“Lack of sleep, over time, results in your body and brain not being able to function effectively."

If you have difficulty falling asleep, or you wake up and can't get back to sleep, then you know how dreadful you feel when it's time to get up the next morning.

Your eyes just want to stay closed, your head is fuzzy and sometimes it aches, and you have little energy with which to face the new day.

Yes, it's a horrible feeling! But! Have you ever realised that insomnia could actually ruin your life?

Let's have a look at some of the behavioural and psychological effects that ongoing sleep deprivation can have on your life. Maybe you can relate to some of them.

1. You get out of bed in the morning still feeling tired. Your head is aching just enough to make you irritable. You bump into the doorway on the way to the bathroom. You snap at your partner over some trivial matter. Breakfast is a disaster...the children are noisy, the toast isn't how you like it etc.

This is how it is every morning lately, as your family has to deal with your irritability and intolerance -which means your family is stressed and unhappy, which means your marriage will suffer....just how much, depends on you doing something about your sleep problem.

2. You leave for work feeling like death warmed up. Driving along the highway you see that the road is full of "idiots", just like every other day. You shout abuse at them when they cut into your lane. You hastily wind down the window to give the "finger" to the "jerks" who toot you just because you accidentally drifted into their lane.

Your bad temper, inattention and lack of concentration can be deadly which means that you could be responsible for causing a serious accident, which means that you or someone else could be seriously hurt or even killed. It all depends on you doing something about your lack of sleep.

3. You arrive at work stressed, tense, touchy and your headache is worse. The other staff don't seem to be happy to see you. Perhaps it's because of the angry look on your face, or the curt 'good morning' you offer them. Maybe it's because they are tired of covering for you when you get behind with your work, or because of the frequent coffee breaks you take to try to shake off the lethargy.

Your lack of energy and non-communication is isolating you, which means that eventually someone will report you to the boss, which means you probably won't get the promotion you were in line for. You need to do something about your sleeplessness fast!

Perhaps the above examples don't describe your situation exactly, but as an insomniac, you can relate to the symptoms.

 You know only too well what it feels like to be constantly tired, and not having the energy to tackle housework or gardening.

You're concerned because you seem to be dropping things all the time.

 You forget what people tell you and fear you may be getting dementia.

Maybe you have stopped going to the social events you used to enjoy.

Does this make you feel like life is passing you by?

The other problem is you don't know what to do about it! Maybe you think it is something you just have to put up with. This is not so! The first step to getting a good night's sleep is to recognise that it is important to do so.

Professor Doug McEvoy director of the Adelaide (South Australia) Institute For Sleep Health has this to say.

"People often don't understand the importance of sleep. They know a lot about the importance of exercise, or diet and healthy lifestyle, but they see sleep as dispensable."

Studies into sleep deprivation have mainly focused on behavioural and psychological problems but in recent times there has been considerable interest in the link between sleep loss and heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Sleep deprivation is one of the forms of torture used on prisoners.

You Don't Have To Put Up With This Form Of Torture!

The good news is that there is help available and I'm not talking about taking prescription pills.

Pharmaceutical sleeping tablets will give you an "artificial" sleep and they do not deal with the underlying problem of insomnia. (see Dangers of taking Sleeping Pills)

There are excellent natural products available for treating sleep deprivation and insomnia made by this company Xtend-Life.   

They have a natural, highly effective product called Neuro Natural Sleep. The bottle is displayed on the right hand side of this page, plus some comments made by users of this product. You can click on the picture of the bottle and it will take you to the web site for more information.

I have displayed some of their other products which might be better suited to your individual needs. Again, just click on the bottle for more information.

Don't put off getting help for your sleeplessness. You never know when you are going to drop off to sleep when you are driving your car, or when your inattention could cause injury to yourself or to a workmate.

Go here now.