If you are struggling night after night with insomnia, and are just about at the end of your tether, then you are probably considering trying medications. However, please stop for a moment and open your mind to another possible cure, one without any possible side effects.
Insomnia is a complex of symptoms – consisting of difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or experiencing non-refreshing sleep – that result in daytime consequences that significantly impact productivity and quality of life. Up to one third of Americans suffer from some form of Insomnia with approximately 10% having chronic insomnia. The prevalence of insomnia increases with age and occurs nearly twice as often in women as in men.
Although women suffer more from loss of sleep, they are less likely than men to seek help, and are often not diagnosed and treated properly by the medical profession. Women are more likely to suffer depression as a result of the lack of sleep. Women's sleep problems affect their work, their sex lives, and their social lives negatively.
Getting a great night’s sleep is important but not always possible. The reasons are as varied as the individuals. They include worry, stress, anxiety, studies, parenthood, jobs, pregnancy, menopause, loss of a loved one, and countless others.
Recent research is starting to show a link between sleep deprivation and obesity. Recent studies indicate that disrupted sleep can interfere with how your body regulates your appetite on a hormonal level. Indeed, adults who get less than seven hours of sleep a night are significantly more likely to be obese than those who get a full night of rest.
Have you ever wondered how some people can wake up precisely the same time every morning without an alarm clock? There is an underlying mechanism, called "the inner sleep clock" which consists of a number of variables in your body that tells it when to feel tired and when to feel awake. It also controls how deep you sleep and how long you sleep.
Insomnia is often mistakenly looked upon as a "problem" that has to be solved, when in fact it is simply a symptom of a weak sleep cycle. If your sleep cycle is weak, insomnia is very likely to occur, and the only way to cure it is by strengthening your sleep cycle.
Chemical sleep aids can actually suppress your natural sleep cycle. Your body naturally sleeps on a cycle, and if you introduce chemical triggers, you will soon be unable to sleep without your medication. Some patients even develop a tolerance to their sleep aids and need to gradually increase their dosage in order to fall asleep.
What's more, the sedatives in many sleep aids can actually prevent you from falling into the deepest level of sleep. The chemicals in the sleeping pills often simply knock you out-- but there's more to sleeping than being unconscious. Your body needs to be able to cycle in and out of deep sleep to reap the benefits of rest, and it cannot do this when heavily sedated.
When you sleep at night, your body and brain go through several stages of sleep. Some of these are shallow sleep stages, when your brain and body activity slow and stabilize. However, the most important phases of sleep are the deepest (Level 4), and the shallowest (also known as Level 5 or REM sleep). Level 4 sleep is the most serene and is when brain activity is the quietest.
During the REM stage of sleep, the body breaks out of its placid sleep state and starts to experience changes in heart rate, brain activity, and breathing rate. In addition, the eyelids flutter, giving this state the name of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Scientists are unsure what exactly happens during REM sleep, but it is most surely associated with dreaming.
The exact nature of Level 4 deep sleep also remains a bit of a mystery, but its effects are well documented. People who spend enough time in deep sleep each night are good at forming memories and fighting disease and infection--they even tend to look younger. That's why the lack of sleep is so disorienting and detrimental to insomniacs - their bodies are going without this vital sleep phase.
To make sure you go through all the necessary sleep phases, you need to regain control of your "inner sleep clock". When you can do this, you then have the ability to eliminate your insomnia once and for all. The good news is that it is not difficult to do this. In fact it’s very easy when you know how!
You just need to get the right information, and then take action! Within 3 to 4 days you can "re-train" your mind to re-enter a deep and restful sleep.
Sound sleep is far more than a good night's rest; it represents the benefits of health and a healthy lifestyle.
After all, it's a third of your life; it must be important.
If you are ready to cure your insomnia and say goodbye to the negative effects of sleep deprivation on your body, go to
SleepDomain to get the information you need. Let your sleep come easily, gently and safely.
