Amount of our sleep affects our personal health, our actual output, productivity

 
“A 2007 poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that 67 percent of women frequently experience sleep problems and 29 percent use some type of sleep aid at least a few nights a week. Other surveys have consistently found that nearly half again as many women as men complain of insomnia….   Many Doctors tend to assume that the problem is psychological. When 501 physicians were interviewed about how they treated insomnia, they revealed that they asked an average of just two and a half questions, mostly about psychological problems.   National Institutes of Health spent less than $20 million on the condition, although it affects as many as a third of the U.S. adult population. Most of those funds were directed toward treating and managing the problem,” 

Researchers found that people who get more rest are less likely to have calcium clogging their arteries, which can lead to heart attacks and heart failure. The hard “plaques” narrow blood vessels and are a major risk factor for heart disease. Scientists believe that the body is better able to clear the build up from the crucial blood vessels if it gets more rest.  High levels of cholesterol, high blood pressure and smoking are all known to affect the risk of suffering from hardened arteries. Now scientists have proven that the amount of sleep a person regularly gets can also affect their chances of developing the condition.  

 

If you often cannot get enough sleep it can be due to unresolved guilt or unresolved stress, now next do learn to admit it, recognize it, deal with it positively now.. if something is bothering you, put it in writing literately.. so next you can study it, and look at how to spherically deal with it.. or next even go to others for help in dealing with the unresolved guilt or stress first..

 

Face it if you do not eat well you may also feel tired and not get enough sleep.. someone who has had a good meal tends to next sleep quite well. 

 

 You have a responsibility to firstly look after your own well being.. do so now too

 

There is a great risk when being overly ambitious, trying to get rich, and/or  having even acquired wealth that the related stress, lack of sleep can kill you.. 

 

A Mysterious Link Between Sleeplessness and Heart Disease
New York Times - People who don’t get much sleep are more likely than those who do to develop calcifications in their coronary arteries, possibly raising their risk for heart disease, a new study has found. After accounting for various other causes, the researchers concluded that one hour more of sleep per night was associated with a 33 percent decrease in the odds of calcification, comparable to the heart benefit gained by lowering one’s systolic blood pressure by 17 millimeters of mercury.

Proper Sleep May Help Clear Arteries Washington Post
Sleep Longer, Help Your Heart WebMD
Bloomberg - Telegraph.co.uk - U.S. News & World Report - TIME
all 38 news articles »  

  

 

(Eccl 5:12 KJV)  The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

 

(Eccl 5:13 KJV)  There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

 

(Eccl 5:14 KJV)  But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.

 

(Eccl 5:15 KJV)  As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

 

(Eccl 5:16 KJV)  And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?

    

8 Hours of Sleep: a Heart-Healthy Goal for 2009
U.S. News & World Report -  Who would have thought that how we sleep would turn out to be a coronary artery risk factor every bit as important as smoking or high blood pressure?
Expecting a Late Night? Sleep Deprivation Boosts Heart Risk Bloomberg
A Mysterious Link Between Sleeplessness and Heart Disease New York Times
Washington Post - WebMD - BBC News - NPR
all 103 news articles »

Dangerous drug combos pose risk for elderly
Reuters - By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) – Older adults in the United States are popping prescription pills, over-the-counter drugs and dietary supplements in record numbers, and in combinations that could be deadly, US researchers said on Tuesday.
Drug Combinations Putting Seniors at Risk Washington Post
Mixing drugs puts more older patients at risk USA Today
WebMD - CNN - FiercePharma - Wall Street Journal Blogs
all 78 news articles »

Even a Little Overweight, Inactivity Hurts the Heart
Washington Post - Dec 22, 2008 By Ed Edelson MONDAY, Dec. 22 (HealthDay News) — Even a few extra pounds and just a little inactivity increased the risk of heart failure in a major study of American doctors.
Study: A Few Extra Pounds = Big Heart Risk CBS News
Just a little extra weight and inactivity contribute to heart failure TopNews
U.S. News & World Report - Chapel Hill News - Medical News Today - HealthNews  

 

Let’s first be fair to ourselves and others and note that no one thing specifically causes all the cancers, diabetic sick persons, heart problems in the world, rather it is a combination of several different factors starting with our personal ignorance, and the false neglect of   our Bodies.

 

I have said it before and I will say it again Most people still do not take adequate care of their bodies, and have to visit the Doctor next as a result, when an ounce of prevention would have been worth a pound of cure.

   

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the north America often occurs after years of accumulated, neglected  damage to blood vessels around the organ.

