LIKE GAS FOR YOUR CAR

       By Danelle Carvell                                                                             

There's more than one head on the bed here. I used to sleep well, like my grandkids do. Not anymore! 

People who are sleep-deprived are more likely to feel anxious, forgetful, depressed, impulsive, moody, emotional, overly-sensitive, easily-irritated and more likely to behave erratically. Wow! That's a lot to deal with. We are a nation of sleep-deprived people, and we need to understand each other, because sleep for the brain is like gas for a car. Aren't you glad you don't have to pay for it?

According to the article, Sleep and Mental Health: Why Our Brains Need Sleep, without proper sleep, the mind begins to slow, unable to operate at full potential. This continues until the mind becomes so deprived of the rest it needs that it breaks down, and without the commander-in-chief... the rest of the body pays the price. Insomnia can affect every part of the body, but I'm choosing to focus on how sleep affects the brain for this blog post. 

Sleep is the time your mind needs to recharge and maintain your mental processing. "When we are asleep, the brain can really go to work because it doesn't have to respond to all the external stimuli we encounter when we are awake. But if we rob the brain of this precious time, we pay the price," the article reads. 

It's during sleep that we process our emotions and memories.  Becoming forgetful is common after missing a good night's sleep. Sleep is also needed to maintain our emotional stability. Lack of sleep affects the part of the brain that is the "voice of reason" to our emotions.

"Without sleep, we can't control our impulses as well as we can when we are rested. We become more impulsive and less-likely to think through our emotional reactions, which is a dangerous place to be." the article states. 

One study, using MRI brain scans, showed that the part of the brain in charge of emotional responses was 60% more emotionally reactive in people who were sleep-deprived compared to those who were well-rested. One thing I found interesting is that only negative emotions intensify with lack of sleep. Positive ones do not.

Stress is another factor that affects sleep because stress has detrimental effects on the body. Too much cortisol (stress hormone) is produced when we don't sleep. This puts the body into a constant state of stress, unable to relax because cortisol keeps us alert. On the flip side, stress actually causes insomnia because the increased amount of cortisol that's released in a stressed-out person will keep that person awake. It's a vicious cycle.

"Sleep deprivation and stress contribute to a negative feedback loop that can be difficult to break and often results in mood disorders, anxiety disorders and depressive disorders. Heightened stress causes heightened anxiety, which can make you sensitive to all sorts of physical, mental and emotional stimuli," according to the article I mentioned. 

I have been dealing with insomnia for 16 years. I also know people who struggle with getting enough sleep, not because they stay up late, but because they just can't pass over into sleep mode, no matter how relaxed they are. It's a difficult thing to understand. When I say that I don't sleep well, most people will ask me what's on my mind, as if the only thing that causes insomnia is having something troubling on your mind. Insomnia can be caused by all kinds of mental and physical problems. 

I didn't have a problem sleeping until I received two injections of a drug called Lupron to ease the pain of endometriosis. Dr. Mercola, my favorite natural health doctor, believes that Lupron causes permanent neurological damage. I am living proof of that and so are thousands of other women who took the drug and are now suffering with horrible health conditions. Some of them had to go on disability after Lupron. 

I did my research. Unfortuanatley I researched too late. Always research a new drug prescription before taking it so you know what you're getting into. Do not blindly trust your doctor. Every now and then God gives me a break and lets me sleep almost like a normal person. But that can turn on a dime and within two bad nights, I can be a mess again. 

Sleep problems are an emerging global epidemic. It destroys a person's well-being and quality of life. It also affects our relationships. I don't want to become the girl who blames everything I do or say wrong on my lack of sleep. But I also don't want people to be uninformed on the issue. It is a real problem with a damaging impact. Writing this article has helped me to better understand not only what I'm dealing with, but also what other insomniacs are dealing with. 

If you sleep like a baby, count your blessings.