Journalism of Courage
Experts say sleep disorders are silent killers and need to be taken seriously.
Sleep like a child could soon become a faraway dream as a growing number of Indians complain of various sleep disorders. Experts say there are at least seven million Indians who report symptoms of sleep disorders such as troubled sleep,waking up with headaches and spending all their waking hours being irritable. However,the condition is still not treated as a health problem that could lead to serious consequences.
Dr Nitin Abhyankar,interventional pulmonologist,chest physician and bronchoscopist,said some of the most common signs of OSA are loud and chronic snoring,frequent urination at night,morning headaches,irritability,depression,mood swings, memory or learning problems and inability to concentrate. Sleep apnea is a silent killer,which is likely to take away millions of lives prematurely. We are sitting on the edge of an epidemic,just like diabetes and obesity, said Abhyankar.
According to World Health Organization (WHO),as many as 100 million people suffer from OSA globally. Evidence suggests that undiagnosed patients with OSA incur higher healthcare costs. A survey conducted by The Nielsen Company revealed that 93 per cent Indians are sleep-deprived,getting less than the eight hours of sleep they need every day. An astonishing 11 per cent take leave from work because of lack of sleep. The survey also reveals that 58 per cent feel that their work suffers due to lack of adequate sleep while 11 per cent fall asleep at work. A whopping 87 per cent agree they are aware that lack of sleep affects their health but only 2 per cent Indians have ever discussed their sleep issues with a physician.
Research on Sleep Disorders
EUROSLEEP,a network of ENT clinics from Norway involved in the management and treatment of snoring and sleep apnea,has joined hands with Nova Speciality Surgery,a chain of centres in India offering speciality surgeries,to conduct a research study on sleep-related disorders among Indians. Dr Ashim Desai,senior consultant,ENT,Nova Speciality Surgery,Mumbai,said,Although there is a lot of global data,there has been no comprehensive India specific data available till now. Therefore,the need of the hour is to conduct research studies in this area.
