via pinterest.com
She got it all, she got it all, she got it all in her pink bedroom. ~ Rosanne Cash
Posted via email from Sleepys
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Understanding Normal Sleep
via goodtoknow.co.uk
A normal nights sleep has three main parts.
• Quiet sleep. This is divided into stages 1-4. Each stage becomes more 'deep'. Quiet sleep is sometimes called deep sleep.
• REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. REM sleep is when the brain is very active, but the body is limp apart from the eyes which move rapidly. Most dreaming occurs during REM sleep.
• Short periods of waking for 1-2 minutes.
Each night, about 4-5 periods of quiet sleep alternate with 4-5 periods of REM sleep. In addition, several short periods of waking for 1-2 minutes occur about every two hours or so, but occur more frequently towards the end of the nights sleep. The graph below shows a typical normal pattern of sleep in a young adult.
Normally, you do not remember the times that you wake if they last less than two minutes. If you are distracted during the wakeful times (for example, a partner snoring, traffic noise, fear of being awake, etc), then the wakeful times tend to last longer, and you are more likely to remember them.
What is insomnia?
Insomnia means poor sleep. About 1 in 5 adults do not get as much sleep as they would like. Poor sleep can mean:
• not being able to get off to sleep.
• waking up too early.
• waking for long periods in the night.
• not feeling refreshed after a nights sleep.
If you have poor sleep, you may be tired in the daytime, have reduced concentration, become irritable, or just not function well.
What is a normal amount of sleep?
Different people need different amounts of sleep. Some people function well and are not tired during the day with just 3-4 hours sleep a night. Most people need more than this. To need 6-8 hours per night is average. Most people establish a pattern that is normal for them in their early adult life. However, as you become older it is normal to sleep less. Many people in their 70s sleep less than six hours per night.
So, everyone is different. What is important is that the amount of sleep that you get is sufficient for you, and that you usually feel refreshed and not sleepy during the daytime. Therefore, the strict medical definition of insomnia is "a persistent difficulty falling or staying asleep, leading to impairment of daytime functioning".
Posted via email from Sleepys
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
I Need My Monster
via goodreads.com
A unique monster-under-the-bed story with the perfect balance of giggles and shivers, this picture book relies on the power of humor over fear, appeals to a child’s love for creatures both alarming and absurd, and glorifies the scope of a child’s imagination.
One night, when Ethan checks under his bed for his monster, Gabe, he finds a note from him instead: "Gone fishing. Back in a week." Ethan knows that without Gabe’s familiar nightly scares he doesn't stand a chance of getting to sleep, so Ethan interviews potential substitutes to see if they've got the right equipment for the job—pointy teeth, sharp claws, and a long tail—but none of them proves scary enough for Ethan.
Posted via email from Sleepys
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Another Day is Dawning
via pinterest.com
'The streetlamp dies, another night is over, another day is dawning.'
~ Cats the Musical
Posted via email from Sleepys
Friday, October 21, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Good Night Notepad
Set your little one on the path to journal keeping with this cute tablet.
Posted via email from Sleepys
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Dream On...
via flickr.com
I fell asleep reading a dull book and dreamed I kept on reading,
so I awoke from sheer boredom.
~Heinrich Heine
Posted via email from Sleepys
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Your Own Big Bed
The cyclical story line echoes the soothing sounds and rhythms in the simple words, while Hartung’s careful blue palette portrays nighttime as restful and inviting rather than scary. A lovely, sensitive offering. ~Gillian Engberg
Posted via email from Sleepys
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Flying In My Dreams...
via pinterest.com
It's all about the blanket.
Blanket, pillow, and red wine. You should always be asleep on a plane.
~Kate Moss
Posted via email from Sleepys
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Your Hair Reveals Whether You're a Morning Person
Early bird or late riser? The mysteries of your sleep cycle may be unlocked by the hairs on your head, a new study says.
That's because the genes that regulate our body clocks can be found in hair-follicle cells, researchers have discovered.
(See "Secrets of Sleeping Soundly Uncovered.")
A tiny portion of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus controls the human body clock, and RNA strands—protein-building chains of molecules—process these signals throughout the body in 24-hour cycles. (Get a genetics overview.)
Predicting Morning People
RNA strands containing the clock genes are found throughout the body—including in white blood cells and the inside of the mouth—but human hair is easiest for scientists to test.
