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Brain Injuries Lead to Sleep Problems

Brian Yalung — Tue, 25 May 2010 04:57:33 +0000

While the occurrence is rare, brain damage has now been linked to potential sleep risks. This may not necessarily be surprising but with a back up from a sleep study, who unfortunately have to deal with traumatic experiences associated with their brain are likely to suffer from reduced amounts of melatonin and cause sleep problems.

Australian researchers found that:

Healthy people produce more melatonin than do people with brain injuries during evening hours, when the chemical is supposed to rise to trigger sleep.
Patients with brain injury spent less time in bed actually sleeping; that is, they had less “sleep efficiency.”
Brain injury patients spent more time awake after first falling asleep.
Brain-injured people spent more time in non-REM sleep.
Patients with brain injuries had more symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Image Credits: Wikipedia

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Valerian Linked to Nightmares

Brian Yalung — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:35:46 +0000

While the search for natural means of getting sleep is a need, it seems that there is one that is causing nightmares rather than restful slumber. Valerian, a herbal sleep aid commonly used by those who want an alternative to prescription sedatives, has been linked to serious side effects.

Health Canada said it has received more than 30 reports of adverse reactions, including hallucinations and nightmares, linked to valerian from 2003 to 2008. The department also warned in a quarterly adverse-reaction newsletter that some medical studies have found an association between valerian and hallucinations, delirium and cardiac complications.

Such an occurrence has indeed been bad for the natural aids of getting sleep. But if there is some retraction on this claim it is that there is lack of proper statistics to be used for reference to which these claims can be backed up.

(Source) Globe and Mail

Adjusting Your Body Clock for Work Shifts

Brian Yalung — Tue, 15 May 2007 03:26:45 +0000

A reality today is that most of the professions that people find them into may need the overall body adjustment of the body clock. It is something that has been a need since a lot of the current jobs, like call center agents and medical related professions as nursing. Hence, all people are susceptible in the need to adjust their sleeping and active hours making it a necessity for them to be able to be productive as a whole.

Hence, the demand for adjusting to any scenario related to the manner of living has been an obvious occurrence in our daily lives today. This is one reason why there are growing numbers of people with sleep disorders. Some have been even gotten themselves into the insomniac syndrome, something that has been gaining attention from past years.

Many have been able to cope up with it, while some have not. The truth of it all is the fact that people have to adjust and get sleep. Without sleep, a person will not be able to produce in the manner that they are expected to. The time and age today is no longer about the usual 9 to 5 jobs we have all been exposed to. It includes catering towards the working hours of companies that cater to different time zones.

Body clock adjustments are a reality. They must be given attention and proper emphasis. It is no longer a matter of being awake and getting the proper amount of sleep. It is about finding ways of how to be active and effective, things companies and people look for. Some have taken up the challenge while some are still groping for form.

Here is a good article to read on: Criss-crossing time zones hard on body