A “Smart” Snoring Pillow?

There are many people in the world who suffer from snoring. You'd be hard pressed to find a country in our vast world where someone doesn't snore. It's a natural occurrence but that doesn't mean it can't be dealt with. Just like sneezing can be controlled, snoring can be put under control as well. The first thing is to know the causes:

• Relaxed muscles in the mouth and throat
• Heavy drinking the night before sleep
• Unhealthy weight
• Smoking
• Use of drugs or sleeping medication

But wait! Sleeping medication is supposed to help you sleep, right? Well, it does indeed help you sleep but because it puts your body in such a state of relaxation you run into loose muscles in the mouth and throat. These loose muscles cause your tongue to fall to the back of your throat thereby cutting off or restricting your airflow. That's where you're going to get that well-known sound of snoring. They don't call it sawing logs without reason.

If you are a person who snores you probably know very well the impact it can have on your daily life. Your sleep is interrupted on a regular basis, if you have a partner who shares your bed they aren't getting proper sleep either. What can poor sleep lead to? Arguments, poor work performance, issues with memory, irritability, you name it! It's definitely not an enhancement to your life, anyway.

So what can you do about it?

The simple tips are to cut back on your drinking and smoking before bed, exercise and lose weight, and scale back on the sleep medication (if you can). There are sleep devices you can get to help assist with your tongue falling back into your throat as well as nasal strips which are designed to help open your airways.

If you check Kickstarter you're going to find something really cool: a smart pillow.

Introducing ZEEQ, the world’s most sophisticated and comfortable pillow. ZEEQ is not just another device or accessory, it is an active participant in your sleep. The pillow senses movement and sound and tracks your data, but unlike other sleep technology ZEEQ actually responds to the data it collects.

If ZEEQ hears snoring, it will gently vibrate the pillow to encourage a new sleeping position. Your natural sleep movements are recorded and used to wake you up at the ideal moment in your sleep cycle, making groggy mornings a thing of the past. Most importantly, ZEEQ is the most comfortable pillow you will ever own. All the technology in the world will never be more important than softness, support, and premium materials, but luckily ZEEQ integrates technology and comfort seamlessly. ZEEQ integrates into your existing sleep habits and improves your sleep without you even being aware of it.

ZEEQ links to a smartphone app, so you can see your sleep data, including your Snore Score. If you want to take it a step farther, the app can help you track your diet, exercise and other habits to analyze how these factors effect your sleep, so you can make changes toward more restful slumber.

Via: https://www.thunderclap.it/en/projects/42172-the-world-s-smartest-pillow

If that is not the coolest thing you have read today you need to start skimming Kickstarter more often.

While some people are hesitant to bring more technology into the bedroom, ZEEQ is definitely something you'll want to invest in if you're a snorer. By recording your snoring and other sleep data you can bring that information in when you visit your health care professional. This is key if you feel that your snoring is a sign of something more serious.

You already have a smartphone, why not invest in a smart pillow?

The post A “Smart” Snoring Pillow? is republished from http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org

source http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/sleep-health/snoring-pillow

Grown Up Sleep Issues in Kids: Do You Know the Signs?

Kids are supposed to be fancy-free and energetic. They're supposed to climb trees, make believe a cardboard box is a spaceship and ask you those thought provoking questions that seem a little wise for their years. Kids aren't supposed to get sick and they aren't supposed to suffer those trials we tend to face when we're adults. Nothing could be farther from the truth, however. Kids are not as invincible as we'd like them to be. They do get sick and sometimes, they suffer from issues that should be left to adults. Snoring is one of those issues which can be a sign for other disorders. It's important to be aware of what these disorders can look like so that you can take appropriate action, if necessary:

Once in awhile, kids suffer grown-up medical problems such as multiple sclerosis, sleep apnea or stroke. None of these conditions are rare, but the fact that they hardly ever occur in children causes special frustrations and challenges for young patients, as a story in the current issue of Neurology Nowdescribes. Doctors don’t always think to look for these diagnoses in children, so they may mistake kids’ symptoms for other childhood medical problems and treat them incorrectly.

