Do you have trouble sleeping?
Is lack of sleep affecting your ability to focus at work?
You don’t have insomnia if you don’t have trouble falling asleep.
Difficulty falling asleep is but one of four symptoms associated with insomnia. The others include waking up too early and not being able to fall back asleep, frequent awakenings, and waking up feeling unrefreshed. Any of these types of insomnia may be a symptom of a sleep disorder or of another medical problem.
| Health problems such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and depression are genetic or lifestyle issues, not related to sleep.To the contrary, scientific studies have found a link between sleep and many health problems. For example, insufficient sleep affects the production of growth hormones related to weight maintenance. Cardiovascular problems, the potential for developing diabetes, and other disease states appear to be connected to poor sleep. | |
| When you get older, you need less sleep.It is the sleep pattern that seems to change as we get older, not the amount of sleep we need. Older people may wake more frequently through the night, but they tend to take more daytime naps. | |
| Sleep is the time for your brain to rest.In fact a great deal of mental activity takes place during certain stages of sleep. There are multiple stages in each 90-minute sleep cycle. Even in the deepest part of each cycle, the brain is processing information or dreaming. Scientists are still not sure why we dream, but it is known that the periods of brain activity serve a vital restorative function. | |
| If you wake up in the middle of the night, try to count sheep or use some other way to get back to sleep.If you’ve ever awakened and told yourself you have to get back to sleep, you know how impossible this is. If you’re waiting to fall asleep and it doesn’t happen after about 15 minutes, you may want to get out of bed and find something relaxing to do. This may help you feel sleepy again, and then you can go back to bed.
Source: National Sleep Foundation |
The dangers of poor sleep: the numbers
Based on research and surveys conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research, National Institutes of Health, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Average amount that Americans sleep per night on weekdays: 6.9 hours
- Average amount that Americans sleep per night on weekends: 7.5 hours
- Number of people in the United States affected by a sleep problem: 70 million
- Number for whom the problem is chronic and/or frequent: 40 million
Financial losses in the US due to sleep deprivation/disorders: $100 billion per year
- Direct healthcare costs of insomnia, including treatment: $14 billion per year
- Indirect costs (missed work, property damage, etc.): $28 billion per year
- Proportion of Americans who report sleep problems: approximately 70%
- Proportion of children who report frequent sleep problems: 69%
- Proportion of older adults who report frequent sleep problems: 67%
- Number of automobile accidents caused by drowsy drivers: 100,000 per year
- Number of fatalities and injuries in these accidents: 72,500 per year
- Proportion of Americans who admit to have driven while drowsy: 51%
- Proportion who admit to have dozed off while driving: 17%
Source: National Sleep Foundation
Sleeping is essential to your health. Take this quiz and see how you are sleeping!
How well do you sleep?
Take this test.
Do you sometimes have trouble falling asleep?
During the night, do you toss and turn?
In the morning, are you tired, instead of refreshed and ready to go?
In the afternoon, do you feel tired, sleepy or have low energy?
Do you feel sometimes that your sleep was not enough to help you meet the demands of the day?
Do you ever take medication to help you sleep?
Do you ever take medication or caffeine to help you stay awake?
Do you sometimes wish your mattress were less soft or less firm?
Is the firmness you chose a compromise between you and your sleep partner?
Do you ever feel hot or cold while you are trying to sleep?
If you answered “yes” to some of these questions, you’re ready to sleep better.
Visit http://www.nikken.com/russos to learn more about how you can sleep better!