How do you care for your air?

Well, well, well, Christmas is over for another year. I hear a bunch of you shout "Hurrah" as you shove the decorations back into a box and head for the loft. For those humbug types take look at one of the cards I received this year- it's nothing short of fabulous and had me chuckling for quite some time.

Yes, that's right, there's no escaping Christmas with its tinsel and mince pies, the festive season is ready to wreak havoc on all parts of your life, especially your wallet.

Many may be breathing a sigh of relief, you may think it's all over for another year, but I've found it difficult to breath at all the past week.

"But why?!" I hear you all ask..."surely you're wearing your Breathing Relief™Dilator?"

Of course I have been wearing it, it's perfect for all breathing issues. Although the real solution to my particular problem should have been to turn the central heating down. Alas, when you live with a grandparent, as I do, it's almost impossible to maintain a sensible temperature within the house. It doesn't matter how many times I suggest thermal socks and a thicker dressing gown, I will inevitably lose the battle. I don't mind the heating so much when there is a clear need for it, for example, earlier in the month, we experienced some serious cold weather. The wind brought temperatures close to zero and there was a certain chill in the air. However, over the festive period it has been astonishingly mild. Highs of 12 or 13 degrees have meant that I wake up lying in a pool of my own sweat with a dry and itchy respiratory system. (If there was ever need for a sad face in a blog, now would be the opportune moment).

Not so glamorous.

However, whilst leaving my bedroom window wide open and allowing the rest of the house to freeze, only to hear my grandmother grumbling profusely about a draft (and then turn the heating even higher) I remembered a product which could potentially ease the situation. Living in a basement flat in Brooklyn for a year I struggled with the lack of clean air in an apartment essentially located underground. Having no windows and being the studious type I would spend hours in my room writing and would often feel sluggish and dirty, not having the opportunity to breath in fresh air. I found Care for Air online and realised it could actually recycle the air in my bedroom.

Constantly sharing my air with smokers, a pet pit bull (aptly named Smoky) and having a bedroom right next to the overhead blast heater meant that I would regularly wake up with a stuffy head and blocked nose. As the website states the product is great for allergies and purifying stale and smoky air but I also realised that combined with the heat in the atmosphere, it proved to be a great humidifier as well, adding moisture back into the air so you didn't get that constant sense of dry skin and most importantly dry and itchy nasal passages. Win all around!

As soon as I remembered this little nugget of information I went wild searching for what little I had not unpacked since returning from New York and found, at the bottom of the box, my Care for Air purifier!

Please note that I use the Breathing Relief™ dilator regularly at night to help combat sinus issues, it's very effective, and will always be my go-to product. But as you must have gathered by now, I enjoy technology and anything a little quirky produced with health in mind is something I like to explore!

The breezer is a little fancy and with a switch of a button you can change the colour of the light, which in itself is a little therapeutic. I always tended to keep it on green as not only is the colour soothing, but it's also meant to promote sleep and would provide the perfect night light. The breezer currently sits under the radiator, in the hope that if may work to humidify my room in the same way as a cup of water under a hot radiator does. It's also conveniently located under the window in order to catch all the pesky particles of nature that tend to make me sneeze as my window remains wide open throughout the year.

As always, my opinions are my own and Breathing Relief™does not endorse any product (bar its own) but this is a contraption you can rely on to keep a small room pure and fresh throughout the year. Plus, there scented oils available from the website make it a glorious experience to breath in.

Check out the site at www.careforair.com and give the Breezer a chance. After all there's no point in using the Breathing Relief™ dilator to allow you to breath deeply, if your air is dirty!

Let that be your New Year's resolution...moving into 2012, recycle all you can, breath deeply and freshly and of course sleep well.  Merry Christmas all and wishing you all the best for the New Year.

Guleraana :)

Last minute Christmas gift ideas?

I got excited about lots of random things last week, call it Christmas if you will, I'm just putting it down to the fact that I'm easily pleased!

First off, the grand finale of Strictly Come Dancing. Apparently, this rather cheesy program has taken the nation by storm and I was one of the few people left in the UK who sneered at the idea of minor celebrities attempting to pump some life into their public profile by signing up for 4 months of ridiculous outfits. Alas, to my dismay, it truly is addictive. My parents cajoled me into their Saturday night ritual (or Sunday afternoon if I was being social, thanks to our Virgin +Box) and from the very first moment I was hooked. Demonstrating more loyalty than most Manchester United fans I watched the progression of often porky and flatfooted individuals into astonishingly competent dancers. Thus, the finale was a suitable mix of fancy routines, fireworks and more bling than Beyonce's Christmas tree dressed in her own outfits. I'm more than a little sad that it's now over, but congratulations to the winners. (no spoilers here!)

