Most people have trouble sleeping from time to time, and sometimes the bathroom calls to you in the middle of the night.  I participated in a sleep class this week and I thought you might like some of the useful tips I learned.

#1 Get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night.  Why?  They have done longevity studies and those were the ideal amounts of sleep.  So sleeping too much can be detrimental as well.

#2 Bad sleep…Big bellies!  It is possible.  When you don’t sleep well a hormone from your adrenal glands called cortisol will spike abnormally high.  If it does it can increase your hunger, and also increase mid-section fat storage.

#3 One other tidbit for those of you who don’t enjoy being sick.  Sleeping recharges the immune system.  I can speak personally on this.  Some of you may remember emails from last year on my sore throat.   www.docaltman.com if your wan to read more.  I almost never ever get sick.   When I feel any type of illness it is always because of having too many irons in the fire (stress) and not sleeping mulitple nights in a row.

#4 Spinal Rehydration.  During the night your spinal fills back up with fluid after the day of compression from standing up.  So good spine health relates to adequate sleep and good sleep posture.

#5 “Warm hands and feet induce sleep quickly”-Mayo sleep clinic

#6 Get up at the same time everyday.  This is probably the most important aspect of regular sleep.  If you are not sleeping well this would be a great place to start.  You should not need an alarm clock.  If you need an alarm clock and you are not working shifts, you have sleep problems, lifestyle problems, or adrenal gland problems.  Once again I’ve been on that path and I know when I wake up easily I need to slow life down.

#7 Go to bed at the same time.

#8 The room should be quiet and dark.  Darker the better.

#9 No caffeine within 6 hours of going to bed.
No Alcohol bed fore bed
No Exercise before bed.
No Long naps…(anything over 20 minutes)

#10 Don’t face the alarm clock out if you tend to wake in the middle of the night.  You will stress about the time and fret about not sleeping.  Don’t watch the clock at all.  Just lay back down and start counting backwards from 100-1.

If these don’t help just call or email for more specific info.

I was watching a father pick up his child at school last week and I could not believe how far his toes pointed out when he walked. Your toes should point forward when you walk, if not, the alignment of your legs is off and you need to get them adjusted. Bad alignment for your body is just like bad alignment for your car. You will wear out faster!

Gatorade Update

Original Gatorade doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup, but the new fangled ones do have HFCS. So read the labels. 

Large companies are also know for changing ingredients without telling consumers. For example: Snickers bars didn’t have partially hydrogenated oil in them last year. They were the last candy bar without it. This year it’s in there. No matter what you are buying, if it requires a label of ingredients, you must read it.

Alternatives to Sleeping Better

The researchers found that 4.5 percent of those with sleeping troubles, or an estimated 1.6 million people, are using complementary and alternative medicine to help themselves sleep better.

No change in heart disease risk in U.S.
Thu Sep 21, 2006 2:32 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD) among U.S. adults did not changed much during roughly the last decade, report researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta in Journal of the American College of Cardiology this month.

Dr. Umed A. Ajani and colleagues compared the 10-year risk of developing heart disease among US adults during the years 1988 to 1994 with that among US adults during the years 1999 to 2002.

“The results of this study suggest that a more holistic public health approach to reduce CHD risk may be needed,” the investigators say.

  SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology September 2002.

Dr.Altman—Am I in fantasyland? What? Come on, you’re kidding me. The current thought on heart disease hasn’t made a difference.