How Lack of Sleep Affects Your Life
What four things can you do tonight to get better sleep?
How much sleep do we need?
It's not necessarily important how much sleep you get as long as it's good quality sleep. Technically, we like to see at least 85% sleep efficiency. The National Sleep Foundation does recommend generally 7-9 hours for an adult, 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 hours for adolescents.
What happens to your body if you don't get enough sleep?
Not getting enough sleep can result in problems with weight gain, hypertension, decreased control of blood sugar and a stressed immune system. It can also affect libido. A lot of health issues can happen as a result of sleep problems.
How does lack of sleep affect you mentally?
Deep sleep and dream sleep are the restorative stages of sleep. This is when your brain is working off the stress, frustration and activities you did during the day and getting the relaxation it should.
Are there advances being made to treat sleep apnea?
The most common treatment right now for adults is the CPAP mask. Generally, it has a higher success rate because there's nothing invasive; it's just air. There are new surgical procedures that are being done. There's a pillar system where they embed Three strips of Teflon into the back of the airway to keep the airway from collapsing while the person's sleeping. That is approved by the FDA but it's not generally covered by insurance so it's around five or six thousand dollars out of pocket. Most people end up going with CPAP because insurance covers it.
What can I do to improve my quality of sleep?
- Make sure that you give yourself enough time to sleep. Make it a priority.
- Turn off the phone, the TV. Electronic devices do put out a level of blue light that stimulates the brain. It's the same type of blue light that's in the sunlight so you definitely want to reduce those types of light sources.
- If you need a noise, make it a constant source like a box fan or a noise generator.
- If you need a light make it a constant source such a nightlight, crack the bathroom door, don't make anything that's going to change like a radio or a TV because you brain doesn't completely shut off. Your eyes and your ears still work.
If I feel that I need to take it to the next level, how do I get referred to a sleep lab?
Any physician can refer to a sleep lab. Generally, doctor's send patients our way who complain of:
- Snoring or having bad sleep
- Feeling tired or fatigued during the day
- Waking up with headaches
- Uncontrolled blood pressure and can't figure out what's causing it
Insurance will determine whether or not that sleep study will be qualified for home sleep study or an in-lab sleep study.
How does an in-lab sleep study works?
We try to make the set up as comfortable as possible -- it's not like a hospital room -- more like a hotel. And we let people generally go about their normal evening/bed routine. People have even ordered pizza to have as a snack before!
Then, we monitor 23 different things that happens to a person while they're sleeping. We're monitoring body activity, heart rhythm, heart rate, oxygen levels, brain waves... pretty much the only thing we're not seeing is blood pressure and body temperature while you're sleeping. It seems like everyone has a little of some type of a sleep disorder but not necessarily enough that needs any treatment.
Jim Higgs is a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist with the Sleep Lab at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital. For more information on how to schedule a sleep study, call 636.916.9739.
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