Go away, please, insomnia. How to fix sleep problems. Other types of sleep disorders. episodic sleep disorders

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According to statistics, 30-40% of people on the planet systematically experience sleep disorders in one form or another, and almost half of them have a problem. chronic course. At least 5% of the adult population are forced to regularly or constantly use sedatives and sleeping pills to alleviate his condition. One of the leading causes of the phenomenon is considered to be neuropsychic overstrain that occurs against the background of stress and depression. Quite often, the problem lies in non-compliance with the daily routine, maintaining an unhealthy lifestyle. With the timely initiation of therapy, the clinical picture of sleep disorders and their negative consequences is rapidly declining. Ignoring the pathology negatively affects the patient's condition, threatens with serious complications.

The reason for the deviation may be overvoltage.

Classification of sleep disorders

Insomnia can be primary or secondary. In the first case, it acts as an independent disease or the result of a psycho-emotional disorder. Secondary sleep disorders in children and adults occur against the background of somatic pathology, becoming one of the symptoms of the underlying ailment.

Most often, the problem affects the work of the brain, heart, blood vessels, kidneys, respiratory organs, endocrine system.

Universal classification of sleep disorders:

• insomnia - problems with falling asleep and maintaining a sleep structure. Doctors distinguish several separate forms of the phenomenon, depending on the provoking factor. It can be a psycho-emotional disorder, a mental illness, alcohol or medication intake, respiratory dysfunction. This group includes the syndrome restless legs and various somatic pathologies;
• hypersomnia - increased daytime sleepiness that can occur even against the background of a normal night's rest. The disease is provoked by many factors from somatic and mental disorders to the action of temporary stimuli. This also includes narcolepsy, a disease nervous system characterized by attacks of sudden falling asleep in daytime;
• parasomnia - specific malfunctions in the functioning of the organs and systems of the patient's body, which are directly related to the sleep process. The most frequent phenomena are somnambulism, enuresis, nocturnal epi-attacks and fears;
• failure of the cycle of sleep and wakefulness - this group includes constant and temporary violations sleep. The first become the result of a pathological failure and manifest themselves in different forms. The latter occur against the background of a change in the time zone or work schedule, so they rarely need targeted treatment.

Increased daytime sleepiness, even during normal night sleep.

Regardless of the form of insomnia, its development becomes a serious threat to health. A lack of sleep for just a few days threatens with psycho-emotional disorders, malfunctions of internal organs. chronic process can lead to permanent disorders, a decrease in the quality of life and a reduction in its duration.

Sleep problems

Inability to sleep in right time- one of the most common manifestations of a violation of the schedule of sleep and wakefulness. The patient, going to bed, feels tired, but his consciousness does not turn off. If normally sleep comes within 5-15 minutes, then with insomnia, patients can toss and turn for hours.

Most often, the cause of this is emotional overstrain, obsessive negative thoughts. The result is a lack of rest, due to which the body does not have time to recover. After the condition passes into a protracted or chronic form problems are provoked by the very fear of not falling asleep, and in the morning feeling overwhelmed again.

Restless and interrupted sleep

The recommended duration of a night's sleep for an adult is 6-8 hours. Deviations in any direction in 99% of cases cause negative consequences of a different plan. At the same time, not only the number of hours is important, but also the depth of the blackout of consciousness at this time. Restless sleep is one of the forms of dyssomnia, in which the central nervous system does not turn off completely after falling asleep, its individual parts continue to work, which becomes a problem. Frequent complaints in this case: nightmares, gnashing of the jaws, awakenings, screams or conversations, involuntary movements of the limbs. Such a clinical picture is characteristic of a number of neurological pathologies, a deficiency of B vitamins, disruptions in the endocrine system, and alcoholism.

At restless sleep CNS after falling asleep is not completely switched off.

Almost completely lost sleep

The inability to sleep during the night for at least a few hours can occur for a number of reasons, some of which are not even considered pathological. Despite this, so pronounced violation normal sleep and wakefulness is required in urgent treatment. In persons of mature and elderly age, difficulties often arise against the background of muscle spasms, the patient is simply not able to fall asleep due to persistent discomfort. He feels better after a warm bath or massage of the problem area, but in the absence of therapy, the improvement does not last long enough for a good rest.

The state when sleep completely disappears also manifests itself with intoxication, oncology, mental disorder, and hormonal disruptions.

The problem can arise against the backdrop of a passion for horror films, often it accompanies psychological trauma.

Too sensitive and superficial sleep

Increased nighttime sensitivity is fraught with frequent awakenings, as a result of which the sleep cycle is lost, the degree of recovery of the body is reduced. In some cases, this is considered one of the manifestations of the norm and needs only a slight correction. Superficial sleep is typical for pregnant women, young mothers, night shift workers, and the elderly. Sensitivity can increase if you spend too much time on a night's rest.

Light sleep is more common in pregnant women.

Pathological provocateurs include diseases of internal organs and mental disorders. Superficial sleep can be triggered by taking a number of medications, the abuse of synthetic and natural stimulants. Also hypersensitivity provokes dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, which manifests itself in the form of VVD or PMS.

Symptoms and causes of sleep disorders

Normally, the sleep formula is characterized by rapid falling asleep after going to bed, turning off consciousness throughout the night, waking up at a set time. An adult should get 7-8 hours of nightly rest.

Night rises are acceptable, but they should be rare and short, not affecting the quality of recovery.

A person who has had enough sleep in the morning feels fresh, rested, with good appetite and high spirits.