Fantastic event #2: I wore the Breathing Relief™ dilator to my spin class and was suitably impressed at its effectiveness. Now, this isn't the sports blog so I won't hark on about the logistics of the dilator with regards to a work-out schedule, however I will say the following: It's AWESOME. Yes, that is the technical term for the incredible power of the device. I was quite excited to use it as Elen Rivas is a fan (as everyone should be) and has tweeted on several occasions when using the product. Despite getting distracted by a small pool of sweat stuck between my nose and the dilator I have no complaints whatsoever and couldn't believe the extra calories the computer on my bike said I had burnt. Much like the Berocca Advert, it was like me working out, except on a really good day. I insist you all try it now.

 And lastly, whilst trying to decide whether I wanted volumising shampoo or the kind that takes care of coloured hair (I know, the dilemma is quite great),  I noticed the following product on the shelves:

It turns out that Boots have cottoned on to the fact that sleep (or the lack of it) is a serious issue and have started stocking a range of light therapy products.

Just so we're all clear, my excitement about the Lumie Bodyclock stems from a previous post where I wrote about light therapy and its potential for the fight against SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and to help regulate our natural body clocks and circadian rhythms You can read that post here:  SAD about Winter?. This product helps you to get to sleep and to wake up being simulating the natural fade of light to black and vice versa as in sunrise and sunset, thus fooling your body into thinking it is a natural time to go to sleep (and wake up). Therefore you don't feel assaulted when you have a light night or struggle to wake up when it's dark outside. It's the perfect way of maintaining a normal and most probably unhealthy lifestyle whilst convincing your body you're not doing it any harm!


I rushed home to look on the Boots website to see if they had a greater range of equipment than the one available in my locals store. It was almost impossible to locate the products through the options listed on the Boots homepage and it wasn't until I typed "lumie" into the search box did I see a list of all the products available. Sadly that particular page was almost identical to the lumie page itself and I wondered why Boots had chosen to replicate the information instead of providing their customers with a somewhat subjective view on why they thought these products would appeal to the general market.

Now I'm a little strapped for cash and I'll admit that I haven't tried any of the products to offer you guys a critique. Some of you may say that I'm clearly showing a lack of dedication to the cause...but whatever, I've brought you this far. I have one extra tidbit of information to add. If you buy one of the select products in this list you can earn up to 1000 Advantage Card points. Oh I know that's going to titillate your proverbial bargain hunting taste buds, so don't say I never get you anything. Consider it an early Christmas present, from me to you, reaching out through cyberspace to bring you health, wealth and knowledge (ok, maybe not so much the wealth bit).

So, there you have it...two ideal Christmas presents. What's the second you ask? The Breathing Relief™ dilator, of course. You think I'd leave a post without drumming it in that everyone needs to own one of these? Silly you, you've clearly had too much mulled wine already. Time to move onto the ginger tea methinks...

In conclusion, have a very Merry Christmas and take care of yourselves, your liver and your loved ones.

Ginger, our secret saviour

Ah, December is well and truly upon us. My cheeks are windchapped, I hear Buble everywhere I go and the talent shows are drawing to a close; X-Factor this week, Strictly Come Dancing next week. I wait with baited breath to see what nuggets of tele-extravaganza will arrive with the New Year. 2012 has been a hotly anticipated year and the capital is certainly gearing up for one hell of an Olympic session. As a commuter into the City, I've had the opportunity to observe the landscape of the East End change this past year, with the completion of the stadium and the surrounding buildings it definitely feels like something big is coming.

But enough, 2011 is barely over and here I am looking forward to the warm summer nights already, filled with cheers of millions of spectators and the hungry enthusiasm of participants. We should focus on what lies in the more foreseeable future. Christmas. By Christmas I mean, parties, booze, over indulgence, split dress/trouser seams, hangovers and the overwhelming sense of guilt. You know that feeling...you've been dieting since September in the hope of fitting into the Vintage lace ensemble which really will cut off circulation to your limbs; and men you've done the manly thing where you don't really admit you're on a diet, instead you just cut out beer. Whiskey has far fewer calories you sheepishly tell your mates in the pub on a Friday night,  and then hasten to add at least you're not drinking something pink.

