Sleep

Dave — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:03:07 +0000

So I just finished watching part two of Dead Tired, a documentary on sleep that first aired on SBS last week Wednesday, which was a serendipitous find as I was just channel flicking. Part two of the series dealt with insomnia and how it is also associated with depression, anxiety, hormone levels and medication. I was particularly interested in this documentary as I have recently developed a very poor sleep habit and sometimes suffer from insomnia. One of the explanations for insomnia is that people suffering from insomnia have a deficiency in the hormone (melatonin), which helps switch off parts of the brain so that you can get to sleep. One condition that affects the level of melatonin is anxiety, which leads to higher levels of cortisol affecting the production of melatonin. Actually cortisol is referred to as the “stress hormone” as its levels increase in response to stress and anxiety. Coming back to the topic of melatonin switching off the brain, now I understand what people mean when they say that they can’t switch off their brains when they suffer from insomnia. Several solutions were offered and discussed, such as consultation with a specialist, taking medication and yoga. It seemed that the most effective way to curing anxiety caused insomnia was yoga, where regular exercise helped regulate a normal breathing pattern and slower pulse thus lowering anxiety.

Another segment of the documentary dealt with our biological clock and the circadian cycle. Our bodies are actually synchronised with the circadian cycle (24hr), which helps explain the concept of jet lag since we need time to adjust to the new time zone. Our biological clocks determine when we become tired and hence it is very important to maintain a biological clock that is in sync with the 24 hour clock. Interestingly, it was shown how 11 and 13 year old children have altered biological clocks due to the hormones present in the body at those respective ages. An eleven year old would sleep at 9pm and wake up around 7am. However there is a 2 hour delay in a thirteen year old, and consequently they sleep at 11pm and wake up around 9am, which would make waking up for school very difficult. A bright light therapy was described in the documentary where a shining light was used to help reset a person’s biological clock, since our bodies actually use light as a stimulus to synchronise our biological clocks.

I am glad that I was able to catch the documentary showing as it will definitely make me think about my own sleeping patterns and how sleep isn’t as disposable as I make it to be. Time to sleep on it

What Dave writes » melatonin

Sleep