Why Do We "sleep On The Go"

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 23:16

March 15 is World Sleep Day. According to the Ministry of Health, every fifth resident of the country suffers from various sleep disorders. As a result of insomnia, the quality of life and labor productivity decrease, chronic fatigue and serious illness develop. On the other hand, manifestations of fatigue, asthenia or neurological diseases are often taken for daytime sleepiness.

Photo: World Sleep Society /

World Sleep Day is celebrated on 15 March. Everyone has had trouble sleeping at least once in their lives. According to the Ministry of Health, from 25 to 35 million people suffer from various sleep disorders - every fifth inhabitant of our country. As a result of insomnia, the quality of life and labor productivity decrease, chronic fatigue and serious illness develop. On the other hand, manifestations of fatigue, asthenia or neurological diseases are often taken for daytime sleepiness, which one in four people experiences.

World Sleep Day has been celebrated annually since 2008, on the Friday before the vernal equinox, as part of the World Health Organization (WHO) project on sleep and health. On the eve of this day, physicians-somnologists of the Sechenov University introduced into practice a method of quantitative assessment of daytime sleepiness. It allows you to distinguish true drowsiness from another condition with similar symptoms and to prescribe the correct treatment in a timely manner.

Hypersomnia - pathological daytime sleepiness that occurs despite the fact that a person sleeps well at night - belongs to the third group of sleep disorders

A total of 57 different sleep disorders are listed in the current classification, which are grouped into 6 different categories. The first and most common of the types of sleep disorders is insomnia - insomnia, the second group of disorders is breathing disorders during sleep. The fourth category is disorder of the sleep-wake cycle, the fifth is parasomnia (walking in sleep and attacks of nighttime fears) and the sixth is movement disorders. A sleep disorder that occurs once or twice a week is not considered a disorder; it is a physiologically acceptable fluctuation in sleep quality. But if this happens at least three times a week, this is a real illness, and you need to deal with it.

The most common cause of daytime sleepiness is the so-called insufficient sleep syndrome, explains Mikhail Poluektov, head of the sleep medicine department at Sechenov University. This situation, when in all respects a healthy person, deliberately limits himself to sleep in order to spend it on something else, and chronic lack of sleep inevitably affects his performance. And the person literally "sleeps on the go." All these manifestations are treated simply - it is enough just to persuade a person to sleep as much as he should. And most people are supposed to sleep 7-8 hours a day.

Nevertheless, the problem of daytime sleepiness is relevant for modern society: according to experts, about 25% of people experience "sleep pressure" during the day. This usually leads to a decrease in labor productivity, and sometimes to severe irreversible consequences, road traffic accidents. Moreover, this state does not always mean true hypersomnia. Often, sleepiness is mistaken for manifestations of fatigue, asthenia, or even elementary laziness.

To distinguish true sleepiness from a state similar to it, the developed in the First Moscow State Medical University. THEM. Sechenov's study called the multiple sleep latency test (MTLS). During the test, the subject is put to sleep in a special ward several times a day, each time determining the rate of falling asleep. In true hypersomnia, the average time to fall asleep is usually less than eight minutes. If a person complains of drowsiness, but actually falls asleep for a longer time, then this is not a problem of sleep or wakefulness.

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“For the first time in Russia we began to conduct this test on a large scale, and it turned out that in more than 30% of cases the diagnosis of hypersomnia is made by doctors incorrectly,” Poluektov said. - This is important for the appointment of subsequent treatment. In the presence of true sleepiness, it is necessary to pay attention to night sleep: to seek its improvement or to look for signs of a serious neurological disease - narcolepsy. If another disease is hidden under similar symptoms, then it is necessary to treat it."

The multiple sleep latency test is also used to confirm the diagnosis of narcolepsy. This rare disease affects one in 2,500 people. An international study at the University confirmed the diagnosis in six children and are now receiving innovative treatment.