Health & Fitness Source

Lack of sleep has become a global problem in the past decade. Everywhere around the world people are sleeping less. This trend has increased in the recent years starting a viscious cycle of sleep deprivation. Many shrug off lack of sleep and say they will only become irratible. Lack of sleep can also play a role in weight gain.

A person’s weight is affected by hormone production. Two hormones in particular are responsible for stimulating and controlling appetite. Ghrelin is the hormone responsible for stimulating your appetite while leptin tells your brain that your body is full and does not need any more food.

Guess what happens to these hormones when you don’t get enough shut eye? They are affected in a way that is disastrous to your waist line. When you don’t get enough sleep your body responds by producing more appetite inducing Ghrelin hormone. This means that you will not only be tired, but have an increased appetite ast well.

Plus, when you do eat it will take you longer to feel full and satisfied. This is due to the fact that the amount of leptin hormone in your system has decreased. This wreaks havoc on your waistline as you eat more and more to feel full.

Don’t think ghrelin and leptin hormones play a significant role in your weight fluctuation? Think again. There is a link between lack of sleep and obesity. This link was found by researchers at Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin. The polls tell it all. A little over 6 out of 10 Americans state that they don’t get 8 hours of sleep each night. Also, a little over 6 out of 10 Americans are over weight. (Source: usatoday.com, 12/06/2004). The link is to close to ignore.

Now some people might be tempted to conclude that being up longer should mean that you are burning more calories. While this is true, the urge to snack and eat something during the hours that we should be in bed is greater because of the increased production of ghrelin. Plus, since we consume more due to decreased levels of leptin, the calories burned by being awake are more than replenished by the food we eat.

Also take into account that we burn 2/3 of all calories while we are resting. Therefore, only 1/3 of our calories are burned during physical activity and exercise. So just because you are awake doesn’t necessarily mean you are burning more calories. It depends on each person and their activity levels.

No, most of us do not believe that sleep deprivation has anything to do with our weight. But, with the majority of Americans overweight and with a growing amount of research illustrating the link between obesity and sleep deprivation, people should start making shut eye a priority.

Lack of sleep has become a global problem in the past decade. Everywhere around the world people are sleeping less. This trend has increased in the recent years starting a viscious cycle of sleep deprivation. Many shrug off lack of sleep and say they will only become irratible. Lack of sleep can also play a role in weight gain.

Insomnia is described as difficulty in falling asleep or difficulty to achieve continuous sleep. It is not a disease or diagnosis but a symptom. An average person experiences insomnia at least once in their life. It was found that 30-50% of people are insomniacs.

All age groups are affected by insomnia. Its incidence increases as age increases because stress is the most common cause of insomnia. Furthermore, women are more affected by this than men.

The cure for insomnia involves activities that would promote sleep and reduce stimulation. Several activities are advised to the insomniacs to prepare their body for sleep.

1. Exercise regularly. Studies have shown that regular exercise helps the body with its sleeping problems. It is generally important to attain optimal health. It is important to stress that exercise should be made early in the morning and not immediately before sleeping.

2. Avoid heavy meals and lots of fluids before going to bed. Large meals could lead to indigestion while a lot of fluids will increase the incidence of having to get up to urinate in the middle of the night

3. Maintain a peaceful and comfortable environment. During bedtime, turn off the lights, turn off anything that could create noise, and be sure you are comfortable with the room temperature. These factors affect sleep. Remove the clock from sight because it will contribute to your anxiety and frustration when you can’t fall asleep.

The following are excellent tips to put an end to your sleepless nights.

1. Decrease ingestion of stimulant-containing substances such as tea, coffee, alcohol, and cigarettes. Stimulants increase alertness, which are not needed during sleep.

2. Eat a very light carbohydrate snack before bedtime; or better yet, drink warm milk

3. Take a warm bath 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime. The immediate effect of a warm bath is sedation. When the bath is taken more than an hour before bedtime, an arousing effect would occur instead of a sedating one. Furthermore, warmth relieves body tension.

