Insomnia

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What is Insomnia?

Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep or to stay sleeping.

Insomnia is defined as difficulty with the initiation, maintenance, duration, or quality of sleep that results in the impairment of daytime functioning, despite adequate opportunity and circumstances for sleep. (1, 2)

Who is affected by Insomnia?

A 1979 study showed that insomnia affects nearly everyone occasionally. The researchers found that only 5% of respondents claimed to never suffer sleep-related difficulties.

More recent studies have shown that approximately 50% of people suffer from this condition regularly.

In 2000, the Journal of Sleep Research published a study of nearly 13,000 people in France. (3) The results were as follows:

  • 73% indicated the presence of a nocturnal sleep problem during the preceding month
  • 29% indicated a sleep problem at least three nights per week
  • 57% complained of difficulties initiating sleep
  • 21% complained of difficulties initiating sleep at least three times a week for the previous month
  • 53% complained of night awakenings
  • 16% complained of night awakenings at least three times a week for the previous month
  • 41% complained of a nonrestorative sleep
  • 11% complained of a nonrestorative sleep at least three times a week for the past month

 The same study found that the “rate [for insomnia] was also 63% higher in women than in men”. (3)

Consequences of Insomnia

Insomnia is a debilitating disorder that substantially reduces the quality of life of its sufferers. Insomnia  takes its toll on virtually all dimensions of a person’s life, including physical daytime functioning, role limitations, bodily pain, general health perceptions, vitality, social functioning and mental health.(4)

One study found that severe insomnia patients suffered more pain, emotional and mental health effects than patients with congestive heart failure. Additionally, insomnia patients also reported more physical problems than patients with depression. (4)

Insomniacs are also 2.5 to 4.5 times more likely to have an accident than those that sleep well. In a study of 8,625 respondents in France, Léger et al. reported that 8% of insomniacs and 1% of non-insomniacs had an industrial accident in the past 12 months. (5)

Insomniacs suffer serious consequences at work and at school, including higher rates of absenteeism, decreased concentration, and difficulty performing duties.

Additionally, the total cost of health care is 60% higher for insomniacs than for non-insomniacs. (4)

What Causes Insomnia?

In most cases, mental stress is the primary cause. Patients normally confirm that while trying to sleep, the brain constantly chatters on about an endless stream of things to do, financial problems and the like. Insomnia upsets the natural balance between body, mind and spirit. During the day, the body and mind are in “control”. But at night, while the body and mind lay in bed, it is the spirit’s turn to take over. Unless the patient is unable to sleep, in which case the body and mind refuse to surrender. This can lead to depression and other serious problems.

Insomnia is caused by the accumulation of “energetic blockage”. On a daily basis, stress and toxins accumulate in your bodymind, so it is wise to make a reasonable effort to dump these on a daily basis too, so as to inch your way toward wellness every day, rather than inching your way toward illness.

Obviously it is wise to avoid any stress and toxins that you reasonably can. Now for the stress and toxins that are inevitable:

The easiest way to dump stress on a daily basis is to get a yoga ball and lie back on it for a minute or so. The best way to detoxify on a daily basis is using a sauna.

As for exercise, the most important thing to remember is that you must get wiggly to eliminate insomnia. Yoga is among the best options for getting wiggly, but there are millions of “yogis” that fail to get wiggly because they are more focused on getting flexible. These people can bend their bodies into some beautiful (and even weird) positions, but they may still suffer from conditions like migraines and insomnia because they have missed the essence of yoga, which is wellness itself. And wellness requires wiggliness.

My Key Discovery: Wiggliness is Wellness!

By experimenting on more than a thousand volunteers I discovered that those suffering with migraines and insomnia (and other serious health conditions) were less wiggly than healthier volunteers. I began to associate wiggliness with wellness. I noticed that wiggliness was not directly associated with any other physical attribute such as flexibility, body constitution/shape or overall fitness level. I began to focus more and more on wiggliness. Babies are the wiggliest humans and tend to be healthy. The elderly are the least wiggly and tend to suffer many chronic health conditions. There are other factors at play besides wiggliness, of course, but I was nonetheless interested to find a method for restoring wiggliness. I eventually developed a method that works, and the results have been called “miraculous” by those that experienced immediate and lasting relief from my system, when countless other systems had previously failed.

My Protocol for Immediate and Lasting Insomnia Relief

After more than two decades of experimentation, I succeeded in developing a highly effective, non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical treatment protocol for insomnia.

The hallmark of my system is a unique method of restoring the normal energy flow (wiggliness!) throughout the entire body, such that the body is able to “heal itself” quickly and efficiently. This self-healing includes proper oxygenation and detoxification, which are apparently hindered by a lack of what I call “wiggliness”.

