As we go through the day our blood pressure just naturally raises and lowers depending on a lot of conditions. What most people are most interested in is a regular resting blood pressure as high blood pressure and hypertension are a very strong indicator toward present and future heart problems

The Effect Of Sleep on Blood Pressure

Sleep causes a fall in blood pressure. The maximum depth occurs about two hours after falling asleep. In sound, untroubled slumber a pressure of 130/80 might dip to 100/70. It once was thought that this drop in pressure was the cause of sleep, the reasoning being that a lower pressure delivers less blood to the brain resulting in mental sluggishness and hence sleep. Now it is known that this blood pressure decline is the result, not the cause, of sleep. As morning approaches, the blood pressure drifts slowly upward as the subject begins the awakening process. Any interference with sound sleep causes the blood pressure to rise. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

MSNBC has an article today about a report in the journal aptly titled “Sleep”. According to the 6 week study those that slept too much or not enough gained weight.

Hours in the sack may have more to do with your weight than hours in the gym, finds a new study that shows too little – or too much – shuteye is a major factor in obesity.

Previous research has found that lack of sleep is associated with weight gain, but it was unclear whether the sleep problems drove the weight increase or vice versa.

To get a better handle on this chicken-or-egg issue, Canadian researchers tracked how people’s sleep patterns affected their weight over a six-year period. In the study, which appears in Tuesday’s issue of the journal Sleep, those getting six hours or less of shuteye nightly were more likely to become overweight or obese compared to those getting a solid eight hours of nightly slumber. And surprisingly, those getting nine or more hours of sleep were also more likely to become overweight or obese.

Read the rest of this entry »

I have been away on vacation for the last few days. I went with my family on a vacation to Hawaii. We spent 7 days in Waikiki and the rest of the island of Oahu and I have a few stories that I am looking forward to telling about the weather and sunburns, about eating at restaurants, about exercise and workouts and also about people trying to have the best beach body.

I am still getting my bearings back since I have had to move back and forth across four timezones but I am less sleep deprived today then I was yesterday.

More articles this week. I am hoping to be a bit of a posting demon getting lots of tips up this next week.

Oh, and the Biggest Loser? I have missed two straight episodes so I will need to watch those and post about those as well.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I have stopped eating in the evening and anyone that knows me would know that when it comes to eating I like to do it a lot.

It seems that now that we have been not eating in the evenings after 7:00 I have gotten more and more used to it and do not even think about or notice not eating. Evenings were my favorite time to eat food that was bad for me and now that is gone.

I have not worked out my calorie intake for the day in a long time but I suspect that now I am eating most of my calories by about noon (I tend to have an early lunch). Most weight loss programs will have you eat most of your calories earlier in the day so that you have a chance to burn them as opposed to eating late in the day which will have the food turn to fat as you sleep.

One of the early side effects of this not eating in the evening was that I was having some trouble sleeping through the night. If that was the case or not I am now sleeping through the night again so my body seems to have adjusted.

The one other problem that I was worried about was being really hungry in the morning. I tend to get up and drink water but don’t get food for an hour or so. I haven’t been overly hungry in the morning.

Now my next challenge will be the rest of my junk food. I eat a lot of my junk by noon everyday so this will be the next spot on my hit list to try to get under control.

I have been having some trouble sleeping lately and it is a little puzzling to me. I have no stresses in my life that I am waking up with so I am not to concerned and am just chalking it up to some disturbance in my circadian rhythm.

The real problem with not sleeping enough is that it drains your will power, confidence, and energy. When you sleep well you feel great but when you do not sleep enough it is easy to say

“What the hell I deserve to have desert and while I am at it I don’t feel like working out today”

That is dangerous especially at this time of year when, a couple of weeks into the new year, confidence may be waning a bit on that new years resolution to get in better shape and this is the only time that really matters as most people give up in January, not in February so sleep is important so that you can keep pushing yourself over that hump.

If you are having trouble sleeping as well I have written some tips for better sleep.

I was in the habit a year ago or so of drinking almost a liter of water first thing in the morning and I stopped that. I know how good it is to not only hydrate first thing in the morning but also to give your body a wake up call to wake from the slumber of sleep so I started again.

This week again I began to drink lots of water before hitting the bike and surprise surprise I feel a lot better on the bike and am not starving by the time I get to work.

Some habits we just should never break