Unconscious Sex?

Thanks to the Sponsored Links, I learned something new today. This ad caught my attention, because I never really expected to see something like this in my blog. I've never mentioned the word "sex" in any of my previous entries. Although, I do have lots of entries on health, so I guess that's the reason why this ad from healthline.com showed up.

I haven't heard of "Sleep Sex" before. Do you have any idea what it is? I searched the net, and saw an article at webmd.com. This is what I found out...

Sleep Sex, a.k.a. SBS (sexual behaviors during sleep), is "the forceful initiation of relations while in the unconscious state of sleep". In other words, making love unconsciously. Gee.. I never thought that's even possible. Skeptic? Here's an email from a woman who has a husband who's experienced Sleep Sex:

My husband has a difficult time falling asleep at night. Within that first hour after he finally falls asleep, he will initiate sex with me. He is a very different person while doing this, much more aggressive, groping and playfully biting me. I used to think he was awake and doing this consciously until I would confront him the following day and he wouldn't have any recollection of what he did.

This could be scary. Innocent people could be charged for rape because of this, and rapists could probably use this as an alibi.

And guess what? Sleep Sex is not limited to men. This scares me even more. Read on:

In several cases in the Stanford study, women had started moaning ("with sexual undertones," the researchers noted) within a few minutes of falling asleep. In another case, a woman had started fondling herself violently and compulsively while sound asleep.

I honestly wouldn't wanna be caught doing that - especially not by my family, or friends... haha... But how would we know if no one would tell us, right? Who knows? You've probably done something like this! hehe And someone might have caught you fondling yourself, and they thought you were.. what.. masturbating? =P Sorry for the quite vulgar words... :) But yup, a thing like this can be interpreted in many ways. Even the experts have yet to decide if this could be formally categorized as a parasomnia, i.e. sleepwalking.

Luckily, Christian Guilleminault, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., have speculated that 1% of the population may have sleep sex - only 1%. :) This is good news for the majority.

What causes Sleep Sex?

The reasons are not clear, but most often, people who engage in sleep sex have a history of other sleep/neurochemical disorders.

Michael Mangan, PhD, an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of New Hampshire in Durham likens sleep sex to multiple personalities: "Asleep, this is essentially a different person." He further stated that fatigue and stress, as well as drug and alcohol use, can precipitate incidents.

Guilleminault says that patients are confused and don't see reality. Here's something from the webmd.com article:

All of these behaviors could come from abnormal brain activity, though in some cases people may not experience the muscle laxness that is supposed to come during REM sleep, which can lead to forceful behavior they would otherwise be too weak to initiate. "These people exhibit slower brain waves," Guilleminault says, suggesting confusional arousal. There can also be abnormal breathing, resulting in less oxygen and a more confused mental state.

I personally feel sorry for the victims of Sleep Sex, I'm sure there are. =( Researchers say there's treatment available: If a person has a seizure disorder that is contributing to the behavior, that can be treated. Otherwise, clonazepam, in the benzodiazepine family, has proved helpful. It is best to consult a physician. But first and foremost, how should one seek help if he/she isn't aware that he/she has it, right?

The Pains of Blogging

The title could be misleading, but I prefer to keep it. Hehe I haven't felt pain in my shoulder - not until I've spent long hours in front of the laptop - blogging. Yup, I'm talking about physical pain, not the agony of waiting for the google check to arrive, site visits to rise, site PR to increase, layout beautification, not-to-mention having to compose entries, review each line for errors, and polish them so they would come out with enough sense to be made available to the public. Now those are really important things and could be painfully time-consuming, but I'd like to talk about physical pain.

Normally, during the day, I merely create ideas in my mind while I'm in the office. When I get home, that's where the execution starts. I spend long hours in front of the laptop before and after dinner - to check mails, visit my social networking sites, and work on my blog. A large amount of time is attributed to blogging.

According to safecomputingtips.com, poor posture is the main cause of shoulder pain. Some of the principle causes are:

* Poor arm support
* Working by keeping your hands away from your body
* Pain in the neck muscles
* Forward leaning
* Sitting too low
* Improper chair height
* Desk or keyboard tray too high
* Poor typing techniques
* No elbow supports

I may have all of the above. haha The workplace that I have in my room needs a heavy dose of some ergonomics make-over... and I need to check my posture. Good thing I read the article, now I can do something about it.

