Falling asleep naturally Part 1

I've often thought that it would be nice to be able to get by on less sleep so I could accomplish more, but it just doesn't work out that way for me. Some people seem to function well on 4 hours of sleep each night but I NEED at least 7 hours of restful sleep in order to function well the next day.

Craig David says it best: It feels like insomnia, ah, ah.

Almost everyone has at some point experienced the frustrating inability to go to sleep, but sometimes it gets much, much worse and ends up in chronic insomnia. It's not just not sleeping that's the problem; it's the fatigue and brain fog that follows the insomnia.

Did you know that aside from disease, nothing degrades your health faster than lack of sleep? Your body requires that period of rest in order to replenish and rejuvenate.

While you are sleeping, your body uses that time to conduct important preventive maintenance at the cellular level. Deprive the body of this restful period and you increase the potential for severe physical and/or psychological maladies.

What happens when you don’t get enough sleep

With a packed schedule, trying to squeeze as many hours as possible into the day is sorely tempting. However, when you continuously short yourself on sleep, as happens when you CAN'T fall asleep/stay asleep, you begin to pay for it in many ways:

* Impaired mood, memory, and concentration. When you don’t get enough sleep, you’re less productive, not more. Lack of sleep affects your ability to concentrate and remember things. What’s more, it makes you irritable and cranky. As a result, your social and decision-making skills suffer.
* Dampened immune system. Without adequate sleep, the immune system weakens, making you more vulnerable to colds, flu, and other infections and diseases. And when you DO get sick, it takes you longer to recover.
* Increased risk of accidents. Did you know that driving while seriously sleep deprived is similar to driving while drunk? The lack of motor coordination associated with sleep deprivation also makes you more susceptible to falls and injuries.

So, even knowing all of that, why is it so darned hard to get to sleep or stay asleep? Sometimes, even when we DO want the Sandman to do his job, we just lie there staring at the ceiling thinking of not being able to sleep. Sometimes desperation sets in and some of us resort to either over the counter or prescription sleeping aids, but since this blog is about natural remedies, we're going to talk about food and the relationship between tryptophan, B vitamins, vitamin D, serotonin, melatonin, insulin, calcium, and magnesium and how they all help you sleep.

Next: The Interaction of Bio-chemicals