Treating Chronic Back Pain And Insomnia

Insomnia is a term that covers a wide range of sleep difficulties: not being able to fall asleep until late, waking up earlier than desired and waking up numerous times throughout the night. Research shows that anywhere between 60% and 80% of people with chronic back pain suffer from some form of insomnia.
Falling asleep requires that our minds be relatively clear. Most people assure that there is no distracting noise in the house and attempt to clear their minds of the day's stresses before trying to fall asleep. Once the mind is clear from the normal clutter, it tends to notice the pain you feel more acutely. Distraction, one of the key weapons in your arsenal against pain, is generally lacking when you're trying to sleep.
The pain you feel may also cause you to wake up frequently throughout the night, preventing you from getting a sufficient amount of deep sleep. Finally, you may wake in the morning earlier than planned, without being rested, and not be able to get back to sleep due to pain.

Treating Pain and Insomnia
When two problems are correlated, it is best to treat them together. Becoming dependent on sleeping pills and continuing on in pain may not be your only option. Your first step is to make sure you're getting the kind of treatment you need. Complementary and alternative medicine, including chiropractic care, movement therapies like yoga and tai chi, massage therapy and acupuncture, are all promising sources of pain relief. Yoga in particular may be a fitting option for people with chronic back pain and insomnia; it has a well-established history of effectively reducing pain and research and has also shown it to improve sleep quality. See more on yoga and insomnia at http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleep-newzzz/201210/yoga-can-help-insomnia.

One of the best ways to prevent pain from distracting you when trying to fall asleep is to develop skills that redirect your focus in a calming, sleep-promoting way. Many people try to keep their minds empty when trying to fall asleep, but people with chronic pain may find this to open the door for pain to infiltrate the mind. Yoga may be effective at promoting sleep because it encourages the development of meditative skills that involve taking control of your mind's direction.

Since you want distraction from pain without exciting your mind away from sleep, the best mental technique for dealing with chronic pain and insomnia may be guided imagery. This technique uses the imagination to engage the mind and senses. It plays off the connection between the mind and body, helping the body relax by simulating calming situations and relaxing the mind by focusing it on one thing. Guided imagery can be pursued by using CDs, MP3s or your own internal script. See http://www.dartmouth.edu/~healthed/relax/downloads.html for free downloads of guided imagery, visualization and meditative exercises to help you relax and focus away from the pain.

Also consider following the classic advice concerning sleep hygiene: going to bed and rising at the same time each day, avoiding caffeine, large amounts of alcohol or intense exercise in the evening, listening to soothing music before bedtime and taking a warm bath before getting into bed.
Trying diverse methods of pain management and training the mind to focus away from pain can help you get better sleep. Both insomnia and chronic pain can reduce your quality of life. Keep an open mind concerning treatment options.

Safe choices for pain management solutions exist. Educate yourself in alternative solutions for back pain management. Please ask questions, give comments or stories related to this article submission regarding back pain management.

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Insomnia Studies Give Tips for Better Sleep

Sleeping well is a highly valued thing. According to an article in the United Kingdom's "Daily Telegraph", a good night's sleep has been voted life's "Greatest little pleasure". The poll, which interviewed 3,000 people in the UK, asked them what their greatest little pleasures in life were. The sleep theme showed up in other places as well, with "Little pleasure" number three being "Sleeping in newly laundered bedding." Number six was "Cuddling up with a loved one in bed".

Chronic insomnia contributes to sleepiness during the day, increased accidents and illness, and may have an adverse effect on concentration, relationships and the ability to handle stress. Because good sleep is so vital to health, scientists continue to pursue the trail of finding things that enhance its quality and quantity. Dr. Ramakrishnan, a professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, says, "Exercise improves sleep as effectively as sleeping drugs in some studies." His study found that on average, exercise increases total sleep time by 42 minutes.

