Sleep activist and NN member Michelle Hemingway combined her creative
and artistic talents with a desire to increase sleep awareness by developing
an ongoing project called The Dream Quilt. Now in its fourth year, these
Dream Quilts travel around the country to be displayed in Sleep Centers,
at professional conferences, libraries and other locations where they can
raise awareness. Find out how you can participate ...
View the 2003 Dream Quilt.
Sleep Awareness
One week out of each year is designated as National Sleep Awareness
Week. In 2005, this week takes place from Monday, March 28 through
Sunday, April 3. This week ends, fittingly, on the day clocks are pushed
ahead one hour. The National Sleep Foundation (www.sleepfoundation.org)
sponsors many events during this week and also encourages sleep professionals,
organizations and activists to get involved in the effort to promote the
importance of sleep and awareness of sleep disorders.
You need not wait for National Sleep Awareness Week to make a
difference. Each and every day provides unique opportunities to spread
awareness of sleep and sleep disorders, a challenge that many of our
member-volunteers willingly accept. Whether one has spent a week or
many years struggling with an undiagnosed sleep disorder, the experience
enables us to relate to the far-reaching consequences of living with an
undiagnosed sleep disorder that causes excessive daytime sleepiness,
from quality of life issues to safety to health risks.
Spreading the message about sleep and sleep disorders usually begins in
small but important ways. Mentioning your diagnosis in conversations with
the people you encounter day to day is a great place to begin. Each person
you educate has the potential to spread the message to all the people they
know. The message need not be complicated. It's enough to say that it is
not normal for a person to have difficulty staying awake during the day.
Sleepiness can be a sign of sleep deprivation, but for people who do get
enough sleep, it is often a sign of an undiagnosed sleep disorder.
You might ask, "Isn't it a physician's job to detect sleep disorders?" In a
perfect world, yes. Surprisingly, many people don't discuss sleep with
their physicians, and most physicians don't ask, in part because medical
schools have done a poor job of educating physicians in the area of sleep.
While knowledge and awareness among medical professionals have
increased in recent years, there's still a long way to go. Depression is
still a common misdiagnosis for sleepiness in adults, and researchers are
finding that a good percentage of children diagnosed with AD[H]D
actually have a sleep disorder. There are an estimated 20 million Americans
with undiagnosed sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that, left untreated, can
cause high blood pressure, permanent heart damage, heart attack and stroke.
If you wish to increase sleep awareness in a more targeted way, there are
many venues to explore in your town. At this point, it's important to have
a basic understanding of the more common sleep disorders. The websites
of the National Sleep Foundation and Talkaboutsleep.com, to name a couple,
contain comprehensive information about sleep and sleep disorders. It is only
necessary to know the basics. While Narcolepsy Network primarily serves
people with narcolepsy, in spreading awareness we enourage our members
to approach the topic of sleep as broadly as possible. Many groups seek
speakers for their meetings, from Rotary, Lions and Kiwanas clubs to AARP
chapters, schools and social groups. There are also regional meetings of
professionals, from neurologists to family practitioners and school nurses, that
can benefit from increased knowledge of sleep disorders. Or, consider
scheduling a talk on Sleep and Sleep Disorders at your local public library or
writing an article for your newspaper.
If you wish to connect with another member who is more experienced in
increasing sleep awareness, contact us at narnet@narcolepsynetwork.org.
|
