Teens might not get enough sleep: study

PARIS (AFP) - Scientists have confirmed what parents of teenagers have always suspected: adolescents are out of sync with the rest of the world.

Most teens probably don't get enough sleep and suffer in their school work because their internal clocks make them night owls, according to a study published Tuesday.

Researchers in Australia showed the average teenager misses more than an hour of sleep each night and is forced to wake up 2.5 hours earlier than his or her natural rhythms would dictate.

High school students with a late-night "circadian preference," as the biologically-driven cycle is called, reported doing more poorly in school, and feeling more frequently depressed and unhappy.

"For all people, there is a genetic disposition to being either a 'morning lark' or a 'night owl'," explained lead author Suzanne Warner, a professor at Swineburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Australia.

But when hormonal changes kick in at the start of adolescence, she told AFP, young people start to stay up later and—given the chance—wake up later too.

Most of the students in the study were such "evening persons," she said.

"Teenagers find that they are most alert in the evening and do not feel sleepy until later, and so find it difficult to get enough sleep during school term," she added.

The key is melatonin, a hormone that signals to the body that it needs rest and sleep. In teenagers entering puberty, it is released later and later in the evening.

There are also environmental factors that contribute to the problem, she said.

Ambient light tends to minimize the amount of melatonin secreted, and the constant use of computers could keep adolescents up past their natural bedtime, even after lights are turned out.

"One thing parents can do is to lower the lights, and switch off computers and televisions an hour before bedtime," advised Warner.

In the study, Warner and two colleagues compared the sleep patterns of 310 students during a school term and while they were on holiday.

Whereas the adolescents slept more than nine hours during the school breaks, they averaged less than eight hours when hitting the books.

"Night owls" were more likely than "morning larks" to have negative attitudes about themselves, to express feelings of unhappiness and voice irritation with their classmates, according to the study, published in the Netherlands-based Journal of Adolescence.

They also complained of low energy and "impaired" daytime functioning.

"For classes that start before 9:00 a.m., we have to question whether the students are going to be alert and able to learn," said Warner.

Previous research has shown that nine hours is the optimal amount of sleep time for teenagers.

Circadian clocks are found in organisms ranging from bacteria to human beings, and impose a roughly 24-hour schedule on our activities, such as sleeping and eating.

The mechanism controlling these rhythms is found in individual neurons located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei inside the brain. Scientists have identified at least one gene that determines whether one's "clock" will be naturally set for early or late rising.

The same process is involved in jet lag, Warner points out. "You could say that a lot of young people feel quite jetlagged coming into the school term—it is a very similar feeling," she said.

Parents should rethink a tendency to let adolescents set their own bedtime schedule, she added.

Lack Of Sleep Is Deadly

PEOPLE who do not get enough sleep are more than twice as likely to die of heart disease.

A British study released yesterday said the reasons were unclear, but researchers said lack of sleep appeared to increase blood pressure.

A 17-year analysis of 10,000 government workers showed those who cut their sleep from 7 hours a night to 5 or less faced a 1.7-fold increased risk of death from all causes and more than double the risk of heart attack death.

The findings highlight a danger in busy modern lifestyles, said Francesco Cappuccio, professor of cardiovascular medicine.

"A third of the population of the UK and over 40% in the US regularly sleep less than 5 hours a night, so it is not a trivial problem," he said.

"The current pressures in society to cut out sleep, in order to squeeze in more, may not be a good idea—particularly if you go below 5 hours."

Previous research has highlighted the health risks of shift work and disrupted sleep.

But the latest study, which was supported by British Government and US funding, is the first to link duration of sleep and mortality rates.

This article is extracted from Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), dated September 25th, 2007.

Why Poor Sleep Lowers Your Immune System

Have you ever wondered 'exactly' why we tend to sleep longer when we're sick? As you might already know, we sleep in "sleep cycles". We can categorize these cycles into "light sleep" and "deep sleep." But just HOW important deep sleep is to our immune system?

As you read, it's during the first 3-4 hours of our sleep that we experience the longest period of Stage 3 and Stage 4 sleep. Stage 3 and Stage 4 Sleep is also commonly termed "deep sleep".

• It's during deep sleep that we experience very low brain waves called Theta and Delta brain waves.

• Our blood vessels dilate and all the blood that is usually stored in our organs throughout the day moves into our muscles to nourish and repair them.

