10 Ways to Reset Your Sleep Cycle

By Camille Peri
WebMD Feature

Travel, shift work, or even a few nights up worrying can upset your sleep. They can throw off your circadian rhythm, the internal clock that controls when you sleep and wake.

You don't have to take sleep problems lying down. Try these 10 tips to get your sleep cycle back in sync.

Nix the Nightcap for Better Sleep?

Joanne Brucker, 47, grew up with European parents, who considered it traditional to drink wine with dinner each night. But eventually she noticed her nightly quaffing was interfering with her slumber. "I tried to keep it up," she says, "but anything more than two glasses definitely kept me from falling asleep. Why does alcohol before bedtime affect me so much?" Simply put, alcohol makes it hard for you to stay asleep and sleep well, says J. Todd Arnedt, PhD, clinical assistant professor at...

Read the Nix the Nightcap for Better Sleep? article > >

1. Use Bright Light in the Morning

Your body's clock is "set" by cues like light, darkness, and when you eat or exercise. Light is the strongest of these cues. It tells your brain whether it's night or day, and that tells you when to sleep.

When you wake up, turn on bright lights and throw open the curtains to bring in daylight.

2. Dim the Lights in the Evening

Too much light at night pushes your sleep time later. To cut down on light at night:

Keep lights low near the end of the day. Turn off bright overhead lights.Ban laptops, tablets, cell phones, and TVs from your bedroom -- and don't use them in the hour or so before sleep. "Our eyes are most sensitive to the bluish light that electronic screens emit," says Yo-El Ju, MD, of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo.If you're on the overnight shift, wear sunglasses from the time you leave work until you get home.

3. Time Your Meals

When you eat may affect your internal clock, according to Harvard researchers who tested that on animals. They suggest that shifting meal times may help people handle changes in time zones or work schedules.

Say you are traveling from the U.S. to Japan -- an 11-hour time difference. If you fast for 16 hours, about the length of the flight, and then eat as soon as you arrive, it could ease jet lag.

At home, keep a regular routine for meals and exercise. That helps steady your internal clock and your sleep.

Go to bed and get up at about the same time, too, even on weekends.

4. Limit Your Time in Bed

If you lie awake when you're in bed, temporarily restricting your sleep may give you better, deeper sleep.

First, log the hours you sleep each night for a week or two. Average them out. Let's say that you sleep about 4 hours a night. If you need to get up at 6 a.m., start going to bed at 2 a.m.

Don't nap during the day. "You want to build up your sleep drive," Ju says. Once you're sleeping solidly the whole 4 hours you're in bed, gradually move your bedtime 15 minutes earlier until you're back on track. Aim for at least 7 hours of sleep a night.

5. Limit Caffeine

You may be tempted to use caffeine to get over the afternoon hump. Don't. Instead, avoid caffeine after lunch. It can affect your sleep that night.

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walking or running?

Cutting out running I eat less. I'm on a low carb diet to and all I want to do is walk. I'm also healing my hormones and body so I'm justifying why I no longer run. Should I b running or walking?

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flat stomach help.

Any help on getting a flat stomach? I do a lot of an workouts but now I want to be able see those abs! Thanks :-)

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Protein pancakes

I cannot recommend whey protein powder enough!

myprotein.com do a really cheap one in a million flavours. It's a fantastic protein substitute. Don't waste your money on sculptress or big brands!

I love making protein pancakes!

Recipe:

2 eggs whites

100ml skimmed milk

1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons of water

1 scoop of whey protein powder (I used Apple Crumble and Custard flavour)

Just mix it all together, add the water and olive oil to your skillet and make a delicious pancake!

It's only 210 calories and is a tasty desert that is pure protein! If you find it too dry, just add some natural yogurt or sliced banana.

Hope this helps anyone stuck on ideas for healthy deserts or vegetarian recipes!

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IVF Tied to Small Risk of Mental Deficits in Children

Large Swedish study did not find higher risk for autism

By Amy Norton

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- Despite some concerns, children born by in vitro fertilization do not seem to have an increased risk of autism, a large new study finds. They may, however, have a slightly higher-than-normal chance of being intellectually impaired.

The study, reported in the July 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at more than 2.5 million infants born in Sweden between 1982 and 2007. It found that the nearly 31,000 children conceived via in vitro fertilization (IVF) did not have an increased risk of the developmental disorder autism.

They were, however, 18 percent more likely to have an intellectual disability (which used to be called mental retardation), defined as an IQ lower than 70 and limited abilities in schoolwork .

Experts stressed that the risk is quite low: The rate of intellectual disability among IVF kids was about 46 per 100,000 each year, versus about 40 per 100,000 among kids conceived naturally.

"The vast majority of children born after the different types of IVF treatment will be perfectly healthy," said lead researcher Sven Sandin, of the Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm, and King's College London, in England.

What's more, the risk seemed largely related to the fact that babies born via IVF are often multiples (such as twins or triplets), and, therefore, frequently born preterm or at a low weight. That in itself carries a higher-than-normal risk of intellectual disability.

Experts said the findings suggest that whenever possible, IVF should involve implanting only one embryo in the woman's uterus, rather than the traditional route of implanting at least two.

"From the results of this study, we think that the use of single-embryo transfer should be extended," Sandin said.

An infertility specialist not involved in the study agreed. "I think we should be encouraging more single-embryo transfers," said Dr. Marcelle Cedars, director of reproductive endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco.

That is happening more often these days, said Cedars, who wrote an editorial published with the study. At her center, she said, more than half of IVF patients have a single embryo implanted -- although that is higher than the national norm.

There is still a chance, however, that certain IVF procedures carry a risk.

Sandin's team found that a specific IVF technique used for male infertility -- called intracytoplasmic sperm injection, or ICSI -- was related to an increased risk of intellectual disability, even among single babies.

Again, the actual rates of intellectual impairment were quite low, Sandin said. But the results suggest there could be something about the intracytoplasmic sperm injection, or fathers' infertility, that contributes to the risk.

"People have for some time been concerned about the ICSI procedure," Cedars said.

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How much calories should I eat?

Hello everybody! I'm Detti, I'm 16 and I don't know how much calories should I eat one day? My aunt said 2500 is normal but I only ate 1000... what do you guys think? Please help.

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