IN FOCUS
IN YOUR
sleep
BY MICHELE SPONAGLE
50
I
CANADIANLIVING.COM | OCTOBER 2014
PHOTOGRAPHY, CORBIS
When it comes to getting a good night’s sleep, it’s all about your hormones. We unveil what’s really going on inside your body at night.
T’S NO SECRET that a lousy night’s sleep makes you feel lousy, too. The latest scientific findings tie disrupted slumber to everything from chronic diseases to obesity and depression. Beyond a doubt, adequate rest is essential for both emotional and physical well-being. Helen Driver, assistant professor in the department of medicine at Queen’s University and a somnologist at Kingston General Hospital’s Sleep Disorder Lab, has studied the science of sleep since the late 1980s. “The interest level for the subject has gone way up,” she says. “Recently, there has been a collective realization about how tired we feel, and there’s a desire to know what can be done about it.” Researchers are working to find out more. In a study published in the journal Sleep, 24 percent of Canadians age 15 and up experienced insomnia (the inability to get to sleep or stay asleep). And, according to Driver, women are more likely to experience insomnia and complain about fatigue because they aren’t getting the seven to eight hours they need.
