Half of all working people have insomnia

Half of all German professionals have sleep disorders: Sleep disorders seem to be a widespread disease in Germany. According to a study by the health insurance DAK suffer about 20 million German professionals under sleep disorders. It is seen as a connection to the global economic crisis.

About 40 percent of those affected stated that they had stress at work and stressful family situations. 20 percent saw changing work and sleep times as a reason for their sleep disorders due to shift and night work.

4 million people with sleep disorders sleep more than three times a week. As a result, they are unausgeruht, tired and not fully efficient. This also leads to more sick leave. The body needs the nocturnal rest period for regeneration. If this is not given permanently, the organism's ability to compensate diminishes and it can lead to illnesses.

In naturopathy one sees the causes also in an imbalance between the two opponents in our involuntary nervous system. During the day is increasingly the so-called „sympathetic“ active. This is the nervous system that drives our organism. It regulates, among other things, the heartbeat and increases the circulation in the skeletal muscles. His opponent is the „parasympathetic“. He is more inwardly focused on digestion and regenerative processes.

One reason for an imbalance could be lack of movement during the day, due to the increasing sedentary jobs. If stress then comes, probably the sympathetic nervous system is probably in constant activity and those affected can not switch off.

Possible personal influences could be walks after work, which on the one hand give the body some necessary movement and help to re-think and handle stressful situations. The problem is that many people trivialize sleep disorders and do something only when serious sequelae of permanent sleep deprivation are recognizable and felt. (Thorsten Fischer, Naturopath Osteopathy, 09.02.2010)