To Sleep, Perchance to Dream…

Photo by Kate Stone Matheson on Unsplash

We all know the line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and we view sleep itself with the same worn familiarity. Like many things in life, sleep is something we take for granted, until, that is, we don’t get any. When something becomes unobtainable we are more likely to re-assess how we value it.

As children most of us sleep routine hours without a thought for what else we might be doing with those hours. Sleep is natural and necessary. We all know when children are ratty because they’re staying up later than their usual bedtimes. As teens, staying under the duvet can have its attractions. Our relationship to sleep, and our sleep patterns themselves, often change when we are young adults, wanting to live life to the full and squeeze every moment from the day, burning the proverbial candle at both ends. At college late night sessions doing last minute submissions, and conversations into the wee small hours, were almost mandatory. And why not? We’re only young once! I have never been good at late nights, even when I was at college. I knew I needed my sleep, even if it was only five or six hours, and everyone else knew it too!

Starting a family is another time that we tend to pay attention to our relationship with sleep, mostly when because we’re getting so little of it. The disturbed nature of our sleeping patterns can have huge impacts on our lifestyles - and our tempers - as anyone with young, wakeful children will be aware.

We do need our rest. Science has proved it. Many leaders, famously, Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, claimed to not need sleep, but the reality is that they probably obtained their quota a different times, or in different ways to the norm. Cat-napping is a good example of this. I have a friend who can cat-nap anywhere. He can even decide to sleep for ten minutes, and then wake up refreshed. It’s an enviable skill, although when he’s fallen asleep on the train after one too many glasses of afternoon beer, and missed his stop, I do have to smile!

Lack of sleep, even disturbed sleep, has a big impact. The list of possible long-term effects from not getting enough sleep is impressive, and includes a potentially reduced lifespan. People who work night shifts are prone to a number of illnesses, and are even more likely to have accidents. When you begin to look into the subject, you can see why sleep deprivation was used as a torture. We can only go a maximum of 11 days without any sleep. In 1965, Randy Gardner, a 17-year-old

high school student, set this apparent world-record for a science fair. Several other normal research subjects have remained awake for eight to 10 days in carefully monitored experiments. None of the subjects suffered lasting ill-effects, but after 2 or 3 days, most of them showed progressive and significant deficits in concentration, motivation, perception and other higher mental processes. It’s a relatively short time when decline sets in.

I’ve not had a regular sleep pattern for many years, due in part to a medical condition, and my ability to deal with normal day-to-day stresses is definitely diminished. My memory is worse than it was, especially short-term memory, and there is some research which suggests that we actually need sleep to lay down memories. Sometimes I feel like someone’s wiped my hard disc and that I’ve somehow lost a chunk of life. Living with sleep disturbance, certainly robs you of your capacity and energy and makes some things we take for granted more difficult.

A few years ago I dropped my husband off to do a radio exam (he’s a lifeboat volunteer) at a local centre.  We’d gone early to have breakfast and had parked the car near the venue.  When I dropped him off and returned to park I left the car in a different spot. After shopping I returned to the place I thought I’d left our vehicle - the place I first parked when we had breakfast. I had a complete meltdown because I thought someone had stolen the car. I even phoned the police and left a voicemail for my husband.  By the time the local PC arrived, my husband was out of his exam and informed me that he’s driven past our car on the road into town! Of course I felt like a complete idiot. The policeman was having none of our explanations (i.e. short term memory loss due to sleep disturbance) and reported me to the DVLA.  He was irritated to have been called out and perhaps he made the right decision but my GP was not impressed and I tend to think had I been a bloke he wouldn’t have taken the same approach - but that’s a whole other subject! I share my embarrassing incident to highlight the impact of sleep loss and disturbance.  For clarification, I never drive if I’m tired and my ability to remember how to drive is not affected by my issues.

In real terms, we know very little about our need for sleep, and what causes disruption. Although there is now a substantial body of research, and a rise in the number of so called ‘sleep clinics’, there is very little real information and understanding around the subject, considering its importance. , The scale of the sleep problem is huge - it is thought that up to 1 in 3 people in the UK suffer with insomnia. For some it’s a short blip in an otherwise regular sleep pattern, but for others it’s the scourge of years, decades even. In the UK the NHS spend around £50 million a year on prescriptions for sleeping pills, that’s 15.3 million prescriptions and up to 1 in 10 people taking them. In itself, this can lead to long term issues, not least addiction. Diverting some of that spend to research and alternative therapies, could prove to be a more effective solution.

There are several sleep clinics now in the UK, but being referred to one is a lengthy process, variable across the country, and with no guarantee of a successful outcome. As we age, we may sleep less. We may need to sleep less, or it may be a curse of ageing. There’s not a whole heap of data to draw conclusions from. What is certain is that sleep is crucial for our mental and physical well-being, and that a healthy relationship with sleep is every bit as important as a healthy diet. Some research even suggests that our sleep patterns can influence things like weight gain.

Make a regular date with your bed. It is not time wasted. It’s a necessity and is important to who we are and how we function. If you think you have an issue with your sleep patterns seek some advice from your GP and look at one of the many support groups available on line.