The new recommendation, published in this month#x2019;s edition of SLEEP, for adults ages 18 to 60 was to obtain #x201c;seven or more hours of sleep per night#x201d; in order to avoid the health risks that accompanies chronic inadequate sleep.

Studies have shown that sleep deprivation can contribute to obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, accidents, forgetfulness, premature aging of the skin, obesity and poor sex drive.

The sleep academy and research society did not place an upper limit on the number of hours of sleep recommended per night, noting that sleeping nine hours or more on a regular basis may be appropriate for young adults, individuals recovering from #x201c;sleep debt#x201d; and those with illnesses.

The recommendation followed a 12-month project conducted by a consensus panel of 15 of the nation#x2019;s foremost sleep experts, including panel moderator and AASM President Dr. Nathaniel Watson.

#x201c;Our Consensus Panel found that sleeping six or fewer hours per night is inadequate to sustain health and safety in adults, and agreed that seven or more hours of sleep per night is recommended for all healthy adults,#x201d; says Watson.

#x201c;More than a third of the (US) population is not getting enough sleep, so the focus needs to be on achieving the recommended minimum hours of nightly sleep. … Long sleep duration is more likely to reflect chronic illness than to cause it, and few experimental laboratory studies have examined the health effects of long sleep duration.#x201d;

The benefit of healthy sleep requires not only adequate sleep duration, but also appropriate timing, daily regularity, good sleep quality and the absence of sleep disorders. Individuals who have or suspect they have sleep disorders should consult with a doctor.

Major link to health

Dr. William Cook, medical director of Trident Health#x2019;s Summerville Sleep Center, starting working in sleep medicine in the early 1980s, when there were practically no sleep specialists in the area. He has witnessed the critical role of sleep on health and quality of life.

Poor sleep, he adds, has a domino effect on health.

#x201c;People who don#x2019;t get enough sleep tend to have lousy diets. There are hormonal reasons for that. If you don#x2019;t get enough sleep, your normal satiety mechanisms are disrupted and you tend to eat more,#x201d; says Cook.

#x201c;Sleep is part of the equation. If you#x2019;re going to be healthy, you need a proper diet, proper sleep and proper exercise. And if you do those things, you can handle stress better.#x201d;

But just as the majority of Americans don#x2019;t eat a healthy diet or exercise enough, most aren#x2019;t getting enough sleep either, says Cook.

#x201c;I think many people in our society think they can cut their sleep short and get away with it. You can to a certain point, such as staying up one night to study for an exam. … But many people in our society are getting five or six hours of sleep chronically. This leads to long-term impairment and health problems.#x201d;

Red flag: loud snoring

At the Summerville Sleep Center, Cook says about 90 percent of the patients suffer from sleep apnea, a serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. It results not only in fatigue but also cardiovascular health issues, such as the development of atrial fibrillation.

While Cook says sleep apnea can be cause by multiple factors, including upper airway anatomy, being overweight or obese and large neck sizes are major factors.

The sleep lab offers studies, both at the lab and with at-home tests, to determine if a person has sleep apnea or some other sleeping disorder, such as narcolepsy.

#x201c;Short of a study,#x201d; Cook adds, #x201c;the most surefire way to know is (observations from) the person#x2019;s bed partners. If he or she says their partner snores loudly, then stops, then takes a few breaths, and that pattern occurs over and over during the course of a night, then you have sleep apnea.#x201d;

Cook says about 30 percent of adult men snore and that, of those, about five to 10 percent have sleep apnea.

Getting help

That#x2019;s what Mark Henrion, a 31-year-old instructor at Goose Creek#x2019;s Naval Nuclear Power School, did after he started experiencing dizziness last March and went to a Navy doctor.

#x201c;Last winter, I had three terrible colds and sinus infections. My right ear also felt plugged up all the time,#x201d; recalls Henrion.

He adds that his wife had starting leaving their bedroom at night because he had started snoring severely.

