ITS SLEEP SUNDAY – LET’S TALK ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION…

According to Wikipedia Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness, and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function.

According to an article on WEB MD Charles Bea, MD says that ‘there is a link between pain and sleep problems, exactly how the two conditions are connected varies from person to person. “You have to determine what is the chicken and what is the egg,” he says. “Is pain a manifestation of, or made worse by, a sleep disorder or is pain causing the poor quality of sleep?”

Charles Bae, MD, a neurologist in the Sleep Disorders Center at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, puts it this way: “Pain can be the main reason that someone wakes up multiple times a night, and this results in a decrease in sleep quantity and quality, and on the flip side, sleep deprivation can lower your pain threshold and pain tolerance and make existing pain feel worse”.

So what’s the answer – Spine Health say that “Psychological techniques. Meditation, cognitive behavior therapy, and deep breathing exercises are some of the more common practices. Sleep medications. Specifically designed to help with sleep, these medications may be considered by themselves or along with other strategies in certain circumstances”, may help with your sleep pattern.

Arthritis Health says that “Positive bedtime habits and environment changes include:

• Using a high-quality mattress with comfortable sheets and blankets
• Eliminating light and noise from the bedroom, including glare and sounds from electronics; a sound machine that generates white noise may help mask outside noises (people will often use a fan for this purpose)
• Lowering the temperature in the bedroom to 68 degrees or lower
• Using deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation techniques (tensing and then relaxing muscle groups in sequence)
• Using a biofeedback device to help individuals recognize signs of tension and actively work to relax muscles, slow breathing, and calm down
• Going to bed at the same time every day
• Getting up and doing something calming if sleeplessness sets in, returning to bed only once feeling tired

If you have any unique suggestions on how to get back to sleep after being woken up with pain then please let us know so we can all try it.

Other factors of course are that sleep changes with Age. You can see from the graphic below how it changes a great deal as we age. I probably only get about 6 hours of sleep maximum.

Many Fibromyalgia sufferers have sleep problems even if they have a rest during the day. But having a few ‘good’ hours sleep can make all the difference. I’m sure I am not alone in also suffering most days with an overwhelming feeling of fatigue. I can honestly say that sometimes I have felt so tired, that I thought I would fall asleep standing up. But even an afternoon nap is not the same as having a ‘proper’ night’s sleep.

Healthline explains 11 effects of sleep deprivation on your body with this great graphic and just shows how it really can affect your way of life big time.