Time for Bed

To be sure, anyone who's stayed out late on a work night knows that a lack of sleep can make it harder to focus and function the next day. But research has shown that sleep deprivation can also affect memory, emotional stability, learning and even immunity to other diseases. It's also been associated with high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes and depression. "There is just no substitute for getting a good night's sleep," says Hunt. "Sleep is as important as diet and exercise to our overall good health."

A lack of sleep can also endanger others. Approximately 100,000 traffic accidents (1,500 of them fatal) a year are sleep related. The government estimates that sleep-related problems also add $16 billion to the nation's health-care bill, including medications and health-care services. And U.S. consumers are spending an estimated $84 million or more per year on over-the-counter medication, according to an analysis published in the journal Sleep and Breathing in 2002.

Nor is it likely to get better as the population gets older and fatter--both risk factors for sleep apnea and other sleep disorders.

Hunt is hoping the trend will reverse with better awareness and treatment options. "The good news for people who have symptoms is that there is an increasing array of effective prescription medicines," says Hunt. Short-term sleeping aids like Sonata and Ambien have fewer side effects than past pills, and they aren't nearly as addictive. The Food and Drug Administration also recently approved Lunesta, a new sleep-disorder drug by Sepracor, for long-term treatment of insomnia. And there are more drugs on the way. Sanofi-Aventis, which makes Ambien, is working on a continuous-release version of the drug that could be approved as early as this summer. And Merck and Pfizer also have sleep-disorder drugs in the pipeline. Drugs aren't the only solution. Most sufferers of sleep apnea can be treated immediately with a bilevel positive air pressure (Bi-PAP) or a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, both of which force air into the nose and mouth at varying pressures (though more serious apnea cases may require surgery). The CPAP made "a huge and instantaneous difference" for Friedman. "My life changed," he says. "I won't sleep without it, even when I travel." Friedman later discovered that the machine also evened out his glucose levels--a big benefit for a diabetic--when he participated in a recent study. (See Latest Research).

For chronic insomniacs there's also cognitive behavior therapy, or CBT, a technique that includes changing a patient's routine, behavior and thoughts related to sleep, which has been gaining popularity. In a recent Harvard-led, head-to-head study published last fall in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers concluded that patients with insomnia could derive "significantly greater benefits" in both the short and long term from CBT than from sleeping pills and recommended that CBT be considered first in treating chronic insomnia.

Many of those without sleep disorders could also benefit from some behavioral changes, like establishing a bedtime routine, incorporating relaxation techniques like meditation and warm baths before bed and avoiding exercise or stressful activities late at night. "A lot of it is common sense," says Kryger. "The first step is just making sleep a priority."