The main reasons for the development of sleep disorders:

• shock situations, stress;
• somatic and neurological diseases, mental disorders;
• chronic pain, physical or physiological discomfort;
• the impact on the body of stimulants of the central nervous system in the form of alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, drugs, medicines;
• violation of the rules for taking certain medications, their dangerous combination, product abuse;
• sleep apnea, snoring;
• failure of biorhythms as a result of the influence of external factors;
• hormonal changes and disruptions;
• non-compliance with the rules healthy eating, overeating before bedtime, obesity;
• unfavourable conditions recreation.

Violations can occur when a number of medications are taken incorrectly.

The development of insomnia is indicated by difficulties with falling asleep, frequent nocturnal awakenings or the inability to fall asleep again after them, and a forced early rise. Indirect symptoms are considered daytime sleepiness, irritability, bad mood or emotional lability. With some types of disorders, the very structure of night rest changes, pathological involuntary physical activity in bed. Over time, problems lead to a decrease in concentration, a loss of interest in the world around us, a deterioration in memory and mental abilities.

Diagnosis of sleep disorders

The development of insomnia is an indication for visiting a therapist. The doctor will conduct an initial examination, collect anamnesis, try to establish the causes of the condition. If the appearance of problems is associated with a malfunction of the internal organs, but they can be eliminated with the help of conservative therapy, the therapist will take care of the treatment.

In other cases, he will refer to a specialized specialist - a neurologist, ENT, dermatologist, endocrinologist, psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

AT rare cases The somnologist is engaged in diagnosing insomnia and identifying its causes. The patient is examined in a special laboratory using a polysomnograph, using the SLS method. The first approach allows assessing the electrical activity of the brain and the structure of sleep. The second is used when hypersomnia is suspected, in particular, narcolepsy.

The patient can be examined with a polysomnograph.

Our readers write

Topic: Got rid of the headache!

From: Irina N. (34 years old) ( [email protected])

To: site administration

Hello! My name is
Irina, I want to express my gratitude to you and your site.

Finally, I was able to overcome the headache. I lead an active lifestyle, live and enjoy every moment!

And here is my story

I don't know a single person who isn't bothered by periodic headache. I'm not an exception. She attributed all this to a sedentary lifestyle, an irregular schedule, poor nutrition and smoking.

I usually have such a state when the weather changes, before the rain, and the wind generally turns me into a vegetable.

I dealt with it with the help of painkillers. I went to the hospital, but they told me that most people suffer from this, both adults, and children, and the elderly. What is most paradoxical is that I have no problems with pressure. It was worth getting nervous and that's it: the head starts to hurt.

Sleep is the basis of health, psychological balance and vitality, but, unfortunately, many people have difficulty falling asleep, and important components of well-being are replaced weak immunity, unstable psyche and a catastrophic lack of energy. Why is the body unable to fall asleep quickly despite its needs and resists it, despite the great desire of a person? There are more than enough reasons, but in order not to continue to suffer long nights from insomnia and easily fall into a sound sleep, you just need to find and neutralize them, as they say.

The main culprits of long sleep

1. Dynamic failure of daytime wakefulness and nighttime rest. In other words, it is an unordered graph in time of two physiological conditions- wakefulness and sleep. When a person systematically violates the daily routine or does not adhere to it at all, as a result, such a dynamic failure leads to problems with falling asleep, or even to the inability of the brain to “switch” to the phase of relaxation and immersion in sleep. Very often, such a picture is observed from Sunday to Monday in adults and children who allow themselves to make mistakes in the weekend mode. During the legitimate time of the weekly rest, a person gives free rein to his desires, for example, to sit at the computer until the morning and sleep until dinner. Believe me, two days without following the regimen will be quite enough to bring down the biological rhythm of the body to the maximum.
2. Stress factor and mental fatigue. Both causes are stimulants of overexcitation of the nervous system. The inability of a person to quickly turn off is due to the continuation of work in the active rhythm of the brain at night. Stress, troubles at work, conflicts in the family and others negative emotions in 50% of cases, they are responsible for the occurrence of problems with falling asleep and the development of insomnia. It greatly affects the speed of falling asleep and the mental strain to which a person is exposed for a long time due to his profession.
3. Addictions. Smoking and alcohol - two worst enemy healthy well-being of a person. Toxic products that systematically enter the blood, poisoning the body, violate normal functioning nervous system, have a detrimental effect on the work of the cardiovascular department, bring brain cells to oxygen depletion. About what fast falling asleep and normal sound sleep can we talk if the human body under the influence of poisons is in a state of severe intoxication?
4. Symptoms of pathologies. Any pathogenesis present in a person can certainly affect sleep, since each organ is closely connected with the human nervous system. The organ suffers from the disease - the work of all functional units, including the central nervous system, is disrupted. In addition, the clinical symptoms, accompanied by itching and pain, are most pronounced mainly at night, which gives a person anxiety and anguish, prevents relaxation and sleep. People with restless legs syndrome feel especially problematic in terms of falling asleep, that is, when there is neurological disorder in lower limbs, characterized by the appearance of a sensorimotor reflex in response to discomfort in the legs - goosebumps, tingling, itching, pain, cramps.
5. Unfavorable sleep conditions. Lack of oxygen in the room, hot or cold climate in the bedroom, the noise of neighbors, uncomfortable bedding are the main provocateurs of insomnia and unhealthy sleep. You need to deal with them, and it's not difficult at all. First, ventilate the room before going to bed and try to maintain a comfortable warm temperature in the room - from 20 to a maximum of 25 degrees. Second, talk to your neighbors about ways to cut down on their nighttime activity. last resort, purchase comfortable earplugs. And finally, provide own body comfortable position through an orthopedic mattress and pillow.

