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How Dangerous Can Sleep Apnea Get?

While not all of us can exactly tell what sleep apnea is, we can’t deny the fact that almost the entire world population can recognize what snoring is even from a relative distance. You may even have vivid memories of old uncles and grandfathers sleeping on the couch or the recliner taking a nap and letting out the awfully loud and annoying snoring sound from your childhood years. Nothing much has changed, actually. Today, a big percentage of the population still suffers from the wrath of sleep apnea and many still remain undiagnosed, despite testing facilities being available. A lot of older people just dismiss it as mere snoring, something that should not raise any alarm bells at all. How mistaken is that? You can actually die in your sleep because of sleep apnea. Although not all snorers have sleep apnea, most patients who have been diagnosed with sleep apnea snore. So to stay on the safe side, better get yourself checked.

If you do have sleep apnea, don’t just dismiss it as a mere nuisance or a discomfort to you and those around you that you just have to live with. It is a serious condition that needs prompt treatment. If you don’t know it yet, people with sleep apnea literally stop breathing in their sleep. Their brain has to make the most difficult and risky decision of choosing between sleep and breathing. That’s how deadly this condition is. To better understand what sleep apnea is, it is a sleep disorder that is characterized by shallow breathing or breathing pauses while you are sleeping. And it happens multiple times throughout your sleep. So imagine the number of times your brain has to decide whether to let you live or just sleep for good each night.

Sleep apnea impacts millions of people in the United States and the city of San Antonio is not immune. 

Brosnan said within the University Health System, “we actually have close to 500 people waiting to be seen in the sleep clinic through referrals within the system.”

Sleep apnea can also impact other aspects of a person’s health if the problem is not treated. The condition can place stress on the patient’s heart and may set them up for a heart attack or stroke. Brosnan says there is also a link between obesity and sleep apnea. The disorder can also impact patients with diabetes. 

“As your body is more stressed as it’s sleeping, your sugar levels can rise. So that can contribute to worsening diabetes,” Brosnan said. 

(Via: https://www.ksat.com/health/snoring/the-dangers-of-sleep-apnea)

Just make sure you are familiar with the symptoms of sleep apnea. It is not just simply snoring. Symptoms like gasping or choking in your sleep, daytime sleepiness, morning headaches, irritability, and learning and memory issues are some of the physical manifestations of sleep apnea. Remember that this is a medical condition, so don’t forget paying your doctor a visit to confirm your suspicions and get treated for it once and for all. Some people die of sleep apnea without them knowing about it and medical practitioners end up blaming another ailment for it when it was sleep apnea that worsened their health to the point of no return.

“I still don’t know if he had a stroke or heart attack but it brought home the point that sleep apnea is deadly,” the author of “Sinus Relief Now,” tells Newsmax Health.

“Sleep apnea and snoring are processes that starve the brain and the heart of oxygen. As a result, they are the number one cause for heart attack and stroke. In addition, they can lead to heart arrthymias, fatigue, depression, sinus problems and problems functioning at school and at work.”

Josephson adds that sleep apnea can also wreak havoc with romantic relationships and is a leading medical cause of separation and divorce.

“Partners are forced to sleep in separate bedrooms because of the snoring and many become frightened when their spouse stops breathing,” he explains. “While sleep apnea is more common in older folks, it affects between 25 to 40 percent of the population including children.”

(Via: https://www.newsmax.com/health/health-news/apnea-sleep-disorder-breathing/2017/12/13/id/831552/)

Imagine if you are an elderly person already riddled with a handful of maladies that make living double harder, plus you also have sleep apnea. It increases your chances of suffering from a deadly heart attack or a stroke since your brain or heart is constantly deprived of oxygen. Not only that, it likewise predisposes you to other medical conditions that can precipitate a medical emergency in the near future. And it is not only your health that suffers because of it. Your romantic relationship is also compromised especially with couples who live together as your spouse will likely have a hard time getting a decent shut-eye each night with your loudly snoring permeating the room throughout the night.

While more often than not, a congenital anomaly is the reason why you have it. Surgery is not the only option to erase sleep apnea in the equation once and for all. However, there are various choices for its treatment. An endoscopy may be ordered first before you are prescribed with CPAP. If CPAP is not your thing and you feel it is too bulky and make sleep more uncomfortable or simply because you don’t like it, don’t feel guilty about it: https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/why-a-cpap-machine-is-probably-not-for-you/. You can always resort to the more popular and handy alternatives like anti-snoring mouthpieces. https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/zquiet is an excellent choice and you can sleep soundly at night once more knowing you’ll get another leash in life the next day after a good night’s sleep.

Sleeping On-The-Go: Sounds Like Fun!

