Selasa, 11 November 2008

The Rhythms of Sleep

Unlike the ticking clock swallowed by the crocodile in Peter Pan, however, you’re unlikely to hear it. If you could, though, you’d hear a gushing release of hormones, your pumping heart and bubbling blood pressure

at all time to get you in the right stare for going to sleep or waking up.



Your body clock normally works to a daily 24 hour cycle and controls the release of hormones, blood pressure and heart rate plus when your body wants to go to sleep and wake up. We’re programmed to fall asleep at night, when it’s dark and cooler, and to be awake when it’s light and warmer. Your body clock controls your temperature and sleepiness so that at night your temperature drops as you go to sleep and rises as you wake.



It also makes sure you don’t have inconvenient appetites or needs like going to the toilet or feeling hungry. An overwhelming desire to eat a cheese sandwich at 3am in the morning is certainly going to be disruptive on a regular basis.


You have another drop in temperature and sleepiness around mildly until two in the afternoon. So when you feel like feeling asleep on your computer at work, it’s not necessarily because you stayed up all night watching horror videos it’s just your body clock telling you that a snooze would be nice, thanks you. And the siesta is not just a product of lazy Mediterranean lifestyle it’s encouraged by the control on your brain.
Perfect Timing
The really clever thing is how the body knows what time it is. The key, it seems, is light. In the morning light enters the eye and hits the retina. This travels along nerves and ends up in a part of your brain responsible for regulating your body clock called the suprachiastmatic nucleus (SCN). Here signal are sent to the pineal gland in your brain to stop producing melatonin, the brain’s sleep inducing hormone and to release the get up and go hormone cortisol. In the evening at around 10pm the fading light of the setting sun triggers melatonin to prepare your body for sleep. Once you’re sleep, if suddenly put on a light or to go to the toilet, for instance chances are you’ll have trouble dropping off again. This is because light kickstarts those get up and go hormones, and as far as they’re concerned it’s wake up time.

The average body clock is happiest when you sleep from around 11pm to 7am which is when all the hormones are programmed to be either released or stopped. That said, everyone’s body clock is set slightly differently some run slower or faster than the average.


By studying these clocks, scientists are beginning to understand jet jag, and sleep problem such as insomnia and know on how to treat them. They are looking at the chemicals that govern sleep and making synthetic versions for supplements that in future may be able to help millions of people with sleep disorders. Some studies suggest that the hormone melatonin, give as a supplement at specific times, may be useful for resetting daily rhythms to help overcome the effects of jet lag and sleep disorders.
Insomnia can be affected by many of factors like stress, depression, sickness, drug, and some bad lifestyle. One of the root cause is the partner who sleep beside you was the reason that make you insomnia. For info please visit this article Insomnia Cure Blog,& Natural Insomnia Cure.

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