• Our immune system also activates during deep sleep to fight disease. This is why people tend to sleep longer when they're sick.

When you don't take proper care of your inner sleeping system, you're usually at risk of "poor sleep". Poor sleep happens for a variety of reasons which I outline in the Sleep Wiz Revitalizing Program, but the main "symptom" is the inability or the difficulty of obtaining proper amounts of "deep sleep".

It's very common for people who travel across many time zones to get sick very quickly, we usually blame this on "jet lag". However, jet lag happens because of the body's natural body temperature rhythm being out of alignment. Jet lag commonly creates a disruption of deep sleep, added with the stress of travel, this is a perfect mixture for lowering one's immune system.

Most people live without being aware of all the actions they're taking in their lives that are completely detrimental to their sleeping system, which are depriving them of energy, and making them SLEEP LONGER than they really need to. Fortunately, there are simple methods to take proper care of your inner sleep system, and strengthen it for maximum performance.

Kacper Postawski is an innovative sleep science researcher and the creator of the Sleep Wiz, your surefire natural remedy to end insomnia forever and enjoy energizing sleep in as little as 3 days! He can show you how to fall asleep effortlessly, create more time, and an abundance of energy in your body by optimizing your sleep system! He dispels the “8-hour sleep myth”, tells you what most people never realize about sleep, and what the drug companies DONT WANT YOU to know.

Raffles Hospital offers new method to accurately test for sleep apnea.

SINGAPORE—If you snore when you sleep, you're certainly not alone.

Doctors say one in four snores in his sleep. And the older you get, the more likely you'll snore, due to diminished muscle tone.

Almost one in two older men and women aged 60 and above, snores in their sleep.

What's more disturbing is that snoring can sometimes be due to what's known as "obstructive sleep apnea"—that's when you stop breathing while you're asleep.

Raffles Hospital has introduced a new sleep test that is supposed to be more accurate in pinpointing where the obstruction is.

The test can even be done in the comfort of your home, so there's no need to go to hospital.

Doctors say if you stop breathing in your sleep more than five times an hour, you have mild sleep apnea. If it is more than 40 times an hour, then the condition is considered severe.

Those who have obstructive sleep apnea can be treated by wearing an air mask. Another method is surgery to remove the tissue that is blocking the airway.

Most hospitals that conduct sleep tests require patients to be strapped down to be monitored overnight.

This is uncomfortable and can only tell how often the patient stops breathing in his sleep.

It does not identify where the obstruction to breathing is or what exactly the obstruction is. This could be the tongue, tonsils or polyps in the nose.

But now patients have another option—the Apnea Graph test offered by Raffles Hospital.

A patient needs to drop in at the clinic, so that a doctor can insert a fine catheter down the airway.

He can then head home with the catheter, which is lined with four temperature and pressure sensors. These will track where and when the patient stops breathing as he sleeps.

Dr Stephen T S Lee, who is a consultant ear, nose & throat surgeon at Raffles Hospital, said, "Currently your doctor would generally use a telescope to access your airway, make an eyeball assessment and determine—based on his or her assessment—what's the level of obstruction.

"It has been the only real technique that we had to date to analyse the level of obstruction. That's what we've been using. However when you analyse the level of obstruction based on telescopic examination, you do suffer from a few weaknesses.

"Firstly it's subjective. You're not able to quantify your outcome. It's based on a snapshot, meaning that you take it at one point in time, and it is not being done of a patient who is sleeping but a person who is awake.

"Unfortunately we know that the dynamics of the airway movement in sleep are very different from a person who's awake."

He went on to explain the advantage of the Apnea Graph test offered by Raffles Hospital.

"The advantage of this technique is that your results are based on a continuous six hours of recording, and it's being done in actual sleep condition. And you're able to quantify the problem.

"In other words, the results can come like that—you can say that it might be 90% upper airway obstruction...and 10% in the lower. So a person who comes back with that kind of results would be a patient that's likely to do well in surgery.

"We have very effective surgeries for treating the palate and treating the nose. Such a patient would have his results improved...up to 80% (success rate). With this technique, we can save patients from unnecessary surgeries."

