Sleep disorder, insomnia

Sleep is the human body's natural resting state and a basic necessity. Good-quality and sufficient sleep is vital for maintaining health. Persistent sleep disturbance can lead to serious diseases. Sleep disorder (also called insomnia) is a quantitative and/or qualitative insufficiency of sleep.

The importance of restorative sleep

You may not have fully thought through how important sleep is.

A common scene in war films is prisoners being tortured by sleep deprivation; the body collapses within a few days and thinking becomes confused.

Sleep is essential for preserving health and mental and physical capability.

• During sleep the body repairs the “damage” and wear accumulated during the active daytime. During the day your body focuses on performing your activities — moving and thinking. During sleep it does not need to worry about that, since you are almost unconscious, in a "switched-off" state.
  Therefore your body devotes all its energy to replacing destroyed cells and regenerating tissues.
  Self-healing and restorative processes work most effectively during sleep; this is when healing happens!
• It refills depleted energy stores and thereby raises your body's energy level. You can act with renewed strength the next day.
• It supports immune system function by producing substances that help defend against illness.
• If you exercise regularly, muscle work is consolidated during sleep. When you train at maximum intensity, your body has no time to build muscles — on the contrary, many muscle fibers tear, muscle cells are damaged and your energy stores are emptied. Restoring this (even renewing with stronger muscle fibers) happens during sleep. If you don't rest enough, you won't progress at the desired rate.
• Overall, lack of sleep increases the risk of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.

In short, daytime activities "break down" your body. During sleep the restorative and healing processes "remove the traces" of that damage.

Therefore good-quality and sufficient sleep is fundamentally important for health. Generally, if you wake up fresh and rested, your sleep duration is sufficient and your sleep quality is adequate.

How much sleep do you need?

Your daily sleep need is 7–9 hours. This varies significantly between individuals and across ages. Younger people need more sleep, older people less.

You require sleep regularly and repeatedly. During sleep your connection to the outside world becomes shallower and your muscles relax. Your body's stores are replenished and the subconscious organizes the events and memories of the previous day.

Sleep can be divided into two main phases. In one phase your eyes make rapid movements — this is the REM phase. You dream in this phase, usually without remembering the dreams after waking. The other phase has no eye movements (non-REM) and can be further subdivided according to sleep depth and reflex activity.

What causes sleep disorder?

The background of sleep disorders is often complex. It can be due to medical or psychological causes, or a mixture of both. A common medical cause is chronic pain, which can come from joint disease or back pain caused by prolonged sitting or standing. Certain respiratory problems (asthma, allergies) can also lead to sleep disturbance. Solving these problems can eliminate insomnia.

What does sleep disorder cause?

Lack of restorative sleep can lead to physical and mental problems. Work, daily stress… from morning until bedtime you need a lot of energy to maintain your activity. Much of that energy is "obtained" at night during sleep.

If you don't sleep peacefully, your energy stores won't be replenished.

And it's not just an energy issue. Long-term lack of restorative sleep can lead to health problems, as sleep deprivation is proven to be harmful to body and mind:

• It weakens the immune system and increases the risk of infections.
• It affects mood.
• If sleep loss is chronic, it can lead to anxiety and depression.
• It affects mental health, reducing physical and cognitive performance.
• Reduced concentration increases the risk of accidents (at home, while driving, at work, etc.).
• It limits learning ability.
• It can cause cardiovascular problems.
• It increases the risk of high blood pressure.
• Growth hormone production decreases.
• It affects metabolism; when you don't sleep you are more prone to gaining weight.
• Lack of deep sleep exhausts and accelerates the deterioration of your health.

Day by day fatigue drags you down. If you don't sleep at night and don't rest, you won't generate enough energy, and not only physical pains appear, but possibly psychological disturbances as well.

Insomnia caused by sleep disorder reduces performance,

increases the risk of accidents and weakens your immune defenses. It reduces responsiveness, learning, tolerance and attention-concentration abilities, and work performance declines. Irritability increases, you feel fatigued, and immune capacity decreases. In a chronically exhausted state the risk of illnesses rises.

Sleep disorder can be both a symptom and a disease, with many possible underlying causes. The exact cause is not always found.

Insomnia can be quantitative — that is, too little sleep (hyposomnia or insomnia) — or too much (hypersomnia). In insomnia and inadequate sleep, falling asleep is difficult, frequent awakenings interrupt sleep, or after falling asleep and continuous sleep awakening occurs too early.
The opposite is oversleeping, i.e. increased sleep need. A symptom is daytime drowsiness. It can be caused by medications, especially overuse of hypnotics and sedatives. Increased sleep need can also indicate physical illnesses, for example underactive thyroid. Drowsiness can also be a symptom of inflammation affecting the brain or increased intracranial pressure.

Quality disturbances of sleep are called parasomnias. In these the processes of falling asleep or waking are impaired — examples include sleepwalking.

