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The News Argus
April 21, 2008
Healih
Without sleep, students are all out of whack
Cathy Frisinger
MCT WIRE SERVICE
Know somebody who
likes to brag that he can get
by on six hours of sleep a
night?
Tell him that men who
sleep less than seven hours
a night have a 26 percent
greater death rate over a
two-decade period than
men who sleep seven to
eight hours a night.
And children who don't
get enough sleep are more
likely to be overweight and
to have behavioral prob
lems.
And people who do rotat-
ing-shift work have lower
levels of the hormone sero
tonin, low levels of which
are associated with anxiety
and depression.
These findings, all pub
lished in the journal Sleep
within the last seven
months, are part of a rap
idly expanding body of
knowledge about the physi
ology of sleep and the
importance of adequate
sound sleep to good health.
“Shift work was just
added to the list of risk fac
tors for cancer by the CDC
(Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention)/' says Dr.
Jerrold Kram, a member of
the board of directors of the
National Sleep Foundation.
"It just suggests the increas
ing recognition of how pro
foundly sleep affects our
lives;','. .
And it's not just arcane
statistics about risk factors
and sleep that are accumu
lating. There are 83 recog
nized sleep disorders.
including sleep apnea,
insomnia, circadian-rhythm
disturbances, narcolepsy,
restless leg syndrome and
plain old wake-the-neigh-
borhood snoring. Physicians
like Kram are putting this
knowledge to use, making
sleep medicine one of the
fastest- growing medical
specialties over the past
decade.
The American Academy
of Sleep Medicine accredited
the first clinical sleep lab in
1977. The idea of commu
nity medical centers where
patients would be hooked
up to monitors while they
punched their pillows,
snored and dreamed about
showing up for college
exams naked, grew slowly
at first — by 1996 there were
just 300 AASM-accredited
sleep centers — but the con
cept has exploded in the
past decade, resulting in
more than 1,000 accredited
centers today and many
more unaccredited centers.
YOU NEED ALL FIVE
STAGES OF SLEEP
"We used to think that
sleep was a dormant period
of time, and we're finding
out that there are a whole
lot of things that go on dur
ing sleep," says Dr. David
Ostransky, a Fort Worth,
Texas, pulmonology and
sleep-medicine specialist.
Saying "a whole lot" goes
on during sleep is liJce say
ing that war is "unpleas
ant."
There are five stages of
sleep, according to the
National Sleep Foundation,
four non-REM stages and
REM (rapid eye movement)
sleep, and sleepers cycle
through the stages about
every 90 to 100 minutes.
Stage 1 is the transitional
stage, when you're between
waking and sleep. Your
brain waves and muscle
activity slow. Sometimes
people's bodies jerk just
before they fall asleep.
Stage 2 is a light sleep
stage. Eye movements cease.
Body temperature drops,
and heart and brain activity
slows. National Sleep
Foundation NSF material
says there are periods of
muscle tone and muscle
relaxation, and that occa
sional brain-wave spikes,
called sleep spindles, occur
during this stage of sleep.
Stages 3 and 4 are called
delta sleep. These are the
deep sleep stages, and this
is when body restoration
and repair occurs.
Temperature drops even
further during this phase,
brain waves are slow and
there is decreased muscle
tone. Fibromyalgia may be
associated with poor delta
sleep, Ostransky says.
People woken during delta
sleep are often groggy and
disoriented. Night terrors
occur during this sleep
stage.
Stage 5 is REM sleep, a
period of fast brain waves;
rapid, shallow breathing;
and the rapid eye .move^ , ,
ments it's named for.
Dreaming, believed to be a
way of organizing the day's
experiences, Ostransky says,
occurs during REM sleep.
Have you ever wanted to
scream during a nightmare
and been unable to?
Muscles become temporar
ily paralyzed during REM.
These stages of sleep are
repeated four to six times
during the night, but not in
exactly the same ratio. The
first REM sleep is short, just
seven minutes or so, but
REM sleep takes up a larger
and larger portion of the
cycles as the night goes on,
Ostransky says, which is
why you're often dreaming
when your alarm clock goes
off.
And it's not just the
amount of sleep, but the dis
tribution of sleep stages,
that's important for health.
People who don't get ade
quate delta sleep, or REM
sleep, wake up feeling unre
stored, Ostransky says.
DON'T MESS WITH YOUR
CIRCADIAN RHYTHM
The suprachiasmatic
nucleus, a region in the
hypothalamus, regulates the
body's sleep/wake cycle, or
circadian rhythm, and it
needs to be kept in adjust
ment, just like the alarm
clock beside your bed needs
to be kept adjusted.
Cycles of light and dark
are what keep the suprachi
asmatic nucleus properly set
so that you will go to sleep
at 11 and wake up at 7. The
human body, deprived of
dues liKe, sunlight and, , i ,
clocks, wouldn't naturally
keep a 24-hour schedule.
Many people who are
totally blind, in fact, have a
circadian rhythm disorder.
continually advancing their
sleep/wake schedule for
ward.
Teenagers are particularly
prone to circadian-rhythm
problems, and their night-
owl tendencies are at least
partly biological, says sleep
foundation spokesman
Kram.
Light is the chief, but not
the only, clue for the body's
inner clock, according to the
American Association of
Sleep Medicine Web site.
Zeitgebers are the name for
other circadian-rhythm
influences, and they include
meals, exercise and routine
activities.
People with chronic
insomnia may be helped by
sticking to regular dmes for
meals, exercise and bedtime
routines.
