How much sleep is required by the average person?

Teens: 9-10 hours per night
Adults: 7-8 ½ hours per night
Older Adults: 6 ½ - 7 ½ hours per night, plus a 1 hour nap each afternoon

Why is sleep so important? The functions of deep sleep include:

•Growth hormone production essential for growth and development
•Restorative functions such as tissue repair and growth
•Blood pressure is lowered, providing rest to the heart and circulatory system
•Adjusting metabolic processes including glucose utilization and storage, and the ratio of appetite-controlling hormones.
•Important functions of the nervous system (nerves) including memory consolidation (improves recall)
•Decreased stress hormone production (cortisol, adrenaline)
•Production of hormones that fuel the immune system

Insufficient Sleep Syndrome can result from:
•Decreased/inadequate sleep time
•Irregular sleep/wake cycle and poor sleep habits
•Substance abuse including overuse of caffeine, alcohol and nicotine (Caffeine can affect sleep architecture up to 10-12 hours after consumption leading to frequent arousals and fragmented sleep, reduced total sleep time, and decreased sleep efficiency.) (Alcohol causes frequent arousals and is associated with sleep apnea.)
•Shift work (e.g.: doctors, nurses, truck drivers, soldiers)
•Pain or discomfort related to medical or psychological conditions.

Primary sleep disorders include:

•Insomnia: the inability to fall asleep or remain asleep
•Restless legs syndrome (RLS): unpleasant feelings in the legs like creepy, crawly or tingly feelings at night with an urge to move upon lying down to sleep
•Narcolepsy: a neurological disorder caused by the brain's inability to regulate normal sleep-wake cycles. Daytime features include excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), cataplexy (sudden muscle weakness, especially in the legs but also the face and neck, that is brought on by strong emotion, especially laughing), and sudden sleep attacks. Nighttime features include insomnia, dream-like hallucinations, and sleep paralysis.
•OSAS (Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome)

Obstructive Sleep Apnea:

By far the most common sleep disorder is Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). OSA is characterized by pauses, known as apneas, in breathing during sleep due to upper airway collapse or shallow breathing. These episodes occur repeatedly throughout sleep leading to disturbance of normal sleep patterns (known as sleep architechture) that are important for health. Snoring is the most obvious sign of sleep apnea, although not all people who snore have sleep apnea. There are several ways that a physician may identify patients at risk for OSA, but a true diagnosis requires a polysomnogram, which entails an overnight study in a controlled sleep laboratory.

The consequences of untreated OSA are known collectively as obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Considerable data supports OSAS as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including hypertension, stroke, heart failure and cardiac sudden death. OSAS also appears to be closely associated with the Metabolic Syndrome. In addition, it is now theorized that OSAS is independently associated with glucose intolerance, type 2 diabetes, and possibly insulin resistance.

Treatment options for OSA may include one or more of the following:

•Weight control
•Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)/BIPAP Therapy *Gold standard
•Surgical interventions
•Dental/oral appliances
•Positional therapy

*The good news: Data indicates that compliance with CPAP therapy may provide a protective effect against OSAS and appears to improve the diseases associated with it, as well as prevent death from CVD. Similarly, surgical weight loss methods have been shown to be very successful in treating OSA and its associated conditions, as well as improving blood glucose parameters often to the point of no longer needing medication.