Do You Need A New Bed?

What is a Good Night's Sleep?  

Many people would reply by saying a minimum of eight hours of rest. But the answer doesn't depend solely on how many hours you log in bed. Night after night, you need deep uninterrupted sleep in a bed that provides adequate comfort support and space. What matters most of all is how you feel in the morning. If you wake up full of renewed energy, you've had a good night's sleep.

There is no one formula for how much sleep is enough for you. Expecting all people to need the same amount of rest would be as absurd as expecting them to eat the same amount of food every day. Each of us seems to have an innate sleep "appetite" that is as much a part of our genetic programming as hair color, height and skin tone. Normal sleep times range from five to ten hours; the average is 7 1/2. About one or two people in one hundred can get by with just five hours; another small minority needs twice that amount.

How much sleep is enough for you? To figure out your sleep needs, keep your wake-up time the same every morning and vary your bedtimes. Are you groggy after six hours of shut-eye? Does an extra hour give your more stamina? What about an extra two hours? Since too much time in bed can make some people feel sluggish, don't assume that more is always better. Listen to your body's signals and adjust your sleep schedule to suit them.

Keep in mind that sleep needs change with age. And the older you are, the less total sleep time you may need. A newborn may spend 18 hours asleep. From infancy to adulthood, sleep decreases by more than half. Throughout the middle decades of life, seven or eight hours of sleep generally are needed to provide adequate rest. For older individuals, six hours may suffice.

Informative Link with picture

What happens during sleep?  

Many people think of their sleeping bodies as if they were cars parked for the night--motionless, engines off, headlights dimmed. But sleep is an amazingly complex state of being. As we sleep, muscles tense and relax. Pulse, temperature and blood pressure rise and fall. Chemicals crucial for well-being course through the blood stream. The brain, like a Hollywood director, conjures up fantastic stories, complete with a plot, characters and action.

You don't simply "fall" asleep. You descend slowly through different levels. As you close your eyes and drift off, you enter the first stage of what is called quiet sleep. Your brain produces irregular, rapid waves, and muscle tension decreases. You breathe smoothly, and mundane thoughts float through your mind. If roused, you might jerk awake quickly and deny that you'd slept at all.

In stage 2 of quiet sleep, your brain waves become larger, punctuated by occasional sudden bursts of electrical activity. You've definitely crossed the border between wakefulness and sleep. If someone lifted your eyelids gently, you wouldn't waken; your eyes no longer respond to stimuli.

As you descend into stage 3, your brain waves become slower and bigger. In this state of deep slumber, your bodily functions slow down even more. Finally stepping into stage 4, you reach deepest sleep, the most profound state of unconsciousness. On an EEG (electroencephalogram), your brain waves would appear extremely large and slow. You are so "dead to the world" that a thunderstorm might not wake you.

This step-by-step journey into oblivion usually takes more than an hour. Then you begin to climb upward, moving rapidly through the same sleep stages as before, not all the way to full wakefulness but in active sleep. Because the pupils dart back and forth, this stage is called Rapid Eye Movement or REM sleep. (The four stages of quiet sleep are often referred to as non-REM or NREM sleep.)

During REM, your brain waves resemble those of waking rather than of quiet sleep. The large muscles of your torso, arms and legs are paralyzed, although your fingers and toes may twitch. You breathe quickly and slowly, the flow of blood through your brain accelerates. REM sleep is the time of vivid dreaming, and if wakened, you'd probably recall a fragment of a fantasy.

After about ten minutes in REM sleep, you descend the sleep staircase again. The entire cycle of REM and NREM stages takes roughly 90 minutes. Early in the night, the periods spent in the deepest stages of quiet sleep are longer. In the second half of the night, REM sleep predominates. By morning, you go around the sleep circuit four or five times.

This pattern changes gradually throughout life. From infancy to adulthood, REM periods dwindle to less than a quarter of a night's sleep. By their thirties, men spend less time in the very deep stages of NREM sleep. Women begin to sleep less deeply in their fifties. By age 65, both sexes spend half as much time in deep sleep as they did when they were 25. The lighter sleep stages increase later in life, and REM shrinks to about a fifth of total sleep time.

Bad Nights/Bad Days  back to top

What happens when you don't get the rest you need? The first casualty of too little sleep is a smile. Weariness breeds irritability and depression. Sleepy people mope instead of cope, snap at co-workers, complain about anything and everything. While everyone around them may be laughing, they're yawning.

