"LESS SLEEP : EARLY DEATH"

What would happen if we have 2 group of animals; one is given food but not let it to take sleep and second group is given appropriate environment for proper sleep but it is kept deprived of food. We know that the ultimate fate of both is death but do you know who will die first; the first group who is kept away from sleep. Sleep is one of the greatest blessings of God because during sleep our body and our mind both will take proper rest and get ready for next working day by providing nutrition and oxygen to all cells of body, hence overall cellular stress is reduced.

WHAT IS INSOMINIA?

Medically, if someone is having chronic Lack of sleep, it is known as insomnia. Although Insomnia is itself a disorder but sometimes it is a symptom of other diseases such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and hypertension, restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea and schizophrenia. In young adults the most common causes of insomnia is habits of late night using mobile phones and computers. In other words we can say that Facebook, WhatsApp, Snap chat, twitter and all other chatting applications and sites are major cause of insomnia. Because a continuous late night awakening disturbs our circadian rhythm; our body clock that tells us when to sleep, when to awake and when to eat.  Due to change in circadian cycle the level of hormones in our body are changed; especially melatonin that is responsible to induce sleep.

The long term and persistent insomnia is also the root cause of many disorders such as agitation in mood, anxiety and depression, gradual loss of memory, difficulty in concentration. It also has the ability to aggravate hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiac arrest, apnea and asthma. It reduces the overall immune system of the body and make our body to more prone toward viral infections such as herpes, cold and flu and general fatigue, lethargy, weakness, loss of appetite and even vertigo.

BEHAVOURAL TREATMENT:

Treatment of Insomnia needs both behavioral changes and in severe cases medical intervention as well. Certain changes in behavior are really helpful to treat insomnia such as;                                      

• Fix one time to go to bed and try not to change it.                                                                              
• Don’t take brain stimulants like caffeine, taurine or guarana extract before two hours going to bed.                                                                                                                                                         
• Switch off your screen one hour before going to sleep.                                                                     
• Try to follow strictly your sleep cycle. Everyone has different sleep cycle. It may vary from 6 hours to 8 hours from person to person and from one age group to other age group.                         
• Select your place for sleeping away from noise.                                                                                          

MEDICAL TREATMENT:

It is important to know the cause first then an appropriate medicine can be selected. Sometimes intake of only melatonin, or  valerian root  or combination of both is enough to treat insomnia and in many countries it is available as OTC drug, but sometimes other medicines are given to address the underline cause of insomnia and in this case opinion of doctor or pharmacist is compulsory.    

About Author
Dr.Hafiz is a philanthropist,poet and writer with diversified interests.His main focus is health,social norms, &religious & psychological effects on different societies.