INSOMNIA

Difficulty falling asleep

Waking up too early and not being able to get back to sleep

Frequent awakenings

Waking up feeling unrefreshed

HOW IMPORTANT IS SLEEP?

• Insomnia is defined as difficulty in initiating and/or maintaining sleep

• The effects of sleep deprivation are cumulative and have a profound effect on – Memory– Learning– Reasoning– Reaction Time– Executive Function– Ability to Focus

HOW MUCH SLEEP DO YOU NEED?

• While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults need between 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best.

HOW MUCH SLEEP DO YOU NEED?

• The amount of sleep a person needs depends on many factors, including age.

– Infants require about 16 hours a day– Teenagers need about 9 hours on average– Most adults need 7 to 8 hours a night for the best amount

of sleep, although some people may need as few as 5 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each day

– Experts say that if you feel drowsy during the day, even during boring activities, you haven't had enough sleep

HOW MUCH SLEEP DO YOU NEED?

• The amount of sleep a person needs also increases if he or she has been deprived of sleep in previous days.

• Getting too little sleep creates a "sleep debt," which is much like being overdrawn at a bank. Eventually, your body will demand that the debt be repaid.

• We don't seem to adapt to getting less sleep than we need, while we may get used to a sleep-depriving schedule, our judgment, reaction time, and other functions are still impaired.

HOW MUCH SLEEP DO YOU NEED?

• Over a two-week period, missing out on the recommended eight hours of nightly sleep adds up to two full nights' sleep debt, one study found.

• If you're averaging only four hours a night, your brain reacts as though you haven't slept at all for three consecutive nights.

• The most worrisome part: Many people are too tired to realize how sleep-deprived they are, but they have slower reaction time, weaker memory, and other thinking impairments.

In the United States:

• Average number of fatal crashes caused by drowsy driving each year: 1,550

• 39% of Health care workers who have had a near miss accident at work because of fatigue in the last year

• 19% of health workers who report worsening a patient’s condition because of fatigue

• 44% of law enforcement workers who report having taken unnecessary risks while tired

• 80% of US regional pilots reporting they sometimes nod off in the cockpit

FACTS ABOUT INSOMNIA

• Decreased Performance and Alertness: Sleep deprivation induces significant reductions in performance and alertness. Reducing your nighttime sleep by as little as one and a half hours for just one night could result in a reduction of daytime alertness by as much as 32%.

• Memory and Cognitive Impairment: Decreased alertness and excessive daytime sleepiness impair your memory and your cognitive ability -- your ability to think and process information.

FACTS ABOUT INSOMNIA

• Stress Relationships: Disruption of a bed partner's sleep due to a sleep disorder may cause significant problems for the relationship (for example, separate bedrooms, conflicts, moodiness, etc.).

• Poor Quality of Life: You might, for example, be unable to participate in certain activities that require sustained attention, like going to the movies, seeing your child in a school play, or watching a favorite TV show.

FACTS ABOUT INSOMNIA

• Occupational Injury: Excessive sleepiness also contributes to a greater than twofold higher risk of sustaining an occupational injury.

• Automobile Injury: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates conservatively that each year drowsy driving is responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities.

FACTS ABOUT INSOMNIA

• Several major disasters have been linked in part with too little sleep in the workplace: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and the Exxon Valdez

• Sleep-deprived drivers are just as dangerous as drunk drivers, Kaplan says. In one study, people who drove after being awake for 17 to 19 hours performed worse than those who had a blood alcohol level of .05%. (A blood alcohol level of .08% is considered legally intoxicated in many states.)

HEALTH RISKS

• In the long term, the clinical consequences of untreated sleep disorders are large indeed. They are associated with numerous, serious medical illnesses, including:

• High blood pressure • Heart attack• Heart failure• Stroke• Obesity• Psychiatric problems, including depression and other mood

disorders• Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

HEALTH RISKS

• Mental impairment• Fetal and childhood growth retardation• Injury from accidents• Disruption of bed partner's sleep quality• Poor quality of life

HEALTH RISKS

• Studies show an increased mortality risk for those reporting less than either six or seven hours per night.

• One study found that reduced sleep time is a greater mortality risk than smoking, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

• Sleep disturbance is also one of the leading predictors of institutionalization in the elderly, and severe insomnia triples the mortality risk in elderly men.

INSOMNIA AND OBESITY

• How much a person sleeps at night can impact their weight. • This is because the amount of sleep a person gets can

affect certain hormones, specifically the hormones leptin and ghrelin, that affect appetite.

• Leptin and ghrelin work in a kind of "checks and balances" system to control feelings of hunger and fullness.

• Ghrelin, which is produced in the gastrointestinal tract, stimulates appetite, while leptin, produced in fat cells, sends a signal to the brain when you are full.

INSOMNIA AND OBESITY

• When you don't get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don't feel as satisfied after you eat, and increases ghrelin levels, stimulating your appetite so you want more food.

• The two combined can set the stage for overeating, which in turn may lead to weight gain.

