Insomnia - a Drugfree Solution

Insomnia is a common problem in which you can find yourself spending a majority of the night awake with no real restful sleep. This causes you to function and fall asleep during the day, or take frequent naps throughout the day. Insomnia is caused by many factors, but it's usually triggered by external stressors such as depression, anxiety, conflictual relationships, or work pressure.

The most effective way to deal with insomnia is to practice mindfulness meditation techniques on an individual basis and seek professional help from a counselor if needed. It can be difficult for someone who has not experienced insomnia before to understand what goes on when they are sleeping for hours at night.

Stages of Sleep

The stages of sleep are divided into two main categories: rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM). NREM occurs in more cycles and lasts longer than REM. These stages occur in the following order:

1. Stage 1—light sleep, or delta waves (0.5 – 2 Hz)

 2. Stage 2—deep sleep (delta waves 3 – 5 Hz) 3. Stage 3—deep sleep with a burst of REMs, called paradoxical sleep cycle 4. REMs (6 – 14 Hz) 5. Stage 4—light sleep without REMs 6. Slow wave sleep 7. Stage 2—deep sleep with a burst of REMs, called paradoxical sleep cycle 8. REMs (6 – 14 Hz)

The stages of sleep are important to know how your brain functions during the night hours. While you are asleep, neurons that have just been activated begin to degrade and die in order to be regenerated by the body. During this process, neurons that are still active will continue firing allowing for new cells to be introduced into your brain.

This process is called synaptic plasticity and occurs throughout all stages of sleep. On average, you spend approximately three hours in REM and forty-five minutes in NREM stages 1 through 3 each night. If you aren't getting enough sleep at night it is only natural for you to be tired during the day.

A typical night of sleep usually goes as follows: you fall asleep until approximately 8:30 in the evening and your alarm goes off at 6:00 in the morning. You then take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, drink coffee or tea, and finally sit down at your desk in front of your computer with the intention of working for about two hours before it's time for your drive to work. You may not realize that you are still completely exhausted and have been up since 4:00 am.

You may stay in bed until you get tired, or walk around the house for a while before going back to bed. If you are truly tired at this point, it's possible that you just haven't met your own criteria for sleep; you have slept less than six hours. Most people who have insomnia are actually trying to panic about when they will get enough sleep, as opposed to realizing that they just haven't been getting enough sleep on average.

In order to improve your sleep, you need to understand how your brain works during the day. Sleep is a natural process that helps the body heal and restore itself between long periods of rest. While we are awake, we are constantly engaged in our thoughts and stimulation through senses such as sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell, etc. Our brain generates chemical reactions as it processes this stimulation. Our brain will need time to repair from these reactions and this is regulated by sleep patterns that occur during REM cycles throughout the night; when we sleep, our brains can renew its cells more effectively and allow the mind to now think differently in the morning.

When this process is disturbed, it can lead to negative effects such as mood imbalance, anxiety, and eventually depression.

Your Brain on Sleep Deprivation

Even if you are just a little tired during the day, your body's chemical makeup will begin to experience changes; your body will not be able to control or manage the stress or "fight-or-flight" response that is created when you are in a negative state. This response is your natural survival tactic where adrenaline is released into your bloodstream and sympathetic nervous system along with an increase in blood pressure and heart rate.

This reaction is triggered when we feel pain or extreme discomfort such as being out in the cold, running from danger, etc. When your body enters this state, it releases cortisol and adrenaline to help your body function at a higher and faster pace. This is why you may notice that when you are tired, you are more aggressive and irritable than normal.

When we experience anxiety and stress, there is a great chance that our bodies will go into the fight-or-flight response as a form of self-defense. Your sleep cycles are directly related to your mental state and your ability to manage stress in a healthy way. When you don't have enough sleep, there is an increase in norepinephrine which can lead to feeling overstimulated or hyperactive.

The result of this is that you may not be able to fall asleep at night because your body and mind are overstimulated. The brain will then keep you awake for several hours in order to receive the restorative benefits of sleep. As stated earlier, REM is crucial for brain cell regeneration, and your thoughts while you are awake could lead to a negative state if affected by stress.

You may feel like you are drifting off into a deep sleep, but every time you cycle through one of these stages of sleep, you deplete certain chemicals that make up your brain. Your brain goes into repair mode and creates new cells; when this process becomes impaired or frazzled from an unhealthy lifestyle, it leads to disorders such as depression.

Sleep is an intricate part of your brain and part of the body's health. You are a complex system that functions as an entire organism, which requires sleep as a way to restore and regenerate yourself. When you aren't getting enough sleep, it becomes difficult for the body to maintain the proper chemical structure that keeps it healthy.

The important thing is to create healthy sleep habits that will allow your brain to repair and rejuvenate itself from damage by stressors such as depression, anxiety, or chronic fatigue syndrome. Getting enough sleep allows you to have more energy throughout the day so you don't feel tired during the day, which in turn makes you happier and healthier.

By: Robert Paul Reyes

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Conclusion 

You are a complex system that functions as an entire organism, which requires sleep as a way to restore and regenerate yourself. When you aren't getting enough sleep, it becomes difficult for the body to maintain the proper chemical structure that keeps it healthy.

You need to create healthy sleep habits that will allow your brain to repair and rejuvenate itself from damage by stressors such as depression, anxiety, or chronic fatigue syndrome. Getting enough sleep allows you to have more energy throughout the day so you don't feel tired during the day, which in turn makes you happier and healthier.

By: Robert Paul Reyes

Click here for a list of everything that I have written.