Nowadays, people got a lot going on that they often sacrifice some of the finer things in life to get as many things as they want to be done in the limited period of time that they have. It means having to go to places at odd hours of the day and night without thinking how tired their bodies must be. The dangers of sleeping on-the-go are the highest when you drive your own vehicles but it does not mean doing it while on public transport is any safer. Of course, there are other people that are total strangers riding with you and you can’t always count on them to be honest and trustworthy especially once you fall asleep and you can’t keep track of your personal belongings. What’s even more important is your level of comfort when aboard these vehicles.

We have seen our fair share of crazy trends circulating the market these days that nothing surprises us anymore. Some innovations may be so mind-blowing while others are just plain attempting to making our lives better and easier although we aren’t always successful in doing that. This time, a bus with built-in beds is something we can all be thankful for especially for those traveling at night or for longer distances. You can finally get that well-deserved rest even before you get to your home.

Tired people could soon be ferried home at the end of the day on a bus fitted with beds.

Passengers on the vehicle, which designers hope will eventually operate on eight routes across four UK cities in Autumn 2018, will be able to sleep off their excesses in 14 discreet futuristic pods.

They won’t have to worry about missing their stop because stewards will be on hand to wake them up before they reach their destination.

The bus has been in development for four months, with Surrey-based Andersson-Wood architects working on its design.

(Via: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/night-bus-late-night-drunk-luxurious-beds-vehicle-simba-sleep-public-transport-a8106126.html)

It is also impossible for you to miss your stop as there are designated stewards to wake you up once you reach your destination so you get down at the right place while still feeling refreshed at the same time. Many people today work longer hours. They leave the house earlier and get home later because of the demands of work and school, not to mention the long hours they spend while traveling that can eat up a big chunk of their day. Those who work in shifts suffer the most as they have different work schedules that can consequently affect the way they sleep. It is why many of us end up sleep deprived since 24 hours a day is no longer enough to let us finish all of our tasks and perhaps many in the UK are now rejoicing why a bus with beds is heaven-sent we didn’t know we needed until now.

There’ll also be blackout blinds, sound isolating systems and melatonin-promoting amber lights. The mattress-maker is also in talks with a food delivery service to provide an advanced on-board system that will cleverly track your route, so you and your takeaway arrive home at the same time. Unlimited free mineral water, with coffee and specially-selected smoothies will also be available on board, with individual revitalizer kits containing Vitamin C and liver-cleansing Milk Thistle.

(Via: http://metro.co.uk/2017/12/12/going-need-snoozeliner-take-us-home-christmas-parties-7153548/)

It even has a name. The “Snoozeliner” perfectly describes what it is. Only UK residents on 4 key cities can ride this innovative wheels and hopefully offer relief to those who always seem to be lacking in sleep. Late night travels won’t be as troublesome anymore and you can sleep in peace and comfort as you close the gap from point A to point B in sheer comfort. Everything about it screams state-of-the-art and it can easily be seen in every little detail about the bus. Everything is well thought out and addresses most of your common concerns and its makers are hopeful it can solve the sleep and travel problems of the 94% of British workers who admitted to having slept at one point or another on their way to or from work.

While the Snoozeliner only addresses issues pertaining to sleep comfort, it can’t do much for more serious sleeping disorders like sleep apnea. If you suffer from one, it’s better to consult a doctor for proper medical management. A more convenient antis-snoring mouthpiece can do a lot of wonders to help with sleep and minimize its associated health threats. https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx or https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/vitalsleep may be your best bet to overcome the perils of sleep apnea.

Sleep Apnea Diagnosis – Beatable, But Not Without Risk

There are a lot of things you have no control over in this world: do not include your sleep in this list. Sleep is essential for our health and well-being even if it is often underappreciated. Nothing should ever stop you from getting that well-deserved snooze. However, there are instances that are beyond your power that has a big impact on your sleep. Sleep disorders, for instance, are the bane of some people’s existence but they do not just go away over time. Gone were the days when people just ignored snoring. While snoring may seemingly look harmless (and I am sure it is a small number of the population), most snorers actually do have sleep apnea. That is the problem. Sleep apnea needs to be addressed right away and not just be dismissed as an annoying habit some people have.

I’m sure snoring is embarrassing, but wait until you find out that you literally stop breathing in your sleep when you have this sleep disorder. It is usually a congenital problem, which is why some consider surgery if necessary. But the thing is these breathing pauses do not only happen once, twice, or thrice throughout the night, it happens multiple times, which is where the danger lies. Aside from depriving your body of essential oxygen, it predisposes you to various medical conditions that deteriorate the quality of your life over time. So, do something about it. The first thing on your list is to get yourself checked by a doctor, preferably someone who specializes in sleep health. You may even need to set an appointment in an accredited sleep clinic to get all the needed information from you and that requires you spending the night in that facility.

If you are doing your best to implement good sleep habits and are still having trouble sleeping, you might have a sleeping disorder. One major type of sleeping disorder is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a disorder that occurs when a person’s breathing is disrupted during sleep, meaning the brain and the body lose oxygen. One form of sleep apnea occurs when soft tissues in the back of the throat collapse. Another form occurs when the brain stops sending signals to the airways. If you have sleep apnea look into getting a CPAP machine. CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure. These machines push air into your airways to force them open.

