| We live in a high tech world that simply operates 24/7, | | | | times a night with each one lasting as long as ten |
| so a lot of us are sleep deprived. Many cities such as | | | | seconds. How can you decide if you are getting |
| my own city of Portland,Oregon, now have | | | | enough sleep? Ask your self some questions. |
| supermarkets, drugstores, video stores and restraunts | | | | 1.Do you find you have lack of attention? 2.Do you |
| that are open 24 hours a day. The people who | | | | experience memory loss? 3.Do you get irratiable and |
| operate these stores plus the police, nurses, firemen, | | | | frustration at coworkers or friends? 4.Do you have |
| factory workers often work a rotating shift. More | | | | poor concentration? |
| people are working from home and do not follow a | | | | Of course you may not have any serious sleep |
| set schedule, I know I am one of them. TV stations | | | | disorder, you may just be suffering ordinary things like |
| and radios stations are operating 24 hours a day. | | | | a new baby, a sick child, worry over some stressor in |
| Comute times take longer and we play catch up from | | | | your life, like lossing your job, or other worries. These |
| the office by taking work home. No wonder most of | | | | kinds of sleep deprivation usually go away in time. |
| us are getting 5 hours of sleep a night or less. Are you | | | | If you think you might be sleep deprived there are |
| one of these people? Noise pollution as cities grow is a | | | | some things you can do. Ask yourself how much |
| problem too. I know that I work odd shifts being a | | | | sleep makes you feel really well. Then set a goal to |
| caregiver and then have to sleep a lot of times during | | | | get that much sleep. Some things you might do is get |
| the day. Neighbors run loud music, chain saws, lawn | | | | some exercise it promotes sleep. Don't eat, drink |
| mowers. The noise level never allows me to get | | | | coffee, tea or alcohol within two hours of going to bed. |
| enough sleep. | | | | Stop smoking. Don't use your bedroom for anything |
| Some people have sleep apena. Sleep apnea means | | | | except sleep. Establish that when you go into your |
| episodes of cessation of breathing during night time | | | | bedroom that you are going there to sleep. Establish a |
| sleep that can occur as often as several hundred | | | | bedtime ritual. Don't think about troubles when you are |
| times in a night. Snoring is a warning that the sleeper | | | | going to sleep. Put them on hold until the next day they |
| may be a victim of sleep apnea. | | | | will still be there. |
| OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA SYMPTOMS | | | | Recognising you are sleep deprived is the first step. |
| Loud snoring. This can indicate breathing problems or | | | | Knowing that being sleep deprived is dangerous if you |
| blocked air passages. Cessation of breathing or | | | | are operating machinery, or driving your car is |
| choking spells in the night. In severe cases, this can | | | | important. You also may be putting your job on the line |
| occur over fifty times an hour with each hundreds of | | | | with lack of attention and memory loss. |