But bad moods aren't the only consequence of bad nights. Without adequate sleep, people can't perform at their peak. Every half an hour less sleep than usual can impair the way you feel and function the next day. The more sleep you lose, the more you suffer.

According to a recent study, one sleepless night sabotages creativity and coping skills. Without sleep, the "walking wounded" are less spontaneous, flexible and original. Unable to break out of intellectual ruts or come up with a fresh perspective, they become rigid, stick to tried-and-true approaches to problems and can't deal with unfamiliar situations. If they concentrate hard enough, they can perform routine tasks or well-known, well defined emergencies--unless they lose a second night of sleep. Then even performance of mundane or familiar chores suffers.

Chronic insomniacs have more problems getting started in the morning than normal sleepers and often feel so exhausted after work that they forego leisure activities and social engagements. The stress of trying to perform well despite their sleeplessness may lead to depression and other psychological problems. Individuals with chronic sleep problems that cause excessive daytime drowsiness, such as the breathing disorder called sleep apnea, may have so much difficulty with attention, concentration or memory that they perform as if their IQs were ten points lower than they actually are.

Disrupted sleep and sleep disorder cost business as much as $70 billion annually in lost productivity, industrial accidents and higher medical bills, according to the Institute for Circadian Physiology in Boston. Sometimes the toll is even higher. Falling asleep at the wheel is second only to alcohol as a cause of car accidents. In all, 200,000 to 400,000 collisions involving drowsy drivers occur each year and claim as many as 6,500 lives.

The best solution may be the most obvious: more and better sleep. In a study at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital, sleep researchers found that healthy people who slept just one additional hour felt better, became more alert and performed better on the job. Their conclusion: "Ideally, you should sleep until you're slept out. You should awaken spontaneously without an alarm clock and feel fresh and vital in the daytime."

Ten Ways to Sleep Better  back to top

What you do--or don't do--from dawn to dusk has an enormous impact on how well you'll rest from midnight to morning. The best time to get a head start on a good night's rest is long before you get into bed. Hear are ten guidelines for what to do--and what not to do--for the sake of better sleep:

• 1. Keep regular hours. The best way to ensure perfect nights is to stick to a regular schedule. If you sleep late one morning and rise before dawn the next, you can come down with a home-bound version of jet lag. To keep your biological clock in sync, get up at the same time, regardless of how much or how little you've slept.

  Try to stick close to your usual sleep schedule on weekends and holidays as well as workdays. If you stay up late on Friday and Saturday nights and sleep-in the following mornings you may give yourself a case of "Sunday-night insomnia": You get to bed early to be bright eyed on Monday morning and try to sleep, but you can't. The harder you try, the more wakeful you feel. When travel or work throws of your routine, try to maintain some semblance of regularity. Eat your meals at the same times you normally do. Try to get some sleep during your usual bedtime hours. And return to your normal schedule as soon as you can.

• 2. Exercise regularly. Exercise enhances sleep by burning off the tensions that accumulate during the day, allowing both the body and mind to unwind. While the fit seem to sleep better and deeper than the flabby, you don't have to push to utter exhaustion. A 20 to 30 minute walk, jog, swim or bicycle ride at least three days a week--the minimum for cardiovascular benefits--should be your goal.
• But don't wait too late in the day to exercise. In the evening, you should be concentrating on winding down rather than working up a sweat. And don't expect early-morning exercise to have any impact on the tensions that build up during the day. The ideal exercise time is late afternoon or early evening, when your workout can help you shift gears from daytime pressures to evening pleasures.
• 3. Cut down on stimulants. North Americans drink 400 million cups of coffee a day and get extra doses in tea, cola drinks (including diet colas) and chocolate. Some people seem sensitive to even small amounts; others build up a tolerance.

  If you're a coffee lover, have your last cup of the day no later than six to eight hours before your bedtime. Its stimulating effects will peak for two to four hours later, although they'll linger for several hours more. Late-evening caffeine can make it harder for you to fall asleep, diminish deep sleep and increase nighttime awakening.

  Caffeine isn't the only dietary sleep-robber. Tyrosine, a substance found in chocolate, Chianti and cheddar cheese can trigger heart palpitations in the night. Diet pills contain stimulants that can keep you awake. Other drugstore drug interactions can also disrupt you nights. If you're taking any prescription or over-the-counter drugs, ask your doctor whether they may affect your sleep.

