The Stages of Sleep
Sleep is a beautiful word and an exciting concept especially to those who suffer from insomnia.
Although you are at rest, not every part of your body is resting.
The brain in particular is sending out all sorts of signals, many of which are controlling the various stages of sleep you’ll be undergoing. Eye movements and muscle activity change throughout the various stages of sleep too.
There are several known characteristics of sleep… we all look the same when sleeping… when a person is sleeping they lie down, their eyes are closed, the person doesn’t hear anything unless it is a loud noise that awakens them, and breathing becomes rhythmic and slow and in a distinguished pattern.
You will also notice when a person is sleeping the person’s muscles will relax completely and the sleeping person will turn over and rearrange their body once or twice an hour to keep blood flowing to all parts of the body.
There are five stages of sleep which have been identified and on a good night’s sleep you pass through all of them, several times. Although there are 5 distinct stages, the first four stages are grouped together and classified as NREM or non-rapid eye movement. The fifth stage of sleep is known as REM sleep or rapid eye movement.
The different sleep stages are distinguished by the changes in brain wave activity that takes place. REM is also characterized by irregular but rapid breathing and heartbeat, a rise in blood pressure, increased brain activity and virtually no muscle activity.
NREM and REM sleep take place throughout the sleep period. The sleep that takes place during the first third of a night consists mostly of NREM while the sleep during the last third is mostly REM. Usually you will awaken from a REM stage.
Stage 1 -
is a transitional period. It consists of light sleep from which you can easily be awakened. During this stage you feel drowsy and begin to lose control over your muscles and your eye movements slow. During this stage, a sudden contraction or jerking of muscles can happen.
Stage 2 -
occupies nearly half of the sleep period. During this stage the eyes stop moving, brain waves slow, body temperature drops and heart beat slows.
Stages 3 and 4 -
are the stages during which the body is in a deep sleep. These 2 sleep stages are characterized by the presence of delta waves – brain waves that are extremely slow. Eyes and muscles are completely still during stages 3 and 4.
The REM stage takes place throughout the sleep period.
REM always follows a period of NREM sleep and accounts for about a quarter of the total sleep period.
The first REM occurs at the end of Stage 1 and lasts about 10 minutes. The final REM stage lasts longer, about an hour. If you sleep 8 or 9 hours, you’ll typically experience REM sleep 4 or 5 times. You’re able to dream during REM, too.
These sleep stages repeat throughout the sleep period and these repetitions are known as sleep cycles. Several sleep cycles take place during a single sleep period. As the sleep cycles progress through a sleep period, the amount of REM sleep increases.
Keeping the various stages of sleep from becoming disrupted is what results in better-quality sleep. But as we all know, there are some nights that getting uninterrupted sleep is much easier than others!
The Nightmare Of Sleep Apnea
An often diagnosed health condition among the adult population, sleep apnea occurs when the soft tissue located in the back of the throat narrows and repeatedly closes during the time you are asleep, obstructing the breathing passages.
When this occurs, the obstruction causes you to lose sleep. With the cessation of normal breathing, your body responds by waking you up. So you either wake completely or come to a more awakened level of sleep resulting in a loss of restorative sleep.
Can you say exhausted!
The human body is a charm.
It is designed to protect us. With sleep apnea your brain will wake you up when you experience an episode of sleep apnea. Because apnea episodes, lasting 10 seconds or more, can invade your night up to several hundred times every night, your restful sleep becomes interrupted and totally ineffective.
This horror leaves you feeling listless, less than alert, frustrated and even irritable. The challenge is that you may not even know that you woke up that many times during the night. Remember that your brain is trying to take care of you and doing the wake up work.
Central sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea are currently the two identified types of apnea, with obstructive being the most common. Treatments for sleep apnea can include both non-surgical and surgical interventions.
This health condition definitely requires the intervention provided by your physician. Once your physician is able to determine the source of your sleep apnea, then the best intervention can be designed for you. But rest assured, sleep apnea must not be ignored since your body requires restorative sleep in order to be in its most healthful state.
Get healthy! Get sleep!
How To Get Back To Sleep When You Wake Up In The Night
Not surprising at all, but most of us wake up during sleep.
There are lots of different reasons that you wake up… you are thirsty and need a drink, you need to run to the bathroom, your child is crying or moving about, you are uncomfortable in the bed, you heard a noise… well, you get the point… the list of why we wake up in the middle of the night is rather endless.
