Sleeping Disorder - Don't Loose Your Beauty!

Sleep is absolutely essential for normal, healthy function. Scientists and medical professionals do not fully understand this complicated, necessary, physiological phenomenon. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, about 40 million people in the United States suffer from chronic long-term sleep disorders each year and an additional 20 million people suffer occasional sleep problems.

There are more than 70 different sleep disorders that are generally classified into one of three categories:

• lack of sleep (e.g., insomnia)
• disturbed sleep (e.g., obstructive sleep apnea), and
• excessive sleep (e.g., narcolepsy).

In most cases, sleep disorders can be easily managed once they are properly diagnosed. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. It occurs more often in women and in the elderly. The amount of sleep that a person needs to function normally depends on several factors (e.g., age). Infants sleep most of the day (about 16 hours); teenagers usually need about 9 hours a day; and adults need an average of 7 to 8 hours a day.

Although elderly adults require about as much sleep as young adults, they usually sleep for shorter periods and spend less time in deep stages of sleep. About 50% of adults over the age of 65 have some type of sleep disorder, although it is not clear whether this is a normal part of aging or a result of medications that older people commonly use.

Falling asleep and waking up are controlled by various chemical changes in the brain and in the blood. Foods and medicines that alter the balance of these chemicals also affect how well we sleep. Caffeine, for example, can cause insomnia (lack of sleep). Antidepressants can cause a loss of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, as can smoking and alcohol. Smoking and alcohol also can result in a loss of deep sleep. Both REM and deep sleep are essential parts of the normal sleep cycle.

What is Sleep? Sleep is a dynamic process during which the brain is very active. There are recognized stages of sleep, each of which is characterized by a different type of brain wave activity. Stages of Sleep There are five stages of sleep that cycle over and over again during a single night's rest: stages 1, 2, 3, 4 and REM (rapid eye movement). Stages 1 through 4 are also known as non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM). About 50% of sleep time is spent in stage 2 and about 20% is spent in REM (normally more than 2 hours a night in adults). A complete sleep cycle, from the beginning of stage 1 to the end of REM, usually takes about an hour and a half.

Stage 1 is light sleep during which the muscles begin to relax and a person can be easily awakened. During stage 2, brain activity slows down and eye movement stops. Stages 3 and 4 comprise deep sleep, during which all eye and muscle movement ceases. It can be difficult to wake a person during deep sleep. Stage 3 is characterized by very slow brain waves (delta waves), interspersed with small, quick waves. In stage 4, the brain waves are all delta waves. It is during deep sleep that some people sleepwalk and children may experience bedwetting. It is during REM sleep that dreams occur. The muscles of the body stiffen, the eyes move, the heart rate increases, breathing becomes more rapid and irregular, and the blood pressure rises.

Why Does the Body Need Sleep? It is not clear exactly why the body requires sleep, although inadequate sleep can have severe detrimental effects on health. Studies have shown that sleep is essential for normal immune system function and to maintain the ability to fight disease and sickness. Sleep also is essential for normal nervous system function and the ability to function both physically and mentally. In addition, sleep is essential for learning and for normal, healthy cell growth.

Source: Neurology Channel

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NICE STORY

Once upon a time, there was a King and Queen. And when their baby daughter was born they were so happy they decided to have a big party. They invited all their family, all their friends and all the fairies in the land. Now there were 13 fairies altogether but the king but queen only invited 12. They forgot about the 13th. And that was something they should not have done.

Well, it was a splendid party! There were silver dishes piled high with delicious food and golden plates at every place. And when everyone had finished eating, the fairies gathered around the baby's cradle and they each made a magic wish. The princess shall be beautiful said the first. And happy, said the second. And kind, said the third. And so they went on. The princess was to be brave, and clever and truthful. She was to have a sweet singing voice and light dancing feet.

And, then, just as the twelfth fairy was about to make her wish, in came the thirteenth. She was furious, because she had not been invited to the party. Here is my wish, she said. "When the princess is 16 years old, she will prick her finger on a spindle and she will die." And with that, the thirteenth fairy vanished.

hen the 12th fairy said, "I cannot change all of the wicked fairies powerful magic." So the princess will prick her finger but she will not die! She slept for a hundred years. The king and queen thanked the fairy for her kindness but they were not happy. They did not want their daughter to sleep for a hundred years. So they ordered that every spinning wheel and spindle in the land must be chopped up and burnt. Then they thought that the princess was safe.

The years passed and the princess grew up. She was very beautiful and clever at lots of different things. She was, in fact, everything the fairies had wished her to be. On her sixteenth birthday, the princess was exploring the castle when she came to a little room at the top of a tall tower. And in that room was an old woman sitting by a spinning wheel. "What are you doing?" asked the princess?"