WITHOUT SLEEP, YOUR
HORMONES GET OUT OF
WHACK
Have you ever been inside
the cockpit of a plane? So
many dials.
The human body is a far
more complicated piece of
machinery than a plane, and
it has a complex system of
hormones that are con
stantly being adjusted to
keep endocrine, metabolic
and other body systems
functioning properly.
Many of these regulatory
hormones are secreted at
night or during periods of
sleep, and sleep disorders or
life situations such as shift
work can affect the proper
sequence of hormone
release, the sleep foundation
says.
Melatonin, a hormone
secreted by the pineal
gland in the brain in reac
tion to darkness, helps pro
mote sleep, but has other
functions as well.
Disruptions in melatonin
production may be the rea
son why shift work is asso
ciated with an increased risk
of cancer.
Growth hormone, neces
sary for growth in children,
is released during the deep
delta sleep stages,
Ostransky says. Growth
hormone is important for
adults, too, who require it to
repair the body and regulate
muscle mass.
The stress hormone corti
sol varies during the night,
Kram says. It falls as the
body enters sleep and then
rises in the morning before
waking.
Hormones involved in the
reproductive cycle, includ
ing luteinizing hormone and
follicle-stimulating hor
mone, are released during
sleep, according to the foun
dation.
And medical researchers
now believe that the hor
mones ghrelin and leptin,
which help signal hunger
and satiety, are affected by
sleep. Low levels of leptin in
children and adults who get
inadequate sleep may be the
reason for the link between
insufficient sleep and obe
sity.
Kram says people with
interrupted sleep are more
likely to develop insulin-
resistance because the bal
ance of these hormones is
off.
A mind is res}x>nsible
for the traffic light, the blood bank, ice cream,
peanut butter, tlie doorknob, the micTophone, the elevator,
clothes di'ver, lawn mower, pacemaker, the typewriter, guided
missile, mailbox, the air conditioner, automatic transmission, curtain
rod, baby carriage, lawn sprinkler, fountain pen, dust pan, the hand
stamp, first opcn-heart surgery, cataract laser, fire extinguisher, doorstop,
home security camera, the golf tec, fire escape, potato chip, food preservation,
synthesized cortisone, the guitar, railroad telegraphy, envelope seal, printing press,
bicycle frame, rocket catapult, insect destroyer gun, ice cream scoop, window cleaner,
laser fuels, folding chair, gas mask, mop, refrigerator, pressing comb, urinalysis
machine, door lock, electric cutoff'switch, telephone transmitter, stair-climbing wheel-
s'hair. hairbrush, egg beater, eye protector, electric lamp bulb, biscuit cutter, chamber
commode, almanac, horse shoe, lunch pail, motor, lantern, key chain, furniture caster,
ironing board, sugar-refining system, lemon squeezer, portable weighing scales,
wrench, airplane propeller, ore bucket, steam boiler, portable x-ray machine, cotton
chopper fertilizer, street sweeper, cattle-roping apparatus, spark plug, galoshes, casket-
lowering device, clothes wringer, disrail car coupling, riding saddles, and so on
and so on. The list is endless. Indeed, it’s time to stop and celebrate the fact
that each and every one of the wonderful innovations mentioned here came
from the mind. The mind of an Alrican American. By supporting minority'
education, you keep open the possibility of tomorrow’s great ideas.
Because of all the things that the human mind has created,
perhaps the most amazing is the one that has yet
to be created. And that possibility is
a terrible thing to waste.
To support and to
learn more about
great African American
innovators, please visit us
at www.uncf.org orcaii
1-800-3324INCE
Unitf.dNegro
CouxgeFund
A mmd »a wrrt>lprtMii|[tcvwa«tr;
Five things you didn’t know
about emergency contraception
Desonta Holder
MCT WIRE SERVICE
1.) Emergency contraception, sold under the
brand name Plan B, is "the best-kept secret in all of
health care," says Carol Cohan, director of the
Women's Emergency Network. About a year and a
half ago it was approved for over-the-counter sales
in the United States, but advertising was focused
on "glossy magazines like Vogue, targeting college
age, young professional women and missing low-
income women of color, who have the highest rate
of unplanned pregnancies in the United States."
2.) The South Florida Coalition to Promote
Emergency Contraception is working to get the
message out to those who need it most, through a
new ad campaign promoting Plan B, which is
backup birth control. Images of an emergency box
with a pill inside will be placed on billboards, bus
cards and fliers in areas of Miami-Dade County
that are populated with low-income people of
color.
3.) Plan B is sold behind the counter at many
drug stores. Call your pharmacist to see if Plan B is
in stock. You must be 18 or older to get it without a
prescription. Men can buy it. Girls younger than 18
can get it with a prescription without parental noti
fication. The Web site lists one-stop-shop clinics
where girls can get the prescription. Another
resource: 888-not-2-late.
4.) Plan B is most effective if taken immediately
after sex when/if the condom breaks, you miss
your birth control pill or you're late for a Depo-
Provera shot. So, it's good to have it on hand before
it's needed. Side effects include vomiting, abdomi
nal cramps and headaches. It can change the time
of month when a woman is fertile, so after taking
it, birth control must be used on a consistent basis.
5.) "Emergency contraception is not an abortion,"
Cohan says. Unlike the abortion pill, RU486, Plan B
"will not work if you are already pregnant and it
will not harm a developing fetus," she says. It
impedes ovulation or fertilization, not implanta
tion. The Archdiocese of Connecticut consents to
having Catholic hospitals provide emergency con
traception for rape survivors without requiring an
ovulation test.
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