Need Sleep? Can Zeo Help?

So, do you get enough sleep?

Many Cranky Fitness readers have probably come to loathe that question. You guys tend to be well-informed, health conscious, and busy (not to mention clever, kind and adorable). And the answer to "do you get enough sleep" may frequently be "no, goddamn it, I don't!"  Yet you've already read the grim statistics on how screwed you are, in 87 different ways, if you're prone to insomnia.  And you've googled for sleep hygiene tips and you've tried most of the suggestions at some point or other and you still can't sleep.

Yet strangely enough, scaring the pants off of people by detailing all the dire health consequences of not sleeping is a really crappy way to help them drop off when they are staring at their ceilings at 3 a.m.!

So fear not, those of you who are sleep-deprived. This review of the Zeo sleep coaching system is custom-crafted to avoid making you feel any worse if you are not sleeping, and it will not pester you with suggestions you already know.

Now what the heck is a Zeo, what does it do, and should you think about springing for one? 

Can't Sleep? High Tech to the Rescue! (Review and Giveaway)

Whatever it takes.

Anyone ever have trouble sleeping? Show of hands?

Oh goodness, that's quite a few of you!

Well let's see what we've got here.  Hmm, a review of Sheex Performance Bedding, and a reader giveaway of the LARK sleep sensor and docking station.

Plus the usual irrelevant prattle that Crabby Slacker is famous for would be famous for, if she were famous.

Sleeping: Too much, too little, you're screwed

Where were all these studies when I was in high school?

A sure sign that I was born a generation too early: High school should start at 11 am, says scientist

According to a white-coated researcher, "...the body's internal circadian clock shifts tends to drift more in this age group than in others, with the signal to fall asleep occurring slightly later each day. Dr. Russell Foster, an Oxford professor of neuroscience ... demonstrated an improvement in the students' memory when they were tested at 2 PM as compared to at 9 AM."

I like the sound of this. I don't care if it's verified by additional research, it just sounds good. Now, if only they could extend these findings to include people who go to work, then life would be nice.

Yes, I know, I'm not holding my breath for that study. I always figured that at least if I ever retire I'd be able to sleep in. I mean, maybe we can't rely on social security or 401k stuff in old age, but there's always the prospect of being able to turn off the alarm and going back to bed.



Or is there???

A study in the European Journal of Neurology claims that Sleeping in can be an early sign of dementia.

"Experts at the University Hospital of Madrid in Spain studied 3,286 men and women aged 65 or over. Each one was questioned on their health and lifestyle, including how many hours sleep they had on average over a 24-hour period, including afternoon naps. The volunteers were then tracked for more than three years, during which time 140 went on to develop Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia.
The results showed the biggest increase in risk was among those averaging more than eight or nine hours a day, either by lying in the mornings or napping in the afternoon. In a report on their findings the researchers said: "We found a significant association between long sleep duration and dementia."



The only way I can reconcile these two findings is the conclusion that one of the following two theories are true:

• It's okay to sleep in when you're a teenager, but once you're an "old person" you have to get up early, damn it.

--OR--

• Just make sure you stay up late at night reading blogs, regardless of whether you're old or a young'un. That way, even if you sleep in until 11 AM, you won't have gotten too much sleep. So you'll be okay.

What -- you got a better idea? Bring it on!

Got Sleep? No? Cranky Fitness SleepPhones Giveaway!

One, two, three....Oh crap. There's just too damn many.
Photo: natala007

I am lucky not to suffer from chronic insomnia. From what I hear, it's an extremely frustrating affliction. Sure, some nights I'll be excited or worried about something, and it will take a little longer to settle down, but generally, I'm one of those lucky folks who reliably drifts off to sleep within 10 minutes or so after I go to bed.

Unless...

Some stupid @$#%&*%@ jerk is out there making noise when I'm trying to fall asleep.

Well yeah, it's true that on summer nights we do love to leave our windows open. Oh, and we tend to go to bed early. And there happens to be a big ol' condo complex right behind us.

And so inevitably some selfish, obnoxious oblivious louts will get very drunk and yell and scream and sing and blast their music in the middle of the night. They are clearly jerks. But then so are chirping birds, crying babies, barking dogs, or even otherwise nice neighbors who dare to converse outdoors anytime after, say, 9 p.m.

When I'm trying to sleep my definition of jerkitude gets very expansive. I too am sometimes a noisy jerk, but somehow this never occurs to me at the time.

Anyway, so how does one deal with noisy jerks, or with insomnia problems generally?

Well, please follow me to our Review and Giveaway Page where we can discuss some options! One of these is a product called SleepPhones, which I've gotten to try and will tell you all about. Plus, you'll get the chance to win some SleepPhones of your own!

(Read the rest of the post and enter the contest here.)

Hypnosis CD Give-Away

[By Crabby]

(Stare at the center... C'mon, we dare ya!)
(Flickr photo credit)

So, you wanna get hypnotized?

We've got another Friday give-away, and this one's pretty cool: your choice of one of 3 hypnosis CD's by the folks at Performance Hypnosis.

(And we swear none of these CD's will have you squawking like a chicken or going all homicidal at the sight of the Queen of Diamonds. This is the good kind of hypnosis).

But before we get into the specifics...

Have you ever been hypnotized, either by a live person or an audio recording? Some people fear it, and others scoff, and still others remain entirely unaffected--but for the majority of folks it can be quite a positive experience.

This being a Lazy Friday, I'm not going to dig up all the research to convince you of the benefits of hypnosis. Even staid mainstream medical authorities pretty much agree it can be useful, depending on the person and the situation.

It's basically just a state of relaxed, focussed attention in which you find yourself less critical and more open to suggestion.

Of course, my being a skeptical, controlling, untrusting, argumentative, anxious, uptight person--you might think that I would be the last person on earth who would be a hypnosis fan. But you'd be wrong! Even I think it's pretty cool. (Further disclosure: back when I was a psychotherapist, I even learned to hypnotize clients myself--I was always totally shocked when it actually worked.)

However, it is true that I'm not very suggestible. I fooled around with it a LOT a number of years ago--and personally, I never had much luck "fixing" things, like bad habits or irrational fears. But for those who are naturally more open and less stubborn? Results really can be impressive. And I did have some really nifty trance experiences. Plus it worked really well for stress reduction and general relaxation.

Hmm, this post is making me want to drag out some of my old self-hypnosis CD's... perhaps I'm more suggestible than I thought?

So enough of that: lets talk about the Free CD.

Alas, the CD can only be won by residents of the United States or Canada, sorry. (But at least we squeezed the Canadians in this time.)

Here are the choices:

Eliminating Insomnia

Stress Relief

Weight Loss Motivation

(I just love the "stress relief" photo, don't you?)

If you'd like a shot at winning one, just leave a comment letting us know which one you'd like. A random number generator will pick a winner by Tuesday night July 15th, Eastern Standard Time and the results will be announced sometime the next day. The winner needs to check in by midnight on Thursday the 17th to claim the prize.

And if you're not wanting a CD? Please tell us what you think of hypnosis just for the heck of it!

UPDATE: We now have a winner, but please try again Friday July 18th for our next give-away.