress?

Many people like to think that if a mattress comes with an extended warranty of 20 years, the mattress is likely to last 20 years as well. Two decades for a mattress is a ridiculous amount of time, and even if your mattress is showing little to no physical damage, you need to change it after a decade. In most cases, mattresses come with a ten years warranty.

The following defects can allow the owners to replace their mattresses free of cost.

• Mattress manufacturers can replace your mattress if it sags or shows distinct indentations. The level of sagging that warrants a replacement often depends on the manufacturer. Some offer an alternative for mattresses that sag half an inch, while others do not replace unless the sag is at least 1.5 inches. You can easily measure the dip of a mattress at home with the help of a piece of thread and a scale.

• Manufacturing defects that cause the foam or the latex in the mattress to crack warrants a replacement from the manufacturer.

• Broken wires, coils and internal materials that poke through the sides or the top can get you a replacement.

• Any other defects of the mattress cover that comes straight from the packing like broken zippers or loose threads warrant exchange or replacement from the manufacturing brand.

You must remember that the warranties from mattress manufacturers do not cover the following points.

• The visible damage that is a result of the owner’s negligence or misuse does not warrant a replacement. That can include not using a box spring, not using a mattress protector and not cleaning the mattress properly.

• Manufacturing defects on mattresses that bear stains of any kind or on mattresses without a legal tag.

• Any softening or sagging of the foam or latex layer that does not affect the mattress’ pressure distribution abilities does not satisfy replacement requirements.

• Any indentations or sags that do not match the pre-defined measurements (conditions) of replacement from the manufacturer.

Several people often state across the web that their mattress manufacturers offer complete replacement warranties, but they need the buyers to take the mattress to their store. As you must have already realized, transporting a mattress is not an easy job. That is why most stores and brands have their delivery system. Without an in-home service, it is impossible to access the replacement offers. It is not possible for most to drive a mattress to the store or the manufacturer in a family car. It is a neat trick that many brands use even today. You need to be very careful, and you should always read the fine print before committing.

In multiple consumer reviews, we have noticed that people often do not realize the concept of non-prorated warranties and paid warranties. For example – if your warranty promises 20 years of service for your mattress, the first ten years are most likely to cover you completely for all expenses. For the next ten years, you will have to pay for the repair services or the replacement as per different company rules. When a company asks for repair service charge or damages ten years after purchase, they are not dishonest. These terms are always there in the warranty brochure, but the buyers often ignore them.

All potential mattress shoppers should know that right manufacturer warranties on mattresses can save you a lot of money, but not reading the fine print can cost you a lot more. Only shop with brands you trust. Consult shops about warranties and potential costs. Checking out consumer reviews on reliable websites will also help you predict the lifespan of your mattress quite accurately.

What Does your Mattress Lifespan Say?

Each type of mattress comes with a definite lifespan. Experts ask users to replace their mattresses from time to time. Is it time for you and your partner to spend on a new mattress? Here are a few questions you must ask yourself to find the truth.

1.    Are you or your partner experiencing uneven pressure or pain from sleeping on the mattress? 
2.    Is either of you getting disturbed sleep from numbness of limbs or stiffness of the back at night? 
3.    Are you getting frequent runny noses, watery eyes and attacks of sneezes after going to bed?

If you have answered “yes” to all the three questions above, it is time for you to go out there and look through new mattresses for your bed. Following a few easy steps can contribute to the durability of your expensive mattress. Invest a few minutes each day to enjoy the perks of a great mattress for at least a decade to come.