  

Burning a candle at both ends tends to shorten it’s life span, in half.. not getting enough quality sleep  also  affects shortens our life, affects our health.. The actual amount of our sleep affects  directly our personal health, our actual output, productivity if you admit it now or not.. Recent studies have shown that people who sleep five or fewer hours per night are more likely to develop heart trouble and are clearly less productive during the day, and will even unbeneficial gain weight as a result  too, since they have less energy for physical activities. 

   

Experts recommend that adults get between seven and eight hours of sleep a night, teenagers nine hours and children between 10 and 11 hours.  Seniors need more than 8 hours of sleep.

 

More Canadians are trying to drink themselves to sleep, Quebec study finds  Canwest News Service Published: Friday, January 02, 2009 Canadians are spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year self-medicating their insomnia with alcohol, a new study suggests. “We were very surprised to see that so many people use alcohol as a way to promote sleep, particularly because it has more detrimental than beneficial effects on sleep,” says Charles Morin, a professor of psychology at Laval University and one of the authors of the study, published this week in the journal Sleep. Overall, eight per cent of the sample reported using alcohol as a sleep aid. Among people with insomnia, 28 per cent reported self-medicating with alcohol.   The study estimates the total annual costs of the sleep disorder in Quebec alone is $6.5 billion. “We know insomnia is a very prevalent problem, it has a very negative impact on people’s quality of life,” Morin says. “If we can show that it’s 10 times more costly not to treat insomnia because of its impact on absenteeism from work and reduced productivity than it is to treat it, why aren’t we treating it more often?” Part of the problem is that so few people seek help. Morin says some people take sleeping pills, “but there are many more who self-medicate with over-the-counter products or, worse, with alcohol.” The research found the money spent on the use of booze as a sleep aid far exceeds costs associated with visits to doctors and the use of prescription pills and over-the-counter products from antihistamines to herbal teas. “The idea that ’schnapps before your bedtime’ is good for your sleep might have been right about 100 years ago, as long as it was the occasional schnapps,” says Dr. Adam Moscovitch, medical director of the Canadian Sleep Institute and a University of Calgary professor. “When you knock yourself out as a way of dealing with it, if you can’t shut you mind off in any other way, then alcohol has a very negative effect on your sleep. It deprives you of any of the deep stages of sleep and, once it wears off, it has a rebound effect. So your problem becomes much worse.” Of the $6.5 billion estimated annual costs associated with insomnia in Quebec, the biggest indirect cost by far — $5 billion — was reduced productivity. The highest direct cost — $339.8 million — was money spent on alcohol to promote sleep. By comparison, an estimated $16.5 million was spent on prescription drugs, and $1.8 million for over-the-counter products. The study, based on a random sample of 948 adults, distinguished between those people who drink at the end of the day, and those who use booze specifically to help them sleep, meaning they drink before bedtime, or in the middle of the night. Canadians today live in a stressed society with multiple pressures balancing work and family responsibilities. “One of the things we cut corners on is our sleep,” Moscovitch says. http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=bbff0ea3-d36d-45bd-ac3b-773697d5442f

  

High personal stress, lack of excercise, Smoking, Alcohol, diabetes, high blood cholesterol,  obesity. etc., now have all been linked directly to the negative calcium buildup in the coronary arteries around the heart. NOT getting enough sleep increases the risk of clogged arteries and heart disease, research has shown.    One’s blood pressure usually dips when people are asleep, which could provide health benefits for those who get more sleep..  a number of studies have suggested that people who sleep less are at greater risk of heart disease and death.. Also “It’s possible, for example, that people who are under more stress may be both sleeping less and at higher risk of heart disease, “If we got those people to sleep more but they still were under a lot of stress, it wouldn’t change their risk of heart disease.” Higher education levels are also associated with both a lower risk of heart disease and a tendency to get more sleep.”  Abnormal sleep patterns also can skew the release of appetite- related hormones, which may contribute to heart disease-related conditions such as obesity and diabetes, earlier studies have shown.

One study  tested 495 men and women aged between 35 and 47 over five years, none of whom had evidence of hardening of the arteries at the start of the study. By the end, however, 12 per cent of the volunteers were sufferers. Calcified arteries were found in 27 per cent of volunteers who slept less than five hours a night. That figure dropped to 11 per cent for participants sleeping five to seven hours, and 6 per cent for those who spent more than seven hours asleep. this study adds to previous research suggesting that getting enough sleep may help to keep our heart and circulation healthy. “Sleep is essential for our body’s ability to repair itself, and  it is important to try and get enough rest. Drinking alcohol late at night, and getting up early can also  mean we’re not getting enough quantity, or quality, of sleep.

