[Music] sleep plays an important role in our health as it is involved in the healing and repair of our organ systems the growth and development of children's brains the performance of waste management and memory consolidation approximately 30 percent of the general population complains of sleep disruption insomnia is one such disruption that makes it difficult to fall asleep stay asleep or causes you to wake up too early and not get back to sleep ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease kidney disease high blood pressure diabetes and stroke some of us may experience short periods of insomnia when facing a life stress or work project or after a traumatic event others may suffer chronically from insomnia due to chronic stress and worries medical conditions such as sleep apnea frequent travel and poor sleep hygiene insomnia may result in difficulty staying awake during the day the inability to focus mood changes loss of memory and increased risk of accidents prescription medications are available to increase sleep you should speak with your doctor to identify underlying causes and appropriate treatments behavioral therapies can also address this problem start with establishing proper sleep hygiene create an environment to encourage sleep a few ways to do this are to avoid working in the bedroom put electronics away before bedtime use essential oils and play relaxing music the benefits of appropriate sleep include increased energy immunity ability to lose weight decreased risk of heart disease and depression sleep on it