Saturday, April 18, 2009

Lack of sleep could be driving us mad

From the Calgary Herald:
With reports that “economic insomnia” is robbing people of sleep, researchers are warning poor sleep can unhinge the mind and increase the risk for depression and other full-blown psychiatric conditions.

“When you are tired, when you’re worn out, then everything becomes more of a challenge for you,” says Dr. Adam Moscovitch, medical director of the Canadian Sleep Institute in Toronto and Calgary. “Your confidence is affected, your ability to trust yourself. So there is a higher likelihood you’ll be ruminating about, are you doing things right? It significantly affects, from the psychological standpoint, the (risk) of mental illness developing.”

According to prescription drug tracking firm, IMS_Health Canada, about 17.8 million prescriptions for sleep aids were dispensed by Canadian retail drug stores last year.

There’s speculation that, with the economic crisis, the population may be using more sleep aids, and there was a slight increase in prescriptions from June to December, 2008. However, IMS_says at least three to four months of solid data into 2009 are needed to know for certain. ...more

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