Adults who do not get enough sleep often act like cranky babies who also need their sleep in reality..  A long daily grind that shaves away hours of sleep and makes people groggy may also contribute to their risk of heart disease, scientists said.

  

  Drink Alcohol and Die  is fast becoming Canada’s preoccupation, main goal, slogan

  

Paradoxically, despite all the dangers, warnings ,  most people continue to drink beyond safe levels on a weekly basis that is more than 14 units of alcohol for women and 21 units for men. At the heart of this strange contradiction is a false belief, best encapsulated by the former Prime Minister in his introduction to the first national alcohol strategy. In the document, Tony Blair assured readers that “alcohol misuse by a small minority” was responsible for the rising levels of social and health harm. In short, problem drinkers are “other people”, spoiling it for the rest of us. In reality this is not so.. Drinking alcohol  has become too common amongst too many people. There is “no failsafe guide” on staying under the legal alcohol limit. It’s also worrying that motorists are continuing to ignore the drink-drive message.  

 

 “Reality too many of the binge drinkers., if not already are likely to become hard core alcoholics. The real problem of alcohol misuse was much wider than previously thought   We are drinking more now than we have ever done since before the First World War. We must transform attitudes towards alcohol.   Alcohol, though legal and embedded in our society, is no ordinary commodity. It is very harmful .. never mind the lies, spins,  distortions of the alcohol industries, alcoholics themselves. 

  

Attitudes To Alcohol Must Change. A health Minister  has called for a change in attitudes towards alcohol by both the public and the drinks industry all year now too. Statistics which show an increase of in the number of people   binge drinking, getting drunk  and that the statistics also show that we still have a long way to deal with this major problem. 81% of people who choose to drink are still exceeding the recommended daily limits. The cost of alcohol misuse to our society is very real. In just over 10 years, there has been a startling 86% increase in the numbers of people dying due to alcohol related harm. “Now, more than ever, we should all be working together to really tackle this issue head on and I believe the drinks industry has a key role to play. Supermarkets in particular sell alcohol far too cheaply. I am extremely disappointed that despite having met with each of the major supermarkets, and received their personal assurances that they take this matter extremely seriously, those words have not as yet translated into meaningful action. ”On the contrary, they are flooded with festive drinks promotions that will only encourage people to indulge further in binge drinking. This, in my view, is totally unacceptable.   Action speaks louder than words. On this occasion, profit is being put before public health.”  “The harsh reality is that although alcohol misuse is known to be damaging and harmful to health and well-being, many people still drink to excess. This must change, and in this respect we all have a collective responsibility in tackling this issue – individuals, society, government and the drinks industry alike.”    http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/63/27952/attitudes-alcohol-must-change.html  http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/63/27943/northern-ireland-reports-adult-drinking-patterns.html 

 

 Perhaps the most worrying aspect of all is  the frightening age shift in alcohol use. A generation or two ago, the first experiments with binge drinking were at university or during National Service. The “victims” of those generations who started drinking in their late teens and 20s were perhaps better able to cope with the consequences than 10-14 year-olds today.

 

 The international evidence is quite clear that the health consequences of alcohol misuse are closely linked to a nation’s total alcohol consumption and the main drivers of this are price and availability. 

For liver disease and other medical conditions, there can be a time lag of 10 or more years from the onset of serious drinking to reaping the consequences. Now we are seeing patients, particularly women, in their 20s with advanced alcoholic liver disease – a real tragedy for their family as well as themselves.” 

