最近睡不太好，感觉好多人都是这样。。。所以呢
今天的topic是关于sleep&Insomnia
Time1,2,3为一篇文章，time4,time5,time6各为一篇
上作业啦~~~
Part I: Speed
Eight Ways to Improve Your Sleep
【Time 1】 Depriving yourself of sleep is never ever a good idea, even though in our go-go-go society people take pride in going strong on 4 hours of sleep and tons of coffee. While everybody needs his personal amount of sleep to wake up rested and refreshed, the average human being still needs about 8 hours of sleep per night. You might trick your body into needing fewer hours of sleep by flooding it with caffeine, or by having high stress levels that keep you bouncing around, but you're wreaking havoc on your long-term and short-term performance. In fact, sleep deprivation muddles your ability to judge a situation, and as a result you might judge your mental clarity as OK, while you'd be performing poorly in tests. Allowing yourself adequate sleep should be a no-brainer; it should feel natural to all people and we should reclaim it as our right. Sleep is one of the most important non-negotiable elements in your self-care, but it takes courage to go against the flow of 24/7 alertness and allow your body its necessary rest so that it can rejuvenate. Ideally, your sleep cycle should follow the natural patterns of sunset and sunrise as much as possible. You know that you have had enough sleep when you can consistently wake up at the same time in the morning without an alarm clock, feeling rested and refreshed. Besides the length of your sleep, the quality of your sleep is very important as well. Your sleep cycle consists of different levels, with deep sleep as the phase in which most restoration occurs. If your sleep is disrupted, you might find it very difficult to reach the state of deep sleep. (words:282)
【Time 2】 What can we do to improve our quality of sleep? Here are 8 techniques that you can implement: 1. Do not exercise within two to three hours prior to sleeping. While exercise wears out your body, it also causes a boost of adrenaline through your body that makes your mind all wired, and causes your body temperature to rise. Have you taken a 9 p.m. spinning class and then found yourself tossing around your bed without being able to sleep? It's directly related to the unfortunate timing of your workout. Try a workout in the late afternoon instead. 2. Don't overeat at dinner. A full stomach makes sleeping difficult. Ideally, you should plan your dinner no later than three hours before your bedtime. Focus on protein and healthy fat for dinner, and reduce carbs. Keep your dinner light—you typically won’t need much fuel for the rest of your day anymore at dinnertime. Instead, start having larger meals for breakfast and lunch, when you actually need that fuel. 3. Have a fixed bedtime (ideally before 10 p.m.). While the opinions are divided on what the ideal bedtime is, and if there is a general ideal bedtime or if it’s personal, most health and fitness websites recommend to sleep between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., and it's a common Dutch saying that "the hours before midnight count double". Try to sleep around the time your body starts to secrete melatonin, which is typically around 9:30 pm. Turn off the TV and your laptop, and make your sleep a priority! 4. Sleep in a dark room. Too much light in your room, either blue light from electronics or light peering through the curtains from outside, will interfere with your sleep and the secretion of melatonin. If you can't eliminate certain electronics from your room, nor change to darker curtains or fully-shutting blinds, then invest in a good sleep mask. Don’t forget to take your sleep mask along for long flights as well. (words:330)
【Time 3】 5. Sleep in a cold room. Your body cools down naturally during sleep, so a lower room temperature will support your sleep as much as possible. Switch off your heating at night, as it might leave you waking up at night feeling overheated. Leave your window ventilation open, even in winter, to allow fresh air and oxygen to enter the room. The ideal room temperature for sleeping is recommended to be 12 degrees Celsius (54 F), while other experts claim a temperature between 60 – 65 F is ideal. 6. Have a bedtime ritual. Ease into sleep by doing relaxing activities: journal, read a book, burn a candle, do some stretches, meditate, so that you can prepare yourself mentally for sleep. Create a sunset in your house by bringing down the intensity of the lights half an hour to an hour before your intended bedtime. Listen to a CD with soft music, get into your pajamas some time before you plan to sleep, and have some herbal tea or hot milk. Don’t expect that you can run all day and then press the off-switch on yourself and drift off to sleep right away! 7. Turn your bedroom into a sleep retreat. If you have the space for doing so in your house, take all electronics (including that TV) out of your bedroom, and turn it into a sanctuary for your sleep. Decorate your bedroom with images that invoke sleep and sweet dreams. Use quality bedding and a mattress your truly enjoy, and add fresh, crisply washed sheets to your bed. If you live on a much more confined area and your bedroom equals home office, storage room and pet house, then try to keep at least your bed welcoming and free of clutter. 8. Finish your day's business in your mind. Plan your next day before you go to bed, so that you don't find yourself going over everything you need to do the next day while trying to fall asleep. If necessary, write down your worries before bedtime as well. Ideally, write your goals for the next day at the end of your work day into your planner. Think positive thoughts before you sleep, and keep gratitude and success lists to reflect on your day from a positive standpoint. (words:379) http://xue.youdao.com/biarticle.a?articleId=-6922530760646198113&date=2013-07-24&position=read-history&channelType=public
