manchester

healthy options

illnesses and conditions

Sleep

YOU may have stuck to orange juice all night before driving your friends home in the early hours, but lack of sleep may make you as dangerous as if you had downed several drinks.

A recent report in the journal, Occupational And Environmental Medicine, reveals that a person suffering mild sleep deprivation can suffer impairments to their thinking and motor skills equivalent to drinking at least a glass of wine.

When you realise that by ''mild sleep deprivation'' the Australian research team means staying awake for 17 - 19 hours (the equivalent of many people's 7am to 11pm day) it begins to raise question about whether police ought to have the powers to stop motorists to test how awake they are.

A Gallup poll in 1999 of 1,000 UK people found that 18 per cent of men admitted they had fallen asleep at the wheel, 5 per cent reported that sleepiness affected their activities every day and 7 per cent had visited their doctor with a sleep problem.

Sleep is still little understood, but most experts agree that the average adult needs about eight hours a night to function properly.

How many of us live in a continuous state of exhaustion because we burn the candle at both ends? It is not a sign of aging either.

America's National Sleep Foundation carried out a poll revealing that 33 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds suffer from significant daytime sleepiness, which is comparable with shift workers (29 per cent) who are a notoriously sleepy group.

The poll revealed that one in two younger adults will cut down on sleep in order to get more done, and an almost equal percentage admit to postponing bedtime in order to watch TV or use the internet.

When you consider that 60 per cent of those surveyed say they have driven when sleepy, whilst 24 per cent they have dozed off at the wheel, you realise that far from being a mere annoyance, insomnia or sleep deprivation is potentially fatal, where transport or machinery are involved.

Another recent study, by the British Medical Journal revealed that junior doctors' health and performance is put at risk by long working hours, inadequate rest and frequent working out of hours.

Sleep deprivation was used as a wartime weapon of torture. The temptation to succumb to a round-the-clock leisure industry is great, but is incompatible with many people's professional lives which require long hours and a commute to work.

Question: Can you learn to function normally with a couple of hours sleep less than you need?

Answer: No you can't. Sleep needs are biological. And you require core sleep made up of REM and NREM sleep.

REM, rapid eye movement, sleep is the time when you dream and often involves more brain activity than in people who are awake. It appears to be more psychologically important.

People deprived of REM sleep tend to become overly sensitive, have bad memory recall and are unable to concentrate. NREM sleep shows a brain more unconscious. If deprived of NREM people are more clumsy and sluggish and look tired. But it is easier to recover from a lack of NREM sleep than REM. Children need more sleep than adults.

Sleep on your own, without an alarm clock for a while and note how many hours it is until you wake rested from sleep. That's probably how much you need.

Question: Do people's sleep needs diminish with age?

Answer: No, they do not. Your needs in adulthood remain the same but older people may sleep less at night but require a nap in the daytime.

Question: Can the human body adjust to night shifts?

Answer: No they can not. The body operates according to a daily (circadian) rhythm set by dark and light cycles. Chemical changes take place in our bodies as the sun begins to set.

Melatonin is a hormone secreted from the pineal gland in the centre of our brain and is released when our eyes begin to register that it is going darker. It is what makes us feel sleepy and regulates our body clock.

When you travel across time zones, the circadian rhythm adjusts to the light and dark, but with shift workers the light and dark does not change, so their daily cycle does not either. The body does not find it easy to sleep during the day. Humans are at their most sleepy between midnight and 6am.

Fourteen ways to get a good night's sleep

• Go to bed and get up at the same time every day.
• Get regular exercise every day, but not too close to the time when you want to sleep. Evidence suggests that it improves restful sleep.
• Get exposure to bright light or the outdoors, especially in the late afternoon, it makes the contrast to night greater, triggering more melatonin production.
• Keep your bedroom cool and well ventilated. Make sure it is dark and quiet enough for you to sleep.
• Earplugs are a great investment - particularly if you have noisy neighbours or a partner who snores.
• Try a relaxing routine like having a warm bath, containing a few drops of lavender oil, before bedtime.
• Try putting a lavender sachet in your pillow, it is said to aid sleep Review your day and focus on the positive.
• Make sure you have a comfortable bed and pillows. Mattresses should be replaced every 10 years.
• Avoid alcohol and consume as little caffeine as possible - that means tea as well as coffee. If you must have them, keep them for before noon.
• Just before bedtime is not the moment for an exciting TV programme, a competitive video game or a life-changing discussion with your loved one.
• If you are either hungry or bloated after a large meal, it will prevent you eating.
• Resist the temptation to take daytime naps as it will make it more difficult for you to sleep.
• Avoid lying awake in bed for more than 20-30 minutes. Get up and go to a different room, have a quiet read and go back to bed when you are sleepy. Do this as many times as necessary.