Care For Your Sleep

It is a known fact that about 25% of men and women above 45 suffer from serious snoring and sleep apnea. At that, about 3% of those experience gasping and numerous interruptions in breathing, which eventually lead to constant sleep interruption at night. Recently, a group of British specialists carried out  a series of researches, which ended up with some disappointing findings. They registered new scientific evidence of the fact that snoring affects our brain activity and increases the risks of having a stroke.

The sleep of 13 volunteers (12 male and 1 female) with heavy forms of snoring (obstructive apnea) was under close observation of the scientists. It was found out that there are certain bio-chemical changes that occur in the brain under effect of snoring. Most likely, the brain is affected by a lack of oxygen caused even by a short interruption of breathing, which occurs in people with sleep apnea. Negative effect of such interruptions in breathing is very strong, that is why the specialists suggest to revise our attitude toward snoring and not to delay treatment of this ailment.

Moreover, obstructive apnea and hypopnea proved to cause decreased blood flow to brain, as well as create extra pressure on the chest and heart. The scientists say that every night the people with obstructive apnea have to fight for breathing with the same efforts as the ones they would have to spend for breathing with a hand over their nose and mouth. According to Dr. Kingman P. Strohl of Case Western Reserve University, reduced blood flow to the brain caused by severe snoring increases risks for stroke.

Do you want to shed some pounds? American scientists found a good and very pleasant way to reduce weight. This technique does not require making great efforts, spending money or starving. All you need to do is just have a good 8-hour-long sleep every day without exceptions. According to the results of a recent study carried out by the experts from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle,  there is a strong connection between the duration of sleep and our BMI (Body Mass Index).

Th researchers are convinced in the fact that the shorter you sleep duration, the higher risks of being overweight you have. At that, this relationship is valid even in those situations, when people who live in constant lack of sleep do great amounts of physical activities during the day. More than 1,1 million people participated in the experiments. A group of the scientists was observing the people with various duration of sleep and came to the conclusion that increased sleep is connected with increased level of energy expenditure and is proportional to decreased BMI.

Numerous tests showed that the people who sleep less than 7-8 hours a day suffer from a certain hormonal disbalances. In particular, they have lower levels of leptin, a peptide hormone responsible for our appetite, food intake and energy balance. The experiments proved that those people who have decreased sleep duration have up to 75% increased risk of having extra weight. This research became an important step in studying the connections between our sleep and the levels of our metabolic hormones. Unfortunately, this scientific field is currently developed quite poorly.