(Via: http://www.tgdaily.com/health/your-best-sleep)

There’s no need to panic yet, especially if you plan on seeing the doctor right away, since sleep apnea is a treatable condition. A surgery is not always warranted except in dire instances where the congenital anomaly is the only thing that can relieve you of sleep apnea. Sometimes, simple lifestyle changes can do wonders for your condition. Healthy practices like exercising, adopting a regular sleep pattern, quitting smoking (for smokers) and avoiding caffeine or heavy meals right before retiring to bed, may help in a way although medical experts still prescribe CPAP as the management of choice as it ensures the airway is always open while you’re deep in slumber and no breathing gaps will put your life at risk.

Oral appliances typically treat OSA by holding a patient’s lower jaw open and slightly forward during sleep, which prevents an obstruction of the airway; it’s a mechanism similar to the jaw-thrust maneuver employed during cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR.

But most prescription oral appliances—of which there are more than 100 and counting with FDA clearance in the United States1—must be custom fitted by a qualified dentist, who ensures the device is efficacious and reasonably comfortable for the specific patient. Finding the correct setting in millimeter increments can be accomplished in three ways, each of which can be used in conjunction with the others:

(Via: http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/2018/01/oral-appliance-titration-psg/)

Aside from sleep doctors, you may also need to see a dentist since they can also help in the management of sleep apnea. Specific oral appliances can help open up the airway, the first hurdle in this condition, especially with obstructive sleep apnea. They need to be fitted by a qualified dentist, even doctors won’t be able to help you with this. This is an excellent choice for individuals who hate having to use the CPAP every time they hit the sack. It is also the inspiration to anti-snoring mouthpieces that are growing in popularity nowadays. Take your pick from https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/good-morning-snore-solution or https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx for a more cost-effective yet effective solution to your sleep apnea while you are still waiting for results or deliberating with your doctor the best recourse for your condition.

The Ugly Truth About Sleep Deprivation

Sleep is a luxury. Many will agree with that premise. The more advanced our technology becomes, the more likely we are to lose sleep. It is a sad truth that we have learned to live with over the years. There are simply so many things that need to get done that we unconsciously put off our sleep and will ourselves to stay awake until the wee hours of the morning in our ruse of being more productive. In reality, we are doing more harm than good by depriving ourselves of precious sleep. It is not just the lost hours that we are talking about here, it is what you subject your body to endure. Are you even aware that chronic sleep deprivation does not just deprive you of sleep of essential oxygen needed by every single cell in your body? As a result, you become more prone to numerous diseases and afflictions like debilitating and deadly ones such as heart attack and stroke.

People these days like to portray being a night owl as something cool. Imagine going to all the coolest clubs and hotspots in the dead of the night when the supposedly uncool people are already tucked in bed fast asleep. Unfortunately, our body gradually suffers from each all-nighter we pull. There is a reason why we sleep at night and we are not about to start an argument on science about it. Sleep should is a restorative process that not only heals our bodies from the strain and stresses it had to put up with throughout the day but also to prepare it for what lies ahead tomorrow. But when you stay up all night long doing God knows what, you essentially miss out on the benefits of sleep and subject yourself to the dangers of chronic sleeplessness.

“We certainly know that a lack of sleep will actually prevent your brain from being able to initially make new memories, so it’s almost as though without sleep the memory inbox of the brain shuts down and you can’t commit new experiences to memory,” he says. 

However, that’s not the worst of it. Lack of sleep can also lead your brain to develop a greater concentration of beta amyloid, a toxic protein that’s linked to Alzheimer’s disease. 

“It is during deep sleep at night when a sewage system within the brain actually kicks into high gear and it starts to wash away this toxic protein, beta amyloid,” Walker explains.

“So if you’re not getting enough sleep each and every night, more of that Alzheimer’s-related protein will build up.

(Via: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/sleep-deprivation-video-effects-body-mind-human-health-cancer-alzheimers-dementia-brain-damage-a8153851.html)

Different parts of your body can feel the impact of sleep deprivation. Your body’s defenses go down the more nights you stay up thereby leaving your body unable to fend off pathogens and infections in case you are exposed to one. You easily get sick and feel sleepy, tired, and generally exhausted and irritated the whole day. You increase the risk of you developing and succumbing to certain diseases like cancer because again, your defenses are down and you did not give your body a chance to recharge by neglecting sleep when you were supposed to be sleeping soundly in bed at night.

He describes how lack of sleep creates problems with anger and violence control, and is linked with “aggression, bullying and behavioural problems”. What was that I remember about Donald Trump living on just four hours of sleep a night?

