Stop My Snores

Looking for information on a sleep study for apnea? Learn as much as you can about sleep to tackle apnea or insomnia.

In most people, REM sleep occurs about every 90 minutes throughout the night (about every 60 minutes in infants). The first REM period of the night is very short, about 5 minutes, the second is about 10 minutes, and the third is about 15 minutes. The final dream of the night usually lasts 30 minutes, but sometimes lasts an hour. Everybody dreams several times each night. If you slept about six hours last night, you can be sure you had about four dreams. Most dreams are forgotten, however, unless you wake up from them.

On the other hand, NREM sleep, the non-dream sleep, comes in two variations-the most frequent type, called stage 2, and the much deeper version, called delta (or stages 3 and 4). There is some thinking during NREM, but it usually is simple and fragmented.

The Transition Phase

There also is a transition phase between waking and sleeping, when some parts of the brain are asleep while others are not. This is called stage 1.

Going to sleep is like going down a stairway. You start going down into stage 1 for half a minute to several minutes, with your thoughts drifting, but you don’t feel asleep. Then you go down the stairway some more to stage 2, and your brain starts putting out waves with characteristic patterns called spindles and K-complexes. Then, you go into deep stage 3 and 4 delta sleep.

Specialists call the time to the end of the first REM the first sleep cycle, and the time from then to the end of the second REM sleep the second cycle. There are four to six cycles per night, depending on how long you sleep. Usually, the changes between stages are gradual, with one stage blending into the next as you gradually move up and down the stairway. In the last part of the night, there usually is no deep delta sleep at all.

5 Stages Of Sleep

Stage 1, although it is called “sleep,” is almost worthless in terms of its recovery value. Researchers continue to debate the value of the other stages of sleep. Delta sleep generally appears to be the main kind that allows the body to recover. People deprived of delta often wake up with a feeling of malaise; though nothing in the body is “broken,” nothing seems to function right. Stage 2 sleep seems to be a less intense form of delta sleep and, like delta sleep, is concerned mainly with body recovery. On the other hand, REM sleep seems to be more involved with mental recovery. If you don’t have REM sleep, it’s harder to make sense out of your life.

These are very fine points still debated among sleep researchers. The important thing is not what stages of sleep you’re having, but the total amount and quality of sleep you get. It is important that you not have much stage 1 sleep and that your sleep be continuous, not fragmented with awakenings. That’s why most sleep clinicians participating in sleep study for apnea, are more concerned that you sleep well than whether the sleep is this or that particular stage.  If you are suffering from sleep deprivation then try Melatrol.  It is the number one, natural, non-addictive, sleep aid on the market today.

Posted December 9, 2008 Comments(0)

Choosing the right natural sleep aid is critical to anyone who is suffering from insomnia or simply having trouble getting to sleep. Finding the right natural sleep aid can also help make sure a person also gets the right type of sleep needed at the correct time of day.

Sleep is critical to human survival and people suffering from lack of sleep may end up with several problems/symptoms that are listed below;-

-Aching muscles

-Blurred vision

-Cardiovascular disease

-Dizziness

-Hand tremors

-Clinical depression

-Daytime drowsiness and naps

-Decreased mental activity and concentration

-Depersonalization

-Weakened immune system

-Headaches

-General confusion

These are the most common symptoms from lack of sleep and there are many serious more serious predicaments that can befall someone who isn’t properly rested or fall into what is commonly called “sleep debt”. It is now known that a large amount of sleep debt has only increased with the industrialisation of the West. In one drastic realization shift work particular night shift work was in December 2007 listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a “probable” cause of cancer.

It is critical then to find the right natural sleep aid. The most important component in most natural remedies for insomnia is melatonin that is a compund found naturally in all living things from algae to humans and whose levels vary in lifes daily cycle. Melatonin is a natural compound produced by the body to convey message that it is night and the body needs to rest. Melatonin is vital to producing a sleep effect on the brain. The reult of a lack of melatonin in the body is that a persons body cannot tell the difference between night and day and therefore can have trouble falling asleep. The perfect way to help strengthen the bodies own biological clock and restore the natural sleep cycle is to use a supplement containing melatonin.

This is the critical bit as I have stated most herbal sleeping aids contain melatonin. The problem is that most of these natural sleep aids contain three to ten times the amount of melatonin that is actually needed.

The levels of melatonin are critical to the success of any natural sleep aid. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) undertook clinical trials which concluded large doses of melatonin proved counter productive and can actually hinder getting the right type of sleep and at the correct time.

In the United States since 1993 melatonin has been used in supplements and has been widley accepted and met with good consumer confidence and ethusiasm. Melatonin has also been found to be a wonderful ant-oxidant (gets rid of harmful free radicals within the body) and also to help stimulate the immune system.

Melatonin is a found in the body naturally so adding a supplement that contains tis compound is only going to boost the bodies natual levels and will benefit the person who chooses to take the suppplement. It has no side-effects as long as the person is aware of the melatonin levels in the supplement and is not over dosing.

In conclusion it is known that many people suffer not only from a lot of a lack of sleep but the wrong type of sleep leading to many feeling physically and mentally fatigued on a daily basis. Here I have listed some finding from 2007 survey of the National Sleep Foundation:-

-Approximately 74% of all Americans do no get enough sleep overnight

-53% of adults say they struggle sleeping at least a small number of nights each week

-Almost 33% has trouble sleeping every night

-Those with sleep problems ate twice as likely to feel stressed and tired.

The choice to take a natural sleep aid can result in the person reclaiming the night
and get the right type of sleep at the correct time therefore feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day. The key is to just remember to check the melatonin levels.

There are many natural sleep aids on the market that contain melatonin but the melatrol review which offers independent advice on sleep, circadian rhythms and the bodies’ natural cycle reviews Melatrol which critically has the right amount of melatonin in it to gain a good nights sleep.

Posted October 29, 2008 Comments(0)