4. Stop watching TV, reading, or engaging in any mind-stimulating activities at least an hour before bedtime. These activities tend to prolong your wakefulness.

5. Use only your bed for sleeping (and sex). This will help your body associate your bed to just sleep. Thus, when you lie on your bed, it is a signal that it is time to sleep.

6. Engage in relaxation activities: listening to music, deep breathing exercises, meditation, etc. These activities slow down body processes and help the body to relax. Both functions aid the body in falling asleep.

7. Clear your mind. Remove all concerns and worries from your mind. You can do this through writing your thoughts and ideas in a journal.

8. Do not take naps. Try to sleep and wake up at the same time everyday. Taking naps will only disrupt your biological clock. On the other hand, sleeping and waking up at the same time everyday will help your body set your biological clock.

Through following these tips, a good night’s sleep is very much attainable. Remember that sleep is essential for the body’s growth and repair. Insomnia is not something that occurs naturally in your body. Thus, it must be treated.

While the more common complaints are from people who are having trouble falling asleep and getting “quality” sleep, some people have the opposite problem.

They sleep too much…

If you’re having trouble getting yourself out of bed on time, and find yourself sleeping much more than you’ve planned too, you’re not alone.

I personally used to sleep up to 14 hours a “night”. Sometimes I’d hit the snooze button for HOURS.

Improving the quality of my sleep was absolutely necessary in order to reduce the amount of sleep I get. After replacing a few bad habits, I now sleep less and feel much more lively and energetic throughout the day, then when I had slept longer.

However, getting rid of some bad sleeping habits, and improving the quality of your sleep is only one part of the process.

As you know, when you wake up you’re not completely in control of your thoughts and your actions. At this stage your subconscious is more dominant.

You may have to admit having some kind of emotional issues, which are suppressed deeply in your subconscious. The simplest way to say it is that you have a lack of motivation to wake up and get up.

Oversleeping can obviously CAUSE problems. The embarrassment when you fail to wake up on time, being late to work or loss of what could be your “free time”, and the tiredness that usually comes after an excessive sleep episode, all of those aren’t going to do you any good.

You should start putting your sleep system back to order, by going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day, no matter when you’ve gone to sleep, no matter what time you go to work, and even if you have a day off.

Practice it for at least 3 weeks (they say it takes 21 days to establish a new habit).

However, if you fail to wake up on time, you should focus on your self-discipline.

You see, most people wake up on time every morning, no matter how much or how well they had slept.

Don’t beat yourself up when you fail. Instead, try to think what went wrong. Try to remember your actions and your thoughts at that morning. Then come up with a plan for tomorrow.

If you can’t even remember what went through your head when the alarm went off, try going to sleep earlier or setting the alarm to a later time. The idea is to get yourself used to be in control of your sleep and wake up habits.

Most importantly, dig inside yourself to find the reason you oversleep. Ask yourself a simple, yet hard question: “What are you running away from”?

Insomnia is one of the more common symptoms of stress and depression. Whether you have a hard time falling asleep, or you fall asleep promptly and then awaken later and are unable to fall back to sleep, you have insomnia.

THERE ARE FOUR TYPES OF INSOMNIA

PSYCHO-REACTIVE INSOMNIA: This is caused by tension. The person’s mind is keeping them awake with worry. In addition, they may begin to worry about getting to sleep because they have to waken in the morning. The person may worry that they may become ill or die from lack of sleep.

ENDOGENOUS INSOMNIA: This is caused by a discomfort within the body ranging from indigestion to pain.

EXOGENOUS INSOMNIA: This is caused by external disturbances such as noise or a partner’s snoring. This is the easiest type of insomnia to cure.

FUNCTIONAL INSOMNIA: This is caused by a functional problem in the subject’s sleep-wakefulness center in the brain.

