Sleep Deprivation: A Deeper Dive Into Clinical Screenings, Mitochondrial Impact, and Therapeutic Interventions
Sleep is essential for mental, physical, and emotional well-being. In addition, adequate sleep promotes healthy immune function by bolstering the body’s response to stress, helping to fight off possible infection, and potentially minimizing the risk of illness. Even with the demonstrated value of sleep, nearly one-third of adults in the United States report short sleep, or sleeping less than seven hours per night. An increasing trend of self-reported short sleep notably started in 2013, and this trend was more pronounced among African-American and Hispanic adults. In 2018, however, the National Sleep Foundation’s survey suggested a potentially positive trend. While sleep duration reporting was consistent with previous results, sleep quality showed some improvement, with an increased number of people feeling well-rested.
While there are indications that more US adults have an increased awareness of sleep’s benefits for better health, for some patients, sleep quality and habits are not ideal, and they may feel tired throughout their day. And fatigue isn’t the only consequence of a poor night’s sleep. Adults who sleep less than seven hours per night are more likely to report 10 chronic health conditions, including depression, arthritis, diabetes, and asthma.
Understanding a patient’s sleep quality is an important part of clinical screening to ultimately help a patient adopt healthy sleep habits and to address health concerns associated with a sleep dysfunction.
Read more about the study here.
If you would like to discuss how to get to the root cause of your sleep issues, call 405.607.4445 to schedule your appointment with Dr. Bargas.
Learn more about Integrative Cardiology and Functional Medicine here.
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