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Sick and Tired: Understanding and Managing Sleep Difficulties in ...

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deep sleep (stages three <strong>and</strong> four) occurr<strong>in</strong>g at the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g of the night <strong>and</strong> more<br />

REM sleep towards the end of the night. It therefore assumed that sleep must be<br />

cont<strong>in</strong>uous to enable the body to adequately repair <strong>and</strong> restore itself (Walsh &<br />

L<strong>in</strong>dblom, 1997).<br />

Figure 2. The cycle of sleep stages<br />

▀ = REM <strong>Sleep</strong><br />

Source: Mor<strong>in</strong>, CM (1993). Insomnia: Psychological Assessment <strong>and</strong> Management, p.<br />

17, New York Guildford Press. Repr<strong>in</strong>ted with authors permission.<br />

The sleep process is regulated by the hypothalamus which acts as a biological clock<br />

controll<strong>in</strong>g states of be<strong>in</strong>g awake <strong>and</strong> sleep<strong>in</strong>ess (known as circadian rhythms). There<br />

are variations <strong>in</strong> people‟s circadian rhythms, with some people preferr<strong>in</strong>g to go to bed<br />

earlier <strong>and</strong> awaken<strong>in</strong>g earlier, whereas others may prefer to go to bed later <strong>and</strong> wake up<br />

later (R<strong>and</strong>ler, 2008). These preferences (known as sleep chronotype) may be affected<br />

by personality (Cavallera & Giudici, 2007) or mood (Chelm<strong>in</strong>ski, Ferraro, Petros, &<br />

Plaud, 1999). Further, there is some evidence that these preferences may be heritable<br />

(Hur, 2007) <strong>and</strong> are <strong>in</strong>fluenced by the person‟s underly<strong>in</strong>g circadian rhythm (Duffy,<br />

Rimmer, & Czeisler, 2001).<br />

Circadian rhythms <strong>in</strong>volve natural variations <strong>in</strong> core body temperature, secretion of<br />

melaton<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> hormones, appetite <strong>and</strong> alertness over the course of the day. Changes <strong>in</strong><br />

these physiological processes prepare the body for the onset of sleep or wakefulness<br />

(Mor<strong>in</strong>, 1993). Levels of melaton<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>crease before sleep onset which <strong>in</strong>creases feel<strong>in</strong>gs<br />

of drows<strong>in</strong>ess <strong>and</strong> has a role <strong>in</strong> reduc<strong>in</strong>g the body temperature to facilitate sleep onset.<br />

16

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