Learning to feel your body and understand what factors cause it discomfort during the important period allotted for restoring the expended strength will help a person quickly get rid of the negative cause and return a good night's rest. A huge mistake of some people who often experience problems with falling asleep, immediately switch to medications with a hypnotic effect. From such medicinal “support”, addiction can develop, like a drug, which will only aggravate the problem of insomnia, but will not get rid of it without another “dose” of a sleep stimulant.

pharmachologic effect potent substances is not limited solely to the regulation of sleep, but includes unnatural effects on brain function and the NS, which has bad influence on daytime wakefulness. Therefore, it is necessary to use sleeping pills only as directed by a doctor and only if the specialist considers the problem of insomnia to be a serious consequence of any serious pathology. In all other situations, do not resort to such a series of drugs for help at all, so as not to cause drug addiction in own body and side effects from the nervous system.

The best cure for insomnia- this is a well-planned daily routine, including the same time of awakening and going to bed, good nutrition strictly by the clock, the absence of high-calorie foods and alcohol in the evening-night diet. And this is only part of the correct daily routine. Do not forget that most often, due to stress and mental imbalance, people are worried about changes in the nervous system. The distorted nervous system “behaves” at night in an inadequate way, provoking serious violations sleep.

Specialists involved in the treatment of insomnia and sleep disorders strongly recommend that all people start looking for a problem in their own psychological state. Usually, in order to stop having difficulty falling asleep, a person just needs to restore peace of mind, and healthy sleep will soon return. What other advice and recommendations do somnologists give to their patients?

1. Go to bed and wake up in same watch daily. Remember that a stable regimen is the key to trouble-free falling asleep. Thanks to an ordered schedule, the nervous system works smoothly and smoothly, which contributes to the rapid onset of complete muscle relaxation and the transition active state brain into normal functional inhibition. An increase in wakefulness even once, which shifts the time of going to bed by several hours, disrupts the natural biological rhythm of the body.

1. Lack of sleep should not be compensated during the daytime. If a person went to bed later than usual or had difficulty falling asleep at midnight, it is better not to overdo it with restoring energy during daylight hours. Permissible rate daytime sleep in such situations should not exceed 20 minutes. Going even 10 minutes past the specified time can affect your ability to fall asleep at night. If there is an irresistible desire to switch off - take a nap, but only ask your loved ones to wake you up in 15-20 minutes, or, in extreme cases, set an alarm. But ideally, of course, not to succumb to the temptation of daytime sleep at all, but to go to bed at your usual night time. A tired body will quickly plunge into the long-awaited relaxation, and the regime will be in short time restored without much effort.

1. Fighting hypodynamia with the help of physical education. Hypodynamia - low activity person in the daytime - is directly interconnected with a disorder of night sleep. Due to unspent energy during the daytime and the absence of natural fatigue, the body simply does not want to sleep. Moreover, the consequences of low motor activity can equally disturb both homebodies and people with sedentary work. Urgently contribute to a normal lifestyle with the restoration of the correct physiological rhythm of the body. Set aside time for sports to further help your muscles work, for example, walk for 1.5-2 hours daily, ride a bike, join a fitness club or go for a swim in the pool. But remember that the workout should be completed no later than 3 hours before a night's sleep.

1. Don't eat heavy food before bed. The expression "before going to bed" means that a person should have their last meal 2-3 hours before bedtime. At the same time, high-calorie foods for the evening meal are not suitable, as they require active work. gastrointestinal tract at night, and this condition, due to physiology, is simply impossible at night. Thus, a person, instead of sleeping, will experience discomfort in the abdomen. A healthy dinner for a healthy sleep should include light meat dishes, vegetable salads, dairy products. From fruits it is better to give preference to bananas and berries. All these products also contain important organic compounds that promote healthy sleep - proteins, magnesium, potassium and iron.

1. Beware of evening drinks that excite the nervous system. These include, first of all, alcohol and energy drinks. They disable the functional processes of the nervous system and activate the abnormal functioning of the cerebral cortex. Such drinking not only upsets the relaxation processes, which causes sleep disturbance in a person, but also causes irreparable harm to the health of internal organs and body systems. If in view important event a person will have to take alcohol, it is necessary to control its dose and not drink later than 3 hours before bedtime. A similar condition applies to the use of coffee, strong tea, hot chocolate and cocoa.

1. Exclude intellectual activity and contact with sensory sources of information in the evening-night period. Any activity before sleep associated with brain activity, for example, solving mathematical problems, writing poetry, solving crossword puzzles, negatively affects the processes of falling asleep due to a strong overexcitation of the thinking center of the brain. In addition, interaction with sensory sources at night acts as the main irritant of the nervous system and the culprit of a long fall asleep with the inability to fully relax. Sensory stimuli include the computer and television. No need to strain your brain by watching TV and working at the computer before going to bed, turn off the equipment for 2 hours, and even earlier, before you go to bed.

