Insomnia Effects for Health
The dream fulfills important functions for refreshing our mind and body. However, there are people for whom bedtime is far from being a pleasant and refreshing experience it becomes a daily struggle with insomnia and other sleep problems. Millions of people can not enjoy a full day, alert and productive because they could not sleep last night.
According to statistics from the National Center for Research on Sleep Disorders in the U.S. only about 40 million people suffer from sleep problems.
These problems result in low productivity, cognitive problems, increased chance of accidents, irritability, increased risk of disease, premature death and decreased quality of life. Studies show that people are not sleeping well adversely affect the immune system that is responsible for fighting viruses and bacteria that cause us disease.
Some researchers have also concluded that sleep acts as an antioxidant by removing what is known as free radicals, ie atoms, usually oxygen, highly reactive and unstable to be released as a product of metabolism and have the ability to damage cells. It is estimated that chronic sleep deprivation may accelerate the aging brain.
The problem of lack of sleep is heightened as a result of technological changes and the world of work that cause many people to work until late at night or on rotating schedules. Our biological characteristics, the product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have programmed us to need between nine and ten hours of sleep daily.
In our era of technological changes are occurring at a rate much faster than our biology so we end up making claims that our bodies are not prepared to assume.
Do you suffer from insomnia?
Of sleep problems insomnia is probably the most common. There are several types of insomnia. In some cases the person has difficulty falling asleep, in others the person may fall asleep easily but wake several times during the night, and in other cases the problem is that the person wakes up very early.
Insomnia can be caused by a variety of factors that are stress, excessive alcohol or caffeine, and several physiological disorders. Insomnia can be a real problem and often frustrating the efforts we make to sleep only aggravate the situation.
How many hours of sleep we need? The amount that allows us to feel alert during the day. This varies from person to person, but in most cases ranges from 7 to 9 hours.
In a study conducted in the United States in late 1997 and early 1998 found that nearly a third of people sleep six or fewer hours per day and over a third said that during the day feel so sleepy to their daily activities are affected.
Credit to: Rafael Valle Rivera