8 tips to get a good night's sleep

Getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis is integral to maintaining good physical and mental health.  Sleep deprivation can cause a whole myriad of problems. People who are sleep deprived for the long term have an increased risk of developing depression, hypertension (high blood pressure), type two diabetes, heart attack, stroke and obesity. Short term sleep deprivation causes decreased mental functioning and delayed physical reaction time making you more susceptible to forgetfulness and accidents. Try these eight tips to improve your sleep.

1. Don’t consume caffeine containing food or drinks after 5 pm each day. (Some people may need to stop earlier.) This includes coffee, tea, colas (sodas/soda pop) and chocolate. Caffeine can interrupt sleep, either delaying the time you fall asleep or making you wake up during the night.
2. Go to bed at the same time each night. This helps your body maintain its own natural sleep cycle and rhythm.
3. Maintain a cooler bedroom. A cooler room temperature has been proven to aid sleep.
4. Don’t use electronic devices after 8 PM this includes computers and cell phones. The blue light in the background is a known sleep disruptor interfering with the production of melatonin (a hormone produced by the brain) which helps us sleep. Some people find that e-book devices also interfere with their sleep.
5.  Have a light, healthy snack at bedtime such as an organic apple and peanut butter, or a glass of organic non-fat milk with some whole wheat crackers. Combining a lean protein with a healthy carbohydrate can help with sleep.
6. Don’t eat a heavy meal after 7 PM. Heavy food intake can keep you awake especially if you’re battling acid reflux.
7. Don’t consume alcohol. Alcohol can disrupt the sleep cycle.  If you plan on drinking, only have one, with your dinner and before 7 PM.
8. If you’re surroundings are noisy, look for ways to either eliminate the noise or offset it with “white noise”, such as pleasing soft music, a fan or the low humming sound of an air filter.

If you think you have a medical problem causing your lack of sleep such as obstructive sleep apnea, swollen tonsils or adenoids, lung or heart problems, see your doctor as soon as possible for a medical diagnosis and treatment.

Recharge Your Resolutions

February is nearly over.  Do your New Year’s Resolutions seem like a far off dream, a hazy memory of an agreement you made with yourself a few months ago? It’s not too late to reignite your goals and get back on track. February is the month for Heart Health awareness and a good time to review where you are at, and where you want to go. Also, habits that are good for the heart are good for the rest of the body too.  Here are a few tips to get started.

• Set Realistic Goals for weight loss, exercise and diet:
• Weight Loss – Did you plan to lose 15 pounds in 8 weeks (by the end of February) and you realized you have only lost 2 pounds thus far? Lofty plans can easily get sabotaged and lead us to giving up entirely. Reset your goal for a 4 pound loss in 8 weeks,which is one half (1/2) pound per week. This is much easier to achieve and better reflection of reality.
• Exercise – Did you aim for daily exercise and found it was too much and have now stopped exercising all together?  Reset your goal for exercising to 3 days per week for one month.  Once you have worked that into your schedule and get use to it, you can add a 4^th day per week for the 2^nd month, a 5^th day the 3^rd month etc.; adding another day per month until you reached your goal of 6 or 7 days per week of exercise. 

• Diet – You wanted to eat healthier and know that one of the best ways to do that is packing a healthy lunch for work or school every day containing fresh produce, whole grains and lean proteins.  If daily brown bagging is too much for you, start off with 2 days per week. Just as with the “exercise” plan above, add another day per week each month, until it becomes 2^nd nature for you to plan healthy meals and pack your lunch. You will save money too.

*Contact your doctor before beginning any weight loss, exercise or diet program.

• Medical and Dental Checkups – Have you scheduled your annual physical/preventative care visit with your doctor? How about your next dental cleaning and check up? These are important for everyone; both males and females at every age for health maintenance, to obtain preventative care and also important to catch any problems that may be developing that require testing and, or, treatment.
• Sleep – Are your getting 7 hours of sleep per night? Chronic Sleep deprivation can lead to weight gain, depression, hypertension and predispose you to Type II Diabetes. It also decreases your cognitive function during the day. Adults should try to get 7 – 8 hours of sleep each night for optimum health. Infants, children and teenagers need more than that.

For a quick acronym to help keep you on track, see this link: http://carole-jakucs.blogspot.com/2012/01/doing-these-5-things-leads-to-better.html

Make this year the best yet, by reaching the goals you have set for yourself and your health! *Contact your doctor for any questions or concerns you have about your health.

Stressed from the holidays? Four tips to help reduce it.

Most people are in full swing with the hustle and bustle of holiday planning (including me). It’s easy to get caught up with so many tasks and go into mental and physical overload with too much to do in too little time.  When we put too much pressure on ourselves with endless lists, we may lose sight of the true meaning of the holiday. We can easily set ourselves up for increased fatigued, illness and changes to our mood feeling stressed, depressed and angry, to name a few. Try these tips to help regain control of your life regardless of which holiday you are planning for and celebrating.

1. Streamline your “to do” list.  Do you really need to bake 8 different kinds of Christmas cookies? Cut it down to only 2 kinds. How about greeting cards? Go for e cards to family and friends that have email and save the hard copy cards for those that live far away or older relatives and friends that don’t have email.
2. Don’t cut back on your sleep to squeeze in more tasks. If your normally get 7 – 8 hours of sleep each night, try to maintain it so you don’t get run down, which can reduce your immunity, making you more susceptible to infections (colds and flu). Long term sleep deprivation has been linked to the development of Type II Diabetes, Obesity and High Blood Pressure.
3. Stick to your regular diet. Try to maintain your regular meal times. Spending hours shopping can distract us making it easy to skip meals.  Skipping meals sets us up for overeating when we do eat.  Also, think twice before indulging in high fat foods at parties and gatherings.  There may be 6 different desserts in front of you; pick 1 that really want to enjoy and have a small portion of it. Remember that alcohol is high in calories. It’s very easy to gain 5 pounds or more over the holidays in 1 or 2 weeks, however, it takes a lot longer and hard work to get it off. Try to keep that in the back of your mind to help prevent you from overeating.
4. Maintain your regular exercise routine. Daily exercise helps us control our weight (along with a healthy diet), helps our cardiovascular and immune systems work better, and helps to improve our mood. Stick to your work-out schedule.  “Pay yourself first”; we can only take care of others and accomplish a lot, if we are in good shape ourselves.