The Navy doctor sent him to Summerville Sleep Center, where he was tested in the sleep lab and diagnosed with mild to moderate sleep apnea and later provided with a respiratory ventilation device, often referred to as CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine, to wear while sleeping.

After taking about three weeks to get used to wearing it, Henrion says his sleep has improved and he is no longer dizzy nor has issues with his ear.

Henrion, who describes his family as #x201c;huge Scandinavians,#x201d; says both his parents have to use CPAP machines while sleeping. His need for one also coincided with weight gain.

When the 6-foot-7 Henrion joined the Navy in 2010, he weighed 190 pounds. And despite being a power lifter and working out, he is now 260 pounds.

For Henrion, the machine has made all the difference in his sleep quality.

#x201c;My wife and I were getting enough hours. We went to bed by 8:30 (pm) and would wake up between 5 and 6 (am), but I was just not getting quality sleep,#x201d; says Henrion. #x201c;Now I wake up and feel really refreshed.#x201d;

Sleepy America

Meanwhile, Cook says sleep deprivation also can be a self-created problem simply by the bad habit of staying up too late and getting up too early.

#x201c;I see patients here (that) complain about being very sleepy, and you figure out they are getting about five hours of sleep. So the advice is to get more sleep. Some people think they can get by with five hours of sleep, but they really can#x2019;t. They need to be told this.#x201d;

He adds that a new generation of sleep deprived has coincided with the age of the Internet.

#x201c;There are a lot of young people who get on computers at night and stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning and then have a hard time getting up to go to school or work at 7 or 8 in the morning.#x201d;

By doing so, Cook says people can disrupt their natural cycle of sleep, aka the circadian rhythm, and develop #x201c;delayed sleep phase syndrome,#x201d; a disorder in which a person#x2019;s sleep is delayed by two or more hours beyond the socially acceptable or conventional bedtime.

The natural sleep pattern is related to the sun setting and rising, as well as the #x201c;homeostatic drive,#x201d; says Cook.

#x201c;There#x2019;s a lot of metabolism in the brain,#x201d; he says. #x201c;As a day goes by, metabolic by-products build up in the brain and eventually make you sleepy. As you sleep, those by-products are dissipated. That#x2019;s why we need to sleep. We need to restore the balance of metabolites in the brain.#x201d;

This delay in falling asleep causes difficulty in waking up at a more conventionally desired time, such as 6:30 am

On the flip side of that, Cook says some seniors develop #x201c;advanced sleep phase disorder#x201d; by going to bed too early and waking up at 3 am

Granted, Cook also says some people can get five hours of sleep and function #x201c;normally,#x201d; as determined by passing cognitive tests.

#x201c;You can treat people for sleep phase disorder but they tend to relapse,#x201d; says Cook.

What about drugs?

Some suffering from sleep deprivation, such as insomnia, can get relief from over-the-counter sleep products or prescription medications, such as the brand names of Ambien (zolpidem tartrate), Lunesta (eszopiclone) and Restoril (temazepam), but Cook warns against repeated uses.

#x201c;You don#x2019;t want to use a prescription drug, like Ambien, every night if you can help it. It#x2019;s better to reserve that for nights when you need a good night#x2019;s sleep,#x201d; says Cook. #x201c;People should use Ambien no more than once or twice a week. And the FDA says women should take no more than five milligrams, while men can take 10 milligrams.#x201d;

Ideally, Cook says, patients with sleeping problems would practice sleep hygiene techniques (see box) and if that doesn#x2019;t help, seek cognitive behavior therapy where a psychologist coaches a patient to set up a pattern, initially by depriving him or her of sleep.

#x201c;There are many people who would rather do that than to take a drug, but in the medical world, the most expedient thing is to prescribe a drug. If we had enough psychologists around, we send them all for sleep deprivation therapy and then we wouldn#x2019;t need drugs. But our society is such that we want a quick fix.#x201d;

Reach David Quick at 937-5516.