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Sleep Hygiene
GUIDE FOR BETTER SLEEP HYGIENE
Try a hot bath for 30 minutes to raise your body temperature – within two hours of bedtime.
Sleep as much as needed to feel refreshed and healthy during the following day, but not more.
Avoid or limit naps to 10-15 minutes a day – short naps can be beneficial.
Limit the bedroom for sleep and relaxation – don’t use it as a work area.
Use the bed only for sleeping – do not read, watch TV or eat in bed.
Avoid unfamiliar sleep environments.
Excessively warm rooms can disturb sleep – ideal sleeping temperature is 64 to 66 F.
Eliminate intrusive light and sound from your bedroom.
If you wake in the night, focus on relaxing or get up and do something else for a while.
If you don’t fall asleep within 15 minutes, get up again and do not return to bed until you feel tired.
Set your alarm and wake up at the same time every morning – your body will adapt to your sleep rhythm.
Regular arousal time in the AM strengthens circadian cycling and leads to regular sleep times.
Relaxing music or soothing natural sounds may help induce sleep.
Reading before you go to bed (not in bed) may help you go to sleep.
Hunger can disturb sleep – a light carbohydrate snack before bed may help you sleep.
Daily exercise may help deepen your sleep – but should be avoided at least 2 hours prior to bedtime.
Chronic use of tobacco disturbs sleep; quit smoking – or don’t smoke after 7:00 P.M.
Avoid caffeine in the evening – and limit morning caffeine intake before 10:00 A.M.
Avoid heavy meals and spicy foods in the evening.
Avoid Alcoholic beverages; alcohol can fragment sleep, especially the 2nd half of the sleep period.
An occasional sleeping pill may be beneficial – but check with your physician.
SLEEP WELL…
Back to topSunshine Vitamin
The Sunshine Vitamin
By Leigh Erin Connealy, MD
“Organisms become adapted to the environment through natural selection in their search for a better world. . . the discovery that sunlight can be eaten. . . this inexhaustible food supply. . . created the kingdom of plants; and the discovery that plants can be eaten created the animal kingdom,” Karl Popper.
A recent article in the British Medical Journal concludes that moderate sun exposure is a more proper recommendation, while many experts say you should stay out of the sun completely to avoid cancer. As we review this whole aspect of the sun, it has been concluded that the benefits of the sunlight clearly outweigh the risks.
What is the sun and what does sunlight do for us? Sunlight is energy—it is electromagnetic energy that radiates from the sun in waves similar to that of the ocean. Contained within each of these waves are colors of the rainbow—from longest to shortest, from red to violet—and the effect of these waves on our health and life is profound. The infrared spectrum provides us with warmth and the ultraviolet with the nutrient crucial to life: vitamin D.
The ultraviolet lights have waves of different lengths—UVA, UVB, and UVC. It is important to know that 90-95% of the ultraviolet light in sunlight falls into UVA group, with UVB making up the majority of the remainder. It is within this ultraviolet spectrum that we find most of the beneficial effects of sunlight.
The most widely known benefit of sunlight is its essential role in production and regulation of vitamin D, which is important for strong healthy bones as well as properly functioning nervous system and healthy skin. In extreme cases, children who do not have enough vitamin D develop rickets. Rickets can be both prevented and cured by just a few minutes a day of strong sunlight. Adults who are deprived of sufficient vitamin D don’t develop rickets, but do suffer loss of bone mineral and weakening of their bones, called osteomalcia. Again, exposure to sunlight (our best source of vitamin D) will solve this problem.
How does sunlight work its magic to provide us with a steady and correct supply of vitamin D? When sunlight strikes the exposed skin, the UVB portion causes a chemical change in a special type of cholesterol present in the skin, converting it to a form of vitamin D. From the skin this inactive vitamin D travels through the blood stream to the liver, where it is again chemically altered, and finally to the kidneys for its final alteration to a substance called 125 dihydroxycholecalciferol or, more simply, active vitamin D. So you can see that three organ systems—the skin, the liver and the kidneys—work together to provide our bodies with a consistent level of vitamin D.
What happens when you slather on sunblock? Most of the sunscreens on the market block the UVB portion of sunlight but offer little or no protection against the UVA wavelengths. You end up with a false sense of security that you are wearing sunscreen and blocking out the dangerous UVA light. The sun protection factor, or the SPF numbers, on the labels refer only to UVB screening, which is only 5-10% of the total ultraviolet light. For example, an SPF of 8 means that the average individual using that strength of block could stay in the sun eight times longer before burning, because the blocking agents screen out the harmful UVB rays. Obviously, with a higher level of SPF it permits that much more protection against UVB waves. By applying sunscreen you are also inhibiting the production of natural vitamin D. Research has shown that a single application of sun block with an SPF of 8 can effectively prevent the conversion of cholesterol on the skin to vitamin D, robbing the body of one of its most valuable bon
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