Why We Sleep and What is Insomnia?
Only in the last 50 years have we begun to understand sleep and what it means to our bodies. Up until then it was thought that the brain and the body simply shut down for the night and that sleep had no relationship to our daily lives!
It is thought that sleeping at night has developed from our ancestor’s survival instincts. The idea that their faculties were limited in the dark and therefore searching for food and defending themselves against predators was dangerous, they evolved into diurnal creatures, sleeping at night. Without adequate sleep (the right kind of sleep) the immune system can become weakened and our memories and emotional state becomes impaired.
Sleep is necessary for the brain to encode and store information. It is known that the brain is activated during REM sleep and that this stage of sleep is necessary for learning and controlling memory. Likewise many brain functions actually slow dramatically during sleep in order for them to replenish and perform better when awake such as decision making and emotions.
Insomnia is characteristically known as a sleep disorder whereby one either has trouble falling asleep or wakes during the night for unknown reasons and is unable to go back to sleep. Most people suffer with insomnia or ask their doctors for help. Most doctors are quick to prescribe medication without really taking the time to understand the causes of the sleep problem. They are simply not trained to look deeper into the root causes and since there are plenty of prescription sleep medications, anti-depressants and OTC products to recommend it may not seem like a priority. The facts are clear that drugs help in the short term but as a long term cure fail dismally. They are addicting and heavy usage has actually been shown to increase mortality!
Understanding your sleep issues is the most important first step. After that there are many ways to improve one’s sleep hygiene with natural methods which will greatly improve the quality of sleep. Most importantly, drugs should be avoided except for very short term use.
And to help you learn more about sleep and insomnia I wish to share a book that has helped me immensely. It explains the dynamics of sleep and then provides a guide to techniques you can begin to use to improve the quality of your sleep.
It is truly remarkable how quickly your sleep will improve by making changes to your lifestyle and the way you think about sleep. Visit www.cureinsomniafast.com to find out more.
Mother, free lance writer, internet marketer, dog owner/lover, food and wine enthusiast, serial traveler, avid lover of sunshine and outdoor living, reader and a whole bunch of other stuff!
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/sleep-articles/why-we-sleep-and-what-is-insomnia-1239585.html
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