Resolve to get more sleep
Another holiday season has passed and while the merriment and celebrations are enjoyable, they can leave us feeling exhausted. If you’re feeling tired, you are not alone. A new study shows lack of sleep among the U.S. workforce is costing the economy approximately $411 billion and 1.2 million lost working days per year. Researchers found that a person who sleeps on average less than six hours a night has a 13 percent higher mortality risk than someone sleeping between seven to nine hours. Dr. Janis Brewer, DNP, is a pulmonary and sleep specialist with the Washington Health System and diagnoses sleep problems in a clinical setting. According to Brewer, most adults average only six hours of sleep a night.
“We tend to retain information and have better memories with adequate sleep,” she says. “Our bodies require rest and sleep to restore and rejuvenate, grow muscle, repair tissue and have a healthy immune system. I would say on average, 80-85 percent of patients have some type of sleep issue.”
Allegheny Health Network Pulmonologist Dr. Euhan Lee of Canonsburg Hospital specializes in sleep medicine and treats patients with sleep disorders. He says studies show people who sleep either too little or too much have higher health risk than those who sleep seven to eight hours a night. “When you look at the U.S. population, people are tending to sleep closer to six hours a night,” Dr. Lee says. “So on average, the whole population appears to be sleep deprived.”
Sleep deprivation can cause mood and behavior disorders and decrease immune and memory function. “We’re still not 100 percent sure why we sleep,” Lee says. “Every type of animal requires some sort of sleep period to thrive.”
Think of it as recharging your batteries. Without sleep at night, we tend to fall asleep during the day, become irritable and run a higher risk of health problems like weight gain, high blood pressure and diabetes.
But, why are we so sleep deprived? Some researchers point to our multi-tasking, over-achieving society as the primary cause. “There’s been data to show that technology seems to affect sleep patterns,” Lee says. “Cell phone use, smartphones, internet, 24/7 access, exposure to cable TV and social media does seem to have an effect on sleep. Particularly in the United States, there seems to be a push to do as much as you can and always be available for everything.”
Some companies are trying to change that trend by turning off email after certain hours. They have found that because employees are answering emails at all hours that it actually leads to lower, rather than higher, productivity.
Some people are sleep deprived because of underlying medical conditions and don’t even realize it. Harry Deitzer of Peters Township is one of them and found out he has sleep apnea only after his doctor recommended he get tested. Eighteen million Americans suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
“Sleep apnea is where you either stop breathing or your breathing is disrupted during the night,” Lee explains. “Those folks have chronically disrupted sleep and fragmented sleep, they don’t have good quality sleep and are unable to get into deep sleep – and they live their lives like this every day in a chronic state of sleep deprivation.”
Deitzer had tonsil and adenoid issues as well as damage to his nose, and all of that contributes to sleep apnea. “I felt fatigued, but I never felt that I was sleep deprived. I thought I slept like everyone else,” he says.
He was surprised at what a study revealed about his sleep patterns. “I averaged about 13-15 episodes an hour where I would stop breathing,” Deitzer says. “Some people average up to 30 per hour.” He now sees Dr. Lee for his sleep disorder and recently began using a continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP) at night. CPAP is a small machine that supplies constant air pressure through a hose and mask to keep a patient’s airways open while they sleep.
“I have to wear one of the masks, and early on I had a lot more air leakage, but now I’ve learned how to put it on to reduce that,” Deitzer says. The machine tracks how many times he stops breathing during the night and he’s seen the numbers drop. “In recent days, I’m down to three or five episodes an hour,” he says. “So there are signs that I do better with it than without it.”
Deitzer says there are also signs that he’s getting more restful sleep. “I was getting up at 4:30 or 5 o’clock because it was taking me an hour to wake up,” he says. “I don’t feel like that now. Now I can get up at 6 and get ready right away. Those are the little things that are saying that maybe this is working.”
“Sleep is more easily obtained if we go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time every day,” Brewer advises. Decreasing stimuli such as televisions, smartphones and computers before bedtime can also help. Limiting caffeine and alcohol and not eating three to four hours prior to bedtime can help improve sleep.
“Exercise will help expel energy and make the body tired,” Brewer says. “However, exercising one hour prior to bedtime can be a stimulant and make it hard to relax and fall asleep.”
Lee recommends trying meditation and other techniques to clear the mind. “Some people will keep a journal and just write down all the things they’re thinking about sort of purging the mind before bedtime,” he says. “A lot of people end up worrying about the next day and anything to alleviate that stress will be helpful.” n