Sleep, Sleep, Sleep

I love bloggers that can pull ideas together. David Spero has an excellent blog on diabetes and sleep at diabetes self management. He list many points that most writers and myself often forget when writing about sleep and its importance.

David did mention sleep apnea and left a group of other sleep disorders unmentioned. Not an error on his part as I am sure by mentioning one he was meaning all collectively. I will encourage you read his blog here. I will mention parts of it because it is important to all of us and what many people don't think of or do to get the sleep they need.

A list of his points - first the sleep robbers: diabetes, sleep apnea, stress, pain, noise, and using bedroom for other activities besides sex and sleep.

Aids that help include the following, bedroom a sleep palace, comfortable bed, dark room, pleasing or comfortable noise level, right temperature for individuals, bed reserved for sleep and sex, exercise during daylight – not before bed, avoid caffeine after dinner, get some sunshine during the day, take time to wind down and relax, and put the world on hold.

Now some of the points that I have found to expand on David's. The sleep robbers are insomnia, restless leg syndrome, snoring (you or your partner), night sweats, sleepwalking, bruxism (teeth grinding), and other sleep disorders.

Factors that are more unpredictable include a couple of of disorders that cause people to be sleepy to the extreme. They are narcolepsy and hypersomnia. This can cause problems of people getting the restful sleep they need during normal sleep time.

Hypoglycemia is a problem for for many people on insulin and quite a few of the oral medications. Hypoglycemia while sleeping may cause you to awaken. This happens to me and for that I am thankful. It does interrupt my sleep, especially when I am below a blood glucose reading of 65, I like to test, have something to eat that will rapidly raise my BG reading and test again in 15 minutes and then in 30 minutes to see what is happening to the BG. This means about an hour of lost sleep. Fortunately, this does not happen that often, still three times in the last nine months is disturbing. The lowest reading was 59 and the other two were below 65.