"I am spinning," said the old woman, who was really the wicked thirteenth fairy, "would you like to try?"

"Oh yes," said the princess, and she sat down by the spinning wheel. But as soon as she touched the spindle, the sharp point pricked her finger and she fell asleep.

And the old woman vanished. At that same moment, the king and the queen, the servants, the cats and the dogs all fell asleep! Even the fire stopped burning and the roasting meat stopped sizzling. Everything slept.

Then a hedge of wild roses grew up around the castle. It grew and it grew until the castle was hidden.

One hundred years passed and then a prince came riding by and saw the top of the tower rising up above the hedge of roses. How strange, he said, I never knew there was a castle here!
He jumped off his horse and lifted his sword to cut away the hedge. But as soon as the sword touched the branch, a path opened up in front of him. So prince walked freely through the hedge. He entered castle, and walked from room to room. Imagine his surprise, everyone and everything was fast asleep.

At last he entered a little room at the end of a tall tower and he saw the sleeping princess. She was so very beautiful that he bent down and kissed her. Then the spell was broken and the princess opened her eyes.

At the same moment, everyone and everything in the castle awoke! The king yawned, the queen blinked, the cats had a good stretch and the dogs wagged their tails.

The servants began to work, the fire began to flame, and the roasting meat began to sizzle. A hundred years had not changed anyone or anything.

And what happened next? Why the beautiful princess married the prince, who had woken her from such a long deep sleep.

The End.

Source: Children Story

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How to Improve Your Beauty Sleep

Sleep is essential to keep you physically and mentally healthy. Here are some things you can do to help you get the sleep you need.

Steps

Listen to white noise or relaxation CDs. Some people find the sound of white noise or nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to be soothing for sleep.

Avoid before-bed snacks, particularly grains and sugars. This will raise blood sugar and inhibit sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you might wake up and not be able to fall back asleep.

Sleep in complete darkness or as close as possible. If there is even the tiniest bit of light in the room it can disrupt your circadian rhythm and your pineal gland's production of melatonin and seratonin. There also should be as little light in the bathroom as possible if you get up in the middle of the night. Please whatever you do, keep the light off when you go to the bathroom at night. As soon as you turn on that light you will for that night immediately cease all production of the important sleep aid melatonin.

No TV right before bed. Even better, get the TV out of the bedroom or even out of the house, completely. It is too stimulating to the brain and it will take longer to fall asleep. Also disruptive of pineal gland function for the same reason as above.

Wear socks to bed. Due to the fact that they have the poorest circulation, the feet often feel cold before the rest of the body. A study has shown that this reduces night wakings

Read something spiritual or religious. This will help to relax. Don't read anything stimulating, such as a mystery or suspense novel, as this may have the opposite effect. In addition, if you are really enjoying a suspenseful book, you might wind up unintentionally reading for hours, instead of going to sleep.

Avoid using loud alarm clocks. It is very stressful on the body to be awoken suddenly. If you are regularly getting enough sleep, they should be unnecessary.

Journaling. If you often lay in bed with your mind racing, it might be helpful keep a journal and write down your thoughts before bed.

Get to bed as early as possible. Our systems, particularly the adrenals, do a majority of their recharging or recovering during the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. In addition, your gallbladder dumps toxins during this same period. If you are awake, the toxins back up into the liver which then secondarily back up into your entire system and cause further disruption of your health. Prior to the widespread use of electricity, people would go to bed shortly after sundown, as most animals do, and which nature intended for humans as well.

Check your bedroom for electro-magnetic fields (EMFs). These can disrupt the pineal gland and the production of melatonin and seratonin, and may have other negative effects as well. One doctor even recommends that people pull their circuit breaker before bed to kill all power in the house

Keep the temperature in the bedroom no higher than 70 degrees F. Many people keep their homes and particularly the upstairs bedrooms too hot.

Eat a high-protein snack several hours before bed. This can provide the L-tryptophan need to produce melatonin and serotonin. Also eat a small piece of fruit. This can help the tryptophan cross the blood-brain barrier.

Reduce or avoid as many drugs as possible. Many medications, both prescription and over-the-counter may have effects on sleep.

Avoid caffeine. A recent study showed that in some people, caffeine is not metabolized efficiently and therefore they can feel the effects long after consuming it. So an afternoon cup of coffee (or even tea) will keep some people from falling asleep. Also, some medications, particularly diet pills contain caffeine.