INSOMNIA AND OBESITY

• Remarkably, sleep loss may also be a contributing factor to obesity. John Winkelman, MD, PhD, medical director of the Sleep Health Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital and assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School sums up this finding up nicely:

• "What most people do not realize is that better sleep habits may be instrumental to the success of any weight management plan.“

INSOMNIA AND CHRONIC PAIN / FIBROMYALGIA

• Sleep disorders always accompany Chronic Pain and Fibromyalgia

• In 1975, two Canadian physicians and researchers, Harvey Moldofsky, MD, and Hugh Smythe, MD suspected sleep disorders as a factor in Fibromyalgia.

• They conducted sleep studies to prove their theory

INSOMNIA AND CHRONIC PAIN / FIBROMYALGIA

• Using an EEG they measured the patients brain waves during sleep

• It was found that the patients had a deficiency in the deepest stage of sleep, known as stage 4.

INSOMNIA AND CHRONIC PAIN / FIBROMYALGIA

• One of their studies involved awakening healthy people and disrupting their sleep pattern as they entered stage 4 of sleep.

• They found that the healthy subjects developed fibromyalgia symptoms when their sleep was disturbed, but the symptoms subsided when they were permitted to sleep undisturbed.

INSOMNIA AND CHRONIC PAIN / FIBROMYALGIA

• They concluded that the patients not only had sleep abnormalities but also had dysregulation of normal body circadian rhythms affecting periods of wakefulness too.

• Circadian rhythms are primarily controlled by brainwaves

INSOMNIA

Dysregulated Brainwaves

NEUROLOGICAL DYSREGULATION

• Brainwave Imbalance• May be caused by:

– Variations in brain structure– Drugs– Toxins– Poor Nutrition– Subluxation– Trauma– Stress – both physical and emotional

NEUROLOGICAL REGULATION

• The ability of the brain to regulate itself• Mental states are associated with specific brainwaves• These brainwaves include:

– Delta– Theta– Alpha– Beta

DELTA BRAIN WAVES

• Produced during deep sleep• Associated with the release of

Human Growth Hormone and Serotonin

Human Growth Hormone

• During the day we are constantly causing small micro-injuries to the tissues of our body

• Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is necessary for the repair of injured tissues while you sleep

• However HGH is only produced during the Delta sleep stage

• Muscle damage, aches pains and decreased immunity may all result from the lack of Delta Sleep

SEROTONIN

• Serotonin is a neurotransmitter involved in reducing the perception of pain

• It is also produced during Delta sleep• Without Delta sleep serotonin levels drop and we become

more aware of pain

THETA BRAIN WAVES

• This is the predominant brainwave that your brain produces when you are just about to fall asleep

• It is associated with creativity and memory retrieval

• This is why you seem to get your best ideas just as you are falling asleep. It is also why you typically remember things when you are just about to fall asleep.

ALPHA BRAIN WAVES

• Associated with meditation and a sense of inner calm or peacefulness

• They are produced when the brain is in an idle state

• This mental state is sometimes described as a quiet alertness

ALPHA BRAIN WAVES

• Also associated with the production of the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine

• Acetylcholine regulates your sleep cycles• If the dysregulated brain is not producing enough

alpha waves, then acetylcholine levels will drop• This results in dysregulated sleep patterns and

symptoms of insomnia• The goal of BRAINCORE Therapy is to increase

the production of Alpha waves

BRAINCORE THERAPY

NEUROFEEDBACK AND INSOMNIA

• Our bodies have an internal natural clock which promotes regular sleep cycles

• This internal clock is primarily controlled by your brainwaves

• During sleep, the goal is to attain the “Delta State” which is a crucial state for renewal, healing and rejuvenation.

NEUROFEEDBACK AND INSOMNIA

• Neurological Dysregulation of brainwaves may result in disruption of the sleep cycle making it hard for the person to attain the Delta state.

• Neurofeedback is directed at teaching the patient how to regulate and balance their own brainwaves

• Insomnia is one of the first symptoms to disappear after neurofeedback.

THE BRAINCORE APPROACH

• Painless• Drugless• Non-Invasive• And Has No Side

Effects

THE BRAINCORE EVALUATIONA Window To the Brain

• The EEG evaluation begins by placing surface sensors at specific sites on the scalp

• These sensors detect brain waves and display them on the computer screen

THE BRAINCORE EVALUATIONA Window To the Brain

• During the course of the next 10 minutes the patient is asked to perform several tasks while the BRAINCORE software monitors the brainwaves

• A report is generated demonstrating imbalances associated with Insomnia

THE BRAINCORE TRAINING

• Based on the patient history and the BRAINCORE EEG Evaluation results, a customized training program is designed for the patient

• The training program is different for each individual case but typically it involves either training the patient to produce more of a certain brainwave or less of a certain brainwave

THE BRAINCORE TRAINING

• During the training session the patient is connected to the EEG using the surface sensors and the patient’s brainwaves are displayed on the computer

• On a separate monitor the patient is watching a movie that is being controlled by the patient’s own brainwaves

THE BRAINCORE TRAINING

• The movie will only play if the patient’s brain is producing the desired brainwave

• During the course of 20 training sessions, the patient’s brain learns how to produce the desired brainwave

• This new ability is associated with the alleviation of the insomnia symptoms

THE BRAINCORE TRAINING

• The best part is that the changes experienced by the patient are permanent!

• It has been demonstrated that after 20 or more BRAINCORE training sessions, the brain actually remodels itself – a process known as Neuroplasticity

BRAINCORE THERAPY

QUESTIONS

A GIFT