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Questioning your sleep
Last edited |
06/13/2006
Written by Maurice M. Ohayon, MD, DSc, PhD
Is it normal to sleep so much, so little, to
snore, to talk, to scream, to walk, to kick, to punch during our sleep?
What is the meaning of these nightmares coming
back so often?
Of these dreams disappearing as soon as you
awaken?
What does it mean to awake being paralyzed,
confused, or having a big headache, or depressed, tired, anxious?
How the
others are sleeping?
Is sleep
the same for everybody?
Do people
of different cultures have the same sleeping habits?
How does
sleep change with age?
What
factors can improve or decrease sleep quality? What can help people to sleep?
How many
people use sleep drugs? For how long? With what results ?
More
delicate is the question about why do we need to sleep.
Is it a basic
need?
Several theories have been
developed to explain why we sleep: for example, consolidation of learning during the day, secretion of
hormones, restorative
function, but none of them have provided satisfactory answers.
It is more likely
that sleep has several functions.
The truth is that Science has not yet
answered this question.
We spend nearly one third of our life sleeping.
It means that when we are 75 years old, 25 years of our life will have been
spent sleeping!
How well did you sleep this third part of
your life?
We know that sleep is as necessary to the brain as food and water.
However, how
much sleep we need varies from one individual to another: one can be happy
with seven hours night while another will be totally dissatisfied and moody all
day with eight hours.
Without
question, the consequences of a bad night sleep may be dramatic.
It is estimated that sleep disorders, sleep deprivation, and sleepiness added
$16 billion to the U. S. national health care bill in the early 1990’s.
Other
societal costs never have been calculated, but are considered to be substantial.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, sleepiness is considered
to be responsible of about one third of accidents with truck drivers.
What about
the cost in term of social, professional and family impact of a bad
night sleep?
Finally, questioning your sleep is a way for us to learn more about your needs.
Who does know better than you about your sleep?
Through a series of studies in the general population
of different countries and in the clinical field, we tried to answer some of
these questions.
These studies are all done using the same methodology
and the same instrument, the Sleep-EVAL system.
This system offers the decisive advantage
of being a standard tool allowing the comparison between countries.
With your help, we
have collected the sleeping habits and disorders of several thousands of people.
We are
bringing these results to you on this site.
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Sleep-EVAL
Research