• 4. Sleep on a good bed. A good night's sleep starts from the bottom up. You're less likely to get deep, solid, restful sleep on a bed that's too small, too soft, too hard or just plain too old. Unfortunately, we tend to get used to our old mattresses and box springs--just like a broken-down pair of old running shoes--and may not realize they've gradually been losing their comfort and support. If your bed is older than eight to ten years, use our on-line bed check to determine if it is ready for retirement. In selecting a new sleep set, follow Goldilocks' rule: Try a variety of mattresses and choose the one that feels just right for you.
• 5. Don't smoke. Nicotine is an even stronger stimulant than caffeine. According to several studies, heavy smokers take longer to fall asleep, awaken more often and spend less time in REM and deep NREM sleep. Because nicotine withdrawal can start two to three hours after their last puff, some smokers wake in the night craving a cigarette. When smokers break their nicotine habit, their sleep improves dramatically. In one study, two-pack-a-day smokers who quit cut the time they lay awake in bed by almost half.
• 6. Drink only in moderation. Alcohol is the oldest most popular sleep aid. Although a nightcap is a habit for many, liquor late in the evening may mean problems throughout the night. Even moderate drinking can suppress REM and deep NREM sleep and accelerate shifts between sleep stages. Too much alcohol with dinner can make it harder to fall asleep and too much at bedtime can make it harder to stay asleep. As the immediate effects of alcohol wear off, REM sleep-which alcohol suppresses-intrudes upon other sleep stages, depriving your body of deep rest. You end up sleeping in fragments and waking often in the early-morning hours.
• 7. Go for quality, not just quantity. Six hours of good, solid sleep can make you feel more rested than eight hours of light or disturbed sleep. Limiting the time you spend in bed to what you need and no more, deepens sleep; allowing yourself to doze on and off for many hours leads to lighter, more fragmented sleep. Don't feel that you have to log eight hours. If five hours are enough to recharge your battery, consider yourself lucky. You're not an insomniac, just a naturally short sleeper.
• 8. Set aside a worry or planning time early in the evening. If you lie in bed thinking of what you should have done during the day or have to do the next day, try to deal with such distractions before getting into bed. Make lists so you don't feel you have to keep reminding yourself of things to do. Write out anxieties or worries and possible solutions. If daytime distractions follow you into bed, tell yourself you'll deal with them during the next day's worry time.
• 9. Don't go to bed stuffed or starved. A big meal late at night forces your digestive system to work overtime. While you may feel drowsy initially, you'll probably toss and turn through the night. Avoid peanuts, beans, fruits or raw vegetables that can cause gas. And stay away from snacks (like pastries or potato chips) that are high in fat -- they take longer to digest.

  But if you're dieting, don't go to bed hungry. A rumbling stomach, like any other physical discomfort, interferes with your ability to settle down and slumber through the night. Have a low-calorie snack, such as a banana or apple, before turning in.

• 10. Develop a sleep ritual. Before you can slide into sleep, you've got to leave behind the distractions of the waking world. Even very young children find it easier to make the transition into sleep if they repeat a few activities, such as saying prayers or reading a story, every night.

  Your sleep ritual can be as simple or as elaborate as you choose. It might start with some gentle stretches to release knots of tension in your muscles or with a warm bath. Maybe you like to listen to some quiet music or curl up with a not-too-thrilling book. Whatever you choose, be sure to do the some things every evening until they become cues for your body to settle down for the night.

Do A Bed Check  back to top

It's tough to get a good night's sleep on a bad mattress. In fact, what you may think is a sleep problem may be a bed problem. An annual Bed Check is especially important when your bed has seen a few years of service. After 8-10 years of nightly use, even the best bed should be considered for retirement.

1. Is the cover soiled, stained or torn?
2. Does the mattress surface look uneven?
3. Are there sagging spots where you usually lie or around the edges?
4. Does the foundation (boxspring) have an uneven or sagging surface?
5. Would you be embarrassed to show your bed, without covers to your neighbors?
6. Is the mattress comfortable in some places and in some positions, but not in others?
7. When you turn over, do you hear creaks, crunches or other suspicious noises?
8. When you roll around, does the bed wobble or sway?
9. Are you and your partner rolling together without meaning to?
10. Are you fighting each other--or the covers--for enough space to get comfortable?

Give yourself one point for every "yes." If you scored 8-10 points, your old mattress and boxspring are definitely ready for retirement.

