According to researches conducted, heart attack is caused due to deposition of calcium in the artery. This study has further linked the cause of calcium deposits in the artery to lack of sleep. Whereas on the other hand individuals who had 7-8 hours of sleep have no calcium deposition in the artery’s.

Another major cause of heart attacks according to studies is High blood pressure. A person who has not slept properly tends to have high blood pressure. Blood pressure tends to take a dip when the person is sleeping and a person will have a balanced blood pressure when they sleep well at night.

Lack of sleep, puts a great strain on the individual’s body causing the heart to over function. The body has an extra need to work hard with lack of energy and sleep.

Therefore in order to have a healthy heart and a normal blood pressure one needs to have proper sleep patterns. Exposing oneself to stressful situations will further enhance Insomnia and increase one’s risk to Heart disease and Blood Pressure.

Resorting to meditation and stress reduction exercises can also prove to be very useful. Healing Insomnia, will lead to the healing of heart attack and other health problems.

Completition of tasks also becomes a big task. Work performance greatly suffers. Most of all, your skin and hair are the worst affected. Skin tends to go very dry and the hair gets very brittle.

Also, lack of sleep greatly affects one’s driving abilities. It turns one’s life            topsy turvy. In the earlier days, soldiers who were caught as captives were not allowed to sleep. This was one of the most famous punishment techniques that were used and when the person was helpless and most tired, he/she was interrogated. This way a lot of information was divulged out.

Lack of sleep also needs to indigestion and heartburn. Lack of sleep very often is caused due to Insomnia, a condition where an individual has great difficulty sleeping.

Insomnia many a times goes undetected and doctors have come up with several cures for this condition. The cure for this disorder differs from one person to another. Therefore one needs to be very vigilant and consult the doctor immediately when they are finding it difficult to sleep. Many are mostly unaware of the dangers of lack of sleep. A good night’s sleep is a great cure for many ailments. So make sure you don’t miss out on your sleep.

Here are some causes that help us understand why arthritis patients have so much difficulty in sleeping during the night.

1)    Pain: Arthritis patients suffer from lot of pain during the night.  The pain is so intense that they are forced to change their sleeping position many times during the night. It takes them a long time to seek that comfortable position that will help them get a peaceful night’s sleep.
2)    Arthritis creates a lot of stress, and this stress further leads to insomnia. Stress caused by fear of the future, expenses, worrying about near and dear ones, finance etc add on to a lot of tension and cause the person to suffer from lack of sleep.
3)    The several medications taken to cure arthritis can also add on to the problem of insomnia. The medications may contain certain components that affect the sleep cycle thus making it difficult for an individual to sleep during the night.

An individual suffering from arthritis and insomnia therefore needs to consult a medical expert and take in the necessary guidelines and help in order to gain some relief. Arthritis can be healed only if the individual has a good night’s sleep. Therefore taking the required help from a medical expert is very necessary.

Thus these are some of the emotional factors that add up to insomnia.

It is therefore very important that a child have proper sleep during the night. Lack of sleep causes a child to become hyperactive and obese.

Causes

Researchers have found that lack of sleep lowers the level of a hormone called leptin, which stimulates metabolism and decreases hunger. In addition to this, lack of sleep increases levels of a ghrelin- a hormone that’s responsible for increasing hunger.

This means that children with lack of sleep have increased hunger due to an increased production of ghrelin, and there is no check on the amount of food they eat because the production of the hormone leptin that is supposed to indicate a full stomach is lowered.

So the best way to control obesity in children is to ensure that they have good rest and a proper night’s sleep.

Some tips parents can keep in mind are

1)    Making sure that the child does not watch late night movies or games.
2)    Not letting the child stay up late for parties.
3)    Not letting them to compensate night’s sleep with naps in the afternoon.
4)    Not letting the child watch horror movies or anything scary before going to bed.
5)    Making sure that the child completes homework and assignments before bedtime.

All these points should be kept in mind. It is better to nip the disorder at the root, rather than waiting and letting it progress to a stage where it becomes incurable.

This way the person’s performance greatly suffers. People suffering from this disorder however, have no problem falling asleep in the morning; they can also sleep very well in the afternoon.

People suffering from D.S.P.S claim to be “night owls”, i.e. they say they function their best and are alert during the late night hours or evening.

One complains of suffering from this disorder after working for a long time in night shifts, or when is used to partying late nights. After a point of time the individual finds it very difficult to sleep early.

Difference Between Insomnia and Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

Unlike D.S.P.S. people suffering from insomnia, find it difficult to sleep, be it night or day.

Treatment

1) Bright Light Therapy: This is a therapy wherein an individual is exposed to bright light during the day and less light during the nighttime. Exposing one to bright light increases one’s level of alertness and decreasing exposure to light during the later part of the day helps one tune one’s body to a rhythmic sleep order.

