Sleep is the gateway to your dreams. One of the most important building blocks of vitality lies in the healing power of sleep, an incredible life support system that can bring about immediate and dramatic changes in your well-being.

Sleep is when the body enters deeper and deeper metabolic states for its nightly repair system, allowing your body to realign everything from basic body chemistry to your thoughts and emotions. Research reveals that sleep performs three vital functions to sustain life and vitality:

1. Sleep rejuvenates your body chemistry to renew energy.

2. Sleep recharges your immune system and heals the damage done to your body.

3. Sleep helps you process, sort, and store everything you learned, felt, or experienced during the day.

Good health balances the mind (mental/emotional), body (structural and neuromuscular), and energy production (biochemical) equally, a balancing act performed nightly by sleep.

sleep stages

Sleep is divided into four stages of Non-REM sleep and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Dreaming occurs in both stages, but mainly during the REM sleep phase. Each cycle of Non-REM sleep and REM sleep repeats every 90 minutes, which is classified as a cycle. Five to six cycles per night is the ideal amount of sleep required for people over the age of 15, which can be achieved over a duration of 8 hours.

Children have an even greater need for sleep than adults, as sleep stimulates growth, proper brain development, memory, alertness, and strengthens your immune system. Children who get enough sleep are more likely to function better and are less prone to behavior problems, mood swings, hyperactivity, and nightmares.

The following chart indicates the recommended hours of sleep (including naps) for children from birth to 15 years of age.

Child’s age and hours of sleep needed:

0 – 2 months (10.5 – 18 hours)

2 – 12 months ( 14 – 15 hours )

1 – 3 years ( 12 – 14 hours )

3 – 5 years ( 11 – 12 hours )

5 – 12 years ( 10 – 11 hours )

12 – 15 years ( 9 – 10 hours )

Unfortunately, humans can override the biological need for sleep in response to stressful situations, such as job requirements or social pressures. Long-term stressful experiences in childhood and perceived life stress are associated with alterations in sleep quality and insomnia. In fact, since 1910, the amount of sleep we get has steadily decreased by 22%, going from 9 hours to just 7 hours a night. This is a “sleeping time bomb” in terms of health.

sleep is vital

Few people realize that every hour of lost sleep goes to their body’s bill like using a lifetime credit card. Sleep debt accumulates over years, months, or days, gradually robbing people of their health. After oxygen and water, sleep is your most vital need, even more important than food!

Sleep deprivation studies in the mid-1980s clearly demonstrated that a lack of adequate sleep can be fatal, at least in rats. While this extreme effect of sleep deprivation may not seem particularly relevant in the real world, it does send an important message; that lack of sleep can kill.

If someone is completely sleep deprived, they can die within two weeks. If that’s not enough to scare you, short-term sleep deprivation studies in humans have shown that a variety of adverse physiological effects can occur. These range from weight gain and accelerated aging, to making you vulnerable to illnesses ranging from digestive disorders and depression, to life-threatening illnesses caused by compromised immune function.

Insomnia and depression, is there any relationship?

Research shows that insomnia and depression are definitely related. One of the symptoms of depression is insomnia, specifically waking up early in the morning. In fact, it is said that 80% of depressed people experience insomnia.

There is also evidence that depressed people enter REM sleep (dream sleep) earlier than non-depressed people and stay in REM longer. This could be because they need to deal with emotions through dreams or it could be that the prevalence of REM sleep means they are not sleeping deeply enough.

It is best to first try to understand what is causing the insomnia. Is it a specific incident or situation? Or do you feel generally depressed about everything? If the former is true, try to find a way around the situation, be solution oriented instead of always finding reasons why it can’t be done. If it is the latter, then you have clinical depression that needs medical attention.

However, it is important to note that some antidepressant medications can cause you to become overstimulated and this will certainly keep you awake. Talk to your health care provider to see if your medicine might be doing this, and ask them to switch to a medicine that helps you relax.

Taking proactive steps to resolve a problem will always make you feel better and more in control.
Insomnia and pharmaceutical medication

As might be anticipated, the use of insomnia medications is common with somewhere between 3-10% of the general population using pharmaceutical medications at any or all of the time to help them sleep. The most popular medications, benzodiazepine receptor agonists (benzos), are associated with addiction and tolerance.

