Sleep – a sensational state of mind in darkness

Date: May 22, 2011

Author: admin

‘Sleep’ is the essential part of any living beings on this earth. Everything sleeps at a particular time and or period and is inbuilt in biological programs of body in congruent with organic form of life. Plants, trees, insects, worms, animals and mankind all are having this quality rather habit of ‘sleep’ and consumes almost one quarter of their life in ‘sleeping’ status. Ironically, mankind does not give enough attention and care to the status of ‘sleeping’ in other word the ‘unconscious nature or state’ of life. Instead we give as much as importance to ‘awaken or conscious nature or state’ of life. Since it is a natural occurrence and effected due to the tiredness of nerves and muscles, we human beings leave this entire stage to the natural process and mystery. In fact, both status of life plays vital role in refurbishing the human energy, yet mankind simply not interested or become insignificant to the dark affairs of life. Life is not naturally imbalanced, but unnaturally, due to excessive delirious in ‘awakened state’ for obvious ‘dark’ reasons.

Sleeping is a natural periodic suspension of consciousness in which the power of body is restored. However, the clear definition of sleep and functioning of body parts during this suspended consciousness state are not clear yet. People who have lack of sleep get into irritation, forgetful, uncoordinated, hallucinatory and even psychotic. Sleep disorder may lead to rare fatal familial insomnia and is untreatable. Insomnia may lead to hallucination and eventually to death. The truth is that every one of us experiences mild insomnia once in our life. In human beings sleep is linked with hormone levels and specific brain electrical activity, including delta waves quiet different from the brain’s awakening activity.

Brain usually generates different kind of waves such as alpha, beta, gamma, theta and delta waves. Alpha waves are generated during awaken state of mind along with other waves depends on brain’s activity. However, when the brain is in deep sleep or completely unconscious level, delta waves are active which are slowest in frequency range between 1-4 hertz. Delta waves are particularly beneficial for brain performance. Deep sleep helps the brain to release more delta waves that has numerous benefits including better intuition connectivity and deep spirituality. It also releases anti aging hormones that reduces the release of Cortisol cells which are responsible for stress and quicker aging. In plain terms the mind and muscles are getting repaired while we have deep sleep. Many sleep experts recommend average eight hours sleep to have better mental alertness and avoid physical sore and tension.

Caffeine, tobacco and alcohol disturb the sleep a lot and cause frequent awakenings at night. Alcohol is one of the worst agents that will make snoring even terrible. Snoring is the not indication of deep sleep as many believes, but indication of depression or related sleep disorders such as narcolepsy and central nervous system hyper-somnolence. However, in most cases snoring happens due to throat and windpipe congestions. A study from German clinic says that snoring make the person silly. Snoring persons have performed worse in intelligence test. An American study says that snoring kills brain cells responsible for intelligence by depriving the body oxygen. In fact, snoring can be stop or controlled by doing a small surgery at throat by removing the tissue.

In addition to above reasons many of us failed to realize a major habit of us for disturbed sleep that occurs in our daily life. Watching movies, emotional serials and obscene scenes at early part of night or prior to sleep causes deep conscious and unconscious emotional conflicts during sleep and responsible for the hyper subconscious level which will certainly spoils a good sleep.

Scientists are classifying the sleep into five different stages.

Stage 1: It’s a dozing stage indicating the mental and physical tiredness that forces to take rest.

Stage 2: Light sleep stage in which the body rests and the circulation of blood gradually reduced to the vital organs and other parts of the body including brain.

Stage 3: It is a mixture of light and deep sleep, in which the sleeping person can hear or observe certain sounds but usually non responsive

Stage 4: It is a deep sleep stage and most essential part of sleep. Generally the sleeping individual does not understand anything that is happening around him unless a huge sound or disturbance occurs. The research analysis says that the mechanical and physical functions of the body are repaired during this stage.

