Eyes wide shut

T.V. JAYAN

Jul 2023
from Shaastra :: vol 02 issue 04 :: Jul - Aug 2023

Lingering sleep disturbances, often faced by people doing night shifts for long periods, are also associated with metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, obesity and hypertension.

Advances in molecular studies and genetics are helping scientists understand the link between sleep disorders and illnesses.

His erratic sleep pattern seldom came up for discussion when the 45-year-old Chennai resident met his doctors. They knew that the senior manager was diabetic, had high blood pressure and was a smoker. But it was only after he was admitted to a city hospital following a stroke that the doctors probed further. That was when they learnt he had been facing sleep problems since his 20s. He snored heavily, and felt sleepy and tired in the daytime, which had led to problems at work and even road mishaps.

"So many doctors — including general medicine practitioners, diabetologists and cardiologists — had seen him, and he had been in emergency rooms. But nobody thought that he had sleep apnoea," says N. Ramakrishnan, Director of Nithra Sleep Clinic, in Chennai.