So in the name of "health" we've starved ourselves, cut back on treats, fitted in a few extra workouts, only to enter the month of December and allow all of the forbidden foods to be consumed in quantities enough to horrify the cookie monster. I myself am guilty of this very dietary anomaly. Friday I attended my very first Christmas party of the season. I spent all of last week fretting about whether or not I would fit into my skin-tight dress, I replaced meals with porridge, took extra long bike rides only to guzzle down a 3 course meal with all the trimmings come Friday night. I have only one word: NOM.

In all seriousness, we take for granted the large scale abuse our digestive systems are about to receive in the coming weeks. It's not just stomachs that are affected, the alcohol consumed will wreak havoc on livers (and of course, sleep cycles), not to mention all the late nights spent "dancing". I use inverted commas as I'm not too sure how much you can consider stumbling to "Rocking around the Christmas Tree" whilst balancing a plate of sausage rolls and a glass of Merlot, actual dancing.

How do we get through this season with all of our health (and dignity) intact? I propose one little addition to your diet, call it a wonder-treatment if you like, and I assure you, your body will be eternally grateful to me. Goodbye heart-burn, goodbye hangover, sleeplessness and lethargy, hello zing-aliscious ginger!

Ginger has so many healing properties, it's often cited as a preventative measure and/or cure for almost anything; from Bowel Cancer to fighting the common cold.

The following site offers a concise and easy to understand outline of all the properties and benefits of ginger:

http://www.nutrasanus.com/ginger.html

As an added bonus, I'll share my grandma's recipe for delicious ginger tea, the perfect balance between zing, citrus and sweet and will keep you going all winter long. It's best consumed within an hour of boiling, but you can bottle leftovers and save for later. So pack it into your flask and go herbal on the morning commute!

2-4 thin slices of fresh ginger per person
Lime or lemon (dependent on personal taste)
Honey or Agave Nectar
Green Cardamom pods
Fennel Seeds

Grind the Cardamom pods and fennel seeds and add them with the ginger into a pan. Bring to the boil.
Simmer for 15-20 minutes, allowing the ginger to yield its goodness.
As you turn off the heat squeeze in as much lemon/lime juice you can bear. You want it tangy but not too bitter.
If using agave, sweeten to taste.
Ideally honey will be consumed alongside the tea.  The chemical make up of honey breaks down when you add it to hot water rendering it useless, therefore, pour out a teaspoon and let it trickle down your throat slowly as you take sips of tea.

The taste of ginger actually works really well with alcohol, so I've got a special treat for you (see I'm not all finger wagging and humbug) check out these fabulous ginger cocktail recipes, perfect for not only getting your daily dose of the good stuff but also showing off to friends and family during the Holidays.

All I've got left to say is, enjoy the festive season, take it easy on the treats and most of all, get some rest in between all the parties..black bags under the eyes have never been a fashion accessory. Oh and if you're stuck for gift ideas, there's always the Breathing Relief's nasal dilator.

Goodbye Movember, hello sleep awareness

This week, in honour of Movember I watched a BBC documentary presented by the original moustache himself, professor Rob Winston. Yes, you know the one, chunky and wholesome tash, looks effortless but the results are astounding. How can you not take anything this man says as the absolute truth? He's just so personable!

For those of you who don't know...Movember is where men all over the world grow facial hair in order to promote awareness of men's health including prostate cancer.





Anyway, the BBC documentary can be seen here :http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/how-sleep-better/

and although it's a lengthy 90 minutes, it is certainly a light hearted way of learning more about some of the things I have been examining in previous posts. There are a couple of interactive quizzes where you are invited to answer questions and then score yourself. Those would have been way more fun at the time the documentary was originally aired as the handy red button on your digital remote allowed for personalised analysis of answers. Oh well. Youtube, a pen and pencil will have to suffice for you guys.

Early in the video we are introduced to the concept of 'executive skills', which are actually brain functions or cognitive skills hard-wired into every person (self-restraint, working memory, emotion control, focus, task initiation, planning/prioritisation, organisation, time management, defining and achieving goals, flexibility, observation and stress tolerance). Called executive skills because they help people execute tasks, these are the first things to suffer when one is under-rested or sleepy, leading to poor performance in day-to-day tasks such as driving and recognising faces. So it is scientifically proven that your basic functions are affected when you lose out on a good night's sleep.

A particular participant in the documentary was offered light therapy in order to combat his sleep issues and to ensure he was ready to hit the road as a milkman. Awaking at 2am we would assume that his sleepiness would dangerously impact his driving capabilities as these require a number of the executive skills.  Therefore, by getting up at an 'unnatural' time, i.e. in the dark he was endangering not only his own life but also that of any other road users. Light therapy was effective in this case as it tricked the body into thinking it was indeed time to get up and proceeded to kick the brain into gear, allowing the participant to feel more alert, despite having a schedule that worked against the body's natural circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythm is explained in the documentary as being an internal body clock that works, conveniently in 24 hour cycles and relies on the rising and setting of the sun to signify when it is time to sleep and wake up. This is why when we are not exposed to sunlight during British winters, or when we work night shifts, we tend to fall out of rhythm with nature.

