Can You Sleep?

I'm a night owl or an insomniac, which ever you would like to classify me.  I don't really know how it started or when I got to this point, but it's a problem that happens more often than not.  You can chalk it up to many reasons.  Some people say that sleeplessness is caused by depression or anxiety, caffeine, bad food choices, or even just being overstimulated.  This problem definitely hampers your day and takes a toll on your health.  Now it's not that I didn't have an intended bed time.  It seems that whether I have a set bed time or not, I still have trouble getting an adequate amount of sleep at night.  I don't really drive, luckily, but there are many who experience this problem and operate vehicles or heavy machinery.  There are historical incidents where sleep deprivation has occurred with drastic consequences.  The most famous being the Exxon Valdez Spill and even the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster .  Sleep can actually affect cognitive reasoning and can affect your mood during the day.  According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprived drivers cause 100,000 crashes, 71,000 injuries and more than 1,500 deaths each year.  The NSF also states that sleep deprivation cost the average American $100 billion annually in lost productivity, medical expenses, sick leave, and property and environmental damage.  It's frightening how much losing sleep costs us.  Factors such as mental illness and socioeconomic class can lead to oversleeping or getting too much sleep.  Lack of sleep can even affect your body mass index and increase the likelihood of heart disease or even diabetes.

It's funny, but not many doctors really ask about how many hours of sleep you are getting.  Some physicians ask if you are sleeping, but that is usually the extent of that inquiry.  How many hours of sleep do you think we really need?  Some people think that we need eight hours, but really there is no set number.  The amount of sleep actually depends on how your body reacts.  The amount you sleep may depend on the amount of stress you are experiencing, the amount of physical exertion that you have during the day, or if you are going through an illness.  For me, because of the medicines, I have to sleep at nine hours.  I know that sounds like a lot, but I really do need that.  I'm trying to push myself with less sleep, but I don't know if conditioning could change that number.  Lately, with the way my life has been going, I've pretty much been exhausted.  On the other hand, a study done by the NSF actually shows that oversleeping can have similar effects.  Getting more than nine hours is considered to be oversleeping.  So finding that happy medium is extremely important.  I usually get thrown off if I have a nap during the day, so I try to prevent myself from doing that.  The National Sleep Foundation actually has a chart which shows the different amounts of sleep you need from your newborn age to your adulthood.  It's amazing how shutting down for a bit really gives us a clean reboot.  Not to use computer language, but it really represents what we go through as human beings. 
 










Moving toward a healthier night's sleep is very important.  It helps to have a nighttime ritual that helps you ease into bed.  Whether it's taking a bubble bath or listening to relaxing music, you have to find a groove that works for you.  Reading a book, watching your television, or using your laptop can actually keep your head from hitting the pillow.  It's also very important that your bedroom be quiet, cool, and comfortable.  This will aid in easing yourself to sleep.  I usually put on my white noise machine or listen to soothing music, because it clears my mind.  I keep the room relatively cool at night, because that really does wake me in the middle of the night.  I used to have a great deal of problems, because my husband snores, but earplugs and the white noise machine gave me my sleep back.  That factor was really the hardest hurdle I had to get over.  When I was fighting depression, I also had problems with sleep.  Allergies can also give you a problem with sleep, especially during the Spring and Summer months.  I have a deviated septum, which I recently acquired after breaking my nose during a seizure.  This problem actually caused sinus headaches for me, and that kills sleep for me during the warmer months.  Sometimes it's medical problems that cause insomnia, or just throwing off your sleep patterns.  So many people are looking for the perfect cure for insomnia, and there is no easy answer.  I'm still on the great search for a perfect night's sleep.  Hopefully that hunt will end sometime soon.