That’s especially true of children with sleep apnea, says Rafael Pelayo, MD, a sleep specialist with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford who is quoted in the story. Sleep apnea patients repeatedly stop breathing during sleep, making it hard for their brains to get enough oxygen. Kids with this condition are chronically overtired — and they act that way, as he explains:

Diagnosis of sleep apnea in children is tricky because symptoms such as hyperactivity and inattentiveness can resemble those of attention deficit disorder (ADD), says Dr. Pelayo. Sleep apnea in children generally first appears between the ages of 3 and 6, the same ages when many ADD diagnoses are made. “It’s estimated that as many as 25 percent of children diagnosed with ADD actually have sleep apnea,” he says. “Sleep disruption should be considered before any kid gets labeled [with ADD].” In many cases, once the sleep apnea is treated, the behavioral problems disappear, he says.

The good news is that with the correct diagnosis, pediatric sleep apnea is usually not difficult to treat. Some children need surgery to remove large adenoids and tonsils, which can block breathing. Patients may also need to wear headgear at night to help their jaw grow correctly, and some children require continuous positive airway pressure while they sleep, a treatment often used for adults. But it’s important for parents who notice loud snoring or frequent gaps in their child’s sleep breathing to get the issue investigated so that kids don’t miss out on needed treatments. “The misperception is that the problem will go away on its own,” Pelayo says.

Via: http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2016/06/28/keeping-kids-with-grown-up-diagnoses-from-falling-through-the-cracks/

Children are the embodiment of all our youthful dreams. Running free in fields and laughing loudly without a care in the world. As much as we want to keep them that way we, as the adults and the parents, need to be on the look-out for potential issues. If these issues are found in a child you know it's important to have them meet with a medical professional. There are so many other things kids should be worrying about. Their sleep health shouldn't be one of them, but if it is, you can work with your child to make sure they have the best sleep possible.

The time is now. Counting sheep never looked so good.

The following blog post Grown Up Sleep Issues in Kids: Do You Know the Signs? is courtesy of The Snoring Mouthpiece Review Blog

source http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/sleep-health/grown-up-sleep-issues-in-kids-do-you-know-the-signs

Common Ways To Stop Snoring You Forgot About

We're no strangers to the rules our parents have instilled in us as children. Rules like washing our hands before we eat, not eating food off the floor (aside from the 5 second rule) and to always use our manners. These sorts of things are taken for granted and thought of as common sense. The reality about common sense is that it's not common at all! Due to that, there are times when we'll forget these little rules and tips we've learned about and fall out of practice.

The same thing goes for those who have snoring issues. There are many common sense tips out there that you can practice in your life to reduce or eliminate your snoring. Since you've probably forgotten all about them they might seem wondrous or revolutionary, but trust that they're just common tricks that can really make life so much easier:

1. Unclog Nasal Passages

Dr. Mark Hendricks, the sleep services director at Fairview Park Hospital in Georgia, shared to Fox News that taking hot showers before sleeping will help clear the nasal passages. Unclogged nasal passages facilitate slower and more silent airflow. Contrastingly, clogged or narrowed nasal passages cause airflow to move hastily thereby producing the loud snoring sound.

 2. Shed Some Weight

Losing weight could cure some snorers, but results may vary from person to person. If you began snoring the same time you added considerable amount of weight, reverting back to your initial weight could stop the snoring.

"If you gain weight around your neck, it squeezes the internal diameter of the throat, making it more likely to collapse during sleep, triggering snoring," sleep expert and otolaryngologist Daniel Slaughter explained. He clarified that snoring is not exclusive to plump individuals as "thin people snore too."

3. Good Sleeping Posture

Sleeping on your back makes the base of your tongue and soft palate collapse to the back of your throat. This hinders proper airflow and causes a vibrating sound during sleep. To remedy this. sleep experts recommend sleeping on your side as this prevents the base of your tongue from collapsing into the back of your throat.