1. Provide a comfortable microclimate in the family. The depressed moral state that occurred shortly before a night's sleep due to discord in the family between loved ones is a huge psychological stress for the body. And the fact that the conflict took place in the evening and at night only exacerbates the situation, because it is at night that any shock to the nervous system is perceived especially sharply. Thus, a person will constantly think about a quarrel, wind himself negative thoughts, worry and worry about what happened. A conflict before going to bed that is not resolved by reconciliation will cause tension in every cell of the body, which will prevent a person from falling asleep quickly. Hence the conclusion follows: if you want to sleep soundly - love your relatives, do not get angry and do not hold a grudge against them, try to quickly resolve the trouble in the morning and afternoon so that the night does not become again time for an active “dialogue” with your brain.

Alcohol and nicotine are not a way to relax

Many people mistakenly believe that these two products can help you relax and even help you fall asleep quickly. How far from the truth are those who actually believe in such stupid things. Both alcohol and cigarettes contain toxic substances, which, when released into the blood, have a stimulating effect on the nervous system and have a detrimental effect on vascular tone. Vascular dystonus disrupts the functions of transporting blood to two critical systems human body - heart and brain. As a result, they do not receive the vital nutrients, in particular oxygen. Thus, the body simply begins to "suffocate" due to acute hypoxia and intoxication.

Pernicious habits with many years of "experience" ultimately lead to various complications from the nervous and cardiovascular systems. Significant damage is caused by alcohol and nicotine to the human psyche, which is characterized by imbalance. People who drink and smoke are irritable, quick-tempered, aggressive, restless. Their nervous system and brain work in a “broken” mode, which cannot provide healthy sleep to a person.

In the hope that nighttime anxiety, which prevents sleep, will immediately go away after a shot of vodka or a night of smoking, a person goes for another portion of the "poisonous medicine", which only exacerbates the problem. Yes, perhaps the tension will be relieved, and even falling into sleep will come. But such a rest cannot be considered complete, since the relaxing effect after taking alcohol or nicotine does not last long, only 30 minutes. After that, the concentration of toxins in the body reaches a high peak, which literally excites the nervous system. The systematic abuse of addictions is a direct path to sleep disturbance and the onset of chronic insomnia.

How to fall asleep quickly with neurological disorders?

Neurological disorders, especially restless legs syndrome, depression and the state of dependence on one's own thoughts, cause a lot of problems for a person. How to deal with such phenomena so that the processes of relaxation and falling asleep occur without much difficulty, we will consider further.

• restless leg syndrome. Some people are concerned about discomfort under the skin and in the muscles of the legs, which mainly occur in the evening and at night. To help relax muscle fibers and reduce symptoms, it is recommended to give moderate load on the muscles of the legs, for example, by running, walking, cycling, etc. Great benefit will have contrasting water procedures, but they should be carried out in a system, and not on a case-by-case basis. A person with movement disorders of the legs should limit, and it is better to completely exclude the intake of drinks containing caffeine and alcohol. If the pathology still continues to bother, seek help from a specialist who will help you choose the right drug Certainly not the hypnotic type.

• depressive state. Another fairly common problem. modern humanity – depression which comes from dissatisfaction with one's own life. Night for patients with mental disharmony is the time to “dig into” their life failures. What to do, because the lack of normal rest will contribute to the progression of the disease? First of all, a person must understand that depression is a serious condition that is caused by himself, deprives him of all the joys of life. Realizing this fact, it is necessary to take your own mental organization under full control. Try to look at the world not through the eyes of an imaginary loser, but a completely successful and cheerful person. Very effective methods of auto-training with a positive attitude towards life will come in handy here. If all methods do not help, take a course of psychotherapy with an appropriate specialist.

• Addiction to thoughts of insomnia. Very often, people themselves prevent themselves from falling asleep, convincing themselves every night that this time they will certainly get enough sleep, but the opposite effect is obtained. Having once experienced difficulty with falling asleep, a person already at a subconscious level is wary of an unsuccessful night's rest. And no rituals and pronunciations, for example, “I really want to sleep today, I’ll definitely pass out within five minutes,” not only do not work, but make it even worse, since the problem lies much deeper, in the subconscious. In this case, you need to get rid of the problem by other methods, aimed not at convincing that falling asleep right now will come, but at understanding and realizing that sooner or later it will happen anyway.

Do not get hung up on a temporary sleep disorder, this happens, believe me, in quite healthy people. Well, the body does not want to sleep, do not force it with your settings, but spend this time doing a calm and monotonous activity, for example, read a book or knit. And insomnia in the next half an hour, as "will remove by hand." If problems with falling asleep disturb you for a long time (more than 1 month), you should make an appointment with a somnologist to find out the true causes and receive therapeutic recommendations for correcting sleep.

Sleep problems should be approached with caution. They can be caused by the congestion of the past day, but they can also be the call of one's own soul, desperately demanding attention to the shadow side of the personality.

If the archaic peoples did not know what sleep disorders were, today they are among the most widespread symptoms of civilization. Many disorders that patients complain about are associated with falling asleep. Classical medicine considers them to be psychophysiologically conditioned, that is, developing against the background of the absence of any bodily symptoms. In other words, sleep disorders are an indication that a person can no longer cope with the stresses of his daily life. As a rule, in the evening he lacks peace in order to “put an end” to the outgoing day. Even classical medical practitioners are now starting to believe that sleep disturbances are a warning sign of "mental overload."

Sleep disturbances are a warning signal indicating the presence of "mental overload"

Classical medicine distinguishes such generalized categories of sleep disorders as:

insomnia (various types insomnia), in particular - problems with falling asleep and sleeping, getting up too early;

parasomnia(dysregulation of sleep and wakefulness), including sleepwalking or talking in a dream;

hypersomnia(increased sleepiness during the day) up to narcolepsy, an uncontrollable desire to fall asleep.

