We're all guilty of making fun of snorers, but sometimes this snoring can be a symptom of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition where breathing is not continuous and may start and stop many times while asleep. This affects the quality of your sleep and in turn can affect many aspects of your health including your cardiovascular health. Here's how:

High blood pressure
When a sleep apnea patient's breathing stops, the oxygen levels in the blood also suddenly fall. This can increase your blood pressure. High blood pressure means that the heart muscles need to work harder to pump blood through the body.

Cardiomyopathy
As a result of high blood pressure, the heart walls may become thicker and the heart muscles become stiffer. This is known as cardiomyopathy. As this condition worsens, the heart becomes weaker and is unable to maintain a regular rhythm. This can eventually lead to heart failure.

Arrhythmia
An irregular heartbeat is also known as arrhythmia. This may also be related to the changes in the heart's structure that follow the drop in blood oxygen levels. In many cases, arrhythmia has no visible symptoms and can often go undiagnosed. This can result in the formation of blood clots in the atria which can lead to a stroke.

Sleep apnea is easy to diagnose. If the doctor feels that you show symptoms of sleep apnea, you may be asked to stay on the hospital overnight and undergo a sleep evaluation. This tests a variety of body functions including brain activity, eye movements, heart rate, breathing patterns and blood oxygen levels.

Treatment for sleep apnea depends on the causes for this condition. If you are overweight, regular exercise and a change in diet can help you lose the excess weight and cure sleep apnea. Similarly, if your sleep apnea is triggered by an allergy, treating the allergy can help cure the sleep apnea. Other forms of treatment for sleep apnea may include:

Continuous positive airway pressure (cpap)
This is a machine which pumps air into the body through a nasal mask. By keeping the pressure in the machine higher than normal air pressure the upper airway passages are kept open and hence the quality of your sleep is improved. An auto cpap machine can modulate the air pressure such that it is higher when you inhale and lower when you exhale.;

Oral devices
Your doctor may suggest oral devices that allow you to keep your mouth open while you sleep. This is easier to use than cpap machine but less effective. Surgery is the last resort when it comes to treatment for sleep apnea.

Sleep Apnea and Its Link to Heart Failure

Cure insomnia with natural remedies


Insomnia is the situation where someone is unable to sleep, despite being tired or having had a tough day. It also applies when a person can fall asleep but is unable to stay asleep for long. Sleep apnea, chronic pain, indigestion, stress, medications, hormones, depression, chronic pain and restless leg syndrome are few of the symptoms of insomnia. Insomnia has become quite common and increasing ever so rapidly with our daily stressful lifestyle. There are some simple ways to combat insomnia:

1. Make Sleep a habit : 
There is a general practice to cut the sleep short whenever we go behind the schedule. Be it sitting for an important examination or preparing for a challenging assignment. It is always the sleep whom we sacrifice. This is a very bad practice. We need to remember that adults needs eight to ten hours of sleep for proper mental functioning. So make sleep a habit , try to follow a simple routine. It will help you establishing  regular sleep-wake cycles which will in long run prevent insomnia.

2. Add amino acids to diet: 
Include in your diet, foods that are high in the amino acid called tryptophan because they help calm the nerve. Chicken, tuna and turkey are such types of foods.

3.Drink hot milk: 
It has been an age-old custom to have a glass of warm milk before going to sleep. So, If you are not allergic to dairy products, you can drink a glass of milk before bedtime. It has sedative effect due to presence of tryptophan.

4. Avoid caffeine after noon and Limit alcohol and nicotine intake:
Avoid Coffee, alcohol and food with high fat content and foods which can cause allergies, at least a few hours before your bedtime. Drinking water or coconut water, after drinking alcohol is advisable. This increases the hydration level in the body and helps you sleep. You should also avoid nicotine  which is also a stimulant thus adversely affects normal sleep.

5. Pick magnesium rich foods: 
Foods which are high in magnesium are known to relax our system. Foods like oats, leafy vegetables, sunflower seeds and sesame can be included in your diet for best results against insomnia.

