It’s anyone’s guess whether or not we’re finally going to abandon a well-meaning but brutal practice of sleep deprivation. On March 15th of this year, the US Senate successfully passed the Sunshine Protection Act to eliminate DST (Daylight Savings Time) starting January 2023. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives has yet to move it forward. I believe the consensus is that they’d like to sleep on it. But, wouldn’t we all enjoy a little more sleep?     Ben Franklin Started This Whole Thing As A Joke Don’t blame our farmers. They had nothing to do with it! Back when Ben Franklin served as our envoy to France (1776 - 1785), he wrote a piece of satire that included ridiculous suggestions like firing off cannons at dawn to awaken people and taxing window shutters so that citizens would be discouraged from closing them to sleep in.  At the time, Ben came...

How long have we been hearing about how the tryptophan in turkey makes us sleepy at Thanksgiving dinner?  “Oh honey, can I help clean up later? I ate too much turkey.” “Shovel snow? Outside? Now? But I ate too much turkey.” “No, no. I wasn’t sleeping in front of the tv. I was just resting my eyes. It was all that turkey.”     Finally, the Truth About Turkey It’s a fact. The amino acid tryptophan, that’s found in turkey, makes us sleepy. But the truth is there are many foods high in tryptophan. Here is a list:   Milk - 732mg per quart Canned tuna - 472mg per ounce Turkey - 410mg per pound Oats - 147mg per cup Cheese - 91mg per ounce   Turkey Has An Accomplice So if the turkey isn’t absolutely loaded with tryptophan, then what is it that makes us sleep? Could the masked...

  The first years of life are crucial to child development. And we're learning so much about how vital sleep is to brain development. There has been a lot of research into how to help your kids sleep better at night, and the scientific community is consistently learning new things. A research team led by Dr. Ze Wang at the University of Maryland conducted a study that involved nearly 12,000 volunteers between 9 and 10 years of age from across the country. Their research compared children who typically got less than the recommended nine hours of sleep to children who generally got nine or more hours of sleep per day. The study was conducted over a two-year period, and both groups were matched according to key factors like gender, household income, body mass index, and puberty status.  According to Dr. Wang, "Children who had insufficient sleep–less than nine hours per...

  Yes, they do. Even though we cannot directly observe another being’s dreams, according to many studies, scientists agree that dogs and, in fact, most mammals have dreams. This is something you may have already noticed. If you watch your dog carefully as they sleep, sometimes you can see them moving their paws as if they’re running. Other times you may notice Rapid Eye Movement (REM), and this is one of the most telling signs of being in a dream state.   Snuggling With Your Dog Can Lower Your Blood Pressure It’s just one of the health benefits of interacting with a beloved pet. Studies show petting a cat or dog can lower your blood pressure. Pet owners generally feel calmer when they’re snuggling with their pets.       Petting an animal can also lower your heart rate. Pet owners know this already. No matter how stressful your day starts, the...

There are at least a half dozen ways an adjustable mattress can help relieve snoring. Today, we're going to review several of them. The first thing to consider is that unless you're going to record yourself while you sleep or your sleep partner is willing to share the truth, you can never tell if you snore and, if so, how bad it really is.   It's funny -- at first When you're young, and the subject of snoring first comes up, some people find it funny. The trouble is initially; snoring can be as mild as a soft purr. But as we get older, that soft purr can transform into the roar of a chainsaw. That's not funny at all. Especially when your snoring keeps everyone else up.     I finally admitted I had a problem when my wife told me she watches me at night to make sure...

  How exciting! If you’re thinking of making some improvements to your bedroom, we have some useful tips for you. One of the most important steps in any remodel is to set your expectations at the very beginning. Many remodels take longer than expected, but this can be a blessing in disguise. Unforeseen setbacks can be annoying, but they can also give you some valuable time to reconsider some of your choices. You may want to be more adventuresome in some areas and scale back in others. The more planning you can do ahead of time, the better. Take enough time to enjoy the journey.     Size matters when it comes to your bedroom   The idea of creating a place of comfort and relaxation within the four walls of a bedroom is becoming more and more popular. Having a larger bedroom really helps make this possible. The challenge...

  Finally, there's a definitive answer. Blue light before bed is bad for sleep. Blue light makes it harder for us to fall asleep, and it affects certain parts of the human brain in such a way as to degrade the quality of our sleep. We all know how important sleep is to our physical health, ability to handle stress and mental health. So, especially these days, it makes good sense to make small changes to promote healthy sleep. But unfortunately, the effects of blue light diminish our ability to receive the therapeutic benefits of a good night's sleep.     Are you having trouble sleeping?  Ask yourself about your sleep habits here.   Do you have a consistent bedtime? Do you have a sleep routine? A sleep routine is a set of consistent things you do every evening as you approach your bedtime? It can be anything. For example,...

  As if... As if by this age someone needs to explain how to keep your comforter clean. Nonsense. Obviously, you’d pass the UV light test with flying colors, right? “What’s that?”, you say. You’ve watched enough crime dramas to know, haven’t you? That’s when the forensics special agent comes into the hotel room with a UV blacklight flashlight to scan the bed to see if the perpetrator left any “traces” behind. “Oh, that UV light test”, you say. See, as we thought, there’s nothing to worry about. So, stop reading this article now and send a link to your teenagers or someone else who might be shocked at what they see on their comforters. You just sleep tight tonight.       Dust mites, bed bugs and other little creatures that might be sharing your comforter   We’re not even talking about the whole world of things you need...