Many insomniacs develop an irrational fear of getting into bed because they expect to lie awake. This negative expectancy will bring about insomnia all by itself

HERE ARE THE FACTS

1. No one has ever died from or become ill from lack of sleep. The body and mind will get at least the minimum amount of sleep that it needs, no matter what. If you lose some sleep one night, the next night you will get some additional sleep to make up the loss.

2. Our internal clock brings about a valley of fatigue in cycles. Every four to six hours you will experience your maximum fatigue, and this is when its easiest to fall asleep. After the that you will experience a renewed feeling of energy and it will become difficult to fall asleep.

3. Even if you think you haven’t slept a wink all night, it has been proven that we all sleep during the night. Sometimes you feel that you’ve been lying awake thinking, but actually you have been sleeping lightly and dreaming.

4. Trying to fall asleep: There is a law of nature called The Law of Reversed Effect. It says that if you try to do something, you will get the opposite. and the harder you try, the more you will get the opposite. So, trying to fall asleep will insure that you will remain awake.

5. Alcohol will put you to sleep: This may be true; as alcohol is a depressant. However, as soon as it wears off, you will awaken abruptly and it will be harder than ever to fall asleep.

6. Sleeping pills can help: During sleep it is the dream phase of sleep in which you get your rest. Sleeping pills suppress the dream phase of sleep (REM sleep). That is why one generally awakens more tired than before going to sleep after using pills.

EFFECTING A CURE

1. See what time you feel most fatigued in the evening. From then on, every evening at least an hour before that time, take a bath that is slightly warmer than body temperature for 20 minutes. A shower won’t have the intended effect.

2. Have a warm beverage, preferably not coffee or tea because of the caffeine which will wake you up. Warm milk is the best if you can tolerate it.

3. Discontinue thoughts of problems that you have, or what needs to be done tomorrow. If you are worried about forgetting what you have to do tomorrow, write it down.

4. Stay away from stimulating thoughts and television shows. If you must read, then read something that is boring.

5. Reserve your bed for sleep. Read and watch television only from a chair or couch.

6. Get into bed at least 20 minutes before your valley of fatigue. Once in bed, if worries begin to pop into your mind, repeat several times to yourself, “I’ll think about it tomorrow.” This will help to eliminate excessive thinking. Do not try to make your mind blank and don’t try to fall asleep. Just allow yourself to rest.

7. For Endogenous Insomnia, you should eliminate the discomfort to the best of your ability.

8. For Exogenous Insomnia, make the room as quiet as possible. If your partner snores, you can move to another room. Running a fan motor can also help induce sleep, as it will tend to cover up outside noises. The monotonous drone of the fan generally proves to be very relaxing.

HYPNOSIS FOR INSOMNIA – PSYCHO-REACTIVE AND FUNCTIONAL INSOMNIA

Practice self hypnosis every day. Stress exacerbates and can even cause a sleep disorder. Self-hypnosis can help you to quickly dissipate stress. Post-hypnotic suggestions for coping, and to instill the expectation of sleep can help. “I fall asleep promptly, and sleep soundly and restfully all through the night.”

© 2006 By Alan B. Densky. This document may be re-printed as long as it is not altered and the author’s name and web address are retained.

Insomnia is one of the more common symptoms of stress and depression. Whether you have a hard time falling asleep, or you fall asleep promptly and then awaken later and are unable to fall back to sleep, you have insomnia. THERE ARE FOUR TYPES OF INSOMNIA PSYCHO-REACTIVE INSOMNIA: This is caused by tension. The person’s mind is keeping them awake with worry. In addition, they may begin to worry about getting to sleep because they have to waken in the morning. The person …

Alan B. Densky, Pres. Neuro-VISION, Inc Video and Audio Hypnosis & NLP CD’s http://www.neuro-vision.us Mr. Densky is the developer of a very effective multi-session Ericksonian Hypnosis & NLP Insomnia program titled, “Sleep Like A Baby!” Visit our site and subscribe to our FREE hypnosis newsletters, or download our FREE Power Relaxation MP3’s.