President Clinton is among the growing number of Americans who find it hard to get a good night’s sleep.
The National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research in a report in January concluded that one in five Americans has stress-related insomnia. The commission said most people try to cram too much into every day and end up not allowing themselves enough time to sleep.
“A substantial number of Americans, perhaps the majority, are functionally handicapped by sleep deprivation on any given day,” said commission chairman Dr. William Dement, director of Stanford University’s Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Center.
Hillary Rodham Clinton has said the hectic schedule in the White House has put sleep on hold for her and her husband, and the president has complained of periods of sleeplessness that have his close aides worried.
During the 1992 campaign, Clinton admitted that some of his poorest decisions were made when he didn’t have enough sleep.
Yet his ability to maintain a high energy level through a grueling day that may not end until after midnight may be helped by his habit of taking catnaps.
Clinton is a high-profile example of trying to burn the candle at both ends, said a national commission member, Dr. Rosalind Cartwright, director of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center’s Sleep Disorders Service.
“If you go to bed with your mind racing with uncompleted work assignments or a sense of having goofed up during the day or not being at peace, that carries over and interferes with a good night’s sleep,” Cartwright said.
Insomnia, which is defined as a difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep, can be brought on by the many sources of stress that are escalating in modern society-longer working hours, productivity demands, husbands and wives both working, shift work.
To break the cycle between stress and insomnia, Cartwright advises her patients to start winding down before going to bed. Patients should list their “worries” and assign them future times when they will be tackled.
Then they should set aside an hour for relaxation, watching old sit-coms or doing something else that gets their minds off the day’s problems, she said.
The average American spends 20 percent less time sleeping than at the turn of the century and many are falling short of the seven to eight hours of nightly sleep that physicians say are considered necessary to maintain physical and mental health.
People generally are not aware that sleep is as important as eating and breathing, Cartwright said.
While much of what sleep does to rejuvenate the body is still a mystery, studies show that during deep sleep the body seems to restore its chemical balance.
“Deprived of sleep people fall asleep when they don’t intend to, and they make a lot of errors,” Cartwright said. “They’re also grumpy, hard to get along with and short tempered.”
The commission estimated that 70 million Americans have some type of sleeping disorder ranging from narcolepsy-repeated and uncontrollable periods of daytime sleep-and sleep apnea-difficulty in sleeping and breathing at the same time-to chronic or periodic insomnia.
On any given day, the commission added, another 45 million people just don’t get enough sleep.
Most sleep disorders are ignored because people rarely mention the problem to their doctors. And most doctors have little or no training in treating sleep problems.
Based on the commission’s findings, a bill has been introduced in the Senate to establish a National Research Center on Sleep Disorders as part of the National Institutes of Health.
The commission also found that one in four children under the age of 5 suffers from a sleep disorder and one in five high school students admits falling asleep in class at least once a week.
The commission’s numbers were much higher than anyone had predicted.
“Our society does not yet appreciate that many Americans are severely sleep-deprived and therefore dangerously sleepy during the day,” commission consultant James Walsh of Deaconess Hospital in St. Louis said when the report was officially released.
“Our entire society has had the attitude over the last two decades that sleep is completely negotiable,” said Dr. Mark Mahowald, director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Minneapolis.
“It’s like tough guys don’t sleep. Tough guys don’t take naps. Getting less sleep is like a badge showing how hard-driving you are.”
Another misconception is that sleeping late, going to bed early or taking naps is a sign of laziness, depression, sloth or avoidance behavior, Mahowald said.
“We have to dispell the myth,” he said, “that sleep is a sign of a character flaw and reinforce the fact that it’s a physiological need.”