Raffles Hospital claims it is the only hospital in Singapore which has performed over a dozen Apnea Graph tests since May, putting it in the forefront of a sleep apnea treatment that is becoming the standard in Europe. - CNA/ir

This is a news article published by Channel NewsAsia on August 31st, 2007.

3 Breathing Techniques to Improve Your Life

Few people know how to breathe correctly and this can cause fatigue and unnecessary feelings of stress. It can also cause you to have difficulty falling asleep at night. The human body was designed to breathe using the diaphragm muscle rather than the chest. When you breathe using the diaphragm, your stomach will expand as the diaphragm extends into the abdomen, allowing the lungs to fully expand. This is known as “deep breathing”.

Shallow breathing, or “chest breathing”, is the technique most people use most of the time. This prevents the person from getting a true lung-full of air. The more stress you experience, the more shallow your breathing will become. This is where the feeling of tiredness comes from after a long, stressful day.

Everyone should practice deep breathing as a mean of reducing fatigue during the day. The technique is simple. Simple sit back in a comfortable chair anywhere and for five minutes practice deep breathing. This flood of oxygen coming into your body will bring feelings of energy and refreshment. As you go through the day, try to remind yourself to breathe deeply and at day’s end, you will feel much less tired.

Stress can be relieved using breathing techniques along with visualization. Simply sit or lie down and get comfortable. Begin breathing deeply, fully utilizing the diaphragm to breathe. Imagine yourself in a peaceful, stress-free place of your choice. For many, the beach or a mountain stream may be a choice location. Whatever place makes you feel relaxed and happy is the place to allow your mind to take you. As you breathe out, imagine yourself releasing all the pent-up stress in your body. As you breathe in, imagine yourself finding peace and calmness. This technique can be practiced for a few minutes during the day, or for as much as 15 minutes at a time. If you continue much longer than 15 minutes, you will most likely find yourself drifting off to sleep.

Speaking of sleep, many people find getting to sleep after a busy day very difficult. By using the technique of correct deep breathing, sleep can come much more easily and sleep will then to be much deeper. As you relax in bed, begin breathing with the diaphragm. Starting with your toes, tense them then relax them. Move to the calf muscles; continue on to the tight muscles. Then tense and relax the buttocks, abdomen and back, shoulders, neck, face and scalp. While remaining in this newly relaxed state and still breathing properly and deeply, allow your mind to take you to your special peaceful place. If the tightness in all your muscles is not completely gone or you begin to tighten up again, you can perform the tense-relax technique while in your peaceful place in your mind. Stay in that peaceful place and allow relaxation to flood over you live a wave. If sleep still does not come, you can always use the Buddist meditation, “Breathing in I calm myself; breathing out, I find peace.” Soon you will drift away into sleep.

The more you practice these techniques, the better you will become at achieving fast results. These are learned techniques, and therefore require practice. Soon you will find within only minutes of using the chosen technique for your situation at the moment, your mind, in conjunction with proper breathing, will allow you energy, lowered stress and faster, better-quality sleep.

Kacper Postawski is an innovative sleep science researcher and the creator of the Sleep Wiz, your surefire natural remedy to end insomnia forever and enjoy energizing sleep in as little as 3 days! He can show you how to fall asleep effortlessly, create more time, and an abundance of energy in your body by optimizing your sleep system! He dispels the “8-hour sleep myth”, tells you what most people never realize about sleep, and what the drug companies DONT WANT YOU to know.

The ONE Thing That Keeps Us Sleeping Longer

Probably one of the biggest challenges people have is getting themselves out of the bed! This really has nothing to do with understanding sleep science or any of the information I teach, It has to do with your will power, and a little bit of strategy.

You've probably had many times in your life where you just couldn't get yourself out of bed. The biggest reason why we tend to stay in bed is because we "rationalize". For instance:

"I'll just sleep for 10 more minutes..." or

"It's okay. The alarm is early by 2.5 minutes anyway..." or

"I'll get up when the room warms up a bit..."

Haha! Well, whatever you've rationalized not getting out of bed with, I'm sure it was very creative too, because as human beings we're really great at coming up with reasons for NOT DOING THINGS! The reason why rationalizing makes us stay in bed, or prevents us from achieving many other goals in our lives is because it creates negative momentum. The law of momentum states: Once something gets into motion, it tends to stay in motion. The opposite is also true: Once something STOPS, it tends to STAY THERE!