How Do I Shop For The Best Bed For Me?  back to top

In the course of a lifetime, you log more than 220,000 hours in bed -- far more time than you spend on the sofa, at the kitchen table, even in front of the TV. No other piece of furniture in your home gets as much use as your bed. That's why it's so important to find the one that's right for you. Here's what you should be looking for:

Comfort. Gone are the days when a mattress had to be hard-as-a-board to be good for you. A too-hard mattress may only succeed in putting your shoulders and hips to sleep. You'll sleep best when your bed helps you feel cradled in comfort, cozy and secure.

Today's top quality mattress/foundation ensembles are built for superior comfort. Luxurious new cushioning materials and extra-soft surface treatments create a plusher, more comfortable feel.

Support. Correct support is the essential ingredient for a healthy body. A good mattress and foundation will gently support your body at all points and keep your spine in the same shape as a person with good standing posture.

Pay special attention to your shoulders, hips and lower back--the heaviest parts. If there's too little support, you can develop back pain. But if the mattress is too rigid for you, you can experience uncomfortable pressure.

A word about "firm." Don't rely on product labels to tell you which mattress will give you the right support. One manufacturer's "firm" may feel harder than another's "extra firm." The only way to find out if the support is right is to lie down and try.

Durability. It's the quality of the materials used and how they're put together that determine how long a mattress and foundation will provide the comfort and support you bought them for. The best assurance of good performance over a good many years is to buy the highest quality sleep set you can afford.

But don't expect a set of bedding to last forever. After 8-10 years of nightly use, even the best bedding will no longer provide the best comfort and support.

A word about the warranty. Don't look to the warranty to tell you how long to keep your mattress and foundation. It's there to protect you against product defects, not against the gradual loss of comfort and support. A sleep set may still be usable after 15 or 20 years, but it's not giving you the good night's sleep you deserve.

Space. Cramped quarters can turn sleeping into a nightly wrestling match. A healthy sleeper moves anywhere from 40 to 60 times a night, including some dozen full body turns. You need freedom of motion while you sleep and to help you relax while getting to sleep.

If you sleep with a partner, be sure to select queen or king size. Both are not only wider, but several inches longer than the standard "double" (full size), which offers each sleeper only as much space as a baby in a crib.

Bed Basics  back to top

lnnerspring. The most widely purchased type of bedding uses the support of tempered steel coils in a variety of configurations. Layers of upholstery provide insulation and cushioning between your body and the coils. The result of this basic approach, coupled with state-of-the-art technology, is a full range of comfort choices.

Quality tip: There should be more than 300 coils in the full size version of the model you're considering (that will translate to more than 375 coils in queen size or more than 450 in king size). But a high coil count doesn't automatically mean it's a better product. Wire gauge is important too -- the lower the number, the more durable the wire (13 is thicker than 16). And remember, you can't judge a mattress by its coils alone. Look for a combination of top quality innerspring system and superior upholstery materials.

Foam. Foam mattresses also offer a wide choice of "feels." They can be made of a solid core or of several layers of different types of foam laminated together. The newer High Resilience polyurethanes and the more traditional latex (synthetic rubber) are among the highest performance foams.

Quality Tip: Be sure that the foam in the mattress you select has a minimum density of 2.0 lbs. per cubic ft. In general, the higher that number, the better the foam.

Flotation. Waterbeds are now available in two basic styles: the "hardside" type is a vinyl water mattress, liner and heater contained in a rigid frame; the new "softside" style looks much like the familiar mattress/boxspring combination. Both types offer a range of feels, from "full motion" to "waveless."

Quality Tip: Be sure the mattress vinyl is a minimum of 20 mil. in thickness and pay special attention to seam durability. You'll do well to ask for verification that the products will meet the California Waterbed Standards-even if you don't live in the state of California.

The Foundation. A good foundation (boxspring) is as important as a good mattress. It acts much like a large shock absorber, taking a lot of the nightly wear and tear. And it contributes to the comfort and support.

Don't put a new mattress on an old foundation. When you select the mattress, purchase its companion foundation -- the two are designed to work best together.

Other Alternatives. Air-supported beds, electric adjustable and Japanese-style futons are other products you may decide to look into. To be certain you're getting the best information on these or other specialty sleep products, be sure to choose a reliable store or company to do business with.

Shopping Tips  back to top

1. Take your partner. When buying for two, both of you should make the decision.

2. Wear comfortable clothes (slacks are a good idea) and shoes you can remove easily for lying down.

3. Lie down and stay there. You can't judge support and comfort by sitting on an edge or lying down for a few seconds. Don't be shy. Lie on your side--are your hips and shoulders comfortable? Try it with your partner--will you be fighting for space?

