The Kate's Vine

Calm Your Mind You can take actions to improve the quality of your nighttime rest. In the moments of your sleeplessness and distress, you can work to calm your mind and body through the use of conscious relaxation, cognitive therapy, and dialectical behavior therapy techniques. I recommend that you first consult your therapist, psychiatrist, or doctor to ensure that you have no psychological issues, medical complications, or medication interactions that could be causing your difficulties with sleep. When it comes to sleep hygiene, studies show that a bedtime routine that includes a period of time to unwind can be effective. A common practice is to turn off all electronics after 9:00 pm and then get dressed and washed up for the night. Once ready for bed, do a relaxation exercise and spend 30 minutes reading a book before finally closing your eyes. If you are still struggling to sleep, try to reduce the amount of time you toss and turn by getting out of bed and going to a quiet, co...

Sleep is an essential part of life. A decline in the state of physiological and psychological well-being occur due to sleep deprivation. Research over the last decade has shown the importance of sleep on physical and mental health. It’s frustrating to toss and turn in bed all night while the hours tick away. A lack of sleep impacts our thinking and physical performance the following day. Conditions like insomnia require treatment with better sleep hygiene and the use of sleep aids. Sleep and Physical Health Adequate sleeping hours are critical for maintaining our physical state of well-being. While we sleep, our body restores its metabolic function. Heart rate settles to normal range, and our blood pressure returns to baseline levels. As we relax, our blood vessels dilate and flow smoothly through our arterial system. This increase in circulation helps our brain clear environmental and stress toxins that accumulate during the day. People that consistently experience...

It is not news to any firefighter or first responder that sleep can be a challenge – what is news is how big the issue of sleep deprivation can be and the negative impact it can have on your health. Interrupted sleep, not getting enough sleep or sleeping at irregular times can have severe implications for health by interrupting circadian rhythms. These rhythms are the physical, mental and behavioral changes that occur over a 24-hour period and regulate the body’s processes through the release of melatonin. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, interruption of these rhythms leads to short term impacts like difficulty with concentration, headaches, mood changes and irritability. In the long term, interruption of these chemical processes can increase risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease and obesity. The sleep issue is challenging to study with firefighters because they do not work the shifts typical in shift work research. Typically, shift work research...

Snoring is a harmless problem. But if you are suffering from heavy snoring, it could be a greater sign of medical concern and shouldn’t be ignored. Excessive snoring and grunting during sleeping can be a sign of sleep apnea, a potential sleep disorder. It is a condition where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. More than 18 million American adults are diagnosed with sleep apnea.  Not everyone who has snoring issues might not have sleep apnea. Those who are struggling with sleep apnea snore loudly and feels tired even after a full night’s sleep. The signs and symptoms of these sleeping disorder includes panting for air during sleep, awakening with a dry mouth, headache in the morning, irritability, etc. it is important to get rid of sleep apnea as along with the embarrassing and disturbance it creates, it can also increase several health risks like high blood pressure, stroke, depression, headaches, heart failure or even heart attacks. To add on, sleep...

It’s amazing how quickly smartphones, tablets and laptops have become indispensable. Our fancy tools for communication and procrastination rarely leave our side, and are often the last thing we see before we go to bed. But this nocturnal technology use is keeping many people awake. In fact, researchers have found that using any bright screen in the hours before you try to sleep can interrupt your sleeping patterns. The screens of mobile phones, tablets and computers all use blue-coloured backlight. Whilst blue is the best colour to make the screen bright and easy to read during the day, it also suppresses melatonin. A number of computer programs and mobile apps have been created to minimise the effect of blue light at night. The most famous,  f.lux , changes the colour temperature of your computer display to warmer colours when the sun goes down. It’s based on your local sunrise and sunset times. Read More:  https://www.upstart.net.au/shining-a-light-on-s...

Along with nutrition and physical activity, sleep is crucial for proper functioning. Still, according to the data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention,  more than 35% of US adults sleep less than the recommended 7-8 hours . If you’re one of these people, then science has good news for you: A massage session is what can help you improve your sleep . Continue reading this article to find out which types of massage have the best efficiency in this case! How Does Massage Work for Better Sleep? Massage has a thousand-year history as a remedy for different health problems, pains, and diseases. The relaxing properties of this method can be explained as follows: Massage lowers the levels of cortisol, your primary stressful hormone, which triggers the ‘fight-or-flight’ response and may provoke anxiety and insomnia. During the massage session, you boost your serotonin levels. Serotonin is a ‘happy molecule’, which not only is associated with an elevated s...