Studies at the University of Arizona found that walking more than six blocks a day at a normal pace significantly improves sleep at night for women. Scientists suspect that exercise helps set our biological clock into a consistent wake/sleep pattern, or it may boost the brain's production of serotonin, a neurochemical that encourages sleep.

A drop in body temperature may help you fall asleep. According to a study in the Journal "Sleep", making a special effort to cool down before bedtime may be of particular benefit to insomniacs. Researchers identified the time at which the subjects' body temperature fell most sharply. This point almost always occurred in the two hours before sleep began. A hot bath about 90 minutes before bedtime may benefit sleep. When getting out of the bath, the body temperature will drop rapidly and this may help falling asleep faster. It also helps to sleep in a comfortably cool room, using extra blankets as needed.

Warm milk has long been a highly recommended folk remedy for insomnia. Regarding this, William Sears, M.D. says: "Calcium helps the brain use the amino acid tryptophan to manufacture the sleep-inducing substance melatonin. This explains why dairy products, which contain both tryptophan and calcium, are one of the top sleep-inducing foods."

Calcium is directly related to our cycles of sleep. In one study, published in the European Neurology Journal, researchers found that calcium levels in the body are higher during some of the deepest levels of sleep, such as the rapid eye movement (REM) phase. The study concluded that disturbances in sleep, especially the absence of REM deep sleep or disturbed REM sleep, are related to a calcium deficiency. Restoration to the normal course of sleep was achieved following the normalization of the blood calcium level.

Sleep remedies containing calcium should be balanced with magnesium and vitamin D. A two to one ratio of calcium to magnesium is recommended (twice as much calcium as magnesium, together in the same supplement). Ideally the ingredients are delivered in a softgel form with healthy carrier oils, making them more easily assimilated than capsules or tablets and providing a deeper, longer-lasting sleep.
In order to enjoy a better night's sleep, take the tips of recent research studies and do some form of exercise during the day, keep yourself cool before bedtime, and use an effective form of calcium as a sleep remedy to relax yourself into a restful sleep.

Jobee Knight is a nutritional researcher, supplement formulator, and writer of science-based health articles. Jobee is President of http://www.NutritionBreakthroughs.com, which provides the effective natural insomnia remedy Sleep Minerals II. For more information on Sleep Minerals II, visit http://www.NutritionBreakthroughs.com/html/sleep_remedy_for_insomnia_help.html

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Can Insomnia Cause Physical Pain?

The connection between chronic pain and insomnia is clear: When we hurt, it is harder to fall and stay asleep. But the connection may run the other way as well; lack of sleep may cause physical pain.
There are two main ways in which insomnia can cause pain, one involving muscles and the other involving joints.

Muscle Pain
One of the reasons why we sleep is to give the body a chance to repair itself from the uses of the day. An array of restorative actions are performed by the body while we slumber, including tissue repair, synthesis of protein and the release of growth hormones.

When insomnia strikes, we are not giving our muscles enough time to rebuild. We work muscles when we exercise, lift, run, walk, sit, stand - all bodily movements involve muscle use. When we work them rigorously, they suffer small tears that heal over and result in larger muscles. In order for this repair to occur, we need to stop using the muscles for a time. Sleep, as said above, is the prime opportunity for tissue repair and growth. If you work out, play a sport or have a physically demanding job, inadequate rest will likely result in persistent muscle pain due to slowed healing.

Another way in which poor sleep can cause pain is by increasing inflammatory chemicals in the body. A properly functioning immune system creates inflammation to lock off potential threats within the body and to facilitate healing of injured areas. But a deregulation of the immune system can lead to excessive amounts of inflammation, which cause pain and, when chronic, tissue damage. One study sought to assess the connection between sleep and inflammation. Sleep quality and inflammatory markers were measured in 525 participants. The results showed that people who slept less than 6 hours a night or more than 9 hours a night, indicating poor quality, had higher levels of key inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein. This means that people with insomnia may experience more muscle soreness since muscle tears will be prone to greater amounts of inflammation. More on the above study can be found at http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/122/21_MeetingAbstracts/A17806.

