Is sleep deprivation sneaking up on you?

1. I use an alarm clock.

When you’re well rested, you awake naturally at the same time each day. Keeping a regular schedule and avoiding substances that alter the natural sleeping/waking cycles lets you avoid starting your day with the stressful jarring of an alarm clock.

2. I lose my keys.

Memory consolidation is linked to REM sleep. We generally get the bulk of REM sleep in the last half of our sleep session. If our sleep is cut short, we mostly lose REM sleep and may become prone to memory glitches. Long term sleep problems have been shown to have an association with Alzheimer’s Disease.

3. I yell at my kids.

Irritability, lack of tolerance, and impulse control problems are linked to sleep deprivation for both kids and adults. A well-rested family is a more harmonious family.

4. I want doughnuts, not broccoli.

Adequate sleep balances our appetite hormones and curbs our cravings for carbohydrates and sugary snacks. Mmmm, broccoli!

5. You can’t seem to lose weight.

We produce human growth hormone and testosterone while we sleep. These hormones help us build and maintain a strong, lean body. Without adequate sleep, our diet and workout routines are less effective (and you want to eat doughnuts).

6. I’ve had a fender bender.

Chronic and short-term sleep deprivation leads to slower reaction times. A Stanford study showed sleep deprived people performed more poorly on reaction time tests than did people who were legally drunk. Enough said.

Signs of sleep deprivation can be more subtle than falling asleep during a movie or needing a venti coffee to get going. If you answered “yes” to a couple of these questions, you might take a look at your sleep habits. Sleep deprivation can sneak up on you—and diminish your quality of life— in unexpected ways.

This post is adapted with permission from sleepofchampions.com.

Getting quality sleep can play a role in alternative healing treatments.

One of the coolest things about designing products like the Oxygen Pillow is the chance to improve someone’s life. To succeed, the design process requires experimentation, product trial, and plenty of customer feedback.

Even after a product is launched, we’re keen to hear about people’s experiences. Is it working as intended? Accessing quality feedback can lead to helpful collaborations, and ESW is fortunate to have a working relationship with Gordon Medical Associates of Northern Sonoma County.

Gordon Medical specializes in innovative treatments for complex health issues such as Biotoxin Illness, Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, and Lyme disease, to name a few. They offer patients the Oxygen Pillow and have generously shared their experiences with us.

“Lack of sleep or physical pain are often side effects of the illnesses our patients are coping with,” explained Carla Rae Ortiz, Practice Manager. “Without good, refreshing sleep, patients have a difficult time feeling well, even when other treatments have improved their condition.”

A couple of years ago, one of Gordon Medical’s practitioners heard about the Oxygen Pillow and wondered if it could help their patients. ESW brought in pillows and helped instruct staff on how to fit them to their patients. Because of the nature of their patients’ special concerns, the pillows have proven to be helpful in many ways.

“The first and most obvious is the comfort they offer as a sleep aide,” said Ms. Ortiz. “Because they do not lose their shape or shift around, they allow people who are often awake for repositioning to sleep through the night. For our patients, this has been priceless. And because they are made of organic cotton and natural latex, they give even the most sensitive person a safe place to rest.”

Combining the O2 Pillow with the Sleep Wedge can help tackle some sleep problems.

More recently, ESW has provided Gordon Medical with the Oxygen Wedge for trial. Their wedge feedback has resulted in more helpful insights: users have found it comfortable during side sleeping, and in the words of one person, it provides an alternative to the “claustrophobic feeling” of the CPAP mask. It also illuminated other attributes: relief from shoulder pressure and nasal congestion.

Located in Santa Rosa, CA, Gordon Medical Associates uses advanced alternatives in integrative medicine to treat chronic conditions, pain, and illness. Learn more about their holistic approach to healing.

Extra sleep boosts HGH for greater physical performance.

Athletes looking to maximize their strength, stamina, and recovery time have a safe, legal way to enhance performance and gain an edge: Getting more sleep.

