5 Ways to Feel Better in the Morning

If your typical morning starts with your alarm clock’s harsh ringing startling you out of a sound sleep, two or three slaps on the snooze button, and an exhausted drag out of bed, it’s time for something better. Starting your day feeling miserable sets the tone for your entire morning, and often, your entire day. While the key to waking up feeling good is getting enough sleep to begin with – if you routinely go to bed later than you should, your mornings are bound to be tough – there are several easy ways to improve your mood and energy level right after waking up in the morning. In fact, you can feel better before you even get out of bed.

Start the Night Before
If you want to feel your best in the morning, start getting ready the night before. You’ll wake up feeling refreshed and ready for your day if you:

Follow a relaxing nighttime routine before bed.

• Eat a small snack within an hour of sleep time – a piece of fruit with yogurt, cereal with milk or crackers with peanut butter are all good choices that are just enough to keep your stomach satisfied overnight without keeping you awake.

• Drink a small cup of water before retiring for the night.

• Set out your clothes for the next day. You’ll wake up with one less thing to worry about.

Wake Up to Pleasing Sound and Natural Light
You might need an alarm clock to wake up on time for work, but that doesn’t mean you have to start your day with a harsh buzzing, ringing or blaring sound. Instead, use an alarm clock that awakens to you to your favorite music, nature sounds or the gentle chime of bells.

The first sound you hear in the morning should be a pleasant one.

For the best sleep, your bedroom should be as dark as possible during the night, but waking up with natural light helps your body maintain the circadian rhythms that regulate your body’s functions. If possible, leave your blinds open enough to admit morning sunshine.

If that isn’t an option, try a dawn simulator alarm clock or lamp attachment. Instead of a noisy alarm, these devices wake you up with light that simulates the rising sun by gently intensifying over a period of 30 or so minutes. As the light hits your closed eyelids, it stimulates your brain to awaken you naturally. It’s a lot more pleasant waking up to a lovely spring sunrise than the electronic blare of a traditional alarm.

Don’t Touch That Snooze Button!
Though it may be tempting to hit the snooze button for a few precious minutes longer in bed, resist the temptation. The snooze button is not your friend. In fact, hitting that snooze is likely to leave you feeling even more tired and irritable once you finally get up. Those few extra minutes allow you to drift into a doze, only to be abruptly awakened right as your brain is restarting the sleep cycle. The result is even worse fatigue and difficulty in getting out of bed. If it seems impossible to resist the lure of the snooze button, try setting your alarm clock across the room so you’re forced to get up just to shut it off. If you still struggle to get up, take an honest look at how much sleep you’re getting each night, and get to bed earlier if necessary.

Stretches You Can Do In Bed
Taking a few minutes for a gentle stretch before getting out of bed is a great way to start your day. You’ll wake up your muscles, give your circulation a boost, and ease any sleep-related stiffness or soreness. Here are five easy stretches you can try:

Long stretch: Lie on your back with your arms at your sides and your legs straight. Now reach your arms up past your head and point your toes towards the foot of the bed, lengthening your spine until you feel a nice stretch.

Back rock: Still on your back, bring your knees up against your chest, and hug your legs against your body. Now gently rock from side to side.

Side stretch: Sit up with your legs crossed. Reach both arms over your head, and interlink your fingers so your palms are facing upwards. Now slowly and gently rock from side to side, just enough to feel a pleasant stretch along your sides and arms.

Seated crawl: Still sitting cross-legged, “crawl” your fingers out in front of you, until you are stretched forward as far as you can comfortably reach without your rear leaving the bed. Slowly and gently sway from side to side, keeping your arms stretched out long. Let your hands roll back and forth with your movements.

Lift off: From your cross-legged seated position, reach both hands onto the bed behind you. Lean your head back, and lift your chest and hips upwards until your rear leaves the bed. Balance your weight on your palms for several seconds before releasing the stretch.

Get In a Good Mood
Finally, take two or three minutes to prepare your mind for the day ahead; not by thinking about all you need to accomplish or the problems of the day, but with a prayer, list of three things you are grateful for or short yoga session. Opening your day with a brief interlude of positive, reflective thought puts you in a good mood as you get out of bed and start your morning preparations.

Screening Athletes For Heart Defects

Almost weekly we read of another young athlete that suddenly collapses and in far too many cases dies of a "heart attack". The following are excerpts are from various articles including:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1994446/

Example: "Shane del Rosario has died, nearly two weeks after suffering a heart attack, the UFC announced Monday. The 30-year-old Del Rosario, a professional MMA fighter since 2006. Official Statement: Shane Del Rosario had a catastrophic cardiovascular collapse at home on Tuesday morning. He was brought to the hospital in full cardiac arrest. Del Rosario’s management team released a statement saying doctors were looking at the potential that the fighter had a rare heart condition known as Long QT Syndrome that typically goes undetected until there’s a problem.

The goals of evaluating individuals for exercise and sports participation is crucial. The most important reason to screen for heart disease is to prevent sudden, unexpected death. Heart disease may also lead to sudden incapacity which may result in injuries, and pre-existing heart disease may be exacerbated by exercise. It has been estimated that there are 5 million active athletes at the high school, university, professional and master's levels in the United States.1 The sudden death rate among high school athletes is 1:100–200 000; among marathon runners 1:50 000; and among recreational joggers 1:15 000.2 Thus, athletic sudden cardiac death is a rare event.

“Sudden cardiac deaths in competitive athletes continue to be highly visible, compelling emotional events with significant liability concerns. These catastrophes are frequently subjected to intense public scrutiny largely because of their occurrence in young otherwise healthy-appearing individuals, including elite participants in collegiate and professional sports”

CAUSES OF SUDDEN DEATH IN ATHLETES
In athletes above the age of 35, especially men, the most common cause of sudden death is atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. In younger individuals atherosclerotic coronary artery disease is much less common and other diseases predominate. The most common cause of sudden death in young athletes is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The second most common is coronary artery anomalies, and the third is abnormal left ventricular hypertrophy.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SCREENING
Ideally screening should be done pre-participation by a physician trained in this activity, but other well-trained healthcare workers are acceptable as long as they do not have a conflict of interest. Screening should be done yearly just before training for the sports activity begins. The evaluation should include a history of symptoms suggestive of heart disease, a family history of premature death or specific cardiac diseases, and questions about substance abuse. The physical examination should include blood pressure, femoral pulses, auscultation of the heart in the standing position and inspection for Marfan syndrome features. There should be a low threshold for delaying clearance to play to evaluate further suspected cardiovascular disease.

I currently suggest and strongly recommend that each patient/athlete consult with a cardiologist regarding the above concerns. The heart matter can only be found with the special testing. One day all athletes will be required to comply with examinations including ECG, echocardiography and referral to a cardiologist.

Better to be healthy and safe ... than to ignore a hidden problem.