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HYDROTHERAPY HELPS WITH INSOMNIA

By Alan Knight

As far back as the late 1800s, doctors have been recommending hydrotherapy as a drug-free treatment of insomnia. Dr. Irwin H. Hance’s 1899 lecture explained the benefits of hydrotherapy, noting that drugs were unreliable where the treatment of insomnia was concerned. Even in the 1880s, Washington D.C.’s St. Elizabeth Hospital would use wraps, showers and baths for treating insomnia in their patients.

Almost everyone has occasional sleepless nights. Rather than just swallowing a pill, which can lead to more problems in the long run, there are some other options for getting a good night’s sleep.

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DON’T FORCE IT. The very attempt of trying to force yourself to sleep actually keeps you awake, and makes it more difficult to find sleep.
AVOID LOOKING AT AN ALARM CLOCK ALL NIGHT. When was the last time you had an early morning flight scheduled and you had to be up at a specific time to make the drive to the airport? What did you do? Like most people, you probably checked the clock about every hour (even though you had the alarm set.) Nocturnal time monitoring promotes anxiety and obsession with time. Remove the clock from view and try to avoid looking at any source for time.
TRY TO STAY AWAKE. One study showed that actually trying to staying wake helped people fall asleep. Research on the effects of the paradoxical directive “to try to stay awake for as long as possible” consistently reports significant reductions in sleep onset latency for insomniacs.
GO TO BED ONLY WHEN YOU ARE SLEEPY. Stay up until a reasonable bedtime even if you felt sleepy earlier. Go to bed only when you are feeling really tired and sleepy.
DON’T LIE IN BED AWAKE FOR MORE THAN 15 MINUTES. This can

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make you anxious and worsen insomnia. So, if you are not asleep within 15-20 minutes go into another room, read, or do a quiet activity using low light until feeling sleepy.
SEX IS GOOD FOR INSOMNIA. Sex is a well-known stress reliever, and if performed at bedtime can help with insomnia. It enhances relationships, relaxes the body, releases “happy” chemicals, and even promotes wellness. The old joke of the guy rolling over and beginning to snore immediately after sex is pretty much, dead on.
ROOM TEMPERATURE. Keep your room temperature cool and comfortable. Typical recommendation is 65 - 72 degrees Fahrenheit
KEEP THE BEDROOM DARK. Try keeping the nighttime bedroom dark. Even a small amount of light in the bedroom may cause functional changes of the circadian system.
DON’T EAT A HEAVY MEAL LATE IN THE DAY. If you eat a heavy meal before bedtime, it can interfere with sleep. It is harder to digest late meals, since the digestive system slows down at night. Lying down with a full stomach can make you uncomfortable. Make sure to finish a heavy meal at least four hours before bedtime.
BEDTIME SNACKS MIGHT BE GOOD. An amino acid called tryptophan, found in milk, turkey, and peanuts, helps the brain produce serotonin, a chemical that helps you relax. Try drinking warm milk or eat a slice of toast with peanut butter or a bowl of cereal before bedtime.
AVOID THE USE OF ALCOHOL LATE IN THE EVENING. The most

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common myth found among people is that alcohol helps with sleep. The fact is, alcohol may initially act as a sedative, but it produces a number of sleep-impairing effects in the long run. Alcohol causes awakening later in the night. In addition to causing the release of adrenaline, alcohol impairs the transport of tryptophan into the brain, and because the brain is dependent upon tryptophan as the source of serotonin (an important neurotransmitter that initiates sleep), alcohol disrupts serotonin levels.
BOTH CAFFEINE AND NICOTINE are stimulants and may disrupt sleep. Discontinue four to six hours before bedtime.
One great way to induce sleep is TAKING A HOT BATH. Our temperature naturally dips at night, starting two hours before sleep and bottoming out at 4-5 am, based on the study done by New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in 1997. When you soak in a hot bath your temperature rises and the rapid cool-down when you step out of the tub immediately begins to relax you. This can be any kind of bath tub, especially our elegant clawfoot tub that is designed for you to sit comfortable, in a relaxed position.

