Bucky 40 Blinks Still Give You a Great Night's Sleep

Updated for 2021:

I wrote this post back in 2013 and amazingly, not much has changed!  The 40 Blinks Ultralight Sleep Mask is still going strong with its ultralight comfortable design.

How do you know when you've gotten enough rest? While you could obsess over the precise number of minutes and hours you spend sleeping, I think there are easier ways to know that you have gotten enough rest.

     Here are a couple of them:

     - you're more patient with other people
     - you actually look forward to the day's activities
     -  there's a lot more smiling going on
     - you feel tired at the END of the day
     - you get more things checked off your to do list

There are many products out there that can seriously help you get  the rest and sleep that you need. One of them, the 40 Blinks Ultralight Sleep Mask, which I've written about here and here, helps shut out the intrusions of an increasingly restless world.   This mask has hypoallergenic natural fills.

Here are a couple of sensible New Year's resolutions that will also help you to get a good night's sleep: 

• worry less about the things that are beyond your control.
• take more decisive action on the things that are under your control.
• get enough rest that you can tell the difference

Bucky 40 Blinks Sleep Give You a Great Night's Sleep

 
How do you know when you've gotten enough rest? While you could obsess over the precise number of minutes and hours you spend sleeping, I think there are easier ways to know that you have gotten enough rest.

     Here are a couple of them:

     - you're more patient with other people
     - you actually look forward to the day's activities
     -  there's a lot more smiling going on
     - you feel tired at the END of the day
     - you get more things checked off your to do list

There are many products out there that can seriously help you get  the rest and sleep that you need. One of them, the 40 Blinks Ultralight Sleep Mask, which I've written about here and here, helps shut out the intrusions of an increasingly restless world.   This mask has hypoallergenic natural fills.

Here are a couple of sensible New Year's resolutions that will also help you to get a good night's sleep: 

• worry less about the things that are beyond your control.
• take more decisive action on the things that are under your control.
• get enough rest that you can tell the difference

Bananas and popcorn actually help you get a better night's sleep

Did you know that the foods you eat have a lot to do with the quality of your sleep?   If your diet is high in refined sugar you may have more indigestion and insulin surges that interfere with the hormones that affect sleep.
 
Dr. Oz recommends eating low fat and high fiber foods for a better night's sleep.  It's also important not to eat late at night as your body and brain will be focusing on digesting food rather than resting.

Here are a couple of simple, tasty and nutritious treats to help you get the 7-8 hours of sleep that you need and deserve and that are are so critical to your health:

Bananas
Bananas have plenty of potassium and magnesium, which both help to relax your muscles to give you a peaceful night’s sleep. They also help to lower your blood pressure while you sleep. 




Popcorn with parmesan cheese
Try sprinkling your popcorn with parmesan cheese for a delicious treat before turning in for the night.  Dairy has tryptophan in it, which is a precursor to a sleep-inducing hormone, and the carbohydrates in the popcorn help your brain absorb tryptophan better.


I will be writing about more sleep friendly foods in future blog posts so stay tuned.  Meanwhile, sweet dreams!

Simply Sleep, or not?

I recently came across an article about how simple sleep used to be. When the sun went down it was time for us humans to wind down as well. It was too cold, dark or dangerous to be anywhere except bundled up in front of blazing fire or nestled in a warm cozy bed. 

Fast forward to 17th century Paris when, so fitting for the often called City of Light, the nighttime streets were first lit up by wax candles in glass lamps.  Night and day have become more and more indistinguishable ever since.  I found this article particularly interesting given that my own sleep struggles nearly disappeared when I first discovered sleep masks to keep the light from the streetlight in front of our house from coming in our bedroom window.

It is true that there are many things in modern life that prevent a shining bright line between night and day: homework, soccer practice, reruns of Two and a Half Men, endless tinkering on the computer or other electronic (read: light enhanced) gadgets, and the list goes on.

