How Important Is A Good Night’s Sleep?   

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of sleep in establishing a well balanced life. We spend about 8 hours a day, 56 hours per week, 240 hours per month, and 2920 hours per year sleeping. Studies show that insufficient sleep affects about 70 million people in the USA alone. Women report insomnia symptoms nearly twice as often as men.

Insomnia, a problem which becomes more frequent with age, is a common and distressing difficulty in falling asleep, going back to sleep or waking too early where the wake period is greater than 30 minutes.

Although there are several different degrees of insomnia, about three types of insomnia have been clearly identified: transient, acute, and chronic. Transient insomnia lasts from days to weeks, acute insomnia is the inability to consistently sleep well for a period of between three weeks to six months and chronic insomnia can last for years at a time.

Cause of Insomnia 

Often insomnia is a symptom of other problems in life such as illness, death of a family member or friend, financial stress, or work and relationship issues. Some medical conditions may cause insomnia, particularly pain, chronic respiratory problems, or other sleep disorders. Medications such as blood pressure tablets or asthma medication, as well as substances like caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, may trigger insomnia or make it worse.  Psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety are common causes of insomnia and sometimes may also cause insomnia. 

Certain neurological disorders, brain lesions, or a history of traumatic brain injury, medical conditions such as hyperthyroidism and Wilson's syndrome, Parasomnia, which includes a number of disruptive sleep events including nightmares, sleepwalking, violent behavior while sleeping, and REM behavior disorder, can all cause sleep problems.

Sometimes even the use of prescription sleep aids are a problems as when over used these drugs can cause what is know as rebound insomnia. 

Shift workers are particularly at risk of insomnia as they are trying to sleep when their brain is trying to be awake and at night they are trying to stay awake when brain and body want to go to sleep. 

The Impact of Insomnia 

The Impact of Insomnia on daily living can be substantial, sufferers report lack of energy, irritability, poor performance at work, memory difficulties and concentration problems. One study found twice as many fatigue related automobile accidents in individuals with insomnia compared with good sleepers. Insomnia is a risk factor for the onset of depression and can significantly affect your quality of life. There is also some evidence to suggest that the stress response found in insomniacs is a risk factor for heart disease and diabetes. 

Treatment of Insomnia 

For a long time, doctors were taught that insomnia was a symptom, not a disease, however, new evidence is beginning to suggest insomnia may not simply be a symptom of other conditions, but rather, may be a disorder in its own right.

The main goal of any treatment for insomnia is to break the vicious cycle that keeps the insomnia going. To achieve this, a variety of therapies have been tried but many in themselves can create other problems which can often create adverse cycles of their own.

Hypnotic medications are effective in the short term treatment of insomnia but their effects wear off over time due to tolerance. The use of benzodiazepines and antidepressants in the treatment of insomnia can lead to physical dependence, withdrawal of these medications may induce rebound insomnia and actually further complicate matters in the long term.

Alternative therapies are popular with herbs such as valerian, chamomile, lavender, hops, and passion flower being particular favorites. Hypnotism can be successful but this too is often only a short term measure.

New technology using non transdermal patches which stimulate acupressure points is perhaps the most promising. At this stage the only one on the market is Silent Nights produced by network marketing company, Lifewave. Clinical studies show that this technique improves the quality of sleep by balancing energy flows which results in relaxation and better sleep patterns.