It’s not so much that you wake up that is the real problem, rather the problem becomes when you wake up and are unable to go back to sleep.
So what are you to do if you wake up and then have trouble getting back to sleep?
To start with, get out of the bed. That’s right…don’t just lie there, get up and out of the bed. It doesn’t matter if you’ve slept two hours or five hours, but if you wake up and can’t get back to sleep after twenty minutes of so then get up and do something that will change the scenery and help to make you feel sleepy again. Remember to avoid turning on your computer or even a bright light. You don’t want to send the message to your brain that it is time to wake up.
So once you get up and out of the bed, it is important that you do not engage in any activity that requires you to be really awake in order to participate. For goodness sakes don’t read a report, check email, or do anything connected with your job or school.
If you are going to read, then read something so pathetically boring that there’s not a chance that it will keep you awake… something like the instruction book on your new cell phone or the packet of warranty information on your new roof!
It’s also a good idea to keep the television off since if can often stimulate your brain too much. If you need some noise then reach for a relaxing CD instead.
You might consider having a small snack to help you fall back asleep. Choose something light such as turkey, peanuts, milk, cereal, toast, fruit or crackers to fill up your tummy and help you to relax. It is often much easier to get back to sleep if you have a little something in your stomach.
Another good idea for insomnia treatment is to practice visualization. With this technique you pick something to think about over and over so that as you get bored your brain will become quieter and you will soon be able to fall back to sleep. Everyone has heard of counting sheep, well if you’ve every done that then you’ve practiced visualization. No worries, if you brain begins to wander, just re-direct and get back to counting sheep.
You might also consider going to bed later if you have trouble falling asleep. Perhaps you just aren’t all that tired yet! In the few hours before you go to bed, try quieter activities like soaking in a relaxing bath, meditation, yoga, or even deep breathing. All on its own, your body will begin to unwind and relax, which will help make getting to sleep that much easier.
The ultimate goal as you think about getting ready for bed is to do whatever you need to so that your body will feel the need to sleep for the entire time you are in bed.
Insomnia is a frustrating and troublesome problem. But if you have a plan you can implement when you wake up in the middle of the night instead of just laying in the bed, mad at yourself again because you are awake, then you will be more prepared to deal with those nights when you wake up before getting a full night’s sleep.
Insomnia And The Nightly Battle For Sleep
The nightly battle for a full night of sleep is a nighttime war that invades the bedroom time and time again.
Insomnia is a common health problem that plagues many adults in this day and age. Causing extreme daytime sleepiness and an overall lack of energy, insomnia can leave you feeling absolutely miserable.
It may leave you feeling irritable and even depressed. Insomnia may lead to you having difficulty paying attention, remembering the simplest of things, and even learning the most basic of skills. Insomnia may cause you to withdraw from family and friends because of feeling listless and without enough energy to simply get through your day.
The majority of all adults experience sleeplessness or insomnia at one time or another during their life. Insomnia impacts all age groups. In older adults, women are affected by insomnia more frequently than men.
The incidence of insomnia most definitely increases with age. It is estimated that between 30 and 50% of the general population are faced with insomnia during their lifetime and out of that percentage 10% experience chronic insomnia. That is definitely not a happy statistic!
By definition, insomnia means that you either are having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep or in some cases both.
Some of those who suffer with insomnia have no trouble at all falling asleep but they wake up way too soon. Then there are others who experienced the opposite problem, or they may have trouble with both falling asleep and staying asleep.
Insomnia can be mild or it can be severe depending on the frequency of the nighttime interruptions. In order to be defined as chronic insomnia you must have symptoms of insomnia which occur at least three nights out of every week and lasts more than a month. Insomnia lasting for a less time is known as acute or short-term insomnia. The overall challenge with insomnia is the absolute lack of quality sleep which leaves you feeling less than refreshed when you wake up impacting your daily routine.
Insomnia is a challenge that the majority of us will face at some point in our life. The question is what will you do about the insomnia you most likely will face.
See your health care provider for help, there’s no need to live with insomnia. It can certainly wreck your life.
Insomnia And The Sleep That Evades
Time and time again, night after a sleepless night, you toss and turn all in a desperate attempt to get a good night’s sleep.