Ah, how everything ties in together nicely. I'm feeling somewhat smug at the discovery of this piece of video and I'm hoping that readers will take some time out to watch it and to nod their heads in agreement at the right places thinking, "ooh, I knew that".

There were of course things I did not know, even I can't claim to be that informed. For example, there are 50 million snorers in the UK. How many?! And apparently of that 50 million, only 37% actually admit to snoring. Although, judging by some of the footage, I would never admit to a sound so ghastly for fear of being labelled a beast.

I was also surprised to learn the presence and effect of a chemical called Tyramine upon the sleep cycle. There is, what I presumed, an old wives' tale that if you eat cheese too close to bedtime you risk frighteningly realistic nightmares. I put this theory to the test once, spending a week in Lille with my French tutor's family eating only cheese and potatoes for dinner and then settling into what I presumed to be a cinematic version of my mind's worst concoctions. I was not disappointed, the cat in the room presumably had conspired with the hunk of cheese and my hosts in order to scare me senseless during the seven hours I tossed and turned, wrestling with my quilt, screaming indecipherable French phrases. I'm a sceptic and called this a coincidence, brought about by my loathing of felines compounded by barely understanding a word of what was going on around me, despite apparently speaking fluent colloquial french in my sleep.

Thus, imagine my panic when the good old Beeb lists Tyramine as a 'to avoid' before sleep time. Where can this delightful gathering of atoms be found? In aged food, especially cheese! More specifically anything dried, fermented, salted, smoked or pickled. Seeing as all of my omega3 and most of my protein comes from smoked fish, I was certainly a little perturbed. I also chuckled to myself realising that often, the most absurd rumours are the most true.

Tyramine is also responsible for migraines and should be considered carefully before ingestion. This all seems to make sense when I think about a friend of mine who can not consume cheese and chocolate on the same day as this gives her debilitating migraines. Quite often when lunching we will have to forgo pizza or dessert, depending on what her breakfast consisted of!

The moral of the story is as follows:

1. A man with a moustache must never be doubted
2. Cheese really does mess with your sleep
3. Watch the video, you will learn many things

December is fast approaching and with it the shortest day of the year. However, from then on, it will be the immense build up to spring. But for now, enjoy the beginnings of the festive period, stay away from the mini quiches at Christmas dinner parties and as always, sweet dreams!

S.A.D. about Winter?

Well hello fellow sleep enthusiasts, it's certainly been hectic in London recently. The weather is changing, (although isn't it always?) The seemingly eternal fog has settled and for a working gal it appears to be dark all day. Leaving the house before 7am is akin to stepping onto the set of a tacky horror movie; no one around, eery mist swilling around the flickering lamposts and I constantly have to look over my shoulder in fear that I may not see the bus arriving through the dense morning haze.

This week I've been thinking about the way my body perceives the concept of day time and night time. As the hours of natural light get shorter and shorter, I never see the sun, especially if it is hidden behind a thick November cloud. The only hope of catching a few uplifting rays is a slightly chilly walk around the block in my lunch hour with the hope that the perpetual greyness may have eased somewhat.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is now a common acronym amongst the British public and as we regretfully enter Winter we rue the day our ancestors decided that this was the land upon which they would settle. Yes, our pastures are green and our climate is temperate, but what is the price we pay for reduced hours of sunshine and temperatures which harbour bacteria, viruses and the common cold? Our (northern) North American counterparts, although most resting further South than our own fair isle, endure bitter winters with temperatures plummeting to well below freezing, factoring in wind chill, and several feet of snow. You may wonder where my jealousy stems from reading these facts as no one particularly looks forwards to wind burn, wet shoes and the constant need to shovel your driveway every morning. However, the thing that turns me green with envy is that despite needing to wear approximately seven layers of clothing, the American winters are sunny! On average, in New York city almost 50% of winter days in a month are bright compared to a total of just 50 hours of sunshine in a month in London. When you consider the statistics, it isn't very difficult to understand how SAD has taken hold of so many of us.

With reality TV focusing on overly bronzed oompa-loompa look-alikes and the health experts urging us to step away from the tanning beds, how can I be seen to be lusting after a supposedly harmful entity? It is a raging ball of gas after all...