Stage 5: It is a dreaming sleep or REM (Rapid Eye Movement). The eye movements during dream correspond with dream plot lines. The remainder of the body paralyzed during REM sleep, which prevent us from physically acting on our dreams. The research says that REM sleep repair mental functions of the body, hence the dreams are the indication of the repair of the brain. It does not mean that the dreams are only indication of active brain and functioning.

The delta waves are active during the fourth and fifth stages of sleep can be experienced through dreams. Most of the dreams are long or seems to be longer than the actual time span due to the heavy release of delta waves with the slowest speed of 1-4 hertz. There is an interesting relativity between the delta mental waves that does not match the usual time speed. The slowest delta mental waves actually help the dreams against the time speed during unconscious stage of mind and are the reason for long dreams and sometimes tiring. There are many research activities happening to uncover the relativity between the delta waves and the dreams.

A four year old child spends average of three to four hours in dreaming per night. The duration of dream reduces to roughly between 100 to 120 minutes per night after 10 years old.

Ancient civilizations believe that dreams are bridge between mankind and supernatural or God or induced by language of evils and demons. Soothsayers believe that dreams could foretell one’s future. In fact, mankind is always curious to know what is ahead of us and therefore they consider dreams have major role in prophetic power of attributing and astrological predictions.

Psychoanalysts say that they have certain method to diagnose the troubles of individuals by asking and recording their dreams. Further, they say that dreams reveal our secret wishes, fears, loves and hatreds. In dreams we become our true self and identify us with hidden dual character is what modern psychiatric confirms.

Everyone dreams and is a matter of remembering them. Mostly we are unable to reconstruct our dreams and nevertheless dreams are integral part of life. Dreams fulfill our functions, wishes, inspire us and release inhibitions. Dream also releases our accumulated unhealthy emotions, hide the meanings in symbols and take us back to carefree childhood life. Dreams may have practical values and repeated dreams are indication of root conflicts in our personality or related to unresolved issues in life. Associating famous persons in dreams might have the indication of deep rooted inferiority complex.

I have taken another interesting rout to study the ‘sleep’ in religious context from Holy Quran.

In Holy Quran, chapter 78, verse 9 ‘And made your sleep for rest’ meaning sleeping is essential part of life and the scientific research suggests that a sound sleep is highly refreshing by repairing the mental and physical part of body. It is a natural cause programmed in body and mind by the Creator to refresh the physical and mental conditions of mankind.

In chapter 30, verse 23, Allah says “It is Allah that takes the souls (of men) at death; and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep; those on who He has passed the decree of death He keeps back (from returning to life) but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed. Verily in this are Signs for those who reflect”.

The interesting revelation of ‘He keeps back’ has certain meanings denoting the migration of souls to an unknown destination or space. The Almighty claims that He retains all souls with Him and to those He passed the decree of death will be prevented from going back.

In a tradition (Hadith) from Prophet Mohamed (PBUH), related by Abdullah Bin Abi Qataba, mentioned in Sahih Bukhari that “during a travel when everybody got to sleep and Bilal have said prophet Mohammed (PBUH) that he will not sleep and responsible to wake them for Fajr (morning) prayer. But he also got to sleep and unable to wake up for Adhan (call for prayer). Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) have wake and found the sun is on its edge. So he wake up Bilal and asked him what happened to his statement? Bilal replied that I have never slept like this one. The beloved Prophet said it is Allah captured your soul and He released when he wishes”.

The question is that are we experiencing a temporary death during our sleep? Is sleep twin brother of death? I will leave this question to readers to explore the answer. Nevertheless, sleep is an indication and reminder to mankind that one day we need to permanently sleep upon terminating our connection with this universe. One can be a believer of God or atheist, but experiencing the unconscious nature of life at every night in which we have no control on our mind and body. We are experiencing a phenomenal miracle of life at every night with little or no attention to it. It is necessary for every individual to give equal attention to ‘sleep’ an important state of life because living beings are naturally balanced.

