The topic I chose to explore is the sleep disorder, insomnia from the book. Insomnia is the difficulty to fall asleep and stay asleep. Insomnia can also include having trouble falling asleep, waking up too early in the morning, or waking up during the night and having trouble falling back to sleep. I believe this is important to understand because a lot of people's lives, including my own, are disrupted by sleep disorders, especially insomnia. It is also important to understand that brief bouts of insomnia can often be due to stress, medication or sickness, working late, jet, caffeine, or napping. If one can possibly figure out the cause of their insomnia, they can possibly improve their sleep patterns, or beat insomnia completely. Here is a youtube video that I found discussing a couple ways to break the pattern of insomnia. This video draws a parallel to Pavlov's dogs and how they began to recognize that the ticking noise meant food while in real life possibly a bedtime routine like brushing your teeth can trigger your brain to expect to have difficulty falling asleep or insomnia. One example given in the video to try and reverse insomnia is changing your bedtime routine. The brain needs to be "tricked" into not thinking it's almost time for bed and I'm going to have difficulty falling asleep. Another example to try and combat insomnia is taking a warm shower before bed. The body cooling down after a shower is very conducive to sleep. Those are just two examples and there are many more ways to try and deal with insomnia. After discussing this topic I wonder if you actually have to be diagnosed with insomnia or a person can just claim to have insomnia? I know I certainly feel like I suffer from a slight case of insomnia. I also wonder how many people claim to suffer from insomnia and how often doctors prescribe medication?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1jIH0YIWek&feature=fvsr
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