4.Get the whole story. Study all the available information, read the labeling and insist that the salesperson tell you about product features.

5.Shop at a store you know and trust to give you good information, good service and top quality products.

6.Shop for the best value, not the lowest price. You can always find "bargain bedding" at rock bottom prices, but it's no bargain when it comes to getting a good night's sleep. Buy the best you can afford.

Buying By Comparison  back to top

If you're a shopper who likes to compare values from store to store, you should be aware that comparison shopping by model name may only lead to frustration. You probably won't find the same model name in one store as you did in another. So, find a sleep set you like, then see what levels of comfort and support you can get for the same amount of money in another store. (Don't forget to compare store services and delivery as well.)

Out With The Old Bed  back to top

When you make that new purchase, arrange to have your old bed removed and disposed of. Don't give it to the kids, relatives, guests or neighbors. If it wasn't good enough for you, it isn't good enough for anyone else. Consider it a health hazard. Get rid of it.

The store where you buy your new bedding may be able to assist you. Or contact local charitable organizations. They may be able to put the old bed to good use in their recycling projects.

Mattress Safety Advisory: If you purchased your bedding before 1973, it was made before the Federal Mattress Flammability Standard, which assures that all new mattresses are cigarette-ignition resistant.

Also, most new mattresses now carry a voluntary safety hangtag providing important advice on the prevention of fires.

These added safety measures are further reason for getting all older bedding out of the home.

Do's and Don'ts of Mattress Care  back to top

Don't remove that tag. Contrary to popular belief, it's NOT illegal to remove the law tag, but the information on the label will serve as a means of identification should you have a warranty claim.

Do support your bed. Use a sturdy bed frame. If it's a queen or king size set, make sure your frame has the extra center support that will prevent bowing or breakage. Heavy-duty support is especially important for waterbeds.

Do use a protective pad. A good quality, washable mattress pad (and one for the foundation, too, if you like) is a must to keep your set fresh and free from stains.

Do turn it regularly. Turning your mattress over and end-to-end every couple of months will help to equalize the wear and tear that normally occurs. (While it's still brand new, slight "body impressions" may form, especially on extra plush mattress surfaces. Turn every few weeks for the first few months to help smooth them out.) Occasionally turning the foundation from end-to-end is probably a good idea, too.

Don't mis-handle. If your mattress has handles, don't use them to support the full weight of the mattress. They may pull out and damage the fabric. Typically, handles are designed to help you position the mattress over the foundation.

Don't dry clean. The chemicals in dry cleaning agents/ spot removers may be harmful to the fabric or underlying materials. Vacuuming is the only recommended cleaning method. But if you're determined to tackle a stain, use mild soap with cold water and apply lightly. Do not ever soak a mattress or foundation.

Don't bend or fold. Unless a mattress or foundation is made entirely of soft material (like foam or cotton), or is specially-built for folding, it probably has a border wire inside that isn't meant to be bent.

Don't let the kids jump on your sleep set. Their rough-housing could do damage to the interior construction, as well as to themselves!

Don't use a bed board. Never put a board between the mattress and foundation. It may enhance the sense of support for a while, but it will only make the problem worse over time. (If any bed in your home has reached the "board stage," get rid of it.)

Do ask your bedding salesperson--or any special care information prepared by the manufacturer or by the store itself. This can be particularly important if you select a waterbed, air-supported bed, electric adjustable bed, or other specialty sleep products.

Laying Yourself Down to Sleep  back to top

Once you've found the right mattress and matching foundation, you need to go a step further to create the best possible environment for the nights of your life. Here are some factors you should pay attention to:

Turning Down the Volume. Individuals vary a great deal in their reaction to sounds of different intensities. Women are much more likely than men to waken because of noise in the night. But any sound over 70 decibels can stimulate signals from the nervous system to the rest of the body. A sudden noise will push your blood pressure upward and lower the supply of blood to your heart. If its intensity increases, your pupils dilate, the muscles of your abdomen and chest contract, and your heart rate quickens. A sudden change in the sound level -- a motorcycle backfiring in the street or the television buzzing as a station goes off the air -- will jar you more than a persistent noise.

If noise is an inescapable part of your sleep environment, try comfortable ear plugs or masking it with the constant sound of a fan, air-conditioner or a recording of the surf or a waterfall. A good alternative is white noise, a sound involving all frequencies audible to the human ear that lulls the mind. Several white noise machines are on the market today. You can also approximate the effect by setting your radio to the static found between stations.

