Sleeping pills can help you sleep but health-wise, there is no question that some health risk is at stake. And apparently if people rely on them too much, there is the possibility of death after a study showed that the said drugs carry a substantially increased risk of death for those who are prescribed.

Over a two-and-a-half-year period, they compared the death rates among more than 10,500 people who received sleeping pill prescriptions with those of more than 23,600 others — matched for age, state of health and other factors — who had not received such medication. The average age of the study group was 54.

Overall, there have been issues associated with sleeping pills. And while they do intend to help a person get the proper amount of sleep, the side effects persist. This includes increased depression which may eventually trigger suicide if they are not careful.

Aside from that, sleeping pills also interfere with motor and cognitive skills, which makes driving dangerous, and can cause sleep apnea, which can lead to heart problems.

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Sleep apnea can be a killer of sorts, especially if you do not know what and which medical treatment to take on. But perhaps if you address your sleep apnea problem (assuming you have one), then it may eventually lead to a longer life on your end since it can shy you away from the usual heart problems.

A study was published New England Journal of Medicine showing that people suffering from sleep apnea may eventually account for metabolic syndrome or better yet, health issues associated with the heart.

And after treating these sleep apnea problems, it was found that improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar ensued, eventually aiding in safeguarding people from potential heart problems or metabolic syndrome.

“This study is thought-provoking and could be really wonderful news that using a breathing machine could have all of these beneficial effects. But, ultimately, we’d want to see clinical end points, such as the incidence of cardiovascular deaths, in order to know if an intervention is appropriate and helpful,” said Dr. Tara Narula, a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

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Sleep deprivation is something obviously hurting people nowadays and it seems that these findings by the National Sleep Foundation may open more eyes than usual. From an average sleeping time of 9 hours, Americans are sleeping just 6.9 hours per night.

This represents a two hour drop per night since the 19th century, one hour per night over the past 50 years, and about 15 to 25 minutes per night just since 2001. A number of health factors can result from this, including heart problems, obesity and high blood pressures.

The good news is that these effects can be reversed by getting an adequate amount of sleep. The University of Chicago study on sleep duration and appetite found that allowing the study subjects to sleep 10 hours for two consecutive nights returned the hormones to normal levels and lowered hunger and appetite ratings by almost 25%.

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We have identified many types of factors that may hinder sleep and one which was left out has to be pollution. Pollution has caused a lot of havoc, affecting our health and posing a problem for everyday breathing. So is it any surprise that pollution is another environmental factor affecting sleep?

It isn’t surprising at all. Just thing of it, breathing polluted air? How can you breathe easy when you are off to lala land? Now the next best thing is to perhaps take some precautionary measures or perhaps relocate to nature-filled surroundings. Otherwise, you can expect some heart problems, the respiratory system of which will likewise encounter some problems in the process.

The study appears online ahead of the print edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Sleep Apnea has been known to be associated with heart problems and apparently that is the case in this new study connecting stroke. OSA doubles the risk of stroke in men and also increases the danger in women. Data was taken from the Sleep Heart Health Study.

Men with moderate to severe sleep apnea are three times more likely to have a stroke than men with mild or no sleep apnea while the increased risk of stroke in women with obstructive sleep apnea was significant only in cases of severe apnea thanks to a study which was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

(Source) Web MD

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Losing weight has been known to help us as far as healthy living is concerned. And while many aim for a better looking body and physique, weight loss may yet be a great help for the people having sleep apnea problems. People who are overweight or obese are much more likely to have obstructive sleep apnea, a condition in which a person’s breathing stops or becomes very shallow, sometimes several hundred times a night and sometimes for as long as a minute, according to the American Sleep Apnea Association.

This could lead to heart problems which is normal for people who have these problems. But based on a study, reducing weight can limit all that. A 10% decrease in weight is enough to improve sleep apnea issues. So if you want a free ride to address sleep apnea and also obesity, start out with that.

(Source) AJC

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If there is a great way to stay awake, it is either through consuming Taurine or Caffeine. Would you consider consuming them together? Studies show that they can be great stimulants if taken together. However, there is the question of how much to consume.

Each person is only supposed to consume up to 3,000 milligrams of taurine per day in order to still be considered safe. Too much caffeine can lead to irregular heart beats, increased blood pressure, disruptive sleep patterns, added nerves, irritability, and other more serious heart problems.

Taurine is an amino acid that supports brain development and regulates water levels and mineral salts within the blood. Taurine has long been thought of as an antioxidant and is common as a dietary supplement. The amino acid is found mostly in proteins such as fish, meat, and breast milk.

So if you are planning to fight off the sleep bug, make sure you consume at the proper amount. Going over it can prove to be dangerous if not fatal.

(Source) Kolotv

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Sleep deprivation has been a growing pain and most people who are aching for alternative remedies and solutions to this growing disorder can heave a big sigh of relief thanks to the Sleep HealthCenters which have opted to take sleep disorder issues to the next level.

Sleep deprivation has been linked to other health issues such as obesity and heart problems and that alone has become a reason to take sleep problems entirely serious. With an elite group of specialists and providing home sleep testing, the sleep deprived can now expect better attention and diagnoses for their lingering obstructive sleeping problems.

Dr. Lawrence J. Epstein, Sleep HealthCenters’ Medical Director, noted, “Home sleep testing is a viable alternative for those patients who have had a comprehensive sleep evaluation and meet certain criteria, including insurance eligibility. Because untreated sleep apnea has been linked to health problems such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease, it is crucial that as many at-risk patients as possible be tested and treated. At Sleep HealthCenters, we continue to focus on providing expertise in every aspect of care for patients with all sleep disorders, from diagnosis, to treatment, to long-term management.”

(Source) Business Wire

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As far as getting the proper number of hours of sleep is concerned, you would rarely find anyone having the usual 8 hours of sleep. Some turn to the dreaded sleeping pills, which are claimed to be a lot safer these days since they are not as addicting as the olden days but it remains that they are still not the natural means of sleeping.

At risk is our health, making our bodies prone to heart problems and obesity. At a certain age where we are perhaps in the prime of our lives, this will not matter. But the real toll will set in once we age. In time, our bodies will start to show these problems and we will feel that for sure since we will get weaker which will become the opening that these diseases will need to flourish.

So with these in mind, should we turn to sleeping pills to get that much needed sleep? There are still risks and to date, the only thing that they will tell you is that it is not as addictive as the ones we used to take.

On whether that statement will make you feel comfortably depends on how you look at it.

(Source) Yahoo News

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