I. Introduction A. Background Everybody has to sleep every day. Sleep is indispensable to human beings. If you sleep well, you will be full of vigor to start a new day. If you sleep more you will become smarter, also your memory ability will become stronger, moreover it can help you express the stress. Besides, the optimal amount of sleep per day in humans varies according to age and condition. As seen in Table 1.1, babies have to sleep more ten hours per day; adolescents, nine to ten hours; adults, including elderly, seven to eight hours. So everyone has to sleep in his or her needful sleeping hours. Therefore, everyone wants to sleep well every day instead of being bothered by insomnia. But, unfortunately nowadays, more and more people suffer from insomnia. Insomnia is more a symptom of sleep problem rather than a disease. It causes you to sleep with difficulty and intermittently. Also, sometimes, waking up, you probably still feel tired and are not full of vigor at all. Table 1.1 The Average Amount of Sleep per Day for Humans Age and Condition Average amount of sleep per day Newborn up to 18 hours 1 12 months 14 18 hours 1 3 years 12 15 hours 3 5 years 11 13 hours 5 12 years 9 11 hours Adolescents 9 10 hours Adults, including elderly 7 8(+) hours Pregnant women 8(+) hours (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sleep) Insomnia is caused by many factors, such as pressure from work, emotion, schoolwork, irregular life, and so on. Insomnia may make you feel very tired and uncomfortable on the next day. So, don t ignore it! Phyllis Zee (2006), the researcher of the University of Chicago, said, The chronic insomnia will decrease immune system, and caused many health problem. Dr. Chang ( 2010) indicates, American sleeping foundation of survey revealed that the people who have heart attack, brain apoplexy, lung disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis have bad sleeping quality. The people who have chronic disease will suffer badly from insomnia. 1
Insomnia is curable; however, if the treatment is not timely, it will turn into the psychological symptom, like melancholia. Accordingly, we are going to research into the cause of insomnia, the influence of insomnia, how to improve it without hypnotic medication and the effective solution of insomnia. Motivation B. Motivation Following the society of the fast pace, there are more and more people who have insomnia. But, the reasons why people suffer from insomnia are different. However, some people seldom affected by insomnia may ignore it; other people suffering serious insomnia may take medicine that can help them sleep well. Although, nowadays, there are many news reports about insomnia, yet some people do not understand why insomnia happens to them. Do you know what insomnia is? What kinds of food may result in insomnia? How to improve it? That s what we are going to discuss and to realize more about it. In such a competitive society, we should have enough vigor to face the challenge rather than be defeated by insomnia. C. Purpose More and more modern people sleep with difficulty, and some of them are even worse disturbed by insomnia. Therefore, by giving them some suggestions based on our findings, our target is to help those who are disturbed by insomnia find their comfortable sleeping quality back and then sleep well all the night. D. Research Questions In this current study, the research questions we are going to explore are listed as follows. RQ1. What is insomnia? RQ2. Why do people suffer from insomnia? RQ3. What does insomnia influence on human body and mind? RQ4. How should people improve insomnia? II. Thesis RQ1: What is insomnia? Defined by Yun Lin (2005), insomnia generally refers to a symptom that people 2
cannot sleep well during the nights, or they might still feel exhausted in the morning even though they think they do fall asleep. In addition, some psychologists said that insomnia could be divided into three categories. 1. Transient insomnia: People have sleep disorder for less than a week. Transient insomnia is caused by a sudden event, a coming examination or by excitement, such as an exciting trip on the following day. 2. Acute insomnia: People suffer from short-term insomnia for about one week to three weeks. The reasons causing short-term insomnia are various, such as a failure in love, something terrible happening in regular life, and so forth. 3. Chronic insomnia: people cannot sleep well for more than a month. Long-term insomnia may be caused by another disorder or a primary disorder and can be divided into three parts. a. Idiopathic Insomnia: That may be caused by heredity, but the real reason is still unknown. b. Continual Insomnia: That may be caused by melancholia or medical disease. c. Mixed Insomnia: That is related to idiopathic and continual insomnia. Dr. Zhao (2009), a doctor in Taipei City Hospital, pointed out that women who had ever experienced insomnia are more than men. Then, in order to understand more about insomnia, we designed a questionnaire to know more about the circumstance of people s suffering from insomnia. As shown in Table 2.1, among 100 respondents, 86 people (86%) have ever suffered from insomnia, including 35 males (87.5%) and 51 females (85%). Table 2.1 The Circumstance of People s Suffering from Insomnia Gender Yes No Total male 35 (87.5%) 5 (12.5%) 40 female 51 (85%) 9 (15%) 60 Total 86 (86%) 14 (14%) 100 According to our survey, we find out the males are more likely to suffer from insomnia than women. However, this result contradicts with Dr. Zhao s survey which was done five years ago. We find that in our survey there are 87.5 percent of males, 85 percent of females having suffered from insomnia. The number of women experiencing insomnia is less than men! We infer that the difference between our survey and Dr. Zhao s result may be caused by different times, and society changes. 3