6. Stay away from your phone at bedtime:
It has been postulated that the blue wavelengths produced by your smartphone and other gadgets (and energy-efficient LED light bulbs) significantly suppress the production of melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy, according to University of Basel research. So it is better avoiding surfing the phone at bed. You have enough time with it during the whole day. Is not it? Let her sleep too.

7. Practice yoga:
Practice 15 minutes of simple, yoga-like poses (such as neck rolls, shoulder rolls, and arm and back stretches) to help your muscles unwind before hitting the bed. But you should go slowly. “The goal is to loosen your muscles to prepare your body for a good night’s sleep, not increase your heart rate,” 

8. Try aromatherapy:
Studies have shown that aromatherapy aids in sleep. Lavender oil is most commonly used, It's also an inexpensive, nontoxic way to slip into a peaceful slumber. Find a spray with real lavender and spritz it on your pillow before bedtime and it may help you go asleep better.
 
9. Adopt deep breathing exercises:
Practice deep breathing  and relaxation exercises. They are simple and can be performed lying on bed. This will help you let go stress and worries that are troubling you and will therefore calm your nerves.

10. Re-organise your bedroom:
Bedroom should be quiet and dark to have proper sleep. You can use dark window curtains which will cut the lights from outside. You can try using sleep mask. Try not to watch television for at least half an hour before bed. Make your bed comfortable with extra mattress, pillows that are not too soft or too hard. Doing these simple things will make a lot of difference in your sleep habit.
 
 



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Fight insomnia naturally. #SleepWell 

Staying up late at night intentionally is not insomnia. If you find it difficult to fall asleep, or cannot sleep soundly for long, then it is indeed a case of insomnia. The inability to sleep can have terrible repercussions on your physical and psychological health.

A number of reasons could cause insomnia. Understanding the causes could help you identify your sleeplessness as insomnia and seek treatment right away.

What Health Issues cause Insomnia?

Here are some health problems of both the mind and body that can keep you awake  

  Stress Chronic stress and worry born out of our tense lives is a direct cause of insomnia. Long-term anxiety, panic disorders, as well as PTSD can induce sleeplessness.

  Irregular Sleep Patterns Your body would hate it if you deviate from the Circadian Rhythm   the body clock. It regulates the functions of your body, including your sleep patterns. But if you defy your body clock by sleeping at irregular hours   suppose you are staying up late to get some extra work done, or you may have opted for a night shift, or if you are experiencing a jet lag   then you will notice that when it is finally time for you to hit the bed, sleep will be elusive.

  Depression Depression is a horrific psychological disorder that makes a person lose interest in life itself. And one of the indicators of depression is loss of sleep. It is not just depression, but also other illnesses that cause psychological turbulence such as bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorders, triggering insomnia.

  Breathing Issues Sleep apnoea is a dangerous disorder that stops your breathing multiple times every night and will wake you up every time. Yet you will possibly not even remember waking up. However, this does disturb the quality of your sleep and affects your health adversely.

  Dementia Dementia is accompanied by a gradual loss of memory. But sometimes people who are suffering from dementia display anxiety, restlessness or even aggressive behaviour when it is time for them to go to bed. This is called the sundown syndrome and it might even keep them up all night.

  Pain Pain is one of the commonest reasons for losing sleep. Pain can originate due to any number of reasons   arthritis, a sprained joint, an injury, or if you are undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy, then it may keep you awake at night. This is actually a vicious circle because the inability to sleep will aggravate your pain. Talk to your doctor who will prescribe the appropriate pain medication.

  Parkinson s disease This disease is another reason behind insomnia. Parkinson s disease interferes with your nerve signals and this might cause disruption in your sleep.

  Menopause When a woman inches closer to her menopause, her body reduces the production of oestrogen and progesterone. This imbalance of hormones can trigger sleep loss.

How long can you go without sleeping?