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Sleep: An interesting story

Date: May 5, 2011

Author: admin

Categories: Sleep and Rest

When you’re in a hurry to do your work, go to school, look after family, do you reduce your sleep time? You might think that sleep is merely a “down time” when the brain shuts off and the body rests. It is not so. Sleep is essential for a person’s health and wellbeing, according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF).

Sleep is as important as food and air. It is a necessary function required to support all human life, growth, development and brain function. Sleep keeps your mind alert and calm. It helps you in optimal daily functioning.

If you wake up tired after sleeping for eight hours or longer, more sleep is not what you need.

Are You Aware Of These Common Problems Which Are Stealing Your Sleep?

Date: May 5, 2011

Author: admin

Categories: Sleep and Rest

Understand how menstruation, pregnancy and menopause affect a woman’s sleep and how to minimize these conditions for improving sleep.

Women face difficulty in falling and staying asleep than men.

They also experience more daytime sleepiness. Poor concentration, poor performance at job and school and increased illnesses can result with lack of sleep.

Many issues can affect women’s sleep. Hormone level changes, illness, stress, lifestyle and sleep environment are some of the issues. Some unique conditions such as menstrual cycle, pregnancy and menopause can interfere with quality of sleep in women.

Phases of menstrual cycle and their effects on sleep:

50 percent of women face sleep problems during menstrual cycle. Changes in fluctuating levels of hormones present in menstrual cycle before ovulation, during ovulation and after ovulation can interfere with the quality of sleep.

Understand your menstrual cycle phases:

Before ovulation: Disturbances in sleep can occur before ovulation that is from 1st day to 12th day of menstrual periods in some women. Menstrual period continues for five days. Egg ripens in the ovary after the end of the period. During the period of menstrual bleeding, you will get less sleep.

During ovulation: Egg releases during ovulation period that is between 13th to 15th days. If egg fertilizes, pregnancy can occur. If not, your cycle continues and menstrual period occurs in 14 days.

After ovulation: If there is no occurrence of pregnancy after ovulation period, uterine lining wall starts to break down and is discarded during menstrual period. Around 19 to 21 days, levels of progesterone become high and reach the peak level during the beginning of the phase. At the end of the phase, levels of progesterone start to decrease. You will find difficulty in sleeping due to the falling progesterone levels.

Premenstrual syndrome: Premenstrual syndrome(PMS) symptoms occur during 22 to 28 days that is at the later phase. These symptoms include anxiety, mood swings, nervousness, depression, irritability, bloating, abdominal cramps, and headaches, which can all cause disturbances in sleep. Sleep problems such as insomnia, daytime sleepiness and hypersomnia can result if you have PMS.

Lessen the effects of menstrual symptoms: Follow sleep hygiene and stimulus control techniques to prevent the sleep problems during menstrual cycle. Maintain a sleep routine, follow a healthy diet, plan to do something if you can’t sleep during night, and reduce stress to get a better sleep. If the problem is severe, visit the doctor so that he/she will prescribe medications for reducing the symptoms.

Host of discomforts that disrupt sleep during pregnancy:

Why sleep difficulties begin suddenly in pregnant women? The reason is many emotional and physical factors can contribute to sleep problems during pregnancy. Some of the factors that contribute to sleep loss during pregnancy are given here:

Emotional factors that contribute to sleep loss:

Emotional factors that are prevalent during this period are depression, anxiety and emotional liability, which can contribute to lack of sleep. During pregnancy, estrogen and progesterone, the two hormones, cause mood swings. Feelings of depression are common due to the changes in body during pregnancy. You will find hard to express feelings of happiness or sadness.

At the time of first trimester, mood swings are common. Emotional feelings are present in the second trimester. In the third trimester, you worry about everything you think of. The worry and anxiety in pregnant women is due to labor, delivery and baby care. Abdominal growth can make you uncomfortable and you feel irritated with lack of sleep.

