Sleep is such an important part of our everyday lives, and yet many people don’t get enough either through lifestyle choice, or because they suffer from insomnia in some form or another. It is no surprise therefore that most people at some point in their lives will find themselves looking at insomnia cures to try and help them get a good nights sleep and wake up feeling rested.

There are three main identifiable types of insomnia, the first is Transient Insomnia, which is a form of passing insomnia, for instance you might be stressed about work the next day, or just have some form of upheaval occurring in your life. Once the stress has passed you will find your sleep returns to normal. This kind of insomnia poses no really long term health risks as it is generally short lived. Then there is Acute Insomnia, where lack of sleep lasts for a period of three or more weeks. The longer an episode of acute insomnia continues, the more debilitating it becomes and can start to affect both mental and physical health as it continues. Chronic Insomnia is where a sleep problem is long-term, and while someone suffering from chronic insomnia may get the occasional good nights sleep, these are few and far between and the long term health implications both mental and physical are serious.

While we have all experienced the effects of lack of sleep after a late night or weekend partying, the exhaustion, fuzzy headedness and general malaise are all lost after a couple of good nights sleep. For those suffering from chronic insomnia however, the accumulation of lack of sleep can lead to some very serious health problems. While every body will react differently to sleep deprivation, here are just some of the potential health risks that are associated with lack of sleep.

Your body loses the ability to process glucose properly, which in turn can lead to high blood sugar levels along with other symptoms of Type 2 diabetes. If glucose isn’t processed correctly the body tends to store it as fat, leading to weight gain.

People who suffer from chronic insomnia will age quicker than those who get regular sleep, and this will be reflected both in physical appearance and mental aptitude.

Your core body temperature lowers, which can impair your bodies ability to function properly, and your heat beat may well become less consistent.

One of the most obvious effects of lack of sleep is reduced mental function, as the brain works constantly throughout the day, no matter what you are doing. Sleep is the only time your brain gets to take a break and recharge itself ready for the next day. Simple functions that we take for granted become affected by lack of sleep, for instance speech can become slightly slurred, or you may stutter as you try and find the words you want. Vocabulary becomes limited as the brain struggles to work on reserve power. In severe cases sleep deprivation can lead to hallucinations and sometimes even temporary insanity can result from lack of REM sleep. Driving while suffering from lack of sleep has been compared to driving while under the influence of alcohol when it comes to reaction times and awareness.

While the physical and mental effects of insomnia are the most commonly reported, it also has an effect on emotions and people can find themselves much more open to stress and anxiety, depression and misery and even increased anger.

When you look at just some of the problems that are associated with insomnia, it is no surprise that people turn to the huge range of insomnia cures that are available when they start to feel that lack of sleep is becoming too regular in their lives and that they need to try and stop it before it becomes something more serious.

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder that plagues millions of people all around the world.  When it comes to dealing with this particular problem and searching for a cure for insomnia, it is important to know what your options are in order that it does not infringe upon your life.

Insomnia Treatment

There are several suggested approaches in curing this sleeping disorder.  However, before you can decide which one you will take, a proper diagnosis is in order since there are many causes of insomnia and finding out what is causing yours is imperative.

Hypnotherapy for Insomnia

Hypnosis is considered one of the most effective treatments for many types of sleep disorders.  Basically, it is a series of sessions in which the patient’s subconscious is subjected to suggestion in order to achieve the state of consciousness that is much more conducive to sleep. This type of treatment is much like any other kind of therapy except that the main goal is to stimulate that part of the brain that controls sleeping and maintain its status quo. There are other insomnia cures that may be explored, such as those that involve natural remedies.

Will homeopathy help insomnia?

Alternative medicine has always been the subject of scrutiny.  However, when it comes to treatment insomnia, homeopathic remedies have been proven to be effective and very reliable.

Massage Therapy Using Chamomile Oil

One of the most neglected forms of cure for sleep disorders is tough therapy.  Most of the time, sleeplessness or premature waking is caused by undue stress and unreleased tension inside the body.  Massaging the entire body with chamomile oil will help relax the muscles as well as the mind.  The aroma of the chamomile has a very calming effect that is very important in preventing sleep disruptions.

Jasmine Tea Therapy

Jasmine tea, much like chamomile, has excellent calming effects.  It smells very sweet but the taste is not too overpowering.  It makes for very good night cap because it does not have any caffeine or have diuretic effects, which will make you wake up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet.

Staying away from sleeping Pills

Many people prefer to pop sleep aids rather than try homeopathic cures.  While this practice might yield faster effects (since you can most definitely fall asleep immediately after taking a sleeping tablet), it also has some very serious ramifications.

Unless necessary, it is preferable if you stick to natural sleeping aides.

Sleep Apnea can be a cause of waking in the morning feeling like you have had a very poor nights sleep, as it disrupts your sleep pattern meaning you don’t get enough REM sleep to feel fully rested. Sleep Apnea can be life threatening if it is left undiagnosed and untreated so it is important to rule it out if you find you are constantly feeling like you have had a poor nights sleep.

