Anesthesia and sleep deprivation

Do you often toss and turn in bed at night and have trouble falling asleep? Or do you often wake up in the morning feeling listless, sleepy, and have difficulty concentrating, making it difficult to work or study? This kind of inability to get enough sleep at night is medically called sleep deprivation. Common negative effects of sleep deprivation include feeling sleepy during the day, difficulty concentrating, slow thinking and reaction time, mood changes, and changes in appetite.

Sleep deprivation is associated with a variety of diseases: For example, people who sleep less at night have a reduced ability to process glucose, which increases the chances of developing type 2 diabetes. Lack of sleep leads to increased blood pressure, inflammation, and stress responses. Therefore, adults who sleep less than 6 hours a night have a 48% increased risk of heart disease and a 15% increased risk of stroke. Lack of sleep also affects the secretion of growth hormone, especially in children. Reduced growth hormone leads to reduced height growth and poor weight gain, leading to obesity, which is also a high-risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

The main causes of sleep deprivation include: bad sleeping habits; circadian rhythm disorders; sleep disorders caused by diseases (such as insomnia, sleep apnea syndrome, restless legs syndrome); use of special drugs, etc. Insomnia is the most common form of sleep deprivation, with a global prevalence of 20% to 45%. Long-term sleep deprivation can lead to chronic fatigue, which is not only related to many diseases, but also affects daily work and study, and may even cause serious accidents.

So, consider yourself sleep deprived when you have the following symptoms: feeling sleepy during the day, especially during quiet activities (such as watching TV or reading); experiencing noticeable mood changes such as irritability and depression; forgetfulness and difficulty learning new concepts; inability to concentrate or focus on work or study; and noticeable weight gain.

The most important way to improve sleep deprivation is to increase sleep time. In recent years, with the development of anesthesia therapy, anesthesiologists have also made great achievements in sleep issues. For example, stellate ganglion block is used to reduce the activity of sympathetic nerves to improve insomnia; dexmedetomidine hydrochloride combined with esketamine is used to improve refractory insomnia, and remimazolam is used to improve the sleep quality of patients with chronic insomnia or anxiety. Anesthetic treatment can also improve sleep by improving the disease state. For example, for pain caused by psoriasis or herpes zoster, nerve block technology is used to inhibit the production of neurogenic inflammation and inflammatory cytokines, thereby inhibiting pain and improving sleep. In the field of depression with extremely high suicide risk and sleep deprivation, anesthesiologists use the method of inducing bionic natural sleep to reduce the incidence of adverse reactions of the antidepressant esketamine, greatly improving the treatment effect.

Sleep is everyone's most basic health need. Maintaining good sleeping habits and an optimistic attitude towards life allows the body to use good sleep to repair itself. Of course, no matter what problem causes your lack of sleep, you can seek help from our anesthesiologists, and we will do our best to give you a good sleep.

Dong Yandong, Leshan Geriatric Hospital

[Warm Tips] Follow us, there are a lot of professional medical knowledge here, revealing the secrets of surgical anesthesia for you~