If you—or your sleeping partner—are concerned that you may
have sleep apnea, your physician can order an overnight sleep test
called a polysomnogram.
3. Most of us also get the start reflex now and again, most
often just as we fall asleep. Many report dreaming that
they’re falling, and when they tense, they “start” them-
selves awake. Again, a little is normal, but a lot is trouble.
Rare individuals get the start reflex dozens of times a
night, robbing them of sleep.
4. Folks suffering from literal dream disorder actually act
out their dreams. Most of us don’t keep twitching and
starting and otherwise thrashing around during the night
because of a little switch at the top of the spine that pre-
vents us from acting out our dreams. But in rare instances
the little switch doesn’t work.Dream that you’re running a fly pattern, about to grab a Brett
Favre pass and glide into the end zone, and you may leap and run
into the bedroom wall—or even out the door and down the stairs!
You don’t want this disorder to go untreated, in yourself or
your roommate.
So, What Should You Do about Sleeping?
Most of us will never suffer from apnea, excessive start reflex, or
literal dream disorder, and our bouts of insomnia will be short-
term and self-curing. But experts now suggest that most of us
aren’t getting enough sleep. One report asserts that 33 percent
of the American population is chronically sleep deprived. Short-
term, this makes us cranky and less efficient. It may be a hidden
factor in many traffic accidents. We don’t know the long-term con-
sequences because we haven’t been studying sleep long enough.
A R E Y O U G E T T I N G E N O U G H S L E E P?