A Drug-Free Path to Sweeter Dreams
- Do you experience a sense of helplessness about your insomnia?
- Does your ability to concentrate and think clearly falter?
- Are you plagued by severe mood swings?
Insomnia is one of the most common health complaints following chronic pain and headaches. Insomnia can be defined as difficulty falling asleep or waking up within the sleep cycle or both. As a nation, the majority of Americans have accrued an enormous sleep debt and it must be repaid. The average person lacks up to an hour and a half of sleep every night. A healthy adult optimally needs six to eight hours of quality sleep. If your peak performance is based upon seven hours of sleep and you receive six hours during the weekdays, you are consequently in a sleep debt of five hours. Sleeping in on weekends replenishes some of that debt, but it does not entirely erase it. Essentially it can take several weeks to replenish the average American’s sleep debt. The toll on our well-being and quality of life is quite significant. Cognitive function falters and the risk of heart disease, diabetes, depression, and high cholesterol increase exponentially with every increase in this sleep debt.