Once you make a decision to keep your butt in that bed for "a few more minutes..." It tends to STAY THERE, and it usually stays there for A LOT LONGER THAN A FEW MINUTES! That's why I teach people to create a momentum strategy to get out of bed as quickly as possible, and START MOVING, start moving around the house, go for a run, make love with your partner, whatever it is you need to do to start moving and stop sleeping. When you create positive momentum it will be TOO LATE to rationalize about sleep because you'll already be out of your bed! So here are just a couple of strategies YOU could use to get out of bed quickly and get more out of your day:

1) The "Distant Alarm" Method

Most people place their alarms right next to their bed within reach. This is a BIG no-no if you want to avoid staying in your bed. Why? Because most of the time YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO ROLL OVER to press the alarm. That doesn't create a lot of movement and definitely doesn't stop you from sleeping your life away.

Instead of placing your alarm clock by your bed, place it far away, like at the end of your bedroom by the corner of the wall! By doing this you'll be forced to get up out of your bed to turn it off! By the time you're out of bed it will be too late to rationalize staying longer in bed, you'll be out already.

I even once duck-taped my alarm clock to the ceiling, so every morning I had to get up and get a chair right underneath it to turn it off. Where there's a will, there's a way.

2) Rehearsing

The reason why we "rationalize" morning after morning is because we've done it so long that we do it without even thinking about it. Rationalizing becomes a learned and rehearsed behavior.

A good way to STOP rationalize is to rehearse jumping out of your bed in advance. When you're ready to go to bed, simple do this this exercise: lie down in your bed as if you were sleeping, close your eyes...Then pretend you've just woken up in the morning, and JUMP RIGHT OUT OF BED saying "YEAAAA!!!"

Repeat this exercise at least 5-10 times, or as much as it feels good! I know it sounds stupid but it works! Your mind does what you tell it to do in a given situation. Doing this exercise will teach your mind a new behavior. In order to stop "rationalizing" you must replace the old behavior with a new behavior :o)

When you think about it, we're taught how to brush our teeth, we're taught how to take proper care of our bodies, and some of us are even taught proper nutrition skills, but NO ONE is hardly ever taught how to take proper care of their inner sleep system, which is responsible for your energy and your health more than you know! Whatever rationalizations you've come up with, allow me to suggest that you forget them and take some positive momentum in your life RIGHT NOW.

Kacper Postawski is an innovative sleep science researcher and the creator of the Sleep Wiz, your surefire natural remedy to end insomnia forever and enjoy energizing sleep in as little as 3 days! He can show you how to fall asleep effortlessly, create more time, and an abundance of energy in your body by optimizing your sleep system! He dispels the “8-hour sleep myth”, tells you what most people never realize about sleep, and what the drug companies DONT WANT YOU to know.

The 30 Second Secret To Blasting Your Energy Levels Through The Roof In The Morning

There is an underlying inner sleep system which the quality of your sleep and your daily energy levels highly depend on.

It’s this inner sleep system that plays a key role in:

• When you go to sleep and when you wake up.
• How energized you feel in the morning, and throughout the day.
• When your body produces feelings of “sleepiness” to send you a signal that you later interpret in a way like…“I feel tired, I better get to bed…”

Most people don’t know how to use this system to their advantage…

You’re about to discover how you can use a simple ‘little-known-about’ method in the first 30 seconds after waking up to your advantage and boost your energy levels in the morning dramatically.

You’ll be able to learn how this works very easily (you’ll fully understand in a moment), and notice results immediately when you apply it into your life.

Your Body’s Natural Body Temperature Rhythm Plays A Key Role In How Much Energy You Have!

Let’s first review your body temperature rhythm.

In grade 5 science class, most of us are taught that our body temperature stays at a constant 98.5 degrees Fahrenheit (36.6 Celsius). In reality, this is false. Your body temperature varies by about 6 degrees every day.

Your body temperature rises and falls by about 6 degrees everyday, this rise and fall of your body temperature is known as your body temperature rhythm, or as some like to call it your "circadian rhythm".

Your body temperature usually rises in the morning around 6 AM, and begins to rise until the afternoon, where it takes a slight "slump." It then recovers from this slump and continues to rise until the evening hours, where it drops all through the night as you sleep.

Believe it or not, it’s this rise and fall of your body temperature that plays a major role in:

• When you feel sleepy.
• When you feel energized.

