As a promoter of good sleep, Rilax® has joined forces with the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM) to celebrate World Sleep Day (WSD) on 18 March 2011. WSD is an annual event, intended to raise awareness of the importance of sleep for better health. It also aims to lessen the burden of sleep problems on society through better prevention and management of sleep disorders. This year’s slogan “Sleep well, grow healthy” emphasizes the promotion of quality sleep for all ages.
Most sleep disorders are preventable or treatable, yet less than a third of sufferers seek professional help. Sleep problems constitute a global epidemic that threatens health and quality of life, for up to 45% of the world’s population.
No one needs to tell you why a good night’s sleep is so important. In fact, we spend up to a third of our lives sleeping. Sleep, the ultimate rejuvenation elixir, is vital for the maintenance and repair of our body and mind. During deep sleep, brain activity that controls emotions, decision-making processes and social interaction shuts down, allowing us to maintain optimal emotional and social functioning when we are awake. This is also the stage when cell growth and cell repair takes place to combat the effects of stress.
Thus, good quality and restorative sleep is essential for optimum day-to-day functioning. Studies suggest that sleep quality rather than quantity has a greater impact on quality of life and daytime functioning.
Lack of sleep or poor quality sleep is known to have a significanat negative impact on our health in the long and short term. Next day effects of a poor quality sleep include a negative impact on our attention span, memory recall and learning. Longer term effects are being studied, but poor quality sleep or sleep deprivation has been associated with significant health problems, such as obesity, diabetes, weakened immune systems and even some cancers.
“LiveLife is delighted to be supporting World Sleep Day this year, as we see its synergy with Rilax® in promoting the health benefits of a good night’s sleep. Sleep is as important as a healthy lifestyle as diet and exercise, but quite simply, many of us are not getting enough hours or getting enough quality sleep. Rilax®’s all-natural formulation improves sleep quality and supports relaxation, and has helped many to do so since its launch in December 2009,” said Aileen Chan, Chief Executive Officer of LiveLife, the company that distributes this evidence-based supplement.
Rilax®'s natural formula helps the user to get a good solid night’s sleep and wake up feeling recharged, renewed and reenergized. It contains two proven and award-winning ingredients, Lactium®, a unique bioactive peptide within a milk protein hydrolysate that has calming properties, and a green tea extract containing L-Theanine that promotes relaxation.
A recent clinical study on Lactium was conducted in Tokyo and published in The Open Sleep Journal in 2009. The study performed on 32 subjects with insomnia by a team of scientists from the Sleep Centre University Hospital of Geneva (Switzerland), the Laboratoire de NeuroSciences Comportementales (France) and the Ashikaga Institute of Technology (Japan) showed that Lactium helped a majority of participants to fall asleep faster, as well as significantly improve various aspects of sleep disorders.
Results indicated:
- Improvement in sleep quality after two weeks of supplementation.
- Decrease in sleep latency after four weeks of supplementation.
- Decrease in daytime dysfunction after four weeks of supplementation.
Sleep quality is further improved with L-theanine, an amino acid found naturally in green tea leaves, that promotes an alert state of relaxation without lapsing into drowsiness. It is able to initiate an alpha brain wave pattern that signifies a relaxed physical and mental state without drowsiness or impaired motor skills. The studies also confirmed that this ingredient improves the quality of sleep by allowing our mind to fully relax and recuperate. Subjects in the studies did not report feeling groggy and felt refreshed and alert upon waking. It was recorded that after continuous daily intake for two weeks, the subjects in the studies returned to good sleeping pathways as well. Taken an hour before bedtime, Rilax®'s all natural ingredients work well to improve sleep quality, particularly those that are stress-related; are safe, non-habit forming, have no side effects and does not cause grogginess when you wake up. For more information, ask your nearest pharmacist.