There is evidence to support my fanaticism and to suggest that a little sunshine is in fact healthy. Hurrah! As your body processes sunshine it productes serotonin, which we can also call the happy hormone! Seratonin is produced when we work out or eat chocolate amongst other things and it promotes a good mental outlook and can help in the fight against Seasonal Affective Disorder. It also stimulates the pineal gland which produces melatonin. This is where it gets interesting, Melatonin is one of the chemicals that operates our bodies clocks and helps with sleep function. So you see, I finally got to my point. Sunshine assists sleep and frankly in this climate I don't get enough and thus, as usual, I'm able to blame external factors for my never ending sleep issues. Excellent.

Pseudo Dr. G has diagnosed the issue, now how do we solve it? The simple answer is get more melatonin, easy enough in theory, one could take supplements, but there are some serious side effects involved. Another beneficial nutrient the sun provides is vitamin D. Again, one could take supplements however, ninety percent of the required vitamin D comes from direct exposure to the sun. I understand now why the Spanish implement siestas, their body clocks full of rich melatonin and vitamin D from the Mediterranean sunshine are so regular, they have no option but to sleep periodically throughout the day. How my envy rises.

Before you begin your indulgence by throwing out the SPF and booking a weekend to Monaco, consider small ways in which you can give yourself more outdoors time. The human body can only store Vitamin D for sixty days, so a weekly routine of walking in the park will utimately be more worthwhile than getting all your sun hours in one blowout trip to Thailand. Plus, we all know the benefits of regular exercise not only on our general wellbeing, but on promoting restful sleeping patterns.

If all else fails, get yourself some Light Therapy, pricey but taking into consideration how much you should value a good night's sleep, it's a small investment.

I highly recommend you visit the following site for an official overview of the effects of sunshine, or lack of it on the human body and to find out more on light therapy: http://www.sad.org.uk/.

Sleep Cycles and the peril of the snooze button...

I’ve heard through the grapevine that this blogular episode on Sleep Cycles has been eagerly anticipated and I apologise for the delay. Lately I have been suffering from ‘busy doing nothing much’ syndrome which usually entails family commitments, personal ambitions and a whole lot of pointless anxiety and stress. With an ever-changing schedule of a freelancer, it’s almost hopeless trying to set yourself a routine because every day is different, appointments get cancelled, rescheduled or added at the last minute. Worry not, I’m not asking for your sympathies, but my personal plights highlight the hectic nature of life and set the perfect backdrop for this weeks dip into technological wonderland.

I think it’s fair to say that since beginning to write for Breathing Relief™ I’ve become a teensy bit obsessed with the topic of sleep. As my lifestyle is so erratic, it’s nigh on impossible to ensure I practice what I preach with regards to creating a regular sleeping pattern, so my research into gadgets is always motivated by a personal need to aid my own sleep. Every night I pull out my phone and struggle to decide which technological miracle I can rely on to ensure a perfect slumber session.  I have now come to realise that the root to solving all fatigued morning encounters is a strong understanding of how our internal body clocks operate. 

Since the discovery of ‘sleep-cycles’ and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) us non-scientist types have been given the opportunity to delve deeper into the scientific operations of our mind and have learned how a subtle shift in the time we allow ourselves to sleep can in fact enhance the overall sleep experience.

To explain, it has been proven that human beings sleep in perfectly timed cycles ranging from 90-110 minutes, during which your body will process 4 stages of sleep. It is a common misconception that one dreams during their deepest stage of sleep; as dreaming generally occurs in phase 3, with phase 4 being the deepest.

I find all this information negates the concept of “power naps” as a short period of 20-30 minutes is insufficient in allowing you to complete all 4 phases of sleep. What it does confirm though is that snoozing is quite possibly the worst habit to adopt when attempting to wake up refreshed. As tempting as the extra five minutes in bed feels at 6am when it’s dark and cold outside, you are essentially allowing your body to enter a new sleep cycle but then forcing yourself awake without its natural completion. 

How well do you know your own sleep cycle?

Napping is a luxury little of us can afford but it can be very enlightening to unlocking the secrets of our sleeping patterns. I learned in University (when it was socially acceptable to go to sleep in the afternoons) that although I could sleep for Britain, I would always find myself waking up after 90 minutes, rolling over and then possibly going back to sleep for another 90. This then formed the basis of my rather erratic sleeping pattern for three years and somehow allowed me to function in between lectures, epic 8 hour rehearsals, essay writing and of course the inevitable partying. It is ridiculous when I look back over those years and attempt to understand how little students take care of their bodies yet still manage to juggle a number of relatively new experiences.

