The manifestations of stress, fatigue, anxiety, sensation in the legs in women often wrongly diagnosed as insomnia could be symptoms of sleep apnea, doctors said on Thursday.
“Compared to men, the demand and requirement of sleep is more in women but they are mostly sleep deprived. Manifestation of stress, anxiety, depression, periodic limb movement disorder or restless leg syndrome in women are misdiagnosed as insomnia, which could actually be concurrent sleep apnea,” said Dipankar Datta, consultant ENT and sleep apnea surgeon.
In men, the manifestation could be snoring and choking, which can be easily identified as symptoms of sleep apnea, he said.
Datta, also the national secretary of the Indian Association of Surgeons for Sleep Apnea, was one of the speakers at the programme organised by the Institute of Sleep Science. Friday was World Sleep Day.
The programme was to create awareness about the importance of sufficient sleep and the implications of sleep deprivation. The focus of the discussion was on women and children.
“It is recommended that by the time a child is two to three years old, he or she should be able to sleep by themselves. If they are unable to do so it disturbs the sleep cycle of both the child and the parents,” Gautam Ghosh, paediatric pulmonologist and sleep specialist, said.
Somnath Maity, director of the Institute of Sleep Science, who conducted the programme, said diagnosis of sleep disorders is important. “We advocate that sleep apnea be covered under insurance,” he said.
“For example, if sleep apnea goes undiagnosed it can lead to more serious implications like road accidents while driving and cardiac diseases,” Maity said.
The panellists shared sleep hygiene like avoiding gadgets before sleep, sticking to a fixed sleep schedule, promoting printed instead of digital books and not lying awake in bed.
If one is unable to sleep, one should get up from the bed and go to the living room, listen to soothing music, or read a book and then come back to sleep, said Maity.
