Sleep

Do you have trouble sleeping? Well, before you lose some more sleep wondering about the things that may have caused your sleeping problems, consider these sleep facts provided by the Sleep Disorders Centre at Trinitas Hospitals:

  • In dolphins, only one-half of the brain sleeps at a time, with the other half stays awake. This is essential in order to reach the water surface to breathe
  • Up to 15% of people “sleep walk”
  • Approximately 15% of people have restless leg syndrome
  • Vehicular crashes are the third leading cause of death and injury in the United States, and up to 20% of them are sleep related


    • Sleeping Beauty

  • Untreated sleep apnoea causes 500,000 motor vehicle crashes annually
  • One in 20 men have sleep apnoea
  • Seizures occur more commonly during sleep than during waking hours
  • Many tranquilizers actually decrease deeper stages of sleep that are required for the restoration and fresh feeling in the morning
  • Jet lag is worse when travelling toward the East
  • Sleep loss of four hours is equivalent to being drunk with a blood alcohol level of 0.1%
  • One-third of young adults are pathologically sleepy during the day

Unless you’re a god, sleeping will always be a major and vital part of your everyday life. Not getting enough of it will undoubtedly put your job, relationship, productivity, health, and safety at risk. Even those around you may be affected. (Read: “Mom, Dad’s sleeping on the wheels again. I think we’re on warp drive. Weeeeeee!) So how do you know you’re getting enough sleep, you ask? Simple. If you’re feeling drowsy at any time of the day, then you probably lack sleep, especially continuous and uninterrupted sleep.
Symptoms of sleep deprivation typically include, amongst others:

  1. Irritability or sleepiness during the day;
  2. Difficulty staying awake when watching television or reading;
  3. Sometimes falling asleep while driving;
  4. Not paying attention at work, school, or home,
  5. Under average performance in work, school, or sports; and
  6. Needing caffeinated beverages to stay awake and active.

A sleep disorder (somnipathy) is generally defined as any physical or mental malady that disrupts sleep. Sleep disorders may vary from the rare fatal familial insomnia—an untreatable insomnia that may reportedly lead to hallucinations and death—to the relatively common mild insomnia.

Videogame Heroine goes to Sleep

Common sleep disorders include Bruxism, delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS), advanced sleep phase syndrome (ASPS), non-24-hour sleep-wake syndrome (Non-24), narcolepsy, night terror, parasomnias, periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD), rapid eye movement behaviour disorder (RBD), restless legs syndrome (RLS), situational circadian rhythm sleep disorders, shift work sleep disorder (SWSD), jet lag, sleep apnoea, sleep paralysis, and sleepwalking or somnambulism.

To read more about sleep disorders, check out the British Sleep Society (BSS), a professional organisation whose membership consists of mainly medical, healthcare and scientific workers who have interest in sleep and its medical disorders, at http://www.sleeping.org.uk/

Something unknown generally causes fear. So, knowing about your disorder will help you overcome that fear and will let you know about the things you need to ask your doctor during consultations. Among the methods of treating sleep disorders are herbal remedies, over-the-counter drugs, prescription drugs, and surgical treatment. A list of herbs used for treating sleep disorders is available at About.com (http://sleepdisorders.about.com/cs/herb/a/herbs.htm)

Aside from the medical and alternative methods used to cure or lessen the effects of sleep disorders, the most practical way of preventing it is to take care of your body by eating healthy and getting enough continuous and uninterrupted sleep, enough to prevent you from sleeping or getting drowsy the next day. You may also try the art of power napping by just taking a fifteen- to twenty-minute nap to energize your body. If practical alternatives prove futile, then it may be time to consult a sleep disorder specialist to end your sleepless nights. It never hurts to get expert advice, does it?

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