For example, males in the modern times may have to not only work but also do the housework and take care of baby. RQ2: Why do people suffer from insomnia? According to the information we read, the reasons that cause insomnia are different from people to people. But, what is the main reason? We have to find out why we suffer from insomnia, and then to cure it. Because most people suffer from insomnia with different reasons, we designed a questionnaire to gather data for statistical analysis shown in Figure 2.1. Based on Figure 2.1, we can see that the majority (21%) of respondents chose the option Think too much. Some people may think something haunted before falling asleep. Maybe they think about their family, work, schoolwork or an important plan, and so on. Because they keep thinking, which leads to their brain keeping working, the brain is too busy to rest. The second highest reason for insomnia is There is an important event in the next day, so it is too nervous to sleep. People are often worried about upcoming events. Here, they are only suggested to relax. If they could relax, they may not feel so nervous, and insomnia will not happen to them. The third highest reason is The pressure is too heavy to sleep. Work, schoolwork, interrelationship, and family affairs can cause much pressure to us in our life. Besides, suffering much stress brings about insomnia eventually. Figure 2.1 The reasons why people suffer from insomnia There are several causes of insomnia. According to Yun Lin (2005), the causes of insomnia can be divided into five main parts: personality, psychology, physiology, 4
surroundings, and life. A. Personality: People, who may easily get nervous, tend to think too much, demand all things to perform perfectly, or have a tendency to hesitate are easily attacked by insomnia. These people should understand their character, and also should learn how to deal with pressure. It is suggested that all they have to do is release their pressure and take a deep breath when they feel nervous. B. Psychology: Insomnia is connected with emotion, such as worry, tension, anxiety, excitement, etc. They should find some means to cure insomnia; if it is difficult to improve the insomnia symptom, it is recommended that they should go to see a doctor immediately. C. Physiology: The disordered body clock, chronic diseases, sickness, including having a fever, a sore throat, a decayed tooth, and so on may cause insomnia. To remedy all the ailments leads to not only healthy body but also good sleeping quality. D. Surroundings: The bad condition of our sleep can also bring about insomnia. For instance, good sleep is associated with suitable pillows, comfortable beds, and warm blankets. Without proper sleeping surroundings, it may interrupt the sleep and further cause insomnia. E. Life: The abnormal daily schedule, drinking, or smoking may lead to insomnia as well. Consequently, we have to remain our daily schedule regular, and drink less. RQ3: What does insomnia influence on human body and mind? Don t ignore the influences of insomnia because they will cause your body more harmful. If you suffer from insomnia for a long time, you will be fatigued while working or studying. Figure 2.2 shows the respondents energy during the daytime. From Figure 2.2, it can be seen that 34% participants suffering from insomnia tend to be fatigued. Then, 29% participants usually yawn during the daytime. Besides, the tiredness, dizziness, headache, ache, anger, upset, and so on may happen after insomnia. Insomnia is associated with disease, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory system disease, stomach or kidney disease, etc. If you suffer from insomnia for a long time, your daily schedule will be irregular. Also your immune system will decline. Insomnia also injures brain, such as declining memory and poor learning capability. The NCCU SLEEP LAB (2009) said if the sleep hours one day are fewer than 6 5
to 7 hours, our lives would be at risk. Xiao Fen Yu (2009) said that women who want to lose weight should have enough sleep and avoid insomnia. Figure 2.2 Energy Condition during the Daytime Overall, we shouldn t neglect serious influence caused by insomnia. We should examine what symptoms we have, and do our best to cure it. If the symptoms of insomnia are very serious, people should go to see a doctor for expert advice. RQ4: How should people improve insomnia? In order to look for useful suggestions for improving insomnia, we gathered some methods to know how most of the participants improve insomnia. As the data shown in Figure 2.3, we can find that releasing the mood is the most measure to use. Sleeping is essential to human s body. Our brain should take a break by not thinking too much. Figure 2.3 The Ways of Improving Insomnia The second highest choice is Exercise. Commonly, exercise is the best way to improve insomnia, because it can not only help our body healthy but also release 6
