You are welcome :)

Melissa.

Hey there!  I haven't seen you around lately.  I saw you posted in a thread I also posted in.  :)  How are you doing?  I've been thinking about you.  I hope you are doing well. 

~Lisa

     I'm sorry to hear you lost your job.  If you just cahnged your schedule, from nights to days, you maybe tired for a while as your body adjusts.  It sounds like your doing everything right for the most part.  It's great you are going to bed at the same time everyday, if you pick a wake up time say 9 hours after you go to bed and no matter how hard it is try to get up at the same time every day.  When you have a night that you are up for a bit in the middle, you may want to sleep in, but getting up anyway will hopefully help you sleep through the night, that's the only change I can think of you could make.  If you have had trouble sleeping for a long while, it would be good to talk with your doctor.  A sleep study can tell if you have a sleep disorder, or if your sleep architecture is in tact.  Stress can cause sleep disturbances, if your stressed or even depressed about losing your job that can cause what you're going through too.  Not sleeping properly could be the reason for your weight gain and getting a better nights sleep maybe the answer to weight loss for you too.  Michele

     Ok, that's great.  Makes it much easier.  I posted the blog I said I would.  I believe we have talked before about you working nights, which can cause weight gain.  Try to not only regulate your slep schedule, but also be sure you are eating lke you would if you were a day person, in other words eat breakfast shortly after getting up, eat lunch and dinner, and watch out for snacking.  Working nights often makes us crave "comfort foods" or foods high in starch, try to watch that.  Looking at your picture you appear to have a short neck (I don't mean that as an insult, I have a short neck too), which can make you more suseptable to sleep apnea, the problem with sleep apnea is that excess weight can make it worse, which can cause you to gain more weight.  You appear to be young, I was 24 when diagnosed with severe sleep apnea.  Just in case that is a possibility try to be sure you stay on your side at night, sleeping on your back only worsens the condition in most cases, and don't drink alcohol before bed.  If you try these tips and still are having problems let me know.   Michele

Hi Webster,

     It sounds like you are having sleep disturbances, and this definately can cause weight gain.  Many things can cause you to have difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep.  What I would suggest first is that you try working on your sleep hygiene.  If you try the sleep hygeine tips for several weeks and still aren't helped in your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep, then it might be useful to see about getting a sleep study.  Certain health problems and medications can cause sleep disturbances also.  If after trying the sleep hygein tips if you would like to email me any health conditions and or medications, I can tell you if any of those could be adding to your difficulties.  I will write a sleep hygeine blog, because they won't allow me to post more then 2000 charactures here. :0)  I'll try to get the done for you today.  I hope this helps. :0)  Michele

     You're welcome, anytime.  Working nights can be rough.  I'm glad I could help answer that for you.  Before I became a Sleep Tech 6 years ago, it was really hard to find information about sleep, sleep Hygeine, and health problems caused by sleep disturbances.  I think it's great that more and more people are asking about sleep problems, and the medical community is starting to educate on the dangers of inadequate sleep.  I like your photo, mine is from Florida also.  The fireworks at Disney are great, well worth seeing.  Michele