If you're experiencing the same pain, here are the suggested tips to make your blogging (or office) life less painful:

• If your armrests are too high you will be raising your shoulders up and creating pain. Thus, check to see if your armrests are at the proper level. Adjust your armrest so that your shoulders are completely relaxed and elbow rest comfortably on armrests. Don't set it too low, or you'll create pain in the elbows and lunar nerves.
• Moving and clicking your mouse frequently when it is too far away can create shoulder pain. So keep your elbows close to the sides of your body. This will reduce the strain on the muscles and relieves you from pain.
• Sitting too low can cause continuous contraction of the shoulder lifting muscles. This causes disturbance in the flow of blood which in turn leads to more contraction, and the muscles spam and cause pain. So adjust your chair height.
• Position the keyboard lower than elbow and some distance away from the computer user, tilting the head downward at the monitor and supporting the weight of the arms can lower the risk of shoulder symptoms and disorders.

I am now aware of the real causes of my shoulder pain. I could blame blogging, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to have proper posture in the first place. It also helps if I change my position from time to time. Dr. Shelley L. Jones (PhD, RN, COHN-S [Certified Occupational Health Nurse Specialist]) said it best in these lines:

Many people experience some discomforts as they work. This is usually because they stay too long in one position. It is important to vary your work tasks so that your muscles have an opportunity to recover periodically. Holding a muscle in one position too long allows waste products to build in muscle tissue. This is called static load. Static load is what happens when you carry a sack of groceries out to your car. The farther you have to walk, the heavier the sack begins to get. So it is with any kind of work that you do. The longer you stay in one position, the longer more static load you have. This leads to the aches and pains that you may be experiencing in your office work.

I just hope my shoulder pain will go away now. I'm heading to the gym tonight for some workout. But that's another story. Happy blogging! =)

The Falling Sensation

Do you ever get the feeling of falling when you are going to sleep? And just then, your body jerks as if you want to stop yourself from falling?

I experienced this sensation twice last night (and many times in the past). I finally got curious, so I searched the amazing world wide web for answers and explanations. I then found out there's a technical term attached to it. It's called a hypnic jerk. Or if you prefer the more complicated name, it's called a hypnagogic myoclonic twitch.

Turns out, hypnic jerks are incredibly common - around 70% of the total population have these. However, they are more common in people with Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) or people who are sleep-deprived. And yup, you can count me in. Although... the "restless legs syndrome" doesn't sound so good. I refuse to accept that. hehe I'm only sleep-deprived. ;)

Jake Young, a MD/PhD student said:

The cause of hypnic jerks is not entirely clear. During sleep onset, a part of the brain called the reticular formation sends a signal down the spine that causes your muscles to relax. (Actually, if I understand correctly, it causes a change in response of motor neurons from activation to inhibition. This is called the "reticular response reversal" and has been the subject of considerable research.) The theory is that occasionally this signal to relax is misinterpreted by the muscles as a signal to contract causing the spasm.

Scavenger of blurtit.com said:

The body jerks because it feels like you're falling, and your brain sends out a reflex twitch signal to try to pull you back form the brink. You feel the falling sensation because your brain literally disengages from the body while you're asleep. This prevents you from moving around too much in your sleep, especially if you have very vivid dreams.

Some people don't get a "falling" sensation. It's more like floating for them. In which case, their brains sometimes act to pull them back down to earth. Either way, the lack of contact with the body and where the body is in space is very disorienting for the brain.

Hypnic jerks aren't harmful, although they may wake you up again.

And yup, I wake up every time. =/ But this time, I can smile and say: "Sorry for rocking the bed. I just had a hypnagogic myoclonic twitch..." =)

References: http://scienceblogs.com/ and http://www.blurtit.com/

Getting Enough Zzzleep IZzzz Important

*YAWN* I seriously need to get more sleep...

I came across an article today - from the health.usnews.com site. The author enumerated the risks of getting too little Zzz-time. She stated 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from a chronic sleep disorder (insomnia or sleep apnea). I wonder how many Japanese, Chinese, Arabs, Koreans, Filipinos, British, etc are under the same problem. With the changing world, a lot of factors influence our sleep patterns. We are far more busier compared to the generations in the past. Reasons may include the internet, our jobs (graveyard shifts/night shifts are fast-growing, as some businesses opt for 24 hours and call centers need to cater clients from all over the world), and night life.

