Ill-Merica (9)

America is sick, and there's research to prove it.  According to studies presented by Paul Krugman in his article, "Our Sick Society," America is statistically more sick than the English.  When looking at the results, it seems that simply being American does more damage for your health than even race and social status.  Why is this happening?  A couple ideas as to why the health of American's in general is so poor has to do with health care, and overworking ourselves.  The healthcare provided to the English, for example, might actually be better than the health care offered to Americans.  Krugman writes, "It's possible that Britain's National Health Service, in spite of its limited budget, actually provides better all-around medical care ... because it takes a broader, longer-term view than private insurance companies," validating the issue of quality health care in the U.S.  The other issue of overwork still prevails in this study.  For example, Paul Krugman explains that, "... Americans work too hard and experience too much stress. Full-time American workers work ... about 46 weeks per year; full-time British, French and German workers work only 41 weeks a year. I've pointed out in the past that our workaholic economy is actually more destructive of the 'family values' ... than the European economies in which regulations and union power have led to shorter working hours," revealing that the European's included in this study already work less than the average American.  Taking this all into consideration, it's easy to see that the one thing the American's can change (for the most part) is overwork.  The topic of overworking ourselves is a common theme when studying sleep in the workforce, and clearly it's a true problem if it's causing American's to become even sicker as we age.  

Krugman, Paul.  "Our Sick Society."  EconomistsView.  NYT, 5 May 2006.  Web.  29 September 2015.

Friends or Enemies? (8)

Recently, I hadn't been having very many dreams, and if I was dreaming, they seemed to be pretty boring for the most part.  However, a few nights ago that all changed.  I had a dream that two of my friends basically tried to kill me (or so I thought).  In the context of the dream, my friends seemed like they were trying to play a prank on me by placing a black sackcloth type thing over my head, and then trying to put me into what looked like a body bag.  When this was taking place,  I was seeing all this happen from outside of my body like I was somebody else.  It wasn't until my friends started to put me in the body bag that I started to experience the dream from my own body.  Once that change occurred, I was panicking and begging my friends to stop and leave me alone, and finally they stopped and took the sackcloth off my face.  As soon as the cloth was removed and I could see, the dream was over.  Even though my friends' demeanor was a playful one throughout the dream, I clearly wasn't a fan of this prank!  Now that I understand nightmares are a way for our brain to attempt to prepare us for certain events in our lives, I wonder what the purpose of this dream was.  I didn't wake up extremely scared like most nightmares cause me to do, but I did feel weird that I thought my friends were going to kill me!

Past Time to Get Away (7)

It is becoming evident that people are starting to over work themselves.  As read in the articles "The Shame of Failure" and "Please Don't Make Me Go on Vacation," we're actually choosing to work a little too much.  If people do decide to go on vacation, their time off is still filled with electronics that bring never ending phone calls and emails, making it hard to actually relax and rejuvenate.  When thinking about this and relating it to our everyday living, it's interesting to think about the effect over working ourselves has on our home lives.  If we can't even relax on a nice beach for vacation, how are we going to allow ourselves to rest at home?  Not allowing ourselves to get away from the stressful things associated with work can potentially, and most likely does, have a negative effect on our sleep.  Laying awake at night thinking of all the things we didn't get done that day while dreading some of the things coming the next day can quickly spiral into serious sleep deprivation.  According to Alain De Botton, the author of "The Shame of Failure," our obsession with being successful at work stems from our fear of failure that relates to our general comparison of ourselves to others around us.  Even if we live comfortably and happily, the comparison between us and our neighbors still exists.  As a result, our fear of mediocrity causes us to skip vacation time to continue our long days at work.  In the article "Please Don't Make Me Go on Vacation" by Stephanie Rosenbloom, she states that, "A study released last year by the Families and Work Institute found that American workers have on average 16.6 paid vacation days but that more than one-third of employees (36 percent) did not plan to use their full vacation," revealing that it is becoming more and more  common for people to skip out on their earned vacation time.  Would we be happier if we actually took advantage of vacation time?  I believe that it would make a difference in some ways, but it wouldn't cure every problem.  Rest and rejuvenation, in my opinion, are very important when it comes to work.  I think it's important to allow ourselves a break every once in a while.  With that being said, there's no doubt that I'll be taking advantage of my vacation time in the future!

De Botton, Alain.  "The Shame of Failure."  NewStatesman.  NewStatesman, 1 January 2005.  Web.  22 September 2015.

Rosenbloom, Stephanie.  "Please Don't Make Me Go on Vacation."  New York Times.  New York Times, 10 August 2006.  Web.  22 September 2015.

Afternoon Naps (6)

Today has been one of those days where I really needed a nap.  I didn't have the best weekend, which resulted in a lack of sleep.  Needless to say, I'm already sleep deprived to start this week off!  Because of how exhausted I've felt, I decided to take a nap this afternoon.  Typically when I nap, I'll sleep for an hour or two at a time, and then continue my day.  When I do this, I don't always feel better, and sometimes I even feel worse.  Well when I decided to nap today, I planned on napping for an extended amount of time like I usually do.  However, because of certain outside factors, I ended up sleeping in a twenty minute segment, and then in another thirty minute segment.  At first, when I woke up after the first twenty minutes, I felt terrible.  I must have already been in a deeper sleep or something because of how hard it was for me to wake up fully.  After I slept for the second time, I woke up much easier and actually felt refreshed.  I've always heard that shorter naps are better than longer ones, and after today, I can now attest to that!  Maybe from now on I will only take shorter naps to see if I'll feel better.