"A body pillow (a full-length pillow that supports your entire body) provides an easy fix," Dr. Sudhansu Chokroverty of JFK Medical Center told Web MD. "Or you can recline the bed with the head up and extended, which opens up nasal airway passages and may help prevent snoring."

 4. Combat Inflammation

Inflammation can narrow nasal and throat passages, which causes hasty airflow and loud snoring noises. New York-based naturopathic doctor Gabrielle Francis revealed that chronic snorers can add herbs such as ginger, turmeric and Boswellia into their diet to combat inflammation.

Via: http://www.parentherald.com/articles/47801/20160606/5-amazingly-simple-tips-stop-partner-snoring.htm

None of these things cost loads of money and they are probably things your parents have told you about before. Maybe your doctor has mentioned it in passing but it sounds so natural you've forgotten to actually put it into practice. Now these aren't quick fixes and won't stop your snoring after one night. With a proper plan in place and dedication you can integrate these common sense tips into your routine.

The one thing that was missed by the doctor in this case? Snoring mouthpieces. A great choice for a MAD mouthpiece is the ZQuiet (http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/zquiet), whereas the tongue retaining champion is easily the Good Morning Snore Solution (http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/good-morning-snore-solution).

It all depends on how much sleep you'd like to get. If you share a bed with someone and you're the one who snores, you'll be doing yourself all kinds of favors if you get this issue under wraps.

It can be done and if you've already tried most, or all, of these tips and find that you're still snoring, make an appointment with your healthcare provider. You might have an underlying condition that requires more specific care.

Once you've ruled everything out and gotten all your ducks in a row, you'll be sleeping pretty.

Common Ways To Stop Snoring You Forgot About Read more on: http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org

source http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/blog/ways-to-stop-snoring

Poor Sleep And Its Effects on Your Health

There is a reason human beings needs sleep. We're not programmed to run on empty when it comes to both our eating and sleeping habits. Perhaps you've heard it before: you've got a deadline on a project or essay and you decide to pull an all-nighter. You think you'll be fine if you skip sleep for one night. You might be fine for one night, but you shouldn't make it a habit. There are those who suffer from sleep disorders like snoring and insomnia who can't get that coveted rest without medication or other sleep aids like mouthpieces. These people would probably literally kill to get a good night's rest. Poor sleep will do more than just ruin your night: it can also ruin your health both physically and mentally. There have been new studies done that have linked poor sleep with inflammation:

A new meta-analysis in Biological Psychiatry reports that sleep disturbances and long sleep duration are associated with increases in markers of inflammation.

"It is important to highlight that both too much and too little sleep appears to be associated with inflammation, a process that contributes to depression as well as many medical illnesses," said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.

Insufficient sleep is considered a public health epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Common sleep disturbances, such as insomnia, have been associated with increased risk of inflammatory disease and mortality.

Substances that increase in response to inflammation and circulate in the blood stream, such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), predict adverse health conditions including cardiovascular events, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes. Many studies have investigated the mechanism behind the association between sleep health and immunity, but variations between studies have made it difficult to understand the effects.

[...]

People with a normal sleep duration get 7-8 hours of shut-eye per night. The analysis showed that sleep disturbance (poor sleep quality or complaints of insomnia) and long sleep duration (more than 8 hours) were associated with increased levels of CRP and IL-6. Shorter sleep duration was associated with increased levels of CRP. No associations were found with TNFα.

Via: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160706091735.htm 

As we get older and life becomes more demanding we tend to think we can get away with cutting back on our diet or our sleep patterns. As adults, the rush of the day to day can make it seem like we never get a time to unwind unless we stay up until 2am, even though we need to get up for work by 6am.

If you are a person who suffers from a sleep disorder there is even more reason for you to get an appropriate amount of sleep each night. As outlined in the article above, insufficient sleep can do a serious number on your physical health which can affect your mental health. If you aren't physically and mentally healthy, you won't be able to provide for yourself. You may find yourself on disability, unable to work, which is definitely not going to help you feel good about yourself.

