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!