Physical factors that contribute to sleep loss:

Uncomfortable sleep positions due to changes in your body can disturb your sleep. During pregnancy, urinary bladder holds less fluid. If you take more amounts of fluids before bedtime, you need to wake up several times at night to urinate. Normal pains such as nausea, heartburn, and hemorrhoids are common during pregnancy, which keep you awake at night. Heart rate increases for pumping more blood during pregnancy. As more blood goes to the uterus, your heart works harder for sending sufficient blood to the rest of the body, making your sleep restless. Restless leg syndrome (RLS) is one of the most common problems in pregnancy. Tingling, crawling and burning sensations are the common symptoms in RLS. These symptoms make uncontrollable urge to move the legs. Moving legs can give temporary relief. Snoring occurs in the last trimester due to narrowed airways and increased pressure on the lungs. Snoring can sometimes lead to hypertension, putting you and your child at risk. When airways block, sleep can occur. Breathing stops for few seconds when you have sleep apnea. It results in lack of oxygen to your body. Oxygen deficiency can prevent you from getting sleep, which harms you and your baby.

Get more sleep during pregnancy with these sleep tips:

Exercise is the best treatment for controlling mood swings. Talk to your doctor about which exercises are preferred during pregnancy. Pamper yourself to reduce depressed feelings. You can go for shopping to buy maternity clothes or with partner to dating, or visit a friend to share your feelings. Comfortable sleep position is essential as pregnancy progresses. Sleeping on your side is preferred. Burden on the heart lessens with this position. Avoid drinking lots of fluids two to three hours before bedtime to avoid frequent urination during night. Nausea can occur on an empty stomach, so have light snacks before going to bed. Do not eat before going to bed to avoid heart burn and indigestion. Have several small meals instead of a larger meal. Press your feet against wall or stand on your feet to lessen the cramps. Calcium deficiency can make the cramps worse, so make sure to include calcium such as milk and dairy products in your diet. Get a massage, use cold or hot packs, or practice relaxation techniques to relieve from symptoms of RLS. To overcome the symptoms of snoring, sleep on your side and elevate your head slightly. Sleep consequences with hormonal changes during menopause:

Side effects due to hormonal changes can occur during menopause stage. At this stage, sleep disorders are common. Insomnia is a common problem and you will not recognize that you are in perimenopause stage in late 30s and early 40s if you have this problem.

Discomfort with menopausal symptoms can obstruct your nighttime sleep. Ovaries produce less estrogen and progesterone when you enter perimenopause and menopause stages. Progesterone hormone helps in promoting sleep. Trouble in sleeping arises when progesterone levels drop.

You can also experience mood disorders that disrupt your sleep at this stage. Hot flashes can result as temperature of the body rises due to hormonal changes at this stage. Hot flashes can occur during daytime or nighttime; but nighttime flashes can interrupt your sleep.

Hot flashes that occur at night are called as night sweats because of excessive perspiration. Excessive sweating interrupts night sleep [Treating menopause night sweats].

Sleep problems in menopause stage can make you tired. These sleep problems continue to post menopausal stage. Post menopausal women are likely to snore and also experience life threatening condition called sleep apnea.

Sleep better with menopause Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is one of the treatments for menopause. HRT can also help to reduce sleep disturbances associated with menopause. HRT treats the hormonal changes to reduce night sweats and hot flashes. Side effects are common with HRT medications. Consult and discuss with your physician about the risks associated with HRT and whether the treatment is suitable for you or not. Healthy diet is vital to lessen sleeping difficulties in menopausal st
age. Cut down the intake of spicy foods, caffeine and alcohol. These stimulants cause hot flashes, which affect your sleep quality. Avoid large meals and maintain healthy weight. Consume foods rich in soy to improve quality of sleep. Maintain a cool sleep environment to reduce hot flashes that disrupt your sleep. Maintain a regular sleep routine which helps in promoting sleep. Wear light weight cotton clothes during sleep. Use air conditioners and fans to keep the room cool and comfortable for sleep. Good sleep habits, healthy diet and good sleep environment will improve your insomnia problem and help you to sleep better.

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