Restorative sleep gives your body the chance to recuperate and regenerate. Without it your body and mind become weary and easily malfunction. Illnesses and viral or bacterial infections result, giving rise to severe illness and general malaise.

Insomnia can affect you at any age, although you become more susceptible to it as you get older.

Insomnia can be divided into two categories:

• Sleep Onset Insomnia and Sleep Maintenance Insomnia.
• Sleep Onset Insomnia is shown as an inability to fall asleep.

Sleep Maintenance Insomnia is shown as an inability to stay asleep, or to wake frequently .

It is possible for you to suffer both sleep onset insomnia and sleep maintenance insomnia, leading to chronic sleep deficiency.

There are varying degrees of insomnia in both duration and severity:

• Temporary insomnia lasts from one night to a few weeks. It has a known cause and is an interruption to your body clock, e.g. when you are suffering from jetlag.
• Short-term insomnia can last from two to three weeks and again has a known emotional or psychological cause, e.g. stress over a particular factor, like work.
• Intermittent insomnia is more difficult and vague. It is unpredictable in terms of the number of episodes and their duration, and can be attributable to both emotional and physical causes.

Finally, chronic insomnia can take place on most nights and may last indefinitely.

Here are some statistics about insomnia.

• 49% of adults worldwide report brief periods of difficult sleep.
• 10% of adults claim they have had insomnia lasting at least two weeks.
• Over 100 million Americans are estimated to have sleep problems.
• 1 in 6 of these have chronic insomnia at a serious level. Insomnia and untreated sleep disorders cost Americans $15 billion in health care expenses annually and $50 billion in lost productivity.
• Globally, 25% of elderly people and about 15% of the general population suffer from varying degrees of insomnia.

Insomnia can be caused by physical, emotional and psychological factors, with stress being the number one contributor.

Biological factors are also a consideration as sleep may become lighter and more disjointed as you age. Your inbuilt biological sleep regulator can malfunction, encouraging you to remain awake longer, but also sleep longer, or to sleep earlier but rise early too.

Psycho physiologic ("Learned") insomnia is also more common than perhaps first thought. This is an inability to sleep through the worry of being unable to sleep! 

History taking and assessment of your personal and medical problems is essential, as is an assessment of your diet, lifestyle and general sleep patterns. All these things help to form a picture of what is causing your symptoms of sleep disturbance or sleep anxiety.

Observation of your sleep patterns under laboratory supervision is ultimately informative if available and if the problem is chronic enough to warrant such investigation.

Noting down any mood changes or irritability you experience and keeping a diary of your sleep patterns are all helpful in diagnosing the problem and its causes.

Recognising initial symptoms is pretty much the same regardless of the severity. It is only as your insomnia progresses that you may notice more serious signs.

With ongoing lack of restful restorative sleep - noted by difficulty falling asleep and/ or frequent unrefreshed waking – you find you are constantly tired, irritable and generally fatigued. Your memory, concentration and patience will all decrease and your general mood will become more negative, the need for effort unmanageable.

A preoccupation with the need for sleep, or anxiety over the lack of it is often seen. But the more you try to sleep, the greater your anxiety and restlessness at not being able to sleep, and so the circle continues...

There are a variety of treatments that may help this condition. The first step is to recognise that chronic insomnia is a symptom of a deeper problem, a hidden medical condition or psychological/nutrient imbalance that you need to treat.

You need to avoid insomnia becoming a serious chronic problem. You need to prevent the underlying causes becoming debilitating and you need to halt the continuance of other current potentially serious health issues.

Studies show that if insomnia is left untreated you are more likely to be involved in a car accident or an accident at work. You also have a significantly higher risk of developing an addiction or a mood disorder like depression. If you are elderly you are more prone to accidents involving fractures or other serious injury. This is taking into account complicating factors like health problems, memory and daily tasks.

Additionally, if you are elderly and have untreated insomnia it can lead to complications in the treatment of other medical conditions you may be suffering from including arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and depression.

Untreated sleep deprivation results in irrational irritability and cognitive disorders. There is also some preliminary evidence that it can lead to a dysfunctional immune system, serious enough to result in the progression of various cancers.

The prescribing of sleeping pills ordinarily treats insomnia…

These have a sedative effect from active ingredients diphenhydramine and doxylamine. This is thought to be a result of their initial purpose, which is the antagonism of the central histamine H. They can easily be found in over-the-counter sleep aids

Antihistamines

• Nytol
• Benadryl

Benzodiazepines

• Temazepam (Restoril)
• Estazolam (ProSom)
• Flurazepam (Dalmane)
• Triazolam (Halcion)

These are members of the Valium family and have been prescribed as a sleep aid since the 70s. They work by suppressing the reticular activating system of the brain, the system that regulates brain activity, by increasing the action of Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA), a chemical that helps to slow the transmission of nerve signals in the brain.

Barbiturates

• Phenobarbital (Luminal, Solfoton)
• Secobarbital (Seconal)

These work by more powerfully reducing the amount of activity in the brain and central nervous system. They can be lethal drugs and easily overdosed.

Because of their danger they are much less prescribed now compared to antihistamines and benzodiazepines above, but are still used in the treatment of seizures and to induce anaesthesia.

It is known that Benzodiazepines and Barbiturates may deplete or interfere with the absorption and function of natural substances such as Biotin, Calcium, L-Carnitine, Vitamin A, B6, B9 (folic acid), B12, Vitamin D and K.

All of the above drugs have serious side effects and can be extremely addictive if taken for more than a couple of weeks.

Side effects include the following:

• Poor coordination
• Reduced reaction times
• Impairment of memory
• All-day drowsiness
• Skin irritation
• Irritation to the mucous membranes
• Stomach problems
• Vision problems
• Nightmares
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Headaches
• Loss of sexual pleasure (especially women taking antihistamines)
• General malaise
• Possible heart muscle damage.

Insomnia does have the potential to destroy your health. It is important to correct medical imbalances causing the problem. We now know that this is possible to do....naturally....

In addition to good dietary practices, regular sleep patterns and exercise, it is necessary to correct vitamin and mineral deficiencies and to rebalance your body’s natural chemical structure.

There are a number of natural substances known to help achieve this without side effects: 
 

These herbs and nutrients, along with many other individual substances are well known for their abilities to relax and aid sleep and are readily available in shops and other retail outlets.

On their own they will provide you with a certain amount of relief and relaxation. This is extremely limited however and does not tackle your essential need to rebalance your chemical and hormonal discrepancies.

Experts know that if these ingredients could be combined to work together to enhance each other’s individual components, it may enable a product to be produced that will be potent enough to achieve results.

Xtend-Life scientists have managed to do this by combining such ingredients in an advanced and balanced formula. The result of this is Xtend-Life Neuro-Natural Sleep.

Xtend-Life Neuro-Natural Sleep is delivered using a sophisticated enteric coating delivery system to protect vulnerable ingredients from destruction by stomach acid for greatest bio-availability.

NB: 1st dose: 1-2 hours before evening meal
2nd dose: 2 hours before bedtime.

NB: Please note that we develop our formulas in a way that minimizes possibilities of interaction. However, as with all natural supplements there is still potential for ingredients to interact with prescription drugs. You are advised to either check with your physician or Contact Us with details of your medicines so that we can check our databases for potential problems. Please also check our legal notices found in About Us.