Treatment options for sleep disorder

Medications are commonly prescribed for treating insomnia. Most hypnotics lead to tolerance, and long-term use can cause other unpleasant side effects.

Therefore, before reaching for sleeping pills it is worth finding out the cause of the sleep disorder.

Often the trigger, such as a respiratory problem, can be prevented in a simple way by clearing the airways, respiratory therapy or salt therapy. For chronic pain treatment use TENS or the even more effective MENS treatments.

Some tips for insomnia

• Timing of exercise matters! Sport has many health benefits, one being that it produces healthy fatigue that helps falling asleep. Although exercise is extremely beneficial for sleep, try to do it during the day rather than in the evening. Intense exercise stimulates adrenaline production and will make you feel alert for quite some time — something you don't need when trying to sleep. So preferably avoid exercising in the evening.
• Avoid caffeine in the afternoon. It's a stimulant that affects sleep and has a half-life of about 5 hours. So if you drink coffee at 3 pm, it will still be active in your body at 10 pm and may be present when you try to fall asleep. If you rarely drink coffee and are not used to caffeine, an afternoon coffee will have an even stronger stimulating effect on you.
• Have dinner early! Make the evening meal as early as possible so your stomach has enough time to empty. This can take up to two hours. Going to bed on an empty stomach helps avoid reflux symptoms that can trouble you while lying down.
• Install a blue-light filter on your computer and phone. If you use your phone or laptop in the evening, it's worth using a blue-light filter. Of visible light the blue-light wavelength is the most influential on sleep timing. Blue-light filter programs can be downloaded for mobile phones and computers and automatically remove blue light in the evening hours.
• Total darkness in the bedroom. Try sleeping in complete darkness. If you struggle with insomnia this is definitely recommended. Melatonin, which helps sleep, is produced most in the dark.
  If any artificial light reaches you during sleep, it can disrupt the circadian rhythm, suppress melatonin production and negatively affect your sleep quality. So you are best off eliminating artificial lights from the bedroom.
  Turn off or remove all electronic devices from the room, lower the blinds and draw blackout curtains so street lamps don't shine in.
• Go to bed earlier. Studies show that the hours before midnight are particularly valuable. Try to fall asleep before ten o'clock, because these early hours are more important than total sleep duration. If you feel groggy upon waking, don't try to sleep more; instead go to bed earlier and wake up earlier.
• Sleep in a pulsed magnetic field. Numerous scientific articles support that magnetic therapy significantly aids better sleep. In that study, 70% of patients receiving pulsed magnetic field therapy experienced significant or complete relief of their sleep problems. A further 24% reported clear improvement. Only 6% reported slight improvement. Adding the numbers shows that every participant in the study reported some beneficial effect from the magnetic field treatment: 70% had significant or complete improvement, the rest experienced improvement.
• Neuromodulation. The Nurosym is a clinically validated and certified, patented medical device designed for neuromodulation.
  Nurosym uses tVNS (transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation) technology to modulate the nervous system and restore neural network function. Targeting the vagus nerve, it sends specially designed signals to the brain to change physical and mental states and restore health.
  This innovative technology provides beneficial effects for long-COVID, atrial fibrillation, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, stress and chronic fatigue. Further research is ongoing to evaluate additional applications of Nurosym.
  Nurosym is a clinically validated and certified medical device that can be used comfortably at home. It is non-invasive and offers a drug-free alternative to improve patients' quality of life. Click here to purchase a Nurosym device.

How does PEMF therapy reduce sleep disorder?

PEMF stands for pulsed electromagnetic field. But how does this improve sleep quality and rest?

The pulsed magnetic field has a biomodulatory effect, meaning it activates, stimulates and supports certain physiological processes. Two primary effects play a role in improving sleep:

• Improving blood circulation and increasing oxygen supply
• Activation of mitochondria

It has been proven that PEMF can increase blood circulation by up to 200%, especially in the smallest capillaries (i.e. it has the strongest effect on microcirculation). Better circulation delivers more oxygen and nutrients to cells, establishing the basis for accelerated metabolism.

Another important effect of the pulsed magnetic field is enhancing mitochondrial function. Mitochondria are responsible for producing energy in cells, which is essential for cell function.

Mitochondria and health

Every cell in your body contains mitochondria, though not all cells have the same number. For example, muscle, liver, brain and kidney cells can contain hundreds because they need a lot of energy to function properly.

Mitochondria are the cell's power plants — they convert nutrients into energy-storage molecules (ATP, adenosine triphosphate). ATP is essential for existence. ATP is required for all cellular processes, including transmembrane transport, protein and enzyme synthesis, and regeneration. If mitochondria do not function properly, ATP production decreases or stops. Since ATP is the body's basic energy source, lack of ATP makes you weak and listless.

