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
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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 sleepdepriving 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
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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 microinjuries 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
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Painless
Drugless
Non-Invasive
And Has No Side
Effects
THE BRAINCORE EVALUATION
A 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 EVALUATION
A 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