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Oct 15, 2008 lucid dreaming
Lucid dreaming is where you are in a dream and actually notice that you're dreaming. Everyone dreams every night. Many times. But it's rare for us to recall what was in our dreams. When you start to take control of your dreams, you're starting to dream lucidly.
So how easy is it to learn to dream lucidly? And, given that most dreams are pretty odd anyway, why on earth would you want to start to control them?
Learning to lucid dream is like anything in life, it just takes practice.
Up until now, you've probably known when you've dreamed, but only if it was a particularly vivid dream. We all dream every night, several times a night. The thing is, we forget almost all the dreams we have. It's actually quite rare for us to remember our dreams unless we put our mind to it.
Keep your note pad and a pencil close by, maybe on your bedside table. If you haven't got a bedside light, you may want a small flashlight as well. This book is your own private dream journal.
Each time you wake up, the first thing you do should be to write down as many details as you can remember from your most recent dream. To begin with, there is unlikely to be much detail. It only takes a handful of days before you start to remember a lot more detail about your dreams.
When you look back over your dream journal, you're almost certain to spot themes that keep cropping up, over and over again, in the dreams you've written about. Possibly you have dreams about flying through the air or even space. Possibly your dreams involve water. It doesn't matter what your dream subject is, just go with the flow. It's one of your minds ways of resolving the various issues you come up against in the day.
You can interpret your dreams with one of the many different dream interpretation books you can find online or in Amazon.
After that, the next part of the procedure is to actually begin to control what you dream about. This is where the fun begins!
Lucid dreaming is a big subject but you're already a lot closer to it than most people, just by starting your journal of dreams. You can find out more about lucid dreaming here.
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Recent Entries
Oct 9, 2008 Insomnia
Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders seen today and is characterized by restlessness, frequent sleep interruptions, shorter than normal sleeping time and sometimes by complete wakefulness.
Apart from being extremely annoying, insomnia can cause sufferers to lose their energy and enthusiasm, develop memory and concentration problems and to feel lethargic and frustrated. This in turn can lead to a drop in work productivity and also to accidents which can have serious consequences.
There are a host of different things that can cause insomnia but here look at just 6 which are commonly linked to this sleep disorder:
1. The Environment
Our environment is extremely important when it comes to getting a good night's sleep and things like light, noise or extremes of temperature can cause insomnia.
2. Substance Abuse
The most obvious form of substance abuse when talking about insomnia is coffee, together with other drinks which are high in caffeine.
Smoking too might fall into this category as heavy or chain smokers consume more than sufficient quantities of nicotine to cause problems sleeping. However, what is perhaps less well known is that this list of substances is fairly long and even includes many herbal remedies which are taken for a range of different problems and which can cause insomnia as a side effect.
Finally, we must not forget alcohol. Although alcohol can often induce tiredness, initially once it is metabolized it too can keep you wide awake.
3. Disturbance To The Biological Clock
Each of us has our own body clock or circadian rhythm which is controlled in part by light and darkness and which regulates the body's sleep/wake cycle. If this clock is thrown out of balance by things like staying up all night studying in college, partying into the small hours or jetting off around the world on business or for pleasure, then you will suffer from sleeping difficulties while the clock slowly tries to re-adjust itself.
4. Activities Prior To Bedtime
There are a number of things which can lead to insomnia if they happen within a reasonably short time of going to bed. Two of the most common are taking vigorous exercise shortly before retiring or eating a large meal when you are just about to go to bed. Both of these activities stimulate the body's metabolism and thus keep you awake.
5. Health Problems
There are a large number of health problems that are known to induce insomnia including heart failure, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, ulcers, and Parkinson's disease.
Asthma is also being seen more and more as a cause of insomnia, as is the need for frequent urination, heartburn and chronic pain resulting from things like arthritis and leg cramps. The list of medical conditions which can cause insomnia is very long and also includes other types of sleep disorder such as sleep apnea as well as a range of psychiatric conditions.
6. Emotional Distress
We all suffer from emotional distress from time to time and this can often lead to us becoming anxious or angry. However, when we bottle our feeling up inside ourselves rather than talking about them and seeking a solution for them then this frequently results in insomnia.
These six causes of insomnia are the usually the reasons most of us can't get to sleep. Figuring out which one is causing your sleep problems can help you determine the best course of action.
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Sep 29, 2008 Children Sleep Problems
It has been felt for some time now that too little or low quality sleep in teenagers leads to a drop in grades at school, however it was not until quite recently that a research study confirmed that teens with poor sleeping habits do in fact suffer from lower grades.
Here are 10 simple tips to make sure that an otherwise healthy child does not suffer from sleep problems and gets the level of sleep needed to do well in school.
1. Decide upon a regular time for going to bed and try not to vary this by more than a few minutes from day to day.
2. Make sure that you get up at the same time each morning, regardless of whether or not it is a school day. Teenagers commonly have a lie-in at the weekends and during school holidays and, rather than helping to make you feel better, this just disrupts your sleep pattern.
3. If you find that you are unable to get to sleep within approximately 20 minutes of climbing into bed then do not merely lie in bed trying to get to sleep, as the more you try the more difficult it will get. As an alternative, get up and do something like reading a book or listening to some relaxing music. As soon as you start to feel tired, climb back into bed and you should fall asleep in next to no time.
4. Do not be tempted to stay up late doing homework or getting ready for a test. Although this may appear to be the solution to a particular problem in the short term, and may keep you out of trouble for turning your homework in late or get you through a test, in the longer run your overall performance will fall and any shorter term gain will quickly be lost.