Some of the most common drugs in this group are:

o Diazepam (such as Valium, Antenex, Ducene)

o Temazepam (such as Normison, Temaze, Temtabs, Euhypnos)

o Flunitrazepam (for example, Hypnodorm)

o Nitrazepam (for example, Mogadon, Alodorm)

o Oxazepam (for example, Serepax, Alepam, Murelax)

o Alprazolam (for example, Xanax, Kalma)

o Clonazepam (for example, Rivotril, Paxam)

o Lorazepam (such as Ativan)

Short term effects –

o relaxation, drowsiness, lethargy, fatigue

or memory impairment (especially short-term memory)

o impaired motor coordination, thinking and memory (decreased reaction time and increased risk of accidents)

or staggering, blurred vision, vertigo

or trouble speaking
or nightmares

o altered mood (depression or euphoria), confusion

o sensitivity reactions (for example, rashes)

o high doses can cause paradoxical effects such as anger or uncharacteristic behavior, a person can feel invisible, invulnerable and invincible

o Drug interactions, especially with other depressant drugs (eg, alcohol, opiates; deaths from respiratory depression have occurred with these combinations)

Long-term effects –

o lethargy, drowsiness, and lack of motivation

o emotional blunting (inability to feel normal ups and downs, inability to cry), depression, irritability

or memory impairment

or muscle weakness

o headaches, nausea, weight gain

or menstrual irregularities, breast engorgement, decreased libido

dependence

Tolerance and Dependence-

Benzodiazepine tolerance is common among people taking these medications; this means that they need more medicine to achieve the same effect that they used to get with smaller amounts. Tolerance to the relaxing and sleep-inducing effects develops rapidly.

Regular users of benzodiazepines may develop dependence after only 3 to 6 weeks at normal prescribed doses, and the likelihood of dependence increases with duration of use and amount consumed. Dependence means that the use of benzodiazepines becomes central to a person’s life and a lot of time can be spent thinking about obtaining and using them. Dependent users may find it difficult to control or stop their use despite experiencing problems.

Withdrawal-

Someone who is dependent on benzodiazepines is likely to experience withdrawal symptoms if they stop taking them abruptly. A gradual reduction is recommended, in consultation with a doctor. Withdrawal symptoms can be divided into three main groups and can include a return of the symptoms for which the medication was taken in the first place.

Anxiety and related symptoms including:

or anxiety, panic attacks, hyperventilation, tremor

o sleep disturbance, muscle spasms, loss of appetite and weight loss

or visual disturbance, sweating

o mood swings (lack of enjoyment)

Perceptual changes including:

or too sensitive to noise, etc.

or abnormal sensations

or feelings of unreality

Major events including:

seizures

or severe confusion, hallucinations, paranoia

Clearly, alternative sleep-promoting medications and remedies are needed.

It is truly unfortunate that getting a good night’s sleep is difficult for so many people. Fortunately, many natural remedies have been clinically shown to reduce the effects of stress and promote healthy sleep, and thus offer a realistic alternative to popular but potentially problematic pharmaceuticals.

The ancient remedy of giving a glass of warm milk before bed has long been a popular home remedy for sound sleep. Since then, modern research has isolated a bioactive peptide from milk that may be responsible for this traditional use of milk.

Natural sleep medications range from herbal sleep aids to hormones and even certain foods. It’s a broad category, so it’s worth experimenting to see which of these remedies is the most helpful for you. It’s a good idea to try these natural sleep aids before jumping to stronger “hypnotic” sleep medications.

Most of us know that it is advisable to avoid caffeine at night if we want to sleep soundly, but there are other foods and drinks that can also affect our sleep.

Let’s take a look at some of the foods that can help you sleep:

Bananas, turkey, figs, milk and yogurt, nut butters, tuna, and dates contain sleep-inducing tryptophan.

Don’t have a high-protein snack close to bedtime. This can block serotonin synthesis, making you feel restless. Instead, eat a high-carb snack. Carbohydrates consumed at least an hour before bed will calm you down and allow you to fall asleep faster. If you like rice, jasmine rice is particularly effective. The healthiest options are brown rice, oatmeal, and anything made from whole wheat.

And those foods to avoid include:

Coffee, tea, alcohol and cola drinks. Others include hard-to-digest foods such as fatty or spicy foods, bacon, chocolate, sugar (which raises blood glucose levels and can cause an increase in energy levels), cheese, eggplant, potatoes, ham, sauerkraut, sausage , spinach, tomatoes and wine.
All of these foods contain tyramine, which induces the release of norepinephrine, a brain stimulant. Therefore, do not take any of these right before bed.

By now, you probably wish you had never read this article! But unless people are educated to be aware of the symptoms that arise in their waking life, they may have a serious health problem without even knowing it. If you can relate to any of the health issues discussed in this article, it would be wise to seek the advice and support of your health care professional.