Sleep Apnea is caused when breathing stops during sleep. This leads to a depletion of oxygen and an excess of carbon dioxide in the body. Depending on the type of apnea there are different causes for the cessation of breathing, but ultimately the bodys emergency arousal response will kick in to snap you out of sleep to get you breathing again. This can be so quick you are not even aware that you have woken and gone back to sleep again.

There are three types of sleep apnea and they are classified according to their cause. Central sleep apnea, obstuctive sleep apnea and mixed sleep apnea. It is important to understand which type of apnea you are suffering from in order to get the correct treatment.

Central sleep apnea is the least common type. It is caused by the respiratory centre in the brain or the central nervous system stopping working during sleep. This means the chest muscles don’t receive signals to make the movements required for breathing. Obstructive sleep apnea is caused when the upper airway is blocked by either the tissue of the soft palate or throat, or the tongue. Instead of just stopping breathing as with Central sleep apnea, someone with obstructive sleep apnea will struggle to breathe through the obstruction, and while the chest muscles are making the correct movements, no air is getting in or out of the lungs. Mixed Sleep Apnea is a combination of Central and Obstructive, it is unknown which triggers which, some believe that obstructive apnea causes overbreathing which then creates unusually low levels of carbon dioxide, which in turn triggers a central response, others believe that some kind of central reflex problem actually creates the obstructive apnea aspect.

Snoring can really affect the quality of your sleep, whether it is your own snoring or that of a partner. Snoring occurs when your soft palate vibrates, and this can be caused by many different factors. The muscles in your tongue and soft palate relax when you sleep and this can cause them to collapse together, which contributes to snoring. Older people are more pre-disposed to snoring as age affects muscle tone. Other things such as tonsils can add to the noise of snoring. The position that you sleep in can also affect how much or little you snore, lying on your back is the most common position to snore in as it allows your tongue to fall back and block your airway slightly. You may also find that you are more likely to snore if you have a cold or hayfever as this causes your airways to swell and therefore be restricted. Some medications can cause snoring and of course most people will have noticed that consuming alcohol also seems to contribute to snoring.

There are several ways to alleviate snoring, which in turn can lead to a better nights sleep. For starters make sure you (or your partner!) are sleeping on your side. Try to avoid alcoholic drinks before bedtime and if you are taking any kind of medication, check to see if snoring is listed in the possible side-effects. If you suffer from hay fever and therefore “seasonal snoring” you may find it beneficial to take an anti-histamine about an hour before you go to bed to help relieve any airway irritation, of course always check with your GP first if you are on any other type of medication. If you are overweight, you may find loosing some weight will help you stop snoring. If it is your partner that is snoring, and none of the above seems to help, invest in a pair of soft foam earplugs to help you get a good nights sleep.

While snoring in itself isn’t harmful, it can seriously disrupt sleep, which leads to feeling tired and unrested in the mornings, being grumpy and slightly dysfunctional during the day, and not being able to enjoy spending time with family or friends in the evenings as all you can think about is getting to bed. If you think that snoring is disrupting your sleep then try the simple steps above that can help prevent it and see if you wake feeling well rested the next morning.

It is a common misconception that everybody can go to bed and wake up at the same time. Some people describe themselves as a “night person”, and they find it much easier to work late, go to bed late and get up late. On the flip side some people like to work early, go to bed early and get up early. Neither is wrong – it just depends on the type of person you are. It is important to realise whether you are a night person or not, if you are then you will find it difficult to go to sleep at what is seen as a conventional time, say 10 or 11pm. It could lead to you lying in bed awake for hours, struggling to sleep, then when it is time to get up you feel shattered, like you haven’t slept well enough or long enough. Some people believe that they are in fact insomniacs when they are experiencing this type of sleep disruption, when in fact it is because they are fighting against their body clock. The same applies to early risers – some people naturally wake at 6am fresh as a daisy, however if they try and stay up late they will struggle and no matter how late they manage to stay up and how tired they are when they go to bed they will still find themselves waking at 6am, more than likely feeling exhausted and frustrated at not being able to sleep any longer.

Night people and early risers suffer from the same frustrations just at opposite ends of the day when they try and enforce an unnatural sleep pattern on their bodies. Unfortunately, in todays world, most people have to stick to a sleep pattern that enables them to get to work for 9am, which means that night people across the UK are turning to insomnia cures to enable them to try and get a half-decent nights sleep. The fact that more and more insomnia cures are appearing on our shelves indicates the increase in people who are finding it difficult to sleep, while not all these people will actually be suffering from insomnia, the fact is more and more people are loosing sleep and trying to find ways to get some of it back.

Sleep. Something we all know we need and something we all know we should probably get more of but why do we need sleep?

