Sleeping healthy

Lately, I have been either over-sleeping or waking up still craving more sleep. In a recent public release of the Philips Index for Health and Well-Being (a study across 23 countries involving 31,000 people), I found out that 35 percent of people do not feel they get enough sleep!

Interestingly, half of the respondents classified themselves generally as poor sleepers as a reason for sleep deprivation. Experts believe that this suggests that many may have just resigned themselves to not ever getting a good night’s sleep.

In www.sleepeducation.au.net of leading Australian sleep researcher Dr. Sarah Blunden, the range of 35-40 percent was cited as the ratio of children and adolescents who experience some form of sleep problem during their development. Sleep problems are either those that are intrinsic such as nightmares, night terrors, bed wetting, and snoring or those that are extrinsic like bedtime reluctance, anxiety-related insomnia, inability to fall asleep alone or environmental and social problems that get in the way of sleep.

Since the quality and amount of sleep affect both physical and mental health, the big question is how much do we need? Dr. Blunden prescribes 14 to 18 hours throughout the night and day for babies. Toddlers should get 12 to 14 hours in a day. Grade school kids need 10-12 hours while adolescents need 9-11 hours. Adults should get seven to nine hours of sleep a day.

What happens when we don’t? Dr. Blunden identified behavioral effects such as increased aggressiveness, becoming withdrawn and anti-social, and being hyperactive with inability to control or regulate behavior. Emotionally, a person lacking sleep may be moody, depressed, anxious, stressed, uneasy, unconfident, and irritable.

Physically, you may become sickly due to a poor immune system. Your motor coordination might also suffer, making you less sporty, clumsier, and prone to accident. Being obese or overweight is also more likely with less sleep.

In terms of learning, dream sleep or REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is necessary for storing certain types of memory, particularly more difficult ones such as mathematical concepts and language. Dr. Blunden added that one’s ability for complicated thinking is compromised, hence one is expected to struggle with math, science, languages, and abstract concept.

Productivity is also affected as planning, concentration, creativity, and problem-solving skills slacken. A person lacking sleep is expected to be poorly organized, a poor time manager, and one who forgets lessons. Person will be inattentive, lacking concentration, not working at full potential with poor behavior control and difficulty in social situations.

ZZZSLEEP Hygiene

Dr. Blunden encouraged the development of “sleep hygiene” or habits that help us to sleep well. She made very simple and logical suggestions such as:

• No TV/computer games one hour before bed. No TVs in bedrooms.

• Monitor mobile phone use in bed.

• No caffeine, high sugar or high spicy food three to four hours before bedtime.

• Ensure relaxing and regular bed time routine, including special time with children, and relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises.

• No vigorous exercise one hour before bed. It raises the body temperature.

• Finish eating two to three hours before bed. Digestion competes with sleeping, but hot milk is okay.

• Make sure the bedroom is comfortable (temperature, light, noise).

• Set bedtimes and wake times — try and keep these regular.

• Learn to relax — deal with worry and stress.

• Use a sleep diary to check how many hours you are sleeping.

Teenagers can have delayed sleep phases, according to Dr. Blunden. Their bodies are not ready to sleep when the clock says it is time due to both hormonal changes and social pressures.

She explained that during adolescence, there is a delay in the release of melatonin (one of the sleep hormones) from the brain to the body. That is why teens are so hyper until late in the evening. Their bodies are not ready to fall asleep until later so they chat on the phone, surf the net, play computer games, etc. until the morning. Naturally, they find it hard to get up in the morning because they didn’t have enough sleep.

Sleep-deprived teens normally have a “sleep debt” of 10 hours every week which they try to offset by sleeping the whole day! Normally, when it is supposed to be family day or when you want them to go to family reunions and similar obligatory events. Dr. Blunden suggested naps of 20 to 30 minutes at 4 p.m. as a better alternative to sleeping too much on weekends.

Making The World Sleep Better

March 18 was World Sleep Day 2011 across the globe. In line with this, Royal Philips Electronics announced a global partnership with the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM). After noting in their sponsored health survey that 35 percent of people are sleep-deprived, Philips aims to increase awareness of how sleep impacts people’s health and well-being all around the world.

“Philips is honored to be working with the World Association of Sleep Medicine,” commented Dr. David White, chief medical officer for Philips Home Healthcare Solutions and a professor of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Through the sponsorship of the World Sleep Day we aim to increase people’s understanding of the seriousness of sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) which, if not properly managed, can have a significant impact on a person’s health and well-being.”

Commenting on the sponsorship with Philips, Antonio Culebras, professor of Neurology at SUNY, Upstate Medical University in New York and co-chair of World Sleep Day, said, “We’re excited to be working with Philips in raising awareness of the significant and increasing impact lack of sleep is having on people across the world.”

At the same time, Philips and Dr. Blunden with WASM, announced the launch of a new educational module on sleep for children around the world, as part of the SimplyHealthy@Schools program. Available online at www.simplyhealthyatschools.com, the program aims to support teachers in educating children, between the ages of eight and 12 years, on the importance of sleep and how it can help to improve their health and well-being.

“More than ever, we recognize how important a good night’s sleep is to our health and well-being, and our ability to function properly during the day. Through the SimplyHealthy@Schools program, we hope to be able to bring this lesson to the classroom and ensure children around the world can benefit from a better understanding of the day-to-day impact of sleep,” said Dr. Blunden, pediatric sleep research fellow at the Centre for Sleep Research, University of South Australia and director of the Australian Centre for Education in Sleep (ACES).

The fourth annual World Sleep Day — “Sleep Well, Grow Healthy” — is themed to highlight the importance of sleep for people of all ages. Newborn infants, children, adolescents, and adults, both young and old, need quality sleep to maintain a healthy life.

In reality, there are a number of potential causes for a disturbed night’s sleep. These include sleep disorders such as OSA, which affects approximately four percent of the adult population. It’s a disorder characterized by airway collapse (behind the tongue) during sleep, which obstructs breathing. If untreated, it can contribute to the development of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, and stroke. Snoring should also not be ignored in children, as it may be a symptom of OSA.

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Post me a note at mylene@goldsgym.com.phor mylenedayrit@gmail.com.