And yet the sleep never comes. Insomnia is a common health condition which invades the life of many adults.
Insomnia is one of the primary reasons many feel so poorly during the daytime hours. It can cause extreme daytime drowsiness, an overall lack of zip, irritation, and even an underlying cloud of depression. Insomnia can cause frustration like none other.
In fact, it can cause a rumbling fury in the night as you battle the demons of sleeplessness. Insomnia may cause you to feel so miserable and foggy that you have trouble paying attention to even the most simple of tasks.
Because of the sleep you have missed during the night, insomnia may even cause you to lack the basic energy required to get through the day. It can cause you to fantasize over getting a full eight hours of uninterrupted sleep during the night. You may even find yourself withdrawing from family and friends as you long for missed sleep.
It is not uncommon for most adults to experience insomnia or sleeplessness at some time or another during their adult years. While women are known to be impacted by insomnia more frequently than the male population, insomnia can invade the nighttime of all age groups. It seems that insomnia is clearly associated with the aging of the population and it is thought that of those suffering with insomnia at least 10% of those are enduring years of chronic insomnia.
Insomnia has been defined as causing you difficulty either falling asleep or staying asleep. In some instances, those suffering with insomnia have difficulty with both falling asleep and staying asleep. Now that is simply not right! Insomnia seems to run the gamut of severity of symptoms.
It can be mild in its symptoms and duration and it can also be severe.
For those suffering with chronic insomnia, symptoms of insomnia invade the nighttime hours at least for three or more nights out of every single week and last for 30 days or more. The biggest overall problem for those suffering with insomnia is that without getting the quality and quantity of sleep required by the body you are left with the consequences the following day. Insomnia can very quickly began affecting your daily life.
Yes, it seems almost inevitable that many will suffer with insomnia at some point during the life cycle. It almost seems as if it is not a matter of “if”, but rather a matter of “when”.
The good news is there are many options for the treatment of insomnia. So if you find yourself fighting this nightly war over and over and again, don’t suffer in silence. Make an appointment with your physician and discuss the options that are available to you. Don’t give away another sleepless night.
Catching Some Sleep With Insomnia Help
Oh the agony of being unable to sleep…
you want to be able to sleep through the night and yet when insomnia strikes you begin to wonder if you will ever get a full night’s sleep again.
If you’ve been diagnosed with insomnia and if the insomnia is not a symptom of an underlying problem, then most often your insomnia can be cured with a few minor changes.
However, if your insomnia is related to a medical condition then these simple changes are not going to be able to provide the solutions you need. But they may be able to help you as an additional therapy as you work with your healthcare provider for a medical solution.
An easy lifestyle change that you can make tonight to help with your insomnia is to make sure that you are sleeping in a room that is sufficiently dark. If there’s too much light coming into the room then you may wake up before you should. There are room darkening shades, blinds and curtains. If you don’t want to make a purchase, then hang a blanket or two over your windows to block out the light.
If your partner is one who snores, the do something about it! Help your partner find relieve for the snoring which in turn will help you get a more peaceful night’s sleep.
You might also try to change your mindset. If you are one of those folks who enjoy reading, lounging, or watching television in bed then knock it off!
Use your bed for sleeping only… well, using your bed for wonderful, yummy loving time is ok too. But only those two things should happen in your bed. When you start to associate your bed with sleeping and loving then you should be able to fall asleep more easily.
Insomnia treatment that you can implement at home on your own can also include progressive muscle relaxation which is incredibly helpful if you aren’t able to sleep because you just can’t relax.
You know those nights that you lay down to sleep and your mind is racing, you can’t turn it off, you replay the day over and over and you worry about all the things you need to do tomorrow, well progressive muscle relaxation can help. Learning muscle relaxation and deep breathing techniques can help to lower your anxiety, tension and stress which is keeping you from falling asleep.
Visual imagery is another great relaxation technique that can help to combat insomnia. With this technique, you push away those things that you need to do tomorrow and focus on the perfect picture of calm for you. A calm and serene environment for you may be different than it is for someone else, but regardless of what you are focusing on, picture the quiet, the calm, the serene…things that help you to get back to sleep.