No-one really knows why we need sleep, it was thought that sleep was a time for our brains to rest however the development of polysomnography showed that in fact our brains are very active while we sleep. Other theories are that we need sleep to overcome physical fatigue, and while sleep does seem to do this, it is in fact our brains not our muscles that needs sleep in order to feel rested and alert. One thing is for sure and that is that we do need to sleep, as studies into sleep deprivation show that without sleep the body’s physiologic systems, things such as the immune and digestives systems and blood pressure regulation get thrown into disarray. These processes seem to go through a 24 hour cycle, regulated by our biological clock which uses sleeping and waking up as benchmarks. Irregular or disturbed sleep means these signals aren’t there to reset the body clock daily to keep things running smoothly. People who suffer from irregular or disturbed sleep often report physical symptoms such as upset digestive system, headaches and pre-disposition to illness, and this may well be linked to the physiological processes being unbalanced. Another, more serious side-effect of sleep deprivation is lack of concentration and reactions. The tireder a person gets the less clear their thinking becomes and the slower their reactions, this is most dangerous when the sleep-deprived person is driving a vehicle, it has been suggested that when a long-haul truck driver falls asleep at the wheel and crashes, an average of four innocent victims will die along with them.

Sleep deprivation can be attributed to many things, and insomnia is one of the more common causes. The inability to sleep can lead to many of the symptoms of severe sleep deprivation as the build up of night after night of poor, interrupted sleep starts to take effect, starting off with feeling unrested in the mornings then tired and more than likely grumpy throughout the day. Concentration will start to wane and even simple tasks will begin to seem more and more daunting. Just one good nights sleep won’t be able to rectify this, as you will have built up a sleep deficit, it could take up to a week of good nights sleep to get you back to feeling “normal” again.

While it is important to make sure you get enough sleep, it is not just about the quantity of sleep but the quality. There is no point in being in bed for 8 hours a night if you are getting poor quality sleep. In order to feel fully rested in the morning your brain needs to go through a cycle of sleep during the night which takes you through various levels of sleep depth.

Sleep as we currently understand it comes in two forms, REM sleep and non-REM sleep. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement, and it is these two types of sleep our brain cycles through during the night. REM sleep is best described as active sleeping, meaning your physiological systems are actively changing as you sleep. Your breathing alternates between slow and heavy and short and fast, your body temperature increases and the blood circulation to your brain also increases. It is during REM sleep that your main body muscles such as arms and legs become paralyzed, however your eye muscles become very active and your eyes move back and forth as if watching a tennis match – hence the name REM sleep. It is during REM sleep that your most vivid and emotional dreams occur, it is thought this may be due to our brains trying to process the emotions of our waking lives. It is unknown why we need REM sleep but our bodies seem programmed to make sure we experience it every night.

Non-REM sleep is a lighter, stiller sleep. Your breathing is slow and regular as is you brain activity, your body is relaxed and calm. Dreams experienced during non-REM sleep tend to be more like thoughts than emotional experiences.

A typical nights sleep starts with non-REM sleep, of which there are four stages from light to heavy. Non-REM sleep will last for about 80 minutes, then suddenly your sleep switches from the deepest level of non-REM sleep to the first of your REM sleep periods for the night. This first REM phase lasts about 10 minutes, ending when you switch back to the lighter non-REM sleep phase which gradually deepens and the cycle starts again, with the next REM phase lasing a little longer. Each cycle takes around 90 minutes to complete and with each cycle the REM phase increases to the point where anything up to 60 minutes of the cycle is REM sleep. The total amount of REM sleep varies with age, with babies having up to half their sleep at REM and adults only having around a quarter.

Before turning to medicinal treatments for insomnia, it is worth taking a look at your sleeping environment to make sure it is the best possible to help you sleep. Here are some of the things that may be disturbing your sleep:

Light pollution – If you are suffering from disrupted sleep, light is only going to make things worse. Heavy curtains or blinds should be used in the bedroom, you can get specialist black-out blinds and curtains that block all light if you find yours aren’t sufficient. If you are worried about waking up in the morning, there are special clocks that simulate dawn to help you wake naturally when you want to.

Noise is one of the greatest disturbers of sleep, and is often one of the most difficult to block out. Even though our hearing is reduced while we sleep our brains still process sound, and even the sound of a passing car can disturb your sleep, not to the point of waking you up, although in some cases it can, but repeated sound disturbance can leave you feeling very tired and groggy in the morning.

Temperature is an important factor in sleeping well. While there is not set rule for the temperature your room should be, too hot is bad. Of course everybody is different when it comes to temperature, one persons cold room may feel warm to the next. Also everyone sleeps in different clothes with different bed coverings. Just make sure you aren’t overheating at night as this will disturb your sleep no end and may make it difficult to go back to sleep.

It seems like one of the most obvious things, but make sure your bed and pillows are comfortable. If you wake up with aches and pains in the morning that disappear after rising, then you should look at getting a new bed or pillow. Your bed should provide uninterrupted contact and evenly distributed pressure across your body. Your pillow should support you head and neck so your spine is as straight as possible. If you find you are suffering from a stuffy nose or itchy eyes in bed you may want to invest in anti-allergy bedding.

While none of the above are actual insomnia cures in themselves, they may well help towards getting a good nights sleep.