Sleep disorder has become a common problem. What is worse, people are not aware of this. Earlier, this disorder was found in the elderly people but today in an age of cut throat competition and changed life style, this disorder afflicts the youth too, writes Farooq Qureshi
Finance Manager at a private firm, Rahul Joshi has experienced big drop in his performance and finds it hard to concentrate on his work in the past few months. When the pattern of Rahul's life style was analysed, it was felt that lack of sleep was the sole reason.When Rahul joined his first job, work load was minimal and he was having enough time for other activities, but with new responsibilities in the organization, the leisure hours shrunk leaving little space for a healthy and peaceful sleep.
Sleep disorder has become a common problem. What is worse, people are not aware of this. Earlier, this disorder was found in the elderly people but today in an age of cut throat competition and changed life style, this disorder afflicts the youth too.Today, any job requires a strenuous 14-15 hours of work. Even after office hours, the pressure to perform and deliver keeps the mind busy causing sleeplessness. At most they get a 5-6 hour sleep which affects the physical and mental health of an individual.
Patients reaching the city psychiatrists for such disorders are now from a different age group. Earlier, it used to be from the 50-70 age group. Now, patients are in the age group of 25-30 years. Sometimes it is as young as 13 years. Today, around 48 per cent of the youth are suffering from sleep disorder.The Head of Psychiatry department, Gandhi Medical College, RN Sahu said that sleep disorder could result in mental disorder if it persisted for a long time. The person suffering from sleep disorder has behavioral problem as physical tiredness can hamper his mental activity.
The problem can be categorised according to age group. The extensive use of computers for gaming and social networking has augmented sleep disorders among teenagers. This has resulted in loss of concentration which ultimately reflects in the poor performance in examinations. Besides poor performance, sleep disorder affects the health of the teenagers.The problems with the youth and working professionals are different as the latter are grown-ups and can adjust in a better way than children.
Physician Dr Azhar Ali said sleep disorder leads to several other disorders as the biological clock disturbs the body. Diseases of the heart, spondylitis and obesity are affects the patients. The disorder could be categorized according to the problems faced by the individuals.Ali further said that there were mental problems like tension, anxiety, depression and chronic disorders which left negative impact on the daily routine of the affected person.
Employees of the corporate sector are the worst-hit with sleep disorder. This was revealed after a survey conducted by ASSOCHAM.According to the survey, continuous and long working hours resulted in chronic diseases and at least 25 per cent of the affected persons suffered from chronic diseases. Private sector employees are affected by life style and chronic disorders and acute ailments.
The survey also compared the health of government and private sector employees and found that in the former there was due compensation for increased inflation by way of dearness allowance (DA) while private sector employees were not provided with such facilities increasing the seriousness of competition and giving rise to ailments.Sandeep Singh, a class XII student, becomes so exhausted at the end of the day that he sleeps without food frequently. His day starts at 5 am and ends after attending his IIT classes at 8. 30 pm and after reaching home he has to revise the topics covered in school and coaching classes. This hectic schedule is for the whole year and has gradually resulted in sleeplessness.
Sandeep said that a single day of negligence would hamper his chances of getting a good rank in IIT and could also affect his class XII results.A majority of people affected by sleep disorders develop the problem due to constant stress which has become an integral part of their life style.Dinesh Kushwaha, an HR consultant with a city-based firm said peers intensified the competition to deliver but in several cases it was found that due to pressure employees became a non-performer. In many cases, employees lost their job which amplified his suffering manifold. Earlier, he was a non-performer, now he is unemployed!
It is difficult to strike a balance between personal life and professional life. Very few master this skill and excel in life but those suffering from ailments due to work pressure should try to find healthy ways of living life.Sleep disorder is not confined to any specific section or age group as there are several reasons causing sleep disorder. In most cases, patients are unaware about the disorder or do not take the disorder seriously.
Dr Sahu said the best cure for it would be a good sleep for 8-10 hours. The sleeping hours vary for different age groups but still good sleep would prove very useful.If someone is not able to sleep despite having enough time, the next step is medication along with counselling. But then, all medicines have side affects, he said.Meditation, however, can help fight this disorder effectively. It calms the person and induces sleepcalm the person inducing sleep.
Insomnia, delayed sleep disorder
Insomnia is difficulty in falling asleep at the beginning of the night, often a symptom of anxiety disorders. Delayed sleep disorder can be misdiagnosed as insomnia as it causes a delayed period of sleep, spilling over into daylight hours.It is common for patients who have difficulty falling asleep to also have nocturnal awakenings with difficulty returning to sleep. Two thirds of these patients wake up in the middle of the night, with more than half having trouble falling back to sleep after a middle of the night awakening.
Early morning awakening is an awakening occurring earlier (more than 30 minutes) than desired with an inability to go back to sleep and before total sleep time reaches 6.5 hours. Early morning awakening is often a characteristic of depression.