Keeping Your Cool. The ideal temperature range is in the mid-60s. You'll stay under the covers longer in a cooler room and be more restless in a warmer one. Fresh air is a personal preference, not a prerequisite for a good night's sleep.

Turning Out the Lights. Some people can sleep only in a totally dark room -- for a good reason. Light is one of the body's most powerful time cues, and the early morning sun can stimulate your brain to full wakefulness long before you want or need to rise. Try heavy draperies or a light-blocking shade. If you must sleep in the daytime, use comfortable eyeshades. On the other hand, if blackness upsets you, a soft nightlight will glow just brightly enough to offer reassurance as you rest.

When You Can't Sleep  back to top

Sometimes all you need to feel better is a good night's sleep, but when you tuck yourself in for the night, nothing happens. Your bed is comfortable. Your room is cool, But you can't fall asleep. What can you do when you find yourself stranded at the edge of night?

Snack on a snooze food. As scientists have learned more about the effects various chemicals have on the brain, they've identified foods that make us alert and others that make us drowsy. Proteins, such as meat, are energizers, while carbohydrates, such as pasta, are sedatives. In one study at MIT the foods that made volunteers drowsiest at bedtime were English muffins and bananas.

Sip a nightcap. Stay away from the alcoholic variety. Warm milk soothes some sleepless souls. Warm herbal teas, particularly those with chamomile or ginseng, can also make you feel drowsy.

Get wet and warm. A bath that's neither too hot nor too cold can induce sleepiness by sending blood away from the brain to the skin surface. Lie back. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself floating in the tub.

Relax your muscles. One of the best techniques is progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), which involves alternate tensing and relaxing. Focus your attention on a specific group of muscles, such as those in your arm. Tense tightly for five to seven seconds, then release for 15 to 20 seconds and repeat with other muscle groups.

Learn a little yoga. These gentle exercises can loosen tense muscles and help you relax. Here's one you can do on your mattress: Inhale to a count of five, raise your arms backward over your head until they touch the mattress. Make two fists. Raise your buttocks. Tense and stretch every muscle in your body including those of your face. Hold for a count of five. Release, keeping arms over head. With eyes closed, let the tension drain from your body. Each night, try to increase the time you spend in this position.

Breathe deeply. Take five deep breaths, counting to yourself with each one. As you count, tell yourself, "I'm getting more relaxed and peaceful. I am slowly falling asleep." Concentrate on this message. If you wake up during the night, immediately take a deep breath and tell yourself, "I'll be asleep again soon."

Get up. If you're not asleep within ten minutes of shutting off the light, leave your bed, go into another room and read or listen to music. When you start feeling drowsy, go back to bed. Once again, if you don't nod off within ten minutes, get up again. The goal: to associate your bed with slumber, not sleeplessness.

Hypnotize yourself. Many people use a form of self-hypnosis to fall asleep. As you lie in bed, breathe deeply, relax your muscles and repeat a simple message, such as, "I am getting sleepy. I am getting sleepy. I am getting sleepy."

Try to stay awake. This approach, called paradoxical intention, may sound contradictory. Rather than worrying about falling asleep fast, you tell yourself you're going to stay awake as long as you can. With the pressure off, you can stop worrying and start sleeping.

Cut back on your sleep time. If you force yourself to spend less time in bed, a technique called sleep restriction, your body becomes more efficient at sleeping. Insomniacs, who often spend hours in bed trying to sleep, fall asleep faster and wake less frequently when their total sack time is limited.

Play mind games. If your body is weary, but your mind is racing, some mental maneuvers can speed your way to sleep:

Count sheep -- or ducks, or peacocks, or zebras. You can distract both halves of your brain by conjuring up a detailed picture of how they look while counting how many are skipping through your mind.

Play alphabet games. List girls' names, boys' names, states, countries, trees, flowers, food, presidents, animals, and so on, in alphabetical order.

Imagine yourself painting a tall, long wall with a tiny brush. Count your strokes as you dab on the paint.

Imagine you've just won one million dollars in the lottery. Make plans for saving and spending it.

Tell yourself that if you don't fall asleep, you'll have to get up and do an unpleasant chore. (You may have to make good on this threat for a few nights.)

Think of famous people with double initials: AA, BB, CC, and so on: Alan Alda, Brigitte Bardot, Cyd Charisse and so forth.

Name every city, then every country, that begins with q, z, or y.