Sleep problems should be approached with caution. They can be caused by the congestion of the past day, but they can also be the call of one's own soul, desperately demanding attention to the shadow side of the personality. In this case, it is necessary to come to terms with this shadow side at the deepest levels - and perhaps find a solution to the original problem that caused difficulty falling asleep.

All sleep disorders can be interpreted in the context of a search for meaning, even if poor sleep is due only to poor body position in bed. We should also understand that our daily life affects sleep. Otherwise, we would not have had problems with sleep.

Can't close your eyes all night?

In a not very good situation, when the doctor knows very little about this common problem, he often tries to "dissuade" the patient from sleep disorders. There is a reason for this, since some patients tend to describe their sleep disorders as if they did not close their eyes all night long. This actually almost never happens, and it is easy to prove.

• The patient is asked to put a piece of paper by the bedside and put a cross on it every fifteen minutes.

An honest patient admits that he "overslept" a few or even quite a lot of crosses. Having lost the right to exaggeration, the patient, however, does not get rid of the burden of his suffering. Sleep problems never leave him.

On the other hand, the described exercise makes sense to do in order to objectify the disorder. In the morning, a person most often comes to the conclusion that everything is not as bad as it seemed to him. Exercise helps the patient to prove to himself that he actually spends one or another number of hours in sleep. He is convinced that the difficulties are associated only with a quantitative parameter, and a certain global problem he just doesn't have sleep.

In addition, the exercise helps to shift the main focus - from the loss of hope for the return of normal refreshing sleep to the belief that his ability to fall asleep has not disappeared, and you just need to try to change the quality of the nightly rest of the soul and body. Thus, thanks to objectification and rethinking, one can achieve positive results and embark on the path of self-healing.

Looking at sleep problems as important chances for development

The body always takes as much sleep as it needs. Only something extremely important can prevent the onset of such a necessary state as sleep. It may be that the soul has so many great concerns that working with them becomes of paramount importance. Accordingly, sleep cannot come. And yet, after that, the body will still require compensation in the form of sleep.

• He who uses the sleepless phases of the night to become aware of himself and his life, learn to appreciate the night and the dark, sometimes mystical themes associated with it. The subconscious - pushed to the margins of everyday life or repressed altogether - often only at night can again come to the fore and cause corresponding fears.
• The same one who, with the help of chemical sleeping pills, deprives these dark entities of the possibility of self-expression and the themes that on the other side of reality inhabit the worlds of images of the soul, must understand that they will find their bodily embodiment not in anything, but in a variety of diseases.

It would be much wiser to treat every sleep disorder as an opportunity. Try to look at it as an important clue to a larger, deeper problem that needs to be solved. Through this approach, the sleep disorder will lose its self-contained problematicness and become connected with the deep life of the soul in the sense described in the book Illness as a Symbol. This change in point of view gives us many advantages: now something that previously had a negative connotation can be perceived as a positive opportunity for self-development. And positive chances are much more interesting to any person.

Fear of losing control

Strong, health-giving sleep - fast falling asleep, actually a dream, a refreshing awakening - can turn into a real problem, since the night is an uncontrollable side of reality. It instills fear in that rational part of our essence, which is used to dominating everything. Sleep is associated with the threat of loss of control and the transition of the initiative to an unfamiliar, “dark” side of our essence.

Our difficulties with the night, with sleep and its images, also reflect our natural repression of the thought of death. At the heart of the fear of death lies a retreat from Christian faith and, above all, the materialism of Western society. The one who lives, focusing only on the material, in the end naturally will have no hope. He will have nothing left in the truest sense of the word. On the other hand, this field of problems indicates how incredible the potential for growth could be if we could rediscover the bright side of sleep and death.

In order to naturally and effortlessly move from one level to another - from wakefulness to sleep, from life to death - we must complete the tasks of the level that we want to leave. Only if we did homework”, the transition may succeed.

Never let go

From a psychological point of view, sleep disorders often hide the fear of letting go of your own little “I”. This is the same fear that keeps many from allowing themselves to experience the “little death,” that is, orgasm, which involves letting go of ourselves and allowing ourselves to “fall” into the unknown. Behind this, too, is the fear of losing one's "self", one's little "I". Such people are not able to “fall asleep” and fall asleep happily because their attitude towards the loss of “I” and control is negative. Moving backward - and sleep is always regression - towards the inexpressible, towards the source of life, is regarded as a separation from the "I" and causes fear. For other people in spiritual search(and there are almost all religious directions and spiritual traditions), liberation from the "I", on the contrary, is a key goal.

Overexertion, stress

The pressure accumulated during the day, very often, with all its force, falls on people at night - they did not complete the tasks, they could not justify their hopes, and so on. Add to this the fear of a new day, which, most likely, does not portend any improvement. One such topic would be more than enough to deprive a person of sleep - but in fact they almost never come one by one. An unmanageable past casts a shadow over a fearsome future. Between these millstones the night hours pass. Classical medicine vilifies stress, which today seems to be blamed for everything. This is also mixed external causes sleep disorders such as loud noise, which is also classified as a stress factor. The statistics say that stronger sleep Only our worries interfere.

Learned programs, sleepy hypochondria

Sleep problems are often further exacerbated by learned behavioral programs. The feeling of discomfort from the fact that a person goes to bed and stubbornly cannot fall asleep gradually begins to be associated with his bed and bedroom. It also happens that when a person enters the bedroom, he immediately feels anxiety, nervousness and fear.

