You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘World Sleep Day’ tag.
The fourth annual World Sleep Day held on 18 March – ‘Sleep Well, Grow Healthy’ – was themed to highlight the importance of sleep for people of all ages. Newborn infants, children, adolescents and adults, both young and old, need quality sleep to maintain a healthy life.
The scale of the problem was highlighted by the recently published Philips Index for Health and Well-being report – a massive consumer research study conducted across 23 countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, involving more than 31,000 people, revealed that 35 percent of people do not feel they get enough sleep, impacting on both their physical and mental health.
Interestingly, with almost half of those responding citing ‘poor sleeper in general’ as a reason for sleep deprivation – it suggests that many may have just resigned themselves to not ever getting a good night’s sleep.
In reality, there are a number of potential causes for a disturbed night’s sleep. These include sleep disorders such as Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA), which affects approximately 4 percent of the adult population. It’s a disorder characterized by airway collapse (behind the tongue) during sleep, which obstructs breathing. If untreated, it can contribute to the development of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks, and strokes. Snoring should also not be ignored in children, as it may be a symptom of OSA.
To find out more about World Sleep Day 2011, visit www.worldsleepday.org.
(source: extract from a Philips press release)