As we mature and enter the work force priorities change and with the lack of freedom allowed to us as it once was, it becomes even more essential to stay up later, to find time to have fun and this is where I find our sleeping begins to suffer the most. You’ll do anything for an extra 5 minutes in bed, neglecting the truth that if you had actually woken up 15 minutes earlier, when your cycle ended naturally, you would feel a whole lot better.

This finally brings me to the handy little smart phone application which monitors your sleep cycle and wakes you up in your lightest phase of sleep regardless of the exact time you set your alarm to go off.

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock available for iphone: An alarm clock that analyses your sleep patterns and wakes you in the lightest sleep phase- a natural way to wake up where you feel rested and relaxed.

Sleep as Android available from the android market: Alarm clock with sleep cycle tracker. Wakes you gently in light sleep for pleasant mornings.  

Pretty much everything I have to say (or have said) is explained coherently at the Sleep Cycle Website: http://www.sleepcycle.com/

What’s an accelerometer?

You know that amazing thing your phone does when you rotate it? The screen rotates to accommodate the picture or web page? Well this advance in technology is possible due to an accelerometer.

For a technical explanation of what an accelerometer actually is this website is useful: http://ancillotti.hubpages.com/hub/Smartphones-Accelerometers

Frankly, this app is as amazing as it sounds. When I had an iphone I was astonished at how accurately the app tracked my sleep and I regularly awoke feeling as if I was ready to conquer the world. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Sleep Cycle, it is a true work of genius. To wake up feeling fulfilled and alert regardless of how little sleep I had made me feel like my life was complete. I found it fascinating to chart my sleeping patterns and would study the graphs in the morning to see how deeply (or not) I had slept. I could then relate my sleep activity to my day-to-day activity and compile scenarios that would allow for a good night’s sleep. On days I had consumed too much caffeine there was a noticeable difference in the amount of time spent in deep sleep, the same could be said for nights where I had gone to bed stressed.

Sadly I cannot say the same thing about the Android version. I still haven’t worked out what it is about the Android phone system that doesn’t allow the app to function as well as its iphone counterpart. It may be due to the programming of the app itself, but I can never seem to get it to do its job. Setting the alarm the night before, you have the option to select how early it can wake you up if you are in a light sleep. However long I click, it just wakes me up that many minutes before the alarm is set to go off, regardless of what stage of sleep I appear to be in. It’s frustrating as I have experienced the apparent same technology on a different phone and it appears to do what it ‘says on the tin’. The Android falls short, certainly disappointing those non iphone users who are reading this. I have experimented greatly with different settings, but I just think that the accelerometer on the Smasung Galaxy (which I use) is not on a par with that of the iphone, or as I mentioned, the app isn’t set up to do quite the same thing.

It’s a shame and I would honestly consider returning to apple products just for the opportunity to have this app be a part of my life once more. That said, this isn’t a technology blog and I’m not about to start a debate as to whether we should all change phones. I’m enjoying what little use I can get from my Android app as it still allows me to analyse and implement information gleaned from my sleep charts, in an attempt to rectify my erratic sleeping schedule. Most of all I am training myself to stay away from that dreaded snooze button. If you’re awake, wake up, get out of bed, do whatever it takes to stop yourself from falling into the interrupted sleep cycle cycle…

Optimising your sleep time is the best present you can give yourself. However, it does require research and dedication. Don’t overlook a bedtime routine. Treat going to sleep as a ritualistic process, but before you do anything, buy an iphone and download Sleep Cycle (joke).

Sweet dreams!

The Science of sleep

Well hello world.

This week I have mainly been thinking about coffee.  At my house we’re as anti instant grains as you can get. Having travelled around South America and sampled some of the most exquisite beans the world has to offer, I find it ludicrous that Nescafe and other such brands can even think about marketing their freeze-dried, processed dirt grains as coffee. I will let nothing other than fair trade, dark roasted Guatemalan beans, ground with green cardamom pass my lips (unless I’m out and then I’m stuck with whatever an independent coffee shop may have to offer).

The point to this rant was the fact that caffeine sits in your system for several hours, even though the effects on the brain only one. Therefore you could drink three cups in a day, only achieve three hours of productivity and have to battle to get to sleep much later. Since being advised against drinking coffee after 4pm, I’ve struggled against my slight addiction and taken to consuming pints of peppermint or green tea instead. As it took me a while to heed this advice, I have spent rather a large number of hours perusing the internet waiting for sleep to arrive.  This is how I discover these wonderful things with which to regale you with every week.

