By John Redfern
Getting good quality sleep every night is imperative to both good physical and mental health and keeps us functioning normally as human beings.
On the physical side, poor sleep patterns, late nights and sleep deprivation over extended periods of time can lead to several chronic health-related conditions, among them obesity, heart disease, diabetes, chronic headaches and depression. In addition, sleep deprivation is known to influence other physical aspects of our well-being particularly immunity levels, growth and weight control.
As far as mental health is concerned, the key areas that a lack of good sleep can affect are mostly cognitive, including both memory and learning skills, along with influencing your mood, creativity and imagination. These facts apply not only to adults but also to children where good regular sleep patterns are critical to their long term health and development.
New research suggests that the UK is lagging behind progress being made by similar countries on many indicators for ill health – particularly with sleep disorders such as snoring and sleep apnoea which are often overlooked as being a serious contributor to poor health as we age.
During the 20 years from 1990 to 2010 a study in The Lancet study stated that average life expectancy increased by 4.2 years in the UK to 79.9 years. Across the same time period however, the premature death rate had hardly changed in the UK for both men and women aged 20-54 and among the leading causes were heart disease, cancers and chronic lung disease. These are linked to avoidable risk factors such as smoking, alcohol excess, high blood pressure, snoring and obesity, all still too common in the UK.
Leading UK Health Risk factors
● Tobacco smoke (including second-hand smoke)
● High blood pressure
● Obesity
● Too little exercise
● Alcohol use
● Poor diet
Many of these can be identified through sleep disorders such as heavy snoring and are closely related to these factors – something that can be easily taken in hand and is often very preventable with co-operation.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this article shortly…..
– John Redfern worked for 15 years at leading London Advertising agencies writing on many international products and markets during that time, before moving into a consultancy role, where he has gained long experience of writing on important matters of personal health. John has had in-depth involvement in a broad spectrum of subjects in this area, covering all possible age groups. Through his work as a consultant to Sleeppro, John has acquired an in-depth knowledge of snoring and sleep apnoea, and the many serious health problems with which they are so closely associated.