WORLD Sleep Day this year takes place on March 15, so get ready.
If you didn’t already know, the idea behind it is to highlight the plight of those who have sleep problems and to educate people all over the world about the importance of sleep.
I don’t need to be told because I already know how important sleep is. I get cranky too if I don’t get enough of it.
What I didn’t realise though is how many of us have difficulty getting a night’s rest.
According to the American Sleep Association, between 50 and 70 million people have some type of sleeping disorder. The most common of those is the inability to get any sleep at all, or not being able to stay asleep for a full night once they do nod off. Mild to severe sleep difficulties are problematic for many.
To celebrate World Sleep Day, the organisers suggest you should take the day off and sleep as long as you want or, in a less extreme manner, grab a 20-minute power nap during a lunch break. If you feel refreshed afterwards, it means that you needed it.
That could be difficult though if you’re someone who struggles to get to sleep in the first place. It certainly wasn’t the case for an ex-colleague of mine from my Blarney garda days, the late Dan Ahern. Dan had mastered the art of grabbing 40 winks.
Driving a patrol car around the countryside in the dead of night for eight hours wasn’t easy. In those days, we did a week of nights from 10pm to 6am and most people who work the night shift will tell you it’s tough on the body. Particularly at the start of the week, until your system gets used to it.
Whenever Dan felt himself flagging, he would pull into the side of the road, push back the seat, close the eyes, and within seconds he’d be out for the count. Ten minutes later he’d sit bolt upright, wide awake and full of beans for the rest of the shift.
I always marvelled at how quickly he could recharge his battery.
I couldn’t do that. I needed a full eight hours’ sleep to function but now, as I get older, I don’t need as much. I do get up more during the night, but fortunately I have no difficulty nodding off again.
That’s not the case for everyone though. and that’s tough because tiredness can drag you down. It can also be harmful to your health.
The Times UK published a study that estimated 40-70% of older adults have chronic sleep problems. Even worse, those who don’t get enough sleep between their forties and sixties could be more prone to developing dementia.
Another study by a team from the University of Pittsburgh in the U.S found that participants with persistent insomnia, which was defined as having trouble falling asleep, waking up in the night or waking up earlier than planned on three or four nights, had a 60-75% increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Our sleep quality declines as we age, becoming shorter, lighter, and more fragmented.
Greg Elder, professor in psychology and associate director of the Northumbria University Centre for Sleep Research in the UK, says most mid-lifers report that they tend not to have too many problems nodding off but struggle to stay asleep.
The time we spend asleep decreases as we get older, but the experts tell us we shouldn’t be getting too excited about it as long as we get somewhere near 7-9 hours of total sleep.
Not everyone needs exactly the same amount, and that’s good to hear, because six hours seems to be enough for me. There are some tips too.
A little booze has been shown scientifically to help some people fall asleep faster but taking a nightcap will not guarantee good sleep.
A small amount of alcohol, a nip of whisky or sherry, might make you feel calm and sleepy, encouraging sleep onset.
If you do wake in the middle of the night, the worst thing you can do, according to the experts, is to lie there thinking about it. They suggest if you’re lying there trying to sleep for 15 minutes and it’s not happening, then you should get up and go and do a quiet activity such as reading or knitting until you feel sleepy enough to go back to bed. Another suggestion is to cut back on caffeine. As a stimulant, it can make the mind and body active, so it’s best to avoid coffee, tea or other caffeinated drinks at least six hours before bedtime.
Keep the bedroom cool and an hour before bedtime turn off your computer, television, smartphone or other devices as the blue lights can interfere with good sleep rhythms.
That information would have been handy for a high school student, Randy Gardner, who decided in 1963 to try and beat the world record for staying awake, which at the time stood at 260 hours, or just under 11 days.
A sleep researcher called William Dement from Stanford University was just starting his research in the field of sleep science and got involved a few days into the experiment and found Randy to be upbeat and unimpaired.
However, as the days wore on, the experiment threw up some results. His sense of taste, smell, and hearing and his cognitive and sensory abilities began to be affected.
By the tenth day, Randy was unable to complete simple mathematic equations and experienced hallucinations and a lot of confusion, but he managed to stay awake for 11 days and 25 minutes.
I struggle with mathematic equations all the time, and I’m in a constant state of confusion. I have the occasional hallucination too. Maybe it’s time for a little whiskey and nap.
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