![]() ![]() Some 38% of Alabama adults overall get insufficient sleep, according to the latest national Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey data. But sleeplessness is a particular problem in Alabama, which ranks among the states with the highest prevalence of short sleep duration (less than seven hours per night, on average) in this report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between 19, insomnia diagnoses rose 11-fold, to 9.4 million from 800,000 per year in the United States, according to a 2019 paper. “There is no shortage of people having trouble sleeping.” (The clinic has been seeing all patients through telemedicine visits since March.) But that’s because “the clinic is always busy,” Thomas said. ![]() So it is interesting that Thomas says he hasn’t seen a huge uptick in patients in the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic since the pandemic began. In December, Google reported that “Why can’t I sleep?” was one of its most-searched terms of 2020. Insomnia often is triggered by a significant life stressor - a global coronavirus pandemic, for example. ![]() Insomnia is defined as chronic if patients have symptoms three or more times per week for three months or more. Every year, anywhere from 30-40% of adults in the United States report symptoms of insomnia: difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep that results in daytime sleepiness or difficulties functioning. Sleep restriction is one element of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBTi, which has become the leading method of treating the most common sleep disorder. “That is so counterintuitive, but it works.” “They can’t get to sleep and have difficulty functioning during the day, and I tell them to spend less time in bed,” said Thomas, director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic in the UAB Sleep/Wake Disorders Center and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry. That’s his way of referring to the reaction he gets from patients when he tells them about one of the most effective ways to overcome insomnia: sleep restriction. Sleep specialist Justin Thomas, Ph.D., explains common misconceptions that contribute to sleeplessness and the treatments that help most.Sleep specialist Justin Thomas, Ph.D., has grown accustomed to people looking at him like he is an eight-headed monster. Insomnia diagnoses have skyrocketed nationwide in the past two decades, and sleeplessness is particularly rampant in Alabama. ![]()
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