Sleep Crisis: The Science of Slumber - Go to bed. On time. Tonight. Or else.

Maclean's ^ | JUNE 18, 2013 | Luiza Ch. Savage

[rickmichaels]

The sleep doctors are coming and they want you to go to bed. On time. Tonight. Every night. Or else.

They want doctors to add a single question to routine checks of vital signs like body temperature, pulse, blood pressure and rate of breathing. The question is: How did you sleep?

If you’re like most people, probably not well, or at least not enough.

Coffee-fuelled North Americans, with our smartphones at our bedsides, are sleeping, on average, nearly two hours less than we were 40 years ago, when most people slept 8½ hours or more. More and more people are being diagnosed with sleep apnea, a disorder in which breathing is disrupted during sleep. And insomnia, which affects about 10 per cent of the population, is no longer considered merely a symptom of other medical or psychiatric problems but has been classified as a full-fledged disorder in its own right.

The scientific evidence is mounting that getting less than the recommended seven to nine hours of nightly sleep is having wide-ranging impacts on our bodies, our minds and, especially, on the health of our children, who need even more sleep: 10 to 11 hours per night.

In March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that “insufficient sleep is a public health epidemic.” It released a survey showing that more than 35 per cent of U.S. adults reported getting less than seven hours of sleep a night; 38 per cent reported unintentionally falling asleep at least once during the day in the preceding month.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Sleep-deprived? No guns for you!

[luckystarmom]

Saw a sleep doctor last week. Doing a test at home next week.

[wastedyears]

Here come the weight sensors on our beds.

The government can pay for my medical bills, sans CommieCare, if they want me to sleep properly. I have endocrine disease and no amount of someone saying “you need to do this and this” is going to fix it without invasive procedures.

[ClearCase_guy]

Everyone is different. At most, I get 6 hours sleep a night. That's been going on for over 30 years. Doing fine so far.

I do like a 20 minute nap during the day if I can manage it.

[wastedyears]

You’re doing the sleep test? I had it done. They put sensors on your body, on your head, on your face, pulse monitor on your finger, and an earbud taped to your neck to hear what your throat/vocal chords are doing. I didn’t sleep that night. They said I had about 6 hours of sleep.

[a fool in paradise]

With Obama and the Democrats in office? Not very well.

[wastedyears]

LOL!

[txrefugee]

No chance. The Spurs are going to win the NBA Championship tonight!

[Puppage]

How does that differ, apart from the obvious, from staying the night at a sleep center?

[utahagen]

There's something fishy about this study’s assertions vis-à-vis how much sleep adults used to get. Married couples used to have much bigger families than they do today. George the Elder and Barbara Bush, for example, are neither Catholic nor Mormon, yet they had six children and that wasn't unusual. Now, any woman raising six children is going to be sleep-deprived for at least twenty years. No way did mothers of big families get 8 1/2 hours of sleep a night — ever.

[Venturer]

I get about 7 hours and a nap during the day most times.

[a fool in paradise]

Commiecare will insist you buy a new mattress.

Not one of the type formerly used by soft bellied bourgeois capitalist pigs.

[presently no screen name]

They want something else for the public to worry about and not sleep!

[pallis]

If I get anywhere from three to six hours a day, I’m good to go. I had an uncle who couldn’t sleep more than three hours a day.

[luckystarmom]

I don’t know yet. I know they won’t be video taping me. It’s something I can hook myself up to. It’s also not as sensitive as the one at the clinic.

My daughter had an overnight sleep study a few years ago, so I’ll be able to tell the difference after I get this one done.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The problem is that they want us to sleep in a unnatural manner ie 8 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep. That is not the way most of us sleep. Most of us wake up in the night and stay awake for a bit and then drop back off.

Then we run to the doctor and say that we can't sleep.

Instead just go to bed about an hour earlier and when you wake up enjoy your hour of wakefulness. Don't get on the computer or turn on the TV. Instead just enjoy some quality quiet time. Read, pray, do a crossword, draw or, if your spouse is awake as well, some cuddling and more.

Then drop back off. And awake in a few hours feeling refreshed.

[GOP Poet]

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[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Just finished my sleep studies, will be getting a CPAP machine soon. Sleep apnea seems to be the disease of choice for those of us over fifty and weight. Supposedly it causes all kinds of badness.

[Dubh_Ghlase]

Used a CPAP for years. Taking off over 100 lbs helped reduce the need, but still use it as it helps me get into REM sleep. Just got to be careful not to hang myself when I roll over. Being SCUBA certified helps get used to it...