By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Midnight strikes beneath a sky crowded with stars. You long for the promised rest of a long days night. It all seems so peaceful, yet with every passing moment the silence deafens, the darkness deepens. Your attempts are fruitless, your efforts pointless. You long to loiter down the promised path of that elusive, that desirable, that slippery Sleep but to no avail! What were you guilty of during the day to deserve such punishment at night? Are you generally overactive, over anxious or over stressed? Are you over caffeined, over medicated or overfed? Any of these plus many other reasons can cause your insufferable state of sleeplessness. Insomnia, together with its bedfellow depression, are the popular maladies of the new millennium. Whether occasionally, frequently, or regularly, in this rushing world of ours, lack of sleep is bad enough at night, but when day breaks more problems occur as a result, creating havoc for you at home, at work and in your social circles. The what, when, why of insomnia are as varied and as diverse as we are. Finding the underlying cause for each individual is necessary, if we wish to find the cure. Insomnia, defined as the difficulty or inability to initiate or maintain sleep, is classified under three major types: transient, acute, and chronic. Most of us, if not all, occasionally suffer from transient insomnia caused by anxiety over a given situation, such as jet-lag, fatigue, or anticipation. Acute insomnia is the inability to consistently sleep well for a period of 3 weeks to 6 months. This is common after the loss of a job or a loved one. Chronic insomnia, regarded as the most serious, persists almost nightly for at least a month. Who can go for a whole month without sleep? If not remedied, such cases can lead to major depression and premature aging. Sleeplessness may be more prevalent today, but is by no means a new ailment. Man has been plagued by the cares and responsibilities of survival throughout history. Many an ancient human spent a sleepless night worrying about the next meal, a sick baby, or going to war. He discovered that certain herbs can help him overcome his restless nights. The herbs, like chamomile, were mild with only soothing effects and no side effects. Todays world of advanced scientific discoveries has opened the door for modern medical miracles contained in one little pill. This invasion of chemical sleep aids is fraught with side effects, addiction, and soon loses its sleep promoting effectiveness. Yet we continue to seek our medications which physicians are quick to prescribe, and we are quick to swallow. While insomnia is referred to as a sleep disorder, it is, in reality, only a symptom. Cure the cause and you will cure the disorder. Moreover, what works for A may not work for B. Each case of insomnia is tailored for that particular person's needs. Some standard remedies can benefit us all, primary among them is reducing our caffeine intake. Caffeine may help perk you up during a slow morning, but it will also hamper your ability to get the much needed rest at night. The next morning you will be lethargic and will need more caffeine, and the cycle continues. It is a vicious trap that must be stopped, but how can you function efficiently without sleep and without caffeine! Whether it takes a day or a month it must be done. Gradually cut down on caffeine intake for the sake of a peaceful nights sleep. That includes coffee, tea, cocoa, colas, chocolate, etc. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine have found that middle aged men lose sleep, not only because of what they worry about, but because of increased sensitivity to the stress hormone, cortisol released from their adrenal glands. This suggests that chronic insomnia is a disorder of sustained hyperarousal of the body's stress response system. The perils of insomnia are many, especially for those victims less vigorous, more meditative, grieving, suffering, vulnerable. They dread the myriad nights as they fall one upon the other. Nothing breaks the darkness, though the heavens are still bathed in starry clarity. They toss and turn, sometimes in prayer, often in fury as they battle the silent ghosts slung against their beds by the desert winds. Without sleep, how can they forget the misfortunes of their long days and longer nights! Several techniques have been designed to deal with the tension, stress and anxiety that lead to insomnia. We are all familiar with some of them like drinking warm milk, taking a warm bath, sleeping at regular hours, counting sheep, getting a massage, or sleeping on your back. The most recent development is brain music therapy and so far it has proved to be the most effective non=pharmacologic therapy for insomnia. Leonid Kayumov PhD, Director of Sleep Research Clinic at Toronto Western Hospital reported the evaluation of the safety and efficiency of brain music therapy in anxious insomniacs at the 16th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. The patients in the study were instructed to use music prior to sleep or during awakening episodes. Within 4 weeks, brain music reduced symptom of anxiety and insomnia evidenced by subjective and objective measures obtained from the Athens Insomnia Scale and actigraphy. Clinical cases also documented that patients who were using brain music were able to reduce the dosage of the pharmacological anxiolytics. What a revelation!! We are tempted to say: august researchers and learned professors, we could have told you so. Did not your mothers sing your favourite lullaby as a baby, or rock you to a certain rhythm, to put you to sleep! Listening to music is no doubt a relaxing method that transports your brain away from your stressful time and place, to memories of a better time and a better place. Its rhythmic and total parameters create meditative conditions by influencing brain neurophysiology. In simpler words listen to mama and play your favourite music, and like mama used to do, it will lull you to sleep, so you will be fresh the next morning and able to cope with the onslaught of stress and strife, slings and arrows, sure to be aimed at all of us every day, without fail. Soft closer of our eyes Low murmur of tender lullabies -- John Keats (1795-1821)