Researchers at Stanford set out to determine if getting extra sleep could boost athletic performance. They studied their basketball players over 3 seasons and found that those who tried to get 10 hours of sleep a night performed better (this ESPN article on the topic is a good read). They sprinted faster, made more shots, and felt better during both practice and games.

Why is sleep such a potent performance enhancer? Because during sleep, surges of human growth hormone (HGH) secretions peak, and this hormone works all kinds of magic: It increases calcium retention, strengthens bones, builds muscle mass, and stimulates the immune system. Long stretches of sleep, it turns out, are naturally anabolic—and a boon for athletic performance.

I’m not an elite athlete. Just a busy 40-something mom. But the physical benefits of extra sleep are just as meaningful to me (some days do feel like marathons). It’s a bit ironic that we pack our days full in an effort to achieve more when slowing down and getting rest is one of the most powerful ways to improve our lives. This study is a good reminder that getting plenty of sleep isn’t an indulgence. It’s what we all need to reach our personal best.

Vermont Furniture Designs Founder, Arthur Weitzenfeld

ESW has long valued good design and natural materials. It’s the basis of our own mattress system and extends to the bedroom furniture we offer. We love beautiful, handcrafted, American-made hardwood furniture—like Vermont Furniture Designs.

For 20 years, ESW has partnered with VFD to bring our customers their classic designs. In an age of ubiquitous particle-board furniture, we wondered what made VFD tick. VFD’s founder, Arthur Weitzenfeld, was nice enough to share his story.

ESW: I think part of the appeal of VFD is the romance of carpenters in Vermont making furniture in a shop the “old school” way. Are you from Vermont?

A look inside the VFD shop

AW: I was born and raised in New York City and suburbs.

How did you become interested/involved in designing and building furniture?

Actually, I left grad school to move to the wilderness of Vermont to build handweaving looms (it was the 1960′s). I did that for over 10 years. When the handcraft movement slowed, I turned to furniture. The segue was natural, as building wooden machines lends itself to building sturdy furniture with clean lines.

Hmm, I can’t help but picture you in a past life: living somewhere in the woods in a log cabin that is the envy of all passing frontiersmen. How were you trained?

I’m self-trained.

How did VFD come to be? How many people work with you?

We grew slowly with a few dealers in the area.  Then a casual connection hooked us into a store in Manhattan, so we got quite busy. In the late 1980′s, Vermont took a booth at High Point, and we subleased space. We met Crate and Barrel and Room and Board.

For 15 years we grew rapidly with both companies, reaching almost 90 employees. Then C&B was sold to a public corporation and started buying almost all of their furniture overseas.  We dropped down to about 50.  During the recent recession we dropped to about 30 employees.

VFD has a distinctive style. How would you describe the VFD aesthetic?

Maple dressers, in progress

I try to design clean and sturdy furniture.  We have almost zero issues with our furniture, which customers love.  We spend a great deal of time on selecting color and grain-matching wood pieces, so the furniture looks great.  The oil and wax finish requires a lot of sanding, but it brings out all the natural beauty of the wood.  These things take time and use expensive lumber, so our prices are higher, but the furniture is worth the extra effort and cost.

VFD doesn’t use stains or laquers and focuses on three types of wood. What is the thinking behind that?

There is a very small market for other types of wood. We started focusing primarily on cherry and then added other woods at the suggestion of our customers.  I don’t believe in hiding the natural beauty of the wood, which is brought out by the oil and wax.  Stains hide the wood, and no lacquer is going to show the depth of color and grain like oil does.

Where does the inspiration for your designs come from?

Most anywhere.  Originally we started making furniture in the style of the Mission and Craftsman movements.  Then several design ideas were suggested by customers. Now, we add things that are requested enough, and every few years, we try to come up with a new line. Most of our lines are traditional and timeless, although right now we are making a lot of mid-century modern furniture from the 1950′s.

My background in mathematics helps me in designing pieces that are aesthetically pleasing and well-proportioned.  I always say: if the furniture is simple, you had better get the proportions right, build it well, and use the wood beautifully, or you don’t have much to sell.