When trying to get a handle on your insomnia it is important to develop and to maintain consistent sleep and waking times, avoid eating at least 4 hours before going to bed, eliminate alcohol and nicotine, give up those mid-afternoon naps, keep a bedroom that is dark and a little cool, use bedtime rituals such as a warm bath or light reading or other things that you’ve determined work to help you relax can all help you to be able to fall asleep faster and to sleep deeper and longer.
Don’t just pick and choose what you are going to do to work on insomnia take it all on!
Try some of these simple tips to help you to work through your insomnia. There’s no need to battle insomnia without taking a few steps to try and make it easier for you to get a full nights sleep.
Bring on the Z’s!
Insomnia In Women And The Scuffle Continues
There are so many issues that women must endure during their lifetime.
So it figures that insomnia must be one of them. Research seems to indicate that women are affected more often than men. Now that hardly seems fair!
Women are twice as likely to suffer from insomnia than men. Don’t you want to know why? It seems that the fluctuations in the female hormones play a huge role in insomnia in women.
From the raging hormones of adolescence, to the excessive hormones of pregnancy, to the dwindling hormones associated with menopause, women experience them all throughout the lifecycle. Even though the insomnia seemingly associated with female hormones is aggravating, this insomnia is typically temporary.
During a woman’s menstrual cycle the hormone progesterone decreases. Progesterone levels also change during the first and last trimester’s of pregnancy. This would be ok except for the fact that progesterone is known to promote sleep.
Insomnia in women can be more prevalent during the years before the onset of actual menopause. Especially during the perimenopausal years, hormones fluctuate wildly. Insomnia in women can be a result of the raging night sweats, hot flashes, sweating, and an overall sense of anxiety and loss often associated with perimenopause.
While insomnia is known to increase with age, for those women younger than 50 suffering from insomnia, it is most likely related to hormonal issues. But for those women over the age of 50 suffering from insomnia it is most likely a result of aging and not specifically related to simply being a female.
Insomnia in women is definitely a challenge faced by many in the female population. So whether it is due to the variety of hormones experienced throughout the life of the woman or if it is due to stress or even age, insomnia in women deserves your attention. With a little patience and guidance from your healthcare provider, restful nights should be in your future. Rest easy, women, don’t suffer in silence with insomnia.
Demand the attention you deserve for your insomnia!
Insomnia – Let’s Talk About That Lack Of Sleep
The inability to fall asleep at night or to sleep soundly throughout the night is known as insomnia.
This health challenge can be temporary and it can also be persistent. Making it harder to manage, insomnia can also be caused by many different reasons.
Insomnia that is temporary in nature is identified as is frequently classified as transient. If insomnia lasts longer than a few days or even a few weeks, it usually will be classified as permanent. Not much fun at all if insomnia is part of your nighttime life.
It is thought that women experience insomnia more often than men possibly due to the multitude of hormonal changes that women face. Insomnia often increases with age making it harder for you to fight insomnia as you are also fighting the effects of aging.
Other factors such as a sedentary lifestyle, side effects from medication, too much raging thoughts in your brain or even an underlying medical condition, such as fibromyalgia, arthritis or even asthma can all be contributing factors to insomnia.
Often time insomnia can be related to simple changes in your life that are causing disruption. Things such as a bed that is not comfortable, a storm that is causing too much noise at night, an air conditioning that is working too hard or not hard enough altering the temperature in your bedroom by just a few degrees, jet lag, changing time zones, a snoring bed partner, or even too much light pouring into your bedroom can all be causes of insomnia. Unfortunately insomnia can even be a behavior that you learn after a few sleepless nights.
When it seems that insomnia is just the passing kind, medical intervention is usually not ordered. The reason for this is because like its name suggests transient insomnia usually will pass and self correct without intervention.
However, permanent or chronic insomnia can be more serious and often requires intervention. Treatment for insomnia is based on the underlying reason behind the insomnia. It is important to find out the underlying cause of the insomnia so that proper treatment can begin. Making an appointment for evaluation by your personal healthcare provider is the first step toward finding treatment for your chronic insomnia.
This type of insomnia can be a result of too much caffeine, working varying shifts, or even narcotic abuse. Other issues such as anxiety, depression, restless leg syndrome, fibromyalgia, asthma, Parkinson’s disease can all be contributors to insomnia as well. So as you can see there are many reasons that you might regularly have difficulty getting a good night’s sleep which is why seeing your healthcare provider will help you to narrow the reasons in an effort of finding the treatment of choice.
