Over sixty percent of the population experience disturbed sleep or complete
sleeplessness, either chronically or once in a while. Insomnia has never
killed anyone, but to the person suffering from it, insomnia is as weakening
as anemia and as nagging as an ulcer. Apart from physical causes such as
malfunctioning of some organ, it is anxiety which is the cause of most sleep
abnormalities.*
Anxiety causes nightmares and night terrors in children, and it is the most
frequent cause of sleep walking and sleep talking. Even small worries can
cause insomnia, as the person lies in bed "over thinking" and fearing that
he will not be able to sleep. The fear itself results in that very result
i.e. inability to sleep. A vicious circle results, continuously, increasing
the severity of the problem.
Since worries and over thinking are the prime causes of insomnia, the cure
is obvious: stop worrying, especially at bedtime. Unfortunately, that
advice, though true, is very difficult to put into practice. A period of
meditation, ranging from ten minutes to half an hour, just before going to
bed, is usually successful in eliminating the problem.
Meditation works by relaxing the mind. The peaceful mind quickly spreads
its effect to the hypothalamus inside the brain, the region where the sleep
centre is located. When the blockage there is removed, natural and peaceful
functioning of the sleep centre is restored.
