NYC Sleep Doctors: Why See a Sleep Specialist?

Statistics tell us that America has a sleep problem -- over half of Americans report that their insomnia has grown so chronic that they can't recall a single week in which they didn't have trouble falling asleep. In another survey, again over half of the people asked "Are you often so tired during the day that you fall asleep without wanting to?" answered "Yes." The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tells us that "drowsy driving" (nodding off or falling asleep at the wheel) causes over 100,000 accidents per year, in which 71,000 people are injured, and over 1,500 die. America doesn't just have a sleep problem – it's got a REALLY BIG sleep problem. And yet, very few of these people affected by one of the over 80 known sleep disorders ever seek treatment for their sleep problems. In this article we'll deal with a few of the reasons people tell us in our Manhattan sleep center why they didn't come earlier.

Five common excuses for not seeing a sleep specialist, and why they could be harming your health and even endangering your life

1. People don't understand how widespread sleep disorders are. If they have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, they tend to think of this as a temporary situation, and don't seek help. Unfortunately, this reluctance to see a doctor about sleep problems is one of the things that has caused the spread of long-term problems, making them so common that an estimated 40% of women and 30% of men now suffer from a known sleep disorder.
2. Worse, they don't understand how dangerous sleep disorders are for their health. Many people "get by" with less sleep than they need, and seem to believe that long-term sleep deprivation isn't doing them any harm. They're wrong. Sleep disorders greatly increase your risk for heart disease, heart attack, heart failure, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, stroke, and diabetes. 90% of people with insomnia – the most common sleep disorder – have another serious health condition that was caused by sleep deprivation.
3. People get so used to sleep deprivation that they don't know it's made them depressed. People who sleep less than six hours per night are twice as likely to have clinically depression and anxiety, and people with insomnia are five times more likely to develop depression. The longer depression lasts, the less likely the person is to seek treatment for the depression, so things just get worse.
4. People often don't seek treatment because sleep deprivation has impaired their thinking abilities. It may sound blunt, but the truth is that poor sleep makes you DUMB. Sleep deprivation impairs your concentration, attention, alertness, your reasoning and problem-solving abilities, and makes it more difficult to learn. It also can reduce your ability to recognize how much you need to seek treatment from a sleep doctor.
5. People don't understand how sleep disorders are actually treated these days. Finally, one of the main things that keeps people from seeing a sleep specialist is that they don't understand how sleep disorders are treated. They think that the doctor will prescribe addictive sleeping pills for them that will have adverse side effects. In reality, most sleep disorders these days can be treated using behavioral therapy and lifestyle changes to develop more positive sleep habits and overcome negative ones. The use of "sleeping pills" is often considered a last resort.

If I do see a sleep specialist, what will happen?

If you see the NYC sleep doctors at New York Sleep-Wake Center, they will start by asking you about your sleep habits and what problem you might want to overcome. They might schedule a sleep study to determine whether you have a known sleep disorder or poor sleep habits that are harming your health. Then, based on what they find, they offer therapies to eliminate the problems. So don't be afraid to see a Manhattan sleep specialist. Get better sleep tonight by calling us at 646-233-1838 today.

Author Bio: Noted NYC sleep doctor talk about the things that keep people from seeing a sleep specialist - even when they desperately need to see a sleep specialist (http://www.nycva.org).