Calling it “simple furniture” is deceiving because as you say, the design is quite refined. How would you define “good design”?

Useful, attractive, sturdy.

The furniture business can be challenging–with fluctuations in trends, materials, and the economy. Why do you think VFD has been successful for so long?

All VFD case pieces feature dovetail joints

We make a trouble-free product that is beautiful and, despite the higher prices, a great value. We compare our products to custom pieces sold for 2-3 times the price. The stores we sell to are loyal to our product. They believe in it, and know it will result in a happy customer, so they push it.  Slow growth has also helped us. We have been relatively debt-free, which is important during down times.

What furniture trends are you NOT a fan of?

I feel that there is a place for every level of furniture.  I don’t care for ugly furniture, but that is so subjective that I would not pick out specific trends.  I prefer timeless designs, like Shaker and Mission, but I also understand more modern trends. I am not a fan of historic reproductions that are excessively ornate.

What trends do you find interesting?

I pretty much stay in Vermont and keep the shop running. I try not to follow trends. That way, I can keep designing timeless furniture. Many of our most popular beds have been sold for over 20 years, and people still love them.

For someone shopping for wood furniture, what advice do you have for them?

Stay away from imported furniture. It not only hurts the American economy, but you will probably find that it is not as sturdy or attractive as well-built American furniture. You get what you pay for!

Even mild symptoms such as snorting and starting and stopping breathing leave men almost four times as likely to suffer depression and women more than twice as likely. These symptoms were “associated with nearly all depression symptoms, including feeling hopeless and feeling like a failure,” said Anne G. Wheaton, PhD, lead author of the CDC study.

The hopeful part of this story? We’ve got 3 easy-to-try suggestions that could help you alleviate OSA symptoms. And you can try them tonight! At ESW, we’re firm believers that even small improvements to sleep quality are significant.  This belief fuels our passion for designing great sleep products.

Three Basic Obstruction-Fighting Sleep Suggestions

• Sleep On Your Side- Create less airway obstruction by sleeping on your side vs. your back. Get comfy on your side—sometimes a pillow between the knees helps—and try to stay there. Back sleeping helps the jaw, tongue, and soft throat tissue fall like a trap door, blocking air flow. ESW creates a mattress system designed to accommodate comfortable side sleeping.
• Sleep Elevated- With your head and torso elevated on a wedge, gravity helps keep sinuses, throat, soft palette, and diaphragm clearer for easier breathing. ESW offers an all-natural latex and organic cotton wedge, engineered for comfort and alignment.
• Pillow Size Counts- Many people either over-elevate their head and neck by sleeping on too much pillow or let the head, throat, and shoulder collapse on a flat pillow. Both can result in airway obstruction. Use a pillow that reliably keeps the head elevated in a neutral, relaxed posture. The natural-latex Oxygen Pillow comes in multiple depth and firmness options for comfortable, proper head elevation.

Reasons for sleep loss vary, but lifestyle choices commonly play a major role. Most of us need to improve our sleep hygiene—our behaviors that relate to our sleep habits. Though we may know better, most of us have bad habits when it comes to getting the sleep we need; we go to bed late, zone-out online or watching TV, consume caffeine, and so on.

The good news? Lifestyle choices can change. But what does it take to change a habit? According to author Charles Duhigg, it may not be easy, but it’s possible. It helps to understand the “habit loop.” In his best-selling book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Duhigg explains how a three-part psychological process creates habits, which then become our day-to-day routine.

The habit loop consists of a cue, or trigger (for example, you finish dinner); a routine, or the behavior itself (you turn on TV); and a reward (you’re entertained or relaxed). Changing the middle part of the loop, the routine, is key to changing your habits. Going back to our sleep hygiene example, instead of turning on the TV, you read a book, take a bath, or meditate—all relaxing activities that are sleep-friendly.

