Scientists have pinpointed dozens of gene variants associated with sleep problems, linking them to everything from nighttime teeth grinding to not being able to let go of tension. “There are many genes involved in sleep, and almost all sleep disorders run in families,” says Rafael Pelayo, MD, a professor of psychiatry at the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine. If you, like me, grew up listening to horror stories about your parents’ sleepless nights, chances are your problem may rest partly in your genes. Here’s a look at some possibilities: Born This Way “To find lasting relief, you have to know what your root causes are.” “There are many different flavors of sleep problems, and people need to stop thinking about them as just one thing,” says Michael Breus, PhD, a Los Angeles-based clinical psychologist who offers customized sleep programs for celebrities and elite athletes. Age, gender, and a more stimulating nighttime environment also play key roles. Researchers have identified at least 88 distinct sleep disorders, many fueled by genetics. But sleep specialists stress that all sleep problems are not created equal. One recent study found that people who slept less than 6 hours per night for a week and were then exposed to a cold virus were four times more likely to get sick.Īll this has prompted the CDC to begin referring to sleeplessness as an “epidemic” public health crisis. And it makes our body less able to use insulin to metabolize that sugar, leaving more in our blood and boosting our risk of getting type 2 diabetes. One sleepless night can also boost levels of ghrelin, aka “the hunger hormone,” leading us to eat more and crave sleep and fat. After just one night without it, the plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer’s disease can rise as much as 50%. Recent research has shown that deep sleep - sometimes called the brain’s washing machine - serves to wash out metabolic byproducts that gum up the brain and lead to cognitive decline. And it doesn’t take long for damage to start to kick in. This lack of shut-eye can take a serious toll on our health, leaving us more vulnerable to infection and boosting our risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, mood disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease. A quarter of us are so tired, we have trouble concentrating by day 9% say sleep deprivation interferes with our job and, frighteningly, 5% say they’ve nodded off at the wheel in the last 30 days.
On average, we’re sleeping about an hour less than we did in the 1940s, with 1 in 3 adults now failing to get even the minimal 7 hours of nightly sleep experts recommend. About 70 million in the United States have sleep problems, and 60% of those have a chronic sleep disorder like insomnia, sleep apnea, or restless legs syndrome, or RLS.
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