Full moon may mean less sleep Slumber waxes and wanes along with lunar rhythm By Cristy Gelling
【Time 4】 A full moon deprives people of sleep even when they are shielded from moonlight in a windowless lab, a new study suggests. People snoozed less deeply within four nights of a full moon than during other parts of the lunar cycle, researchers report July 25 in Current Biology. The authors suggest that humans may have internal clocks that track the lunar cycle, much like circadian clocks that sync up with the rise and fall of the sun. Christian Cajochen of the University of Basel in Switzerland and his colleagues reanalyzed sleep data they had collected over several years from 33 people who had each spent several days half-reclining in bed under constant dim light. Looking at only the second night of each participant’s stay, the researchers found that around the full moon, participants took about five extra minutes to nod off, slept for about 20 minutes less each night and slept less deeply. The team was surprised to uncover the lunar rhythm, and Cajochen was initially reluctant to share the findings. “If you publish lunar stuff, you are going to be put in the ‘lunatic’ corner and not be considered a serious sleep researcher anymore,” he says. But other scientists praise the work. “This was done under really controlled laboratory conditions,” says Kenneth Wright, a sleep researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder. It’s the first laboratory study to detect an influence of the moon on human sleep, he says. The result needs explanation. The shifting gravitational effects of the moon are too weak to influence human bodies, Cajochen says. His hypothesis is that humans have an internal body clock synchronized to the phases of the moon. An alternative is that participants’ light exposure before the study may have affected their circadian clocks enough to disturb their sleep in the lab. People’s circadian clocks are particularly sensitive to light at night, so extra moonlight before the study might be the simplest explanation for differences during it, says David Dinges, a sleep researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. Scientists also aren’t sure why humans would have evolved lunar rhythms, though many marine organisms have lunar clocks to keep track of tides, Dinges says. “Stay tuned,” he says. “There’s going to be a lot more research to nail this down.” (words:378) http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351857/description/Full_moon_may_mean_less_sleep
Insomnia: Changing Your Bedtime Habits Could Help
【Time 5】 Sleep medication is used less nowadays About 1 out of every 5 adults in industrial countries have problems sleeping at some point in their lives. In order to provide reliable information on this issue, the Institute analysed scientific studies that cover a wide range of research on sleep and insomnia. Sleeping pills - whether herbal or prescription - are being used less than they used to be in countries like Germany. Although products based on herbs like valerian have long been used, the evidence from trials testing their efficacy is far from convincing. "Prescription sleeping pills can be important in certain situations, but they can cause a lot of adverse effects and are not a long-term solution. For older people, sleep medication can increase the risk of falling, as well as interfering with other medicines,” warns the Institute's Director, Professor Peter Sawicki. "Sleeping pills are not the best way to solve underlying problems like depression or painful conditions that are interfering with a good night's sleep.” The habits that can help people get a better night's sleep Trials have shown that many people could get to sleep a little sooner if they learned relaxation techniques to help them "switch off” when it is time to go to sleep. Research suggests that a combination of certain habits can help people sleep better. This includes only going to bed when you are tired and ready to go to sleep. Reading and watching TV in bed could actually make it harder to sleep. If people cannot sleep, it is better for them to get out of bed and do something else rather than focusing on trying to sleep. Getting up at the same time every morning can help too. Napping during the day might make it harder for you to sleep at night if you are struggling with chronic insomnia. It is also important to avoid drinking caffeinated drinks and alcohol in the evening. "Most people know that coffee, cola or black tea can interfere with their sleep,” says Professor Sawicki . "But many do not realise that alcohol is one of the major causes of a bad night's sleep.” Eight hours a night may not be necessary for everyone The Institute also looked at research on what is a normal night's sleep. Studies have shown that as we get older, we actually need less sleep on average. While children and teenagers generally need eight or more hours sleep a night, by the time people are 40, they usually only need seven hours a night.
(words:422)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080821164252.htm
Part II: Obstacle
What causes insomnia? Henry Olders, an assistant professor of psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal who conducts sleep research, explains.