In most cases, my insomnia-healing method can eliminate the main insomnia-causing energy blockage within thirty minutes. By the end of the first session (which typically lasts 1.5 – 2 hours), the energy flow has been restored to the extent that approximately 80% of insomnia sufferers will not have a recurrence for an extended period, generally 6 months – 1 year, even without a follow-up treatment. In the remaining 20% of subjects where insomnia does continue, it is generally more than 50% less frequent and less severe. In these cases, a follow-up treatment may further improve the condition.

My insomnia-healing method is designed to provide immediate relief from the symptoms of insomnia, which can be quite debilitating and demoralizing. It is therefore necessary to alleviate the condition for as long as possible, to afford the patient time and “space” to implement the remainder of my anti-insomnia protocol. My insomnia-healing treatment provides the necessary freedom from the imprisonment of insomnia and then focuses on making the result permanent through lifestyle training.

My insomnia-healing method involves a sequence of 40 techniques of gentle body manipulation, each of which is set to a carefully-selected piece of music that contains a specific “pulse”. The movements must perfectly correspond with the pulse of the music. The majority of the techniques are quite simple. This allows my system to be taught to many people with different backgrounds. A chiropractor, a doctor or an experienced massage therapist will be able to master all 40 techniques with as little as three days of practice. Compassionate but less-experienced care-givers will still be able to perform 35 of those techniques.

The goal of my system is to allow energy to pass through the body “unobstructed” (to the greatest extent possible during a single session). If a serious blockage can be reduced by 80% during the session, the insomnia condition will be halted. If the person is seriously sleep deprived, she or he may fall asleep even during the treatment, which is impressive considering that the treatment involves loud music and constant flipping, twisting, stretching and rotation of limbs. No one other than insomniacs are able to sleep during this treatment. Nearly all people are able to sleep immediately after the treatment, but there is typically no lethargy or “sleepiness”. The person is both relaxed and energized. She or he may decide to sleep or may return to work, as desired. The patient will likely enjoy a considerable period of time free of further sleep disturbance. This period is usually a minimum of several months but can be extended indefinitely with a very simple daily exercise that takes just 1-2 minutes to maintain the benefits of the treatment over the long term.

In addition to better sleep, the patient will most likely experience a multitude of other benefits. If she previously had suffered from headaches, migraines, anxiety, or depression, these conditions will also greatly improve.

The remainder of my protocol (besides its hallmark treatment described above) relates to living in harmony with nature. I developed The Lotus Lifestyle to provide the 8 simple steps for avoiding migraines and pretty well every other serious health problem:

  1. Breathe clean air, softly and deeply.
  2. Get adequate sunlight.
  3. Drink clean, living water.
  4. Eat plants to alkalize.
  5. Get wiggly with my migraine-healing treatment, or with fluid exercise such as tai chi.
  6. Detoxify with saunas, massage or fasting.
  7. Meditate or pray.
  8. Rest and dream. Here, I am not saying that the solution for insomnia is to sleep. That would be too obvious. Instead, I am suggesting a new way of looking at “those nighttime hours”. Shift your focus from sleep to dream, since the dream is more valuable than the sleep, and you may be able to dream while you are still awake.

The Lotus Lifestyle is designed for everyone, not just sufferers of insomnia. It provides the guidelines for obtaining the correct nutrients and avoiding and eliminating harmful toxins. It is possible to follow The Lotus Lifestyle without spending a penny. I frequently teach this method in schools and when I am invited as a guest speaker. At my wellness center The Lotus Garden, visitors “learn by doing”… that is to say, they live all eight components of The Lotus Lifestyle, so they can immediately feel the dramatic improvement in their overall wellness. Daytime visitors can get an immediate boost in their energy and a dramatic reduction in pain and they can get a taste of delicious, healthy food. Guests that stay a longer period can fully detox and fully renew themselves, while breathing clean air and sampling infinite varieties of healthy meals.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions or comments, or to book a visit to the Lotus Garden.

References

1. World Health Organization, Guidelines for the management of conditions specifically related to stress. Geneva: WHO, 2013

2. Chronic Insomnia, Michael H. Silber, M.B., Ch.B., New England Journal of Medicine 2005; 353:803-810 August 25, 2005 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMcp043762

3. Prevalence of insomnia in a survey of 12778 adults in France, Journal of Sleep Research, Volume 9, Issue 1, pages 35–42, March 2000 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2869.2000.00178.x/full

4. Insomnia: Definition, Prevalence, Etiology, and Consequences, Thomas Roth, Journal of Clinical Sleep Med. 2007 August 15; 3(5 Suppl): S7–S10. PMCID: PMC1978319,

5. Medical and socio-professional impact of insomnia. Sleep. Leger D, et al. 2002;25:625–9. [PubMed]