Already in childhood, we can develop a kind of sleepy hypochondria. It was noted that the vast majority of patients who experienced sleep problems had parents who attached exaggerated importance to sleep. This was expressed, for example, in the fact that bad behavior and they attributed the child's failures to a bad dream. Or they predicted failure for children if they didn’t get enough good and sound sleep the night before. It is on this soil that a tree of problems grows, the fruits of which a person has to reap in later life.

Constant fearful observation of oneself, tracking whether one managed or will be able to sleep, will certainly spoil the sweet taste of falling asleep. Corresponding fears often become a reality. Anyone who for a long time is afraid of being insolvent in something just because he does not get enough sleep, thereby will not only interfere with his own falling asleep, but also - over time - with the fulfillment of the tasks assigned to him.

Problems with falling asleep can also be explained by the phenomenon of the formation of the “self-reward” reflex: someone who compensates for his inability to fall asleep every night with a sip of alcohol, a relaxing video, or something else in the same vein, can greatly increase the already existing problem.

Rhythm failure

Along with overload, which is an integral part of modern life, the appearance of sleep disorders is also affected by the loss of a harmonious rhythm of life, consonant with nature. The twentieth century was marked by a triumphal procession across the planet of artificial lighting. Hardly anyone thought about negative consequences, which spread like an avalanche all over the same planet in the form, in particular, of depression and sleep disorders. Almost all so-called mental illnesses are connected, in particular, with the loss of rhythm; almost all of them are accompanied by sleep disorders.

bodily dysfunctions

One of the understudied root causes of sleep disorders may be bodily dysfunctions. Getting rid of bodily symptoms that prevent a good sleep is possible only if they are worked out at the level of the soul. For example, it turned out that the vast majority of patients suffering from sleep disorders are characterized by chronically low blood pressure. In patients with reduced pressure(namely, about women most often and in question) specific sets of problems can be identified.

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The fact is that such patients, as a rule, have not yet found their place in the world around them and have not learned how to manage their lives. Their communication problems are embodied in the form of fears, cold hands, cold feet (the soul goes to the heels). In addition, there are a number of sleep disorders caused by pain in the body, back, limbs, and these problems should be identified and dealt with at the appropriate level.

It would also be useful to reflect on the meaning of all these "sores" for our soul - in the sense that it is said in the book "Sickness as a Symbol".

Sleep problems can be caused by an organic dysfunction such as heart weakness. In this case, just taking lying position, the body gets the opportunity to restore proper blood circulation and thereby remove right amount water.

Frequent urge to urinate and cause sleep disturbance. It may also be that swelling over the years prostate takes over the function of the dam, which does not allow to fully empty the bladder. As a result, the frequency of visiting the toilet increases significantly, including at night.

By virtue of relaxation connective tissue and associated bladder weakness, women may also experience repeated urges to urinate during the night, resulting in disturbed sleep.

If sleep is disturbed due to cramps in the calf and other muscles, it is useful to approach this issue from two angles:

• firstly, to try to identify the spiritual root causes of these convulsive contractions and overstrains,
• and secondly, to take a course of magnesium supplementation, which improves our condition at the body level in an amazing way.

The interpretation of all these problems - from heart failure and swelling of the prostate to a tendency to convulsions - is presented in the book "Illness as a symbol." They must be worked out and released from oneself, using one's abilities in realizing the space of soul images.

In the transitional period, in old age, when we are faced with the task of making the greatest “turnover” of our lives, the voice of the heart can sound especially loud and begin to comment on the process of dying as the beginning of a new formation. Or, in the face of such changes, we will sometimes begin to break a sweat. There is no doubt that extremely exciting, hot topics lie at the basis of the symptoms named by the latter. And the resulting sleep disorders can be associated with dreams and the thoughts and feelings that flow from them.

disturbing dreams

Repeated nocturnal awakening in most cases is due to the fact that dreams occur near the boundaries of consciousness, and sleep is disturbed under the influence of the corresponding emotions. Often people lose access to the worlds of internal images so much that dreams unfold without any participation on their part. And then emotions just catapult them out of sleep.

If at the same time the “images of fear” lose their distinctness, then the sweat that comes out or the heart palpitations only win. After all, images, even if they are not perceived by consciousness and do not remain in memory, do not disappear anywhere, as well as the reactions caused by them. And this means that the topic that is not conscious and continues to smolder in the subconscious will take away from us the peace that is so necessary in order to fall asleep again.

Sleep problems, like problems falling asleep, occur in the middle of the night. Awakening as such is not a problem if the person goes back to sleep soon.

Disturbances in the sleep process indicate that the topics that disturb us are so painful that, having interrupted sleep, they then do not allow it to come again. In such situations, it makes sense to turn to meditations with voice accompaniment in order to regain access to the figurative worlds and, with their help, try to identify the causes of problems. In this way, we can get rid of them much faster, provided, of course, that we have enough willpower to stand in front of them face to face.

If we look at the disruption of the sleep process from the point of view expressed in the book Illness as a Symbol, and try to understand what the body is trying to tell us, the task becomes easier. We see that, firstly, we fail to fall asleep and sink into an unconscious state. Secondly, we are forced to lie in bed and look - look for a dream that does not want to come. But it is at this time that it is worth giving up resistance, calming down and trying to remain calm further, and then voluntarily follow the besieging thoughts.

