"Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

Jonathan B — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:47:28 GMT

I have had insomnia since I was a child, and I discovered through trial and error that I slept much better if I could cut all the ambient light from my room, and eliminate any electric clocks or other electric devices in my room which made noise of an irregular and not "white noise" type of sound.

I also discovered that when cable boxes had those electronic digital readouts, that the green letters were much more irritating to my sleep than the red ones, so I cover my cable box in my bedroom with a magazine when I sleep, so I am not lept awake by the green letters. I also find that a ceiling fan set at the lowest level above my bed generates enough "white noise" to keep my from beng awakened by street noise, ambulance sirens, and cars.

I still have a problem with light pollution in the city where I live, because the sky shine comes in from my window on even the moonless nights, and is noticable.

Finally, I try to avoid drinking liquids before bedtime, because any time I get up, and go to the bathroom, the light in the rest of the house throws off my sleep pattern, and I have a tough time getting back to sleep.

I have taken to napping on weekend afternoon when my insomnia has been bad the previous week, and it seems to revive me, but power sleeping for more than a few hours makes me feel bad, and I feel groggy and weak.

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

curious7 — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:19:03 GMT

It seems what was once considered minor violations of nature, have very dire consequences. Remember the "Circadian Rhythm." Our bodies heal between the hours of 10:00 pm, and 2;00 am, this is when we should ideally be asleep.

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

Wanderlust — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:07:16 GMT

When school starts it is so difficult to get enough sleep but i generally eat healthy and i exercise 6 days a week (i'm in x country). Since i started to exercise more it is easyer to fall asleep. It does not help that i have to wake up at 5 am every week day. I really can feel the effects of not getting enough sleep. Most of my friends almost practically pass out at school because they are so tired. We need siestas!!!! Who's with me?

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

bkt — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 18:52:35 GMT

My son will turn 17 next month. He was diagnosed with bipolar, type 2, a few years ago. His father has type 1. He has a circadian rythm sleep disorder called delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS).

He takes Rozerem and clonidine (two .3mg tabs.) before bedtime. I tried a high dose of melatonin before he started the Rozerem, but it didn't help.

I don't like having to use prescription medications, but as a single mom it has been difficult over the years almost fighting with him to get up in the mornings.

He's had sleep problems since he was about six. He used to be late for school every day. This is the first school year he's been able to get there on time and he likes that. His grades are starting out better this year also.

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

Pebbles — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 12:46:20 GMT

I agree with this article about too many gagdets in their room. I have teenagers and they don't have a tv or other electronics in their room and they sleep fine. I agree with Russ you also have to eat healthy diet. It has to be a way of life. You only get one!

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

Vicki Marie — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 15:37:23 GMT

The rule in our house is lights out, tv off, music off, etc. for bedtime. We are so accustomed to the dark that we sometimes wake up when it's a full moon because it shines in thru the blinds. We are guilty though of having fans running in all of our rooms. We like it so quiet that we use the fans as white noise. I wonder how much EMFs they emit???

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

samurai — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:57:08 GMT

Who is the spineless person with completely the worst self esteem that dings people on the websites for no reason?
Let's see if you are man enough to respond. If I see no response, it is clear that you are in need of some serious psycotherapy.

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

Pat Ormsby — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 04:39:47 GMT

More research is being done on EMF biological effects all the time, though little of it gets reported due to powerful financial and political influences. All we have to do is wait until someone finds a way to reduce the impacts of electromagnetic fields on the body reliably and patents it so they can make a lot of money off it (it's hard to make money off of avoidance or simple, poorly effective shielding devices), and then the dam will burst and all this information they've been withholding will be released and we will all be inundated with endless messages telling us why we need to buy the new technology to protect ourselves from the old technology. Meanwhile, I recommend anyone with an interest in this to check out a new paper describing a likely mechanism of the observed biological effects of electromagnetic fields, including insomnia, at http://tinyurl.com/32nu71/ Research demonstrating breaching of the blood-brain barrier has been repeated.

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

Pwyll — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:59:22 GMT

My understanding is that the alternating current creates an electromagnetic field--the likes of which affects the brain--the pituitary in particular, and that as we are immersed in 60 cycles per second while sleeping in that field--it stimulates that gland in an off/on scenario 60 times a second. Making sure there are no closed circuits in the bedroom is crucial. Even if nothing is plugged in and on--there could be a closed circuit due to the wiring configuration. It is possible to have it checked and a device is available to block the current from an outlet should that be the case. Anyone else hear of this??? Curiously, if running on DC current--this problem does not arise.

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

samurai — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:06:54 GMT

I believe that this dilemma is in the U.S. as well, and not just England.
Sleep sure has a large impact on my little girl; she is 6 years old, and should she receive fewer than 9 hours per night, boy.... all heck breaks loose.
Another thing that I have noticed with my little girl; she normally has a predilection for fruits, and veggies. Yet, when she is sleep deprived, she will insist on cokes and pizza.

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

Rogway — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 03:04:21 GMT

Not only the info in this article but, and I hope my memory serves me correct---I used to be piddle fixing T.V.'s and computor monitors and they have what is called a deguazing coil that surrounds the picture tube. This along with the magnets on the nipple on the back of the picture tube creates a magnetic field that keeps the ions lined, and/or excites them inside the picture tube to keep it from going haywire. So, if we spend a lot of time in front of the T.V and computer, you can see how this will desturb your own electrical charge because it works at a different HZ cycle than our own, and how easy it can make us go haywire.

I hope I told you the truth, but this is basically about how it works. That's why you need to stay in constant contact with the earth to help offset this effect and try to bring your correct electrical charge back to its normal HZ cycle so the body can comunicate better with itself better.

If you work in front of a computer all day, you might want to check into the little foot pad you can get to put under your barefeet at the office that will help keep you in constant contact with good ole mother earth so you can combat those free radicals all day long.

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

Russ Bianchi — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 01:40:27 GMT

Too much of anything, but in particular electronic interrupting devices (recorders, DVD's, TV's, Ipods, microwaves, cell phones, lap tops, etc.) cannot, and is not, good for anyone.

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

mmc88121 — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 01:13:32 GMT

Thank you for this information. I have been having a nightly battle with my daughter about this subject. She falls asleep with the radio playing and I come in and turn it off because I do not think it is good for her.

Mary

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

proatc — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:05:39 GMT

..."that is sleep that is of neither the length nor quality that it should be in order to feed the brain with the rest it needs to perform properly at school ."

How about... "to rebuild and repair their bodily systems to perform properly for life !"

re: "Junk sleep" Damaging Teenagers' Health

KAC — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:47:30 GMT

I believe if kids eat healthy, they will have a good sleep pattern as well. I think if you look at the sleep patterns, you also need to see what these kids are eating. Electronic gadgets don't help either. These gadgets distract the child to prevent them from sleeping. Parents need to restrict the TV etc. by giving a set time when these gadgets need to be turned off.