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Raising Awareness

National Sleep Awareness Week (NSAW) 2010 | Suddenly Sleepy Saturday | School Awareness

Each and every day provides unique opportunities to spread awareness of sleep and sleep disorders, a challenge that many of our member-volunteers zealously accept. Whether one has spent a week or many years struggling with an undiagnosed sleep disorder, the experience enables us to relate to the far-reaching consequences of living with an undiagnosed sleep disorder that causes excessive daytime sleepiness, from quality of life issues to safety and health risks.

Spreading the message about sleep and sleep disorders usually begins in small but important ways. Mentioning your diagnosis in conversations with the people you encounter day to day is a great place to begin. Each person you educate has the potential to spread the message to all the people they know. The message need not be complicated. It’s enough to say that it is not normal for a person to have difficulty staying awake during the day. Sleepiness can be a sign of sleep deprivation, but for people who do get enough sleep it is often a sign of an undiagnosed sleep disorder.

You might ask, “Isn’t it a physician’s job to detect sleep disorders?” In a perfect world yes. Surprisingly, many people don’t discuss sleep with their physicians, and most physicians don’t ask, in part because medical schools have done an inadequate job of educating physicians in the area of sleep. While knowledge and awareness among medical professionals have increased in recent years, there’s still a long way to go. Depression is still a common misdiagnosis for sleepiness in adults, and researchers are finding that a good percentage of children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD actually have a sleep disorder. There are an estimated 20 million Americans with undiagnosed sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that, left untreated, can cause high blood pressure, permanent heart damage, heart attack and stroke.

If you wish to increase sleep awareness in a more targeted way, there are many venues to explore in your town. At this point, it’s important to have a basic understanding of the more common sleep disorders. The websites of the National Sleep Foundation and Talkaboutsleep, and others contain comprehensive information about sleep and sleep disorders. It is only necessary to know the basics. While Narcolepsy Network primarily serves people with narcolepsy, in spreading awareness we encourage our members to approach the topic of sleep as broadly as possible. Many groups seek speakers for their meetings, from Rotary, Lions and Kiwanis clubs to AARP chapters, schools and social groups. There are also regional meetings of professionals, from neurologists to family practitioners and school nurses that can benefit from increased knowledge of sleep disorders. Or, consider scheduling a talk on Sleep and Sleep Disorders at your local public library or writing an article for your local newspaper.

Want to connect with another member who is more experienced in increasing sleep awareness? Contact us.

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Date Created: February 8th, 2010
Last Updated: March 2nd, 2010