Nowadays, most of my patients and readers complain of inability to sleep. Some say they cannot sleep well, others say they cannot sleep at all, which is a lie. Do you know that, it has been scientifically proven that if somebody is deprived of sleep consecutively for 20 days, the person dies.
A proverb in Hausa language says “geri ya waye, rikicin duniya ta tashi” – which literally means “when the day breaks the world’s trouble begins “. Very apt adage, not to talk of now, when the troubles of the world, do not even allow us to sleep nor wait for the day to break.
To be quite honest, people no longer sleep with the proverbial “one eye closed”, we cannot even sleep with the two eyes closed now. And it is not pathological but psychological. Most people are sleepless because they cannot afford two square meals a day. Others have no money for school fees or house rents. Only very few, according to my research are sleepless because of illness.
We know that sleep, in actual fact, is necessary for survival and good health, but why sleep is needed or how exactly it benefits people is not fully understood. Individual requirements for sleep vary widely – healthy adults may need as few as 4 hours or as many as 9 hours of sleep every day. So whenever someone complains of inability to sleep, doctors usually explore first the person’s sleep pattern, his worries and his stress level.
Most of my patients who complained of sleeplessness over the years, had benefited from counseling. Most people sleep at night, but many must sleep during the day to accommodate work schedules. This situation often leads to sleep disorders. Most sleep disorders are common. How long a person sleeps and how rested a person feels on waking can be influenced by many factors, including excitement or emotional distress.
Medications also, can play a part in someone’s inability to sleep, some medications may make a person sleepy while others may make sleeping difficult. Even some food elements or additives such as caffeine, strong spices or mono sodium glutamate(white maggi), may affect sleep.
Treatment of inability to sleep depends on its cause and severity. Older people experiencing age-related sleep changes usually don’t need treatment, because the changes are normal. Since total sleeping time is likely to decrease with age, older people may find going to bed later or getting up earlier helpful.
If emotional stress is causing inability to sleep, treatment to relieve stress is more useful than taking sleep medications. When inability to sleep occurs with depression, the depression should be thoroughly evaluated and treated by your doctor, there should be no self medication please.
When inability to sleep, interferes with your normal activities and sense of well-being, the intermittent use of sleep medications – sedatives, hypnotics may be helpful. Always be medically guided.
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