EZ Sleep Solutions

Interview with Susun Weed on Rest

joan — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:58:52 +0000

Wise Woman Susun Weed, herbalist, writer and healer gives an intriguing interview on the value of rest. She talks about rest being an interval, which we are silent and receptive and how we can practice it in many areas of our life.

NOTE: There is a pause in the beginning of the interview after her introduction. Take this time to rest. The interview will resume.

Interview with The Sleep Diva

joan — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:32:55 +0000

Dr. Marcia Lindsey, The Sleep Diva, has a doctorate in Psychology and over 20 years of experience helping people sleep better.

Dr. Lindsey uses CBT-I or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, to help patients address their current sleep behaviors and beliefs. Dr. Lindsey has been a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine since 2008.

Wired Way of Winding Down

joan — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:30:32 +0000

Everybody has a cell phone in Manhattan. You walk down the street and probably 50% of the people have a phone in their hand. They touch it, thumb it, listen to it, play with it. Do they take it to bed? Well yes, it turns out that they do.

Pew Research Center study shows 65% of adults in the US have slept with their cell phone. According to Dr Chris Edzikowski director of Edinburgh Sleep Centre there is now more than sufficient evidence that mobile phone exposure an hour before sleep adversely affects deep sleep.

In the National Sleep Foundation’s 2011 Sleep in America poll, 95% of the 1,508 people surveyed reported using some type of electronic device — such as a TV, computer, video game or cell phone — within an hour of bedtime at least a few nights a week.

All these devices can affect the quality of sleep, says Lauren Hale, associate professor of preventive medicine at Stony Brook (N.Y.) University School of Medicine, one of the researchers involved in the study. “Communication technologies are often light-emitting, which can suppress the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin and make it harder to go to sleep at night.” Both the light and alert sounds from such devices can interfere with falling asleep and staying asleep, she says.

Watching TV is the most popular distraction for all ages. About 61% of those surveyed said they used their laptops or computers at least a few nights a week within that hour, and about half of young people ages 13-29 surf the Internet every night or almost every night before bedtime. Nighttime cell phone use is common among young people: 56% of 13- to 18-year-olds and 42% of 19- to 29-year-olds said they read, send or receive text messages every night or almost every night.

All together, our wired way of winding down at night = less sleep.

Interview with Candace Vorhaus

joan — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 01:53:32 +0000

Candace Vorhaus is a certified Feng Shui practitioner, spiritual coach and classically trained interior designer. Candace is certified in Black Sect Tantric Buddhist Feng Shui which is a combination of Eastern and Western healing and therapeutic practices. She has written on Feng Shui and sleep and will discuss some practical and spiritual suggestions to make our bedroom environment more sleep-friendly.

Transforming Sleep Worry into Sleep Rest

joan — Sat, 14 May 2011 16:42:54 +0000

Shall we get to the real secret of sleep? The things conventional medicine doesn’t talk about. Lets face it, insomnia is big business for doctors, therapists, pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers of over-the-counter pills and supplements, etc. There is pressure to sleep. We’re told that if we don’t get enough sleep we run a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, dying at an earlier age and so on. Who wants to read this stuff when you have insomnia every night?

I don’t talk medical. I’m not a doctor. I talk from 30 years of personal experience suffering from insomnia.

I’ve tried countless products and modalities to help me sleep including herbs, supplements, therapy, bodywork and even a custom sleep CD produced from my own brain waves. Some things helped but only on a temporary basis. Medications like Ambien knocked me out but it didn’t solve the problem. The fear, anxiety and worry persisted especially if I had an important meeting the next day or hadn’t slept for many nights. I dreaded going to sleep.

Through meditation and study I’ve come to recognize the deeper solution to insomnia; transforming the mind from a restless state to a restful state. Think about this – when we worry or get stressed about not sleeping it drains our energy and leaves us exhausted the next day. When we apply a peaceful mind to not sleeping we conserve energy and feel more rested in the morning. Rest is beneficial and not draining.

