How to Achieve a Better Nights Sleep

In our busy world, people like to burn the candle at both ends. We try to milk as much activity out of our 24 hours a day as possible. With all the things that we try to make time for, the thing that we need to make the most time for, is the thing we make the least of a priority. This is the function of sleeping.


That fact is that while an overindulgence of sleep is unproductive, most people are far from that danger. Medical facts state that lack of sleep, not the function of sleeping, is what causes illnesses and unproductivity. The body is a marvelous machine that needs a restorative period. To put things in simple perspective, the body needs at the very least 6, but optimally 8 hours of sleep to perform all of the tasks that our lives require of it. That means hours at a time of doing nothing but sleeping, so that we have plenty of energy to function in a healthy productive manner every day.


Some people would love to get hours of sleep, but because of stresses in their lives, they get little to no sleep. When these people find that they can’t rest naturally, they have to turn to synthetic ways of obtaining sleep, such as sleeping pills. Pills and other remedies help in the short term, but can cause greater problems in the long run. The following is a look at just how important sleep is for healthy human functioning, how common sleep disorders are, and solutions that can be done to overcome this crippling problem.


While Sleeping, Your Body Goes To Work: Most people would compare sleeping to a period at the end of a sentence. They think that when we sleep, our bodies shut down, and that’s the end of things. The truth is that not only does your body not shut down, it performs many regenerative task that can only be performed during this phase. During the sleep cycle, our minds clears and sorts out the input that it receives during the awake cycle. Our bodies also go through a detoxification. As we breathe deeply, our lungs clear out toxins, as does our skin. Our digestive organs process our daily intake of food, and prepare us for elimination the next day. Our muscles and tissue repair themselves, and our cells regenerate. These are but a few of the physical benefits of the sleep cycle.

• Understanding Sleep: Another look at what your body is doing while sleeping.
• Information About Sleep: Information, misconceptions, and major concepts related to the biology of sleeping.
• The Mind and Body During Sleep: An informative article about the stages, functions, mechanisms, and changes in sleep.
• REM Cycles: This is a discussion about REM sleep cycles.
• Sleep Functions: This is a website about the topic.

Sleeplessness Causes A Sleep Debt: As previously mentioned, the lack of sleep actually kills productivity as opposed to making us more productive. For millions of people, not being able to sleep is a torturous problem. Because the mind and body isn’t being refreshed or restored, a person can feel trapped and helpless. They can feel like they can never get rest, that they are always trying to catch up on a good night’s sleep. While some people don’t believe in sleep debt because of the stigma of being lazy, sleep debt is a very real and potentially dangerous problem.

• Sleep Deprivation: This link discusses the negative affects of sleep deprivation to our health.
• Deep Into Sleep: This is a Harvard article about the lost art of sleep.
• Understanding Sleep: Another look at what your body is doing while sleeping.
• Catching Up On Sleep: This is an article on the topic.
• Chronic Sleep Deprivation: An article from WebMD about how sleep habits are more important than one may think.
• Are You In Sleep Debt?: This article helps you figure it out.
• The Affects of Sleep Debt on Health: This is a Canadian article on the topic.

The Cost of Sleep Deprivation: People should never underestimate the real value of a good night's sleep. Because the body performs so many restorative functions while we sleep, not getting enough if it holds major consequences. The consequences that people can suffer physically will bleed over into financial, and safety consequences as well. It's very sobering to consider how much is actually at stake from not getting enough restorative rest.

• The Human Brain - Sleep and Stress: A thorough article citing numerous studies on the benefits of sleep and the costs of sleep deprivation.
• Brain Activity is Visibility Altered Following Sleep Deprivation: A news release on the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain.
• Falling Asleep At the Wheel: Stanford University's findings on the topic.
• Humana.com: This the health insurance company’s web page to help educate patients on the health dangers of not sleeping.
• Students and Workers Going Without Sleep: This article looks at the real cost of this issue for these groups.
• The Effects of Sleep Deprivation in Teens: The article discusses what happens to teens that don't sleep.
• Teens Can't Perform In Class: This article discusses behavioral issues in class from the lack of sleep.
• Are Teens Too Busy?: This is a CNN report on today's teenager being too busy for sleep.

Sleep Disorders: It's very frustrating for those who want to invest time in their sleep health, but find that other health issues get in the way of getting a decent night's sleep. These conditions are common, but can be annoying, to quite dangerous for its sufferers. There are quite a few conditions that can impede one's ability to sleep.

• Sleep Disorders and Stats: This is information from Healthline.
• Sleep Disorder Resources: This is helpful information.
• Common Sleep Disorders: Medicine glossary of sleep disorders.
• How Sleep Disorders affect our Real Age: An article on how disorders age us.
• Sleep Apnea: Information on a severe sleep disorder.
• Sleep Disorders in Children: This is an article about the topic from the University of Michigan.

Is Your Bedroom Conducive to Sleep: With millions of people who are suffering from sleep disorders, health practitioners have been forced to examine all avenues as to why people can't sleep. One arena that is being looked at in recent times is the sleep environment. Studies have proven that in order to set one's self up for success in getting proper sleep, one must feel at peace, and as comfortable as possible. There are many ingredients for a great sleep recipe. These include a great mattress, comfortable room temperature, quality bedding, and noise elimination. Activities performed right before bedtime also play a part in whether or not our minds slow down, or stay active.

• The Ideal Bedroom: This is an article on creating a restful bedroom.
• Change Your Bedroom: This is a common sense article to help people sleep.
• Fighting Insomnia: This article talks about creating a sleep sanctuary.
• The Child's Bedroom: This is about creating a restful room for babies and children.
• More Child Bedroom Advice: This article advises parents to keep technology out of the child's room so that they can sleep.

Sleeping Tips: In keeping with examining all aspects of why a person could be lacking sleep, there are many tips offered from health practitioners, and scientist that study sleep patterns. While a sleeping pill can indeed put a person to sleep in the short term, they certainly can cause long term problems, and the pills don't teach proper sleep hygiene. Most people aren't even aware of the term "sleep hygiene". It means the things that you can do to support your body's ability to fall asleep.

• Sleep Hygiene: University of Maryland's article on the topic.
• 50 Tips on Sleeping: This is a tips list to help a person sleep.
• Amazon.com: This is a link to a book that offers sleeping tips.
• Dr. Orman's Guide: This is an online booklet on the topic.
• Pain Solutions: This is an article for people who can't sleep due to pain.
• Alternative Therapy: This is an article about the use of alternative therapy and medications to help a person sleep.

All About Your Mattress: You would think that since people for the most part sleep on mattresses, this article of furniture would be the most obvious piece of the sleep puzzle. However, most people aren’t trained to give deep thought to their mattresses. When we grew up, we slept on whatever our parents or caretakers provided. When we became adults, we usually slept on whatever we could afford. It is only when we can’t sleep, and our bodies are in pain, that we realize how important the mattress is. Just as there are many types of people and body types, there are many types of mattress needs.