Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Sleep problem? By Henrylito D. Tacio Health 101
DOES it often take you more than 30 minutes to fall asleep at night? Or do you wake up frequently during the night -- or too early in the morning -- and have a hard time going back to sleep? When you awaken, do you feel groggy and lethargic? Do you feel drowsy during the day particularly during monotonous situations?
If you answered "yes" to any one of these questions, you may have a "sleep debt" that is affecting you in ways you don't even realize. Until the 1950s, most people thought of sleep as a passive, dormant part of our daily lives.
We now know that our brains are very active during sleep. Moreover, sleep affects our daily functioning and our physical and mental health in many ways that we are just beginning to understand.
"To sleep -- perchance to dream," wrote William Shakespeare in his masterpiece play, "Hamlet.' It's a nice concept. However for many men, women and children, the elusive road to slumberland is anything but a dream.
In the United States, surveys conducted by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) reveal that 60 percent of adults report having sleep problems a few nights a week or more.
In addition, more than 40 percent of adults experience daytime sleepiness severe enough to interfere with their daily activities at least a few days each month -- with 20 percent reporting problem sleepiness a few days a week or more.
How much sleep do we need? "The amount of sleep each person needs depends on many factors, including age," says the NSF. Infants generally require about 16 hours a day, while teenagers need about 9 hours on average.
For most adults, 7 to 8 hours a night appears to be the best amount of sleep, although some people may need as few as 5 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each day. Women in the first 3 months of pregnancy often need several more hours of sleep than usual. The amount of sleep a person needs also increases if he or she has been deprived of sleep in previous days.
Getting too little sleep creates a "sleep debt," which is much like being overdrawn at a bank. Eventually, your body will demand that the debt be repaid.
"We don't seem to adapt to getting less sleep than we need," says Dr. Richard Gelula, NSF's executive director, "while we may get used to a sleep-depriving schedule, our judgment, reaction time, and other functions are still impaired."
People tend to sleep more lightly and for shorter time spans as they get older, although they generally need about the same amount of sleep as they needed in early adulthood. About half of all people over 65 have frequent sleeping problems, such as insomnia, and deep sleep stages in many elderly people often become very short or stop completely.
This change may be a normal part of aging, or it may result from medical problems that are common in elderly people and from the medications and other treatments for those problems.
Sleep research is expanding and attracting more and more attention from scientists. Researchers now know that sleep is an active and dynamic state that greatly influences our waking hours, and they realize that we must understand sleep to fully understand the brain.
Innovative techniques, such as brain imaging, can now help researchers understand how different brain regions function during sleep and how different activities and disorders affect sleep.
Understanding the factors that affect sleep in health and disease also may lead to revolutionary new therapies for sleep disorders and to ways of overcoming jet lag and the problems associated with shift work. We can expect these and many other benefits from research that will allow us to truly understand sleep's impact on our lives.
Having trouble getting a good night sleep? Here are a few tips many people have found to be useful:
* Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol in the late afternoon and evening. Caffeine and nicotine can delay your sleep, and alcohol may interrupt your sleep later in the night.
* If you have trouble sleeping when you go to bed, don't nap during the day, since it affects your ability to sleep at night.
* Exercise regularly, but do so at least three hours before bedtime. A workout after that time may actually keep you awake because your body has not had a chance to cool down.
* Establish a regular, relaxing bedtime routine that will allow you to unwind and send a "signal" to your brain that it's time to sleep. Avoiding exposure to bright light before bedtime and taking a hot bath may help.
* Don't use your bed for anything other than sleep or sex. Your bed should be associated with sleep.
* Consider your sleep environment. Make it as pleasant, comfortable, dark and quiet as you can.
* If you can't go to sleep after 30 minutes, don't stay in bed tossing and turning. Get up and involve yourself in a relaxing activity, such as listening to soothing music or reading, until you feel sleepy. Remember: Try to clear your mind; don't use this time to solve your daily problems.
The Greek philosopher Sophocles once remarked, "sleep is the only medicine that gives ease." As researchers seek to unravel the remaining mysteries surrounding sleep, many more men, women, and children should soon find a night in the bed a more pleasant pill to take - rest assured.
