Other Sleep Quality Improvements

[Jeremy H]

I've tried every possible cpap setting on my dream station, and happy with where it is now. I have a sleep number bed (hope it's ok to say that) which I can change the beds firm or softness. I've tried different settings on that. 

But lately over the last month my sleep quality is much improved. So I try to figure out what is different. It's noticeably different. Well my garden is in full swing and started making my own fermented pickles. I use to buy them, and they would have slices of fresh garlic. I didn't eat garlic before, in any form. So along with the pickles, I've been cooking with small amounts of garlic. My sleep is deeper and longer. Long vivid dreams. I thought maybe this info could help someone here.

The other thing is bedding. I've read it's ideal to wash sheets once a week. I've noticed I do always sleep better the night after washing them. It's a pain in the butt, but worth it for better sleep. Apparently we shed 1.5 grams of dead skin cells per day, a lot end up in the bedding where dust mites are multiplying by the millions. A long with VOC's from bodily fluids, sweat etc. after a month or more, your sleeping with the little critters, and their poop. Dust mite feces (their poop) contain powerful digestive enzymes that actually allow the resourceful dust mite to eat and gain energy from its own waste. But for humans, these enzymes can be destructive.
Hope this helps.

[sheepless]

interesting. 2 things I never would have thought of. idk if or how much these affect sleep but it's a reminder to me to think twice before discounting anything that might. thanks for posting, Jeremy H.

[Jeremy H]

Before reading the article, I would 'maybe' wash the sheets every couple of months? Or when they were noticeably getting stained or dirt buildup from clothing. It's amazing how much I can sweat during sleep, not sure why that happens. If you have pets that get into your bed (YUCK)!, it's even worse. Had a friend who took a shower before bed and would let her 3 small dogs sleep with her. Well she stopped by my house once, I noticed an odor, but didn't know what it was. Didn't say anything. But later realized it was dog smell. She had become nose blind to the odor.

Clean sheets helps makes for clean sleep. Another thing to consider is laundry detergent and the scents they infuse it with. Those chemicals that create those scents are not healthy. But because of mass media, commercials advertising the nice 'smell' from these detergents, most don't even consider what is in those scents. If your using a cpap or whatever, your breathing in those chemicals all night long, which get into your blood stream, and who knows what effect THAT might have on your (well being). I don't use laundry detergent, just plain county water which is easy with a top loader. Hot water is all I need.

Well guy's, hate to say it, but I had to give up chicken, that's right, I said it to the world. Tryptophan, which is in Turkey as well, really messes with me ol brain bone. I feel hung over the next morning after a chicken meal before sleep, groggy, sluggish. I hate that feeling. Stopped banana's because of melatonin, now chicken. Certain foods can interfere with my sleep quality reguardless of pressure settings ect.

[Jeremy H]

It's weird replying to myself but, on the subject of improving sleep, besides CPAP, try this. If you have a top loader washing machine (fills up with water), put some laundry into it but no laundry detergent. Let it run for a few minutes. If you see bubbles, foam, on the surface of the water, that's the detergent that was not 'rinsed out' the last time you washed them, and many times before. These chemicals are in contact with your skin 24/7.
You sweat, into the fabric of what your wearing, the chemicals mix with the sweat on your skin, then absorbed into your blood stream. Think about it.
What scares me about the 'scents' they add is how potent they are, concentrated. I got a tiny drop of some scented laundry detergent on my finger once, tried to wash it off. I could not get rid of the smell. It absorbed into my skin.

So your sleeping hopefully soundly for 8 or more hours, at times sweating onto your sheets, loaded with laundry detergent, that's absorbed through your skin, into your body. At the same time, breathing in the (scents) into your lungs, into your blood stream along with everything else. Wow!
Then put on clothes that are loaded with detergents, and all day long, absorbing in these chemicals. Possible toxins, accumulating in your body.

Ever think of that? Just to many other problems going on to bother.