Research

Why you are not getting enough sleep?

Well, at the sleep time, there are a lot of factors that you need to take in account, one is the availability of electricity and technological advances that allow us to work and play 24/7. Using computers and phones for playing interactive games and social networking can activate and excite the brain, making it harder to fall asleep. For example, a 2011 National Sleep Foundation poll found that people who texted in the hour before bed were less likely to report getting a good night’s sleep.

Americans get less and less sleep every year, a recent Gallup poll found. Today, we average just 6.8 hours a night, less than the doctor-recommended 7-9, and down by over an hour from 1942, when Americans got closer to 8 hours per night.

Also, there is less time to sleep: “there is a huge increase in people carrying two jobs, working more hours, and more focus on trying to find time to exercise.” said Helene A. Emsellem, MD, medical director of the Center for Sleep & Wake Disorders in Chevy Chase, Md., and a clinical professor of neurology at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. 

How to Get More Sleep

Try these tips to add to your zzz’s: 

• The first step to getting more sleep is to make sleep a priority and keep a regular schedule that allows for enough shut-eye. For most adults, that's 7-9 hours a night.
• “Keep weekdays and weekends on the same schedule, give or take an hour or hour and a half,” said Emsellem. “Huge swings in your schedule can make it difficult to sleep.”
• If you do have a bad night’s sleep, don’t try to make up for it by going to bed much earlier the next day — that can make it harder to fall asleep. Instead, try to make up for lost sleep with a short nap, about 20 to 30 minutes, but take it long before 4 p.m. so that it won't interfere with nighttime sleep.
• Include a wind-down period at the end of the day to help ease the transition to sleep. Dim the lights and try calming activities like taking a warm shower, doing some gentle upper-body stretches, or reading before bed.
• Turn off all electronics at least 15 to 20 minutes before bed. Try keeping smartphones, laptops, and tablets out of the bedroom to reduce the temptation to check email after five minutes of lying in bed,
• Finally, if you can't sleep after at least 15 minutes in bed, get up, do something relaxing, and then go back and try again.

Signs of excessive sleepiness

If a sleep-deprived person doesn’t sleep after the initial signs, said Dinges, the person may then start to experience apathy, slowed speech and flattened emotional responses, impaired memory and an inability to be novel or multitask.

As a person gets to the point of falling asleep, he or she will fall into micro sleeps (5-10 seconds) that cause lapses in attention, nod off while doing an activity like driving or reading and then finally experience hypnagogic hallucinations, the beginning of REM sleep. (Dinges, Sleep, Sleepiness and Performance, 1991)

How environment and behavior affect a person’s sleep

A number of physical problems can interfere with your ability to fall or stay asleep. For example, arthritis and other conditions that cause pain, backache, or discomfort can make it difficult to sleep well.

Epidemiological studies suggest self-reported sleep complaints are associated with an increased relative risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. For women, pregnancy and hormonal shifts including those that cause premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or menopause and its accompanying hot flashes can also intrude on sleep.

Finally, certain medications such as decongestants, steroids and some medicines for high blood pressure, asthma, or depression can cause sleeping difficulties as a side effect.

It is a good idea to talk to a physician or mental health provider about any sleeping problem that recurs or persists for longer than a few weeks.

According to the DSM, some psychiatric disorders have fatigue as a major symptom. Included are: major depressive disorder (includes postpartum blues), minor depression, dysthymia, mixed anxiety-depression, seasonal affective disorder and bipolar disorder.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society recommend that adults aged 18–60 years sleep at least 7 hours each night to promote optimal health and well-being. Sleeping less than seven hours per day is associated with an increased risk of developing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and frequent mental distress.

“As a society, we are using more technology, and there’s increasing evidence that artificial light has had a negative consequence on our health,” Brian Zoltowski, PhD, an assistant professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said in a statement.

He conducted research in 2014 that reported how light impacts chemical signals in our bodies. The interruptions can affect sleep, metabolism, cancer development, drug addiction, and mood disorders, to name a few.