Saturday 17 March 2007

an apple a day. keeps the doctor away...

and it's time for medical knowledge of the day again :)

it's almost end of term. yayy! budden again, most of us have assignments, projects, essays due by the last week of term. so.. boooo to end of term :( and with the upcoming deadlines and tests, im sure most of you have been/ will be burning the midnight oil to complete the assignments on time!!

and frankly. how many of us actually have sufficient proper sleep everynight? handsup!

*stares into screen*

yea and i kinda expect that reaction anyway. who the hell has sufficient time to sleep when there's so much schoolwork. alright and including the fact that there's mahjong, random nuaing, pubbing, and the need for "destressing over the fact that damnit i havent done my work yet!!"

so onto today's topic on....

SLEEP DEPRIVATION!!!!

Sleep is as important to the human body as food and water, but most of us just don’t get enough sleep.


and several causes of sleep deprivation include:
  1. Personal choice - instead of regularly going to bed at a reasonable hour, they prefer to stay up late to socialise, play mahjong and drink bacardi! *'act-innocent' grin*
  2. Illness - colds and tonsillitis can cause snoring, gagging and frequent waking, and have a direct effect on sleep by fragmenting it.
  3. Work - people who do shift work disrupt their sleep-wake cycles on a regular basis, hence frequent travellers tend to have erratic sleeping patterns.
  4. Sleep disorder - sleep apnoea, snoring and periodic limb movement disorder can disturb the person’s sleep many times during the night.
  5. Medications
  6. The sleeping environment - sleep may be disrupted for a range of environmental reasons; for example, the pillow has chivas on it and i get high on sniffing the pillow "how to sleeepppp???", or because of noisy neighbours (shucks!!! if my housemates cant sleep!! i think i know whyyy!!!!!)
  7. Poor sleep hygiene - some people’s habits are disruptive; for example, drinking coffee or smoking cigarettes close to bedtime stimulates the nervous system and makes sleep less likely. Another common problem is lying in bed and worrying, rather than relaxing.

insufficient sleep or disruptions to the sleep-wake cycle causes fatigue.

symptoms of such include: continuous yawning, grogginess when waking in the morning, sleepy grogginess experienced all day long aka sleep inertia and concentration and mood changes!!

sleep loss is crucial since it can have a major impact including:

  1. reduced alertness & reduced awareness of the environment and situation
  2. shortened attention span and reduced concentration
  3. poorer decision-making skills due to slowing down of mental arithmetic and logical reasoning
  4. errors of commission (making a mistake by doing something, but choosing the wrong option)
  5. errors of omission (making a mistake by forgetting to do something)
  6. poorer memory
  7. increased likelihood of moodiness and bad temper
  8. reduced work efficiency by reducing cognitive ability
  9. loss of motivation

and do you know that..

sleep deprivation can have some of the same hazardous effects as being drunk!!
staying awake for 24 hours leads to a reduced hand-to-eye coordination, rxn time and judgement
that is similar to having a blood alcohol content of 0.1.

and finally onto another medical test to determine your sleeping condition..

the sleepiness scale :)


use the following scale to choose the most appropriate number for each situation.
0 = Would never doze
1 = Slight chance of dozing
2 = Moderate chance of dozing
3 = High chance of dozing

Situations

  1. Watching TV
  2. Sitting and Reading
  3. Sitting inactive in a public place (i.e. theatre)
  4. As a car passenger for an hour without a break
  5. Lying down to rest in the afternoon
  6. Sitting and talking to someone
  7. Sitting quietly after lunch without alcohol
  8. In a car, while stopping for a few minutes in traffic

A score of greater than 10 is a definite cause for concern as it indicates significant excessive daytime sleepiness.

alrightyyyyyy!!!! thats all for today!!!

go take a nap now :)

sabr!na -doctor who?

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