Joint Pain
People with arthritis are particularly susceptible to increased pain after a restless night. Osteoarthritis is the form of arthritis caused by wear and tear on joints. Whether through age or excessive use, the cartilage cushioning the bones of an osteoarthritic joint has worn down, causing painful friction. Human growth hormone is vital to the repair and maintenance of collagen, the main component of cartilage. As we saw above, growth hormone is released mostly when we sleep. Insomnia can speed up joint wear and cause increased pain.

The other type of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, is caused by an immune dysfunction resulting in increased inflammation in joints. The excessive inflammation causes pressure and pain at the joint and can cause cartilage to wear down. Since lack of sufficient sleep corresponds to increased inflammation in the body, rheumatic pain may be greater in those with insomnia.

Treat Pain and Insomnia
The above connections between pain and insomnia attest to the fact that these conditions should be seen as a complex that requires addressing rather than two health conditions to deal with separately. Whether you have persistent muscle soreness or arthritic joint pain, consider your sleep habits as a possible partner in crime.
If chronic pain is causing your insomnia, finding ways to lessen pain at night may help all around. While recourse to prescription medication is typical, it comes with a host of risks. Try topical pain creams and relaxing movement therapies such as yoga to help get your body and mind ready for bed.

If insomnia is not caused by chronic pain, consider what might be causing it. If your mind races at night, try guided imagery or other meditative techniques to calm and focus your thoughts. These practices take time to learn; don't be discouraged if they don't work the first time.

Various herbal supplements are available over-the-counter to address insomnia. For those with mild cases, herbs like chamomile, valerian and passionflower may be helpful. For those with more severe insomnia, melatonin may be more suitable.

The connection between pain and insomnia runs both ways. Thoroughly addressing causes of pain includes addressing other health problems that exacerbate it.

Education in back pain is the cheapest form of self-preservation. Learn about what causes back pain and 4 things that cause sciatic nerve pain.

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What Is Sleep Insomnia?

Sleep insomnia is the most common sleep complaint among other types of sleep disorders.

If the complaints persist for longer than a month, then is considered as chronic insomnia. Oftentimes, people who experience chronic-intermittent insomnia have difficulty sleeping for a few nights, followed by a few nights of adequate sleep before the problem returns. While it can be a disorder in its own, most doctors believed that it can be a symptom for some other disease or condition.

Those who experienced sleep insomnia blame it on stress or worry. The degree of stress-induced insomnia varies depending on the severity and duration of the stressful situation.

It can happen due to a disturbing occurrence like the death of a loved one, or loss of a job, or divorce. It can also come in anticipating events to happen like weddings, vacations or holidays. Sleep insomnia can also happen with jet lag, shifting work schedule, and other schedule changes.

If you have sleep insomnia, it is best to determine the underlying disease or condition that caused the problem. It may be caused by pain, digestive problems, or other sleep disorders. It may also signal depression and anxiety, and leaving the person to cope with it can just exacerbate the problem.

If it is related to medications or pain, it is best to consult your physician to aid you. If you have trouble sleeping, your sleep schedule may not be synchronized with your biological clock. Normally, the biological processes that initiate and maintain sleep is active throughout the night, opposing this will cause you to have sleep-onset insomnia.

The prevalence of sleep insomnia is higher among women and older people, since women suffer loss of sleep in connection with menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. Older people have sleep insomnia because the rates of insomnia increase as a function of age, but this can be attributed to other medical conditions, too.

What are the latest insomnia cures and treatments? You can benefit from relaxation techniques and take advantage of the body's natural relaxation response. It will not just quiet your mind and relieve tension in your body, but also help you sleep faster without the side effects of sleep medications.

Some relaxation techniques you can try include deep breathing, progressive music relaxation, meditation, visualization, yoga and tai chi. While it may take regular practice to learn and harness these techniques, they have huge benefits when you do them as part of your bedtime routine.

