As ordinary a function of life that sleep is, there is a lotthat supposed experts in the field and scientists still don’t knowabout it. Sleep is vital to our health, yet around 40 millionpeople in the United States alone have some type of long-term sleepdisorder. Another 20 million have periodic problems with sleep.Sleep patterns and how often we wake up and fall asleep areruled by several different chemical reactions in the brain andbloodstream. Certain foods and medications can affect the balanceof those chemicals and greatly influence how we sleep. The perfectexample is caffeine, which is a very common cause of insomnia. Somethings like smoking and alcohol cut down on important rapid eyemovement (REM) sleep as well as cause a loss of deeper sleep, bothof which are key components of the