Rest & Relaxation- 01

Rest & Relaxation

1- Why Am I So Tired?
2- How to Beat Insomnia

3- A Woman's Guide to 'Me' Time
4- Tips to Reduce Stress in Women Over 50
5- Estrogen and Emotions
///////////////////////// ////////////////////  ///////////////////////

1- Why Am I So Tired?

Why Am I So Tired?

It's the middle of the day and you just can't seem to get out of first gear. Is it lack of sleep, or could there be something else that makes you feel so wiped out? Check out these culprits for fatigue and get some pep back in your step.

Does Your Lifestyle Need a Tweak?

First off, ask yourself this: Do you treat your body right?

"With my patients, I talk about the three pillars of health: sleep, diet, and exercise," says Theodore Friedman, MD, PhD.

"If you aren't getting good sleep, it's hard to eat well, and it's hard to exercise. And the same is true the other way around. They're all related."

So try not to short-change yourself on shut-eye. Adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep. Eat a balanced diet of fruits, veggies, and lean protein, and get a regular dose of physical activity.

If you've checked all those boxes and you still drag through your days, it might be time to check possible medical causes of fatigue.

Anemia

It's a disorder that makes it hard for your blood to move oxygen around your body. A common type is called "iron-deficiency" anemia.

Iron acts like a train car that transports oxygen in your blood. "People with low iron don't have enough cars on their train," Friedman says. "They're tired, they get dizzy when they stand up, they get brain fog, they get heart palpitations."

Your doctor can check you for anemia with a simple blood test.

Diabetes

Doctors don't know exactly why it makes people so tired. One likely reason is that your body uses lots of energy to deal with your frequent changes in blood sugar levels.

What doctors do know is that fatigue is one of the most common symptoms of diabetes. It has other signs, too. You may feel thirsty and need to go to the bathroom often.

Problems With Your Thyroid

It's a small, butterfly-shaped gland that sits in your neck. It makes a hormone that helps control how you use energy. When your thyroid gland is out of whack, you're out of whack.

"People with an underactive thyroid are going to feel tired," Friedman says. "Their cells aren't working well, they're sluggish, and their reflexes are slow."

Your doctor may test your blood for thyroid hormone to see if it's to blame for your fatigue.

Heart Disease

Extreme tiredness is a common symptom of congestive heart failure, which happens when it doesn't pump as well as it should. If you have it, your fatigue usually gets worse when you exercise. You might also have swelling in your arms or legs and shortness of breath.

Sleep Apnea

This disorder keeps you from getting enough oxygen when you sleep, which means you won't get real rest during the night.

"The brain notices you're not getting rid of your CO2, and it wakes up really briefly in an alarmed state," says Lisa Shives, MD, director of the Sleep Medicine Center at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. You don't even realize it, which makes it hard to figure out why you're so sleepy during the day.

"You don't get into REM -- the sleep that makes you feel best," Shives says.

A device called a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine can help keep your airways open for a solid night's sleep.

Menopause

If you're a woman who's going through menopause, you may find it hard to get good sleep. Your hormones change a lot at this time, which give you night sweats and hot flashes. That can keep you up at night and leave you dragging during the day.

Depression

It robs your brain of the chemicals it needs to work at its best. One of those is serotonin, which helps regulate your internal body clock.

Depression can lower your energy levels and make you feel tired during the day. You may also find it hard to fall asleep at night, or you might wake up earlier than you want in the morning.

Talk to you doctor if you think you're depressed. Talk therapy and medicine can help.

2- How to Beat Insomnia

10 Tips to Beat Insomnia

If you are suffering from insomnia, there are many steps you can take to change behaviors and lifestyle to help you get to sleep. Here are some tips for beating insomnia.

1. Wake up at the same time each day. It is tempting to sleep late on weekends, especially if you have had poor sleep during the week. However, if you suffer from insomnia you should get up at the same time every day in order to train your body to wake at a consistent time.
2. Eliminate alcohol and stimulants like nicotine and caffeine. The effects of caffeine can last for several hours, perhaps up to 24 hours, so the chances of it affecting sleep are significant. Caffeine may not only cause difficulty initiating sleep, but may also cause frequent awakenings. Alcohol may have a sedative effect for the first few hours following consumption, but it can then lead to frequent arousals and a non-restful night's sleep. If you are on medications that act as stimulants, such as decongestants or asthma inhalers, ask your doctor when they should best be taken to help minimize any affect on sleep.
3. Limit naps. While napping seems like a proper way to catch up on missed sleep, it is not always so. It is important to establish and maintain a regular sleep pattern and train oneself to associate sleep with cues like darkness and a consistent bedtime. Napping can affect the quality of nighttime sleep.
4. Exercise regularly. Regular exercise can improve sleep quality and duration. However, exercising immediately before bedtime can have a stimulant effect on the body and should be avoided. Try to finish exercising at least three hours before you plan to retire for the night.
5. Limit activities in bed. The bed is for sleeping and having sex and that's it. If you suffer from insomnia, do not balance the checkbook, study, or make phone calls, for example, while in bed or even in the bedroom, and avoid watching television or listening to the radio. All these activities can increase alertness and make it difficult to fall asleep.
6. Do not eat or drink right before going to bed. Eating a late dinner or snacking before going to bed can activate the digestive system and keep you up. If you suffer from gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) or heartburn, it is even more important to avoid eating and drinking right before bed since this can make your symptoms worse. In addition, drinking a lot of fluids prior to bed can overwhelm the bladder, requiring frequent visits to the bathroom that disturb your sleep.
7. Make your sleeping environment comfortable. Temperature, lighting, and noise should be controlled to make the bedroom conducive to falling (and staying) asleep. Your bed should feel comfortable and if you have a pet that sleeps in the room with you, consider having the pet sleep somewhere else if it tends to make noise in the night.
8. Get all your worrying over with before you go to bed. If you find you lay in bed thinking about tomorrow, consider setting aside a period of time -- perhaps after dinner -- to review the day and to make plans for the next day. The goal is to avoid doing these things while trying to fall asleep. It is also useful to make a list of, say, work-related tasks for the next day before leaving work. That, at least, eliminates one set of concerns.
9. Reduce stress. There are a number of relaxation therapies and stress reduction methods you may want to try to relax the mind and the body before going to bed. Examples include progressive muscle relaxation (perhaps with audio tapes), deep breathing techniques, imagery, meditation, and biofeedback.
10. Consider participating in cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy helps some people with insomnia identify and correct inappropriate thoughts and beliefs that may contribute to insomnia. In addition, cognitive therapy can give you the proper information about sleep norms, age-related sleep changes, and help set reasonable sleep goals, among other things.