Restless nights and drowsy days are common problems for many Americans. Sleep disorders and sleep deprivation plague people of all ages and curing them takes some investigative work.
Waking up was once difficult for Gene Southards.
Staying awake at work was even more of a challenge.
"I would just doze off at my desk and get a little power nap. You wake up when the phone rings or something like that. I used to feel exhausted."
Southards suffered from daytime sleepiness caused by a medical condition called sleep apnea.
"My wife told me I was snoring very loudly. I stopped breathing, like 20 seconds, and she hit me to wake me up. To make sure I was still breathing."
"You can see here with the up and down of the air flow he’s breathing and then he stops and then he starts breathing again and then all of a sudden stops."
Board Certified Sleep Physician Dr. Noah Schreibman runs West Boca Medical Center’s Sleep Diagnostic Center.
"There’s a wide range of reasons why people don’t sleep well. Unfortunately one of the biggest reasons is the lifestyle of this country. People work harder here than any where else, longer hours. People describe more stress. That, in and of itself, causes people to have very poor sleep."
Dr. Schreibman says the number one thing people can do is dedicate more time to sleep each night.
Number two, make your sleep routine consistent.
Go to bed and get up at the same time and use your bedroom only for sleeping.
"Get in your head that bed is for sleeping. So don’t watch TV in bed, don’t read in bed, don’t talk in bed, and especially don’t do work in bed."
Number 3, make sure you don’t suffer from a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea.
"Multiple sleep problems are caused by other medical conditions not being taken care of as they should be. So, anybody having trouble sleeping should start with making sure their general health is taken care of."
Your bed partner may be able to alert you to something wrong.
"The fourth thing I would impart on people is to listen to your significant other and listen to your spouse. If your spouse is telling you something is wrong when you sleep, ‘you breath funny at night, you snort, you snore too much, it looks like you stopped breathing’…that’s something that should be addressed."
Finally, the doctor says don’t drink alcohol especially at night, and cut out all nicotine and caffeine.
"Just like alcohol is a problem, caffeine is a problem.Even if somebody’s last drink of coffee is about 12 or one in the afternoon you can see those effects 16 or 17 hours later."
Not on the list are sleep medications such as Ambien and Lunesta.
Dr. Schreibman says try habit changes first and if that doesn’t work then ask your doctor.
"You never want to mask a problem with medication if you can figure out the root cause of it."
Dr. Schreibman helped Gene Southards discover his sleep apnea and gave him a special mask to help him breath at night.
Today Southards wakes up refreshed and leaves work with plenty of energy.
"A good night’s sleep makes a world of difference. You don’t realize unit you miss it."
The doctor adds it’s a myth to think teenagers don’t need as much sleep as adults. He says they need even more sleep because they’re growing and going through puberty.
Top 5 Ways to Sleep Better
- Dedicate more time to sleep each night
- Make your sleep routine constant — go to bed and get up at the same time every day
- Make sure you don’t suffer from a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea
- Listen to your significant other — he or she may be able to alert you to something wrong with your sleep
- Don’t drink alcohol especially at night and cut out nicotine and caffeine