But getting back to the question of is sleep a simple thing or not, it’s also pretty clear that the list of often quoted sleep tips is actually pretty simple: sipping herbal tea rather than caffeinated beverages in the evening, getting physically tired by exercising more during the day, making sure your bedroom is cool enough for sleep, and sticking to a regular sleep routine. Short, 30 minute naps have also been shown by sleep research to increase alertness, memory and job performance.

But at the top of that sleep tip list for me is blocking out all light in my bedroom with a Bucky sleep mask. It doesn’t even matter if there is light on in the room, as long as I have my sleep mask I fall asleep like a charm every single night.

And that is something to be joyful about, whether it’s simple or not.

 

Top 10 Sleep Movies

 

In an earlier post I wrote about sleep poems, so I thought it might be fun to do a follow on post on popular movies about sleep.  The next time you're awake at 2:00 in the morning, flip on one of these movies:

1. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Tagline: What if someone you never met, someone  you never saw, someone you never knew was the only someone for you?

Starring: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman, Rosie O’Donnell
Length: 105 minutes

2. Sleep No More (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) (1956)
Tagline: There was nothing to hold onto -- except each other.

Length: 80 minutes

3. Insomnia (2002)
Tagline: Don’t close your eyes. Starring: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank
Length: 118 minutes

4. Sleeper (1973)
Tagline: A love story about two people who hate each other. 200 years in the future.

Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton
Length: 89 minutes

5. Awakenings (1990)
Tagline: There is no such thing as a simple miracle.

Starring: Robert De Niro, Robin Williams
Length: 121 minutes

6. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Tagline: Awaken to a World of Wonders!

Length: 75 minutes

7. The Big Sleep (1946/1978)
Tagline: Some days business is good -- and some days it's murder! (1946) & The type of man she hated ... was the type she wanted! (1978)

Starring: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (1946); Robert Mitchum and Jimmy Stewart (1978)
Length: 114 minutes (1946); 99 minutes (1978)

8. Somewhere in Dreamland (1936)

Length: 9 minutes

9. Chasing Sleep (2000)
Tagline: The nightmare begins when you open your eyes...

Starring: Jeff Daniels
Length: 104 minutes

10. Sleepers (1996)
Tagline: When friendship runs deeper than blood.

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Minnie Driver, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt
Length: 147 minutes

Get Some Sleep...Succeed in Business

An interesting piece by Cathie Anderson in yesterday's Sacramento Bee.  At Perspectives 2012 last week, Anderson writes that media mogul Ariana Huffington told business leaders that if they want to succeed in business they need to get more sleep.  Sounds paradoxical, until you think about  research that directly links lack of sleep to health problems like weight gain, early diabetes, heart disease, stroke and other problems.

She also quotes Amer Khan, M.D., a neurologist who specializes in sleep medicine, as saying that the average American gets 6 1/2 hours of sleep every night, which is significantly less than in the early 1900s when the average was 9 hours per night. Dr. Khan's blog where he writes about sleep in a personal and practical way can be found here.

The problem with not getting enough sleep, as I can well attest from personal experience, is that it makes it harder to concentrate, harder to make decisions, and generally makes you crabby.  It also makes you more prone to stress, which can lead to the myriad of health problems just noted.

One of the best ways I know of to ensure a good night's sleep is to block out all sound and light, which for me means wearing a sleep mask and ear plugs.  There are many choices when it comes to sleep masks but the two I like best are the eye shades mask and the 40 blinks foam mask, both made by Seattle based Bucky.  The eye shades mask includes a pair of ear plugs.

So until next time, sweet dreams!!

Yet Another Reason Not to Smoke

 
Health

Now there is yet another reason to quit smoking, or be grateful that you never started or have successfully quit. A new study suggests that smokers may get fewer hours of sleep and have a less restful slumber than non-smokers.

The findings cannot prove that smoking directly impairs sleep given that many smokers may have other habits that could affect their sleep, like staying up late watching TV.  But the stimulating effects of nicotine could play a big part in smokers' sleep difficulties.

Poor sleep has also been linked to other health problems, including obesity, diabetes and heart disease.  I wrote another post on this topic, Lack of Sleep May Make you Fat, a while back.

You can read more about this interesting study here.