Insomnia and Sleeplessness

Weekend sleep-creates more fatigue

swee — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:08:09 +0000

Most working class people often built up a sleep debt during the week and tried to catch u on the weekend, leading to the type of lethargy experienced when adjusting to daylight savings. Therefore, sleeping in on weekend can get the working week off to a bad start.

According to a research conducted by Professor Leon Lack, psychologist of Flinders University of Adelaide, “The feelings of sleepiness and fatigue the next couple of days were significant in comparison with people who maintained their regular wakeup times on Saturday and Sunday mornings.”

Delayed waking was associated with a 42-minute delay in dim light melatonin onset and an eight-minute increase in time to fall asleep compared to keeping habitual wake-up times. This is because sleeping in on the weekend people delay the body clock by about 45 minutes. It is recommended only sleeping in for half and hour on weekends.

Stop worrying about overdose in nicotine replacement therapy

swee — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:51:24 +0000

Smokers usually find it hard to quit smoking. When they try to give up smoking, they often have the craving, anxiety, distress, aggression, disturbed sleep and even depression.

Nicotine replacement therapy in the forms of nicotine patches, chewing gum and inhalers are available for the purpose of smoking cessation. However, how much is the safety maximum amount of nicotine in our body?

Combining different forms of nicotine replacement therapy such as patches and chewing gum can boost quit rates to above 50% and still poses no risk to patients, according to a smoking cessation expert. It has been shown we cannot overdose on nicotine and there was no reported case or symptoms of toxicity.

An Australian survey found that one in four smokers used patches and smoked indicated the dose was “too weak”. The smokers needed to “top up” nicotine levels to avoid cravings and withdrawal. The expert suggests to try nicotine patch first, if still smoking, to add more nicotine replacement therapy until they do not feel like smoking. This approach has 60% abstinent beyond three months.

Nocturnal enuresis, also occurs in adolescents/adults

swee — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 11:30:59 +0000

Bedwetting causes fatigue, disruption to family sleep, stressful event and fear of underlying pathology for parents and adult sufferers.

Nocturnal enuresis impacts the daily life of 61% of children. 1.5% of 13-year-olds and adolescents rate nocturnal enuresis as significant event in their life. This can persist into adulthood, with 0.5% of adults with nocturnal enuresis, which can be associated with a high incidence of depression, lower self-esteem and sleep disturbances.

It is interesting to note genetic factors play a role in 2/3 of children with nocturnal enuresis. However, older children may have more severe nocturnal enuresis and are more likely to have daytime urinary incontinence as well. Not all children will “outgrow” their nocturnal enuresis.

It is therefore important to identify the causes of nocturnal enuresis (eg.arousal/sleep problems-obstructive sleep apnoea; nocturnal polyuria;bladder dysfunction and reduced functional bladder capacity), risk factors (eg. constipation; bladder infection; type I diabetes; spinal bifida; psychological factors; ADHD) and genetic factors, and treating appropriately with correct diagnosis of the problem, management strategies are likely to be highly effective for both children and adolescents.

Better options to prevent unplanned pregnancies

swee — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:53:17 +0000

How many sleepless nights do you have worrying about you might be pregnant? A survey in Scotland involving nearly 4000 women found high rates of unplanned pregnancies, even among women who decided to go ahead and have baby. Other study in Edinburgh hospital involved 2900 women found that only 65% of these women had intended to become pregnant. Interestingly, only 1% of all the women had used emergency contraception (oral levonorgestrel). On a study with 900 women attending for abortion, 9 out of 10 of these pregnancies were unintended, yet only 12% of the women had used emergency contraception. Among those women who had used emergency contraception, about half had used it after every episode of unprotected intercourse during the menstrual cycle in which they got pregnant. Options of preventing unplanned pregnancies should include long-acting contraceptive methods such as implants and intrauterine devices. Females should talk to their doctors before planning sexually active. Lack of knowledge, difficulties in obtaining it, and reservations about using it were the most commonly cited barriers to emergency contraceptive use. [source: Lancet 2006;368:1782-87] If you reside in Queensland Australia, a good source for advise or information on unplanned pregnancies are: