Sleep is crucial to maintaining a good health. Without it,
you increase your susceptibility to an astonishing array of health problems,
including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity and depression. It is amazing
to know that the effect of maintaining a good health from eating healthy foods,
exercising, and having a perfect hygiene would be a non-starter if you do not
have a good sleep to complement it.
Sleeping is the most natural health restoration therapy
which helps regenerate nerve energy. When you are at sleep, your body is in a
partial shutdown which allows for recharging. During this time, your body
automatically kicks start a lot of activities from within this includes
repairing of tissues, healing, restocking of organs and cells with fuel, and
replacement of old cells that have lost their vitality with new ones.
It is true that the importance of sleeping cannot be
overemphasized, yet it is mind boggling to know that some people find this
natural habit difficult to come by. Difficulty in sleeping could be caused by a
wide range of problems which could be natural or self infused. This list gives
you seven of the most common causes of sleeplessness.
1.
The number one factor that affects one’s sleep
the most is food. A lot of people neither
plan when to eat nor do they plan for what to eat at different periods of the
day. Eating at bed time or a few minutes before crashing in bed is a major
disturbing factor to a good sleep. As earlier said, the purpose of sleep is to
regenerate nerve energy; however, when food is eaten at a late time, energy
which is required for other revitalisation process is being directed to food
digestion and thus, the body is not stimulated to sleep.
2.
Coffee, which is very rich in caffeine, is taken
on a daily basis by a third of the world’s population. Caffeine is a nitrogenous
organic compound of the alkaloid group which has a stimulating effect on the
central nervous system, heart, blood vessels, and
kidneys. It is said that, it takes about 24 hours for one cup of coffee to pass
through the kidneys and urinal tract. Within this time, the caffeine in the
coffee inhibits sleep especially sound sleep due to the distress and
stimulation from the caffeine. Other source of caffeine includes tea, guarana,
maté, kola nuts, and cacao. So you can
imagine a person with several cups of coffee in the morning, lots of cigarette
smoked in the day, and a large chocolate bar at night would act like through
the night.
3.
You would be amazed to know that mattress and
pillow could be the reason of your sleeplessness. The mattress which you sleep
on helps redistributes pressure through your body. Thus the choice of mattress
would determine the regularity in the distribution of pressure through the
body. Orthopaedics encourages the use of firm mattress and pillows because they
tend to conduct a refreshing. Firm mattresses make you very comfortable and
relaxed. Soft mattresses on the other hand does not distribute pressure evenly
which brings about discomfort and affects the posture of sleep.
4.
Poorly ventilated rooms and spaces is another
cause of sleeplessness. It is noted that people who sleep in a well ventilated
room report better sleep rather than those who sleep in rooms with stale air.
Fresh air is required for blood oxygenation which does not cease during sleep;
however if there is no sufficient oxygen in the immediate environment, the
sleep would be cut short. Lack of body exercise could also be a cause of
sleeplessness. Exercising during the day oxygenates the blood and removes
toxins from the system which leaves the body with little work to do at night.
This helps in achieving a great sleep.
5.
Your physical state being could also be the
cause of sleeplessness. Muscle aches and
physical pains from poor posture and muscle straining during the day could make
sleeping difficult because they will lock up during the day and only crop up at
night. People with breathing problems would have a difficulty sleeping, so also
would patients of hypoglycaemia (low sugar level).
6.
The disruption of the circadian rhythms also
causes sleeplessness. Circadian rhythm is an internal biological clock that
regulates our 24 hour sleep/wake cycle. It is activated by the volume of light
such that in the morning when there is a lot of brightness, the brain is
activated to stay awake and at night when it is dark, the brain is activated to
sleep by the sleeping hormone (melatonin).
Jet lag is the most common effect of circadian rhythms because of travel
across time zones.
7.
The psychological state of mind of individuals,
could also lead to sleeplessness. The tension from anxiety could only be
expressed in insomnia. This is because it would increase agitation,
palpitations of the heart, and fears of death or insanity. Other psychological problems such as stress,
grief and depression are catalyst to sleeplessness because they cause an
abnormal change of mood.
One or two sleepless nights can cause irritability and
daytime sleepiness accompanied with decreased ability to perform creative or
repetitive tasks. Most people can adapt to short term periods of sleep
deprivation. However, sleep deprivation of more than three days would begin to
cause a more serious deterioration in overall performance and may result in
health problems.
For more help on sleep, visit natural sleep made simple