Research show, these are the health consequences for not getting enough sleep:

Obesity - The fewer sleep (less than 7 hours of sleep a night), the more obese people tend to be. Source: 2006 Institute of Medicine report. Reason: Lack of sleep boosts Ghrelin, the hormone responsible for stimulating appetite; and lowers Leptin, the hormone that suppresses appetite.

Unhealthy Diet - People with obstructive sleep apnea eat a diet higher in cholesterol, protein, total fat, and total saturated fat... and women are especially affected. Source: Journal of Clinical Health Medicine

Diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance - People getting five or fewer hours of sleep each night are 2.5 times more likely to have diabetes. Those with 6 hours or fewer are 1.7 times likely. Source: 2005 Archives of Internal Medicine

Heart Attacks - 45 percent more likely in women who get five or fewer hours of sleep per night, compared to those who got more. Source: A 2003 study

Increase in Blood Pressure - The more severe the disorder, the more significant the hypertension. Source: 2006 IOM report

Risk of Auto Accident - Nearly 20 percent of serious car crashes involve a sleepy driver. Source: 2007 New England Journal of Medicine

Off Balance - Older people who get less sleep at night, and are drowsy during the day are 2 to 4.5 more likely to sustain a fall. Source: 2007 Journal of Gerontology

Depression - Less sleep means more prone to depression. I've read about this in the past, too.

Behavior Problems - Kids may suffer more behavior problems. An example is ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Source: April issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine

Death may be nearer - Those who get five hours or less per night have approximately 15 percent greater risk of dying - regardless of the cause. Source: Sleep and the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Hmm.. With my sleep pattern, thank God, I'm not obese... Yes, I might have cravings for unhealthy food... Nope, I don't have serious problems such as diabetes, or heart attacks, and hypertension (not yet, maybe)... I haven't crashed my car yet... I get off balanced sometimes, but I'm not that old... I get depressed, or wait, just sad, if I don't hear from my bf for hours... I'm not sure if I have behavioral problems, but I get easily irritated if I lack sleep for many days... And as for the last one, that's scary... I hope I'll live long. hehe

I've always wondered why sleep should be relative to day or night. What if one gets sufficient sleep during the day and lives a nocturnal life. Half of the world's asleep or awake, at one time anyways. I'll have to look that up...

Warning: Star Fruit (a.k.a.) Carambola

I got an email earlier about the dangers of eating a star fruit. With the vast number of email scams going around, I did not immediately believe in it. But since it's food, and it looks familiar (I must have eaten it once, or twice, or a couple of times in the past), I am concerned and wanted to see if it's real. So I did my search, and voila! Apparently, there's truth behind it.

The Starfruit or Star Fruit, a.k.a the Carambola, is a popular tropical fruit throughout Southeast Asia, Trinidad, Malaysia, and parts of East Asia. It is also commercially grown in the United States in South Florida and Hawaii for it's fruit. A website said it is gaining popularity in the United States. Is it true? Let me know, I'm curious.

Despite the fact that it is a seemingly harmless fruit, it is not entirely safe - especially for individuals with kidney trouble. The presence of the oxalic acid in the fruit can cause hiccups, vomiting, nausea, and mental confusion. The symptoms in patients with chronic renal failure or end-stage renal disease vary and include insomnia, intractable hiccups, agitation, muscle weakness, confusion, consciousness disturbances of various degrees, seizures, and cardiorespiratory arrest. Uraemic patients have had fatal outcomes after ingestion of star fruits. Drug interactions could also be fatal.

The various star fruit subspecies contain different toxins, including a powerful neurotoxin that is suspected to accumulate in blood, cross the blood-brain barrier in chronic renal failure patients, and eventually cause irreversible damage.

Star fruit intoxication is a neglected but serious fruit intoxication frequently observed in patients with chronic renal failure. Because no effective treatment is currently available, patients— especially those who are newly diagnosed with chronic renal failure or end-stage renal disease—must be warned not to ingest star fruit, even in small amounts.

- www.foodreference.com

There are, however, recipes all over the internet on star fruit. Some people believe it's safe for healthy individuals... but I believe prevention is always better than cure. If it's bad for those with kidney trouble, then maybe there's a slight, unnoticeable effect on the healthy ones - the kind that builds up, and would eventually come up after several years. Would you risk it? The next time I'll be offered a piece, I think I'll have to pass...