【Time 6】
Most people encounter sleep difficulties from time to time, often related to stress orpain. Many of these bouts get better without treatment. Unfortunately, in a significant proportion of the population, sleep problems turn into insomnia, which is defined as the chronic inability to fall asleep or to enjoy uninterrupted sleep. Some research suggests that attitudes about sleep, and the sleep patterns and behaviors prompted by these attitudes, make certain individuals vulnerable to chronic insomnia. The good news is that behavioral treatments are highly effective. Just how big a problem is insomnia? The National Sleep Foundation surveyed more than a thousand adults in 2002. Thirty-five percent said that, every night or almost every night of the previous year, they had at least one out of these four symptoms: difficulty falling asleep, waking a lot during the night, waking up too early and not being able to get back to sleep, or waking up feeling unrefreshed. About 15 percent of the survey group reported taking either a prescription sleep medication or an over-the-counter sleep aid at least a few times a month. A study of the Canadian population found that 24 percent of people ages 15 and older reported insomnia, defined in this study as a "yes" response to the question "Do you regularly have trouble going to sleep or staying asleep?" Some of the factors associated with insomnia in this study included being female, being widowed or single, having a low education level, low income, unemployment, smoking, life stress, physical health problems, and pain or activity limitation. Although age did not seem to be a factor in this survey, other studies have shown that insomnia increases with age. For example, 4 percent of a sample of older European adolescents met criteria for insomnia disorder as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th edition (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association. Compare this to a group of 330 elderly patients in a family practice, in which 57 percent met criteria for DSM-IIIR insomnia disorder. What¿s worse, insomnia is not a benign problem. Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep is associated with an increased risk of dying in the elderly. Many elderly insomniacs take naps during the day; in addition to making insomnia worse, naps are related to higher mortality in this age group. Although many people believe that psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety cause insomnia, the reverse may actually be true. The National Institutes ofMental Health Epidemiologic Catchment Area study found the risk of developing a new depression was 39.8 times higher for insomniacs than for those without sleep problems. Other research, however, suggests that too much sleep--in particular too much rapid eye movement (REM) sleep--can bring on a depressive state. We can reconcile these two seemingly incompatible findings by asserting that insomniacs who become depressed are getting too much sleep. Unfortunately, this flies in the face of conventional wisdom that holds that insomniacs are sleep-deprived. Whereas many people with difficulty sleeping believe that they¿re not getting enough sleep (an opinion shared by a number of sleep researchers), evidence is mounting that people with insomnia are in fact getting at least as much sleep as they require, and possibly more. What is known is that insomniacs tend to get into bed early, stay in bed late, sleep during the day, spend more time in bed than non-insomniacs, and that they underestimate the amount they actually sleep even though they sleep as much as those people without insomnia. The amount of daytime sleep a person experiences is directly related to overall sleeping problems. Finally, voluntarily extending sleep is known to cause insomnia. Conversely, reducing time in bed is a very effective treatment for sleeplessness. Thus the hypothesis that primary insomnia is caused by attempting to sleep more than you need.
Simply put, if you believe you need eight hours of sleep a night, you‘ll arrange your bedtimes and rising times to be in bed for eight hours. If your actual sleep requirement is only six hours, however, this schedule would result in two hours of tossing and turning each night. Even with sleep medication that might make you sleep an extra hour, that would still leave one hour of tortured wakefulness. Why would someone spend more time in bed than they actually need? Attitudes towards sleep seem to be very important. Charles M. Morin and colleagues at Virginia Commonwealth University found that insomniacs held stronger beliefs than good sleepers about the detrimental consequences of insomnia to physical and mental health, they made stronger attributions of mood disturbances and lack of energy to poor sleep, and they perceived their sleep as less controllable and predictable. Individuals with sleep-onset insomnia (that is, difficulty falling asleep as opposed to difficulty staying asleep) were more likely than those without insomnia to focus on worries, problems, and noises in the environment prior to sleep, and to think about not sleeping or about something that had happened during the day. For instance, if you believe that you cannot function adequately without having had a good night¿s sleep, then even one night of poor sleep may trigger behaviors such as staying in bed later or taking a long nap. These behaviors are likely to make the insomnia chronic. So how much sleep do you actually need? And how can you tell if you are getting the right amount of sleep? Although eight hours per night is a figure repeated so often that it’s become an article of faith, the reality is that sleep need is highly individual. Large-scale epidemiological studies have shown that sleeping seven hours per night is associated with lowest mortality risk compared to longer or shorter sleep. In addition, it is likely that as we age, sleep need decrea | 
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发表于 2013-7-29 18:04:11
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