Are Allergies Causing Your Insomnia
If you are having a difficult time sleeping at night, you might be surprised to find out that there are things behind it which you may not realize are going wrong with your body. As a matter of fact, one of the most common things that causes sleep disorders aside from stress is allergies. I’m not really talking about hayfever but what I am talking about are allergies to specific things in the environment around us that we may not even realize we are dealing with.
Having allergic reactions to different foods and things that are in the air can cause a lot more difficulties than just sneezing or a runny nose. As a matter of fact, many of the food allergies that we have go undetected because the only symptoms that they can really cause may show up as insomnia. In order for us to be able to get to the root of the problem that is causing our insomnia, we may need to take a look at some of the things that are in our environment. For example, do you eat wheat on a regular basis? You may be dealing with an allergy to gluten. Do you drink milk regularly? This might be the culprit because many of us are lactose intolerant.
If you really want to cure your insomnia and you think allergies may be to blame, you need to have a systematic way of removing things from your diet and your environment. The first thing that you should do is to keep a record of everything that goes into your body on a daily basis. This not only includes the foods that you eat but it should also include any liquids that you drink as well. Keep a record of any kind of symptoms that may show up in your body, no matter how small. You might be surprised to discover that you have more food allergies than you realized.
Begin getting rid of the things that are causing problems in your body. Although this can be a little bit difficult, especially if we enjoy eating them, getting a good night sleep and curing our insomnia will make any foods that we have to get rid of well worth the effort. You should also make sure that you’re drinking plenty of water every day because this helps to flush any allergens from our system before they have the ability to affect us negatively.
How foods affect you to get better sleep
People who are busy with their work are usually the ones who are having problems in sleeping. This is because the exhaustion and their hectic schedule keeps them from getting better sleep on daily basis. If you are one of those who are having trouble sleeping due to too much work, it is now time to reflect what might be causing these and address it properly.
One of the things that hinder people from getting better sleep is the set of foods that they eat. This is because these foods might contain ingredients and other properties that can really affect the person’s chemical balance. If you think that the foods that you are eating affects you in getting better sleep, try assessing your food intake for one day.
What you can do is list down all the foods—including the drinks—that you have taken in for one day and make an assessment after that day. In this way, you can track down which are the foods and drinks you have taken affect your sleeping habits especially at night. The following are just some of the list of foods that might lead one to troublesome and uncomfortable sleeping at nighttime:
1. Too much food intake. This is considered as the major culprit why many people—especially those who don’t have sleeping problems before—are having a hard time sleeping all of a sudden. Experts say that if a person have overeaten, the tendency is that the stomach will have a hard time digesting it. Too much food may also affect the how the digestive system work and may even cause clinical conditions such as ulcer if done regularly.
2. Foods that contain too much fat. Experts say that people are eating foods that have too much fat are prone to not sleeping well at night because it creates a lot of digesting work for the stomach. If one wants to get better sleep, he or she should cut down on foods that are too rich or fatty so there will be lesser work for the stomach especially at nighttime.
3. Too much spicy or acidic foods. These sets of foods can very much affect one’s sleeping habits especially at nighttime. If one eats too many sets of spicy foods especially at night, it can lead to troubles in the stomach and even heartburn which makes it harder for you to lie down and get better sleep at night.
4. Too much alcohol intake. Some people say that alcohol may help one to get better sleep but on the contrary, it doesn’t especially if he or she has taken too much of it.
5. Foods that contain caffeine. These are another set of culprits for people who are having trouble sleeping. If you are prone to not sleeping, it is best to avoid foods as well as drinks that have high caffeine content such as coffee, chocolates, sodas that are caffeinated as well as teas. To get better sleep, it is best to not consume these for a while. Or if you really cannot do without these, try minimizing your consumption even for a couple of days. Once you get your sleeping pattern back, you may go back to consuming these but only to limited content so you would not go back to having sleeping problems again.
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Sleep apnea is the condition where there are lapses in breathing during sleep. These are defined by medical terminology when an individual literally stops breathing. There are two different types of apneas Central and Obstructive. This is a common problem among the morbidly obese which requires them to wear an oxygen mask so they can breathe since that’s due in part of their weight bearing down on their chest crushing their rib cage and lungs.
According to medical reports the population at risk are obese middle-aged males since physiology doesn’t make women potential sufferers of sleep apnea. The problem is that people who do fall asleep due to sleep apnea will go through brief periods where people think they’re not going to wake up. Keep in mind that this is very serious because if it’s not properly diagnosed it can be life threatening. People with excessive weight usually morbidly obese constantly have to deal with frequent episodes of paused breathing. Snoring is a common problem with the morbidly obese and constant gasping for air while sleeping is another problem. Obstructive sleep apnea can be dangerous to the heart because it’s prolonging and deprivation of oxygen to keep the circulation flowing efficiently.
Other symptoms that are deemed non-specific are headaches, irritability, moodiness, difficulty concentrating, Nocturia (getting up in the middle of the night to urinate), increased urination, decreased sexual drive, increased heart rate, anxiety, depression, esophageal reflux (acid reflux disease), and profuse heavy sweating at night.
Sleep apnea has also been linked to congestive and congenital heart failure usually found in people who are diagnosed as morbidly obese because of the excessive weight on them. This is from severe and prolonged cases meaning the individual(s) were not being treated and had let the condition get to the point that it’s no longer treatable.
Individuals born with Down’s Syndrome are likely to develop obstructive sleep apnea since 50% of the population that has this genetic condition are likely to be diagnosed because of having an enlarged head, adenoids, tonsils, tongue, and narrowing of the nasopharnyx. Pharyngeal flap surgery has also been noted to cause sleep apnea in patients because of the obstruction in the breathing pattern after surgery which if not monitored can be life threatening. There are different treatments for people with sleep apnea and doctors and ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) specialists take the following into consideration for designing a treatment plan for those who are diagnosed with this condition.
The factors that are considered are an individual’s medical history, severity of the disorder, and the specific cause for the obstruction. Some treatments also incorporate a lifestyle change, avoiding alcohol and medications that can relax the nervous system.
Other lifestyle changes is losing weight and quitting smoking, and incorporate things like elevating themselves while sleeping so that they can breathe using slanted pillows. The weight issue is the biggest lifestyle concern because that causes some people to be confined to beds where they can’t move and be active contributing further into a person’s weight gain.
Usually if someone who’s morbidly obese and loses about 50 pounds within a couple months their condition improves, but it’s usually up to a steady support system to get someone on a set routine and healthy eating plan that helps to get their weight down so they can qualify for other treatments to help them maintain weight loss which is either through gastric bypass which has to be strongly enforced since this surgery is irreversible and you have to eat differently and undergo a major lifestyle change. The other option is lap band, which is reversible, but again to maintain the weight loss to improve sleep and breathing patterns comes with monitoring what one eats and exercise to help improve breathing patterns.
) Very Helpful !