Down-time Deprived

I have mentioned sleep deprivation in a previous blog, but would like to give it more space here. An interesting testimonial is given here. Thomas is talking about how sleep deprivation affected his personality, how he became more impulsive, irritable with people, less creative. It was also associated with a spiralling depression. People who chronically lack sleep are also prone to micro-sleeps, which is falling to sleep for a few seconds without conscious awareness.

What's interesting about Saudi Arabia is the possibility that many here are affected by a similar condition. Almost everyone I talk to at some point mentions how they feel tired most days (I do, that's for sure). You have to wonder if the high incidence of impulsive risk-taking with driving are because of sleep deprivation. Could the high traffic accident rate be due to people having micro-sleeps at the wheel?

Sleep deprivation is often caused by life stressors. Thomas above began to have insomnia after his divorce. It is said that many come to KSA for 3 reasons: drugs/dry out, divorce, and dough. There are a lot of financial refugees here - I am one of them! Those financial stressors are in the background as we work, and they must re-emerge in our subconscious dreamworld, to reduce our quality of sleep. Addictive cycles have also been associated with a disruption of the sleep cycle, too. One stays up late at night considering all that needs to be done, all the loose ends, making it difficult to get settled and into a relaxed state that precedes sleep.

Interesting article here states that obesity, depression and anxiety all contribute to day-time sleepiness, which in turn is associated with problem behavior, attention deficits and learning difficulties:

Children who have learning, attention and behavior problems may be suffering from excessive daytime sleepiness, even though clinical tests show them sleeping long enough at night, a new study reports. Penn State researchers studied 508 children and found that those whose parents reported excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) -- despite little indication of short sleep from traditional measurements -- were more likely to experience learning, attention/hyperactivity and conduct problems than children without EDS. The culprits? Obesity, symptoms of inattention, depression and anxiety, asthma and parent-reported trouble falling asleep have been found to contribute to EDS even among children with no signs of diminished sleep time or sleep apnea.

From a socio-cultural perspective, Bedu culture also is a night culture, with people staying up late at night and getting up late in the morning. The mainstay drink here is a strong coffee, and the caffeine does not help. islamic tradition also is influential: as the summer waxes, the sundown prayer time and sunrise times will grow closer together. This culminates in Ramadan, with all-day fasting (making it difficult to sleep), and feasting until the wee hours of the morning. My students are tech addicts, video gaming being one of their primary recreational activities:

Technology can also be blamed for disrupting our sleep. The constant input of emails, texts, and social networking, video and online games, and TV on demand, all the time, puts the brain into a constant active state. A brain that’s wired up has difficulty settling down when it’s time to sleep. Often enough, a person who tosses and turns trying to get to sleep gives up – and goes back to the computer! So much for quieting the unquiet mind!

Staying at home inside (its hot outside) is associated with growing obese. Obesity is a serious problem in saudi arabia. And, tragically, it may also reinforce sleep deprivation:

Sleep-deprived people may be too tired to exercise, decreasing the "calories burned" side of the weight-change equation. Or people who don't get enough sleep may take in more calories than those who do, simply because they are awake longer and have more opportunities to eat; lack of sleep also disrupts the balance of key hormones that control appetite, so sleep-deprived people may be hungrier than those who get enough rest each night.

What to do?

Several ideas sound good to me:

1. avoid napping (which is what I tend to do already);

2. avoid eating before sleeping; I do tend to have a snack an hour be sleeping, and I need to stop that;

3. relaxation before sleep: I have taken up listening to music before, to try to settle down before sleeping;

4. regular schedule: tough to do sometimes because the skyping schedule back home is 7 hours difference, but I try to turn by 10 or 1030PM

5. block noise: I have an air cooler, which circulates water through the machine, and this quiet gurgling provides a white noise which helps to block the noise of my roommates rustlings late at night, as well as the playing of children outside, and other sounds (screeching cars and cats).