Get Enough Sleep with Black Out Pinch Pleat Curtains

Blackout curtains are designed to meet the physical requirement of people who hardly sleeps at night. If you work as a call center agent, a nurse or a policeman, sleeping during daytime is like hell though your eyes are drowsy. The noise produced by a running automobile, barking dogs and yells from your neighbor’s children are the number one causes of insomnia. But the light coming from your window is one factor why you can't sleep.

Ordinary curtains cannot help in blocking the light to your room. Thanks to the manufacturers who designed the black out pinch pleat curtains which have helped people working in shift to sleep during daytime. These curtains are made of black out fabrics of high quality thread count to ensure that they block unnecessary light. The curtain fabrics are thick and heavy duty that are commonly used in hospitals so patients are not deprived of quality sleep.

Hotel rooms hang the black out pinch drapes in their rooms so that guests can sleep well while having their grand vacation. The ideal colors for black out pinch pleat curtain panels are dark such as black, navy, and latte to turn the room into total darkness. With black out pinch pleat drapes, sleep deprivation is no longer a problem as it helps you lull to sleep in a room with 100% darkness. Instead of hanging blinds on the window, the curtains block the light because the fabric is highly formulated for this purpose.

Media and entertainment rooms are adorned with these curtains to discourage the light from making distraction during movie viewing. To ensure you of quality sleep, choose a black out pinch pleat curtains that have three layers and backing made of acrylic foam to counter the sun rays. Take note that once your eyes have seen the light, they will become active and sleeping is no longer possible. Make sure that the curtains are fully closed once you arrived from your graveyard shift so you can sleep soundly.

10 Great Habits to Beat RA

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system mistakes and attacks its own tissues as foreign invaders, like viruses and bacteria. RA is systemic—it can affect the entire body> RA can affect the heart, the lungs, the eyes and even the vascular system, but most often it affects the joints and the soft tissues surrounding them.

RA’s symptoms can be devastating. Along with fatigue, low fevers and a general malaise, it can cause inflammation, swelling, pain, and permanent disability in the joints. There is no cure. But today there are many medications that treat not only the symptoms—the inflammation and pain—RA causes, but which also slow the disease down to a crawl and keep it from causing joint and organ destruction

Here are 10 great habits to help you live well with rheumatoid arthritis:

1.     Eat a healthy diet. Choose fresh, colorful vegetables; lean meats, chicken and fish; whole grain breads, pasta, and brown rice; low-fat dairy like cheese and yogurt, unsaturated fats like olive and canola oil, and for a treat, fruit.

2.     Get plenty of sleep. Your body can fight and heal better when you’re well-rested. Get up and go to bed at the same time every day. Use your bedroom for sex and sleep only: ban your TV, computer, tablet and smart phone from the room. Keep your bedroom cool, dark and quiet. And if you still suffer from insomnia, talk to your doctor.

3.     Move your body. Gentle, moderate exercise every day, like range-of-motion stretching and brisk walking strengthen the muscles that support your weight-bearing joints—the hips, knees, ankles and feet. Exercise can help decrease RA pain by helping you reach and maintain a healthy body weight, too.

4.     Be a voracious learner. Absorb everything you can learn about RA. One good source of information is your doctor. Another is the Internet—but use care. The best sources of RA information are the CDC, the NIH, and the ArthritisFoundation.

5.     Live mindfully. Instead of worrying about the future or regretting the past, focus on the now, the present moment. Pause, often, to look for the gifts each day brings all of us. Consider learning mindfulness meditation—a very easy, amazingly effective method to de-stress, re-energize, and manage pain.

6.     Remember to play. RA can stress you out. Give yourself a break! Go out and see a movie, or spend time with good friends. Do things that you enjoy: listen to or make music. Read a book. Pursue a hobby. Have fun.

7.     Put your health first. It’s easy to put off taking care of other aspects of your health when you have RA. But when one part of you is off, it may affect another. Be on top of things: get regular medical and dental check-ups.

8.     Stick to your medication game plan. Your RA medications need to be taken on a regular schedule—and with care. A multi-compartment pill box that you can fill with a week’s worth of morning and evening doses can help you keep track.

9.     Keep pain remedies handy. Even with well-controlled RA, pain can be a real problem. Keep ice packs in the freezer, heat-packs near the microwave. Put salves and lotions where you can get them easily.

1.  Focus on others. When you’re in pain, it’s hard to empathize with others. But empathy works, first by distracting you from your own pain, and second, by reminding you that others might need you as much as you need them.

For more information about RA or other medical subjects, click here.

Leslie Vandever is a professional journalist and freelance writer. Under the pen-name “Wren,” she also writes a blog about living well with rheumatoid arthritis called RheumaBlog (www.rheumablog.wordpress.com). In her spare time, Vandever enjoys cooking, reading and working on the Great American Novel.

References:

·      Rheumatoid Arthritis. (2012, Nov. 19) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved on January 29, 2014 from http://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/basics/rheumatoid.htm

·      Handout on Health: Rheumatoid Arthritis. (2013, April) National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved on January 29, 2014 from http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Rheumatic_Disease/default.asp

·      Rheumatoid Arthritis. (n.d.) Arthritis Foundation. Retrieved on January 29, 2014 from http://www.arthritistoday.org/about-arthritis/types-of-arthritis/rheumatoid-arthritis/

·      Meditation: An Introduction. (2010, June) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved on January 29, 2014 from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm

·      Mediterranean Diet. (2012, Sept. 6) National Institutes of Health. Retrieved on January 29, 2014 from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/patientinstructions/000110.htm

Foods That Can Help You Sleep

Photo credit: sleep.lovetoknow.com

Not all of us can get decent sleep unlike others. Work, money matters and other issues keep us up all night thinking. Well, your body and mind needs sleep and rest. Here are some foods to eat to help induce sleep.