the mood. One of the most important benefits is that it can improve insomnia. You can exercise once two days, one time for 20 to 30 minutes. Xiao Fen Yu (2009) indicated aerobic dance can increase a hour on average sleeping hours. A. Some people tend to be tension, and there are many means to help them less nervous. It is recommended that they can relieve their muscle and release the mood by listening to soft music, or doing yoga. B. Moreover, healthy diet can improve insomnia; the foods, which contain protein and calcium, vitamin B, are good for sleeping. Eating sesame, which seems small and unworthy, is greatly urged. Actually, it contains abundant nutrition such as protein, vitamin B, calcium, etc. Besides sesame, the celery is abundant in vitamin B. Before sleeping, you can drink a glass of milk containing calcium can help you fall asleep soon. C. Taking sleeping medicine is a good way, but people should know how and when to take it. People should take it with right quantity at right time, because it may bring about side effects, like poor memory, fantasy, and medicine addiction. D. Yun Lin (2005) pointed out that fragrance therapy is fabulous to improve insomnia as well. You can buy some essences to help you improve insomnia. Different essences arouse different reactions and emotions. The smell contains Lavender, Rose, Peppermint, Rosemary, etc. It is believed that the cozy fragrance can lead to more comfortable sleeping. E. Environmental changes can also give you a good sleep, such as dimming the light. Some people do not like to sleep with the bright light, because it may also keep them from sleeping well. But some people feel it secure if they turn on the light when they sleep. III. Conclusion The present study indicated that of all the respondents, 80% ever suffered from insomnia no matter they are office workers, students, public servants, housewives, and so on. In addition, they also suffer from insomnia under different pressure like career, family, affection, friendship, schoolwork, and so forth. Even so, one thing worth noting is: don t escape from curing it, don t let insomnia ruin your life and health. All you have to do is overcome and challenge it. When suffering from insomnia, first of all, you need to observe what the causes could be and what the symptoms are. Then scheme a plan for improving insomnia; you can take the solutions to insomnia obtained in our survey into consideration. For 7
instance, exercising, relieving muscle, relaxing, and so forth are useful ways to improve insomnia. If you still suffer from insomnia over a month, it is necessary for you to see a professional doctor. The professional advice from physicians indeed offers useful help to you to retrieve normal sleep with good quality. So far, are you still worried about going to bed? Are you still counting sheep? Actions speak louder than words. Sleep tight, good night. IV. References 1. (1998) Get a good Night s Sleep 2. (2003) 3. (2005) 4. (2009) 5. (2007) http://health.people.com.cn/big5/14740/21471/5864089.html 6. (2010) 12 http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2010/new/jan/11/today-health3.htm 7. 2010 11 09 http://ksph.kcg.gov.tw/walking05.htm 8. (2009)2010 11 10 http://www.nccu-sleeplab.com/index.php/2009-08-16-15-02-58/65-2009-08-17-0 7-21-37 9. 2010 http://www.000.com.tw/postdata.asp?postno=90 10. 2010? http://www.femh.org.tw/epaperadmin/viewarticle.aspx?id=2564 V. Appendix Questionnaire Survey on Insomnia Dear respondents, We are the students in National Hsin Hua Industrial Vocational High School (HHVS). Thanks for your patience to be willing to fill up this questionnaire. This questionnaire is used to understand your sleeping condition and whether you have ever suffered from insomnia. Please answer all the questions by your case. And we won t reveal any of your information and answers in public. 8
Department of Applied English, HHVS Fendi, Penny, and Vincent October 2010 Your personal information 1. Your Gender (1) male (2) female 2. Your age 1. 11~20 years old 2. 21~30 years old 3. 31~40 years old 4. 41~50years old 5. 51~60 years old 6. Above 60 years old Questions 1. Have you ever suffered from insomnia? 1.Yes 2.No 2. What are the reasons causing your insomnia? (1) Having a trip next day (2) Having something important to do (3) Thinking too much (4) Having great pressure on life, work or study (5) Heredity (6) Physiological problems (7) Illness (8) Environmental changes (ex. stay in the hotel or move to the new house) (9) Sleeping quality (ex. noise) (10) Usually staying up late (11) Working on the night, and sleeping in the daytime (12) Drinking too much coffee or tea (13) Others 3. What do you often do during sleeping? (1) Going to the bathroom several times (2) Having nightmares (3) Grinding your teeth in sleep (4) Somnambulism (5) Snoring (6) Awake unconsciously in the midnight (7) Awaken by little sound (8) Half awake (9) Others 4. How do you feel when working or studying? (1) Easily falling sleep (2) Being fatigued (3) Frequently yawning (4) Full of energy (5) Others 5. How many hours do you sleep on average? (1) 1~2hours (2) 2~3hours (3) 3~4hours (4) 4~5hours (5) 5~6hours (6) 6~7hours (7) 7~8hours (8) 8~9hours 6. Have you ever tried to improve insomnia? (1) Yes (2) No 7. How do you improve insomnia? (1) Relaxing your muscles (2) Releasing your mood (3) Taking medicine (4) Taking exercise (5) Counting sheep (6) Improving the healthy diet (7) Others Thanks for your participation! 9