There’s nothing like a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, for many of us there frequently is nothing like a good night’s sleep. Enforced sleep deprivation techniques are a common form of torture, yet some estimates place the incidence of sleep disorders among the general population as high as 30 to 40%. The National Center on Sleep Disorder Research was established by law inside the National Institutes of Health in 1993 to study what had become recognized as a growing public health problem. Busy-ness, stress, an aging population, increasing levels of obesity, lack of proper exercise or diet, and even electronic distractions mean that people, on average, now sleep an hour-and-a-half less than they did a century ago, according to the journal of the organization Sleepdex and corroborated by the government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There’s an economic impact from inadequate sleep since those who suffer are less productive. They are also likelier to be involved in auto accidents, or to develop more severe and debilitating diseases.

The NCSDR and CDC suggest there can be as many as 80 different types of sleep disorders and, while the prevalence of medical and societal impacts have been more widely recognized in recent years, most people who have significant disorders have not been properly diagnosed, according to Dr. Thad Shattuck, a psychiatrist and specialist in sleep medicine affiliated with the St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center’s Center for Sleep Disorders, in Auburn. Sleep medicine as a specific discipline is a relatively new field. “Medical science used to believe that ‘insomnia doesn’t kill,’ but now we know that it really may impact mortality. Many sleep disorders are bi-directional, and could be either the cause or effect of other illnesses,” Dr. Shattuck explained.

From occasional insomnia to the more immediately severe disorder of sleep apnea – breathing interruptions caused by obstruction, which may appear as snoring, and which could constitute a potentially life-threatening condition in its own right (but which, Dr. Shattuck said has been adequately diagnosed in only between 20 to 30% of those afflicted) – sleep deprivation can be a function of jet lag or shift work which can interfere with the body’s natural circadian rhythms. “Sleep problems here in Maine can be exacerbated by the seasonal affective disorder associated with limited daylight at the time of the solstice,” according to Shattuck.

“The incidence of ADHD among children has been growing in recent years,” Dr. Shattuck said, but there is mounting evidence that sleep deprivation could be among the causes of that phenomenon, too. “Many kids simply have too many distractions, or too many electronic devices nearby when it’s time to sleep,” he explained, and we often aren’t aware of the amount of light or low frequency sounds such devices omit. Have you ever been awakened from a deep sleep during a power outage? If so, you know that the sudden cessation of ambient sounds and light can be as disruptive as the sudden onset of the same kinds of distractions.

The St. Mary’s center uses advanced diagnostic procedures to correctly help identify root causes of sleep disorders and to design appropriate corrective therapies. Dr. Shattuck asserted that the increasingly widespread advertising and use of sleep inducing medications is like “a Band-Aid for those with chronic sleep issues. They may be convenient, but they are not without risks of their own, especially when used more than occasionally,” he said. Even occasional insomnia can form into patterns that frustrate patients’ ability to get enough good, quality sleep. For many, proper treatment requires some degree of “behavioral modifications or cognitive restructuring,” Shattuck says, to achieve sustainable long-term improvements and better health and well-being.

Yet, many people experiment with self-diagnosis or something other than medical intervention in an effort to simply get a decent night’s rest. F.X. Marcotte furniture reported that the sale of high-end Tempur-Pedic bedding has gone from nothing to a full third of the bedding units sold in its Lewiston store in just three years. The use of over-the-counter “sleep aids” has proliferated, as has the dissemination of advice about such things as warm milk, melatonin (thought to be a naturopathic sleep inducement), even specialized pillows. But everyone associated with the “sleep industry,” including medical doctors with all sorts of specializations, pharmacists, mattress and pillow purveyors, even bloggers all agree that not getting enough sleep; inappropriate sleeping; even, perhaps, getting too much sleep, are all serious circumstances that could be linked to even more threatening underlying conditions. So, the best and most universal advice is: Trouble sleeping? See your doctor. And do it soon.