Avoid alcohol. Although alcohol will make people drowsy, the effect is short lived and people will often wake up several hours later, unable to fall back asleep. Alcohol will also keep you from falling into the deeper stages of sleep, where the body does most of its healing.

Lose weight. Being overweight can increase the risk of sleep apnea, which will prevent a restful nights sleep.

Avoid foods that you may be sensitive to. This is particularly true for dairy and wheat products, as they may have effect on sleep, such as causing apnea, excess congestion, gastrointestinal upset, and gas, among others.

Don't drink any fluids within 2 hours of going to bed. This will reduce the likelihood of needing to get up and go to the bathroom or at least minimize the frequency.

Take a hot bath, shower or sauna before bed. When body temperature is raised in the late evening, it will fall at bedtime, facilitating sleep

Remove the clock from view. It will only add to your worry when constantly staring at it...

Keep your bed for sleeping. If you are used to watching TV or doing work in bed, you may find it harder to relax and to think of the bed as a place to sleep.

Have your adrenals checked by a good natural medicine clinician. Scientists have found that insomnia may be caused by adrenal stress

If you are menopausal or perimenopausal, get checked out by a good natural medicine physician. The hormonal changes at this time may cause problems if not properly addressed.

Don't change your bedtime. You should go to bed, and wake up, at the same times each day, even on the weekends. This will help your body to get into a sleep rhythm and make it easier to fall asleep and get up in the morning.

Make certain you are exercising regularly. Exercising for at least 30 minutes everyday can help you fall asleep. However, don't exercise too close to bedtime or it may keep you awake. Studies show exercising in the morning is the best if you can do it.

Establish a bedtime routine. This could include meditation, deep breathing, using aromatherapy or essential oils or indulging in a massage from your partner. The key is to find something that makes you feel relaxed, then repeat it each night to help you release the day's tensions.

Go to the bathroom right before bed. This will reduce the chances that you'll wake up to go in the middle of the night.

Wear an eye mask to block out light. As said above, it is very important to sleep in as close to complete darkness as possible. That said, it's not always easy to block out every stream of light using curtains, blinds or drapes, particularly if you live in an urban area (or if your spouse has a different schedule than you do). In these cases, an eye mask can help to block out the remaining light.

Put your work away at least one hour (but preferably two or more) before bed. This will give your mind a chance to unwind so you can go to sleep feeling calm, not hyped up or anxious about tomorrow's deadlines.

Source: Wikihow

See also: Definition of Sleep, Definition of Beauty, Sleeping Beauty - Disney Movie

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Definition of Beauty

Beauty is a characteristic of a person, place, object or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology and culture. As a cultural creation, beauty has been extremely commercialized.
An "ideal beauty" is a person who is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture. A number of historical individuals have become icons of beauty - for example, women like Cleopatra VII, Helen of Troy and Marilyn Monroe.

The subjective experience of "beauty" often involves the interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is a common phrase that expresses this concept.[1]
In its most profound sense, beauty may engender a salient experience of positive reflection about the meaning of one's own existence. An "object of beauty" is anything that reveals or resonates with personal meaning.

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Definition of Sleep

It is taken from Wikipedia:

Sleep is a natural state of bodily rest observed throughout the animal kingdom. It is common to all mammals and birds, and is also seen in many reptiles, amphibians and fish.

In humans, other mammals, and a substantial majority of other animals which have been studied — such as fish, birds, ants, and fruit-flies — regular sleep is essential for survival. However its purposes are only partly clear and are the subject of intense research.

In mammals and birds the measurement of eye movement during sleep is used to divide sleep into two broad types:

• rapid eye movement (REM) and
• non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.

Each type has a distinct set of associated physiological, neurological and psychological features.

Sleep proceeds in cycles of REM and the four stages of NREM, the order normally being:
stages 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 3 > 2 > REM.

In humans this cycle is on average 90 to 110 minutes,[2] with a greater amount of stages 3 and 4 early in the night and more REM later in the night. Each phase may have a distinct physiological function.

Drugs such as sleeping pills and alcoholic beverages can suppress certain stages of sleep (see Sleep deprivation). This can result in a sleep that exhibits loss of consciousness but does not fulfill its physiological functions.

Rechtschaffen and Kales originally outlined the criteria for staging sleep in 1968. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) updated the staging rules in 2007.

Stage 4 Sleep. EEG highlighted by red box.

REM Sleep. EEG highlighted by red box. Eye movements highlighted by red line.

Stages of sleep

Criteria for REM sleep include not only rapid eye movements but also a rapid low voltage EEG. In mammals, at least, low muscle tone is also seen. Most memorable dreaming occurs in this stage.

