| Walk With the Doc After our morning walk on the Saturday the 24th, I will be on travel for a week. If you have an emergency while I’m away, don’t hesitate to call. My phone will be with me 24/7. Your care is of the greatest importance. Are You Getting Enough Sleep? Only about 40% of Americans get six hours of sleep. A generation ago almost 90% got six hours or more sleep a night. In recent times, public health estimates indicate over 70 million adults suffer from sleep issues. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now ranks sleep problems as the No. 2 health complaint. Older adults can be more vulnerable to sleep disorders that trigger serious health issues. Reasons for sleeplessness that top the list include: o Lack of exercise o Being overweight o Staying up with TV or Internet o Alcohol and drugs A bad night’s sleep diminishes our ability to function the following day. Symptoms can include foggy memory, sluggish mental acuity and in older adults and acceleration in the development of cognitive impairments. Without adequate sleep we suffer. In animal studies, rats kept awake died within weeks. Sleep deprivation has been used as a form of torture. That’s not something we should be doing to ourselves. Studies suggest that our circadian rhythms serve us best when they can follow the cycles of natural daylight. Artificial lighting and screens we watch confuse these natural rhythms. Nielsen surveys estimate we now consume more than 11 hours a day of sleep disrupting screen time. There is much we don’t understand about the mechanism and purpose of sleep. The most compelling theory is that our bodies need to “go offline” to flush cellular debris generated by metabolic activity. By analogy, a mechanic finds it easier to repair an engine when it’s turned off. Quite likely something similar is part of why we need a good night’s sleep. Read more about sleep at "Quest for a Good Night's Sleep." Nancy Neighbors, MD Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Diagnosing OSA typically requires a controlled sleep study. However, the quick quiz below is a starting point for estimating your risk. 1. Do you snore loudly? 2. Do you often feel tired, fatigued, or sleepy during the daytime? 3. Has anyone observed that you to stopped breathing during your sleep? 4. Do you have or are you being treated for high blood pressure? 5. Is your BMI more than 35? 6. Is your age over 50 years old? 7. Is your neck circumference greater than 15.75 inches? 8. Male gender? 5 or more YES answers: High-risk for obstructive sleep apnea 3 or-4 YES answers: moderate-risk for obstructive sleep apnea Less than 3 YES answers: Low-risk for obstructive sleep apnea Children Children benefit from having a regular bedtime and bedtime routine. Not getting enough sleep can result in changes in the hormones controlling appetite and metabolism and can influence weight control later in life. Staying up later in the evening provides more opportunity for snacking. Learn more at “How an Early Bedtime Can Have Lasting Effects on Kids.” A Note from History Despite many health problems, President John Adams lived over 90 years. It was a remarkable life span for a man born in 1735. What was his secret? We can’t be sure, however, walking 5 or more miles a day was part of his life. Quotes to Sleep By A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book. ~ Irish Proverb The amount of sleep required by the average person is five minutes more. ~ Wilson Mizner Nothing cures insomnia like the realization it's Monday morning. ~ Author Unknown Finish each day before you begin the next, and interpose a solid wall of sleep between the two. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Sleep deprivation is an illegal torture method outlawed by the Geneva Convention and international courts, still many of us do it to ourselves. ~ Ryan Hurd |