A healthy afternoon nap

Have you ever felt an uncontrollable drowsiness after lunch? This is not necessarily a sign that you are suffering from sleep deprivation. It is normal to feel sleepy in the early afternoon because of a natural drop in body temperature. In addition, scientists have recently discovered a protein called hypocretin, or orexin, that is produced in the brain and helps keep us awake. What is the connection between hypocretin and food?
When we eat, the body produces leptin to give us the impression that we are full. But leptin inhibits the production of hypocretin. In other words, the more leptin there is in the brain, the less hypocretin and the greater the feeling of drowsiness. Perhaps that is why in some countries people take a siesta-a break in the workday that allows people to sleep a little after lunch.

SLEEP PROBLEMS are nothing new. As early as the fifth century B.C.E., a servant at the court of Persian King Ahasuerus recorded that one night "the king's sleep fled."-Esther 6:1.

Today millions of people have difficu1ty sleeping wel1. According to Brazilian sleep specialist Rubens Reimao, an estimated 35 percent of the world's population suffer fram insomnia.* DI. David Rapoport of the New York University Sleep Disorders Center described sleeping badly as "one of the most serious epidemics of the turn of the century."

* Insomnia is the inability to enjoy normal and sufficient sleep.

To make matters worse, many insomniacs suffer in ignorance. According to researchers at the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, as few as 3 percent of sufferers are correctly diagnosed. Many simply accept s1eeping badly as part of life and resign themselves to spending their waking hours feeling irritated anddrowsy.