By Victoria Manoleva (11th grade)
Let’s talk about insomnia since a lot of students, whether in high school or university, have come across it at least once in their life.
So what is insomnia (or sleep deprivation) exactly? Insomnia is a difficulty getting to sleep, difficulty staying asleep, waking up way too early in the morning, not getting enough hours of sleep or any kind of combination of these sleep symptoms. During the day they can often cause fatigue, concentration problems, memory disturbance, mood swings, irritability and diminished work performance. However, this doesn’t go for everyone.
Mornings are especially tough for insomniacs since they may not recognize which day it is or get confused when asked about what they’ve done the day before. Days just merge. The lack of rapid eye movement (REM) during sleep causes restlessness and emotional instability. Late night studies are a habit of some students since they have trouble sleeping – yes, insomniacs can be intensely creative (especially after midnight). That’s because when our minds are tired, we don’t censor our thoughts which can in fact boost creativity.
Time is torture.
Worrying about sleep itself creates “anticipatory anxiety”, which prevents you from sleeping. The more you think about the fact that you’re not sleeping, that it’s too late, the further you are from falling asleep.
We are emotionally raw.
We become more sensitive to what people say to us, to what we read, to what we listen to or even to what we see. Everything can be a mood changer at this point aka constant mood swings. What’s more, the body reacts to the exhaustion by crying in order to help reduce chemical imbalance.
A later stage of insomnia is having hallucinations. Sleep deprivation disrupts your thought process, triggering delusions.
After a long time not sleeping, no medications seem to work anymore. Although science has not proven the biological need for sleep, those who have insomnia undoubtedly suffer.
In conclusion, insomnia can become a serious medical condition if not taken care of. A lot of people suffer from insomnia daily and their number is increasing with each passing day. The worse the condition gets, the more society starts to realize how big an impact sleep deprivation has on life.
PERSONAL TIPS for coping with insomnia:
- Use relaxation exercises, such as focused breathing, meditation, yoga
- Set an exact time for going to bed and for getting up
- If you’ve been awake in bed for 20 to 30 minutes, get up and do something else
- See a therapist and brainstorm ideas
- Keep a journal
- As a last resort, see a medical doctor and ask about medication
Sources: http://sleepdisorders.about.com/od/ca… http://www.faqs.org/oc/Overcoming-Ins… http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/fact-s… http://guiltysquid.com/?p=3387 http://glennstok.hubpages.com/hub/cre… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_an… http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbod… http://glennstok.hubpages.com/hub/cre… http://sleepdisorders.about.com/od/ca… http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/… http://healthyliving.msn.com/health-w… https://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed… http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-li… http://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/cau… http://moodsmith.com/insomnia/ http://www.lipri.org/hypnogogichypnop…