Kicking those Addictions

Kicking those Addictions
As we move into the New Year and make out our list of resolutions, be sure to add giving up your addictions. I'm not speaking of the hard drugs. I'm sure the majority of my readers aren't hooked on heroine or cocaine.   Neither am I talking about drugs prescribed by your doctor. It's true that some of these may be addictive, or, at the very least, habit forming, but if your doctor has prescribed them and if they are working for you...

Improve Your Life with CPAP
Sleep apnea is a destroyer. In fact, if not treated and gotten under control, it can be deadly. But long before that it destroys your health, nibbles away at your life style, ruins relationships, causes poor performance at work and eventually takes away your ability to earn a decent living. In short, it sucks all the enjoyment out of your day to day activities. Even shorter: Sleep apnea sucks!   This is why I find it so upsetting when...

Caregiving - Don't Forget Yourself
I've written a great deal about the suffering and stress of victims of a debilitating sleep disorder. Often other diseases or disorders are also present - arthritis, diabetes, chronic depression, to name a few.   It's true that this is all hard on the patient, but often he or she is not alone in the suffering. How about the person who is responsible for his or her care? How about the caregiver? Sometimes this is a hospital, respite aid...

Q&A: Obama's healthcare headache
Physician and health and science reporter David Brown discusses how President-elect Obama's promise to reform the U.S. healthcare system is going to be more difficult than many imagine.

Snoring adds to sleep apnea-related sleepiness
People with sleep apnea are continually tired because of the sleep interruptions they experience from breathing interruptions during the night, and now it's been shown that loud snoring contributes to the problem.

Longer sleep tied to worse cholesterol in seniors
Older people who spend more time sleeping have higher cholesterol levels, and less "good" HDL cholesterol, Dutch researchers report.