Attacking Sleep Apnea

Adding on to my previous entry on obstructive sleep apnea, we just watched this video clip in class. It's very funny, Shaquille O'Neal deals with his apnea problem because it was disrupting his wife's rest at night. Have a look:

A closer look into the brain of a teen !

Alcohol, Computers, Smoking, Television, Late Night Outings.

These are just some of the things that are a part of a teenagers' life. What they don't realise though, is that excessive amounts of all these indirectly contribute to a huge chunk of sleep deprivation. This ultimately affects the brain, as shown above in the picture.

A very important aspect that helps teenagers have good brain development is having enough sleep. So how much sleep is actually enough? The answer is at least 8 hours. However, majority of teens are not even getting that minimal amount.

So what can be done? Continue on below as we give you several tips and ideas on how to improve your sleep length as well as your sleep quality :)

Citations:
Adolfo Izaguirre Psychology Blog (2010)

Alcohol is NOT the new sleeping pill

The Disadvantages of Alcohol as a Sleeping Aid

How Can I Stop Snoring?

Stumbled upon this adorable video clip on snoring! Watch:



Do you know that snoring in college may be an early indication of adult sleep-disordered breathing (SDB)? SDB is often known as Sleep Apnea, with snoring being its dominant syndrome. It is a common problem, especially among middle-aged men.

A study was conducted to to assess the prevalence of snoring in college students, to find out whether snoring in young adults may be a contributor to excessive daytime sleepiness (Patel, Tran, Chakrabarti, Vasquez, Gilbert & Davidson, 2008).

The studies also observe how children, adults and college-aged students behave in the day. Children generally experience hyperactivity rather than daytime sleepiness,while adults tend to fall asleep sitting at a desk, watching TV or a movie, during a conference, or even while driving. College students uniquely, behave part like children and adults. While staying active in the day,  students are reportedly feeling exhausted (Patel et al., 2008). 

This discovery led to possible consequences that may include "diminished learning abilities, decreased attention span, and falling asleep in class". It seems as though EDS and snoring can cause a latent effect in college students during their later time in life, with more health problems such as anxiety, depression, and weight issues.

Try out some of the methods suggested in the video and see if it works! I know for sure that sleeping on the side works for me. :)

 Psst, my dog sometimes snores too! And yes, dogs do have REM sleep too!

References:


Patel, M., Tran, D., Chakrabarti, A., Vasquez, A., & Gilbert, Paul. (2008). Prevalence of snoring in students. Journal of American College Health, 57(1)

Make Sleep A Priority

Champions sleep. It's true. Excellent sportsman sleep a lot in order to perform their outdo others in competitions. 

Besides training, sleep is the secret weapon to strength and performance. Take a look at this chart:

Never underestimate the power of sleep! Sleep can seriously impair your attention, reaction and decision making. And this is especially important so for sportsman. They require the metabolism to break down the foods in their bodies, alertness in the game, and a well-rested body.

Have a regular exercise regime is good, but remember not to engage in rigorous activities just before bedtime! When you have the right diet x exercise x SLEEP, that's the key to having a healthy body to attain your goals.

Sleep and Learning

Studying is often thought of as being the most important factor for success in school, but what good is it if you can’t remember anything you just studied? A good nights sleep is vital not only after learning new material, but also before. With lack of sleep, the hippocampus becomes virtually unresponsive and is saturated with all of the information from the prior day. This is important because the hippocampus is responsible for short-term memory and has limited space, without a good nights sleep to consolidate the information, your ability to learn anything new is greatly reduced. Thus any new information presented in this state is much less likely to be remembered within the next couple of days than if it was learned after a night of good sleep.

So now you’ve had a good night sleep before class, the next step is to get good nights sleep after learning all that new information. The state of sleep is really what consolidates memory so that it will stay with you for the long run. All that new information is stored in the hippocampus and over time and good nights of sleep it is moved throughout the cortex, the place where long-term memory is stored. By moving across the cortex, the hippocampus is left empty and refreshed, ready to take on new information.

It is a specific stage of sleep that involved in this memory consolidation. Stage 2, especially the 4^th cycle of it, is where the information is transferred from the hippocampus to the cortex. It is believed that the sleep spindles (a quick burst of brain activity) that are a signature of stage 2 sleep are responsible for the transferring of memory and refreshing the hippocampus. So remember that while it may seem like a good idea to pull that all-nighter, your grade may benefit more by getting good nights sleep.

Citations:

Ellenbogen, J. M., P. T. Hu, J. D. Payne, D. Titone, and M. P. Walker. "From the Cover: Human Relational Memory Requires Time and Sleep." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104.18 (2007): 7723-728. Print.

Yoo, Seung-Schik, Peter T. Hu, Ninad Gujar, Ferenc A. Jolesz, and Matthew P. Walker. "A Deficit in the Ability to Form New Human Memories without Sleep." Nature Neuroscience 10.3 (2007): 385-92. Print.

Sleep Cycle of a Teenager. Go to bed earlier guys!