PersonalTrainer: Sleep

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

The Two Things You Need to Cure Sleep Apnea

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The Two Things You Need to Cure Sleep Apnea A new study has found a two-pronged approach to battling sleep apnea symptoms. Its health tip: combining a Mediterranean diet and regular physical activity could help you improve your night time rest.

The study looked at how the Mediterranean diet could help obese adults with sleep apnea compared to those with a typical diet. This health condition causes frequent pauses of breathing to occur during sleep. It can be dangerous over the long term, and is one of the most prevalent sleep-related breathing disorders. Two to four out of every 100 adults experience sleep apnea. But that rises 20% to 40% among obese individuals.

Here is how the Mediterranean diet differs from the typical one: three servings of red meat a week (compared to nine); three servings of fish a week (compared to one); four servings of fruit per day (compared to one or two); five servings of vegetables per day (compared to one or two); three servings of legumes per week (compared to one); six servings of whole grains per day (compared to two); and one or two glasses of red wine a day (compared to none).

Greek researchers examined 40 obese patients with apnea. Twenty patients were given a typical diet to follow, while the other 20 followed a Mediterranean diet. Both groups were also encouraged to increase their exercise, mainly involving walking for at least 30 minutes each day. And both received continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, which involves wearing a mask that generates an air stream, keeping the upper airway open during sleep.

RECOMMENDED: How the Mediterranean Diet Could Make You Smarter

The results: those on the Mediterranean diet had fewer disturbances (called apnea), during the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep, which usually accounts for approximately 25% of total sleep during the night.

The findings also revealed that people following the Mediterranean diet a showed a greater adherence to the calorie-restricted diet, an increase in physical activity, and a greater decrease in stomach fat.

While the results need to be confirmed in larger studies, this is good news for people looking for answers to sleep apnea. Following the Mediterranean diet is in itself a very healthful approach to nutrition, as it is known to be involved in preventing a host of diseases.

Tags: diet, exercise, health tips, Mediterranean diet, nutrition advice, sleep apnea

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A Juice to Help You Sleep

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A Juice to Help You Sleep People who suffer insomnia clamor for any health breakthroughs in the field of sleeping soundly. Well, here is some good news. Researchers have found that a type of fruit juice could help improve sleep. Look no further than tart cherry.

The study was recently published in the “European Journal of Nutrition.” An international team of researchers found that when adults drank two glasses of tart cherry juice a day, it led to these benefits:

– Sleeping 39 minutes longer, on average
– Up to a six-percent increase in overall sleep efficiency (less non-sleep time in bed),

This was found when tart cherry juice was compared to a non-cherry fruit cocktail.

In the study, 20 healthy adults drank two servings of tart cherry juice concentrate (which was 30 milliliters of 100%-pure Montmorency juice concentrate, diluted in a half pint of water) or a non-cherry juice for seven straight days. They drank one serving when they woke up in the morning, and another just before bed.

The researchers tracked participants’ sleep habits. After the participants drank the cherry juice, the researchers found significant improvements in sleep behaviors. The most notable improvement was in the areas of longer sleep time, less daytime napping, and increased overall sleep efficiency. That last term represents the ratio of time spent in bed to time spent sleeping.

So we arrive as we always do to the question of “why?” Quite often in medical studies there is no certain answer, but of course there are many hypotheses. Here, the researchers attribute the sleep benefits of tart cherry juice to the melatonin content. This natural hormone in the body is critical for regulating the sleep-wake cycle (along with its opposite, serotonin).

Each serving of the tart cherry juice concentrate was estimated to contain the equivalent of 90 to 100 tart cherries. This provides a significant boost of melatonin in the juice.

This isn’t the first time tart cherries have come up in the sleep aid discussion. Older studies have supported the link as well, which may have far-reaching benefits considering about one-third of all U.S. adults suffer from sleep disturbances affecting their health. The market for over-the-counter sleep aids stands at more than $84.0 million in the United States alone. Many are trying to find cost-effective ways to help manage their sleep issues. Here is one potentially great — and tasty — method.

Here is another study, on how tart cherries could protect your heart: The Tasty Fruit That Could Protect Your Heart

Tags: health breakthroughs, improve sleep, insomnia, sleep, tart cherry juice