Is it time to talk about sleep?
While it may not seem the most obvious time of year to start talking about sleep, we can often forget when the sun is out our natural instinct is to go out and play sport or socialise. In addition summer is often a time when things naturally slow down in the business world so we can be tempted to pack in as many things as possible before it gets busy at work. This means at this time of year we can often find out ourselves feeling depleted and short on sleep due to hot summer nights which are not condusive to a good nights sleep.
I know I have blogged in the past about sleep, here are my tips for a good nights sleep . I have talked in the past about how we feel good if we get a good nights sleep but the medical profession is still unclear about why we need sleep. What is clear is that sleep is a huge clear out of thoughts and feelings that accumulated during the day – and this is critical to our health. The medical profession has many theories about why we dream or need to dream – what is agreed on is that parts of our brains are very active when we dream and that dreaming improves our ability to solve problems and be creative.
The key question about sleep is often how much sleep do I need. I don’t focus on a figure but go by how my body feels. That means sometimes it needs more sleep and sometimes less sleep. What I focus on is the quality of sleep which I judge by how refreshed I feel in the morning.
Related Posts
Ankle Sprains
Ankle sprains are one of the most common injuries, which involves trauma to the ankle ligament. A sprain occurs when one or more of your ligaments have been stretched, twisted or torn, usually as a result of excessive force being applied to a joint. They often occur if you change direction or speed suddenly, fall and land awkwardly or collide with an object or person – such as when playing sports. If you have ever sprained your ankle, then you will probably remember the initial pain, the considerable swelling and bruising. The swelling from a sprain will often occur soon after the injury, but the bruising may not show until later or it may not show at all. Bruising can sometimes occur some distance from the affected joint, as blood from the damaged tissue seeps along the muscles and around the joint before coming close to the skin. It should be noted that ankle sprains take at least 12 weeks to heal. When to visit your GP? Most ankle sprains are relatively minor and can be cared for by self-treatment. However, you should visit your GP if you think you have a sprain and:
- the pain is particularly severe
- you cannot move the injured joint or muscle
- you cannot put any weight on the injured limb, or it gives way when you try to use it
- the injured area looks crooked or has unusual lumps or bumps (other than swelling)
- you have numbness, discolouration or coldness in any part of the injured area
- the symptoms have not started to improve within a few days of self-treatment
- Rest your ankle.
- Ice (wrap ice cubes in a tea towel) and hold over the ankle for 5 - 20 minutes every 2 hours for 2-3 days, then daily for the next 3 days.
- You can then bandage the ankle in a figure 8 with the heel in the centre of the figure 8, with a compression or elastic bandage.
- Finally you should elevate your ankle to reduce the blood flow to the area, for the first 24 hours.
- Circle your ankle clockwise repeat 3 times
- Circle your ankle anti-clockwise repeat 3 times
- Lie down on your back, point your foot and your toes and then bend your foot up the ceiling and the same time straighten your toes - repeat 3 times.
- Now sit on a char and draw the alphabet in the air with your foot this will move your ankle full a range of movement.
- Once you have your full range of movement back, then you can start increasing your proprioception. You can stand on a pillow on one leg (your affected ankle), and build up the time until you feel that you stability is the same in both your legs.
Do your friends impact your health?
In our day to day lives, during the times when we are deciding what to eat or whether to watch TV or take a walk, who is more likely to be around us, our family, friends, flat mates or a doctor? Even for individuals living with a chronic condition who will probably only spend a few hours a year with medical professionals compared to the thousands of waking hours with family and friends. Recently researches discovered that women are more likely to survive breast cancer if they have a strong social network of friends and family, whereas those who are more isolated are twice as likely to die of the disease. University of Pennsylvania have found that good health is more likely if people see fewer doctors and more of their family and friends especially if they get their support and help. They discovered that people are more likely to make healthier choices - like going for a walk over watching TV if they are around family and friends. In addition people are more likely to go to the gym if they have someone to go with. Being part of a group e.g. family, friends, book club, tennis club, social group, religious/spiritual practice seems to aid our motivation to be healthier in terms of diet, exercise, smoking or drinking. This could be because being part of a group enhances your sense of meaning in life, which in turn leads you to better take care of yourself. Or it could be down to feeling a sense of responsibility towards other or even just wanting to fit in. References D A. Asch, and R Rosin, Engineering Social Incentives for Health, N Engl J Med 2016; 375:2511-2513 Kroenke, C. H., Michael, Y. L., Poole, E. M., Kwan, M. L., Nechuta, S., Leas, E., Caan, B. J., Pierce, J., Shu, X.-O., Zheng, Y. and Chen, W. Y. (2017), Postdiagnosis social networks and breast cancer mortality in the After Breast Cancer Pooling Project. Cancer, 123: 1228–1237. doi:10.1002/cncr.30440 Tarrant, M., Warmoth, K., Code, C., Dean, S., Goodwin, V. A., Stein, K., & Sugavanam, T. (2016). Creating psychological connections between intervention recipients: development and focus group evaluation of a group singing session for people with aphasia. BMJ Open, 6(2), e009652.
