*Snore loudly?
*Stop breathing during your sleep?
*Have violent movements during your sleep? (especially if you've
actually acted out dreams or have injured yourself or others)
*Find it hard to stay awake in boring situations?
*Fall asleep or get drowsy while driving?
*Get sleepy during certain times of the day (morning or evening), but
have trouble sleeping (difficulty falling asleep or awakening too early)?
*Get so sleepy in the "daytime" that you simply must lie down for a nap
or rest?
*Sometimes get muscle weakness when you are emotional (especially
while laughing)?
*Get an unpleasant (creeping, crawling) feeling in your legs when you
lie down at night...that makes you want to rub or move them...or your
legs feel restless when you try to go to sleep?
*Have disrupted sleep (awaken frequently)?
*Worry about your sleep?
Did you know...
Half of all adults sleep poorly more than a few nights a week? According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) 2005 Sleep In Americapoll, half of all respondents (50%) reported feeling tired, fatigued or not up to par during wake time at least one day a week,
with 17% saying this happens every day or almost every day.
Before Thomas Edison's invention of the light bulb, people used to sleep 10 hours a night. Americans today average only 6.9 hours of sleep on week nights and 7.5 hours per night on weekends. (2002 NSF Sleep In America poll)
The NSF 2005 Sleep in Americapoll found that 60% of the respondents licensed to drive say they have driven drowsy in the past year, an increase over recent years; 4% have had an accident or near-accident because they were too tired, or actually dozed off while driving.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conservatively estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are caused by drowsy drivers each year. These crashes result in more than 40,000 injuries and 1,500 deaths. These numbers represent 1-3% of all police-reported crashes and 4% of fatalities. (NHTSA, Kipling & Wang, 1995)
Sleep problems can sour relationships. A large majority (77%) of NSF 2005 poll respondents reported that their partner had a sleep-related problem -- most commonly snoring. When disturbed by a bed partner's sleep problems, the other partner loses an average of 49 minutes of sleep a night – that's 300 hours each year!
More than two-thirds of all children (69%) experience one or more sleep problems at least a few nights a week. (NSF 2004 poll)
Only 1 in 5 adolescents get enough sleep on school nights; the ideal amount is 9 hours. The average 6th grader sleeps only 8.4 hours on school nights and the typical high school senior sleeps only 6.9 hours. So, high school seniors miss nearly 12 hours of needed sleep every week! (2006 NSF poll)
Insomnia is the most common sleep complaint among Americans. According to the National Institutes of Health, insomnia affects more than 60 million Americans, with 7 out of 10 adults saying they experienced one or more symptoms of insomnia at least a few nights a week. Insomnia is characterized by difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, or waking too early. (2001 NSF poll)
Sleep Apnea, a breathing disorder characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep, affects more than 12 million people, but as few as 10% are being treated, according to the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute.
Approximately 10% of Americans have restless legs syndrome, a sleep and movement disorder characterized by unpleasant (tingling, crawling, creeping and/or pulling) feelings in the legs that cause an urge to move in order to relieve the symptoms. (2005 NSF poll) Women account for approximately two-thirds of people with RLS. (RLS Foundation)
Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that involves the body's nervous system. People with narcolepsy experience sudden "sleep attacks" that can occur at any time. Narcolepsy is believed to affect approximately 150,000 people in the US. (NHLBI)
The National Commission on Sleep Disorders estimates that sleep deprivation costs $150 billion a year in higher stress and rduced workplace productivity. People think and move more slowly, make more mistakes and have difficulty remembering things when they're sleep-deprived. Participants in the Better Sleep Council's 2007survey reported that sleep deprivation impaired their quality and accuracy of work (31%), clear thinking or judgement (31%), amd memory of important details (30%)
Take the Sleepiness Quiz!
How likely are you to doze off or fall asleep in the following situations, in contrast to feeling just tired? This refers to your usual way of life in recent times. Even if you have not done some of these things recently try to work out how they would have affected you.
