Poor Sleep is a Serious Problem

We pay a high price for getting an insufficient amount of sleep, individually and as a society. Lack of sleep is directly linked to poor health, with new research suggesting it increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

A study published in the journal Sleep in 2004 found that women ho average less than 5 hours of sleep per night had a significant higher death rate than those who slept 7 hours. Even a few nights of bad sleep can be detrimental.

One study found that people who were limited to 3 straight nights of sleeping or less were more likely to have physical ailments such as headaches, stomach problems and sore joints. Other studies have shown that curtailing sleep to 4 hours a night for several nights result in changes in metabolism similar to those occurring in normal aging and that raises levels of hormones linked with overeating and weight gain.

Sleep debt is cumulative. Studies have shown that performance on tests of alertness and thinking continues to get worse the lover deprivation lasts. In other words, we don\'t adapt to sleep deprivation.

The combination of sleep deprivation and driving can have deadly consequences. Nearly 1 in 5 drivers admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are caused by drowsy drivers each year, causing 76,000 injuries and 15 thousand deaths.

Sleep deprivation played a role in catastrophes such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska, the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island. This and sleep disorders are estimated to cost Americans over $100 billion annually in lost productivity, medical expenses, sick leave, and property and annual environmental damage.

Even when sleep deprivation does not cost illness or accidents, it can affect your quality of life. Sleep problems affect virtually every aspect of day-to-day living such as your mood, mental alertness, work performance and energy levels.

According to the 2005 NSF survey almost 3 in 10 working adults say they have missed work or made errors at work because of sleep-related issues in the past 3 months. And nearly of partnered adults say they have less sex or lost interest in it because they are too sleepy.

Unfortunately, despite some recent progress, fewer than 3% of Americans with sleep problems get treatment because both patients and their primary care doctors often don\'t consider sleep an important health issue.

This is partly due to many people accepting poor sleep as inevitable. A survey of American medical schools in 1990 showed that 37% didn\'t offer any training in sleep medicine. As recently as 1998 the average amount of sleep education averaged about 2 hours during the 1st 4 years of medical school. As a result, doctors frequently failed to ask patients about their sleep.

On the patient side, people with sleep problems often don\'t report them to their physicians. They believe poor sleep is not a medical problem and incorrectly assume it\'s normal to feel tired throughout the day or have difficulty getting to sleep at night.

The good news is that is that this situation is starting to change. Medical training institutions are adding sleep medicine training programs, and sleep medicines is now recognized as an official medical sub specialty.

Between 1993 and 2003, the number of physicians certified in sleep medicine increased more than 6 fold to nearly 2 thousand. Health and regulatory officials, as well as the general public, are also starting to wake up to the importance of sleep.

For example, some school districts, urged on by frustrated parents, have changed starting times for classes to make them more amenable to adolescents\' natural sleep patterns. In New Jersey, drowsy driving is now treated as a criminal offence similar to driving while intoxicated.

Alvaro Castillo has been writing health articles for five years. One of his specializations has been on nighttime health, such as insomnia, as well as stress and headaches. To get the best out of your sleep, or if you want to get rid of stress check out his website at http://www.mynighttimehealth.com

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