If you think not sleeping well is just one of those discomforts you have to put up with as a side effect of aging , you'll be surprised to hear that new research conducted by the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania turns this conventional wisdom on its head.

The study, involving over 150,000 people and published in the journal Sleep , was designed to show that the quality of sleep declines in old age , explained Dr Michael Grander. But the shock results reveal that aging isn't the primary cause of poor sleep. So much so that one British sleep researcher commented it was a "myth" that aging is the root of sleep deprivation.

The study has researchers convinced that complaints about poor sleep lessen as people move beyond the middle years, with the lowest number of complaints among the over-70s—likely because they have adjusted to a more relaxed lifestyle by this time in life.

So why do people in their middle years—especially their 40s, when they ought to be performing at their peak in all areas of life—suffer the most severe sleep deprivation, whereas many even in their 80s report sleeping well?

At Brain State Technologies®, we've known for a long time that it isn't age that causes people to sleep poorly.

Sleep deprivation is at its peak in the 40s because by then people's brain patterns are often in a state of severe disarray as a result of the buildup of trauma and stress as a result of the pressures of our complex modern world. The overtaxed brain becomes "stuck" in a mode designed for coping with challenging situations, unable to return to its normal state.

The common approach to treating sleep maladies is chemical, with $150 billion spent by United States companies to address sleep-related issues. Use of sedatives has soared as stressed-out Americans seek to feel more relaxed. The problem is that the underlying sleep architecture remains abnormal because of the continuing imbalance in the individual’s brainwaves. Chemicals such as sleep aids simply mask what's really going on inside us.

At Brain State, we've demonstrated that the brain drives body chemistry. When brainwave patterns are balanced left-to-right and front-to-back, with low and high frequencies in optimal proportion to one another throughout the brain, clients find themselves sleeping well often for the first time in years.

Having assessed the brainwave patterns of over 45,000 clients worldwide, we know that when the brain is agitated, as measured by EEG, the individual's sleep tends to suffer. By addressing these imbalances with our advanced noninvasive technology, we’ve shown that not sleeping well isn’t merely a symptom of physical and emotional health problems, but the source of many of these problems.

At any age, sleep can be improved by balancing and harmonizing the brain using Brainwave Optimization™. But especially if you are in your career and family years, you want to function at your best. Changing your sleep patterns with Brainwave Optimization® can be life-changing—like being released from shackles.

Author's Bio: 

Lee Gerdes, Founder and CEO of Brain State Technologies®, is the creator of the cutting edge technology Brainwave Optimization with Real-Time Balancing™, which is transforming lives all over the world.

As the author of Limitless You: The Infinite Possibilities of a Balanced Brain, published in 2009 by Namaste Publishing and now in soft cover, Lee's work emanates from a combination of his interests in how the brain works and its effect on mind, body, and spirit, coupled with his personal experience of trauma in the form of a violent assault in 1992.

This effort has now evolved into the neuro-technology known as Brainwave Optimization™, which is produced and distributed by Brain State Technologies®, with nearly 200 affiliate offices in 18 countries worldwide serving over 50,000 clients.

As a result of this trauma, in 2000 Lee began working with his own brain to relieve post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His success in overcoming the effects of trauma led him to dedicate his life to understanding neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to change itself) and how the breakthrough insights of neuroscience can be applied to improve peoples’ lives. His work is daily proof that by optimizing our brain, we can optimize our entire life, empowering us to "at last be the limitless individuals we were born to be." www.brainstatetech.com