Tag: Insomnia

Click here to read our entire online February e-newsletter on Insomnia.

by Carol Belanger, BA, RM, BHS

Our brain stem connects the spinal cord with the structures of the brain. The white matter of the brain stem relays sensations and information from the body to the brain. Scattered throughout the white matter are patches of gray that affect our physical functions. Part of the gray matter we are concerned with on the topic of sleep is called the reticular formation (rf). It governs both sleep and consciousness.

Consciousness normally depends on sensory information received from all over the body. This information is sorted, and sensed for essential, unusual and threatening information, and passed onto the brain. This information influences our levels of consciousness from attentiveness and alertness, to relaxation and inattentiveness. Signals from the rf to the brain stimulates our wakefulness. When the sensory stimulation of the rf is low, inhibited or slowed, sleep can occur.

There are many sensory stimulants: caffeine, exercise and activity, emotional stimulation from nervousness, anger, grief, worry or fear and even happiness, giddiness, etc., as well as computers, television, cell phones and more. They can significantly increase reticular formation activity, stimulate us and thereby impair sleep cycles or delay sleep, even if we are or should be tired.

By Jocelyne Leyton, D.O.M.P.

As part of the team at KIHC, I volunteered to be one of the contributors for the December Newsletter on Insomnia. Little did I know that I would suffer from insomnia in the last two weeks. In my life I have had little difficulty in sleeping with the exception of emotional stress.

In my work as an Osteopathic Manual Practitioner I hear complaints from many patients about insomnia as well as from children. Most of us commonly experience sleep disturbance due to stress and environmental changes but when it becomes chronic this becomes a health burden. For some people, pharmaceutical intervention is sought and for others non-prescription supplements, mind-body relaxation techniques and sometimes alcohol.

One dictionary definition says insomnia is a chronic inability to fall asleep or to enjoy uninterrupted sleep. Our sleep/wake cycle is influenced by our biological clock called the circadian rhythm. This circadian rhythm affects our physiological process. Our circadian rhythm tends to be synchronized with cycles of light and dark as well as