How Sleep Deprivation Affects Your Health

Thursday 14th January 2010

Today we are going to take a look at how not getting a good nights sleep can affect your overall health and well being.

We all know that feeling; we have been tossing and turning all night trying our damnedest to get to sleep. The alarm goes off and we look and feel dreadful. For a large percentage of people nights like these are a common occurrence and a regular pattern of sleep deprivation can result in health related problems.

High Blood Pressure

The body reacts badly to lack of sleep and raises levels of stress hormones. These hormones are the ones that help to regulate the body's blood pressure. When these hormone levels are consistently high it may mean that your blood pressure is harder to control.

Immune Function

Have you ever noticed that during time of stress or sleep loss that you almost always end up with a cold or other infections? Recent studies have shown that this may not be down to coincidence. It seem that the immune function which allows our bodies to effectively fight off germs is much weaker when you are not getting enough sleep.


Pain Tolerances

We all know that after a good nights sleep. all those little aches and pains we have fell a little but better right? Current research is proving that when we are deprived of a good nights sleep, our sensation of pain is intensified.

Sleep Related Car Accidents

At least 56,000 car accidents with 40,000 non-fatal injuries and 1,550 deaths occur every year in the US, because of sleepiness behind the wheel. Excessive sleepiness is the second leading cause of car accidents. Studies have shown that sleepy drivers are impaired at a level equal to that of drunk drivers!

Interesting!

Anyway I'm back here again tomorrow with another great product. I hope you will join me.

Enjoy the rest of your day and try to sleep well tonight.

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What Causes High Blood Pressure?

Monday 19th October 2009

When we think of someone having high blood pressure, we usually consider them to be anxious, tense or hyperactive.

The truth is that high blood pressure, or hypertension, can affect just about anybody and you don't need to have high stress levels to have this medical condition.

So what does cause high blood pressure? In most cases scientists cannot be sure what causes it. Initially it causes no obvious symptoms but can produce some serious and long term complications. Many people can have high blood pressure and not even know it, but more alarmingly, they are more prone to complications such as heart disease and heart attacks, strokes, and kidney failure.

Blood pressure does have a tendency to rise with age, however certain pre existing medical conditions can cause hypertension. Chronic kidney disease, sleep apnea and thyroid disease can all cause a rise in blood pressure as can some asthma medications, cold relief products and the contraceptive pill.

I have already stated that most people will not even know they have high blood pressure, but there are a few symptoms that you can watch out for:

- Persistent / frequent headaches
- Nausea
- Vomiting (very rare)
- Dizziness, becoming lightheaded and suffering with Vertigo
- Blurred vision
- Nosebleeds
- Palpitations
-Shortness of breath

Even though there is no one direct cause of high blood pressure, a few other factors can determine whether or not you are more prone to the condition.

If you have a family history of high blood pressure, you are overweight, rarely exercise, consume more than the RDA of alcohol, have a high salt intake or have a high fat diet, then you are more likely to suffer with hypertension.

Studies at the Tulane Center For Cardiovascular Health (USA) have also shown that those who were born with a low birth weight are likely to develop the condition as they get older.

The good news is that the condition can be medicated, but with a few simple lifestyle changes, high blood pressure can even be prevented.

Just remember that prevention is better than cure, particularly if you find you have a family history of the condition so start looking after yourself today for a better you!

On that note I'm going to leave it there.

We will be back tomorrow morning with another guest blogger post.

See you then!

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