Health Special

New Delhi, 22 August 2008

Sleep Disorders

BOOST RISK OF DEATH

By Radhakrishna Rao

In recent years, there has been a steep increase in sleep-related disorders with serious consequences for the social well being. All due to a fast paced, stress-filled lifestyle, In addition to insomnia, which is quite common and widespread, the Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) characterized by loud snoring and pauses in breathing, has become a major challenge  to the medical experts  treating sleep-related disorders.

Thanks to the fast spreading sleep disorders, many Indian hospitals have set up their dedicated sleep laboratories designed to treat sleep-related complaints in a systematic manner. According to a sleep specialist with the New Delhi-based Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, roughly one third of the global population is now suffering from one or the other type of sleep disorder. As pointed out by the specialist there are more than 90 types of sleep disorders. However, he rued the fact that “as a society we are sleeping at least two hours less and fast following what the west is doing”.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect of these disorders is the most recent revelation that severe OSA has the potential to boost the risk of death to three times. In children OSA is known to increase the chances of obesity and overweight. On a more practical plane, one of the disturbing fallouts of OSA is the difficulties in concentrating on work during the day time. Unfortunately, a majority of those suffering from OSA are unaware of the problem nagging them.

But a section of the medical researchers hold the view that several help measures such as weight reduction and regular exercise could help mitigate the problems associated with OSA. Incidentally, in a person suffering from OSA, a drop in oxygen level in the blood circulatory system becomes quite evident and at times it could choke the victim even before he becomes aware of the problem. Meanwhile, a team of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, has reported that people with OSA suffer from tissue losses in certain regions of the brain with serious consequences for functions such as memory and thinking.

Yet another detailed research study carried out at the California-based Scripps Clinic and Foundation goes to show that moderate alcohol consumption in the evening could cause the symptoms of OSA in a person without any previous, recorded history of sleep disruption. Sleep researchers also believe that people who sleep 2-4 hours a day are 73% more likely to be obese than those who get a normal sleep.

Sleep specialists are also clear that a psychological link exists between mental illness and sleep disorders. Although pills give temporary relief with regard to the sleep-related disorders, researchers say that they can interfere with the restoration functions that take place during sleep. It is also surmised that most of the powerful sleep-inducing drugs have also a range of side effects.

All said and done, the biological functions of the sleep mechanism are far from well understood. Moreover, biomedical researchers are frank enough to admit that they still don’t know the ideal amount of sleep needed for the brain in good condition. “There is this enormous commercial push to convince the people that if they don’t get eight hours of sleep a night, there is something wrong in them” quips a sleep specialist.

 There is another school of thought which says that sleep is vital for the repair of cells and the strengthening of the immune system. Moreover, sleep is known to bring about freshness and boost the mechanism of memory and thinking. Researchers have also found that the timing of the heart-beat becomes more regular when one is asleep. From the biological standpoint, sleeping is considered a state of semi-consciousness as all the bodily functions continue to proceed though on a vastly reduced scale.

In what has been described as a significant research breakthrough, a group of life scientists has stumbled upon neurons which are active in the cerebral cortex and are responsible for some of the vital functions such as information processing, memory and consciousness. As it is, sleeplessness has been associated with decreased memory and poor performance at the work place.

 In recent years, psychoanalysts and medical researchers have been showing an increasing interest in dreams for its potentials to cure a variety of disorders .Clearly, our dreams each day are likely to be triggered-off by a certain experience of the day gone by. In general, the intensity, duration and emotional content of a dream depend upon several factors like chronic worry or anxiety of the individual prior to sleeping. One thing that emerges with certainty is that integrated into a person’s dreams are his psychological essence and physiological peculiarities.

As it is, the phenomenon of sleep and dream has puzzled philosophers, psychologists and medical researchers down the centuries. Notwithstanding the tremendous strides made by medical science, many aspects of sleep and dream continue to remain wrapped in mystery. But there is a general consensus that both sleep and dream are vital for the physical well being and mental poise of an individual.

“We conclude that sleep by restructuring new memory representations facilitates extraction of experimental knowledge and insightful behavior” says a team of scientists from the University of Lubbock. Though the researchers hold the view that brain benefits from a good night’s sleep, there is so far no consensus on the nature and benefits stemming from the mechanism of sleep.

There are many theories explaining the significance of sleep. While one theory says that sleep enables the brain to review and consolidate all streams of information it collects during the day time, another suggests that one needs to sleep to detoxify the system.

An individual is known to spend as much as third of his life in sleep. The duration of sleep varies with age. Researchers have been able to identify two well defined patterns of sleep. In the first phase of sleep called the Rapid Eye Movement (REM), long, slow waves of current movement is noticed in the brain. Incidentally, dreams are known to occur in the REM sleep. In the second phase of sleep called the Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep, the brain remains active. ---INFA

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