Health and Fitness Tips

Do you dread going to sleep at night, thinking it will be another agonizing insomnia experience of tossing and turning in bed? This article aims to unravel the surprising facts about insomnia so you will know the root cause of sleeplessness and find the right insomnia cure for you. Should you already know some facts about insomnia, you’ll learn more than just the basics from this informative article.


Basic Facts About Insomnia

Simply put, insomnia is the inability to fall asleep when you want to. It is characterized by little or poor-quality sleep.

There are three types of insomnia depending on the duration of the condition: 1) Transient or short-term insomnia, as the term implies, lasts only for one night to a few weeks; 2) Intermittent insomnia is short-term but recurring; 3) Chronic insomnia is the most serious as it happens at least three times a week for a month, year, or even a lifetime.

A main effect of insomnia is excessive sleepiness, which can be accompanied with restlessness, fatigue, lethargy, and irritability, among others. It can also cause problems in concentrating and focusing. The insomniac is there but not quite there. This is most common among chronic insomnia sufferers, who may find themselves in a constant state of limbo.

Insomniacs can be also more accident-prone. The cause of one out of every five highway accidents is the driver falling asleep momentarily.

In the long term, insomnia can affect relationships at home and work, hobbies, recreational activities, and general state of mind. More than just a sleep disorder, it can greatly affect quality of life; that’s why it is vital to know the facts about insomnia.

Insomnia Causes

Sleeplessness may be caused by any or a combination of the following:

1) Diet high in stimulants. Caffeine is the main culprit. Drinking too much coffee, tea, colas and eating too much chocolate, especially in the evening, can cause problems sleeping. Alcohol is also not recommended – a nightcap may induce sleepiness at first, but prevents you from going into deep sleep, or the REM state, and thus, lets you sleep less soundly.

2) Environmental factors. Noise, light, sudden weather changes, a room that is too hot or too cold, can disturb sleep, if not delay it.

3) Change in routine. Traveling often, sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, and a job with variable schedules are examples of routine interruptions that can cause insomnia, though short-term.

4) Stress or stressful life events. Work-related problems, relationship problems, anticipation of an upcoming event like a presentation or medical exam, and sudden life events like divorce and death of a loved one are only some examples. Anxiety related to stress may very well be the number one reason why you can’t catch a wink.


5) Medical conditions. Asthma, eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, peptic ulcer, anxiety disorders, can prevent you from falling into restful slumber.

6) Hormones. A woman suffering from menopausal symptoms like hot flushes and night sweating may have trouble sleeping. Insomnia in teenagers, meanwhile, occur mostly because of the onset of puberty, where sleeping needs and sleeping patterns usually change.

Insomnia Treatment the Natural Way

There are different insomnia treatment options, ranging from the natural insomnia herbs to the medical. Medical treatment, usually through sleeping pills, have unpleasant side effects and can ironically cause further insomnia in the long run, so therapy and natural methods are safer and more effective. Below are some examples.

1) Aromatherapy. For bouts of sleeplessness from time to time, taking a bath before going to bed using a few drops of essential oils like lavender, marjoram, or ylang-ylang can help. Or you can drop these oils directly on your pillow.

2) Flower essence therapy. White chestnut particularly helps cure insomnia gradually, usually in just a few weeks. Flower remedies can be bought in some health food stores or via mail in some websites.

3) Herbal therapy. Valerian is known as the best herbal treatment for insomnia, as it decreases nervous system activity. Use as per dosage instructions in the pack.

4) Relaxation therapy. This involves progressive muscle relaxation training, imagery training, hypnosis among others. This can be learned alone or with the help of a qualified practitioner. These techniques can relax your body and mind and make you feel drowsy and ready for bed.

5) Reconditioning. This method involves re-associating the bedroom and bed with sleep only. In applying this technique, activities like eating, reading, and watching TV cannot be done in bed. Napping for more than 30 to 45 minutes during the day is also discouraged. A fixed wake-up time is also scheduled to train the body.

Knowing these facts about insomnia, you and your loved ones can deal with the condition better should it come.



Self-help expert Michael Lee has prepared an amazing FREE course revealing secret tips to cure insomnia and enjoy energizing deep sleep at http://www.20daypersuasion.com/sleep-secret.htm

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Yoga is an ancient practice that helps create a sense of union in body, mind, and spirit. The most important benefit of yoga is physical and mental therapy. The aging process, which is largely an artificial condition, caused mainly by autointoxication or self-poisoning, can be slowed down by practicing yoga. Although yoga has been shown to be beneficial in a variety of conditions, it is not considered a therapy for specific illnesses. Yoga also strives to increase self-awareness on both a physical and psychological level.

