The CECOVA urges people with severe sleep disturbances to seek professional help and remember that this problem affects a third of the population

Valencia, March 2012.- the Council of nursing of the Comunitat Valenciana (CECOVA) and schools of nursing of Valencia, Alicante and Castellón said yesterday, on the eve of the world day of sleep, the importance of drawing attention to the various problems associated with sleep, affecting a third of the population, and the importance of sleep for health, education, society and vital security ”.

The President of the CECOVA, José Antonio Avila Olivares, recalled that the sleep disorders affect one-third of the Spanish population, but less than 25% of people with severe sleep disturbances seek professional help and are unaware of the effects of their disorder ”. Thereon warned that the sleep disorders produce vulnerability to bugs, labour, domestic and accidents in traffic, depressions and psychological disorders, diabetes, hypertension, strokes, heart attacks, loss of memory, and even death accidents ”.

Tips for a good sleep hygiene

For this reason, the CECOVA disseminated a number of tips for maintain a good sleep hygiene ” which includes be regular when it comes to sleep, eat and get up, avoid consumption of caffeine, protein, alcohol and other stimulants, avoid smoking, do physical exercise, although not done close to bedtimeavoid very late dinner or perform heavy meals, the intake of milk and dairy products, promotes sleep; use a comfortable bed; and that the room is quiet, without much noise coming from abroad and with enough dark ”.

The World Association of sleep medicine (World Association of Sleep Medicine – WASM) celebrates the world sleep day since 2008 to promote the importance of sleeping well and, in doing so, has chosen the motto lead awake, except to reach ” in where emphasizes the large number of traffic accidents caused by drivers who fall asleep at the wheeldo not rest well or have sleep disorders.

The World Health Organization (who) estimates that by 2020 road traffic accidents will be the third cause of demand for health after coronary heart disease and depression. different studies have documented that accidents tend to be more frequent between midnight and dawn and averaging the afternooncoinciding with the peaks of trend to the normal sleep of the general population. It has been also identified severe drowsiness in professional drivers, especially in the long-distance transport.

Thus, the sleepiness of drivers by fatigue or sleep deprivation has been compared to which manifest the people under the effect of alcohol intake. Vigil held for 17 hours generated the same level of difficulty to perform a particular task that produced by having consumed alcohol similar to the maximum limit allowed to drive a car.

The sleep disturbances favor the loss of attention, fatigue and daytime sleepiness, deteriorating level of alertness and delay the response to unexpected events, facilitating domestic, occupational accidents from occurring and, particularly, automobile. Diseases that affect the quality of sleep increases the risk of accidents to join the debt of usual sleep in society, amplifying the impact of sleepiness.