Diagnosing insomnia can be tough since it is so subjective. What is an adequate amount of sleep for you is no where close to enough sleep for me. Insomnia can lead to poor concentration during the day and lack of productivity.
So keep a sleep journal to share with your physician when you make a visit and you will be better prepared during the visit to help your doctor pinpoint the cause and type of your insomnia. Don’t wait and think that is is ok to live with insomnia long term. Your body needs rest and insomnia for any length of time really doesn’t work for a healthy lifestyle.
Insomnia Prevention And Other Sleep Inducing Tips
Insomnia prevention is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Typically based around a combination approach surrounding diet, exercise, stress management, and sufficient rest all work well together to help with the prevention of insomnia.
While there are many suggestions available that can help you to manage the insomnia fight, you often will have to try many of them in order to find the best combination that works for you to prevent insomnia.
When you are working towards the prevention of insomnia it is vital that you determine a regular sleep schedule and stick with it. You must decide what time you are going to go to bed and what time you are going to get up each and every day. Then you must simply stick with it and this includes the weekends. Making this minor change will help your body to set its internal clock so that nighttime sleep comes more consistently and is deeper on arrival.
While it is probable that you have heard it before, remember that you should use the bed only for sex and for sleeping. The bed should not be used for watching television or reading. Sex and sleep, nothing else in the bed!
Try to avoid taking naps particularly in the afternoon and when you go to bed at night, if you do not fall asleep rather quickly, then get up out of the bed.
Go and repeat your bedtime routine and do not come back to the bed until you feel sleepy. It is important that you have a regular bedtime routine that you perform each and every night. This routine should revolve around an activity that helps you to get in the right mindset for bed. It should be designed to help you unwind.
White noise in the bedroom background, such as a sound machine or even a rotating fan, can help to create an environment that is conducive to sleep. And one of the most important things of all is that when you are working towards the prevention of insomnia, do not obsess over it. Relax! Do not obsess with falling asleep by staring at the clock. It really does not help at all.
The prevention of insomnia is a challenging assignment indeed. But t is certainly something that you can work towards accomplishing each and every night. After all, a full night’s sleep is worth a whole list of tips for the prevention of insomnia. Get working at it and see what works for you.
Insomnia Prevention And Other Sleep Inducing Tips
Insomnia is a battle that many of us will face at some point during our lives. But with some planning and, on occasion, medical intervention, it is a battle that we can win.
But insomnia prevention centers on a healthy lifestyle. A combination of an appropriate and healthy diet, frequent exercise, adequate rest, and sufficient stress management can all work together to help to prevent insomnia.
There are many suggestions available that can help you to anticipate and to adjust to situations which are frequently associated with insomnia. These insomnia prevention tips are not based on the use of medication. Nor are these insomnia prevention tips foolproof and they certainly will not help you to recover from the consequences of sleep deprivation, which is cumulative, once the sleep deprivation has actually occurred.
There are some mental and physical relaxation techniques that can help you with the prevention of insomnia. One such exercise is progressive relaxation, in which you begin at the toes and slowly tense and then relax each muscle group, beginning with the toes and ending with the head. While performing this exercise it is important to take slow and deep breaths and try to relax your mind and concentrate on the movement itself.
Actively participate in a regular exercise program during the daytime hours. It is important to do any sort of cardiovascular activity prior to the dinner hour. Energy reaches a lower point a few hours after you have exercised, making it much easier to rest and sleep. Exercising too close to bedtime can increase alertness, so make sure that you allow plenty of time between the end of your exercise routine and the time you are planning to go to bed.
Enjoying a hot bath about one to two hours prior to bedtime can also help with the prevention of insomnia. A hot bath changes the core temperature of the body and can help you to fall asleep more easily and to stay asleep. But be aware that taking a hot bath too close to bedtime can actually increase alertness, so forget about it.
The prevention of insomnia can also be accomplished by taking time before bed to do calming activities such as non-stimulating reading, meditation, taking a leisurely stroll, or even by sipping a warm cup of milk. Make the last 30 minutes prior to the time you intend to go to bed the time that you are setting the stage for sleep.
The prevention of insomnia takes work. But with adequate planning and dedication to the job, you too can find the best insomnia prevention plan that works the very best just for you.
More on the prevention of insomnia