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WHO SUFFERS FROM SLEEP DISORDERS?
The likelihood of suffering from a sleep disturbance increases with age. In one survey almost 40 percent of persons over the age of fifty reported insomnia to be a current problem. And, according to one leading sleep researcher, 99 percent of the elderly experience disrupted sleep. (Generally, younger patients—those under the age of forty—suffer from difficulty in falling asleep; problems such as nighttime wakening or early-morning insomnia tend to occur in older patients.) Typically, insomnia is more prevalent among women and also among people who lack certain psychosocial advantages, such as adequate income, housing, or prestige, which in more fortunate individuals can help shore up any flagging sense of self-esteem. Single people reported more sleep problems than married ones, according to a Gallup poll
(despite the fact that couples must contend with such hassles as snoring, twitching, and battling over blankets). As with some other medical conditions, women are twice as likely as men to seek help for their insomnia; similarly, they are twice as likely to have sleeping pills prescribed for them.
Some physicians—including me—fear that the accelerating pace of modern life may lead to a worsening of the problem. Today the drive to succeed at our careers, with oiir families, and in our social lives is higher, perhaps, than at any other time in history. As we come to demand more of ourselves and of others, society as a whole will become less tolerant of "sleepy" people, those who appear lazy by taking things at a more relaxed pace or who seem too willing to settle for less. This intolerance will turn up the pressure on these hapless souls, increasing their level of stress and leading to a higher rate of stress-related conditions such as insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
It is impossible to overemphasize the need to prevent sleep disorders from developing. Should our efforts at prevention fail, however, it is important to recognize and treat the causes as promptly as possible. Left to fester, a sleep disturbance can grow from a transient annoyance to a major source of distress in and of itself. In those cases the patient may come to perceive the insomnia as a distinct disorder, which, as I've explained, it is not. Poor sleep thus becomes, in a very real sense, a bad habit, a form of self-destructive learned behavior whose ultimate consequences may include increased anxiety and depression. Should that occur, the insomnia may persist long after the precipitating cause has been eliminated.
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Antidepressants-Sleeping Aid
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