HOW DID CAVEMEN DEAL WITH INSOMNIA? DID THEY HIT EACH OTHER OVER THE HEAD WITH CLUBS?

 

My latest ridiculous theory:  Insomnia is a modern illness that is responsible for more than half of human beings problems.

Theory:  Effective sleep is necessary for effective functioning, which includes sustained attention. When one does not get sufficient or efficient sleep, one is unable to sustain one’s attention and a good immune system.

Hypothesis: When a person is physically weakened and unable to sustain attention to his environment, bad shit happens.

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Research design:

Well, none. Basically proving this theory takes gathering information, explaining it and attempting to prove the hypothesis.

DATA COLLECTION

In order to avoid confusion, it’s proper form to write out, working definitions of the terms being used. This way, everyone is on the same page. Here are some.

• Insomnia: Difficulty in getting to sleep or staying asleep “also not feeling rested after sleeping."
• Consciousness: Mental awareness of sensations, perceptions, memories and feelings.
• Restorative sleep: Sleep from which you awaken feeling rested and alert.
• Sleep disturbances: there are sleep disorders and one text listed 12 of them. We will focus on insomnia.
• Sustained attention: the ability to maintain focused awareness on a target or idea.
• Waking consciousness: a state of clear, organized alertness. 

 It’s interesting to note, that in many psychology texts, there is no definition of sleep. There is a lot written about it, but much is still unknown. So for today, we’ll say it’s an altered state of consciousness which changes the quality or pattern of mental activity. 

 

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM

 

Even back in Shakespeare’s time, sleep was something that was sought after. I can’t help but wonder when not being able to sleep became an issue.

This is my rambling part. It should be under another digression, but I think it's not that off the path. Did cavemen have trouble sleeping? And laborers, and farmers and if you look back in history, until there was a way of making light, we kept pace with sunrise and sunset. Our circadian rhythms are still set for day and night. However, technology has turned that upside down and I believe that is one of the reasons for having so many sleep disorders.

 

The text books will all tell us that sleep is an innate biological rhythm that can never be entirely ignored.  There are numerous theories about sleep but they are very hard to prove. Letting one’s subjects die during an experiment is generally frowned upon, unless you work in the pharmaceutical sector. 

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Fact: Everyone needs to sleep. Some can get by on more, some on less but you’ll eventually fall asleep whether you want to or not.

INSOMNIA:

According to one textbook, there are several types of Insomnia. They listed

worry, stress and excitement as a cause of temporary problems. If it goes on for longer than three weeks, they will call it chronic.

 The other type they referred to was drug dependency insomnia, caused by withdrawal from sleeping pills. That’s rich. You take something to help you sleep. Then you stop taking it and you can’t sleep because either your body is in withdrawal from being addicted to it, or you’re having what’s called rebound which may cause terrible nightmares so you go back to the drugs. Now you may realize why I made that nasty remark about the pharma industry.

 And that’s it. Those are the only two reasons they give for insomnia. They forgot to mention depression. I suppose they saved that for another chapter, but depressions favorite trick is called early waking. That’s when you can fall asleep without a problem, but then, you wake up at an ungodly hour, like 4 am and cannot get back to sleep.

 

All insomnia sucks, but it really is awful when you are a worker bee. For me, who has a lifetime membership in that club, being retired has given me a pass. As long as I don’t have to get up at a specific time, usually early, if I can’t sleep or don’t sleep well, it doesn’t ruin me like it used to. It's still no fun, but the consequences aren't as bad.

SYMPTOMS OF LACK OF RESTORATIVE SLEEP:

• Miss work
• Make bad decisions
• Take more risks
• Have trouble concentrating
• Be irritable
• Be depressed
• 

  And Symptoms of daytime fatigue include:

• Weariness, weakness, and/or depleted energy
• Lack of motivation
• Poor performance
• Memory problems
• Lack of productivity
• Tendency to make errors and mistakes
• Depression
• Low interest in being social
• Eat foods high in calories             

   You can see how these symptoms would be problematic in your life. Right?

COMPARE THESE SYMPTOMS TO HOW YOU ARE AFTER A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP:

1. awake,
2. alert
3. able to maintain your focus
4. energetic
5. able to remember things
6. better mood

Findings:

Sleep is necessary for survival, although scientists have only theorized the reason for this. However, lack of sleep has been researched and the findings are:

Insomnia increases your risk for health problems, including:

• Heart disease
• Stroke
• High blood pressure
• Infections
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Depression
• Pain
• Substance abuse
• Early death

According to the CCD:

Sleep is increasingly recognized as important to public health, with sleep insufficiency linked to motor vehicle crashes, industrial disasters, and medical and other occupational errors.  [Like a doctor cutting off the wrong leg.]Unintentionally falling asleep, nodding off while driving, and having difficulty performing daily tasks because of sleepiness all may contribute to these hazardous outcomes.

Conclusion:
I believe that I have proven my hypothesis. Insomnia creates conditions that are conducive to wreaking havoc in your lives. It can cause illness and accidents. Drugs are not the solution. As seen, they are part of the problem.

The help for insomnia is called sleep hygiene. There are several steps that when done as directed, are very helpful. I will not list them, because I'm trying to keep this brief. However, there is help. As with everything else, you will have to work at lessoning the episodes of insomnia. [*ad3]

And, if all else fails, you can just start reading my blogs from the beginning, and I'm sure they will put you in a nice restful sleep, or possibly a coma. I cannot guarantee either because I don't want to be sued.

footnotes
*ad1 - man, this is dry and boring. Well, maybe this part. it get's better.

*ad2- I am having a very hard time sticking to the format. I can see that it will not work for all topics.

*ad3- This was harder to write. Well, actually easier since I just had to look shit up and copy it. That was no fun for me. And, the answers were actually in the material so I didn't have a chance to really say what I wanted to because it would have been redundant and I'm not sure this is shorter anyway. Oh well.

Thanks for reading.