If you snore, feel you may suffer from insomnia or any other sleep disorder, you may need to get a sleep study to determine what exactly your issue is. The more you know, the better armed you can be when seeking treatment methods. Treatment can be as simple as wearing a mouthpiece to keep yourself from snoring or as complicated as an exercise and medication regime. The point of the matter is, you can take control. Isn't it about time you did?

Poor Sleep And Its Effects on Your Health is republished from The Snoring Mouthpiece Review Blog

source http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/sleep-health/poor-sleep-and-the-affects-on-your-health

How To Eliminate Snoring And Improve Your Life

Almost every family has one: that person who passes out on the couch during family gatherings and snores so loudly the house shakes. The family member that small children think is some kind of monster due to the noise that comes out of their mouth. While it seems all fun and games for the younger members it’s a sobering reality for older ones. That snoring family member probably keeps their own family up in the night and they also probably wake up several times themselves. They’re probably embarrassed about their sleep disorder but are either too embarrassed to see a medical professional about it or too proud to admit there is a problem.

And so people begin to suffer.

Those who can’t sleep properly during the night because they or someone in their house snores are at risk for extreme lethargy the following day. This can lead to poor decisions and can eventually impact their jobs.

But there is hope! There are some simple tips that can make life easier for all those affected. Some more good news is that most of these tips don’t come with a cost attached:

Snorers tend to be crankier in mornings due to lack of sleep. Snorers are also more likely to have a serious condition called obstructive sleep apnoea, which indicates risk for heart disease. These are only a handful of reasons to stop snoring and get a peaceful night of sleep.

The National Institutes for Health (NHS) warns that “there’s no miracle cure for snoring.” However, that doesn’t mean an adult has to be a snorer for the rest of his or her life. Snoring can be managed with a combination of habitual changes and sleep aids sold at pharmacies. Read ahead to find out several medically approved tips to alleviate snoring:

1. Use a snoring aid

The most common treatment people seek for snoring is using various natural and pharmaceutical aids sold over the counter. If you are buying an anti-snoring device, choose a good product like theravent, which is a simple adhesive strip that should be pasted over the nostrils before going to sleep. The strip increases the pressure inside the airways; a trick that can eliminate the sounds associated with snoring. Anti-snoring devices such as this should be used in combination with other therapies like the ones mentioned below.

2. Improve sleeping position

Your sleeping position can affect how your jaw and mouth is positioned during sleep.

Via: http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/stop-snoring-and-sleep-better-with-these-simple-tips/

Most of these tips probably seem like common sense. There are also other great snoring devices out there like the SnoreRX, of course. The fact remains that many people don’t really use common sense and what is normal for one person is not for another. Sometimes you need to read these tips or have someone actually tell you before you can register it in your mind as something important.

Not only will these tips help your snoring concerns they will also improve your quality of life. Being healthy is never a bad thing so why not take the first step in the right direction?

The following blog article How To Eliminate Snoring And Improve Your Life was initially published on http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/

source http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx/how-to-eliminate-snoring-and-improve-your-life

Count Sheep, Or Count Robots – Smart Mattresses?

There is always room for improvement and sleeping is just one of those areas that we can always work on. Maybe we need to sleep more, or maybe we need to sleep less (looking at you, Mr. I-Don’t-Get-Up-Before-Noon). Perhaps our sleep positions need to change or maybe we just need to be able to ensure we’re getting quality sleep in the limited time we have.

Smartphones have revolutionized the communication world and now smart mattresses are coming into the fray. Forget counting sheep; you’ll want to start counting robots:

Everybody sleeps and now technology wants to help us to do it better. New apps can control and monitor every aspect and activity in the bed, including some that are better left in the dark.

Technology ranges from a space-age prototype that gives the ultimate assist in making sure your bed is always neatly made to a “Smartress,” a mattress that knows if someone else is sleeping in your bed. It might even tip you off via an app on your phone, CBS2’s Kristine Johnson reported.

It’s a so-called “cheating alert,” courtesy of sensors embedded in the mattress to detect motion when there’s not supposed to be any. But for 3-year-old Bella Marlow, and her dad Ian, smart technology has given their family peace of mind.