There is no data on how long a human can function without sleep. The longest someone stayed awake is 11 days. Usually, the body cannot last that long without some sound shut-eye. Your brain flushes out the waste matter its cells produce during sleep. That is why even 24 hours without sleep can make your brain sluggish and disoriented. If you stay awake for more than 48 hours at a stretch, your cognitive abilities will start failing you. Sleep is instrumental to a healthy mind and body. If you are experiencing insomnia, talk to a doctor immediately or look up some remedies.

Health Problems That Keep You Awake!

In today s stressful environment, more and more people are being diagnosed with psychological disorders such as insomnia and depression. Neither of the two are things which people feel lucky to possess. However, it is interesting to note that there is a link between the two conditions. Also, the problems are a lot more common than a person is likely to first think; 80% of depressed people suffer from chronic insomnia!

For a long time until recently, many people were of the opinion that most depressed people were insomniac. But that is not really correct. The two issues do overlap to a large extent, but they are different from each other. Again, that does not mean one cannot affect the other.

When a person has depression, one of the main things that he or she can experience is a lack of pleasure from the activities and happenings which occur in his or her daily life. Similarly, when a person does not get enough sleep or even just cannot sleep, he or she is quite likely to display a tendency to worry. Often, worrying sets the stage for depression to develop in the person. In fact, doctors have observed that people who do not sleep enough are more likely to undergo treatment for depression than the others.

Recent findings have concluded that when a person sleeps better, the case of depression also shows an uptick. In addition to this, the habit of sleeping well can also go quite a long way to make sure that a person does not relapse into depression. According to some sleep therapies, people who suffer from lack of sleep are advised to follow a systematic routine of getting to bed and getting out of bed. Activities including reading in bed or watching TV after going to bed must be avoided. While there are various means to help a person sleep better, the choice as to which one would suit a person in the best possible way is only best decided by the person s personal doctor. What is for sure is the fact that a person can effectively sleep to a better life!

So, it can be said that if a person wants to cure his/her depression and enjoy life being peppy, napping away is not such a bad idea after all. Having said that, everything is good only up to a certain limit!

Insomnia and Depression - Is There A Link Between Them?

Facial Palsy is a paralysis of facial muscles. The weakness of facial muscles is also known as Facial Palsy. It may be caused by temporary or permanent damage to facial nerves. There are different facial nerves for different sides of the face. When nerve bundles on one side are affected, muscles on that side of the face become weak. 

Since different nerves are involved, cerebral palsy may affect different parts of the face such as lower part, left side, right side, etc. There are medicines for Facial Palsy. However, there is no standard treatment approach in modern medicine for treating Facial Palsy. However, Ayurveda can help in treating these patients.

Ayurvedic Interpretation of Facial Palsy:

In Ayurveda, Facial Palsy is referred to as Ardita, and it is defined as a disability in facial expressions and communication. The source of the disease is facial nerve paralysis, which precipitates motor and sensory impairment on the affected side of the face. According to Ayurveda, this disease can affect people of all ages. 

Ayurveda targets the dosha responsible for this disease. According to Ayurveda, the dosha responsible for this problem is known as Vata. It is thought that the face or the relevant side of the face is afflicted by Vata, which needs to be rectified.

Factors Responsible for Facial Palsy:

According to Ayurveda, there are some factors which may precipitate Facial Palsy in the long term. These include:

Speaking loudly.

Chewing hard stuff.

Laughing, sneezing or yawning excessively.

Putting heavy load on head.

Sudden change of direction of head or neck.

Having uncomfortable posture during sleep.

Using too high or too low pillows.

Anemia.

Injuries.

Excessive sleeping during the day.

Excessive use of tongue scrapers.

Excessive rubbing of the ears, eyes, and nose.

Consuming excess of alcohol.

Symptoms of Facial Palsy According to Ayurveda:

Preliminary symptoms of Facial Palsy, as mentioned in different Ayurvedic books, include: 

Blurred vision.

