The environment in which you sleep can have a great impact on how you sleep. It’s no secret that if your bedroom has a calming and restive energy, you will sleep much better than if your bedroom consists of a mattress on the floor in the storage room.

Here are five easy ways you can create a healthy sleep environment:

1. Make sure that your bedroom is the right temperature for you.

   Experts suggest that the ideal temperature for sleeping is between 65 and 70 degrees F. Everyone has their own comfort point though, so you should experiment with various temperatures to find what works best for you. (Just to give you an idea, my perfect sleep temperature is between 50 and 55 degrees F.)

2. Make sure that your bedroom is properly ventilated.

   If you can, sleep with the window open at least a crack to allow the fresh air in.This makes it much easier for you to breathe while you’re sleeping.

3. Try and keep your bedroom as quiet as possible.

   I know that if you live in a city, it’s pretty much impossible to shut out all the noises like traffic and neighbours. If you find yourself continually waking up to outside noises you can use ear plugs to get the silence you need to sleep well.

4. Try and keep your room as dark as possible.

   In addition to keeping your room as quiet as possible, you should also keep it as dark as possible. This allows you to experience the full benefit of the day/night cycle. You can accomplish this by the use of heavy curtains or blinds to keep the light out. If that fails you can also try using an eye mask when you sleep.

5. Use your bedroom only for sleeping…

   and of course, for sex. That means no television and no computer to keep your brain occupied. You want to train your body and mind to expect only sleep when you’re in this space.

These are just a few of the ways you can create the perfect sleep environment in your bedroom. By adopting any or all of these suggestions you can give yourself a better chance for a good night’s sleep.

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The latest round of research being presented at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) conference in Minneapolis provides proof of the relationship between sleep deprivation and poor academic performance.

In one study being presented today, researchers found that college students who pull “all-nighters” — a single night of total sleep deprivation — tend to have a lower grade point average than those who make time for sleep. [Source: College students who pull 'all-nighters' and get no sleep more likely to have a lower GPA]

A second study found that students pursuing degrees in medical and engineering related fields are more likely to be sleep deprived than their counterparts in the humanities. [Source: Students with medical-related majors more likely to have poor quality sleep]

Researchers in both studies concluded that sleepiness and poor quality sleep are the norm for most college students. In the case of the second study, however, it was found that “sleep deprivation was longer and frequency of sleep medication use was higher in STEM [statistics, technology, engineering, math and medical-related majors] compared to humanities,” according to study author Aryn Karpinski of West Virginia University.

(Note: This article adapted from press releases issued by EurekAlert!)

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A new study being presented today has found that there is a significant relationship between Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) and an increased risk for high blood pressure.

The study was conducted by an international team of researchers ledy by Dr. David Rye, Professor of Neurology at Emory University. Nine hundred Icelanders provided clinical information and the number of periodic leg movements of sleep (PLMs) they experienced per hour of sleep over a period of two to five nights.

Researchers found that the likelihood of hypertension increased with PLMs severity by 50 percent in participants who experienced more than 30 PLMs per hour of sleep.

According to Dr. Rye:

Of greatest import, these findings suggest that the clinical significance of PLMs extends beyond sleep disruption and sleepiness … Our findings indicate that in addition to treating RLS symptoms, effective treatments may also need to target PLMs, particularly in patients at high-risk for cardiovascular disease (e.g., those with strong family histories of premature cardiovascular disease, smoking, etc.)

Source: Researchers discover link between common sleep disorder and high blood pressure

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