(Yawn....)
It's early morning here in Roanoke, Virginia, and I thought there may be no better time to talk about Sleeping and Night Sweats than now, so I'm taping the show early for you today. I want to talk candidly about this important subject. It's time for a first hand and "fresh" perspective... pardon the irony.
(Audio: 4 minutes 05 seconds)
And you need it now, now being the time after awakening. Now being the time after a less-than-perfect night's sleep. Now being the time that my clothes are still damp from the night's sticky reward of damp skin around my neck and in the small of my back. (My bed will surely air out by night time and be ready for another battle....)
You probably relate to these phrases if you're one of the millions of people who sleeps less than perfectly. For anyone with a singular sleep problem like insomnia, night sweats may or may not be a problem. But if your health is complicated by any form of menopause or you have weak sweats from a flu bug, or you suffer the sweats of being seriously ill and every bodily system threatens you with collapse, you know what I'm talking about. This kind of knowledge is predicated on experience.
Now, I consider myself well from severe cases of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. That doesn't mean from time to time that I don't suffer.
Night sweats are one reminder of the degree of sickness that I left behind. They may come from stressing my Endocrine System, namely the HPA axis: too much stress, too many hours working and not taking enough down time.
(Now remember from your studies and reading, HPA axis stands for the Hypothalamus Pituitary Axis that includes the Hypothalamus gland, the Adrenals and more. They can take a hit from viral attack, trauma, and life habits like stress and a poor sleeping regimen and they can stay that way for a long time, i.e. chronic illness.
Sleeping problems can be self-perpetuating if you don't get a handle on them.
In learning more about sleep problems and how to get better sleep, I started a series this week on Night Sweats. See Part 1 and 2 from Monday. Then each Monday for three more weeks. Catch all 4 installments on August 18, August 25, September 1, and September 8.
I'm so glad you joined us today.
I invite you to comment on the blog by telling us of your most aggravating sleep problems or how you're solving them. Let's benefit from each other.
This is Cinda Crawford, your host of the Health Matters Show signing off for today. (I may go back to bed and take a quick nap. Oh, not really. Picture a smiley face here! :-))
Thank you and come back again to the Health Matters Show real soon!