And for more gory detail than you would probably like, sleep starvation also massively compromises a man’s testicles, virility and testosterone levels: “The hormonal blunting effect (of lack of sleep) is so large that it effectively ages a man by 10-15 years in terms of testosterone virility.” Sperm counts are on average 29 per cent lower than for men who sleep better.

(Via: http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2127905/wake-its-time-stop-treating-sleep-deprivation-badge-honour)

Saying that sleeplessness is an epidemic is more of an understatement. It is an epidemic we gladly put ourselves in without having second thoughts as to its repercussions in the coming years. Don’t be a victim of this mentality and learn to care for yourself first because you only have one body to last you a lifetime. The truth is, your lifetime and the quality of your life depends on how well you take care of your body and that includes adopting a regular sleeping schedule and sticking to it religiously aside from practicing a healthy lifestyle overall. If you happen to suffer from a sleep disorder, head to the doctor right away. Don’t simply shrug it off as a mere inconvenience but think of it as the medical condition that it is.

Sleep apnea, for instance, poses more danger than we like to acknowledge and we are not just focusing on the annoying snoring sound these people makes. If you haven’t seen a doctor yet for whatever reasons, protect yourself from more harm by using anti-snoring mouthpieces such as https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx that not just reduces the snoring sound but address the anatomical problem to prevent breathing gaps that characterizes sleep apnea. CPAP isn’t a popular choice for patients and here’s why https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/why-a-cpap-machine-is-probably-not-for-you.

Kiss Your Sleep Woes Goodbye

Sleeping is becoming more of an afterthought for many because of so many distractions these days. Back then, you have no choice but to sleep once nighttime falls because there is virtually nothing else you can do. If you are privileged enough to have a television or a radio, they probably signed-off by then and there is nowhere to go either. However, cities become more populated (even rural areas too) as the years go by and there are more establishments now than there were in the past. Shopping malls started sprouting everywhere and they provided more options to entertain ourselves. Cafes and restaurants stay open until late at night. Then, the tech explosion left us unable to live without our phones. And now that smart technology is the norm these days, we have access to the web anytime we have a smart gadget in hand, a WiFi connection or data, and time to burn on our hands.

Hence, it is no longer surprising to hear more and more people complain that they are losing sleep because they consciously do things that prevent their body from sleeping early in the night. The temptations are everywhere, it’s our glaring truth. However, it does not mean you can’t overcome it and just let your body suffer forever by forcing your body to sleep late and deprive it of the many curative benefits that a good night’s sleep offers. So, heed these tips to help you sleep better once and for all. You might have heard about them already but you have no choice but to heed them since they are the key to saving your health and sanity. You can still live life to the fullest without staying up all night all the time.

Turn off tech devices before bed

The biggest sleep mistake people make, says Rossman, is “Doing too many stimulating things too close to bedtime. Our electronics can really cut into our sleep because they wire our brain, they’re too intellectually stimulating, and the blue light that’s emitted from our screens suppresses the release of melatonin, which is our body’s sleepiness hormone.”

Wake up at the same time every day

This can help improve sleep by getting your body on a schedule, says Rossman, so you’re actually tired around the same time each night too.

Expose yourself to light when you wake up

Open the windows to let sun in, or head outside for a walk right when you wake, recommends Rossman. “Make sure light comes in through your eyes—it helps to set our body’s natural clock, so that you’re sleepy at bedtime.”

(Via: http://www.health.com/sleep/better-sleep-tips-video)

They sound easy, right? Then why do many of you have a hard time doing it? It’s time to stop with the excuses and take responsibility for your actions. You may be young for now but time and gravity will soon catch up with you and you’ll regret not taking care of your body while you still had the time. You only live once. That may be true. However, make sure that you are in great shape and in good health throughout your life rather than live a life crippled by sickness or something else. Getting back on your lost sleep is all a matter of mind over matter and knowing what to do and avoid.

Leaving a bedroom door or window open may help people sleep better, a study from the Netherlands suggests.

Open windows and doors helped reduce carbon dioxide levels and improve ventilation and air flow, which was related to better sleep quality for the healthy young adults in the study.

“We spend nearly a third of our life in the bedroom environment, but the air quality in our sleeping environment is often overlooked,” said study author Dr Asit Mishra of Eindhoven University of Technology.

“Imagine this – you are in a confined space and have limited ability to adjust the situation (since you are asleep) while you are possibly surrounded by pollutants,” he told Reuters Health by phone. “This is how things are in bed, covered under duvets or a blanket.”

(Via: https://www.geo.tv/latest/171249-open-windows-and-doors-can-improve-sleep-quality)

Sometimes, the little things in our surroundings also matter and can make a big difference in how you easily and sleep well throughout the night. It does not solely rely on your habits or vices but simple things like opening windows and doors apparently have beneficial effects on one’s health. If it is not awfully hot or cold outside, why not give this tip a try and improve your room ventilation. Studies support it and you won’t lose anything if you do it yourself. It is a different story, though, if you have an existing medical condition that is the reason for your sleepless nights. These tips, while they may work, are not really that effective in nursing you back to health, much more salvage your lost sleep and save your eyes from having too dark and heavy bags.

