faulty body clocks

Here are more causes that I found interesting on why some people have sleeping disorders.

Pseudo-insomnia – People with pseudo-insomnia often fall asleep within ½ hour of going to bed and get at least six hour’s sleep. However, they feel as though they’ve slept very little all night. The quality of their sleep isn’t deep enough for them to feel refreshed when they awake in the morning. They feel as if they’ve tossed and turned all night.

Digestive Disorders – Acid reflux, or heartburn, is an inflammation of the esophagus – the tube from the mouth to the stomach. The esophageal sphincter muscle normally separates the esophagus and the stomach. If the sphincter relaxes, it can release some stomach acid into the esophagus which then causes that burning sensation. To treat this, I would recommend eating for your blood type and a far infrared comforter.

Faulty body clocks – Some people have body clocks which are out of pace with the rest of the world. Once people discover what the problem is, they can sometimes adapt their lifestyle to fit into their own natural pattern. The challenge is that usually our lifestyle must be matched with society’s daytime working patterns. Some people have a chronic inability to fall asleep until 4 or 5 a.m. If they have to get up to go to work, get their family off to school and so on, they will always be short of sleep. Apparently there is a challenge with the mechanism that regulates the day-night sleep cycle. Shift work and jet lag are common causes of body-clock disturbances, as well. Low-dose melatonin works for this issue often.

Common Sleep Problems

While speaking to some friends, I found out that many of them had trouble sleeping. Some of them knew why and others didn't. I learned about some sleep problems I had never heard of before, and others that I didn't know much about. For example:

Insomnia – If your mind is racing, your muscles are tight, and the more you try to relax, the tenser you get, you have insomnia. There are two kinds of insomnia: difficulty falling asleep and difficulty staying asleep through the night. Some people experience both challenges.

Physical Pain – Aches, stiffness and swelling can keep people awake. The person in pain may toss and turn trying to find a comfortable, pain-free position. Poor circulation can cause a variety of sleep problems.

Restless Leg Syndrome -- As many as 5-10% of adults experience involuntary body movements at night, where the arms or legs twitch uncontrollably for a few seconds. With Periodic Limb Movement, often these twitches occur every twenty to thirty seconds and an episode may last from a few minutes to a few hours. A person with Restless Leg Syndrome experiences unpleasant sensations in the legs while lying down which cause strong urges to move the legs by shaking them, massaging them, or waking and getting up. Now I've heard that it is VERY effective to put a bar of Ivory soap at the foot of the bed under the covers. Strange.

Sleep Apnea and other breathing conditions – Numerous conditions that interfere with breathing at night, can awaken a sleeper. Allergies can trigger breathing and congestion symptoms that interfere with sleep. Sleep apnea is a sleep-induced respiratory impairment in which breathing is interrupted for ten seconds or longer. An episode ends when reflexes lighten sleep enough to wake the person, who gasps for air and falls asleep again. Apnea often occurs several times each night. Men are more often affected with apnea. Many people with sleep apnea are also overweight.

sleep facts I find astonishing

Most people have problems with sleep from time to time. It has been estimated that more than sixty million American adults experience sleep problems each year. Nearly one-half of these people describe their problem as severe.
I found it surprising that if three or more hours of sleep in a single night is lost, the efficiency of their immune system may be reduced by as much as fifty percent.
And I also read recently that people who sleep and wake up at the same time every day tend to be healthier and live longer.