So Makoto Akashi, of the Research Institute for Time Studies at Yamaguchi University in Japan, and colleagues pulled head and beard hairs from four test subjects at three-hour intervals for a full day. The subjects had already reported their preferred schedules for waking up and eating, among other lifestyle choices. (Take National Geographic magazine's sleep quiz.)
The test day occurred after the subjects had rigorously adhered to their preferred schedules for nine days—in other words, the morning people woke up early every day, and the late sleepers woke up late every day.
When the researchers tested the genes in the subjects' follicles, they found that body-clock gene activity peaked right after a subject had woken up, regardless of whether it was 6 a.m. or 10 a.m.
This suggests that the brain "turns on" the genes at different times of the morning in different people.
Other clock genes followed similar patterns, making it possible to predict "morning people" with just a pluck, the study said.
"Clock Gene" Tests to Give Health Warnings?
While most people may already know if they prefer to sleep in or wake up early, the new research might also provide insights into human health, researchers say. (See a human-body interactive.)
Disorders of the body clock have been implicated in high blood pressure, diabetes—even cancer. (Read about why we sleep in National Geographic magazine.)
The researchers also studied the hairs of rotating shift workers, who are at greater risk for body-clock disorders, for three weeks. Over that amount of time, the workers alternated from an early work shift (6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) to a late shift (3:00 p.m. to midnight).
But the three-week period wasn't enough time for the workers' internal clocks to readjust, according to measurements of follicle genes.
Even though the workers' lifestyle was shifted by seven hours, the clock-gene activity in their follicles shifted by only two hours—suggesting shift workers live in a state of jet lag, the study said.
The follicle test could be used to develop "working conditions that do not disturb clock function" by building in enough time to adjust, the authors wrote.
A noninvasive check for a clock disorder could serve as an early warning system, Akashi said: "I hope that our method will be used for regular health checks in schools and companies to keep healthy clocks."
Rachel Kaufman
for National Geographic News
Posted via email from Sleepys
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
The Morning Climbs
via flickr.com
Look to the East, where up the lucid sky
The morning climbs! The day shall yet be fair.
~Celia Thaxter
Posted via email from Sleepys
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Beast Awakens
via flickr.com
Better to get up late and be wide awake than to get up early and be asleep all day.
~ Anonymous
Posted via email from Sleepys
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Reclaiming Your Bed
via doctoroz.com
Drs. Oz and Breus firmly believe you need 7 hours of sleep a night; good health depends not just on how long you sleep, it's how good your rest is as well. Dangers of disrupted sleep can include diabetes, obesity and in women, heart problems. In fact, if you're getting 5 hours of sleep a night, your chances for all these conditions increase by 50%.
Follow this plan to kick out the kids and embrace your REM.
Step 1: Get Rid of the Guilt
Do not try to make up for your own feelings of guilt by allowing kids to stay up later or letting them sleep in your bed. If you start this habit, you should be prepared for pattern to last 3 years. Instead, spend quality time together - preferably something that involves the whole family and physical activity. You'll all get the exercise you need and feel more tired from it!
Step 2: Set The Stage
A happy, healthy night's sleep starts with daytime activities. Talk with your children about bedroom expectations; mommies and daddies sleep in their room while kids sleep in theirs. A helpful activity to help set the sleeping stage is to role play by putting their toys to sleep.
Step 3: Take the Path of Most Resistance
When parents are exhausted, the tendency is to follow the path of least resistance. However, doing what's easiest to get your child back to sleep (like letting them sleep with you) is not what's healthiest for you or the child. Once you start sleep training, bed sharing must end entirely and immediately. There are no negotiations.
After a nightly disturbance, walk children back to their own bed. Yes, there may be sobs, screams and begging, but you must not cave in.
Step 4 - Bet on Bribery
A small investment for a good night's sleep can work wonders. Create a chart that chronicles sleeping behavior and rewards. A small, inexpensive reward can be given after a night in bed; at the end of the week, if the goal number of nights has been met, reward the entire family with a favorite activity.
Posted via email from Sleepys
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Theres No Such Thing as Monsters
via amazon.com
Little Bear is beyond excited. And Big Bear is, too. For the first time ever, each is sleeping in his own bedroom, as all big bears do. But when Little Bear snuggles down to sleep without Big Bear, everything feels different. Is that a monster he sees and footsteps he hears? Who's slowly opening the door...?
In this going-to-bed story beset by runaway imaginations, these brothers and "best buds" show their mutual care and concern for the other until both fall fast asleep.
Pedler's illustrations in bold, primary colour practically leap off the page in a book honoring this childhood rite of passage.
Posted via email from Sleepys
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
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