If that is the case, an anti-snoring mouthpiece may offer you more relief than any of these suggestions as they correct the anatomical deformities that put you at risk of sleep apnea, for instance. You are not forced to make do with CPAP if you are not comfortable in using it. A handy anti-snoring mouthpiece can be your lifesaver such as the https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/good-morning-snore-solution and the https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx. They may not be as effective as CPAP but they do the job of letting you survive one night at a time without you sleeping with the dangers of not ever waking up anymore.

Lose Sleep From More Screen Time

Almost everyone is hooked on technology these days. It no longer comes as a surprise seeing how much technology there is in the world right now. It basically makes the world go round and we seem to like it that way. Not only adults but even the young ones seem to have adopted this way of life especially that they grew up seeing technology all around them. Kids as young as two have their own tablets to help them pass the time and keep them entertained, so it just makes sense why they have carried this habit well into their childhood and teenage years. As convenient technology has made our life, it has some nasty downsides and it all boils down to our health.

We all know how too much exposure to technology can mess with your sleep. Instead of sleeping, you end up pushing your bedtime into the wee hours of the morning as you try to satiate your fear of missing out. Back then, people rarely cared about what their friend had for dinner last night or what their favorite celebrity did during their vacation but since we have access to all those things now, it seems like an insatiable desire to know as much as we can. The television is not the only distraction. Your own smart devices and smartphone are excellent platforms that allow you to connect to the web and do all sorts of exciting things to keep you entertained as you wait for sleep to come.

Caitlyn Fuller, medical student, said the results — published in the journal Global Pediatric Health — may suggest a vicious cycle of technology use, poor sleep and rising BMIs.

“We saw technology before bed being associated with less sleep and higher BMIs,” Fuller said. “We also saw this technology use being associated with more fatigue in the morning, which circling back, is another risk factor for higher BMIs. So we’re seeing a loop pattern forming.”

Previous research has found associations between more technology use and less sleep, more inattention, and higher BMIs in adolescents. But even though research shows that 40 percent of children have cell phones by fifth grade, the researchers said not as much was known about the effects of technology on a younger population.

(Via: http://news.psu.edu/story/496770/2017/12/05/research/screen-time-bed-linked-less-sleep-higher-bmis-kids)

Parents these days just hand their kids with gadgets to keep them preoccupied as they struggle to multitask on a lot of things. Many of these kids can’t last a few hours without tinkering with their devices and the long-term results of this kind of neglect are yet to be determined in the coming years but we can already see dangerous patterns and immediate effects of too much screen time to both young and old people. Sleep is the first thing they lose and it triggers a domino effect of innumerable conditions that are worsened by the lack of sleep. We all know that sleep is crucial to growing up strong and healthy, the very things that kids need for optimal health.

Past studies have found that teens are particularly likely to struggle with technology addiction. This study suggested kids often have a difficult time self-regulating their screen time, which can take a toll on both the quality and quantity of sleep they get.

“When children were reported by their parents to use one form of technology at bedtime, they more than likely used another form of technology as well,” Fuller said.

Curbing technology use at bedtime can help “encourage childhood development and promote mental health during the childhood and adolescent years,” she said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that parents set boundaries for technology use, such as requiring kids to put away their devices during meal times and keeping phones out of bedrooms at night. 

(Via: https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/screen-time-before-bed-can-disrupt-sleep-and-nutrition-in-children-121117.html)

First and foremost, it is the parent’s responsibility to limit the tech use of their children. They have the parental control and authority to do so yet how can you expect them to do this when they themselves struggle with managing their own habits that likewise involve screen time. For starters, parents can set schedules as to when their children can use their devices. Homework should be done first and there should be plenty of time left before bedtime so their bodies have a chance of mellowing down for the night and not too triggered anymore over the last post they saw online. Regularly changing the WiFi password will also work so that they don’t have a choice but to call it a night like what children do in the past in the absence of modern contrivances.

This only works to bad habits involving too much screen time. If your problem is of medical origin like sleep apnea that is one of the major reasons why people can’t sleep fitfully at night, you need an entirely different solution. Aside from CPAP and surgery, more convenient alternatives like anti-snoring mouthpieces such as https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/good-morning-snore-solution and https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/sleeptight can help you sleep better through the night and hopefully save your life and sanity too.

Sleep Technology To The Rescue

Not many of us get enough sleep anymore. There are countless distractions in our surroundings it is easy to see why many of us struggle in getting the recommended eight hours of sleep our body needs in order to grow healthy and strong and have enough energy to last the entire day without feeling drowsy. It is true that there are many things that keep us busy nowadays and it has to do with too much technology use. However, have you ever thought that technology can also be used to your advantage and benefit your health as well and not just as a nuisance we all think it to be?

