Not getting enough sleep can make you feel out of sorts and unfocused ¡ª almost like you're one step behind your usual self. It can even make you feel out of sync with situations and people around you -- family, friends or co-workers. It's important to get the sleep you need, so you can wake up ready to embrace your day and feel more engaged in what's going on around you.
Sleep loss is not just a "nighttime" problem. Its impact can extend far into the day, limiting how well you can function physically and mentally. While there is clearly no substitute for a good night's sleep, there are ways to increase your chances of staying alert on the job and behind the wheel.
Fortunately, there are many things you can do to help overcome your sleep problems which include increased risks for depression, more likelihood of work errors, impaired concentration, slowed reaction time and poorer work performance, impatience, being cranky or irritable. Higher incidence of workplace accidents, traffic accidents and microsleeps can also occur.
Though your bedroom may not be as conducive to sleep as it could be, several strategies can make your bedroom more sleep-friendly. For example, one can block out noise. Or better yet, eliminate it. Even if you fall back to sleep after noise wakes you, the quality of your sleep can be compromised. The issue isn't merely how light affects your eyes. Light also affects the way your brain produces hormones that regulate your sleep cycle. Even a minimal amount of light can disrupt your sleep. If you are the type that finds it hard sleeping, looking at the clock can make you anxious. Therefore, it's best to keep it out of view.
A bed partner who snores, tosses and turns a lot, talks while sleeping, or gets up often can affect your own sleep. In some cases, using earplugs or adding "white noise" (from a fan or similar humming appliance) can help. Perhaps the best solution for you is to try herbs. The best known herbs for helping sleep are Valerian, Passion flower, Lemon Balm, Hops and Camomile. As herbal remedies have a gentle effect they are best taken over several days and always some time before going to bed.
These herbal products need only be taken for several weeks while the causes of the sleeplessness are sorted out and the habit of sleeping returns. Plants are patronised in traditional medicine and some have been confirmed through animal studies to be effective to ensure good sleep. One of these is Newbouldia laevis which some scientists at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development, (NIPRD), Garki, Abuja, have found to be able to put mice and rats to sleep.
The leaves, which were soaked in alcohol, worked on the central nervous system of the animals investigated, causing considerable reductions in the animals¡¯ exploratory activity, ability to spontaneously move and hypnosis.
Similarly, chewing or soaking the roots of Nauclea tatifolia, this same group of researchers that included Amos S., Odutola A. A; Wambebe C. and Gamaniel K. found to have some dose-dependent effect.
Application of the water extract of Guiera Senegalensis in mice and rats, which the NIPRD researchers found to act on the central nervous system, prolongs the sleeping time in rats and decreasing the activity level of the mice at the doses tested. Just as water decoction of Sphaeanthus senegalensis may be used to achieve sleep, similarly, the water decoction of Zizyphus spinachristi also works.
Similarly, another group of experts from NIPRD discovered that Ficus platyphylla stem bark soaked in alcohol, because of its extract possessing sedative properties may be helpful in people that find it hard to sleep. Solanum nigrum, a common fruit when soaked in alcohol for it to seep and then taken, another group of experts including Perez R. M., in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, was able to prove useful to correct a person¡¯s inability to sleep.
