Happy Labor Day weekend, CFWHers!  Take five minutes to read through these interesting facts about sleep provided by The National Sleep Foundation.

Saturday, September 20th at 10:30 am– get your pens (or iPhones) out now to put this FREE event on your calendar!  And did we mention that Sunday, September 21st we’ll be the kicking off the next gym challenge?  Look for more details soon, but all proceeds will be donated to the winner’s Houston-based charity of choice!  That’s right, counting sheep will help raise money for a wonderful Houston-based organization!

• Man is the only mammal that willingly delays sleep.
• In general,  exercising regularly makes it easier to fall asleep and contributes to sounder sleep. However, exercising sporadically or right before going to bed will make falling asleep more difficult.
• Six in ten healthcare professionals do not feel that they have enough time to have a discussion with their patients about insomnia during regular office visits.
• More than eight in ten survey respondents think that people often or sometimes misuse prescription sleep aids.
• One of the primary causes of excessive sleepiness among Americans is self-imposed sleep deprivation.
• Caffeine has been called the most popular drug in the world. All over the world people consume caffeine on a daily basis in coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, some soft drinks, and some drugs.
• In general, most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night. However, some individuals are able to function without sleepiness or drowsiness after as little as six hours of sleep. Others can’t perform at their peak unless they’ve slept ten hours.
• We naturally feel tired at two different times of the day: about 2:00 AM and 2:00 PM. It is this natural dip in alertness that is primarily responsible for the post-lunch dip. (Natural drop in cortisol and an gradual increase in melatonin).
• Sleep is just as important as diet and exercise.
• According to the International Classifications of Sleep Disorders, shift workers are at increased risk for a variety of chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases. The body never adjusts to shift work!
• Snoring is the primary cause of sleep disruption for approximately 90 million American adults; 37 million on a regular basis.
• People who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to have bigger appetites due to the fact that their leptin levels (leptin is an appetite-regulating hormone) fall, promoting appetite increase.

Thinking that all sounds terrible?  Come to the FREE seminar to learn how to fix your sleep issues.

Saturday, September 20th at 10:30 am

How about the young ones in the family?

• Newborns sleep a total of 10.5 to 18 hours a day on an irregular schedule with periods of one to three hours spent awake.
• When infants are put to bed drowsy but not asleep, they are more likely to become “self- soothers,” which enables them to fall asleep independently at bedtime and put themselves back to sleep during the night.
• There are individual differences in the need to nap. Some adults and children need to nap. However, the majority of teenagers probably nap in the afternoon because they are not sleeping enough at night.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the FREE Sleep Seminar Saturday, September 20th at 10:30 am!  20 days until the FREE edu-taining class.