2) Chronotherapy: A procedure wherein bedtime is delayed by 3-hour increments each day for a week. This procedure is maintained until the desired bed time is reached.

Also, experts suggest various sleep correcting techniques that can be very useful to an individual.

1)    Create a calm atmosphere by switching off the lights, TV, mobile etc.

2)    Secondly lie down in a very comfortable position.

3)    Now shut down yourself from your surroundings. Stop your thoughts. Think of nothing. Go blank for 20 seconds.

4)    Think of a place that relaxes you the most. It could be anything, being held in your father’s arms or a favorite picnic spot or your kitchen or a friends place etc. A place where you are free to be yourself.

5)    Think of how you feel in that place. What kind of happiness does the place give you? Now think of the surroundings. Is the place breezy, warm, cold or cool?

6)    Now think of how the place smells, you could remember the way your dad smells, or the smells in your kitchen, the aroma in your friends house etc.

7)    Now imagine the sounds associated with place, your dad’s voice, or the whisper of the breeze, soft music, your friends laughter etc.

8)    Stay and imagine all these things, the sight, smell and sounds for as long as you want to.

9)    Now slowly drift away from this safe and comfortable place, bit by bit.

10)     Come back to the present situation, and feel the atmosphere of the room you are in now, hear the familiar sounds around you.

11)    Lastly, open your eyes slowly and feel the relaxation sweep over your body.

Keep these points in mind and then drift back into a peaceful night’s sleep.

What is Insomnia?
Insomnia is a sleeping disorder which involves difficulty falling asleep. Here are the symptoms of insomnia:

• Difficulty falling asleep
• Difficulty staying asleep or waking up during the night
• Difficulty going back to sleep after waking up in the night
• Fatigue, tiredness after waking up

Relationship between Insomnia and Stress:
Insomnia and stress are closely related with each other. A person with high stress finds it very difficult to sleep. Apart from environmental factors, medications, health problems etc. stress is the major factor which causes insomnia

How Stress Causes Insomnia?
When a person is under stress, cortisol hormone is released by adrenal glands. Cortisol hormone is a stress hormone excites the body by increasing the blood pressure, blood sugar, and providing more fuel for brain and muscles. This is necessary during the time of activity or emergency. However, when cortisol is released during the night, it hinders the sleeping process

Cortisol levels in our body are high during the morning when much activity is needed. The cortisol level decreases during the night. However, when you are stressed continually, cortisol level increases during the night resulting in sleeplessness.

Melatonin is a hormone which helps in sleeping. If you have high cortisol levels due to stress, cortisol acts against melatonin resulting in insomnia. The relationship between insomnia and stress is strong and many studies have proved this

Stress causes insomnia by producing cortisol which wakes up the brain, increases the wakefulness. Hence, we should find ways to manage stress by exercising, taking counseling or avoiding too much work. Decreasing stress in your life can have numerous benefits, including enabling you to have a good night’s sleep.

Here are some tips that will prove to be very useful.

When To Call The Doctor

1)    If insomnia is affecting the individuals day time activities, and the person has a tough time getting things done, and this persists more than three to four weeks, then medical attention is immediately required. For e.g. person is found sleeping while driving, handling a baby, cooking etc.

2)    Insomnia caused due to a psychological problem, which a patient may need to address, immediately and take psychiatric help.

When To Go To The Hospital

1)    Sleep deprivation leads to attention lapses and poor coordination. Motor activity is greatly affected and causes lot of harm.

2)    Pain in the chest and increased difficulty at sleeping in the night may also indicate immediate medical help.

These are some important factors that need consideration and should be kept in mind. Lack of sleep causes an individual to loose motor coordination and clarity in thinking. It greatly affects one psychologically and physically.

When left untreated it leads to more chronic disorders like schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, heart attacks and severe stress.

Not only psychologically, it greatly affects one physically. It slows down motor coordination and makes one very lethargic and grumpy.

Therefore, it’s very important that one take meet the doctor and take the necessary treatment.

Alcohol tends to dehydrate the body and causes one to wake up several times in the night and drink water. This greatly disturbs the sleep pattern.

Also, alcohol will make one more sluggish and lethargic the next day. It does nothing but worsens one’s condition even more. Alcohol tends to disrupt sleep pattern greatly, especially the REM phase, which when disrupted cannot be brought to normalcy.

During the second phase of sleep, the body is busy overcorrecting itself to the effect of alcohol, trying to bring it back to a normal pattern. The brain is busy signaling and getting things right in the body; this further contributes to a disturbed sleep. The result is that one will wake up tired and disillusioned the next day with a severe hangover.

Indulgence in alcohol for a long period of time also lead to chronic insomnia. It is therefore important that one stay away from alcohol before going to bed in order to enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep.