Insomniacs either suffer from their inability to fall asleep or stay asleep for a reasonable or normal number of sleeping hours. In the United States alone, more than 50 million people are suffering from insomnia every year. Individuals who are known to have this type of sleeping problem generally complain about their inability to rest their minds and even close their eyes in just a few minutes.

Insomnia has three types; these are transient, chronic, and acute. The simplest type is the transient insomnia, which only lasts from one day to a couple of weeks. Acute insomnia is characterize as the inability to have a consistent sleep within three weeks to six months. On the other hand, chronic insomnia is considered to be the most serious type of insomnia as this can continue nightly for one month.

The following are the known causes of insomnia

1. Hormonal shifts
2. Mental illness
3. Psychoactive stimulants and drugs
4. Poor sleeping hygiene
5. Disruptive sleeping events such as sleepwalking and nightmares

Since almost all cases of insomnia are symptoms to more complicated illnesses and psychological imbalances, treatments and medications are required to be taken by insomniacs. However, there are some alternative treatments for insomnia that do not really require one to consult a doctor or take medications.

The following are seven simple techniques that can surely help beat insomnia

1. Enjoy a leisurely warm bath.

Taking the time to enjoy a warm bath is a perfect way to relax the body. To have a more relaxing bath, it is best to throw in baking soda and bath salt into the warm water.

2. Listen to soothing music.

It is said that a lulling and soothing music can outright put one into an undisturbed sleep. Insomniacs should try to put on play their favorite medley selections before they hit the bed.

3. Ask for a massage.

Before going to bed, ask someone this can be your spouse, family member, or friend for a massage. A slow yet firm strokes can relieve an insomniacs body tensions, thus, making it easier to fall asleep.

4. Try to avoid tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine.

Caffeine prevents one from having an uninterrupted sleep. Hence, insomniacs should avoid drinking coffee, cola, and other liquids containing caffeine before hitting the covers. Alcohol, on the other hand, also upsets a persons sleep patterns.

5. Try to avoid taking naps.

While naps are nice to have anytime during the day, these can prevent an insomniac from having a good night sleep. As such, skipping naps is best so one will be more tired at night and uninterrupted sleep is inevitable.

6. Drink herb tea or warm milk before bedtime.

Studies claim that drinking herb tea or warm milk a few minutes before bedtime soothes the nervous system of a person. This will also help one relax, thus, ensuring a good night sleep.

7. Rest and sleep in a well-ventilated room.

Who would want to sleep in a room that is either too cold or too hot? Insomniacs are advised to rest and sleep in a room that has fresh air and has a temperature that is suitable for sleeping.

The human body is often cited to be a complex machine, with several subsections that are working in conjunction with one another. As such, it can be seen that there is some truth to the traditional Chinese medicine concept of treating overall balance, rather than individual symptoms. Since all the systems are inevitably interconnected, then what affects one aspect of a person’s physical or mental health can also have an effect other aspects. While everyone and their grandmother knows that disrupting one’s sleep patterns or a lack of sleep can have an effect on the body, new research is revealing that there may be more side effects than conventional knowledge is aware of.

Most people are already aware of the more immediate effects of sleep problems, such as insomnia. There is a noticeable drop in alertness and cognitive ability, which can sometimes appear to be cumulative if the lack of sleep is prolonged. Sensory information can sometimes be processed slower than normal. There are also some studies that point to partial temporary memory loss as an effect. The ability to control body temperature is also disrupted, with some people losing the ability to regulate body heat altogether after prolonged periods with disrupted or broken sleep cycles. Significant lack of sleep has also been known to speed up the aging process of the skin, making a person seem older than they actually are.

However, there are even more problems for those with chronic lack of sleep or broken sleep cycles. According to research recently completed by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the metabolism of a person may also be subject to side effects of sleep deprivation. There were profound differences in the metabolic rates of the people who were subjected to controlled levels of sleep deprivation. The results showed that glucose tolerance, one of the key indicators used to determine whether someone has diabetes, changed. Rather than showing a normal glucose tolerance for their age, the sleep deprived test subjects exhibited the tolerance of someone in the early stages of diabetes. The results seem to indicate that the body’s ability to metabolize glucose is hampered by sleep debt.

The results suggest that sleep deprivation may play a role in the onset of diabetes, as well as being considered as a possible factor in the statistic rise of people with diabetes in developed countries. Other effects that the study noted included hypertension, more rapid aging of skin cells, a decreased metabolic rate which may lead to obesity, and various memory-related issues. The study was conducted only on a short-term basis for this type of research, lasting only 16 days. It is speculated that the recorded effects can only get worse if the sleep deprivation period was prolonged.

It is notable that, unlike studies that have come before it, this research team was not interested in the cognitive effects. There has always been speculation on the concrete physical effects of a lack of sleep on the body, but there has never been a study dedicated solely to pursuing what those effects are. The study is actually considered rather timely, mainly because most of the working population spends less than the recommended eight hours of sleep. While the difference of eight hours to the average sleep time of five hours may not seem that significant, the results emerged from test subjects who were subjected to just five hours of sleep per 24-hour period.