AS the world commemorates World Sleep Day (WSD) 2012, experts in
the country have identified that sleep disorders account for severe
medical conditions, including sudden death or death while asleep.
The specialists, who observed that quality sleep is reducing among the Nigerian populace, said that there is need for improved awareness on why quality sleep hours are important to well being and health, coupled with the need to report disorders to medical professionals without delay.
Speaking at the WSD 2012 organised by Mouka Limited in Lagos, Managing Director of the firm, Peju Adebajo said that the WSD is an international yearly event to celebrate sleep and a call to action of important issues related to it.
Adebajo said that Mouka Foam has taken it as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to contribute in reducing the burden of sleep problems on the society by creating awareness on management of sleep disorders.
Associate Professor and Consultant Neurologist, College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL), Idi-Araba, Njideka Okubadejo said that sleep disorders are more serious problems than currently thought.
While there are several sleep disorders affecting about 45 per cent of the world population, she noted that snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (blocked airway or incorrect brain signal) are most common. Both, according to her, are main symptoms of sleep-related breathing disorders (SBD) affecting both children and adults.
Clinical studies have shown that there is direct link between sleep disorders and medical conditions like hypertension, anxiety disorder and other psychiatric problems, heart diseases, stroke, asthma attack, obesity, chronic pain syndrome, depression and irritability, cognitive impairment and loss of sexual interest among others.
Okubadejo who spoke on the theme of WSD 2012: “Breathe easily, sleep well”, said that the focus for this year has been disorders of breathing that occur during sleep.
“These disorders, such as snoring and sleep apnea affect quite a number of people. The consequence of this is that such people in the day time find that they are very sleepy; unable to think well; hyperactivity in children; lack of concentration and poor relation with others etc,” she said.
She stressed that it is important to first of all recognize that these disorders like snoring and sleep apnea are out there and go further to enquire on how it can be treated.
For the sleep-related breathing disorder, Okubadejo noted that some of the things that account for poor breathing in sleep are obesity, alcohol before sleep or regularly, smoking, snuffs and some people with other medical problems, like allergy, adenoid, inflamed tonsil etc.
“The first thing is to recognize why the person has the SBD. If the person is obese, there is need for lifestyle change like diet and exercise to lose weight. So doing, the fat in their air passages reduce and air flows better when they sleep. People that take alcohol and smoke should quit, while relevant specialist can treat those that are medical-related.
“For those that have sleep apnea, a condition where the air flow passages are blocked and air stops passing through when the person is sleeping, those ones have to be evaluated very carefully because it could also affect them very badly.
“If you are sleeping and not breathing at all, your brain does not get enough oxygen. You have to severally rouse from sleep to catch the breath and in addition to that are adverse health consequences inclusive of sudden death.”
ENT surgeon, CMUL, Dr. Nkiruka Asoegwu, however, noted that smokers and alcoholics having sleep apnea are more at risk of sudden death, as their brains might fail to sense shortage of breath for the person to wake up and recover the lost breath. She said that the brain can only be denied of oxygen for five minutes and then it is gone.
Asoegwu added that SBD treatment depends on what causes the condition, but there are some conditions that are treatable medically or by surgery.
“These treatments can be in the form of giving the person just a simple mouth devise that will stop the tongue from falling back and blocking the air passages when they sleep. Or a device called Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) that pushes air into the air passages when the person is sleeping.
“It can also be a surgery that is required. Adenoid (growth at the back of the nose) or tonsil can be removed,” she said.
Okubadejo further reiterated that sleep is a basic necessity of life, for adults and children should ensure that they sleep well to function better in the daytime.
“An adult needs to sleep between six to eight hours on the average everyday, while children should sleep for nine to 10 hours daily…As much as possible we must create time for our children. It is also important to make our sleep environment hygienic, free of noise, light and other distractions for deep refreshing sleep,” she said.
The specialists, who observed that quality sleep is reducing among the Nigerian populace, said that there is need for improved awareness on why quality sleep hours are important to well being and health, coupled with the need to report disorders to medical professionals without delay.
Speaking at the WSD 2012 organised by Mouka Limited in Lagos, Managing Director of the firm, Peju Adebajo said that the WSD is an international yearly event to celebrate sleep and a call to action of important issues related to it.
Adebajo said that Mouka Foam has taken it as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to contribute in reducing the burden of sleep problems on the society by creating awareness on management of sleep disorders.
Associate Professor and Consultant Neurologist, College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL), Idi-Araba, Njideka Okubadejo said that sleep disorders are more serious problems than currently thought.
While there are several sleep disorders affecting about 45 per cent of the world population, she noted that snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (blocked airway or incorrect brain signal) are most common. Both, according to her, are main symptoms of sleep-related breathing disorders (SBD) affecting both children and adults.
Clinical studies have shown that there is direct link between sleep disorders and medical conditions like hypertension, anxiety disorder and other psychiatric problems, heart diseases, stroke, asthma attack, obesity, chronic pain syndrome, depression and irritability, cognitive impairment and loss of sexual interest among others.
Okubadejo who spoke on the theme of WSD 2012: “Breathe easily, sleep well”, said that the focus for this year has been disorders of breathing that occur during sleep.
“These disorders, such as snoring and sleep apnea affect quite a number of people. The consequence of this is that such people in the day time find that they are very sleepy; unable to think well; hyperactivity in children; lack of concentration and poor relation with others etc,” she said.
She stressed that it is important to first of all recognize that these disorders like snoring and sleep apnea are out there and go further to enquire on how it can be treated.
For the sleep-related breathing disorder, Okubadejo noted that some of the things that account for poor breathing in sleep are obesity, alcohol before sleep or regularly, smoking, snuffs and some people with other medical problems, like allergy, adenoid, inflamed tonsil etc.
“The first thing is to recognize why the person has the SBD. If the person is obese, there is need for lifestyle change like diet and exercise to lose weight. So doing, the fat in their air passages reduce and air flows better when they sleep. People that take alcohol and smoke should quit, while relevant specialist can treat those that are medical-related.
“For those that have sleep apnea, a condition where the air flow passages are blocked and air stops passing through when the person is sleeping, those ones have to be evaluated very carefully because it could also affect them very badly.
“If you are sleeping and not breathing at all, your brain does not get enough oxygen. You have to severally rouse from sleep to catch the breath and in addition to that are adverse health consequences inclusive of sudden death.”
ENT surgeon, CMUL, Dr. Nkiruka Asoegwu, however, noted that smokers and alcoholics having sleep apnea are more at risk of sudden death, as their brains might fail to sense shortage of breath for the person to wake up and recover the lost breath. She said that the brain can only be denied of oxygen for five minutes and then it is gone.
Asoegwu added that SBD treatment depends on what causes the condition, but there are some conditions that are treatable medically or by surgery.
“These treatments can be in the form of giving the person just a simple mouth devise that will stop the tongue from falling back and blocking the air passages when they sleep. Or a device called Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) that pushes air into the air passages when the person is sleeping.
“It can also be a surgery that is required. Adenoid (growth at the back of the nose) or tonsil can be removed,” she said.
Okubadejo further reiterated that sleep is a basic necessity of life, for adults and children should ensure that they sleep well to function better in the daytime.
“An adult needs to sleep between six to eight hours on the average everyday, while children should sleep for nine to 10 hours daily…As much as possible we must create time for our children. It is also important to make our sleep environment hygienic, free of noise, light and other distractions for deep refreshing sleep,” she said.
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