Your Sleep Hours Are Responsible For Your Wake-Up Hours

Sleep has always been observed a passive and dormant part of our everyday life. We all know the fact that our brain is still active even while we are asleep. Sleep plays an important role in our life; it is responsible for regulating our physical and mental well-being. Neurotransmitters sends signals to different neurons and they start secreting chemicals which are then responsible for transferring signals to our brain henceforth that is how our sleep-wake cycle works. The sleep cycle is composed of 5 stages and it usually starts with initial stage of light sleep and then continues till that last stage REM.

Our Retina Stimulates Light Which Helps In Melatonin Formation

Circadian rhythm is a regular change in our mental and physical aspect of our body. It is controlled through our biological clock. Biological clock is made up of pinhead sized brain structures that includes more than 20000 neurons altogether. Our retina in the eye is mainly responsible for transmitting light signals that controls our sleep mechanism. Signals so received are transmitted from suprachiasmatic nucleus to the pineal gland which sends a signal to stop production of melatonin which causes sleep or drowsiness in our body. If a person does not expose him/her to light for a long time, then often his/her body’s biological clock suffers and he/she becomes vulnerable to various sleep disorders.

Blindness And Circadian Rhythm

People with blindness are often a regular victim of circadian rhythm sleep disorder. They do not possess the power of vision so they are often known to be chronic victim of jet-lag and insomnia. Their retina does not work and is never exposed to light that is why they are often prescribed melatonin tablets so that they are not deprived of sleep but most often doctors do not suggest their regular use because still they are unknown of the side-effects that it can cause.

Restless Legs Syndrome

Restless legs syndrome is now becoming a common problem that are facing circadian rhythm sleep disorder. It is often observed that when people come up with this syndrome they often complain of unpleasant crawling, irritating, caustic and creep sensations in their legs. This often causes frequent movement of their legs from time to time because of unpleasant pain which hinders their sleep. It is repetitive in nature and it causes awkwardness to sleep. It’s mostly a symptom with older people with an age group of 60 and above.

Brain Imaging May Bring Some Light To Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder

Sleep and circadian rhythm disorder have always been a topic of debate. Today the number of patients has increased tremendously and that includes large number of teenagers. Sleep has always been the vital part in controlling our wake-up hours. Many new innovative techniques are coming up like brain imaging which can surly help doctors to know the exact cause of sleep disorder. Also, doctors are tracing the symptoms that cause such discomforts and irregular sleep pattern and working on a mechanism that could help patients deal with these sleep disorders and cure them.