STORY BYThe most common sleep disorder is insomnia, in which a person has trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Contributing causes can be consuming chocolate, caffeine, nicotine or alcohol. Emotional causes range from positive or negative changes in one’s life, depression, ruminating thoughts, or anxiety.
Some people get frustrated because they cannot fall asleep, and begin to become angry the moment they walk into the bedroom. That anger keeps them awake.
Sometimes underlying disease or trauma contributes to sleepiness, says Dr. Richard Castriotta, director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. Castriotta's own completed study on traumatic brain injury found that 40 percent of the patients have serious daytime sleepiness. About 20 percent have sleep-disordered breathing. Three to 6 percent have narcolepsy, characterized by the patient falling asleep unpredictably. This can be accompanied by vivid dreams or hallucinations or suffering from extreme sleepiness during the day. Attacks can last from a few minutes to several hours.
Narcolepsy in the general population is rare, about 100 times less common than obstructive sleep apnea. It usually starts in adolescence and lasts throughout life. Both conditions though may lead to accidents and subsequent traumatic brain injury. But brain injury can also cause both sleep apnea and post-traumatic hypersomnia.
Sleeping is as important to the body as eating or exercising. Without it, you would be tired, disagreeable and depressed. Inadequate sleep results in irritability, frustration, fatigue, inadequate decision-making and impaired motor skills or reactions.
Shift work takes an enormous toll on individuals. When shifts change regularly, it is very difficult for the human body to adapt to the schedule. Sixty to 70 percent of these people have difficulty sleeping during off-hours and/or difficulty staying awake during working hours.
Our entire society as a whole does not receive enough sleep to sustain us in a healthy way, Castriotta asserts. We certainly do not respect the restorative power of sleep, often to our detriment. Citing such catastrophes as the Challenger, Exxon Valdez, Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl, Castriotta says, “Almost all of the major human-caused disasters have been caused by sleepiness and people making wrong decisions because they just cannot think straight.”
UPDATED: 1-26-2006
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Dr. Richard Castriotta is director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at UT Medical School.
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Children 6 months up to 9 years of age getting a flu vaccine for the first time will need two doses of vaccine the first year they are vaccinated. If possible, the first dose should be given in September or as soon as vaccine becomes available. The second dose should be given 28 or more days after the first dose. The first dose "primes" the immune system; the second dose provides immune protection. Children who only get one dose but who need two doses can have reduced or no protection from a single dose of flu vaccine. Two doses are necessary to protect these children. If your child needs two doses, begin the process early, so that children are protected before influenza starts circulating in your community. Be sure to follow up to get your child a second dose if they need one. It usually takes about two weeks after the second dose for protection to begin.
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