Friday, March 24, 2017

Parenting Pointers: Sleep Tips

I recently had a chance to interview Dr. Shane, creator of Sleep Easily, about sleep and tips for getting good sleep anywhere.



Why did you develop the Sleep Easily accessories?

I have dedicated 25 years of my life to helping people sleep better. In addition to the Sleep Easily method I developed, I encourage people to engage in behaviors (called sleep hygiene) that support good sleep. Two of those steps are to have your sleeping environment be dark and quiet. Using eyeshades and earplugs are an easy way to have your room be dark and quiet. I created the Sleep Easily eyeshades and earplugs to be the best on the market.

Why is it so important to get quality sleep while on-the-go?

While good sleep has many long-term benefits, here are some of the benefits you will experience immediately while you’re traveling.

Decreased: Stress, anxiety, depression, anger, and irritability.
Improved: Alertness, attention, memory, problem-solving and decision-making abilities, productivity and energy, and quality of personal relationships.


For people planning a trip that spans time zones, how can they make sure to prioritize sleep?

Most people find traveling east more challenging to adjust to because at your destination location, you will then be having to go to sleep hours earlier than in the location you came from. Most people find traveling west easier because at your destination location you go to sleep later than in the location you came from and most find it easier to go to sleep later.

To prepare: If you can, one night, a week before you travel east, go to bed 15 minutes earlier. Since 15 minutes is not a large time shift it is fairly easy to adjust. The next night, go to be an additional 15 minutes earlier. By the day of the trip, you will have shifted your bedtime almost two hours earlier. Although that is not the complete time, you will shifted your body clock in the right direction. You will have confidence that you can shift your body clock more than you thought you could. The first night in your new time zone, see if you can stay up a bit later, so your bedtime is not as large a shift from the location from which you came. Then, over the next few nights, gradually go to bed earlier.

Melatonin can help you sleep so it is easier to fall asleep at an earlier time. Research has shown that .5 – 1 mg. melatonin is the best dosage to be effective. More than that can flood the brain and make you groggy the next morning.

Using sleep accessories like earplugs, eyeshades and recordings can help you adjust to these time changes.

Eyeshades

Light can make it more difficult to fall asleep and can awaken you too early. When you travel, your sleeping environment is usually not completely dark. There are a few factors to look for when getting eyeshades:
·      Total blocking of light. The Sleep Easily eyeshades contour to comfortably fill the facial curve near the bridge of your nose, making them very effective in blocking light. Most other eyeshades have a gap near that facial curve.
·      Cupped design over eyes so the shades do not touch eyelids of eyelashes. Sleep Easily eyeshades have that cupped design, whereas many eyeshades are a flat design, so touch your eyelids.
·      Lightweight and comfortable. Sleep Easily eyeshade are very lightweight. The material is soft and very comfortable. The adjustable Velcro band makes the fit very comfortable.

Earplugs

There are a few types of earplugs:
·      Foam rubber cylinders. Most people find these uncomfortable and the cylinder sticks out of your ear. Because of that, when you sleep on your side the cylinder pokes in your ear.
·      Silicone. Most silicone earplugs are hard wax and people find that to be uncomfortable.
·      Silicone putty. This is the Sleep Easily earplug. The consistency is soft, like putty. That shapes to your ear so is like having custom-fit earplugs. Sleep Easily earplugs are the most comfortable earplugs available. We recommend you pull the earplug piece in half. The smaller size shaping to your ear makes it so you then don’t even feel them in.

Earplugs are most commonly used to reduce noise from external sources. However, there are two other functions that can help you sleep more easily and deeply:

Using the Sleep Easily earplugs and eyeshades can help you sleep more easily and deeply.


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