Sleep Tips to Promote Sleep and a Healthy Lifestyle

Establish a regular sleep schedule

During the day:

• Avoid caffeine, alcohol and nicotine
• Exercise, but not too close to bedtime
• Avoid naps

Establish a regular bedtime routine

About an hour before going to bed:

• Engage in a relaxing, non-alerting activity
• Do not drink or eat too much
• Maintain a quiet, dark and preferably cool, but comfortable sleep environment

Alcohol and Sleep

Alcohol administration increases the concentration of allopregnanolone (AP) in the brain.. AP acts as a neuroactive steroid modulating the inhibitory effects of the neurotransmitter GABA and induces some behavioral effects of alcohol, including relaxation and sleep.

Alcohol consumption can induce sleep disorders by disrupting the sequence and duration of sleep states and by altering total sleep time as well as the time required to fall asleep (i.e., sleep latency).
full article available at National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism

Is It Hot...or Humid Enough for You?

Finding and maintaining the right temperature for sleep sounds easy...but it isn't. Even sleep researchers fail to agree on the ideal temperature. In general, most sleep scientists believe that a slightly cool room contributes to good sleep. That's because it matches what occurs deep inside the body, when the body's internal temperature drops during the night to its lowest level. (For good sleepers, this occurs about four hours after they begin sleeping.)

But how cool should the bedroom be? And what should couples do who share a bed but disagree about the desired sleep temperature? Turning the thermostat down at night in cold weather saves on fuel bills and sets the stage for sleep. Blankets or comforters can lock in heat without feeling too heavy or confining. An electric blanket may help. Or the heat-seeking partner might dress in warmer bedclothes (even socks!), while the warmer partner might shun sleep clothes or bed covering.

In summer, a room that's too hot can also be disruptive. In fact, research suggests that a hot sleeping environment leads to more wake time and light sleep at night, while awakenings multiply. An air conditioner or fan can help.

Remember the common summer complaint: It's not the heat, it's the humidity? If excess humidity is a problem, consider a dehumidifier.

If too dry an environment is your problem, consider a humidifier. Clues like awakening with a sore throat, dryness in your nose, or even a nose bleed are signs of too little humidity. Note: Be sure to change the water daily.

Smoking Really is a Snore

A new study by the Department of Respiratory Medicine, University Hospital in Sweden presents another reason to finally quit smoking. The results of 15,555 men and women ages 25-54 from Iceland, Estonia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden suggested that habitual snoring (loud and disturbing snoring at least three nights per week) was more prevalent among current smokers (24%) and ex-smokers (20.3%) than in never-smokers (13.7%). The frequency of habitual snoring increased with the amount of tobacco smoked. To make matters worse, snoring proved to be more prevalent in never-smokers exposed to passive smoking at home on a daily basis (19.8) than in never-smokers without this exposure (13.3%).

The NSF 1999 Sleep in America poll found that 28% of the adults smoked in the past month and of those, the majority (77%) smoked daily. 18% of smokers report having pauses in their breathing (a symptom of sleep apnea) a few nights a week or more, compared to 10% of nonsmokers.