Almonds - These nuts are rich in tryptophan, the amino acid that helps relax the system. It is also rich in magnesium which is a natural muscle relaxant.

Cherries - These fruit contain melatonin which is important in regulating sleep.

Cereal - Those cereals made of whole grains such as wheat or oats help with sleep regulation. Cereals contains the snooze-inducing amino acid tryptophan. Also, the fiber and complex carbohydrates in whole-grain cereal increase insulin in the blood, which helps the tryptophan get to the brain. So, it is a double whammy for this food when it comes to inducing sleep and relaxing your system.

Turkey - A lean meat that is high in tryptophan.

Warmed milk - Milk has tryptophan and contains calcium, which helps the brain to use tryptophan.

It's Flu Season Again

The season is changing and we are bracing ourselves health wise because it is flu season once again. Just the other day, I was sneezing my lungs out. Today in the office, my colleagues are sneezing and coughing, one is even experiencing the progression of flu. And when I came home, my daughter is sneezing like crazy.

I definitely know what to do when the weather change. Here are tips my family follow to keep the flu at bay and be fit enough to get through the seasonal transition:

1. Drink plenty of water and fruit juices
2. Eat fresh fruits especially those high in Vit. C and vegetables
3. Take daily supplements of multi-vitamins
4. Regular exercise
5. Wear warm clothing
6. Sip green tea
7. Have plenty of sleep
8. Have inoculation for flu/influenza

Keep yourself and family healthy and build your immune system especially this time of the year when the cold season is approaching.

Benefits of Having At Least Eight Hours of Sleep

Getting enough zzzzzz's is very important to one's well-being. There is a reason why the doctor asked us to have at least 8 hours of sleep because of it's health benefits such as:

1. Keeps our hearts healthy
2. Helps reduce stress
3. Makes you more alert
4. Boosts memory
5. Gives the skin an opportunity to recover and renew
6. Recharges the body and mind
7. Helps in weight loss
8. Makes you smarter
9. Reduces depression
10. Helps in cleansing the body
11. Makes you more productive because of renewed energy
12. Perks you mood

So, sleep right and sleep tight! Give your body a chance to rest and heal because our body system needs some downtime too.

Cute Millie

Please check out my post on how cute our Millie is when she is asleep and on our master bed at that!!! feel free to leave some heart-warming comments too. Here is my post on the subject in my other blog. Just follow the link :)  MILLIE

Let Me Sleep...Please!

We live in a high-rise building. Our flat happens to be in between, so that is neither low and high floor. The neighbor directly above our flat is making a lot of racket in such an ungodly hour. Imagine hearing a loud thud as if someone is rolling a 16-pound bowling ball at 3:00 a.m. That is the kind of noise or disturbance that we have to deal with on most days. It is no use calling the police for the disturbance because if the neighbor is a local then we do not have any say on that. Argghhh!

I could really use a good sleep right now. I need my best sleep aid which is my iPod playing Zen-like sound to calm my nerves.

I always look forward to the weekends because it seems that everything is quiet upstairs during this time.

A Good Sleep in a Good Bed

Every human being in this planet requires at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep to recharge and maintain a sound body and mind. People need a good sleep in a good bed to function properly. Our bodies tend to slack and cause problems when we lack a good sleep.

Sleep deprivation entails poor performance at work, loss of concentration and appetite, moodiness, hormonal imbalance, fatigue, daytime sleepiness, headaches and migraines, dizziness and light-headedness, weight gain, depression, reduces the extent of growth, lowers the immune system, accidents and change in metabolism. People under-estimate the powers brought by having a good sleep. Due to this, many suffer from the symptoms brought by lack of a good sleep and sometimes leads to developing an illness.

Having a bed built to provide a power slumber can do wonders to one's physiological attributes. Many of us do not consider getting a proper bed. We think that a bed is just a part of a fixture you will find to complete a bedroom. We buy ordinary beds for the purpose of sleeping on it without knowing the benefits a proper bed can give to our bodies.

There are various types of beds to choose from. There are wooden beds, folding beds, divan beds, futon beds, sofa beds, bunk beds or double-deckers, metal framed beds, leather beds, children's beds, novelty beds and day beds. It does not matter what type of bed one has as long as it is built to last. Make sure too that it can carry your weight by checking the interconnecting slats on the base of the frame. Also, a middle rod to support the mid-part of the base is a plus factor when choosing a sturdy bed.

Knowing these can help us to choose what kind of bed to use when we decide to change beds. Having the correct bed to ensure a good and powerful slumber is very vital.

Dizzy Spell

I was playing with our pet Millie and shrieking to my "lungs" desire then I had this dizzy spell and fell asleep for hours and hours.

I was not sure what happened to me but I remember having intense head pain while I was shrieking. Well, don't ask me why I was shrieking because Millie loved my shrieks! hahaha.

Suffice to say, I will not be shrieking for the coming days or anytime soon! Hehehe.