Holiday stress, along with getting laid off, has caused too many a person to start drinking heavily and this situation is not unusual.. Sadly when most people think about the upcoming holidays, they think about friends, family, food and good cheer. And for many people, the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s are still particularly difficult. Financial problems are tough to handle for most people at any time, but they can seem overwhelming during this season of giving. Due to unresolved stress Feelings of loneliness, isolation and despair may also intensify but alcohol and drugs are never the answer still. Unfortunately, your friend’s   Many people turn to alcohol falsely believing that it helps them to relax and to cope with stress and worry. And because many people think that New Year’s Eve and similar occasions must always be celebrated with alcohol, it’s often readily available, providing another excuse to drink. It actually will likely cause more problems, and not effectively deal with the ones still not resolved Many people next tend to go to excess, extremes, and   drinking larger amounts of alcohol can increase the risk of a deadly form of liver damage called cirrhosis, heart disease, some types of cancer and injuries. And even moderate drinking can often have harmful consequences in the wrong setting, such as one should not    drink and drive, and drinking alcohol during a pregnancy may  seriously harm a developing baby. Alcohol dependence, also called alcoholism, often  means that if a person tries to stop or cut back on drinking, he or she may experience anxiety, sweating, trembling, trouble sleeping, nausea and vomiting. Drinking can be risky even for people who aren’t dependent on it. It may seriously still interfere with sleep and productivity, strain close relationships and get in the way of spending time with loved ones. It not only also puts the drinker at risk for becoming alcohol dependent as well as developing alcohol-related health problems. Too many people who really do now suffer from a drinking problem claim still don’t believe that anything is wrong. They faley try to justify that they’re drinking to cope with a particularly stressful time. In their mind, suppposedly the basic stress is the unresolved problem, not the drinking. They say they can stop drinking whenever they want, but they don’t. Two wrongs do nto make one right here too.  Denial is a common obstacle that prevents many people from seeking help.

 

More alcohol use is a concern for health-care professionals, since it means more deaths, illness, injuries and hospital visits, meaning added strain on the health-care system, and additional cost. “There’s 60 different ways in which alcohol can cause premature death and illness,”  Too many cops are alcoholic themselves these days it seems too. Showing justice and compassion is rightfully prosecuting all of  the guilty alcohol and drug offenders. Now we know that more people have accident due to road rage, impaired driving, driving under the influence of drugs, alcohol  over speeding too and we still do need to review how much time and resources do the police deal with that firstly? “ 

 

Despite plunging sales in almost every sector, alcohol sales are on the rise in Ontario, British Columbia and in other provinces over last year . If you drive at twice the legal alcohol limit you are at least 30 times more likely to cause a road crash than a driver who hasn’t been drinking. Alcohol abuse is a problem that is expected to become increasingly common as baby boomers, who have been found to drink more than previous generations, reach age 65 and beyond. ”A lot of folks over 50 are already dealing with diseases associated with aging and medication use that can result in possible complications and drug interactions. And older people who abuse alcohol are consuming an inordinate amount of calories that can displace important nutrients.” It is just a fact, common sense that  “even at lower levels of consumption, alcohol can be problematic for older people.” “Because of an increased sensitivity to alcohol and decreased tolerance as one ages, lower amounts of alcohol can have a bigger effect,” he said. “Older people get into trouble with doses of alcohol that wouldn’t be a problem with a younger person.” Immoderate consumption of alcohol — more than three drinks a day — can be hazardous for people of all ages, but especially so for the elderly, who reach higher levels of blood alcohol faster and maintain them longer than younger people. And people who  have ailments, like chronic liver disease, or take medications, like psychoactive drugs, that would render any amount of alcohol risky.  Alcohol abuse and alcoholism in aging adults  is “a silent epidemic.”  Many older people pursue drinking patterns established earlier in life and may not realize that continuing to drink the same amount of alcohol as they did when they were younger may place them at risk for health problems.” They all rather should be using diet and exercise to reduce cardiac risk; trying alternative relaxation methods to reduce stress,  exercise more ; and, for those who drink, cutting down on the amount of alcohol consumed by mixing it with water, taking an hour to finish one drink and alternating alcohol with nonalcoholic drinks. Because alcohol consumption is a  too common practice, questions about drinking are necessarily part of a general medical health assessment.”   Health experts  warn  that drinking too much alcohol, too fast can be dangerous.  The Department of Health defines binge drinking as over six to eight units of alcohol in an evening for most adults. Their  unit of alcohol depends on the strength of what you’re drinking.  One unit is half a pint of ordinary strength lager, beer, or cider; a 25 ml measure of spirits; or a 125 ml, small glass of wine. Also children often copy their parents when it comes to their attitudes towards alcohol. All parents can reduce the risk to their children, such as avoiding drinking alcohol on every occasion.  Too many  people   are getting into trouble with alcohol. Potential hazards include an increased risk of falls and vehicular accidents, a decline in short-term memory, a worsening of existing health problems and interactions with medications that may diminish the effectiveness of some drugs and increase the toxic effects of others.