Sleep Problems and Disorders  back to top

Sleep specialists have identified more than 100 different disorders of normal sleep, ranging from minor problems to life-threatening ones. Among the most common are:

Insomnia. About 33 percent of the population complain of insomnia at least once in a year's time. Insomniacs typically experience less of the deepest, most restful sleep stages.

Many insomniacs overestimate the time they spend in bed before falling asleep or getting back to sleep in the night. When tested in a sleep laboratory, people with such "pseudo-insomnia" typically sleep a normal amount of time. Researchers speculate that they may have subtle abnormalities in their sleep patterns so they don't wake up feeling rested.

Some people who have a few bad nights convince themselves that they'll never rest easy again. The "conditioned insomniacs" often associate their nighttime surroundings with sleep difficulties, so they sleep better anywhere but home.

Sometimes troubled sleep is a sign of a troubled mind. Virtually all persons with severe depression report difficulty falling or staying asleep; anxious individuals also can't rest easily at night. In such instances, the only lasting remedy to a sleep complaint is tackling the underlying emotional problem.

Snoring. One of every eight people snores, and men are more likely to sound off in the night than women. Snorers may sleep quite well; their companions are the ones who can't get any rest. If you snore or sleep with a snorer, remember that snoring happens most often when the sleeper is on his back. The tongue falls backward over the throat opening, blocking the flow of air. Nudging your partner onto his side should help. Other alternatives include raising the head of the bed or having him sleep on several pillows. Some desperate wives have placed a golf ball in a sock and pinned the sock to the back of their husbands' pajamas. When the men would roll over onto their backs, they'd feel so uncomfortable that they'd quickly switch to their sides.

Sleep Apnea. This disruption of normal breathing during the night affects at least one of every 200 working-age men, who may wake hundreds of times in the night to breathe. Sleep apnea causes debilitating side effects -- headaches, chronic fatigue -- and can be a cause of death. An estimated 20 percent of all men over 50 suffer some degree of apnea. The tip-off symptom is a pattern of ear-splitting snores, punctuated with pauses in breathing that last from 20 to more than 100 seconds. If untreated, apnea can contribute to potentially fatal medical problems, such as high blood pressure. Weight loss helps relieve apnea in overweight individuals. Other treatments include continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP to keep the breathing passages open during sleep, and surgery to remove soft tissue at the back of the throat and enlarge the upper airway.

Sleepwalking. Millions of people rise from their beds and wander through the night. About 2.5 percent of all men and women sleepwalk regularly. Children are even less likely to stay under the covers. Between the ages of 5 and 12, 10 to 15 percent of children -- with boys outnumbering girls -- walk in their sleep at least once; six percent leave their beds once a week or more.

Sleepwalking always occurs during "slow-wave" sleep, the deepest stage of dreamless sleep. In unknown ways, a malfunction of the brain's sleep controls propels an individual from profound rest into a twilight zone of partial physiological arousal. Sleepwalking seems to run in families. Children inherit a genetic predisposition, not just to sleepwalking, but to other problems of partial arousal from deep sleep, including sleep walking, bedwetting and night terrors (episodes of waking up in a state of intense dread and anxiety). A seizure disorder, high fever or extreme fatigue can pull youngsters -- and, less frequently, adults -- to their feet.

Far rarer is a recently identified sleep disorder called episodic nocturnal wanderings, which may include extremely agitated behavior, such as screaming, dashing around, colliding with walls or attacking another person. Individuals with this problem seem perfectly healthy and normal during the day but may have several episodes of bizarre behavior during the night. These episodes do not occur during REM or dream sleep. Drugs used to treat seizure disorders can reduce or eliminate this problem.

Sleep walking. As many as one in every five persons sounds off during sleep. Most of what they say makes little, if any, sense. Most sleep walking occurs during the lightest stages of sleep and consists of a few brief words. Someone who's just fallen asleep may respond simply to queries, but true conversations are rare. More often than not, sleep walkers seem to be muttering words like "okay" or "gee" to themselves.

Bruxism or Teeth-Gnashing. More than 20 percent of men, women and children grind their teeth at night. Sometimes the reason is in the mouth, and dental repairs can help. Sometimes the reason is in the mind. One way to relieve the tension that leads to bruxism is surprisingly simple: Clench your teeth firmly for about five seconds, then relax for five. Repeat four to six times a day. In one study, 75 percent of bruxists stopped after 21 days of self-treatment.