Yes, sleep technology exists. Technology does not revolve around just for your pure entertainment. They have various uses depending on what you need. Fortunately, bright minds have come up with sleep technology that works in promoting sleep health and in even addressing some of the symptoms and complaints of people suffering from a sleep disorder. Who would’ve thought cuddling a robot now can help you sleep better? I’m sure most of you haven’t thought about this at all but there is a robot technology now that will allow you to have a robot buddy in your sleep. It’s unlike any robot you have seen because it looks just like a small beanie, albeit heavier, which you can snuggle in your sleep and actually breathes. Its breathing is the one that soothes and calms you as you drift off to dreamland and the reason why people are shelling out 500 euros just so they can get back on lost sleep.

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Trouble sleeping? There’s an app for that, but I’d rather take a look at this slightly odd nap buddy: the Somnox sleep robot at €500. Instead of a stuffed animal, you snuggle up to a robot to help you beat insomnia. I’m slightly freaked out. It’s not the fact the website encourages you to “spoon the sleep robot”. It’s not that it offers three ways to soothe you to sleep and one of those is tagged “affection”. It’s that it breathes. The robot breathes. Apparently, it’s a way to help reduce stress, and it’s backed up by studies. Personally, waking in the middle of the night clutching an inaminate object that suddenly moves sounds a little terrifying. Snuggle up.

(Via: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/snuggle-up-to-a-sleep-robot-to-beat-insomnia-1.3356264)

Spooning with this robot does a lot of wonder to the sleep-deprived. Somnox may not be what you have in mind to be sleeping with but if you’re someone who is struggling in your slumber and goes through your days in a sleepless limbo, it won’t hurt if you give this humble (yet expensive) robot a try. But if you’re someone with a diagnosed sleep disorder, check with your doctor first because you definitely need something backed by medical science to solve your problem.

Nokia has been deepening the company’s position in health and wellness, and this year adds sleep tech to its device ecosystem. Nokia acquired Withings several years ago, growing its position in consumer health tracking from weight scales to activity and fitness. Nokia Sleep is the company’s CES 2018 offering with the tagline, “Know your nights. Master your days,” which is part of a larger communications strategy asserting, “Know Yourself.” (Good coverage of this campaign is in this issue of Advertising Age). To help us improve our sleep, Nokia has developed a sleep sensing pad that is placed under the sleeper’s mattress and measures his sleep cycles, heart rate, and snoring.

On the app front, welcome Shleep, developed by a European team led by Dr. Els van der Helm, with roots in clinical psychology and sleep studies. The app offers bite-sized sleep coaching lessons based on the user’s information and preferences. 

(Via: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sleepless-in-america-prescribing-sleep-at-ces-2018_us_5a581036e4b00b4ea8d0834c)

In the CES 2018, different sleep technologies were showcased in the digital health category. At a time and age when tech is a major distraction to our sleep, it is refreshing to see technology designed to improve the overall sleeping experience. There is a wide range of sleep things to explore and try such as apps, lights, bed, masks, and of course, our huggable sleeping robot. What’s interesting to note is that many people are actually excited to see these sleep technologies as more people become aware of the dangers of sleep deprivation. These gadgets just prove that you don’t have to suffer in silence because of any condition that prevents you from enjoying a good night’s sleep.

If you are someone with sleep apnea, though, you can benefit from devices that are proven by science to not only improve sleep but address the dangers of this silent killer. If you aren’t a fan of CPAP and is still getting a second opinion on surgical suggestions, https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/good-morning-snore-solution and https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/sleeptight are handy anti-snoring mouthpieces that open up the airway in your slumber and facilitates for easy breathing in your sleep. Best of all, they’re affordable so you have no reason to neglect your health anymore and go on with your nights with the risk of not waking up in the morning.

Using Light The Right Way To Improve Sleep

At this time and age, we have countless tech contrivances to make our life easier in general. You may spend extra in procuring them but they definitely lighten workload whether at home or in the office. Unfortunately, too much technology can get in the way of your good health. Too much distraction makes people stay up all night trying to catch the latest episodes of whatever they are watching and scrolling their social media newsfeed for hours to get updated on all the latest news or to catch up with family and friends even if they are miles and miles away. Tech devices emit light especially blue ones and they disrupt sleep. It is no wonder now why many people constantly complain about lacking in sleep because their new hobby has definitely been upgraded and it has turned into an obsession.

However, is it possible to use the same technology in addressing sleep issues and hopefully allow you to sleep better at night for your sake? There is a light therapy that can possibly solve this dilemma. It might not be 100% right away, but definitely baby steps in that direction. Teens and the younger population are the first to reap its benefits especially that they are the ones who are more glued to their gadgets and have been silently battling sleeping issues on their own. Light is used to correct the body’s natural clock so you are naturally oriented to the normal sleep-wake cycle again on your specific time zone and can be used in conjunction with melatonin pills.