“I’m amazed at some of the statistics that we’re able to get from what she has and notifications come through on our phone to tell us if she’s gotten out,” Marlow said.

Marlow can track Bella’s sleep patterns on an iPad or phone, and knows when she’s had a restless night, or gets out of bed when she not supposed to.

Via: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/06/22/sleep-technology/

While some of the alerts may prove to make you more paranoid there’s no denying that a lot of benefit comes from them as well. If you live in a large home and want to know if your kid is getting out of bed, then a smartress is going to help you with that.

If you’ve had a hard day at work and your muscles are aching, being able to get the mattress warmed up before you even walk in the door is going to be the most amazing part of your day. Then you can just stumble out of your clothes and allow yourself to be wrapped in the bliss of sleep.

Being able to adjust the comfort level of your mattress while you sleep can also help lessen the impact snoring may have on your body. Sleep position can be a major culprit and all the assistance you can get in addressing it is going to make your life easier.

Of course these mattresses are going to put a dent in your pocket but when it comes down to it, wouldn’t you like a nice comfortable bed by any means possible? Who knows, in the future our mattresses may even start singing us lullabies.

The following post Count Sheep, Or Count Robots – Smart Mattresses? is courtesy of The Snoring Mouthpiece Review Blog

source http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/sleep-health/count-sheep-or-count-robots-smart-mattresses

Depression And Sleep In Young Women: A Dangerous Mix

Women almost always have a lot going on. Whether it’s dealing with various life issues like motherhood, working hard for half the pay your male coworker gets or cringing over taxes on feminine hygiene products (taxes haven’t been removed on this everywhere yet!), it turns out the amount of sleep you get can impact your chances of developing or worsening depression. This is especially true for young women who are trying to balance life being a college or university student.

Like we said: as if you don’t have enough going on.

Fret not! Just because you find out that there are links between certain sleep issues and depression doesn’t mean all hope is lost:

One night of short sleep may lead to less depression the following day, but chronic short sleep is tied to greater depression overall for young women, according to a new study.

“The overall message that poor quality and insufficient sleep lead to poor mood, which, in turn, worsens sleep was not surprising,” said lead author David A. Kalmbach of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor.

More noteworthy, he added, was that these relationships were evident in healthy, young women, not just insomniacs or depressed people.

The researchers studied 171 female college students for two weeks, beginning with an in-person questionnaire assessment of anxiety and depression levels and continuing with daily self-reported measures of mood and anxiety. The women also reported their total sleep time, time to fall asleep, and ratings of sleep quality each night.

On average, the women slept for seven hours and 22 minutes each night, taking 21 minutes to fall asleep. Overall, they rated their sleep quality “fairly good.”

At the start of the study, a third of the women scored in the “at risk” range for depression and 17 percent had clinically significant anxiety.

Women who averaged less sleep per night over the two-week period tended to report greater “anhedonic” depression symptoms, or the inability to enjoy pleasurable things. But they also tended to report more of these symptoms the day after a night of particularly long sleep, as reported in Sleep Medicine.

One night of sleep deprivation may improve mood the following day. But unfortunately, “therapeutic effects of a night of sleep deprivation are typically short-lasting, and because chronic sleep deprivation increases depression-risk, the therapeutic benefit of sleep deprivation on depression is modest at best,” Kalmbach said.

Via: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-sleep-depression-idUSKCN0YI2FL

The important thing that you should do once you’ve identified a problem is figure out a way to fix it. It’s possible you didn’t know about this until someone told you, right? Now that you have the information it’s your responsibility to do something about it.

If you think you may have a serious sleep disorder or suffer from depression you need to speak with your health care provider. The sooner you address the issue the faster you can manage it. Don’t try to self-diagnose because, let’s face it, Google is not a medical professional.

These people get paid the big bucks for a reason. Book an appointment and you’ll begin your journey to sweet dreams.

The following blog post Depression And Sleep In Young Women: A Dangerous Mix is republished from SnoringMouthpieceReview.org

source http://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/blog/depression-and-sleep-in-young-women-a-dangerous-mix