The Times

 John Reynolds

 

Gerry Gajadharsingh writes:

 The proverbial chicken and egg.

 Whilst I find in patients that underlying anxiety can be an important cause of sleep disturbance, there is no doubt that sometimes if a patient has underlying medical conditions, these can also play a part, often becoming a vicious circle.

 Whilst short-term sleep medication can be helpful for some people, it is well worthwhile exploring techniques that quiet the mind, such as mindfulness meditation.

 When we go to sleep “our subconscious comes out to play”, the things that we worry about consciously and unconsciously can often cause a stress response so powerful that either we have great difficultly falling asleep and are woken up. Having good breathing behavior can be helpful to minimize the risk of sleep apnoea, another important cause of sleep disturbance.

 Sleep is a habit that for many of us were shaped by the routines instilled in us as children by our parents (babies and children need a lot of sleep). If these habits are successfully established at a young age, for may of us this can set us up for life, bar the occasional episode of life stress, that can affect all of us, which is entirely normal. For chronic sleep disturbance, many people have simply lost their natural habit. They need to understand why and develop strategies to learn to sleep again. There are SO MANY important reasons why adequate sleep (both in duration and quality) can be supportive to health.

 

 

People who get less than seven hours of sleep each night are up to four times more likely to suffer a stroke than those who regularly get a good night’s sleep, a study has found.

Those who toss and turn are more than twice as likely to have a heart attack as those who sleep soundly, the research by the World Health Organisation suggests.

It means that a sleep disorder could be as bad for triggering a heart attack as smoking or failing to exercise.

Professor Valery Gafarov, who presented the findings at the Euro Heart Care Congress in Croatia at the weekend, said: “Poor sleep should be considered a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease along with smoking, lack of exercise and poor diet. For most people, good quality sleep is seven to eight hours of rest each night and people who are not sleeping well should speak to their doctor.”

Experts pointed out, however, that the underlying causes of heart attack and strokes, such as lack of exercise and poor diet, could be contributing to sleep disorders.

The study involved 657 men aged 25 to 64 with no history of heart attack, stroke or diabetes in Novosibirsk, Russia.

Sleep quality was judged when the study began in 1994 and patients with a rating of very bad, bad or poor were considered to have sleeping disorders. They were monitored for occurrences of heart attacks and strokes over the next 14 years.

Nearly two thirds (63 per cent) of those who had heart attacks also had sleeping disorders.

Men with sleeping disorders had a risk of a heart attack that was 2 to 2.6 times higher and a stroke risk that was 1.5 to 4 times higher than those without a sleeping disorder between 5 and 14 years of follow up.

Sleeping disorders are associated with anxiety, depression, hostility and vital exhaustion and are a manifestation of social stress.