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Hydrotherapy can be a God send. For those of you who have used the new WALK IN TUB you know what I mean. As you sit down in the tub as the tub fills with warm water, every inch of the body begins to relax. When it is filled, and you engage the hydrotherapy jets, you move into the stage of nirvana. You feel that you could stay there forever. Then after the warm water treatment, you step out of the tub, the sudden drop in body temperature adds another pleasant sense of relaxation. You get sleepy.

The Walk in Tub has been used to treat almost every ailment known to man. That would include arthritis, sore muscles, poor circulation, hypertension, injuries, and yes, INSOMNIA. Nothing is better than lying down on clean sheets after spending a twenty minutes in a Walk in Tub with its warm water hydrotherapy Jet and air bubbles soothing away your stressful day. It might be the best cure for insomnia we have found in recent years.

In this article I have provided 14 different ways to deal with insomnia, including using the hydrotherapy of the walk-in tub, so that you can get a restful night slip. These 14 ways will help most people without prescription drugs, which often are addictive or make the problems worse over time.

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Have a question? Feel free to contact me at the number or email listed at the end of this article and I will personally get back to you. It’s been my pleasure sharing this information with you.

Alan Knight is the owner of Tub King, Inc., and SeniorBathtub.com in Jacksonville, Florida.

He has many years of experience in the antique and senior bathtub industries. In addition to providing superior products, Tub King has been honored with “Best of Jacksonville Chamber Awards” for four years running. If you would like to contact Alan Knight, call (800) 409-3375 or (800) 843-4231; or send an email to alan@tubking.com.

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Suffering From Insomnia? Walk-in Tub to the Rescue!

By Alan Knight

Photo Credit: glogster.com

There's a classic joke: “How can you tell you're getting old?” The answer: “When you feel terrible in the morning without having had fun the night before.”

If you're an insomniac, or suffer from periodic insomnia, you probably understand. How often do you awake in the morning with some of the symptoms of a hangover, although you've not had a drop of alcohol? A poor night's sleep will have you starting your new day tired, irritable, and less productive.

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During a normal night's sleep, while our conscious mind is asleep, our body is busy repairing itself. When you’re deprived of a good eight hours of shut-eye, you not only feel tired, you look it. It could also lead to more serious consequences, such as obesity, high blood pressure, poor concentration, and lack of energy and being accident-prone. And with little energy, exercise becomes more difficult and is often neglected. Poor eating habits may appear, and thus the negative cycle keeps feeding itself.

There are severall key things can lead to insomnia:

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Stress. Nearly everyone experiences stress. It's unavoidable in our culture. But how we cope with it is what's important. Three-in-four U.S. adults stated they felt mild to severe stress levels in the past month, according to a report presented by the American Psychological Association. Also, teenagers report that school, family, and peer groups have them stressed out. (Nearly half of the teens polled said that their worries have increased during the past year.) As a result, they go to bed with their minds too wound up to sleep. How often do you hit the sheets with unsolved problems from your day and find your mind will just not “turn off”?

Dr. Alon Avidan, Associate Professor of Neurology and Associate Director of UCLA's Sleep Disorders Program states, “We see people using BlackBerries and laptops in bed, answering emails, and continuing to do the work they do all day long. For people who suffer from insomnia, that can perpetuate it.”

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By the way, insomnia and depression tend to go hand-in-hand, and it can be difficult to figure out which came first. Research shows people with insomnia have a 10 times greater risk of developing depression than people who sleep well. People who are depressed commonly struggle with insomnia, showing such symptoms as difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up tired.

Caffeine. Caffeine stays in the bloodstream much longer than most people think, Dr. Avidan says, keeping you wired when you should be sleeping. Depending on your metabolism, it can take as long as eight to 14 hours to eliminate one-half of the total amount of caffeine you consumed from your body. Dr. Avidan continues, “A latte with two shots of espresso contains about 150 milligrams of caffeine. If you have that at 5 p.m., by the time you wake up at 7 in the morning, the level of caffeine in the body is still about 75 milligrams.” One can of Red Bull contains 80 milligrams of caffeine.

Alcohol. Here is one that is greatly misunderstood. Most people think that a couple of drinks before bedtime is the perfect setting for a good night's sleep. Although a few glasses of wine might knock you out, as alcohol is metabolized in the body (a rate of one glass of wine per hour is typical), levels of alcohol begin to fall, and its sleep-inducing effect wears off. That's when you wake up. Alcohol disrupts your ability to sleep in a number of ways.

