Get good sleep and drink water.
Two of the simplest pieces of advice that can go a really long way for your mental and physical health.
Two of the simplest pieces of advice that can go a really long way for your mental and physical health.
So its hard to tell people to just sleep better if they have a disease, the same way its hard to tell depressed people to just feel better or to think positively. As a society I don't think we fully understand the effects of sleep, sleep diseases, etc. I wish there was some well funded organization pushing this information out. Instead, we're pressured from an early age to stay up late to finish things, get up early for work/school (why does the work/school day start at 8?) and be sleep deprived to only catch up on the weekend. We're also beaming bright lights from our tablets and phones into our eyes all the time, especially around bedtime, and making many of these issues worse.
Sleep is a complex issue. I'm not even sure how we can begin to address it from a public policy perspective. I think western capitalist life will always lead to sleep deprived people. We value activities, productivity, etc over rest and downtime.
They don't fail because they value activities and productivity over sleep, they fail because of a lack of self respect required to do good by their body. Oftentimes this leads towards other unhealthy habits such as overeating and drug use. The number one cause of sleep apnea? Being overweight. Along with that many people can't sleep without some form of drug (alcohol or otherwise).
A person can easily interact and thrive in this society without causing detriment to their health and/or sleep.
Not only sleep apnea, but you can have trouble sleeping for other undiagnosed (and hard to diagnosed reasons). For example, you may suffer from adrenal fatigue, too high/too low cortisol levels, or chronic stress that can lead to early morning awakenings. You can suffer from nocturnal asthma. You can suffer from restless leg syndrome. You can suffer from COPD or some other pulmonary issue.
And even if you are diagnosed, there is not always a lot you can do about it. I was diagnosed with central sleep apnea about a year ago, and tried BiPAP for about six months. It made absolutely no difference to my sleep.
I've always thought that my body should be able to tell me when it needs more water and I shouldn't need to force down extra water.
Make it easy to drink automatically. Your body knows when it feels like having a sip, if that doesn't involve breaking your mental flow, you will have the sip. Simple as that.
There's a world of difference between being dehydrated and a bit thirsty. Try going to the beach for a day and forgetting to bring any water. You'll know the difference in a few hours.
The fun part is that you'll feel tired all day and all of next day too. I've done this way too often in various combinations (roadtrips, plane flights, marathon runs, surfing and forgetting to bring water, etc.)
A couple guys went into coma in a nearby Buddhist temple a few years ago. A dozen friends planned a "body cleaning weekend" where they fasted and drank lots of water. They got a water overdose, a condition known as hiponatremia[2] (literally "low sodium" in the blood plasma). This condition is pretty nasty, because it messes with osmosis.
So kids, drink your water but eat a little salt as well.
[1] http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/paracelsus.html [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia
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Though the rule does not seem to be backed by any scientific foundation, I anecdotally feel better when I do follow the rule. It's easy to remember and it yields good results.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Hydro-Flask-Insulated-Stainless-64-Oun...