To treat this mistiming, he said he prescribes light therapy, where patients sit before a bright light for prescribed periods of time, as it is the most “powerful” way to retrain the body’s internal clock.

Shapiro said that sometimes he brings his subjects into his lab for a body clock test. While not covered by OHIP, Shapiro said the test gives the most definitive diagnosis of body clock functioning.

For six hours, from 6 p.m. to midnight, subjects sit in a dark room. Once an hour, remaining in the dark, they chew a cotton ball and spit it into a tube.

From the saliva extracted, staff measure the melatonin level and plot it on a graph, to show when it rises. If it rises too late in the evening, that can indicate there’s a body clock problem.

(Via: https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/analysis/2017/12/18/young-adults-sleep-issues-often-helped-by-light-therapy.html)

Sleep clinics can help patients with this light therapy as it often is a diagnostic procedure where patients are asked to sit in a dark for six hours and data is extracted from them through their saliva in order to measure melatonin levels. The result can give doctors a better understanding as to why you are suffering from sleep issues and they will be able to formulate a better medical management of your condition that is more tailor-fit to support your needs.

FUTURISTIC glasses — designed to combat sleep deprivation — are in high demand.

Developed at Flinders University and manufactured at Lonsdale, they direct blue and green light into the eyes to help adjust the body clock and improve sleep.

Professor Leon Lack and Dr Helen Wright from the university started researching and developing the device in 1987.

Sales have continued to increase since the Re-Timer light therapy glasses were launched in 2012.

“We knew this would be useful for people flying across time zones … and for some people with sleep disorders,” Prof Lack said.

(Via: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/jobs/retimer-antisleep-deprivation-glasses-are-made-by-a-former-automotive-manufacturer/news-story/4e644360eb576f34b1af9f6c5b591a30)

It’s really amazing what technology can achieve when used right. There are numerous valuable resources you can tap right now to help you deal with and manage a lot of your issues especially the ones concerning your health. A surgery is not always done first if the condition can be corrected by something else, in this case, a futuristic glass. You were able to diagnose your sleeping woe through light therapy and now it is time to get back on your lost sleep and overcome sleep deprivation. Like how the light therapy takes a closer look at how your body clock works, these futuristic glasses are designed to adjust your circadian rhythm by emitting blue and green light. People who are always on the go and travel across various time zones can benefit from this glasses so sleep would now be the lease of their worries.

But if your problem is sleep apnea, you need so much more than this glasses. For starters, you need a diagnosis for it so your doctor can take the right course of action in treating your condition. More often than not, CPAP is recommended while you always have a choice to try something more convenient to use like an anti-snoring mouthpiece, examples of which are https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/zquiet and https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx that corrects the problem with your anatomy and not only gets rid of the snoring but reduces the deadly breathing gaps in your slumber.

Is It Safe To Sleep With Gadgets?

We are at a point in time when technology is so advanced there are things you can do now that you didn’t think you would see possible in your lifetime. We may not be seeing flying cars in the sky just yet but we have definitely transformed the world that we know of. Technology fuels a major part of our lives and we have a device to do certain things for us and some that can do a multitude of things for us at a time. Aside from making the most of technology to entertain us and make our lives easier and enabling us to do more things faster, technology can now be used to promote our health and we have seen it then and now in the hospital and in other healthcare settings. This time around, innovators found more useful ways for technology by promoting sleep and in aid of medical management to help people sleep better and overcome the many symptoms of their conditions like common sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.

You can see a lot of devices that are designed to help people sleep better these days. In the digital health category of this year’s CES, numerous sleep technologies were highlighted and shown to the world. They range from smart beds, phone applications, masks, and even robots you can snuggle with. These technologies work well in promoting sleep health but not all technologies are safe sleeping buddies. Some can pose a significant threat to your health and can spark an unfortunate disaster you don’t want to find yourself in especially while you are in a deep slumber.

Let your devices sleep alone

If you’re like most people, you not only paid $700 (or more) for your smartphone, but your whole life is on your device. Between email and social media, it’s your connection with the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, plenty of people have experienced the danger of sleeping with a smartphone under their pillow. Others have experienced phones exploding in their pocket.

While charging, phones and other devices generate more heat and need room for air to circulate. These devices should never be covered while charging.

(Via: https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/larry-alton/3-reasons-sleeping-with-gadgets-is-dangerous/)

We live in a digital world but there are still boundaries we should consider. If a gadget is safe enough to sleep with, then that’s when you can safely indulge in this luxury because you can never tell when something might go wrong and you are unable to protect yourself because you are now even aware of the danger. For starters, devices powered by lithium ions can explode. It has happened several times in the past and can happen again if luck is not on your side.

Today, almost all of us can’t survive without our indispensable communication gadget. And it has gone a step further, whether single or not, mobile phones have becoming a sleeping companion to people globally.  There’s hardly any of us who goes to bed without it.