Leg Movement. About 15 or 20 percent of sleep problems start in the lower limbs. Some individuals jerk their legs just as they're about to fall asleep. Others kick their legs as they sleep -- waking themselves and their partners. Doctors do not know the precise cause of these movements, nor do they have a truly effective cure. Tranquilizers or anti-seizure medications may help.

Narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a disabling, inherited disorder of the brain's sleep-wake control mechanisms. Regardless of how much they sleep at night, narcoleptics cannot stay awake during the day. They doze off, not just while watching television or reading, but while eating, talking or driving.

While one percent of the population has narcolepsy, only a third know what's wrong with them. Usually symptoms worsen over time. In addition to daytime sleepiness, norcoleptics develop problems sleeping at night, experience realistic, horrible sensations and hallucinations as they shift from wakefulness to sleep and back again and cannot move for several minutes after waking because of a condition called sleep paralysis. Many also suffer from cataplexy, a partial or complete loss of muscle tone usually triggered by intense emotion or excitement.

Narcolepsy is hereditary. Treatment depends on the severity of the symptoms. Good sleep habits, regular hours and daytime naps help some narcoleptics cope. Others take stimulants and drugs to prevent muscle weakness during the day.

Tuning Into Your Rhythms  back to top

Some common sleep problems are really rhythm disturbances, caused by unusual biological rhythms, travel and shift work.

Night Owls. Some people feel most energetic in the evening just when everyone else is running out of steam. These "night owls" have different rhythms for their body temperature. They are coldest and most lethargic in the morning and warmest and most energized in the evening. As long as they can stay up all hours and sleep in the next day, night owls do fine. But if they try going to bed at a normal bedtime of 11:00 p.m., or midnight, they may toss and turn for hours. The next morning they're so weary they sleep through the loudest alarm.

The only solution for "delayed sleep phase syndrome" is resetting the biological clock, a complex process that may take two weeks of living totally out of sync with the world. You move your bedtime forward by three hours--from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. for instance--for several days. Then you shift it forward to 9:00 a.m. for several days, then you start going to sleep at noon. Eventually you make your way around the clock to midnight. Because chronotherapy is physically and psychologically demanding, it's best to work with a sleep specialist.

Morning Larks. Some people rise each morning filled with pep. Most early risers cope quite well, but some, particularly as they get older, find that they're going to bed earlier and earlier and waking up long before down. "Advanced sleep phase syndrome" is the opposite of the night owl syndrome, but treatment is the some: resetting the biological clock by gradually pushing bedtime forward.

Jet Lag. Space-age planes can zip across continents and oceans in hours; our stone-age bodies have to struggle to catch up. During this period of adjustment, body and mind are temporarily off-cue. Jet lag does more than make us tired; it also impairs physical and mental functioning. It generally takes about a day per time zone to adjust. The older you are, the more you may be affected. While you can't prevent jet lag, you can minimize its impact: Try shifting your schedule before leaving home, resting and drinking plenty of fluids (except alcohol) on your flight, arriving late in the day and switching immediately to your new time frame. It always helps to plan a relaxed, quiet schedule for your first day or two in a new time zone.

Shift Work. More than 22 million North Americans work evenings or nights or rotate between day and night shifts. Whether they're pilots, physicians, cooks, nurses, sailors, or telephone operators, shift workers have a common problem: getting enough sleep. They average only 5.6 hours of sleep a night and complain much more about fatigue, psychological and marital trouble and digestive ailments. They report sleep difficulties twice as often as day workers.

The more often you rotate work hours, the more likely you are to have problems -- by night and day. If you have to change shifts, try to eat meals at the same time every day, get at least four hours of sleep at the some time each day (whether it's midnight to 4:00 a.m. or noon to 4:00 p.m.), avoid relying on stimulants to keep you awake and stick to the same schedule on weekends as on workdays.

Researchers are investigating possible treatments that use light to adjust body cycles for shift workers. They predict that some day shift workers or long-distance travelers may be able to use light "doses" to reset their biological clocks.

Pillows

Your head weighs about 10-13 pounds. The only rest your neck muscles get is when you are lying down! When you sit and stand, your neck muscles are working. The normal neck has a "spring like" curve that is convex towards the front of the neck.
When sleeping, we want to maintain this normal curve. Hence, the pillow that you use should facilitate the maintenance of this curve and prohibit your sleeping in a position that disables this normal curve. However, again common sense prevails. Use whatever pillow allows you to sleep comfortably. back to top