Be Thankful If They Just Snore

The NYT is running has a lengthy piece in their weekend supplement about sleep disorders. Besides a certain amount of humor value, the article covers sleep terrors and sleepwalking and even weirder disorders.

Comments

Faithless

[Library Spoff]

having had some problems sleeping recently due to stress I can tell you it ain't funny...

can't sleep cause you're stressed...
this stresses you...
cant sleep cause you're stressed...

not much fun..

and *everyones* got a cure:

"tried lettuce sandwiches"
"tried a piriton" etc etc.

thankfully i'm sleeping again, but I don't envy anyone who has this all the time.

Re:Faithless

[KliX]

I agree.

I am a manic depressive, and on and off [who knows why] I get terrible problems sleeping - I end up either getting a tiny amount of sleep [1 or 2 hours] or no sleep at all [I know some people are happy with tiny amounts of sleep, but I feel shite with anything less than 7 or 8 hours depending on how hard I'm working].

Sleep is essencial. We may not really understand it, but I'd never want *anyone* to be without it.

Fox.

Re:Joke....

[faqBastard]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

:-)

take this more seriously, I am a sleep tech.

[McVeigh]

From the responses I have read peopel need to take these thigns more seriously. While the unusal conditions like sleep walking, sleep terrors, and narcolepsy are interesting, it is obstructive sleep apnea that is the most common and dangerous.

You can die from it! that's how dangerous it is. apnea is an interuption in your breathing. usually from a blockage in your airway.

when this happens at night several things happen;
1) it wakes you up. not to the point where you are aware of it, but it waks you out of a deep restful sleep to a light stage of sleep. this is why people are so tired all the time. this can happen hundreds of times an hour.
2)it raises your blood pressure. when the apnea occurs it spikes your bloood pressure. it has been
measured up 60 mm of Hg. this is what can break loose blood clots and cause stokes in the middle of the night.

these are the 2 most dangerous affects.
the number 1 cause of sleep apnea is being overweight, even as littel as 5 lbs overweight can cause it. and those of you who snore are suspect, snoring and apnea usually go hand in hand.
how many slashdot readers sit in front a computer drinking soda all day? that doesn't help your weight.

there is help though, there are doctors who specialize in sleep disorders. there are labs and hospitals that do testing like I used to do.
there is surgery (I don't reccomend) and devices like the CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) that keep the airway open at night and stops the apnea from occuring.
BTW my mother-in-law, uncle and father all have sleep apnea. it's more common than you think.

there are many things medicine can do for sleeping problems but you have to go see a doctor that knows about sleeping disorders.

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