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Commentary: Are we losing the fight against inadequate sleep?

We must all take small steps to avoid the perils of insomnia and other reasons behind inadequate sleep, says one observer.

Commentary: Are we losing the fight against inadequate sleep?

Exhausted and unable to sleep? (Photo: Unsplash/Yuris Alhumaydy)

SEATTLE: The serious consequences of sleep deprivation perennially capture society’s attention.

As a clinician and sleep researcher who treats people with sleep problems, I think there is little reason to suspect that our collective sleep needs have dramatically changed in the recent past, rooted as they are in immutable physiological processes.


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But it does seem that people are sleeping less now than they have in the past several decades. Recent self-reported polling among American adults consistently suggests that Americans are not getting adequate sleep. 





Surveys suggest that 35 to 40 per cent of the adult population sleeps less than seven to eight hours on weekdays. This self-reported sleep data may overestimate the objectively measured sleep obtained by up to one hour, due to time spent falling or getting back to sleep.

We are in trouble. If someone eats too many calories, or too few, the effects on the body become apparent.



Beyond sleepiness, sleep deprivation wreaks havoc on the brain, affecting mood and worsening depression, exacerbating pain and undermining executive functions that affect judgment, planning, organisation, concentration, memory and performance.





How can we avoid the perils of inadequate sleep?


Reserve the bedroom as a space for sleep. Leave electronic devices elsewhere.

Keep a regular sleep-wake schedule, and fix your waking time, including on weekends. Get 15 to 30 minutes of sunlight upon awakening, or at sunrise.

Always go to bed feeling sleepy, even if that means delaying bedtime a little. As needed, consider reducing the time in bed if more than 30 minutes is consistently spent awake.

Be physically active. Moderate the use of alcohol and caffeine. When sleep problems persist, get help.



Brandon Peters-Matthews is a sleep physician who currently practises at Virginia Mason Medical Centre in Seattle. This commentary first appeared in The Conversation. Read it here

Source: CNA/sl