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What Causes Insomnia?

Insomnia is referred to as a condition which is marked by not sleeping at night or not having enough sleep. Still, there are many sleeplessness cure methods so it is not that big an issue, unless you do not seek help immediately.

Insomnia is caused by many factors that include both physical and physiological conditions. In some cases, insomnia is a symptom of a more serious medical condition. The most common causes of insomnia or sleep problems are:

Stress

Stress is perhaps the biggest reason you are not sleeping at night. Anything regarding your family, work, school or health can keep your mind working and prevents you from sleeping. If you have recently lost a loved one, gotten divorced or become unemployed, then you may suffer from insomnia.

Anxiety

Another reason you are not sleeping at night could be anxiety. If you are worried about something, then you may have a hard time. You would be constantly worrying about the issue and your mind would tend to stay active throughout the night, which might disrupt your sleep. If somehow, you can stop worrying, then you would not exactly need a sleeplessness cure plan.

Depression

Depression is another major reason why you may be suffering from insomnia. Either you might be suffering from chemical imbalances in your nervous system, particularly the brain or your worries may be preventing you from falling asleep.

Medication

There are quite a few medications that can interfere with your sleeping patterns and result in you not sleeping at night. This is particularly true for tablets that are meant to serve as an antidepressant, regulate blood pressure, and allow your heart to maintain its proper functioning or treat allergies. Some medicine may also contain traces of caffeine and other stimulants, such as weight loss products and decongestants.

Medical Problems

There are some disorders which can eventually lead to insomnia. In some diseases, insomnia may develop as a symptom as well. Examples of this include cancer, arthritis, thyroid problems and Parkinson's disease. If you are following proper treatment and sleeplessness cure plan, then your insomnia will disappear as your condition improves.

Stimulants and Sedatives

Products which contain nicotine, alcohol or caffeine can be a cause of insomnia. If you drink coffee in the evening, then it will probably keep you up for most of the night. Alcohol does let you sleep, but that's only for initial stages and you do not progress to the later stages of deep sleep.

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Insomnia Causes and Symptoms

If you are having trouble sleeping, even when you are very tired after a long day, then you are probably suffering from insomnia. This is a very common disorder that affects your mood, health and energy. Moreover, if you do not get a cure for insomnia soon enough, serious health problems can arise.

The Disease
Insomnia is the condition in which you are having trouble sleeping and cannot get rest for an adequate amount of time. As a result, when you wake up the next day, you feel drowsy and tired. Everyone needs a different amount of sleep, so the seriousness of the disease is defined by your sleep quality and the feelings which you experience when waking up. For all you know, you might be spending eight hours in bed, but if in the morning you feel tired you are probably suffering from insomnia.
You should know that insomnia is not exactly a disorder; it's just a problem. However, it can be a possible symptom of another disease.

Causes
Insomnia can be caused by a number of reasons like drinking too much or consuming huge amounts of caffeine. Sometimes the reasons can be more complex like another serious disease or too much stress.

Symptoms

• You will feel sleepless even though you had a long and tiring day at work or school.
• You will often be awakened in the middle of the night and will have trouble in falling asleep again.
• You will experience fatigue and drowsiness in the daytime. This may also be accompanied with irritability and lack of concentration.

Treatment
There are many treatment methods which can serve as an effective cure for insomnia such as behavior therapies and medications. Behavior therapy involves changing your sleeping habits and the sleep environment. This is more effective than medications. For instance, you can make sure you go to bed at the same time every day so that your body can get used to it. You can also make use of relaxation techniques which will help you in reducing your anxiety. Consequently, you will be able to maintain normal heart rates and your mood will improve.

You can also take medication but only when behavior therapy does not show results. Your doctor can advise you more in this regard. You should know that insomnia is not exactly a disorder; it's just a problem. However, it can be a possible symptom of another disease.

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