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Losing Sleep: Some Basic Facts

By Darien Simon, M.S.

Nearly ten years ago, in May 1997, CNN reported that sleep problems were becoming an epidemic—the #1 health-related problem in the U.S. In 2002, according to the National Sleep Foundation, almost 74% of Americans reported suffering from insufficient sleep. More than half of American adults reported problems sleeping more than one night per week, and nearly 33% reported trouble sleeping every night. Missing sleep can have the following health consequences: fatigue, depression, obesity, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, suppression of immune responses, and shortened life-spans. And the problems are not limited to adults. Children who have insomnia, face an increased risk of drug and alcohol abuse when they become adolescents, according to a University of Michigan study published in April of 2004. And loss of sleep isn't just a health problem, either. The National Commission on Sleep Disorders estimated sleep deprivation was costing $150 billion every year, only 10% of which is in direct costs. Other expensive consequences of sleep loss are from worker productivity reduction, increased stress and all the additional physical and psychologica health impacts, as well as accidents, especially heavy truck accidents, of which 30% - 40% are due to driver fatigue from lack of sleep. Why is all this sleep lost? Partly, it is due to our stressful lives, the artificial schedule imposed by our work requirements and commuting, family obligations, and other activities, or inactivity, that interfere with getting a good night's sleep. But additional loss of sleep is due to sleep disorders including insomnia, sleep apnea, and more than 100 others. If you want to know whether or not you’re getting enough sleep, see if you can wake up when you need to without using an alarm clock, and without feeling fatigued during the day. If you can't, you aren’t getting enough sleep according to the Mayo Clinic. But, what can you do? You can develop better sleep habits, you can try prescription sleep medications (which can have their own problems including side effects and limited effectiveness over time), you can learn to live with permanent fatigue, or you can use Dream Boost, which is specially formulated to enhance and reinforce your body's own sleep-inducing mechanisms.