Most often, it is enough just to find the key to the doors of those problems that were worked out in interrupted dreams. They have their own meaning, and over time, you can learn to understand the message that they carry. Not infrequently out of such a "disorder" arises a new attitude towards the night and its dreams. published .

From the book "A guide to sleep. How to fall asleep, sleep, get enough sleep", Rudiger Dahlke

P.S. And remember, just by changing your consciousness - together we change the world! © econet

Strongly recommends to everyone and everyone to maintain a sufficient level of nightly rest throughout life in order to enjoy the allotted time in full and not to go to another world earlier than expected. Unfortunately, sometimes just wanting to sleep is not enough. Sometimes a person simply cannot fall asleep or achieve a satisfactory quality of sleep due to his disorders, which we want to tell you about.

1. Insomnia

Insomnia, also known as insomnia, is an extremely indiscriminate and widespread sleep disorder that occurs in people of all ages. Characterized by insufficient duration and/or poor quality of sleep, occurs on a regular basis for a long time (from three times a week for a month or two).

The reasons. Stress, side effect medicines, anxiety or depression, alcohol abuse, drug use, disruption of circadian rhythms due to shift schedule work, somatic and neurological diseases, constant overwork, poor sleep hygiene and its unfavorable conditions (stale air, external noise, excessive lighting).

Symptoms. Difficulty falling and staying asleep, concern about sleep deprivation and its consequences, decreased mental and physical performance, and reduced social functioning.

Treatment. Diagnosing the cause of a sleep disorder is the first step to getting rid of insomnia. It may be necessary to identify the problem comprehensive examination, ranging from a medical examination to polysomnography (registration of a sleeping person's indicators with special computer programs).

Although it’s worth starting with, long time-tested and many people: giving up daytime sleep, controlling overeating in evening time, following the exact schedule of daily going to bed, airing and curtaining the room, light physical activity before bedtime, preventing mental arousal from games, TV, books, taking a cool shower before bedtime.

In case of failure measures taken the help of a psychologist may be required, treatment of the underlying somatic or neurological disease as prescribed by the doctor.

2. Restless legs syndrome

RLS is a neurological disease characterized by discomfort in the legs and manifests itself in a calm state, usually in the evening and at night. It occurs in all age groups, but mainly in people of the middle and older generation, and 1.5 times more often in women.

The reasons. There are primary (idiopathic) and secondary (symptomatic) RLS. The first occurs in the absence of any neurological or somatic disease and is associated with heredity, and the second can be caused by a deficiency of iron, magnesium, folic acid, thiamine or B vitamins in the body, thyroid diseases, as well as uremia, diabetes, chronic lung diseases, alcoholism and many other diseases.

Symptoms. Unpleasant sensations in the lower limbs itching, scraping, stabbing, bursting or pressing, as well as the illusion of "crawling". To get rid of heavy sensations, a person is forced to shake or stand on his feet, rub and massage them.

Treatment. First of all, treatment is aimed at correcting the primary disease or replenishing the detected deficiency of elements useful for the body. Non-drug therapy involves avoiding drugs that can exacerbate RLS (for example, antipsychotics, metoclopramide, antidepressants, and others), in combination with moderate physical activity during the day, rinsing the feet in warm water or vibrating the feet. Drug therapy may be limited to taking sedative (calming) drugs or develop into a course of drugs from the group of benzodiazepines, dopaminergic drugs, anticonvulsants, opioids.

3. Behavioral REM sleep disorder

It is a malfunction in the functioning of the central nervous system and is expressed in the physical activity of the sleeper during the REM phase. FBG (REM phase, rapid eye movement phase) is characterized by increased activity brain, dreams and paralysis human body except for the muscles responsible for heartbeat and breathing. In FBG behavioral disorder, a person's body acquires an abnormal "freedom" of movement. In 90% of cases, the disease affects men, mostly after 50 years, although there have been cases with nine-year-old patients. A fairly rare disease that occurs in 0.5% of the world's population.

The reasons. It is not known exactly, but it has been associated with various degenerative diseases. neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy, dementia, or Shye-Drager syndrome. In some cases, the disorder is caused by drinking alcohol or taking antidepressants.

Symptoms. Talking or screaming in a dream, active movements of the limbs, twisting them, jumping off the bed. Sometimes "attacks" turn into injuries that are received by sleeping people nearby or by the patient himself due to violent blows inflicted on pieces of furniture.

Treatment. The antiepileptic drug "Clonazepam" helps 90% of patients. In most cases, it is not addictive. If the drug does not work, melatonin, a hormone that regulates circadian rhythms, is prescribed.

4. Sleep Apnea

Nothing but a stop respiratory movements with short-term cessation of ventilation of the lungs. The sleep disorder itself is not life threatening, but it can cause other serious illnesses such as hypertension, ischemic disease heart, stroke, pulmonary hypertension, obesity.

The reasons. Sleep apnea can be caused by narrowing and collapse of the upper airways with characteristic snoring (obstructive sleep apnea) or the absence of “breathing” impulses from the brain to the muscles (central sleep apnea). Obstructive sleep apnea is much more common.

Symptoms. Snoring, drowsiness, difficulty concentrating, headaches.

Treatment. One of the most effective methods treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is CPAP therapy - the continuous provision of positive pressure in respiratory tract using a compressor unit.

But regular or occasional use of CPAP machines is far from suitable for all people, and therefore they agree to surgical removal some tissues of the pharynx to increase the lumen of the airways. Popular and laser plastic soft palate. Of course, these methods of treatment should be prescribed only after a detailed examination of human health.

