Enter Sandman

Finding Sleep When You Need it Most

By Amanda Pressner

The definition of insanity, Albert Einstein once quipped, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. But for the millions of Americans who head to bed each night—only to spend most of it lying awake in the darkness—the hope for deep, restorative sleep isn’t a laughing matter. According to the National Sleep Foundation in Washington, D.C., 75 percent of us experience at least one indicator of a sleeping problem a few nights a week, a number that’s increased significantly in the last four years. And while most of us know that we need eight hours of sleep a night to be at our best, only about a quarter of Americans regularly get that much rest. 

Quantity of sleep, however, is only half of the issue. As anyone who’s been jolted awake by a neighbor’s barking dog or their partner’s reverberating snores can attest, the quality of those hours spent between twilight and dawn can have a tremendous impact on our waking lives. “Getting shortchanged on sleep can negatively affect your mood, immune heath, attention span, and your ability to deal with stressful situations,” says Russell Rosenberg, Ph.D, spokesperson for the National Sleep Foundation, and director of the Northside Hospital Sleep Disorders Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

In addition, a study from Columbia University and St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City concluded that regularly cutting into your sleep time could also put you at greater risk for gaining weight. Researchers discovered that people who average less than 4 hours of sleep a night are 73 percent more likely to become obese than those who got the recommended 7 to 9 hours of rest. It may seem counterintuitive that slumber, an activity that burns so few calories, could help to keep the pounds off, but “sleep deprivation may lower levels of leptin, a blood protein that suppresses hunger,” says lead researcher James Gangwisch. Stay up late a few nights in row, and you’ll probably notice that your appetite has spiked.

Daytime drowsiness can also increase your chances of making mistakes, whether you’re at work or behind the wheel. But since most of us can’t put our lives on hold, even in the face of extreme fatigue, we carry on business as usual, mainlining caffeine to help us stay awake during the day while stressing out about the rest we’re not getting. 

“There are those nights when I lie awake, staring at the clock and calculating how much sleep I can still get before the alarm goes off,” says Allison Elliott, 26, a graduate student in Lexington, Kentucky. “It’s pretty self defeating.”

It’s that very pressure to make sleep happen on demand, coupled with a load that we can’t lay down once the working day is done, that makes the elusive state of sleep so valuable—and hard to come by.

“If all the stars were aligned, we’d drift off to sleep around twenty minutes after our heads hit the pillow,” says Dr. Helene Emsellem, director of the Center for Sleep & Wake Disorders in Chevy Chase, Maryland. “But with social, career, and family obligations looming, sleep is one of the first things to get compromised.”

With a never-ending list of daily to-dos and lives that are scheduled down to the quarter-hour, it seems the most difficult task we have to accomplish is giving ourselves the permission to relax and fall asleep. “Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night because I know there’s something I’m forgetting to do,” admits Elliot. “Now, I keep my laptop near my bed, just in case I need to write it down.”

A Prescription for Sleep

With so many obstacles standing in the way of a good night’s rest—and the limited time span we’ve allotted to the task—it’s not too surprising that many of us are finding our sleep salvation at the local pharmacy.   

“If I’m having trouble falling asleep, I’ll try practicing meditation or deep breathing,” says Diane Ako, 34, a television anchor in Oahu, Hawaii. “If that doesn’t work, there’s always Ambien.”

Ako isn’t alone in her thinking. The total number of people taking prescription sleeping aids such as Ambien, Lunesta, and Sonata has doubled in the past four years, a recent industry study reveals. The newfound popularity of sleeping pills can be attributed to a glut of late-night advertising, heightened awareness for the products, and the recent introduction of several new symptom-specific pills. When their patients aren’t getting the sleep they need, doctors are often quick to scribble a prescription.

“Insomnia, even if it’s temporary, can deteriorate the patient’s overall health and quality of life,” says Rosenberg. “The latest sleeping medications are far safer and less addictive than they used to be, and the benefits of prescribing them usually outweigh the potential risks.” He suggests that cognitive behavioral therapy can also help patients to get some rest, but “doctors don’t always have the time to teach effective sleep techniques.”

In the short term, popping a pill may be a quick fix, but “most insomnia drugs are only tested for safety by their manufacturer for a period of ten to twelve weeks,” says naturopathic physician, Suzanne Lawton, “Beyond that timeframe, no one is really sure what effect these pills may have on the body.”