Let’s face it: a tight sleep is only a fantasy for many of us! Insomnia (which includes both, inability to get to sleep and to stay asleep), restless legs, recurring nightmares and hallucinations, sleep terrors, etc all seem to have joined hands in ruining our rest. Or how many of us have not noticed people who complain about being unable to sleep because their bed (or even pillow) has been changed? Or the ones who get to sleep in no time at anywhere – be it office, restaurants, even inside a car – after closing their eyes? Isn’t speaking, walking, sleeping, grinding teeth, snoring or groaning during sleep commonplace? Yes, such things happen in the strange realm of sleep.
But, wait a minute; do we know much about such phenomena?
Whether you answer is ‘Yes’ or a big ‘No’, in either case, you would surely be interested in knowing about the strange facts about the problems mentioned in the first paragraph of this write-up besides many others which we encounter in everyday life. Sleepeducation.com is the website which opens the doors of knowledge and information about Sleep to everyone. With an easy left aligned menu, the site is packed with authentic knowledge about studies, disorders, and case studies all related to sleep.
The homepage of the site has shortcuts in form of boxes to different sections of the site. How sleep affects children, women and men, respectively, and what the connection between growing old has with sleep are the first thing which the navigation offers. The section gives some tips on how to make your child have a sound sleep and, as a result, have a 'smiling face, happy nature and natural energy'. It also gives a brief text on how to solve problems faced by children.
A short account informs us that women tend to sleep early and their sleep is more likely to be disturbed easily than men’s. What surprised me a bit is the fact that, according to this site, women are more likely to feel ‘unrefreshed’ even after a full night of sleep. Of course, many factors are responsible for that, for example, depression, some illness, bad sleep habits, or physical or hormonal changes occurring in their body. Following is a brief description of some common sleep disorders found in women and the medical issues related to them.
When it comes to men, work, work and work seems to outshine everything in the list of priorities. We often hear women complaining about their men that they spend more time doing office work. The remaining small fraction of clock they spend thinking, well, again about ‘work’, they nag. The underlying fact is not that they’re only underestimating wives and home, but they are also damaging their health by not sleeping sufficient. They think sleep is kind of a hurdle in doing work and being productive for their company. In their case as well, factors like work demands, tight schedules, etc are working in the background. Having stated the sleep disorders found in men the site explains how men can sleep better.
The subsequent section contains different ‘tools’ to evaluate your sleep and whether your sleep habits are normal. Sleepiness scale shows, for example, how many times you actually need to sleep or doze off when you feel you’re tired. What type of problems you are actually having in your sleep patterns will be analyzed by Sleep Evaluation which is actually a questionnaire. With another evaluation form, specifically for teens, the site also gives you a format of how to maintain sleep diary.
The Sleep Studies section, which is a technical section, will inform you about how sleep disorders are detected by the doctors. It will let you know about methods like Overnight Sleep Study, CPAP Study, Home Sleep Test, Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) and Nap Study. This section is in line with what the disclaimer by site states, i.e. we should make any decision in the light of any information found on this site; rather, we should go for a ‘sound medical advice’ by a reliable doctor.
Next is the section which I enjoyed reading. Titled Sleep Disorders it gives you information about around 70 disorders – some of which are common as air, while some are quite rare – divided into primary and secondary disorders. Including the disorders I mentioned in the first paragraph, you can find information about from Jet Lag, Shift Work, Idiopathic Insomnia, OSA, and Insufficient Sleep Syndrome to bedwetting, confusional arousals, leg cramps, long sleep, short sleep and (notorious) snoring. This section helped me find out why our driver dozes off even while driving, why I’m unable to get to sleep before 4am, how my uncle can manage to work even after having only 2 hours’ sleep round the clock, and many other things. The level of our fear alleviates when we know causes behind certain happenings, doesn’t it? The section also has tells us about common treatments for the disorders in shape of medication to therapies.
Sleep Hygiene will explain to you how to keep sleep hygiene in order to ‘stay healthy by keeping your mind and body rested and strong’. Taking the essence of the word ‘hygiene’, the page has 16 tips on how to sleep better and, consequently, feel better. It guides us to avoid taking naps which many people are fond of, and to avoid sleeping pills as much as possible. The site also contains a type of dictionary containing brief definitions of the terms related to sleep and treatment of sleep disorders.