sleeping aids

The Head and Neck
PillowPositive is a unique positional sleeping aid - a patented cervical pillow that has been clinically tested and shown to be helpful in reducing snoring. PillowPositive encourages you to position your head so that snoring is reduced whether sleeping on your back or in a side position.
The Nelson Sound Sleeper - The Nelson Sound Sleeper is an ergonomic pillow with optional internal speakers. It is designed to support the entire body from the lumbar to the head. The Sound Sleeper provides an inclined sleeping position which supports the spine in its natural curvature while a person is sleeping on the back. Its unique and patented design allows the sleeper to roll to either side and supports the body in such a way that it takes the pressure off the shoulder and distributes the weight along the head, neck, shoulder, and rib cage. Since music can be heard through the pillow, both back and side sleeping positions provide a pleasant and restful environment.
Music, Relaxation, Aromatherapy
SleepNowCD - SleepNowCD is an audio CD which is musical, relaxing and trance-like. The musical piece is encoded with sonic energy that acts to reconnect the mind with the body (Sonic Biofeedback), to discharge stress and anxiety. It is designed to be used while lying down in a horizontal position and should be used with headphones.
Quanta Dynamics’ unique The Gift of Sleep&tm; program for reducing stress and enabling optimal sleep. This program works to increase the quality and effectiveness of your sleep even when you are not able to sleep as much as you would like.
Easy Sleep - Tapes for insomnia from Hypnosis Concepts - This tape contains two thirty minute hypnosis sessions designed to relax the mind, body and emotions so that you drift off into a nice easy sleep and wake feeling refreshed afterwards.
Sleep Well with Biofeedback - Dr. Peter Hauri, a leading expert in insomnia and sleep disorders, teaches sleep inducing techniques, good sleep habits, and relaxation. Two cassettes. Packaged w/GSR2 Device.
Sleep better without drugs program tapes - helps you to change the habit of sleeping poorly into the habit of sleeping better.
Sleep Like a Baby Sleep System - The Sleep Like A Baby Sleep System works based on four natural simple principles. Gentle Acupressure (not acupuncture) applied with an easy to use head band, Sound Reduction, achieved with ultra soft easy to apply ear plugs that are not noticed or felt while being used, Reduction of Outside Visual Interference achieved with a simple eye cover, and a Relaxing Aroma one that has been tried and proven by the aroma therapy crowd and does cause maximum relaxation.
Sleepmachines - High Quality sound CD's designed to put you to sleep. All recordings are done with high quality , professional digital recording equipment. With all recordings, the process from start to finish stays in the digital domain. Much care is taken to make sure the sounds are as rich, full, and is as life like as possible.
Deep Sleep & Sweet Dreams Tape - These tapes contain the latest technology to achieve and offer support for appropriate sleep patterns. This tape will provide assure you a good night's sleep, problem solving, refreshment and renewal.
Relaxation Devices - Light and sound brain wave entrainment equipment. Our machines are also referred to as bio-feedback devices, relaxation devices and light / sound instruments.
The Mind Machine Page - If you are interested in meditation, hypnosis, or deep relaxation as means for stress reduction and self improvement, you will love the mind machine experience. Mind machines are tools for gently inducing a calm, centered, and euphoric state. They produce psychedelic mandala like patterns on the back of your eyelids and soothe your senses with drum like sound pulses.
Mind Machines for accelerated learning and relaxation - Elixa has many products that can help people of all ages improve their ability to concentrate, learn, create, and cope.
Voyager Light and Sound Machines By Theta Technologies - The Voyager is a powerful aid for spiritual, personal and mental evolution.
Life Systems Aromatherapy Diffusers (UK)- Simply choose your preferred fragrance and switch the unit on. Within seconds you will be able to enjoy the delightful fragrance and benefits of pure essential oils.

tips to avoid slepping aids

These are some great tips that have helped me to avoid slepping aids

Make your bedroom an inviting place. Keep the room free of clutter and distractions. Be sure you have the right bed and mattress for your needs. The wrong mattress can lead to musculoskeletal problems and sleep disturbances.

Use the bed only for sleeping and sex. Avoid use of the bed for watching TV, eating, working, or any other activities. If you do wish to use the bed for a bit of nighttime reading, read only pleasure books in bed.
Therapists often use "reconditioning" as part of a treatment plan for insomnia. With this method, people are "reconditioned" to associate the bed with sleep. If you find yourself unable to sleep at all, get out of bed and move to another room, so that you only associate the bed with sleep and not with wakefulness

Establish a regular sleep-wake cycle. Your body will learn to set its internal clock to your schedule and will eventually respond to internal cues to become sleepy at a given time and to awaken at a given time. A good way to begin this is by getting up at the same time every morning, even on weekends.
Don't nap. No matter how tempting it may be, an afternoon nap can make falling asleep at night even harder. "Extra" sleep on weekends can also throw off your sleep schedule and worsen midweek insomnia.

Limit your consumption of caffeine in the afternoon and evening. Remember that eating chocolates and drinking cocoa and colas also are sources of caffeine.
Watch your alcohol intake. Don’t drink any alcoholic beverages in the few hours prior to going to bed. Excessive amounts of alcohol at any time in the day can also disrupt sleep patterns and lead to unsatisfying sleep. Cigarette smoking can also worsen insomnia.

Fit in some exercise during the day, but don’t exercise strenuously right before bedtime.

Eat light meals in the evening. Eating heavily in the evening or eating just prior to going to bed can disrupt your sleep.

Establish a “winding down” period in the evenings just prior to bedtime. Try to free your mind of distracting or troublesome thoughts and engage in a relaxing, enjoyable activity like reading, listening to music, or watching a pleasant film.

religious bedtime

Every year, science discovers more facts that prove how much our sleeping habits affect every part of our lives. For example, I read this the other day:
People who are religious about their bedtimes look much younger than, and have more energy than, their "normal" counterparts.
That is so true. My father, who is 68 years old is very energetic and he lo0ks just like he did 20 years ago, seriously and he is very serious about his bedtime, he always goes to sleep at 9-10pm

Down Side of Lack of Sleep

These facts are quite startling...

The National Sleep Foundation estimates that businesses lose approximately 100 Billion dollars each year because of poor work quality, sick leave, and damage from not getting enough sleep
Losing 3 hours of sleep can reduce the efficiency of the immune system as much as 50%, according to research presented by the World Federation of the Sleep Society.
Fatigue can kill relationships, leaving us too drained to interact with loved ones

interesting facts

Consider these facts:
The National Highway Traffic Administration attributes over 100,000 traffic "accidents" each year to insufficient sleep. The actual number is probably much higher.
The Sleep Institute has found sleep deficiency to be the normal condition of Americans—and that explains a lot of the problems we are having today with inattention and the inability to focus enough to engage in critical thought.