  

Nearly twice as many liquor stores, relatively cheap booze and a pricing system that effectively discounts drinks with more alcohol are contributing to a rise in hazardous drinking, says B.C.’s provincial health officer. The same is true in Alberta and other provinces. A 2003 study found that 79 per cent of youth in school reported drinking at least once by age 17, and 20 per cent of those reported binge drinking three or more days in the previous month. While booze prices have risen in recent years, they have not kept pace with other consumer goods, a trend likely to continue with more competition among stores. Kendall recommends that pricing should reflect alcohol content, with discounts for low-alcohol alternatives and a price premium for stronger drinks. Current pricing creates “clear price incentives for consumers to choose higher-strength alcohol products in all major beverage classes,” As of 2007, government liquor stores accounted for 39 per cent of B.C. sales, with private stores up to 33 per cent. Bars, clubs and restaurants served most of the remainder. B.C.’s biggest average booze consumption occurs in the Interior Health Authority region, which includes the Okanagan and Kootenay regions, at 11 litres of pure alcohol per person per year. Vancouver Island was second at 10.71 litres, and also had the largest increase, 15.2 per cent between 2002 and 2007. Northern Health region was third at 9.73 litres per person, followed by Vancouver Coastal at 8.61 and Fraser, the lowest at 7.03. The Central Coast region of Vancouver Coastal has the highest consumption in the province, 13.69 litres per person in 2007.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/lakesdistrictnews/news/36589419.html

 

More drunk drivers,  motorists are hitting the sauce before hitting the road this holiday season too. About 1 percent of  the drivers stopped are charged  with impaired driving offences during the generally only one month long  Police province wide drunk drivers check stop campaigns . Sadly there are plenty more drivers who often still do drank like fish  get away during the rest of the year due to the limited number of police officers participating in check stops the rest of the year. We do thus know that very few of the actual people who are impaired and on the roads are caught by police. ”The average person who is prepared to drive while impaired will do it about 80 times a year, repeat offenders causing the most problems.” “Drunk drivers are still; not  getting the message, quite frankly, “The average blood-alcohol reading of those charged was .165, twice the legal limit of .08. The highest reading was .25, more than three times the limit, ” The drivers range between 19 and 59 years old. The average age is 35 but a dozen are over 40. (Older drivers) too seem to be more set in their habits and  risk-takers also tend to be   resistant to all education campaigns,” And during the same period over generally ten times more people now are being charged with failing to to wear seatbelts and Highway Traffic Act offences over impaired driving, even though it is drunk drivers,  that causes many of the accidents?  All now still Unsatisfactory.

  

In 2006, 232 Ontarians were killed in traffic accidents in which alcohol was a factor.  “We’ve had an increased number of impaired driving fatalities in Ontario though we’re still seeing a downward trend in Ontario,” is still not enough policing here.

 

An Australian study estimates that about half of all traffic accidents in Australia may be due to road rage and most of the others related to alcohol, impaired driving and yet the police falsely tend to pursue revenue generating speeding traffic tickets still and why?   Road rage is a relatively serious act; it can  be seen as a violation of human and property rights , an endangerment of  other’s personal well being, security. 

  

Now I have said it for over 3 decades in writing to all too so now call it what you want but police services generally  it is not about public safety, for it is  a self employment, empire  building, a false money grab, revenue generation, hidden taxes..  for if  the cops, the mad RCMP  were now really worried about public safety THEY WOULD FIRSTLY ARREST THEIR OWN KIND, THE BAD COPS WHO OFTEN DRIVE HOME DRUNK AFTER WORK, COMING HOME FROM THE POLICE TAVERN, and they would ALSO FIRSTLY  go after the people who drive reckless, who  fail to stop at the stop signs, or the  traffic stop lights, and go seriously after the impaired drunken drivers, deal with the unsafe cars whose brakes are squealing cause they need to be repaired.. etc. Cops , civil and public servants too often become perverse persons, unacceptable bullies still too. You and I still do not have to accept such crap.

http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2008/12/22/cops-lie-too/

  

PS:

Study: Smoke-free laws may cut heart attack hospitalizations
CNN - 14 hours ago
By Miriam Falco ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — Implementing smoke-free policies can lead to a fewer hospitalizations resulting from heart attacks, according to a new study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Study links smoking bans, heart attack rate Greeley Tribune
Our View: Smoking ban, one year later Northwest Herald
KKTV 11 News - The Associated Press - KDRV - Norman Transcript
all 460 news articles »

see also http://stayinhealth.wordpress.com/2008/11/21/anti-suicide-watch/

 

Sleepless nights equal more colds in US study
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) – People who sleep less than seven hours a night are three times as likely to catch a cold as their more well-rested friends and neighbours, US researchers reported on Monday.
Good night’s sleep may prevent a cold, study finds Boston Globe
7 Tips on Fighting Off a Cold U.S. News & World Report
Washington Post - Minneapolis Star Tribune - WebMD - AHN
all 422 news articles »