So, can I just say a big Hurrah for the BBC! They have everything on their website, including a whole series of articles on the science of sleep. Not only is there information, but also the opportunity to generate your own personal sleep profile. In addition to sensible stuff, there are some light-humoured games like the face memory test, designed to ask whether you're too tired to recognise faces!

I took the personal sleep profile test and scored 60% suggesting that I'm not really optimising the way I sleep. It's a bit of a given really seeing as my current employment situation requires me to be in the West End of London at my desk by 8am. Factoring in shower/make up/coffee/travel time I regularly have to force myself out of bed at 5:40am, which would be fine had I managed to allow myself a full 8 hours of sleep. Sadly this is never the case and I’m always groggy, cranky and completely unaware of my surroundings in the morning. 

If you can’t get enough sleep, could it make a difference if you took steps to ensure your body was in its deepest form of sleep throughout that short period? Scientists believe the age-old saying ‘quality over quantity’ can also be applied to sleep. Meaning, if you took steps to ensure your sleep time really was restful, it would maximise the effect and therefore allow you to awake feeling refreshed and alert.

Right, so we’ve ascertained that good sleep is powerful, what can we do to achieve the most out of our stolen 5 or 6 hours?

Relax prior to bed time?
Drink a milky drink?
Reduce light?


Anything other than the usual out there?

How about a spot of hypnotherapy? Um, yes, you read me right. Hypnotise yourself into a deeper sleep.

You must have guessed by now that I like the DIY fixes, so I opened up my Android mark and was amazed at the plethora of smart phone applications claiming to guide you through relaxation tracks and to gently lull you to sleep. Picking at random I ended up with “Sleep Soundly Hypnosis” (free of charge, of course).

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by the calm and gentle manner in which the female (American) voice asked me to breathe deeply and repeatedly insinuated that I was comfortable. She then began to count down from 10 backwards to, I presume 1, but I don’t remember hearing anything after 5. There was a ‘wow’ moment around number 8 where the voice suggested my scalp may be tingling and I discovered that indeed it was. I got a little bit excited and then realised I shouldn’t really do and had to calm my breathing down again.

The million dollar question is how did I feel in the morning? I’d be lying if I said fit as a fiddle but there was an element of smugness embedded into my psyche that allowed me to waltz onto the train platform with a gentle spring in my step. Not quite enough pizzazz to relish being awake, but not quite as much hate for my fellow commuters as per usual.

Thus, I give this app a thumbs up. There’s nothing not to like about it (unless you despise an American accent) and even if there’s a psychological placebo effect at work it certainly alleviated the stress of knowing that I wasn’t going to get enough sleep. Anything for an easy life...isn’t that the modern moto?

Let me know what you think!

Find the BBC Sleep page here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/

Binaural beats....the sound of sleep?

If you will allow me to indulge myself a little, I would like to deviate from the original post I had planned for today. In my introduction I promised to spend my next set of ramblings discussing the invention and increased use of "sleep cycle alarm clocks", readily available on your smart phones. It is something that I have been passionately using, researching and promoting ever since discovering that such a sleeping aid existed.

However, it has been a tumultuous month at 'Casa Mir' and amidst much turmoil and a biking accident, my attention was diverted slightly onto another smart phone phenomenon. Yes, I'm fine, there's nothing broken, thank you for asking, just some severe bruising of bones and of course my fragile cyclist ego. But what I am grateful for is the series of events that led to my discovery of certain apps readily available on the android (and itunes) market.

World, I present to you: Binaural Beats (Tones). As with all legitimate scientific discoveries, you can read all about it on the dedicated Wikipedia article. Please note, the previous sentence was heavily laced with sarcasm. As much as I am an advocate for Internet discovery, some sources on Wikipedia cannot be taken as the gospel/torah/quran (delete where appropriate and apologies to those of non-monotheistic faith who I have probably just succeeded in completely alienating). 

Anyway, as I should have mentioned, this blog is purely my own thoughts and views and I do not endorse any products any further than being a simple technophile who enjoys the merging of modernity with ancient holistic practice. Products other than the Breathing Relief Dilator I hasten to add. 

Back to binaural tones. Read the wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats

In brief, it is my understanding that binaural tones or beats are a mixture of sounds and beats played directly into the listeners' ears by use of headphone. Both ears receive different sounds and mixed together they create a beat that supposedly affects the brain. As you will ascertain from the article it is possible to abuse this technology by creating beats which simulate Class A drugs and I was of course wary of anything able to manipulate your mind in such a way.