Poor mitochondrial function results in fatigue and exhaustion; you cannot sleep well and cognitive function suffers (concentration problems, depression). Energy deficiency and cellular dysfunction are directly linked to inflammation, hormonal and metabolic disorders, and obesity.

Vital restorative processes occur in your body during sleep.

"What you destroy during the day, your body repairs during sleep."

If your mitochondria do not function properly, you have no energy. Nevertheless, you cannot achieve deep sleep, so you do not rest and the body's regenerative processes "freeze." This is a vicious circle — a self-worsening process.

Cell health and membrane potential

Your cells are surrounded by a cell membrane. The distribution of electrical charges differs between its outer and inner sides. A healthy cell's membrane potential is between -25 and -60 mV. Cook MR, Graham C, Cohen HD, Gerkovich MM. A replication study of human exposure to 60-Hz fields: effects on neurobehavioral measures. Bioelectromagnetics. 1992;13(4):261-85. doi: 10.1002/bem.2250130403. PMID: 1510736.

If the potential "falls," transmembrane transport is impaired. If "fuel" cannot enter, mitochondria have nothing to produce energy from. Without energy, cellular functions stop, including production of proteins, enzymes and other substances.

Consequences include flares of inflammatory processes, joint pain, delayed wound healing, psychological problems, muscle fatigue, sleep disorder or loss of the ability to rest.

Membrane potential of healthy and diseased cells

The average membrane potential of healthy adult cells is -25 mV. Diseased cells do not reach -10 mV. They already lose energy if their potential drops below -15 mV. If the potential falls below -5 mV, cell death (necrosis) occurs.

Methods that activate and regenerate mitochondria are capable of curing diseases as well.

Pulsed magnetic field therapy helps "recharge" and regenerate energy-depleted cells. Cells become functional again and cell membrane potential balances above -25 mV. The higher the cellular energy level, the better your body functions and the better you sleep.

Under the influence of magnetic therapy your mitochondria begin producing ATP and you regain your energy and vitality. This allows you to have daytime vitality and deep, restorative sleep at night.

Application of magnetic therapy

"Scientific studies confirm that pulsed magnetic fields of appropriate frequency and intensity have beneficial effects on the human body.".

Pelka RB, Jaenicke C, Gruenwald J. Impulse magnetic-field therapy for insomnia: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Adv Ther. 2001 Jul-Aug;18(4):174-80. doi: 10.1007/BF02850111. PMID: 11697020.

A key to repair is therefore activating the mitochondria. Magnetic therapy — like microcurrent — can "recharge" mitochondria.

But how does this happen?

Treatment can be performed with a device providing pulsed magnetic field therapy. Examples are the Magnum devices from the Italian manufacturer Globus, available in several models.

These medical devices generate the pulsed magnetic field using magnetic coils in various applicators (belt, wrap, pillow, mattress). All you need to do is remain within the magnetic field they create — for example by wearing the belt, sitting on the pillow, or lying on the mattress.

Regenerative treatments are long in duration (daily 6–8 hours is ideal). Therefore it's advisable to treat yourself at night during sleep. I already mentioned mattress-like accessories; you can place the smaller one under your pillow. On full-body mattresses you can lie down along the full length.

Nighttime, prolonged magnetic therapy regenerates and revitalizes your cells and activates mitochondria. Its effect can be twofold: 1) you sleep more, or 2) your sleep depth increases (you sleep better), rather than total sleep time increasing.

The result is that your body wakes up more rested and your performance improves.

Restorative sleep with magnetic therapy

Numerous scientific articles support that magnetic therapy significantly improves sleep. In that study, 70% of patients receiving pulsed magnetic field therapy experienced significant or complete relief of their sleep problems. A further 24% reported clear improvement. Only 6% reported slight improvement. Adding the numbers shows that every participant reported beneficial effects: 70% had significant or full improvement, while the rest experienced at least some improvement.

The key: regularity, appropriate frequency and intensity

I mentioned biostimulation as a stimulator of your body's processes. This does not happen instantly or from a single treatment. If you treat daily, or at least every other day, the effects of individual sessions gradually accumulate and produce results. If you take too long breaks, the process restarts from zero each time — it starts and then without repetition it stops again.

The effectiveness of regeneration depends on the frequencies and magnetic intensity used. The Magnum devices are medical-grade equipment and have the necessary capabilities.

What can a Magnum device offer you?

Choose programs that support sleep, regenerate mitochondria, reduce inflammation and restore energy.

During treatments various magnetic intensities (Gauss) and different frequencies are combined to promote restorative sleep, better health and increased mitochondrial activation, which

• Increases cellular energy
• Improves oxygen supply throughout the body
• Naturally reduces pain and inflammation
• Helps you sleep more peacefully and rest better
• Increases energy and vitality
• Makes bones stronger and healthier
• Helps the body regenerate tissues
• Improves circulation and heart health

If you'd like more information, contact me and I'll help you choose which device best meets your needs!