Addressing sleep disorders in our daily lives BY PRISCILLA CHRISTOPHER

Millions of people today are in serious debt. This debt can be a major factor wrecking their cars, damaging their careers and even ruining their marriages. It can adversely affect their health and life span. It is a deficit that contributes to immune suppression, creating susceptibility to various infections. Conditions as different as diabetes, heart diseases and extreme emaciation as well as other health problems have been linked to it. Yet, most victims are oblivious of this debt.

 The debtor is the one who does not have enough sleep needed for well-being. This can be caused by voluntary sleep deprivation resulting from a person’s lifestyle or by involuntary sleep deprivation because of illness.

Medical researchers estimate that the earth’s population is now getting on the average, an hour less sleep night than what is needed. While this may seem slight, a nightly six- billion- hour debt has become the focus of research into both the variety of sleep-related illnesses and their impact on the quality of life.

The medical world once viewed the chronic inability to sleep as just one disorder commonly called insomnia. At any rate, insomnia has so many causes that is often considered to be a symptom of other problems, much as fever or headache suggest some sort of infection or disease. Even occasional deprivation of sleep can be disastrous.  For instance, people who tarry the night and keep vigils will find it difficult to effectively carry out the day’s activities without feeling drowsy. Similarly truck and tanker drivers who drive long distances for days are liable to cause accidents on road because of a mistaken blink of their tired eyelids.

With hundreds of thousands of sleep related auto and other accidents occurring daily, the cost of securing productivity and family is enormous. One of basic causes of lack of sleep is the social phenomenon often called 24/7; operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The newspaper, USA Today, describes this as a cultural earthquake that is changing the way we live, noting that the new wave of round-the-clock activities by retailers and hospitality outfits is profiting by mocking the clock. In many cities and towns, people watch all-night television programmes and access the internet when they should be sleeping. Then there is the toll taken by emotion disorders, often involving anxieties heightened by stress occasioned by the pace of life. Also, there are a variety of physical diseases that contribute to lack of stress.

Many doctors note how difficult it is to get their patients to sleep seriously and because their condition often worsens very gradually, victims of sleep deprivation may not recognize that they suffer from a serious disorder. Many of them think ‘I’m tired all the time because I can never get the long rest I need’. Or ‘I’m just getting old’.

Reversing this sleep debt is a complex challenge but understanding how a healthful sleep cycle works and learning to identify the signs of sleep debt can provide the motivation to change. Anything that poses a threat to the general well-being of a person is a stress especially when it undermines the mental and physical health.

Recognizing the symptoms of a serious sleep disorder can save lives and thus should be a warning to many Nigerians, particularly those who engage in long night journeys, all night production and consistent night vigils.