Examining our own habit loops can be a revealing exercise, but more importantly, it can give us a tool to kick bad habits and create healthier sleep behaviors.

Even the most conscientious among us can underestimate how drowsy we are. But what if we didn’t have to guess? What if there was a way to measure our drowsiness: a “breathalyzer” for sleepiness? A recent Wall Street Journal article takes an interesting look at the science behind measuring drowsiness and its possible applications.

Not surprisingly, there are “markers” for drowsiness. For instance, as we get sleepier, our blink speed slows from 100-150 milliseconds to 300 milliseconds. Balance also diminishes—sleepy people sway more when standing still. And the search is underway for other “biomarkers”. Variations in proteins found in the blood, for instance, can change relative to sleepiness.

This science is already resulting in some innovative product designs. Optalert Ltd., an Australian company, produces eyeglasses for mining and trucking companies that measure the position and velocity of wearer’s eyelids. Using an infrared sensor, the glasses give wearers real-time scores: five out of ten means people are not fit to be driving.

Savvy car companies are looking to enhance driver safety, too. Mercedes offers “Attention Assist”—a feature which senses erratic steering movement and tracks how long a driver’s head lingers on a head rest.  Any signs of trouble and the system emits an audible signal and flashes a coffee cup with the message “ATTENTION ASSIST: Break!”

While the average driver benefits from such product developments, other applications could have a big cultural impact on everyone’s health, safety, and productivity—think pilots, surgeons, machine operators, or anyone doing an activity that demands alertness.

Feng Shui is the Chinese art of positioning objects in harmonious patterns to maximize beneficial energy flow. It can help with design decisions about furniture placement, colors, and decorations. The goal is to create a space that amplifies the positive aspects of your life—like getting great sleep.

“Ideally, the bedroom is the most restful, quiet, passive, and receiving room in our home,” says Feng Shui practitioner, Sara Mossman. “Our bodies need this type of environment to restore and replenish on every level.”

To get started, Mossman recommends setting an intention. “You’ll create a more restful environment by focusing on the purpose of the room. Keep reading material (especially work-related) and daytime projects to a minimum as these subconsciously add to a busy mind and heightened state of activity.” Once you have cleared the space, experiment with these Feng Shui bedroom basics:

Bed Placement

• Position your bed against a solid wall.
• Make sure the bed is not in the path of too much movement. Are doors opening directly opposite your head or feet? Slow down the flow by using a nightstand or area rug.
• Beds should be slightly elevated for good airflow. Too high can be un-grounding and cause poor rest.
• Avoid placing your headboard against a wall that contains plumbing for an adjacent room.

Photo: materialgirlblog.com

Elemental Balance

According to Taoist thinking, everything is made of 5 elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Avoid a predominance of any one element by including a range of materials, shapes, textures, colors, and sizes in your decorating. The room will not only feel more balanced, it will be more interesting.

The Yin-Yang Principle

Feng Shui seeks to harness energy through the tactics of flow (yang) and containment (yin). In a bedroom, where privacy and calm are paramount, you want to promote yin.

• Window coverings add to a sense of peace and containment while sleeping.
• Promote yin by cutting back on electronics in the bedroom, including cell phones, computers, and televisions.
• Turn off wireless routers at night, especially if within 20’ or 1 room away from bedroom.

Photo, Victoria Pearson; House Beautiful

Decorate With Purpose

• Symmetry and balance create a sense of grounding. Try coordinating bedside tables and lamps.
• Use colors that make you feel serene. Low-contrast palettes and subtle patterns are most restful. Try tone-on-tone gradations.
• Keep it natural: mattresses, bedding, and fabrics made from natural fibers; flooring, such as wood or terra-cotta, create a negative-ion environment to promote health.
• Soft floor coverings absorb and slow the energy.
• Keep artwork clean and minimal.

Mirrors

Mirrors magnify and thus create more yang. Limit the size and quantity, especially if you have trouble sleeping. Position them to reflect something beautiful. You can also cover them when not in use.