My choice download was Brainwave Tuner Lite, available on the android market for free, with a full version costing you £2.44. In the lite application you have 3 categories of beats:

1. Sleep and Healing
2. Meditation and Relaxation
3. Focus and Learning

Sleep and healing has the subcategories/tracks listed as Headache Therapy, Sleep Induction, Edge of Consciousness and the intriguingly titled Earth Peace Night. I'll admit I was a little disappointed that despite the label 'healing' the only track available was for headaches. I was hoping more for a proverbial bath in which to soak my brain cells in the attempt to relieve my smarting limbs. No such luck. I can attest though that despite not being catered for, I was surprised at the effectiveness of the track and very much enjoyed the mellow warmth I was left with after 15 minutes of listening.

Not quite ready to fling my cynicism out the window, I moved on to the meditation tracks. There are 4 available ranging from relaxation, meditation and self-hypnosis. Honestly, I'm terrible at meditating. My brain races at 100 miles an hour on a good day, so trying to focus on nothing the day after being hit by a car when you're replaying the scene over and over again, assuring yourself that it wasn't your fault probably didn't provide the perfect control scenario. I nestled into my duvet and gave it a go. I awoke 3 and a half hours later with the nagging feeling that I had forgotten something. I'm not entirely sure what this means. Does deep meditation lead to sleep? In any case, I shan't complain as when I awoke I felt refreshed and calm, finding it much easier to make peace with my situation.

So this left only the sleep induction track and of course it worked. I must add that I usually have no trouble getting to sleep; it’s the quality of sleep I have issues with. I often suffer from fretful nights involving fisticuffs with my pillows and resulting in waking up halfway down my bed, covers in disarray. The goal was to listen to the track and arise the next morning in the same position I fell asleep in, preferably feeling as if I had finally accomplished the art of a good night’s sleep. I remember waking up and being acutely aware of the fact that the weird shwooshing noises in my ear, very akin to the sound of the waves lapping at a beach had finished and then…it was morning!

To my amazement both the meditation and sleep induction beats allowed me to rest easy. I feel as though the stress was taken away from the concept of sleeping and instead of the perpetual cycle of fear regarding getting enough sleep, I went to work the next morning feeling a little smug. Maybe I had won the battle?

We all know it is never that simple and incorporating a healthy sleeping routine into your daily life is an endless war. I’m not about to put all my faith into one concept and resign myself to a lifetime of bombarding my brain with subliminal messages in order to feel some peace. That said, I’m certainly glad I found this app and I look forward to further adventures I may have on ‘the edge of consciousness’ or on those migraine days.

Interested in learning more about Binaural Tones? Google is your friend! There’s plenty of scientific data available as well as the usual subjective accounts written by other sleep deprived frenzied bloggers awaiting your perusal.

Sweet dreams people, until next week!

An Introduction...

If you’re just joining the Breathing Relief movement, my question to you is this: where have you been?!

Perhaps you’ve been involved in a perpetual battle with a snoring partner, unable to steal enough of the duvet to cover your ears. Or maybe it’s a case of keeping yourself awake and having to constantly search for the perfect cup of coffee to get you going in the morning. Whatever your reasons, we’re just glad you’re with us now.

Breathing Relief ™ doesn’t claim to be a lifesaver, but rest assured, this product may just well save your sleeplessness, marriage and/or face at work.

Welcome to the revolution!

As a weekly blogger, I’ll be exploring ideas, technologies, media articles and various concepts all linked to sleep, dreaming and general wellbeing. Many of us underestimate all the factors that affect us getting a decent night’s sleep and the effect sleep deprivation can have on our bodies.  As society makes it increasingly more acceptable for us to work and party harder we neglect the intrinsic voice inside, close our ears to what the health experts are screaming and continue with our hectic lifestyle.

I’m not judging, in fact I’m one of the guilty ones. I convince myself that there are just not enough hours in the day. I write better late at night is my favourite excuse, shortly followed by I can just nap on the train into work tomorrow. I tell myself these things so I can go out in the evening or stay up late baking or simply catch up on lame TV soaps. However things have to change, we have to start looking after ourselves and there comes a point where we begin to open our eyes and ears to all the products/devices/research that exists simply to help us.

Breathing Relief nasal dilator is one of those; it takes the stress out of sleeping. This blog could be another. Stay posted and I’ll help you explore the wonderful, fascinating and sometimes downright quirky tidbits of information floating around that could maybe, just possible, change your life.

Next time….Sleep Cycle apps for your phone. What are they supposed to do, how do they do it and is it really ok to have a mobile phone next to your head in bed?

Guleraana