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Sleep Crisis: The Science of Slumber - Go to bed. On time. Tonight. Or else.
Maclean's ^ | JUNE 18, 2013 | Luiza Ch. Savage

Posted on 06/18/2013 5:25:30 PM PDT by rickmichaels

The sleep doctors are coming and they want you to go to bed. On time. Tonight. Every night. Or else.

They want doctors to add a single question to routine checks of vital signs like body temperature, pulse, blood pressure and rate of breathing. The question is: How did you sleep?

If you’re like most people, probably not well, or at least not enough.

Coffee-fuelled North Americans, with our smartphones at our bedsides, are sleeping, on average, nearly two hours less than we were 40 years ago, when most people slept 8½ hours or more. More and more people are being diagnosed with sleep apnea, a disorder in which breathing is disrupted during sleep. And insomnia, which affects about 10 per cent of the population, is no longer considered merely a symptom of other medical or psychiatric problems but has been classified as a full-fledged disorder in its own right.

The scientific evidence is mounting that getting less than the recommended seven to nine hours of nightly sleep is having wide-ranging impacts on our bodies, our minds and, especially, on the health of our children, who need even more sleep: 10 to 11 hours per night.

In March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that “insufficient sleep is a public health epidemic.” It released a survey showing that more than 35 per cent of U.S. adults reported getting less than seven hours of sleep a night; 38 per cent reported unintentionally falling asleep at least once during the day in the preceding month.

(Excerpt) Read more at 2.macleans.ca ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: sleep; sleepdisorders; snooooore
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1 posted on 06/18/2013 5:25:30 PM PDT by rickmichaels
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To: rickmichaels
Sleep-deprived? No guns for you!
2 posted on 06/18/2013 5:27:40 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (People with religious faith in government are far crazier than people with religious faith in God.)
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To: rickmichaels

Saw a sleep doctor last week. Doing a test at home next week.


3 posted on 06/18/2013 5:28:19 PM PDT by luckystarmom
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To: rickmichaels

Here come the weight sensors on our beds.

The government can pay for my medical bills, sans CommieCare, if they want me to sleep properly. I have endocrine disease and no amount of someone saying “you need to do this and this” is going to fix it without invasive procedures.


4 posted on 06/18/2013 5:29:17 PM PDT by wastedyears (I'm a gamer not because I choose to have no life, but because I choose to have many.)
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To: rickmichaels
Everyone is different. At most, I get 6 hours sleep a night. That's been going on for over 30 years. Doing fine so far.

I do like a 20 minute nap during the day if I can manage it.

5 posted on 06/18/2013 5:30:03 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: luckystarmom

You’re doing the sleep test? I had it done. They put sensors on your body, on your head, on your face, pulse monitor on your finger, and an earbud taped to your neck to hear what your throat/vocal chords are doing. I didn’t sleep that night. They said I had about 6 hours of sleep.


6 posted on 06/18/2013 5:30:26 PM PDT by wastedyears (I'm a gamer not because I choose to have no life, but because I choose to have many.)
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To: rickmichaels; Revolting cat!
With Obama and the Democrats in office? Not very well.


7 posted on 06/18/2013 5:33:13 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: a fool in paradise

LOL!


8 posted on 06/18/2013 5:33:42 PM PDT by wastedyears (I'm a gamer not because I choose to have no life, but because I choose to have many.)
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To: rickmichaels

No chance. The Spurs are going to win the NBA Championship tonight!


9 posted on 06/18/2013 5:33:45 PM PDT by txrefugee
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To: luckystarmom

How does that differ, apart from the obvious, from staying the night at a sleep center?


10 posted on 06/18/2013 5:34:37 PM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: rickmichaels
There's something fishy about this study’s assertions vis-à-vis how much sleep adults used to get. Married couples used to have much bigger families than they do today. George the Elder and Barbara Bush, for example, are neither Catholic nor Mormon, yet they had six children and that wasn't unusual. Now, any woman raising six children is going to be sleep-deprived for at least twenty years. No way did mothers of big families get 8 1/2 hours of sleep a night — ever.
11 posted on 06/18/2013 5:35:18 PM PDT by utahagen
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To: ClearCase_guy

I get about 7 hours and a nap during the day most times.


12 posted on 06/18/2013 5:35:43 PM PDT by Venturer
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To: wastedyears
Commiecare will insist you buy a new mattress.

Not one of the type formerly used by soft bellied bourgeois capitalist pigs.

13 posted on 06/18/2013 5:38:12 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: utahagen

They want something else for the public to worry about and not sleep!


14 posted on 06/18/2013 5:41:00 PM PDT by presently no screen name
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To: rickmichaels

If I get anywhere from three to six hours a day, I’m good to go. I had an uncle who couldn’t sleep more than three hours a day.


15 posted on 06/18/2013 5:51:00 PM PDT by pallis
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To: Puppage

I don’t know yet. I know they won’t be video taping me. It’s something I can hook myself up to. It’s also not as sensitive as the one at the clinic.

My daughter had an overnight sleep study a few years ago, so I’ll be able to tell the difference after I get this one done.


16 posted on 06/18/2013 6:01:04 PM PDT by luckystarmom
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To: rickmichaels
The problem is that they want us to sleep in a unnatural manner ie 8 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep. That is not the way most of us sleep. Most of us wake up in the night and stay awake for a bit and then drop back off.

Then we run to the doctor and say that we can't sleep.

Instead just go to bed about an hour earlier and when you wake up enjoy your hour of wakefulness. Don't get on the computer or turn on the TV. Instead just enjoy some quality quiet time. Read, pray, do a crossword, draw or, if your spouse is awake as well, some cuddling and more.

Then drop back off. And awake in a few hours feeling refreshed.

17 posted on 06/18/2013 6:07:19 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Revenge is a dish best served with pinto beans and muffins)
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To: rickmichaels

bookmark


18 posted on 06/18/2013 6:25:53 PM PDT by GOP Poet
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To: rickmichaels

Just finished my sleep studies, will be getting a CPAP machine soon. Sleep apnea seems to be the disease of choice for those of us over fifty and weight. Supposedly it causes all kinds of badness.


19 posted on 06/18/2013 6:58:13 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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To: Some Fat Guy in L.A.

Used a CPAP for years. Taking off over 100 lbs helped reduce the need, but still use it as it helps me get into REM sleep. Just got to be careful not to hang myself when I roll over. Being SCUBA certified helps get used to it...


20 posted on 06/18/2013 7:17:14 PM PDT by Dubh_Ghlase (Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.)
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