As an alternative to surgical intervention, it is proposed to use special intraoral devices to maintain the lumen in the airways - caps and nipples. But, as a rule, they have no positive effect.

With regard to central sleep apnea, CPAP therapy is also effective here. In addition to it, verified drug treatment is carried out.

We must not forget about prevention, which needs to be puzzled as early as possible. For example, it is recommended to stop smoking and drinking alcohol, go in for sports and lose weight. excess weight, sleep on your side, raise the head of the bed, practice special breathing exercises which will help strengthen the muscles of the palate and pharynx.

5 Narcolepsy

A nervous system disorder related to hypersomnia, which is characterized by recurring episodes of excessive daytime sleepiness. Narcolepsy is very rare and mostly affects young men.

The reasons. There is little reliable information, but scientific studies refer to the lack of orexin, a hormone responsible for maintaining the state of wakefulness.

Presumably, the disease is hereditary in combination with an external provoking factor, such as viral diseases.

Symptoms. Narcolepsy can present with one or more symptoms at the same time:

• Daytime attacks of irresistible drowsiness and attacks of sudden falling asleep.
• Cataplexy - a peculiar condition of a person in which he loses muscle tone due to strong emotional upheavals of a positive or negative nature. Usually cataplexy develops rapidly, which leads to the fall of a relaxed body.
• Hallucinations during falling asleep and waking up, similar to waking dreams, when a person is not yet asleep, but at the same time he already feels visual and sound visions.
• Sleep paralysis in the first seconds, and sometimes even minutes after waking up. At the same time, a person remains in a clear consciousness, but is able to move only his eyes and eyelids.

Treatment. Modern therapy is not able to cope with the disease, but is able to alleviate its symptoms. Drug treatment involves the use of psychostimulants that reduce drowsiness and relieve the symptoms of cataplexy or sleep paralysis.

6. Somnambulism

The disease, better known as sleepwalking or sleepwalking, is characterized by a person's physical activity while he is in a state of sleep. From the outside, sleepwalking may seem quite harmless, because the sleeper can do the most common household chores: get out, watch TV, listen to music, draw, brush your teeth. However, in some cases, a sleepwalker can harm his health or commit violence against a randomly met person. The somnambulist's eyes are usually open, he is able to navigate in space, respond to simple questions However, his actions are still unconscious. Waking up, the lunatic does not remember his nightly adventures.

The reasons. Lack or poor quality of sleep, painful or feverish condition, taking certain medicines, alcoholism and drug addiction, stress, anxiety, epilepsy.

Symptoms. In addition to normal movement and performing simple tasks, there may be sleeping in a sitting position, mumbling and involuntary urination. Often somnambulists wake up in a different place than they went to sleep, for example, instead of a bed on a sofa, armchair or in the bathroom.

Treatment. Often, people suffering from sleepwalking do not need drug treatment. They are encouraged to reduce stress levels and maintain good sleep hygiene. If the measures taken are insufficient, antidepressants and tranquilizers are prescribed. Hypnosis is also practiced.

7. Bruxism

It is expressed by gnashing or tapping of teeth during sleep. The duration of the attack can be measured in minutes and repeated several times a night. Sometimes the sound is so strong that it begins to cause discomfort to people around. But where more harm bruxism inflicts on the sleeping person himself: his problems with tooth enamel, gums and jaw joints are aggravated.

The reasons. There is no reliable information. Theories of the development of bruxism as a result of the presence of worms in the body, exposure to environmental factors, or the need to grind teeth have not received scientific confirmation. Most probable causes- stress, mental imbalance, mental fatigue and nervousness. There are frequent cases of bruxism in people with malocclusion.

Symptoms. Morning migraines and headaches, complaints of pain in the facial muscles, temples, jaws, ringing in the ears. With the long-term nature of the disorder, erasure occurs hard tissue teeth and caries develops.

Treatment. Self-reliance on stress or psychological counseling. Patients with bruxism are individually made mouthguards that protect the teeth from friction.

8. Night terrors and nightmares

For all the unpleasant homogeneity of horrors and nightmares, they are expressed in different ways during sleep.

Night terrors come in deep phase sleep, during which there are almost no dreams, so a person wakes up from a feeling of despair and a sense of catastrophe, but cannot describe a detailed picture of events.

Nightmares, on the other hand, occur during REM sleep, during which dreams occur. A person awakens from heavy emotions, and at the same time he is able to describe the details of what happened.

Anxiety dreams are more common in younger age with a gradual decrease in frequency as they grow older.

The reasons. There are several theories for the origin of night terrors and nightmares. For example, a bad dream may be the result of a previously experienced traumatic event, it may indicate an impending illness. Often, horrors and nightmares occur against a general depressive and anxious background. It is believed that they also have a warning function, strengthening a person’s phobias in a dream so that he remains as careful as possible in life.

Some antidepressants and drugs that regulate blood pressure can cause unpleasant dreams.

In movies, games and books, it can play a negative role in causing horrors and nightmares.

Symptoms. Screams and moans, increased pressure and sweating, rapid breathing and palpitation, abrupt awakening in fright.

Treatment. Getting rid of stress, acquiring new positive emotions, maintaining sleep hygiene are the first steps to getting rid of night terrors and nightmares. In some cases, treatment by a psychotherapist or medication may be necessary.

Have you ever suffered from sleep disorders? What tricks have helped you get rid of them?