Week #6 – Why am I so tired all the time?

Cymon and Iphigenia by Frederick Lord Leighton

Did you know that sleep plays the same role as nutrition, exercise and overall safety? When you are lacking sleep, you lose 20 to 50% of decision-making, reaction time, situational awareness, memory and communication.

"Sleepless in America," a documentary produced by National Geographic, exposes the critical need for sleep and the shocking life-threatening consequences of its absence(“Sleepless in America | National Geographic Channel,” n.d.).

We have been told for years that the correct amount of sleep is 8 hours, but according to the National Institute of Health, 40% of Americans are sleep deprived! This means that the average American sleeps less than seven hours per night. We live in a 24/7 world and are driven by technology and gadgets that distract us constantly. Many of us sleep with out cell phones nearby, never really unplugging for a good nights rest.

Sleeplessness also increases our appetites for fatty foods and carbohydrates, which can lead to a higher risk for obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. In nearly all of the psychiatric conditions, from bipolar disorder to anxiety problems, sleep deprivation is determined to be a related cause. There has also been research linking poor sleep to Alzheimer’s. Fatigue is the one of the top cause of vehicular accidents, often resulting in death.

A national sleep foundation poll showed more than two out of every three kids ages 10 and under has experienced some type of sleep problem. Lewis Milrod, MD, Director of the Pediatric Sleep Center at St. Peter’s University Hospital, says that a lot of kids can be diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder but it could be that the kids are not receiving enough sleep.” Children and adolescents need at least nine hours of sleep per night(“Common sleep stealers in children,” n.d.). Not enough sleep can lead to poor performance at school, injuries, and behavior problems, just as it does for adults.
The effects of sleep deprivation on the neural substrates of cognition are poorly understood. In a research test, sleep deprivation showed significant impairment of free recall compared with the rested state; however, better free recall in sleep-deprived subjects was associated with greater parietal lobe activation. These findings show that there are dynamic, compensatory changes in cerebral activation during verbal learning after sleep deprivation and implicate the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and parietal lobes in this compensation (Drummond et al., 2000)

There is an interesting article about sleep from a biblical standpoint. “Sleep Is Not Tangible 2” or What the Hebrew Tradition Has to Say About Sleep by Sonia Ancoli-Israel, PhD.  The Talmud not only describes the causes of insomnia, but it also suggests cures for sleeplessness. One of the first “ steps toward sleep” is placing a hand on the forehead (Talmud Pesachim 112a) (20). This may lift the ribs to make it easier to breathe, or it may be an attempt to raise peripheral body temperature. As discussed in “Circadian Rhythms,” sleep is induced by a drop in core body temperature. When core body temperature drops, peripheral body temperature rises as the heat dissipates (30). Placing a hand on the forehead may dissipate the heat more swiftly, thus accelerating core body temperature drop, thus inducing sleep. Many art pieces, such as paintings and sculptures from the early and modern periods, depict sleepers with their arm or arms over their heads, such as the ancient statue of Ariadna sleeping, found in the Prado Museum in Madrid, Picasso’s “ Deux Femmes Reposant,” Frances Bacon’s “ Figura Tumbada,” and Roberto Balbuena’s “ The Nude,”  (both at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid), Frederick Lord Leighton’s “ Flaming June,” and his “ Cymon and Iphigenia,”  and George Segal’s “ The Bedroom,”  as well as many others. (“Sleep Is Not Tangible2’ or What the Hebrew Tradition Has to...,” n.d.)

A study done to see if expressive writing had an effect on wound healing showed that it had good effect on psychological health, physical health, and immune parameters (Koschwanez et al., 2013). It also found that it helped the participants with their sleep. Sleep disturbances are also a key sign of fatigue in the caregivers and clinical staff. We can use our skills as arts in medicine practitioners to help them find activities that can restore them to a level of restored energy. This technique would also be good for patients having difficulty achieving quality sleep. Expressive writing is easy to administer and low cost. And this technique can be done at home or the workplace. Playing soft music at bedtime is another way of setting the stage for a good nights rest.

Common sleep stealers in children. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://www.news4jax.com/news/common-sleep-stealers-in-children/31197078

Drummond, S. P. A., Brown, G. G., Gillin, J. C., Stricker, J. L., Wong, E. C., & Buxton, R. B. (2000). Altered brain response to verbal learning following sleep deprivation. Nature, 403(6770), 655–657. doi:10.1038/35001068

Koschwanez, H. E., Kerse, N., Darragh, M., Jarrett, P., Booth, R. J., & Broadbent, E. (2013). Expressive Writing and Wound Healing in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Psychosomatic Medicine, 75(6), 581–590. doi:10.1097/PSY.0b013e31829b7b2e

“Sleep Is Not Tangible2” or What the Hebrew Tradition Has to... : Psychosomatic Medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Fulltext/2001/09000/_Sleep_Is_Not_Tangible2__or_What_the_Hebrew.11.aspx

Sleepless in America | National Geographic Channel. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/sleepless-in-america/videos/sleepless-in-america1/

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