NREM accounts for 75–80% of total sleep time in normal human adults. In NREM sleep, there is relatively little dreaming. Non-REM encompasses four stages; stages 1 and 2 are considered 'light sleep', and 3 and 4 'deep sleep' or slow-wave sleep, SWS. They are differentiated solely using EEG, unlike REM sleep which is characterized by rapid eye movements and relative absence of muscle tone. In non-REM sleep there are often limb movements, and parasomnias such as sleepwalking may occur.

A cyclical alternating pattern may sometimes be observed during a stage.

NREM consists of four stages according to the 2007 AASM standards:

During Stage N1 the brain transitions from alpha waves (common to people who are awake and having a frequency of 8 to 13 Hz) to theta waves (frequency of 4 to 7 Hz). This stage is sometimes referred to as somnolence, or "drowsy sleep". Associated with the onset of sleep during N1 may be sudden twitches and hypnic jerks. Some people may also experience hypnagogic hallucinations during this stage, which can be more troublesome to the subject. During N1 the subject loses some muscle tone, and conscious awareness of the external environment.

Stage N2, is characterized by "sleep spindles" (12 to 16 Hz) and "K-complexes." During this stage, muscular activity as measured by electromyography (EMG) lowers and conscious awareness of the external environment disappears. This stage occupies 45 to 55% of total sleep.
In Stage N3, the delta waves, also called delta rhythms (0.5 to 4 Hz) make up less than 50% of the total wave-patterns. This is considered part of deep or slow-wave sleep (SWS) and appears to function primarily as a transition into stage N4. This is the stage in which night terrors, bed wetting, sleepwalking and sleep-talking occur.

In Stage N4, delta-waves make up more than 50% of the wave-patterns. Stages N3 and N4 are the deepest forms of sleep; N4 is effectively a deeper version of N3, in which the deep-sleep characteristics, such as delta-waves, are more pronounced.

Both REM sleep and NREM sleep stages 3 and 4 are homeostatically driven; that is, if a person or animal is selectively deprived of one of these, it rebounds once uninhibited sleep again is allowed. This suggests that both are essential to the functions of the sleep process.

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Sleeping Beauty Image Collection

Enjoy all the pictures of Sleeping Beauty!

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It is taken from Disney's Archieve:

Betrothed at birth to Prince Phillip (the son of a neighboring king), the infant Aurora is blessed with the gifts of beauty and song by the good fairies of the kingdom. However, fate's icy hand brings an uninvited guest to the christening and the evil fairy Maleficent curses the child to die by the prick of a spinning wheel's spindle before her 16th birthday.

Struggling to prevent this catastrophe, the good fairies hide the princess in a secluded cottage in the glen. The years pass and Aurora blossoms into a lovely but lonely young woman unaware of her real name and birthright. Playacting with the forest animals at what it might be like to meet a prince, Princess Aurora, now called "Briar Rose," meets a very real "peasant boy." Although neither of them knows who the other is, the couple falls in love at first sight. When the good fairies reveal Princess Aurora's birthright to her, instead of joy, an awful sadness comes over her. For she believes she must sacrifice her true love to the "right and royal duty" of marrying Prince Phillip, a stranger. Just as she's about to discover that the two are one and the same, she's stricken by Maleficent's terrible curse. All seems lost but for one glimmer of hope ... only true love's kiss can wake this sleeping beauty from an eternal slumber.

Aurora's original character design by Tom Oreb was modeled after the thin, elegant features of actress Audrey Hepburn. Working with Mr. Oreb, Aurora's lead animator, Marc Davis, slightly sharpened her features and clothes to blend with the backgrounds' angular shapes, arriving at the Aurora we see onscreen.Film: "Sleeping Beauty" (1959)Voice Artist: Mary CostaLive-Action Reference: Helene Stanley

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Sleeping Beauty - Disney Movie 1959

It is taken from Wikipedia:

Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 animated feature produced by Walt Disney and originally released to theatres on January 29, 1959, by Buena Vista Distribution. The sixteenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, it was the last animated feature produced by Walt Disney to be based upon a fairy tale (after his death, the studio returned to the genre with 1989's The Little Mermaid). In addition, Sleeping Beauty was the first animated feature to be shot in Super Technirama 70, one of many large-format widescreen processes. Only one more animated film, The Black Cauldron, was ever shot in Super Technirama 70.

The film was directed by Les Clark, Eric Larson, and Wolfgang Reitherman, under the supervision of Clyde Geronimi. The film was based on the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault, with additional story work by Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright, and Milt Banta. The film's musical score and songs, featuring the work of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, are adapted from the 1890 Sleeping Beauty ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

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