Most of us take sleeping for granted until we get short changed or have difficulties and then we realize how important it really is to us. The National Sleep Foundation (yes, this is a real foundation) found that 37% of those Americans surveyed experienced a lack of sleep so severe that their daytime sleepiness interfered with their normal daily activities. This group averaged less than 6 hours of sleep per night. This percentage increased to 52% in shift workers. Over 40% of those surveyed suffered from insomnia and 40% also suffered with snoring problems (or their spouses or room mates suffered!). Most disturbing of all is that the NSF has determined that more young people are killed each year by sleepy drivers than by drunk drivers.
Most people I work with think that their body needs less sleep as they get older. That is simply not true. Each of us need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per day to remain healthy. When we don't get that amount we find that there are long-term consequences. One recently published report from Johns Hopkins University followed the health of 1,053 male medical students for an average of 34 years. Those students who had sleeping problems as young men experienced twice the amount of clinical depression 30 years later, and their natural killer cell (NK cells) levels were significantly reduced. These NK cells are key to the immune systems ability to ward off everything from the common cold to cancer.
To have a basic understanding of the sleep cycle and how it works, let's talk about the Pineal gland and what it does. This tiny gland produces two hormones that are key to sleeping and waking. Melatonin is produced as it gets dark and helps us sleep while Serotonin is produced by light stimulation and wakes us up. Studies show that even when you are sleeping soundly in the middle of the night, headlights from a passing car shining into your room or your spouse turning on the light in the bathroom and temporarily lighting your room, will cause the pineal gland to stop producing Melatonin and begin to wake you up.
There are many factors that prevent people from getting healthy sleep. Stress and worry certainly play a role in this. Noises and other distractions can also be a problem. If this is the case please do yourself a favor and take steps to deal with any of these. There are several good stress supplements and activities that you can use to reduce stress and earplugs can be used for noises if needed.
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If you find yourself waking up at the same time every day you'll want to discuss the possibility of it being an energetic imbalance with your acupuncturist. Each of the primary 12 meridians has a two hour block of time in a 24 hour period where they are dominant. There is a special acu-point on each meridian that can be treated (horary point) to help reset this energetic body clock that is often amazingly helpful.
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A few steps to help you sleep
 Make your room as dark and quiet as possible and keep others from turning lights on and off during the night as much as possible.
Remove all electric devices that are near to your bed. Research has shown that electric clocks, phones, tv's, answering machines, all electrical devices and even water bed heaters and electric blankets influence your sleep. Get all of these a minimum of 6 feet from your bed.
Take a hot bath before bedtime to cause the body to cool its core temperature. This is something it does naturally before sleep and the hot bath reinforces that physiological process.
Make sure you are walking or exercising for at least 20 minutes a day. Studies show this to be of tremendous value to those who have sleeping difficulties.
Dave Carpenter, N.D., L. Ac.
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