Natural Light

Sunshine is the best way to wake up in the morning. Not only does sunlight purify a space, but it aligns the body with the earth’s cycles and creates healthy biological rhythms that support our busy lives.

Sara Mossman is certified from the Golden Gate School of Feng Shui and the Permaculture Design Institute of Australia. Sara Mossman Designs helps individuals and businesses restore, enhance, and align with their physical surroundings.

With its devotion to stability, alignment, and body mechanics, its focus on the breath, and its calming effect on both body and mind, yoga is a powerful resource for sleep improvement. At ESW it’s proven to be a powerful inspiration in product design. ESW owner Michael Lavin explains:

How did you make the connection between yoga and product design?

ML: “Serendipity, really. I had begun a very basic yoga practice and found it helped reduce my snoring. I wondered how yoga was affecting my nighttime breathing. This led me to rethink the connection between mattresses, sleep position, and breathing.

What did you discover? How was it able to impact your breathing?

ML: A simple yoga practice had positively developed my awareness of body position and posture. I realized with my chest open and my spine in a neutral posture, I could breath more easily. I became more invested in how I held my body. I think that carried over to my sleep posture at night. If I could snore less and breath deeper by maintaining proper alignment while I slept, then that was a huge quality of life issue. For me and my wife!

So you started looking at our products with “yoga posture” in mind? Almost like yoga props, only for sleeping?

ML: Yes! Like, how can a pillow play a part in keeping the head, throat, and even chest open and neutral. That question led in-part to the Oxygen Pillow and Wedge.

What about the ESW mattress and slat system?

ML: Well, in addition to being concerned with support, stability, breathability, and durability, we were also focused on range of motion, body position, and alignment as they relate to breathing, digestion, and relaxation. There was even more incentive for our system to support side-sleeping and be adaptable to different people’s support needs.

We’re lucky. We design and manufacture our own products, which invites experimentation and innovation. In respect to our products, I think yoga has given me a broader view of how related everything is and how small changes can be really meaningful.

by Patty Tucker, PA-C

Love is in the air! February is the month for Cupid’s arrow to fly, and Valentine’s Day is the culmination of it all. Traditional gifts of chocolate, wine, and roses have been the go-to standards for years. But did you know these sweet gifts may actually be stealing your sweetheart’s slumber?

Chocolate…I cling to the research that points up the high antioxidant qualities of the stuff. Its benefits include lower blood pressure and cholesterol and higher serotonin levels. Chocolate has been shown to increase blood flow to the heart and brain and even has cancer fighting credits. But chocolate also contains theobromine and caffeine, known stimulants and sleep stealers. For those who are sensitive or tend to overindulge, it may be best to skip the chocolate dessert.

Wine…heady, complex, marvelous nectar! Though wine and its alcoholic cousins may lead us to feel heavy lidded and seem to whisk us more easily to sleep, the initial daze gives way to broken sleep later in the night. Deep slow wave sleep is replaced by lighter sleep stages. As the liver breaks down the ETOH (alcohol) to other chemicals that can be safely eliminated from the body, one of the resulting metabolites has stimulating properties almost as strong as espresso! Waking between 1 and 3 a.m. with difficulty getting back to sleep is often associated with drinking alcohol in the evening.

Roses…ah, the sweet and pungent fragrance. A big bouquet of you darling’s favorite posies may pose another sleeping challenge. If your honey is allergic, one of the main physiologic reactions is the release of histamine. This gives us the runny nose, itchy eyes, and sneezing. In the brain, histamine gives a strong signal for wakefulness. Allergies and peaceful sleep are not compatible bed partners.

It seems these Valentine’s Day favorites may keep your sweetie from sound sleep. So next year when Cupid draws back his bow and you are struck with the desire to shower your beloved with tokens of affection, you may want to skip the chocolate, wine, and roses.

Patty Tucker is a professional consultant and sleep coach dedicated to helping her clients find their own path to restful sleep or find their way back to the peaceful sleep they once knew but thought they’d lost forever.