Despite health warnings of radiation, we still keep it next to our faces near the pillow or at the most, within an arm’s reach on the bed side table. Well, it’s time to change all of that…

Health warnings

Recently, the California Department of Health warned that the public need to keep their mobile phones several feet away from them to reduce health risks and radiation exposure. The state released guidance for reducing exposure to cell phone radiation, surrounded by mounting evidence that mobile use may be linked to cancer, attention, mental health and reproductive health issues. 

(Via: https://buzzreporters.com/2018/01/10/stop-sleeping-with-your-cellphone-experts-seriously-warn-and-this-time-we-need-to-pay-attention/)

And yes, let’s not forget the dangers of radiation. Modern tech gadgets emit deadly radiation that can put you at risk of certain diseases that you could have avoided if only you were careful enough to reduce your radiation exposure by limiting tech use especially at night when blue light can be twice as deadly. The use of smartphones is the most popular culprit and many people have already fallen victims to this modern addiction that we tend to overlook the potential danger it poses for sleeping with it.

For patients diagnosed with a sleep disorder, it is even more crucial to avoid these sleep dangers if it can be avoided and instead invest in proven sleep technologies that can truly transform the entire sleeping experience and at the same time reduce the risks of sleep apnea, for instance. Examples of which are https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/zquiet and https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/vitalsleep that relieves of sleep apnea symptoms and likewise reduce the snoring sound most sleep apnea sufferers often make.

Lack Of Sleep Makes Older Adults More Forgetful

Sleep is crucial to optimal health even if the majority of us seem to think otherwise especially when you are younger. Many young ones feel invincible as if no sickness or disease can even bring them down. They are not aware of their own mortality that they do really crazy things thinking nothing can get in their way of living life to the fullest. Unfortunately, the damage your body has endured adds up alongside the years in your life and you’ll feel its weight as you age. It’s common knowledge that the elderly belongs to the vulnerable group because of their bodies, which are past their prime, have a hard time in managing a lot of things and they are often riddled with a long list of maladies that do not always go away on its own or aren’t easily treatable.

Medical experts recommend an average of eight hours of sleep each night, not just during the day. There are more curative and rehabilitative processes that take place inside your body when nighttime falls yet many of us consciously make the decision of endangering our own health as we push our bedtimes further into the night. Technology is a major culprit nowadays and this can spell bad news for all the youngsters today because their bodies will surely seek revenge when they grow older. Recent studies found connections between sleep and memory problems among the elderly.

Older brains may forget more because they lose their rhythm at night.

During deep sleep, older people have less coordination between two brain waves that are important to saving new memories, a team reports in the journal Neuron.

“It’s like a drummer that’s perhaps just one beat off the rhythm,” says Matt Walker, one of the paper’s authors and a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. “The aging brain just doesn’t seem to be able to synchronize its brain waves effectively.”

The finding appears to answer a long-standing question about how aging can affect memory even in people who do not have Alzheimer’s or some other brain disease.

(Via: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/12/18/571120472/older-adults-forgetfulness-tied-to-faulty-brain-rhythms-in-sleep)

This study dug deeper as to why older people are prone to having memory issues and it shows sleep has a lot to do with it or better yet the lack of real deep sleep that the elderly have trouble achieving each night. Moreover, certain body changes have an impact to sleep and we know that the aging body underwent innumerable changes both visible to the naked eyes and not, so it no longer comes as a surprise if their memory falters along with many other things.

Older adults who practice a simple meditation or listening a music programme may have significant improvement in memory function and objective cognitive performance – a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease – in three months, a study has found.

The findings showed that in older adults with subjective cognitive decline – a condition that may represent a preclinical stage of Alzheimer’s disease – practicing ‘Kirtan Kriya’ meditation and engaging in music listening programme showed improvements in attention, executive function, processing speed and subjective memory function – cognitive functioning that are most likely to be affected in preclinical and early stages of dementia.

(Via: http://www.newsx.com/lifestyle-and-fashion/53471-meditation-music-may-cut-early-memory-loss-in-elderly)

Knowing that there is a high possibility of you having memory issues in the twilight years of your life should be reason enough for you to better take care of your health and that begins with sleep. Both sleep quality and quantity matters. It’s hard dealing with sickness when it is already there. Your best recourse is to prevent it from happening. A person who is well-rested and enjoys a good night’s sleep every single time can take on whatever the world throws at him/her and it is not unlikely for them to age with grace and not appear like some crazy old lunatic because of conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s that has gotten the better of them.

Yet it is a different story if you are dealing with sleep disorders like sleep apnea. You can only manage it well through CPAP. If you aren’t a big fan of it, use a handy solution like an anti-snoring mouthpiece such as https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/good-morning-snore-solution or https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx so you can still sleep comfortable yet safely minus the scary breathing pauses that characterizes sleep apnea. Get yourself checked by a doctor if you suffer from this condition because it does not resolve on its own and it can have a negative impact to your overall health and seriously make aging such a bad thing for you.