The key is to stop worrying about whether you’re going to sleep or not. Go to bed when you’re tired whatever time that is. Allow sleep to become a part of your wake/sleep cycle. Rest often. Relax into the feeling of being tired for it provides an opportunity to listen more and softens your perspective on life.

I’m not saying it’s easy. It’s a process that requires faith and a willingness to transform your beliefs and perceptions. It’s a shift in consciousness. It may take time yet it can happen in an instant.

EZ Sleep Solutions will be exploring this process through a series of experiential virtual classes entitled: Transforming Sleep Worry into Sleep Rest. Stay tune for more information.

Roving Reporter Times Square 2

joan — Fri, 13 May 2011 23:00:23 +0000

Roving Reporter Times Square 1

joan — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:46:12 +0000

Hearos Ear Plugs

joan — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:19:53 +0000

You might think all ear plugs are the same. Not true. Hearos have a high noise reduction rating of 32 decibels and are wonderfully soft and comfortable. Get a good night’s sleep tonight.

Interview with Michael Krugman

joan — Thu, 05 May 2011 18:37:21 +0000

Conducted by Lois Barth.

Michael Krugman is the founder of Sounder Sleep Systems and a life-long student of modern and traditional methods of self-healing and has over twenty years experience as a teacher and trainer in related disciplines. Michael teaches and lectures on sleep, alertness, relaxation, and corporate wellness all over the US and in Europe.

www.soundersleep.com

History of Sleep

joan — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:50:08 +0000

It is difficult to determine a point in time when an interest in sleep occurred. Likewise, it is nearly impossible to pick a date, person, or event which points to the beginning of sleep research. We could say it was the discovery of opium, a widely offered treatment for insomnia in ancient Egyptian times (~1300 B.C.) and the first hypnotic medication. Or perhaps the history of sleep medicine began much later with Hippocrates’ theory of sleep in Corpus Hippocraticum (~400 B.C.)?

In 350 B.C. Aristotle viewed sleep as “inhibition of sense perception” for “conservation”. In 1729 French Astronomer Jean Jacques d’Ortous deMairan experimented with plants and biological rhythms. He is thought to be the first to experiment with biological rhythms. In 1920 Dr. Nathanial Kleitman explored circadian rhythms and sleep deprivation.

Sleep theories abounded in the 19th century and there were many schools of thought for the cause of sleep. One of the more popular ideas was that sleep was related to the blood vessels, specifically that sleep was due either to congestion or pressure of blood in the brain, or a lack of blood in the brain. Two chemical approaches were also possible concepts for the cause of sleep. The chemical approach implied that sleep was caused by 1) a lack of oxygen to the brain or 2) an accumulation of toxic substances.

A new understanding of the central nervous system, a demonstration of the electrical activity of the nervous system, and the newly named neuron brought on neural theories for the cause of sleep by the mid-19th century. One type of neural theory was that neurons were paralyzed during sleep, preventing communication between other nerve cells.

Based on earlier experiments, behavioral theories were presented in the late 1800s that proposed an “inhibitory reflex” as the cause of sleep. The physiological differences in the states of sleep, dreaming versus quiet sleep were recognized as early as ancient Greece. In 1868, William Griesinger reported eye movements in association with sleep. Before his release of The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900, Freud noted muscle paralysis during sleep that hindered the dreamer from acting out their dreams.

By the mid-1900s, the combined efforts of many researchers concluded that sleep was the loss of wakefulness stimuli from the ascending reticular activating system in the brainstem, the system of nerve pathways in the brain that are concerned with levels of consciousness.

This is the most interesting definition. Sleep is a level of consciousness just as wake is a level of consciousness. Of course there are many levels of consciousness within wake as there are within sleep.

In 1996, the American Medical Association recognized sleep medicine as a specialty. That date belies the importance and interest in sleep that has been going on essentially since the beginning of time.