When your temperature is dropping, you feel “sleepy” and more towards the “tired” side. This is like a cue for your body to create feelings of sleepiness.

When your body temperature is rising, you tend to feel energized, alert, relaxed, and more “awake”.

The 30 Second Method To Boosting Your Energy In The Morning

There is a hormone in your body called melatonin. It’s also sometimes called as the “vampire” hormone, or the “sleep” hormone.

The longer your eyes are exposed to darkness, the more of this hormone is released inside of your blood.

The instant your eyes are exposed to light, the level of melatonin in your blood begins to decrease rapidly.

It’s this hormone that contributes a lot to the drop in your body temperature. Melatonin also makes you feel “sleepy”.

When you wake up in the morning, you have A LOT of melatonin inside of your blood. This is the main reason why you may feel like a “zombie” when you wake up.

Combined with a low body temperature in the morning, most people are so low on energy that they mistake the tired and drowsy feeling in the morning as the need to sleep, and end up sleeping longer and doing more damage to their sleep systems.

In reality, this is not the need to sleep, but actually the result of sleeping!

The 30 Second Trick To Rapidly Lowering Your Melatonin Levels And Boosting Your Body Temperature In The Morning

Here it is…When you wake up, you MUST expose your eyes to natural sunlight within 1 minute of waking up for AT LEAST 30 seconds.

As you do this you will notice the drowsy and tired feeling you usually get in the morning fading away, as your body feels more and more energized.

At first glance this sounds very simple, but hundreds of people who apply this technique from the Sleep Wiz Revitalizing Program system achieve incredible energetic results instantly in the morning.

Here’s How And WHY This Works

As you already know, when you expose your eyes to light your melatonin levels begin to drop and your body temperature begins to rise, as you slowly feel more awake in the morning.

But… have you ever wondered why you feel less energetic on cloudy and rainy days?

Why does this happen?

Because LIGHT Comes In Many Intensities.

Most people don’t realize that spending the day in-doors is the equivalent for your eyes as spending the day in darkness.

Let me explain…

Light intensity is measured in units called “luxes”. 1 Lux is about the light your eyes would get if you were to sit in a pitch dark room with 1 candle.

• During sunrise and sunset, your eyes get about 1,000 to 5,000 luxes of light!

• During the afternoon on a sunny day your eyes get about 100,000 luxes of light!

• Inside your home, or in an office, your eyes get about 100 to 500 luxes of light.

The level of melatonin in your blood always depends on the light intensity coming into your eyes.

For your eyes, being indoors and not being exposed to high intensity light is the equivalent as being in complete darkness. This has huge effect on your melatonin levels and your body temperature rhythm.

When you expose your eyes to high intensity light such as natural sunlight in the morning you drastically lower your melatonin levels right away, and your body temperature begins to rise as a result.

However, most people spend the first hour or two of the morning sitting indoors, and wondering why they feel “so tired” while they gobble down another cup of coffee (later on, you’ll be shocked when you find out what coffee really does for your sleep system).

When you’re sitting in your home in the morning, half of the light outside is being blocked by your windows, drapes and shades. Your eyes get at most maybe 200 to 300 luxes of light. This keeps your melatonin levels high, stops your body temperature from rising and keeps you low on energy. This does further damage to your sleep system in a perpetual loop, lowering your energy and immune system day by day.

I hoped you really enjoyed the information in this special report. This is just one of the MANY techniques and inner sleep system secrets you’ll learn in Sleep Wiz Revitalizing Program which you’ll use to supercharge your sleep system and blast your daily energy levels sky high, so you can wake up fully energized and live your whole day with passion!

The Sleep Wiz Revitalizing Program also teaches you how to optimize your sleep and have more time and energy than when you slept longer. Grab it today and start to revolutionize your life by super-charging your energy levels and getting more out of your sleep than you ever thought possible.

Kacper Postawski is an innovative sleep science researcher and the creator of the Sleep Wiz, your surefire natural remedy to end insomnia forever and enjoy energizing sleep in as little as 3 days! He can show you how to fall asleep effortlessly, create more time, and an abundance of energy in your body by optimizing your sleep system! He dispels the “8-hour sleep myth”, tells you what most people never realize about sleep, and what the drug companies DONT WANT YOU to know.