Sleepless and Distressed (5)

The article titled "Lack of Sleep Linked to Distress in Young Adults" has stood out to me significantly.  The author discusses the statistics of certain young adults and their emotions/anxiety levels after they have had little sleep.  The study consisted of about 20,000 young Australian adults, and the results revealed that shorter sleep time has a linear relationship with psychological distress.  The study also showed that the amount of distress will continue to rise with every missed hour of sleep.  According to author Nancy Walsh, "Short sleep duration was associated with older age, having a job, using marijuana and alcohol, and recent self-harm (P<0.001 for each), while high psychological distress was associated with female sex, unemployment, drug and alcohol use, self-harm, and sensation seeking (P<0.001 for each)," explaining some of the serious effects of sleep deprivation in young adults.  After reading this article, I decided that this study is applicable in my life in many ways.  I haven't experienced the extremes listed, but I have noticed that when I'm sleep deprived, I feel more emotional and anxious throughout the day, starting with the minute I wake up.  The article also makes a disclaimer in regards to the population tested.  Since the sample only included Australians, the generalizations found in the study may or may not be applicable to all people groups.  However, I think this study reveals a lot about sleep deprivation and the effects it has on all young adults, regardless of culture or ethnicity.  

Walsh, Nancy.  "Lack of Sleep Linked to Distress in Young Adults."  Medpage.  Medpage, 11 June 2015.  Web.  14 September 2015.

Morning Nightmare (4)

A couple of nights ago, I woke up at about 6:00 am after having an odd nightmare.  Once I woke up and realized what time it was, I sort of "assessed" myself because I remembered our circadian rhythm is at a high point at that time in the morning. 
When I initially woke up, naturally my heart was pounding because I had suddenly woken up from a nightmare.  Once I got myself calmed down and started thinking about circadian rhythms, I began attempting to decide if I felt energized at all.  The answer was a definite no.  After learning that teenagers' circadian rhythms are off by about two hours, I assumed that that's why I still felt exhausted.  Another factor could include that I woke suddenly in the middle of REM sleep due to my nightmare, which results in the emotions to be effected negatively (hence the racing heart and fear/anxiety once I woke).  Still another factor to my drowsiness is simply because I was still sleep deprived at that point in the morning.  Needless to say, I eventually went back to sleep that morning.
Another interesting aspect to this particular night of sleep is the context of my nightmare.  In essence, I was trying to get away from a man who was chasing me and threatening to hurt me.  Now that I know our brains allow nightmares to try and prepare us for something in the real world, I'm curious as to why my brain processed that particular nightmare.  I have not felt threatened in any way, and I don't think that a random man is going to start chasing me around (at least I hope not).  Overall, I had a pretty evenful night in terms of dreams, and knew enough about the sleep cycle to process why I felt the way I did at 6:00 am.  Yay! 

Dreams (3)

The video titled What are Dreams? by PBS NOVA was very intriguing to me (here's a link to the video).  I find dreams extremely fascinating in general, so to watch a documentary that went into depth about dreams was great!  One of my favorite parts was the discussion about the difference between N-REM dreams and REM dreams.  According to the video, dreams during N-REM sleep are used to refine memories and learn by taking the past and then trying to relate them to the future.  On the other hand, dreams during REM sleep are different because the amygdala is involved.  This means our moods are effected negatively when woken during REM dreams.  Furthermore, REM dreams are our brain's way of trying to move into the future to gain experience.  Also, the topic of nightmares was very engaging as well.  I never knew that nightmares had a purpose, but according to the video they do.  It was explained that nightmares occur so that we will be prepared for threatening events that can happen while we're awake.  Knowing this now, it has totally changed how I interpret the nightmares I've had in the past!  Keeping this in mind, I plan to now evaluate my dreams and nightmares differently.  Overall, I find the topic of dreams as something I would love to learn more about them as this class continues.

Psychology, Everywhere.  "What are Dreams?."  Online video clip.
YouTube.  YouTube,  29 Aug. 2012.  Web.  7 Sept. 2015.

Endless Sheep or Endless Sleep? (2)

My sleep-filled nights are still very hit or miss as we enter into our fourth week of school.  Sometimes I fall right to sleep, and other times I lay wide awake for what feels like eternity.  I'm deciding that my thought process once I get into bed is what keeps me up or helps me fall asleep faster.  For example, if I lay down at night and my brain takes off thinking about what stresses me out or events during the day that effected me negatively, then it takes me longer to fall asleep.  Sometimes it doesn't even matter how exhausted I feel!  I'll still lay awake at night thinking about absolutely everything, even if my body is basically begging me to just relax and sleep.  I haven't ever come up with a solution to this, either.  However, last night as I got into bed I listened to music and laid on my back so I could stare at the ceiling, then let my thoughts wander until I started to feel tired.  Once that happened, I turned everything off and fell asleep right away.  I don't know if this is a remedy to my sleepless nights, but I plan to continue experimenting with this nightly ritual.  Other times I can't seem to get enough sleep though.  If I'm lucky, sometimes I can lay down and immediately fall asleep with no problem, and then continue sleeping all the way through the night.  When that happens, I usually have a harder time getting up in the mornings (which seems backwards to me).  Either way, I'm trying to find a happy medium between getting good sleep at night and waking up easier in the mornings.

On another note, I haven't been remembering as many of my dreams.  I vaguely remember my dream from last night, but I didn't recognize any people I knew.  It's said that the faces you see in your dreams cannot be conjured up by your brain, therefore I have seen those people in my dream at one time, I just don't personally know them.  Hopefully I'll begin to have more exciting dreams again.