Loss of sense of touch on facial skin.

Pain.

Neck stiffness.

Jaw stiffness.

Distortion of the affected side.

Tremors of the head.

Shaking of teeth.

Incomplete closure of affected eyelids.

Distortion of nose.

Slurred speech.

Hoarseness in voice.

Impairment of hearing loss and smell sensation.

Pain in the ear on the affected side.

Trouble chewing and swallowing.

Sneeze getting suppressed.

Severe pain in the neck, chin, teeth, on the affected side.

Ayurvedic Treatment of Facial Palsy:

Ayurveda depends on the following to treat the problem.

Oil massages on the head.

Applications of oil to the ears and eyes.

In the case of any burning sensation, therapeutic bloodletting may also be conducted.

Medicated oil in nostrils

Oral drugs include Akaangavira Rasa, Sameera Pannaga, Ashwagandha Churna, Ashwagandharishta, etc.

Exercise including balloon breathing exercise

Conclusion:

A study published in the European Journal of Pharmaceutical and Medical Research has come up with astounding results for the efficacy of Ayurveda on Facial Palsy. This indicates that in the absence of any standard therapy, Ayurveda can offer an excellent remedy against Facial Palsy. However, it is always recommended to consult an Ayurvedic physician before opting any ayurvedic remedies or purchasing any ayurvedic medicines. Any treatment depends upon the condition of the individual. This is why one should always consult a doctor before going for any treatment.

Facial Palsy - Causes, Symptoms & Ayurvedic Treatment For It!

Women are not really sure about frozen embryos  ability to result in pregnancy. Ironically, the success of Frozen Embryo Transfer has dramatically improved over the last few years. In the days gone by, the chance of women getting pregnant through the use of frozen embryos seemed to be on the lower side compared to that from the transfer of fresh embryos. Recent data related to this suggests that this is no longer the case.

Reasons behind the low success rate of frozen embryo transfer in the past
Previously during the frozen embryo transfer process, the embryos which had to get frozen were the ones that did not get chosen for the fresh embryo transfer initially. The reason being that the embryologist had gone ahead to choose the best possible embryos for getting them transferred initially. As far as the fresh embryo transfer is concerned, quality of embryo has got a major effect on the chance of a woman getting pregnant. On the other hand, if quality of embryos frozen is not good, the rate of survival after it gets thawed along with the rate of pregnancy would be on the lower side.

The second important reason is the amount of embryos that got transferred. Let us consider a couple who produce four very good quality embryos. Two of them are transferred during fresh In Vitro Fertilization Process and the remaining two are frozen. This leads to pregnancy and the woman gives birth to a baby. Later on, the couple once again decides to go for pregnancy by using the frozen embryos. Though only one embryo survives after getting thawed. The frozen embryo transfer is that of a single embryo. The success rate of a frozen embryo transfer through a single embryo is always going to be on the lower side than what it will be when multiple embryo transfer is involved.

Finally the method of freezing embryos has seen a sea change quite a number of years ago. Nowadays the freezing of embryos takes place by a fast method, known as vitrification. This process has got a much better survival rate when embryos get thawed along with good rates of pregnancy when those particular embryos are transferred in a much better manner.

Studies about high success rate of frozen embryo transfer
There have been studies performed in women, who have had quite a vigorous stimulation of their ovaries and were considered to be at high risk for Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome. The physicians took the decision of skipping the process of embryo transfer and instead go ahead to freeze all the embryos for use at a later stage.

This tends to significantly decrease the risk of having serious Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome along with decrease in complications. Other cases involved, physicians deciding to move on with a fresh embryo transfer depite the risk of Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome. In both the scenarios the couples have quite a large number of embryos and the embryos selected for transfer were the best embryos.

The studies have shown no difference in the rates of pregnancy between fresh or frozen embryos or for that matter higher rate of pregnancy with frozen embryos.

How Successful Is Frozen Embryo Transfer?

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