In October 2019, Claudia and I were conducting a workshop on high performance for an institutional client with a presence throughout the country and we asked the following question: Who suffers from insomnia or sleep problems? About half of the audience raised their hand. We have asked this question in an unscheduled manner in different groups with which we work and the number of people who always respond affirmatively is close to half. What was particular about the October 2019 meeting was that a medical doctor who was attending the course approached us to make some comments on the subject, stating that insomnia or sleep problems are a pandemic in the world today.
This statement by the doctor, in addition to the fact that I personally have suffered from sleep problems for the last 25 years, motivated us to investigate the subject further. After that date, I began to apply everything I knew about behavioral therapies to improve my sleep. I did research, and little by little, after about 3 months of consistent and persistent work, I can say that my situation improved by about 70% and continued to improve. That is, if before I had three nights of good sleep a week, today I can say that I have between 5 and 6 nights of good sleep a week. The difference in the quality of life that I now lead during the day has changed radically. When you sleep well, you enjoy life more when you are awake, you are more productive and you relate better with others.
The neurotransmitters most closely linked to sleep are melatonin and serotonin. Melatonin is activated by information coming from sight. The eyes see that it is getting dark and melatonin begins to be released. For the normal flow of melatonin release during the night, darkness is needed; if there is light, its release is interrupted. Blue light is more harmful than yellow light for its release. The importance of melatonin is that it activates many regenerative and cleansing activities in the brain and the rest of the body. It is the most important antioxidant in the body according to leading researchers on the subject. In the nighttime cleansing processes, it helps eliminate heavy metals and free radicals. These residues are cleaned in our body and if they remain, they can promote the emergence of diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer and others.
The melatonin production cycle has a peak during the night and then begins to decline. By this I mean that taking melatonin supplements has to be done with prior analysis so that it does not cause two peaks in production within your body. Two peaks can alter the proper functioning of the so-called circadian sleep cycle, ultimately not helping you much to find an effective solution.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps you feel relaxed, peaceful and confident. It is released to counteract moments of high activity or excitement. For example, when you exercise, dopamine is released and the heart rate increases. Serotonin helps the heart rate to slow down and you can rest.
The above is only for the purpose of sharing with you some of what I have learned and applied. Recent information indicates that nearly 60% of the adult population has problems falling asleep and more and more cases are seen in adolescent populations, greatly influenced by new lifestyles and many electronic devices. Both have increased the amount and hours of lighting, on average reducing sleep hours for the entire world population by about 1.5 hours per night over the past 50 years. The consequences of less productivity and quality caused by lack of sleep are a topic of serious discussion.
Knowing all this, it is no longer very smart to say that tonight I will stay up late working or studying. It makes no sense. The next day we will have a less productive day and, in addition, it is during sleep that the learning of the day is consolidated; if you do not sleep, you do not learn efficiently.
So, it is very worthwhile to take care of sleep. Today, after having delved deeper, learned and applied it to my reality, I can say that my quality of life has improved and I am very committed to taking care of my sleep. In addition, I share with you that we have decided to write a book on this subject to help many to overcome it and be able to say: "No more insomnia."
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