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During the first stage of sleep, a number of things are altered. Alcohol shortens the time it takes to fall asleep. It also reduces REM sleep (which research shows stimulates regions of the brain necessary for learning and good cognitive function), and increases non-REM sleep, which is a lighter slumber. As the alcohol begins to be metabolized in your body later in the night, sleep becomes more shallow and disrupted. REM sleep increases (all at once, rather than slowly, over the course of the night), and with it, so do dreams and nightmares. This all adds up to a poor night's sleep. Alcohol can also rob you of needed sleep by swelling mucus membranes, blocking airways. People breathe more heavily, making it difficult to pass oxygen to the lungs. That's particularly dangerous for people with sleep apnea. Dr. Avidan says, “Red wine with dinner is fine if you don't have trouble sleeping. Just make sure to drink three to four hours before bedtime so your body has enough time to metabolize the alcohol and your sleep is not disrupted. That's the average time needed for three glasses of wine to clear your system.”

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Eating. Food and sleep don't make good bedmates. Eating too much or even too little at bedtime can keep you up. Too much food before bedtime can cause reflux. Dr. Avidan says, “Lying down brings acid from the stomach back up the esophagus, which can trigger heartburn, pain, or coughing — not a good recipe for restful sleep. Try eating dinner early in the evening. You want to have finished your dinner at least four hours before bedtime.”

There are many other potential causes for insomnia and likewise, some suggestions that can be offered to cope, but let me mention one that might be overlooked.

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The Walk-in Tub is a relatively new product on the market. It’s a personalized spa that offers many safety features for those who find getting in to and out of a normal bathtub difficult. It comes as an upright tub standing approximately 40 inches tall, with a built-in, slip-resistant seat and door. The door comes with a water-tight seal and the seat is ADA-compliant. Inside is a sturdy grab bar for getting up and down. It’s ergonomically designed so that the faucet, controls and hand-held shower wane are within easy reach.

The exceptional relaxation benefit of the Walk-in tub is that it offers spa-like features. It can come with 18 air jets that create therapeutic air bubbles to relax and soothe the body. The inline heater and water-jetted hydrotherapy system are like having your own personal Jacuzzi. It can direct warm water with your desired pressure and force to any part of your body.

Think for a moment how this can condition your body and brain before bedtime. Recent studies show that with as little as 15 minutes of spa therapy, you’ll experience a better quality of sleep, a more restful sleep, you’ll sleeping longer, and awake more refreshed.

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Why not put an end to restless nights of frustrating, tossing and turning, when you can enjoy the benefits of your own personalized spa system that will help you fall asleep? It fits conveniently in your existing bathroom, normally where your current bathtub is located now. Installation only takes a day or two and then ― ahhhhhhhhh ― you can start enjoying all the benefits of air- and bubble-jetted, warm water therapy, night after blissful night.

Put an end to that irritable attitude, a tired body and severe mood swings that occur with poor sleep habits. A Walk-in Tub will positively change your quality of life, both when you’re asleep and awake.

Experience the Deep Relaxation from a Walk-in Tub

In this article, I discussed some of the negative consequences of insomnia. I also talked about the nature of our sleep cycle, as well as some of the behaviors and substances that can cause insomnia. I then pointed out how the various built-in features of a Walk-in Tub can help alleviate insomnia.

If you’d like to receive a FREE Walk-In Tub Buyers’ Guide, click here. Or, if you’d like to receive a FREE Clawfoot Tub Buyers’ Guide, click here.

Have a question? Feel free to contact me at the number or email listed below and I’ll personally get back to you. Thanks for reading; it’s my pleasure to share this information with you.

Check Out Tub King's Walk-in Tub Selection.

Alan Knight is the owner of Tub King, Inc., and SeniorBathtub.com in Jacksonville, Florida. He has many years of experience in the antique and senior bathtub industries. His companies not only provide superior products, they are also award winners, receiving the “Best of Jacksonville Chamber Award” four years running. To contact Tub King directly, call (800)843-4231 or email alan@tubking.com.

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