What is sleeplessness and is it serious?

Sleeplessness as defined in the dictionary is just another word that is often used for intermittent insomnia. Intermittent sleeplessness refers to those occasional nights when you have trouble falling asleep, or turn and toss all night long. This lack of quality sleep can affect you the next day with trouble concentrating, daytime drowsiness, and that feeling of just not being rested or refreshed — feeling as if you just need a good nap.

Human beings and other animals as well as plants, have internal biological rhythms. These rhythms are controlled by a biological clock and work on a daily time scale. This biological clock affects everything including alertness, body temperature, hormone release, appetite, and most importantly, the timing of sleep. If there is anything which disturbs this timing then a person can have a night of sleeplessness or restless sleep. Drinking too much caffeine, minor aches and pains, smoking, being too cold or too hot