5. Do not be tempted to take a nap in the afternoon school. Should you find that you are so tired you cannot keep your eyes open then go ahead and take a nap but for no more than an hour.
6. Do not consume any type of drink that contains caffeine after 3 o’clock in the afternoon. This of course means tea and coffee, but also includes chocolate drinks and colas.
7. Do not eat a heavy meal close to going to bed. You obviously should not go to bed feeling hungry and having a light snack prior to bedtime is fine, but climbing into bed on a full stomach can make it difficult to fall asleep and affect your quality of sleep.
8. Although teenagers will sometimes spend a lot of time in their bedroom and turn it into more of a 'living' than a 'sleeping' room, avoid using the bed for anything other than sleeping. Do not sit in bed reading, writing, playing games, watching TV or anything else but keep it only for sleeping so that your body associates climbing into bed with going to sleep.
9. Avoid strenuous exercise within several hours of bedtime. If you want to play baseball or engage in other sporting or strenuous activities then do these shortly after finishing school and not an two or three hours before you go to bed.
10. When it comes to bedtime see that your bedroom is quiet, dark and cool. Do not close your bedroom up, turn up the heat and get into bed to watch TV. Rather, turn the heating down, open the window a bit if possible to allow in some fresh air and have the room as dark as possible.
Follow these 10 tips and within no time at all your quality of sleep will improve, you will feel much more awake and active during the day and your grades will improve.
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Sep 23, 2008 Insomnia
There are many factors which might play a part in keeping you sleepless during the night. For instance, issues such as when you get out of bed in the morning and the time at which you fall sleep at night, as well as how long before bedtime you finished eating, can all impact a sound sleep. By simply examining your frame of mind or your worries and concerns, you might be able to figure out just what the cause of your insomnia is.
When you understand the source of your sleep troubles you will be in a better position to treat your insomnia, even though it might be the result of a health issue.
External Causes of Insomnia
Is your bedroom a haven of relaxation? Or is it merely an annex of your workplace? If you answered yes to the latter question, then it just might be your surroundings which are contributing to your insomnia. It's important that your bedroom be peaceful and calming.
Once you realize that your bedroom is not a soothing place, then you can work out how to transform it. Making it comfy and pleasant will help to put an end to your sleeplessness. Also, redecorate with light-blocking blinds or heavy drapery to keep out the light. This goes a long way towards curing insomnia.
Do you drink a lot of coffee throughout the day? If you have more than a couple cups, it's bound to aggravate your sleeping problems. Indeed, overindulging in caffeine or alcohol is a leading cause of chronic insomnia.
How's Your Health?
Coffee is a real problem, but the reason for your insomnia could be considerably more alarming than that. It might be a medical condition which is keeping you up at night, especially if you have just received the news of a problem from your doctor.
The bad news and your awareness of the problem might keep you anxious and awake when you should be sleeping. Heart disease, hypertension, and Parkinson's are just a few of the diseases which contribute to insomnia.
If you think there's a possibility that you might have any of these diseases then you should make an appointment with your physician to find out for sure, especially if you've made unsuccessful efforts to unwind before bed in calm and peaceful surroundings.
Insomnia is often ignored as a minor inconvenience, but it might indeed be disguising a more severe illness. It's important to find the causes of insomnia.
Keira Adams is a health and wellness writer who is a frequent contributor to Insomnia Relief, where you can learn all about the causes, cures and treatments for insomnia.
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Sep 22, 2008 Snoring/Sleep Apnea
If snoring really aggravates your sleeping partner then it may be time for you to consider surgery to prevent snoring. Surgery for some people is a radical method to resolve their snoring dilemma but for a number of people it is the only way to stop. There are quite a few types of surgeries that can be performed but not all of them have the same success and every surgery has its own pros and cons.
If you find yourself making chainsaw noises at night then schedule an appointment with your doctor to check out your snoring problem especially if you have tried all the snoring prevention device and over the counter remedy to no effect.
Widening Airways
Surgery to prevent snoring works to widen the airways and relieve your breathing. One procedure that is used to prevent your snoring is Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. It’s quite a mouthful and it certainly does a lot. When you go under the knife you will be removing your tonsils, part of the soft palate and the uvula.
Surgery to prevent snoring using this procedure appears to be temporary. Only about half of patients who have undergone treatment using this surgical procedure report any improvement after two years. Using this procedure to prevent snoring appears to be temporary. Others find that inside two years they have the same old problems once more with snoring.
Laser Procedures
There is a surgery to prevent snoring that uses lasers if you find that the cost of the above procedure seems to be too much for you then. . You will shorten your uvula with this procedure. Lasers are also used to vaporize parts of your soft palate with this surgical procedure.
This procedure uses only local anesthetic compared to the general anesthetic used in the above procedure
This is a recommended procedure if you have already had your tonsils removed. However you should be warned that it is not completely effective. Although their snoring was much better than before, many people who have undergone the procedure reported that their sleeping partners were still not happy with their snoring.
Palate Stiffening
Surgery to prevent snoring that involves stiffening the palate of the mouth is also performed. It is considered quite effective for many people, with a high rate of people finding relief in the long term. Though in the short term more than 90% of people are able to cure their snoring problems using this procedure. If you think that you could benefit from surgery to prevent snoring then you should talk to your doctor about having this procedure done. Although not completely effective it may help to reduce your snoring problems.
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