This allows people to take early collective action, such as adjusting posture, when discomfort is first noticed. Practicing yoga can provide chronic pain sufferers with useful tools to actively cope with their pain and help counter feelings of helplessness and depression. Laboratory tests have proved the yogi's increased abilities of consciously controlling autonomic or involuntary functions, such as temperature, heartbeat and blood pressure. Patients who practice yoga have a better chance of gaining the ability to control their breathing problems.

In general, yoga is a very safe form of exercise for most people. For those with specific back conditions, it is advisable to speak with one's treating physician prior to starting yoga. Yoga is dynamite to make you feel younger with heightened mental prowness. Longer life often result from following yogic ways of health maintenance. Yoga is approximately 4,000 years old and is a scientific methodology aimed at uniting the mind, body, and spirit. Yoga is believed to reduce pain by helping the brain's pain center regulate the gate-controlling mechanism located in the spinal cord and the secretion of natural painkillers in the body. Breathing exercises used in yoga can also reduce pain. Yoga has consistently been used to cure and prevent back pain by enhancing strength and flexibility. Both acute and long-term stress can lead to muscle tension and exacerbate back problems.

Biochemical Benefits of Yoga

Biochemical benefits of Yoga are as follows:

1. Sodium decreases.

2. Triglycerides decrease.

3. Cholinesterase increases.

4. Hemoglobin increases.

5. Total white blood cell count decreases.

6. Thyroxin increases.

7. Vitamin C increases.

Exercise Benefits of Yoga:

1. Rapid forceful movements.

2. Increased muscle tension.

3. Moderate to high caloric consumption.

4. Fatiguing.

5. Imbalance activity of opposing groups.

6. Boredom factor.

Physiological Benefits of Yoga

Some of the Physiological benefits of Yoga are as follows:

1. Pulse rate decreases.

2. Cardiovascular efficiency increases.

3. Musculoskeletal flexibility and joint range of motion increase.

4. Posture improves.

5. Strength and resiliency increase.

6. Immunity increases.

7. Pain decreases.



Juliet Cohen writes articles for yoga and health. She also writes articles for health beauty tips

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Your parents told you this when you were young and it surely pays to listen to them. We’re talking about getting enough sleep – that means from six to eight hours every day. This is in order for our body and brain to recharge and function well the following day.


Now, American scientists have confirmed that lack of sleep affects a person’s memory as it changes the function of the hippocampus – a region in the brain vital for memory. Researchers from the Harvard University Medical School said sleep is crucial before a certain experience because getting enough of it can lead to the normal functioning of the memory system.

During the study to appear in the March issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, one group was deprived of sleep for one night while the other group had a full night’s sleep. They were then asked to observe and recall a set of picture slides for a recognition test. The scientists found that the hippocampus of those who didn’t get some sleep was not functioning well compared to the control subjects. Those who were deprived of sleep also showed low recall abilities.

A previous study showed that sleeping for five hours after learning a certain task is vital for the memory. University of Pennsylvania researchers have found that mice allowed to take a nap after training recalled what they had learned than their counterparts that were sleep-deprived. They confirmed that sleep deprivation of up to five hours after learning affected contextual memory such as spatial orientation and recognition of surroundings. This is an additional proof that sleep does help in the normal functioning of the hippocampus.

Another study done by the Princeton University in New Jersey found that not getting enough sleep may lead the brain to cease producing new brain cells. The study on rats showed that lack of sleep for a long period of time affects the hippocampus of the brain. Rats that were deprived of sleep for three days had higher levels of corticosterone or the stress hormone and fewer new brain cells were produced in their hippocampus. After a week when their sleeping patterns were back to normal, their brain’s ability to produce nerve cells was greatly affected for two weeks.

In pre-school children, new research has also shown that lesser than normal sleeping time affects their behavior during the day. A study by the Northwestern University scientists has found that children aged two to three who sleep less than ten hours each day have a tendency to show behavior problems like being disobedient, pretentious and aggressive. The researchers said that preschoolers who had less sleep at night are 25 percent likely to experience psychiatric diagnosis. These behavioral problems may also be attributed to a number of factors, according to the scientists. It’s either lack of sleep leads kids to have behavioral problems or their daytime behavior leads them to sleep less than usual or a third variable like the child’s tantrum or a parent’s ability to structure sleep patterns and daytime behavior.

And so an important lesson learned here is to not take sleep for granted. Getting enough sleep gives us more energy and refreshes our memory for the next day’s activities. Until then, sleep tight!



Podcastblaster is a site specializing in all aspect of podcasting and provides an extensive podcast directory covering many topics including science podcasts.

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