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  By Doctor Pratap Saraf

t is nearly midnight and once again Sarah is lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling and wishing she could just fall asleep. For Sarah it’s another long night of battling to get some rest before the next day’s mad rush starts. Unfortunately, she’s not alone – tonight millions of Americans will get less sleep than their bodies and minds need.

Whether the cause is stress, personal habits or work schedules, we’re becoming a nation of sleep-deprived insomniacs. Research suggests that there may be as many as 70 million problem sleepers across the country tossing and turning in their beds. The average American now logs just seven hours sleep a night, which is about an hour and a half less sleep than people did 100 years ago.

GROWING ‘SLEEP DEBT’

Most adults need about 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night, or enough to feel alert throughout the day. Many suffer from one of the most typical sleep problems: stress.

Whether caused by work-related issues, family problems or other factors, stress is the most common problem related to sleeplessness. Good ways to manage stress include getting some exercise during the day and dealing with problems as they occur rather than putting them off. For many, an effective strategy is to take a few minutes before bedtime to write down the items that are causing worry. Then, at the bottom of the page, they list what can be done about each of their concerns.

Putting forth an effort to get the proper amount of sleep is important because each night of inadequate rest goes toward building up what sleep researchers call a sleep debt., a deficit in the amount of rest we need that can result in significant health risks. In fact, there is a growing body of evidence that untreated sleep problems can increase the risk of developing high blood pressure, coronary-artery disease, heart failure and stroke. Lack of sleep may play a role in developing diabetes and obesity.

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