Sleeping disorder may cause many lifestyle diseases

NI Wire

Agency

Tue, 24 Mar 2009: 

An irregular sleeping habit may lead several lifestyle disorders like hypertension, acidity, heartburn, poor concentration and memory loss. It can also lead to death as those who don’t sleep well in the night, always nap in the day and can be victim of any accident while driving or performing some hazardous du.

A nice sleep helps the person to be alert, awake and energetic through out the day and also plays a vital role in maintaining good health condition, experts say.

The rising burden of inflation, stress, hypertension, competition and changing lifestyle has changed the daily routine of the people that has led the sleeping disorder.

Thus to make people aware regarding the effects of sleeping disorder and to generate awareness about the importance of sleep hygiene, many experts across the country from the Indian Sleep Disorders Association (ISDA) in association with Abbott India Limited, a health care company, have declared March 3 to April 7 as Sleep Awareness Month.

According to psychiatrists, sleeping is vital to our health and well being, we must not cut ourselves short from the amount of sleep that we get or suffer from sleep problems.

‘Take control of your sleep problems before it takes control of you,’ advised Ramnathan Iyer, who is ISDA's west regional governor. ‘Early assessment and action can prevent short-term sleep problems from developing into a chronic one,’ he added.

When insomnia (difficulty in initiation, maintenance, duration or quality of sleep) occurs in the context of chronic illness like Hypertension, arthritis, diabetes, acidity and some medications, including some heart medications, it tends to be more severe than other forms of insomnia and usually involves sleep maintenance difficulties.

Besides several severe diseases, the patients can also get experience of lower productivity and poorer work quality, lethargy, irritation, forgetfulness and strained relationships.

A recent survey has proved that sleeping disorder is liable for many lifestyle diseases. It was also found in the study that some acute and chronic existing diseases might also lead to sleeping disorder and stress. Obesity was also associated with a greater number of sleep-related problems.

According to the survey, almost two-thirds of those surveyed reported the presence of at least one medical condition.