Everyone knows the importance of eating right and exercising to be healthy, but what about sleep? A good night’s sleep is just as important as healthy food and regular exercise. Did you know that you spend nearly one-third of your life sleeping? So you better be good at it!
Topics: exercise, sleep hygiene, sleep test, snacking
Have you ever fell into a spot in life where you over-commit? It normally happens one day when you are trying to find time to unwind and you realize there are no spots on the calendar. Before you know it your schedules are overlapping your schedule and your family is in disarray.
Topics: stress, sleep test
According to research by the Edu Birdie review, older adults up to 65+ need 7-8 hours of quality sleep and newborns up to 3 months old need 14-17 hours.
Topics: health, sleep test
Alaska Sleep Clinic is honored to be featured in a blog article written by Champneys, the UK's original health resort. Champneys reached out to ASC to find out how important sleep is to a marathon runner's physical and mental recovery after an event. In Alaska, we have our Mountain Marathoners who can benefit from the blog's suggestions, too.
Topics: health, exercise, sleep test, runners, marathon
April fools! Today we’re hitting the snooze button on serious and prepping you for this trick-filled holiday. The only catch is you’ll need to get a good night’s sleep to pull off some of these gags.
Topics: sleep test, April, pranks
Though it may come as no surprise that people find it harder to fall asleep when they’re emotionally wound up, the relationship between mood disorders and quality sleep is a complex, two-way street. Just as negative mood states can make getting a good night’s sleep a virtual impossibility, frequently interrupted or insufficient sleep can lead to bouts of depression or anxiety. Regardless of which comes first, the end result is that a blue mood and poor sleep go hand-in-hand. Could your mental state be contributing to your slumber troubles? Three easy ways to tell:
1. Your Switch Is Always “On.”
Do your worries play on an endless feedback loop in your brain when you climb into bed? Whether you are tossing and turning with anxious thoughts racing through your mind or dwelling on a general feeling of negativity, the inability to shut off the pessimistic chatter in your head during night hours is a major contributor to sleep issues. In fact, the risk of insomnia is much higher among people with major depressive disorders.
2. You Drag During the Day.
Feelings of depression and anxiety can make it harder for you to stay asleep or to sleep deeply; they can also cause you to have more fragmented sleep patterns that leave you feeling fatigued the next day even though you logged enough hours in bed. Of course, depression itself can be accompanied by low energy, so it is hard to tell whether daytime drowsiness is a result of mood-related poor sleep, or low mood itself. Either way, if you are shuffling through your day when you’ve spent enough hours in bed the night before, your mood may be playing a role.
3. You Have Bad Dreams.
Everyone experiences the occasional scary dream, but frequent nightmares are associated with depression and anxiety, as well as poor sleep quality and a lower quality of life. It’s a tough cycle to break: Disturbing or negatively charged dreams can cause you to awaken from sleep and make it challenging to fall back to sleep; then, that inability to get a solid night of shut-eye can leave you feeling emotionally out of sorts the next day, which impacts your ability to sleep the following night.
The good news is that depression, anxiety, and low mood are treatable conditions. Addressing these issues can help you improve the quality of your sleep, in addition to boosting your energy level during the day. Talk with your doctor about your sleep troubles and your mood concerns to come up with a plan today.
Topics: depression, sleep test, mood
Home Sleep Tests (HSTs) have burst onto the scene as an alternative to traditional sleep studies where the patient spends the night in a lab with a sleep tech conducting the study, but not everyone will fit the criteria for a HST. At the Alaska Sleep Clinic, our Sleep Specialists will look at your medical history, sleep habits and sleep issues to decide if a HST is best for you.
Topics: home sleep test, in-lab study, sleep test
